Initiation

Understanding Dante’s Inferno with Mark Booth

New Thinking AllowedSep 21, 2026

Author Mark Booth, who writes as Jonathan Black, argues that Dante Alighieri was an initiate of a secret esoteric tradition and that the Divine Comedy describes a real underground initiation ritual, probably beneath the streets of Florence. He traces this tradition from the ancient mystery schools of Greece and Rome through the Knights Templar, whose persecution Dante reportedly witnessed and condemned. Along the way he touches on Dante's occultist mentor Brunetto Latini, Sufi influences on the poem, and a claim that Pope John Paul II embraced occult teachings.