Western Spirituality

Blending history, sociology and spirituality, Armstrong offers a compelling and compassionate study of a radical form of religious expression that is critically shaping the course of world history. Says The New York Times, "One of the most penetrating, readable, and prescient accounts of the fundamentalist movements in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."

A former nun, and a leading biblical and spiritual scholar, Armstrong in eight short chapters examines 2,000 years of biblical interpretation, exploring its conception, gestation and life of one of history's most powerful books.

One of the great works of spiritual literature, Attar's poem, a twelfth-century Persian masterpiece, here in prose translation, portrays in allegorical form the path that leads to the realization of the Truth. Says Coleman Barks, "Attar, along with Chaucer and Dante, is a great genius of community and how that involves the path toward enlightenment. We are these bird-beings searching for the source of what we are together."

This single volume is comprised of a rich and diverse collection of gnostic texts in a translation allowing the spirit of the original texts to shine forth. Says the Library Journal, "The selection of texts ranges across two millennia and various cultures." Says Publishers Weekly, "This book may well be the most comprehensive collection of gnostic texts ever gathered in one volume."
Remaindered copies; good condition, with no underlining.

A friend and collaborator of Guénon, Chacornac's is the first full-length biography and the foundation of later biographies which have appeared in French and English. Chacornac's bookstore and his journal Editions Traditionnelles were instrumental in furthering the work of a man who unflaggingly reaffirmed the values and principles which underlay spiritual tradition.

One of the giants of the Alchemical Renaissance of the early 17th century, Maier (1568–1622), a physician by training and alchemist by nature, is most known for his Atalania Fugiens and Themis Aurea, and his work with Dr. Robert Fludd and others. This biography traces his pursuit of alchemy as both a science and a metaphor for spiritual attainment, while analyzing all of his works, and demystifying many of the alchemical symbols and allusions contained in the texts.

Classic study of music as sacred art and its profound effects on the soul. D'Olivet was the first to restate Pythagoras' ideas of music.

Discovered in the late 1940s, this prodigious collection of long-hidden Gnostic texts (including the famous The Gospel According to Thomas) is the first complete survey of these sacred documents and their contents and the first full-scale appraisal of their significance. Jean Doresse, the only surviving witness of events leading to the find, is a scholar of the classics, Egyptology and Greek Papyrology, who led expeditions into Egypt and Ethiopia.

A detailed account of the history of the San Francisco Zen center, the first Buddhist monastery established outside of Asia, its incredible growth and melt-down in the wake of the sexual exploits and power games of Richard Baker, the charismatic, entrepreneurial and controversial dharma heir of the center's founder, the venerable Suzuki-roshi.

Working from rare documents, letters and archival photos, Dubois, author of several books in French on alchemical and hermetic studies, researches the esoteric milieu of Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the time of the great revival of alchemical tradition. She considers whether René Schwaller de Lubicz, Papus, Pierre Dujols, Eugene Canseliet or Jean-Julien Champagne could have been Fulcanelli, the mysterious author of two of the seminal alchemical works of that period, The Mystery of the Cathedrals and The Dwellings of the Philosophers.

Explains the symbology of Tarot cards with a list of Zodiacal, Enochian, Ceremonial, Goetic, Tattvic and Elemental components and how they relate.

Exploring the sexual rites of sacred traditions and reintroducing a world of ritual invocations and initiatory experiences, Evola shows how the possibilities of sexual energy can lead to expanded states of consciousness. Of particular interest are Tantric, Taoist, Kabbalistic and Islamic practices of transmutation of si 12.

Evola's final major work presents a powerful criticism of the idols, structures, theories and illusions of contemporary times. He sees everything that has come to predominate in the modern world as the direct antithesis of Tradition, in which society is ruled by principles that transcend the merely human and transitory. Only the individual, he says, who can transform destructive processes into inner liberation can "Ride the Tiger."

A brilliant and controversial Italian esoteracist, Evola reveals the ancient sources of the legend so central to Western mythology and culture. Its main features are from an older tradition analogous to the great heroic sagas and cycles of the Nordic tribes, and the Grail itself is a symbol of initiation.

Drawing upon many rare books and manuscripts, this highly illustrated work traces Hermes' origin and how he became a patron of esoteric tradition.

Contents of Volume Three:
Michael Schneider—"Harmony Made Visible"
Arthur Versluis—"The Alchemy of Art"
Pete Ramus—"A Note Against the Aristotelians"
Lee Irwin—"The Divine Sophia"
Shawn Eyer—"The Strange Case of the Secret Gospel According to Mark"
Michael Hornum—"Knowledge, Reason and Ethics: A Neoplatonic Perspective"
Dianne Skafte—"Delphi's Enduring Message"
Anthony Rooley—"The Invisible College"
Jane Leade—"The School of Wisdom"
Ignacio Gotz—"The Teaching Mission of Socrates"
Oliver Perrin—"Reflections on the Tarocchi of Mantegna"
Peter Lamborn Wilson—"Speaking in Hieroglyphics"
Karen-Claire Voss—"Three Exemplars of the Esoteric Tradition in the Renaissance"
David Fideler—"Astronomy, Contemplation, and the Objects of Celestial Desire"

Contents of Volume Five:
Joseph Meeker—"Dante and the Comic Way"
David Fideler—"Science's Missing Half"
Theodore Roszak—"Nature and Nature's God: Modern Cosmology and the Rebirth of Natural Philosophy"
F. David Peat—"Creativity: The Meeting of Apollo and Dionysus"
David Ulansey—"Mithras and the Hypercosmic Sun"
Jeffrey Raff—"Jung and the Alchemical Imagination"
Ralph Abraham—"Chaos and the Millennium"
Robert Apatow—"Socrates and the Art of Dialogue"
Amy Ione—"Science: Method, Myth, Metaphor?"

The first English translation of a seminal and controversial work—Schwaller de Lubicz claims Fulcanelli stole it from him (see Al-Kemi)—which reveals how the hidden code of alchemy was displayed in the porches, facades, cosmic figures and emblems of Europe's Gothic Cathedrals for the past 700 years.

Focuses especially on the role that light, metaphysical and otherwise, played in the life of St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.), who endlessly explored the permutations of light imagery.

The so-called "third Rosicrucian manifesto," first published in 1616, is a deeply interior work focused on self-transformation. It invites the reader to enter a world of symbols and walk with Christian Rosenkreutz along his path of transformation. This is the first contemporary English translation of this central document.

Beginning with Plato's creation myth from Timaeus, Godwin draws on classical, Christian, Jewish and Muslim sources to trace the history of the concept that the whole cosmos, with its circling planets and stars, is in some way a harmonious or musical entity. More than half of the 52 texts have been translated into English for the first time and include long passages on the subject from the Venetian Kabbalist Francesco Giorgi and the great Renaissance philosophers Kircher, Fludd, Kepler and Mersenne, as well as the German Pythagoreans Peter Singer and Albert von Thimus. This is an essential resource for those with an interest in the spiritual dimensions of music.

A prelude to his magnum opus, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, Guénon brilliantly and concisely critiques the Western deviation—its loss of tradition, exaltation of action over knowledge, rampant individualism and general social chaos—that will lead to the 'age of darkness' that precedes the end of the present world.

Diagnoses the fundamental "abnormality" of Western civilization compared to traditional societies of the East and offers avenues of reorientation toward fundamental principles largely abandoned.

The last book to appear during his lifetime (1886–1951), this is Guénon's most comprehensive exposition of the science of Alchemy. The 'Great Triad,' defined as Heaven-Man-Earth, is a cosmological and metaphysical doctrine which Guénon traces through Chinese Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhist, Hermetic and Masonic teachings.

Addressing the role of sacred languages and the principle of initiation in the Christian tradition, Guénon then examines esoteric themes and organizations such as the Holy Grail, Guardians of the Holy Land, the Sacred Heart, Fedeli d'Amore and 'Courts of Love,' and the secret language of Dante. He closes with a lengthy study on St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

One of Guénon's most controversial books, it was written in response to Ferdinand Ossendowski's Men, Beasts and Gods, whose closing chapters concerning the "King of the World" and Agartha, his subterranean kingdom.

This is Guénon's central exposition of traditional metaphysics, companion to his two other great works in this genre—The Symbolism of the Cross and The Multiple States of Being. Guénon held that Hinduism embraces the most ancient, profound and comprehensive expression of traditional metaphysics we possess, which can in some ways function as a key to every other traditional form. To this day, it remains one of the best expositions of the doctrines of the Vedānta.

Published just five years before Guénon's death in 1951, it focuses on questions regarding the nature of limits and the infinite with respect to the calculus both as mathematical discipline and as symbolism for the initiatory path. It extends and complements the geometrical symbolism he employs in other works, especially The Symbolism of the Cross, The Multiple States of the Being, and Symbols of Sacred Science.

Provides indispensable points of reference for anyone attempting to distinguish between 'initiatic,' 'pseudo-initiatic,' and 'counter-initiatic' spiritualities. Makes a distinction between initiatic and mystical paths and the dangers and barrenness of syncretism and the often dire consequences of fostering 'psychic powers.'

The masterwork of the great pneumatic thinker and a luminary of the twentieth century, Guénon issues a comprehensive critique of the antitraditional stance of the modern world and where it must lead. Chapters include: The Solidification of the World; The Fissures in the Great Wall; Shamanism and Sorcery; Deviation and Subversion; The Inversion of Symbols; and The Great Parody, or Spirituality Inverted.

Packed with arcane facts, Guénon reveals and interprets the phenomena of Spiritism, real or alleged. His accompanying doctrinal expositions offer prescient insight into the modern mind's many deviations and "psychological," particularly its many brands of New Age "therapy' to which he offers a much needed corrective.

Analysis of the relationship between royal and sacerdotal power in accordance with the Hindu doctrine of Manvantara and Plato's depiction of historical degeneration in the Republic, Guénon views history as a series of revolts of lower castes against the higher. When the nadir of lawful historical degeneration is reached, a new cycle begins, that of the dawning of the Heavenly Jerusalem—spiritual Knowledge.

A major doctrinal study of the central symbol of Christianity from the standpoint of the metaphysical tradition. The cross is one of the most universal of all symbols and is far from belonging to Christianity alone.

Unveils the cosmological meanings of root symbols focusing on The Center of the World, Cyclic Manifestation, Symbolic Weapons, Axial Symbolism and the Symbolism of Passage, Symbolism of Building and Symbolism of the Heart. With a masterful metaphysical exposition, Guénon lays the foundation for a universal esoteric symbology demonstrating the fundamental unity of the images with which the Absolute clothes itself in its cosmic self-revelation.

A devastating and detailed critique of Mme Blavatsky's Theosophical Society and its antecedents. Included is Rudolf Steiner's breakaway Anthroposophy movement. An unusual feature is the extensive treatment of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and other occult systems.

Focuses on a study on cosmic cycles beginning with the Hindu doctrine of Manvantara and considering those of Egyptian Hermeticism, Greco-Roman antiquity, the Kabbal, Sufis, Ismailis, Hopi, Lakota and Maya nations. As earlier ages differed qualitatively from ours, this may explain why our historicism and archaeology have yet to truly access those of "Hyperborea" and "Atlantis." Guénon transmits the requisite sense of these earlier times which may awaken the intuition of higher levels of Being.

Porphyry (circa 233–305 B.C.E.), a disciple of Plotinus, was a brilliant philosopher in his own right. Given here is a summary of his teachings with an emphasis on the nature of incorporeal principles in the realm of Mind and Spirit. Also included are fragments of Porphyry and other Neoplatonic philosophers on the nature of the soul.

Largest collection of Pythagorean writings to ever appear in English. Many of Gurdjieff's teachings on music and numbers can be found in Pythagoras.

An esoteric masterpiece, Ibsen wrote and published it in 1867. It is his last work to use verse as a medium of dramatic expression but carries the marks of his later prose plays in terms of its spare, dramatically eloquent dialogue. Peer Gynt's literary antecedents include Faust and the stories of Hans Andersen.

A Scientologist since he was seven years old, Headley joined its Sea,Org, its elite paramilitary organization when he was 16 years old. After 15 years of working 100 hour work weeks and being paid 50 cents an hour, he made a dramatic escape from Scientology's heavily guarded, 500 acre compound deep in the California desert.

The Clavis, or 'Key,' of Boehme is a condensed version of the principal points of his mystical philosophy. An unschooled shoemaker, Boehme experienced an intense vision of the spiritual world. To communicate his mystical perceptions, he found Paracelsian alchemical ideas and Hermetic imagery useful. Here Law, who has translated Boehme's complete works (primarily written in 1612–1624), gives Boehme's "Illustration of the Deep Principles," which features 13 emblematic figures designed by Dionysius Freher.

Best available introduction to the study of the monochord and tuning theory in the Pythagorean tradition by an important second century philosopher. Flora Levin's commentary brings the ancient text to life and explains the meaning of harmony.

Former Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts in the British Museum and the British Library, Martin Lings sees Shakespeare's plays as going well beyond the workings of the human psyche, transcending both age and time to reveal the sacred vision which mirrors the inner drama of the journey of all souls to its final mystic union with the Divine Spirit.

Pulitzer prize winning playwright David Mamet—author of such plays as Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo—follows Marlowe and Goethe in exploring the legendary tale of Dr. Faustus, the philosopher in pursuit of "the secret engine of the world," and his wager with the devil. In the many layered and resplendent language for which he is famous, Mamet marries the metaphysical to the con man's patter to pose deep questions about the time in which we live.

This is the first book exclusively dedicated to the mandala tradition in the West. Though long recognized in Eastern spiritual traditions for focusing meditation, mandalas have not generally been recognized as such in Western traditions except by those deeply schooled in Western esotericism. McLean, who has published over 40 books on alchemy or related subjects, presents and analyzes over 40 beautiful engravings, reproduced as full-page illustrations, from alchemical, kabbalistic, magical, Rosicrucian and Hermetic sources.

A beautifully illustrated synthesis of esoteric symbolism and universal correspondences, these most important documents from the 17th century renaissance of magical symbolism focus around the Rosicrucian movement. Designed by Johannes Theodorus de Bry, the master engraver who illustrated and published the works of Robert Fludd, Michael Maier and other leading alchemists of that period.

Published in 1617, one year after the appearance of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, it consists of 40 emblematic plates, each bearing a title, together with a verse from the Bible and two lines of Latin. Adam McLean elucidates the history of the text and the nature of its symbolism, arguing that it is a series of spiritual exercises for esoteric Christianity.

A constant theme in Biblical prophecy is that one day the long-lost Temple at Jerusalem, founded by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C.E., will be seen once more, greater and more splendid than before. This will inaugurate the Millennial process, leading to the reunion at Jerusalem of all the twelve tribes of Israel and finally to the reappearance of divine order upon Earth. With the recent discovery of the site of the Temple, this prophecy seems to some ripe for fulfillment. Through studies of the dimensions and street patterns of old Jerusalem, the noted author and scholar John Michell reveals the once and future Temple stamped with a clear message.

Discovering the writings of René Guénon, the writer became a Cistercian monk and, studying Dionysius the Areopagite, Eriugena, Eckhart, and even Dante, found there was no incompatibility between Christianity and Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism).

An original and learned inquiry into psychological dimensions, higher levels of understanding as they relate to time, eternal recurrence and man's integration. A noted British psychologist, once the close student of Carl Jung and later Ouspensky, Nicoll led Fourth Way groups until his death in 1953.

The first critical assessment of the life of Adi Da Samraj and his teachings. Born he said in the "Bright," with his kundalini risen after only a few years of practice, Franklin Jones had a breakthrough into the pointless point of view. Young, hip, articulate and funny, this first American-born guru had a meteoric rise, bringing him thousands of seekers until the sex scandals brought a public shaming and his withdrawal to a Fijian island hermitage where he, now Adi Da Samraj, announced he was God Incarnate.

William Patrick Patterson's newest book, Adi Da Samraj: Realized or/and Deluded, is the first evenhanded and detailed exploration of one of the most enigmatic, self-styled spiritual gurus of the last half of the 20th century. America's first young, hip guru, Adi Da Samraj, né Franklin Jones (1939–2008), self-proclaimed Avatar of Avatars, not only of this age but all ages to come, had a meteoric rise and subsequent fall after devotees went public with his crazy wisdom teaching of sex, drugs and alcohol.
       Totally committed to spiritual realization, Jones took only six years to realize Sahaj Samadhi, the pointless point of view. Preceding this was a copious use of drugs, and then contentious relations with his two teachers, Albert Rudolph ("Rudi," later Swami Rudranada), a former student of Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, and Swami Muktananda.
       Intuiting that everyone unconsciously lived the Narcissus myth of separation and denial as he had, Jones founded what he believed was a radical new teaching combining elements of Kundalini Yoga, Fourth Way, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta along with the acceptance of himself as God incarnate. To break through the narcissism that blocked devotees' spiritual realization, he persuaded them to enter into sexually shocking situations with himself and each other. Though experience proved this method hurt far more than helped, Adi Da insisted on what he called "sexual theatre," later renamed "sexual communion," until his last days on the remote Fijian island hermitage to which he had withdrawn.
       After tracing Adi Da's life from beginning to end, Patterson gives a penetrating analysis of the key concepts of the teaching before coming to the heart of the question—How can someone be realized at the highest level and act this way with his devotees? Adi Da always maintained that realization does not destroy "the person," so just who was his "person"? From a careful reading of Adi Da's books, Patterson gleans an assemblage of facts pointing to a hidden wound that usurped Adi Da's realization for its own ends, giving an archetypal example of "wrong crystallization." The esoteric and spiritual questions Adi Da Samraj—Realized or/and Deluded raises are acutely seminal and ones every seeker and adept needs to long ponder.
        —The Gurdjieff Journal

Since Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, readers have wondered about his sources. Here, shown concept-by-concept, is the primary source of Castaneda's ideas—Gurdjieff's Fourth Way. Also explored are don Juan's true identity, the meaning of Castaneda's "jump into the abyss," the life of the Nagual and his witches. Also included in full is the first reference to Nagualism, anthropologist Daniel Brinton's essay "Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folklore and History" written in 1894.

"Although inclined to skepticism about Castaneda, I found myself reading The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda with total fascination. As it tells just about everything, I imagine this will be the definitive book on Castaneda."
—Colin Wilson, author, The Outsider and The Occult

"Patterson brings original insight into the forces and influences that formed Castaneda's sorceric adventure. Particularly interesting are the role of Anaïs Nin and the revelation of the source of many of Castaneda's supposedly sorceric ideas."
—Mary Ellen Korman, author, A Woman's Work: The Life of Ethel Merston

"A must read for anyone who has followed Carlos on his extraordinary journey. The way William Patrick Patterson expounds on Carlos' teachings is astounding!"
—Margaret Runyan, author, A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda

"This is the most brilliant and insightful rendering to date of the 'Ultimate Impeccable Warrior,' Carlos Castaneda, my father."
—C.J. Castaneda

 

Chronology, notes, index, appendices, 290 pp.

Only complete philosophical textbook surviving the ancient world and only fully-preserved work of Platonism from the time of Plato to Plotinus.

A leading participant in the Theosophical movement, Rudolf Steiner tells of the movement's origins in spiritualism and somnambulism, and gives his version of the relationship between Theosophy and Anthroposophy.

The sage of Samos, initiate of the mysteries and transmitter of ancient wisdom, Pythagoras was a pivotal figure in all Western philosophy and esoteric thought. This classic gives not only the life of the sage but excerpts of his teachings on harmonic science, dietetic medicine, friendship, and the soul's former lives. It also includes fragments of his ethical writings and a collection of his sentences. Thomas Taylor is widely acclaimed for his authoritative translations of the Platonists.

Founding the School of Economic Science based on the economic principles of the American economist Henry George, the irrepressible and always controversial Leon MacLaren later adopted the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky before finally encompassing Advaita Vedanta.

Full-color lexicon with text of occult imagery drawn from the traditions of alchemy, astrology, Tarot, Kabbalah, magic, Tantric sexuality and visionary art.

A neuroscientist whose research extends to behavior, memory and awareness, Zeman makes a difficult subject readily understandable. First giving a ground plan of consciousness and a detailed look at the brain, he then focuses on two key areas of neuroscience which illuminate the basis of awareness: sleep and waking, and sight. Final chapters survey current theories of awareness and pioneering attempts to explain how the brain gives rise to consciousness.