These works were primarily written to allow anyone who desired to learn the inner mysteries without the assistance of a teacher to do so. Since such mysteries were once shrouded in secrecy and, in some cases, an oath by death if revealed. This knowledge was only available to a select few for centuries. It is implied (in Frabato the Magician) that Bardon was asked by Divine Providence to share the precious gifts that cost him his life with humanity.
Franz Bardon was the oldest of 13 children and the only son of Viktor Bardon, a devout Christian mystic. Despite the fact that his father had made some spiritual progress. He still felt he couldn’t obtain an advanced initiation and prayed for help. His prayers were said to be answered, and he was blessed with an advanced soul that entered the body of his son Franz to become Viktor’s initiator.
Later in life, Bardon became a stage magician, gaining some notoriety in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s under the stage name ‘Frabato.’
During World War II, he was captured by the Nazis who were aware of his occult abilities and tortured him in order to try and force him to demonstrate them. He refused and was imprisoned in a concentration camp as a result On the day of his execution, the Russians bombed the area of the concentration camp where he was being held, allowing him to escape unharmed. Bardon returned to Opava and continued his hermetic work until he was apprehended and imprisoned in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1958 and died in custody the following year..