Mária Szepes, born Magdolna Scherbak, was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, on 14 December 1908.
Mária Szepes was born on 14 December 1908 in Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, under the name Magdolna Scherbak. She would go on to become one of the most enduring and singular voices in twentieth-century Hungarian literature, celebrated for her esoteric novels, screenplays, poetry, and acting work.
Her birth came at a time of great cultural ferment in Budapest, a city that was then a vibrant center of Central European intellectual and artistic life. This environment would later shape her lifelong fascination with mysticism, alchemy, and the hidden spiritual dimensions of human existence, themes that came to define her most famous literary works.
Though her early years were marked by the turbulence of a rapidly changing Europe — including the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the aftermath of World War I, and the political instabilities that followed — Szepes would go on to survive multiple regimes, including Hungary's fascist and communist periods, ultimately living to see the fall of communism and the emergence of a new, democratic Hungary. Her extraordinary lifespan of nearly a century allowed her to become a living bridge between pre-war Central European esoteric traditions and the New Age spiritual movements of the late twentieth century.
Her birth in December 1908 marks the beginning of a life that would be defined by resilience, creative reinvention, and an unwavering devotion to spiritual and literary exploration, culminating in her renown as the 'grande dame' of Hungarian esotericism.
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