Book picks similar to
H.P. Blavatsky, on the Gnostics by Henk J. Spierenburg
esoteric-occult
gnosticism
theosophy
The Book of Druidry
Ross Nichols - 1990
The most comprehensive survey of Druidry available, from their earliest history to the current renaissance--including a study of the shaping of their ideas, their principal deities and myths, their learning and social organization, and more.
The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick - 1995
Non-fiction.
The Ra Contact: Teaching the Law of One: Volume 1
Donald Tully Elkins - 2018
We came to your peoples to enunciate the Law of One. We wished to impress upon those who wished to learn of unity that in unity all paradoxes are resolved; all that is broken is healed; all that is forgotten is brought to light.”
For thousands of years those of Ra have sought to teach the Law of One to seekers of truth on Earth who wished to learn of the unity or oneness of all things. This basic law of all creation is buried deep within each of our hearts because we really are one in love and in light, the building blocks of the universe. We are all manifestations of the One Infinite Creator. We are the Creator. We are not learning this law for the first time but are remembering it yet again as all mystics have taught throughout Earth’s history. Our journey of self-realization is the discovery or remembrance of this essential truth, our essential identity. A waking up, as some have called it, within an illusion of separation. Don Elkins and Carla L. Rueckert worked together for 12 years to perfect the channeling process and receive philosophical inspiration and guidance from extraterrestrial sources. When Jim McCarty joined them in 1980 they began to receive a new and unique type of channeling contact from those of Ra. Through this contact, Ra shared information to help seekers of truth deepen their awareness and acceptance of self and other, and to help Earth move into the emerging fourth density of love and understanding. This book is the transcript from the recording of that conversation between the Questioner and Ra. Through questions & answers, the metaphysical blueprint of spiritual evolution is explored, from the microcosm to the macrocosm, from the particulars of life on this planet to the life of the cosmos, to the possibilities of healing, transformation, and self-realization for spiritual seekers and wanderers. * * * * * * * * * The Ra Contact: Teaching the Law of One Volume 1 contains Ra contact sessions 1–56. As with all L/L Research material, this book can be read for free in PDF form on the archive website www.llresearch.org.
Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality
Gary Lachman - 2012
At last, there is a full, comprehensive biography on the woman who founded the Theosophical Society, wrote the most influential occult book ever (The Secret Doctrine) and helped introduce Eastern and esoteric spiritual ideas to the modern West. Acclaimed spiritual biographer Gary Lachman (who was also a founding member of the rock band Blondie and is an inductee in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) follows up his book "Jung the Mystic" with this concise new biography that examines the controversial life and legacy of the influential thinker and one of the most polarizing pioneers of modern alternative spirituality--Madame Blavatsky--the Mother of Modern Spirituality.
The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Spectacular Death of the Medieval Cathars
Stephen O'Shea - 2000
Chronicles the life & death of the Cathar movement, led by a group of heretical Christians whose brutal suppression by the Catholic Church unleashed the Inquisition.
Gravity
Sarah Deming - 2019
S. King meets Chris Crutcher in boxing journalist Sarah Deming's YA novel about a young female boxer who learns to fight for what she wants.
When Gravity Delgado walks into Cops 'n Kids, a no-frills Brooklyn boxing gym, and starts working with the legendary Coach Thomas, she joins a true melting pot of fighters. There's the flirtatious Lefty (a southpaw), hard-to-beat D-Minus ("They call me D-Minus 'cause I'm all you need"), artistic Kimani "Monster" Browne, and a host of others. At the gym, Gravity finds the unexpected: the father she's never had in her coach, not one but two romantic prospects, and, most importantly, a love and skill for boxing. If she can stay focused, despite her troubled home life, she might just have a shot at the Olympics.With each blow, each jab, and each punch, Sarah Deming draws her readers into the gritty and inspiring world of Gravity Delgado, a Jewish Dominican teenager growing up in Brooklyn and aspiring for greatness.
Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind
Frank Jude Boccio - 1993
This groundbreaking book introduces an entirely new form of yoga, Mindfulness Yoga, which seamlessly integrates the Buddha's teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with traditional asana yoga practice. Mindfulness Yoga emphasizes the spiritual side of yoga practice, an aspect often overlooked in a culture that tends to fixate solely on the physical benefits of yoga. Unlike any other Buddhism-meets-yoga book, Mindfulness Yoga presents the two disciplines as a single practice that brings health to the body and liberates the mind and spirit, awakening compassion and fostering equanimity and joy. Mindfulness Yoga will appeal to the many people who have an interest in yoga, Buddhism, and meditation, but who may not have been able to find a teacher who could bring these practices together in a meaningful, practical way. In the first part of the book, author Frank Jude Boccio offers a superb and lively introduction to the Buddha's teachings and locates them within the larger context of the Indian spiritual traditions. Then, in the second half of the book, Boccio offers three complete Mindfulness Yoga sequences, including over 100 pictures, with detailed guidance for body, breath, and mind. Special lay-flat binding makes this book even more useful as a practice aid.
A History of Secret Societies
Arkon Daraul - 1961
Here is a unique study of such societies from earliest recorded times to the present, along with an analysis of their forms, rituals, and beliefs. The author has traveled extensively to gather documentation. The Charcoal Burners of Italy, the Castrators of Russia, the Old Man of the Mountains, and the Gnostics are but a few of the many described.
Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity
Loren R. Graham - 2009
Athos, Greece, to haul off monks engaged in a dangerously heretical practice known as Name Worshipping. Exiled to remote Russian outposts, the monks and their mystical movement went underground. Ultimately, they came across Russian intellectuals who embraced Name Worshipping--and who would achieve one of the biggest mathematical breakthroughs of the twentieth century, going beyond recent French achievements.Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor take us on an exciting mathematical mystery tour as they unravel a bizarre tale of political struggles, psychological crises, sexual complexities, and ethical dilemmas. At the core of this book is the contest between French and Russian mathematicians who sought new answers to one of the oldest puzzles in math: the nature of infinity. The French school chased rationalist solutions. The Russian mathematicians, notably Dmitri Egorov and Nikolai Luzin--who founded the famous Moscow School of Mathematics--were inspired by mystical insights attained during Name Worshipping. Their religious practice appears to have opened to them visions into the infinite--and led to the founding of descriptive set theory.The men and women of the leading French and Russian mathematical schools are central characters in this absorbing tale that could not be told until now. Naming Infinity is a poignant human interest story that raises provocative questions about science and religion, intuition and -creativity.
The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality
Bernardo Kastrup - 2019
The Idea of the World offers a grounded alternative to the frenzy of unrestrained abstractions and unexamined assumptions in philosophy and science today. This book examines what can be learned about the nature of reality based on conceptual parsimony, straightforward logic and empirical evidence from fields as diverse as physics and neuroscience. It compiles an overarching case for idealism - the notion that reality is essentially mental - from ten original articles the author has previously published in leading academic journals. The case begins with an exposition of the logical fallacies and internal contradictions of the reigning physicalist ontology and its popular alternatives, such as bottom-up panpsychism. It then advances a compelling formulation of idealism that elegantly makes sense of - and reconciles - classical and quantum worlds. The main objections to idealism are systematically refuted and empirical evidence is reviewed that corroborates the formulation presented here. The book closes with an analysis of the hidden psychological motivations behind mainstream physicalism and the implications of idealism for the way we relate to the world.
Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism
Richard Smoley - 2006
Richard Smoley, an expert in esoteric Christianity, traces the Gnostic legacy from its ancient roots in the Gospel of Thomas, discovered in Egypt; early 2nd-century Gnostic communities of the Roman Empire & the Manichaeans of Central Asia. He tracks how the Gnostic impulse was publicly repressed but survived underground in various forms of Christianity, surfacing again in the Middle Ages with the Cathars, a mysterious group of heretics who inspired the medieval tradition of courtly love but were then wiped out by the Inquisition. Since then the Gnostic legacy has survived into the modern era with the help of Kabbalists, the Freemasonry of our founding fathers, Wm Blake's poetry, the intuitive insights of 19th-century Theosophists & the psychological work of C.G. Jung. Finally, we learn how some of their key teachings are being revived in Harold Bloom's criticism, the sf of Philip K. Dick & films like The Matrix & The Da Vinci Code. Why should Gnosticism exercise such a lasting fascination? Throughout most of Christian history, Gnosticism was the "forbidden faith," & such condemnation by the official Church might actually have served to endow the movement with glamour. But that explanation goes only so far. For the Gnostics to have such lasting appeal, it seems logical that they must offer solutions to some problems, solutions overlooked by mainstream religion. Forbidden Faith provides the enduring story & continuing legacy of those errant faithful who've had direct experiences of the divine that can't be explained by the official beliefs of the Church.
The Synthesis of Yoga
Sri Aurobindo - 1948
"Truth of philosophy is of a merely theoretical value unless it can be lived, and we have therefore tried in The Synthesis of Yoga to arrive at a synthetical view of the principles and methods of the various lines of spiritual self-discipline and the way in which they can lead to an integral divine life in the human existence." Index.
Occult London
Merlin Coverley - 2007
Unearthing the secret city and its forgotten inhabitants, this rediscovery encompasses a historical panorama from the Elizabethan age to the present day, introducing the magic of Dr. Dee and Simon Forman, the rise of the Kabbalah, and the occult designs of Wren and Hawksmoor. Elsewhere figures such as Spring-Heeled Jack and the Highgate Vampyre, and occult organizations from the Invisible College to the Golden Dawn are explained and explored. Also included are instructions for a series of four walks covering features of occult significance for the Elizabethan, 18th-century, Fin de Siécle, and contemporary periods; as well as an A-to-Z geographic dictionary of London's most resonant occult locations.
Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?
N.T. Wright - 2006
The ancient manuscript is genuine-so what are Christians to make of the claims therein? Claims such as -Judas was doing what Jesus asked him to do when he betrayed Jesus -Jesus came to offer secret knowledge of how to escape this earthly world, rather than to usher in God's kingdom on earth -Jesus felt no pain on the cross -and more This timely and necessary response to the Gospel of Judas is the authoritative, orthodox word on what it really tells us--and does not tell us--about Jesus, Judas, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. Tom Wright, as both a bishop and an historian, is uniquely qualified to speak on the subject and answers the questions Christians have after encountering this "new gospel."
Curious Lives: Adventures from the Ferret Chronicles
Richard Bach - 2005
A collection of five novels featuring ferret protagonists, these are tales about courage, sacrifice, heroism, creativity, and finding what matters most in life.