Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief by Wolfgang Smith

In the present work, Wolfgang Smith presents an insider’s critique of the scientific world-view based upon the sharp but often overlooked distinction between scientific truth and scientistic faith. With elegance and clarity he demonstrates that major tenets promulgated in the name of Science are not in fact scientific truths but rather scientistic speculations – for which there is no evidence at all. Step by step the reader is led to the astonishing realization that the specifically ‘modern’ world is based intellectually upon nothing more substantial than a syndrome of Promethean myths. But this is only half of what the book accomplishes. Its primary contribution is to recover and reaffirm the deep metaphysical and religious insights that have come down to us through the traditional wisdom. And herein lies the true worth of this remarkable treatise: having broken the grip of scientistic presuppositions, the author succeeds admirably in bringing to view great truths that had long been obscured.

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The Quantum Enigma: Finding the Hidden Key by Wolfgang Smith

Following the overthrow of the classical world picture by the findings of quantum mechanics, physicists have proposed a broad gamut of alternative world views. This book begins with the major recognition that each of these suffers from a certain 'residual Cartesianism' that has been smuggled in unconsciously. It turns out that the moment one discards this hidden and problematic premise, quantum theory begins to 'make sense' in a way that it never has before. As the author shows, it is now possible, for the first time, to integrate the findings of quantum physics into a world view that is neither forced nor ad hoc, but conforms to the permanent intuitions of mankind. Surprisingly, this treatise can be read not only by scientists, but also by readers unacquainted with the technical conceptions of physics or the quantum-reality literature.

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The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

The headlines are filled with the politics of Islam, but there is another side to the world’s fastest-growing religion. Sufism is the poetry and mysticism of Islam. This mystical movement from the early ninth century rejects worship motivated by the desire for heavenly reward or the fear of punishment, insisting rather on the love of God as the only valid form of adoration. Sufism has made significant contributions to Islamic civilization in music and philosophy, dance and literature. The Sufi poet Rumi is the bestselling poet in America. But in recent centuries Sufism has been a target for some extremist Islamic movements as well as many modernists. The Garden of Truth presents the beliefs and vision of the mystical heart of Islam, along with a history of Sufi saints and schools of thought. In a world threatened by religious wars, depleting natural resources, a crumbling ecosystem, and alienation and isolation, what has happened to our humanity? Who are we and what are we doing here? The Sufi path offers a journey toward truth, to a knowledge that transcends our mundane concerns, selfish desires, and fears. In Sufism we find a wisdom that brings peace and a relationship with God that nurtures the best in us and in others. Noted scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr helps you learn the secret wisdom tradition of Islam and enter what the ancient mystics call the “garden of truth.” Here, liberate your mind, experience peace, discover your purpose, fall in love with the Divine, and find your true, best self.

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The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times by Rene Guenon

The Reign of Quantity gives a concise but comprehensive view of the present state of affairs in the world, as it appears from the point of view of the ‘ancient wisdom’, formerly common both to the East and to the West, but now almost entirely lost sight of. The author indicates with his fabled clarity and directness the precise nature of the modern deviation, and devotes special attention to the development of modern philosophy and science, and to the part played by them, with their accompanying notions of progress and evolution, in the formation of the industrial and democratic society which we now regard as ‘normal’. Guénon sees history as a descent from Form (or Quality) toward Matter (or Quantity); but after the Reign of Quantity-modern materialism and the ‘rise of the masses’-Guénon predicts a reign of ‘inverted quality’ just before the end of the age: the triumph of the ‘counter-initiation’, the kingdom of Antichrist. This text is considered the magnum opus among Guénon’s texts of civilizational criticism, as is Symbols of Sacred Science among his studies on symbols and cosmology, and Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta among his more purely metaphysical works.

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The Multiple States of the Being by Rene Guenon

This text, René Guénon’s most comprehensive work of ‘pure’ metaphysics, is written as if nothing at all is, but That which is in its own essence. And, in truth, what else is there? Being is multiple and comprises many states, both manifest and unmanifest; but the unmanifest has precedence, what is seen being effectively nothing in the face of what is not seen. To realize this is to realize the contingency of the human state and the set of its inherent possibilities; to realize the contingency of the human state is to be liberated from it; to be liberated from the human state is to assimilate the principle by which the being can be liberated from all states. This is the end of the spiritual life, and also of the human form: ‘end’ both as telos and as annihilation. And since all beings in manifestation exist equally and simultaneously in all the planes and states of the Unmanifest, to know Infinite Possibility is precisely to become what one is. Whatever else Guénon wrote, as mystagogue, hermeneut, critic of the modern world, emanated from and existed to support the realization of only This.

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The Crisis of the Modern World by René Guénon

It is no longer news that the Western world is in a crisis, a crisis that has spread far beyond its point of origin and become global in nature. In 1927, Reni Guinon responded to this crisis with the closest thing he ever wrote to a manifesto and ‘call-to-action’. The Crisis of the Modern World was his most direct and complete application of traditional metaphysical principles-particularly that of the ‘age of darkness’ preceding the end of the present world-to social criticism, surpassed only by The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, his magnum opus. In the present work Guinon ruthlessly exposes the ‘Western deviation’: its loss of tradition, its exaltation of action over knowledge, its rampant individualism and general social chaos. His response to these conditions was not ‘activist’, however, but purely intellectual, envisioning the coming together of Western intellectual leaders capable under favorable circumstances of returning the West to its traditional roots, most likely via the Catholic Church, or, under less favorable ones, of at least preserving the ‘seeds’ of Tradition for the time to come.

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Erotism: Death and Sensuality by Georges Bataille

If I had to pick one book for the Bataille newbie, it would be this one. *Erotism* puts forth the crux of Georges Bataille's critical thought in what is its clearest and most forthright expression. Here the man once called "the theoretician of evil" lays out for the educated layman his controversial and challenging views of the interrelationship of sexuality, violence, taboo, suffering, mysticism, and death. Most of the major ideas found in Bataille's more complicated philosophical works such as *The Accursed Share* are distilled here, as well as the philosophical underpinning of the infamous novels *Madame Edwarda* and *The Dead Man.*

Bataille is always perversely entertaining, if sometimes frustrating, having a facility to cast even the most lurid subjects in a language that can render pornography intellectually impenetrable. The problem is partly due to the fact that Bataille's main concern is to elucidate what he calls "extreme states of being," those experiences at the very limit of human possibility such as orgasm, visions, and death--phenomenon that philosophy has traditionally left out of the equation when considering human life. Because these extreme experiences are often irrational--or transcend rationality, as Bataille would prefer it--they usually fall outside the natural scope of philosophy, as well as language itself. Bataille, who tries to write about these inner states on the outer edge, can only do so by ultimately failing, which he readily acknowledges is necessarily the fate of anyone who tries to express the inexpressible.

In *Erotism,* Bataille, for the most part, confines himself to saying what can be said before it becomes unspeakable and that's what makes this book so much more readable than most of his other texts. Taboo as that which sets us apart from the animal and yet is meant to be transgressed in order that we may know the sacred. Sacrifice as a communal "crime" by which we contemplate the deathless state of continuity that is death itself. Work as the dike that keeps humanity from being swept away in a flood of sex and violence. Bataille follows the red thread that zig-zaggedly stitches together man's age-old fascination with sexual transgression and violent death. From the cave paintings of prehistory to the novels of Sade, from Saint Theresa's pseudo-sexual ecstasy to the Kinsey Report, the result is a wide-ranging and fascinating re-interpretation of the religious instinct in man from the point of view of our mortal obsession with filth and degradation. What Bataille has wrought is a philosophy of "evil" that itself is a thing of transgression, overturning much of what we thought we knew about morality, love, civilization, god, and all the rest of it, but most of all ourselves.

A sort of primer to Bataille, *Erotism* can be used as a skeleton key to access the treasures locked away in his more inaccessible works. A must-read for any philosophically inclined renegade interested in sex and death, *Erotism* justifies your morbid penchant for the corrupt and obscene. You really shouldn't have another orgasm without being cognizant of the insights to be found in this life-warping and mind-bending book.

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Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Excellent resource for the Lacanian scholar, if you are looking specifically at abjection.  Don't be abjected even further than you already are, read this book and allow Kristeva's language to take you on a hallucinatory journey to the limits of symbolization. The act of reading this book can be, at times, an exercise in facing/coping with abjection. If you're patient, go slow, and finally understand thirty percent of this book, you'll be leagues ahead of most intellectuals out there.

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Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia by Peter Knight

Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive, research-based, scholarly study of the pervasiveness of our deeply ingrained culture of conspiracy. From the Puritan witch trials to the Masons, from the Red Scare to Watergate, Whitewater, and the War on Terror, this encyclopedia covers conspiracy theories across the breadth of U.S. history, examining the individuals, organizations, and ideas behind them. Its over 300 alphabetical entries cover both the documented records of actual conspiracies and the cultural and political significance of specific conspiracy speculations.

Neither promoting nor dismissing any theory, the entries move beyond the usual biased rhetoric to provide a clear-sighted, dispassionate look at each conspiracy (real or imagined). Readers will come to understand the political and social contexts in which these theories arose, the mindsets and motivations of the people promoting them, the real impact of society's reactions to conspiracy fears, warranted or not, and the verdict (when verifiable) that history has passed on each case.

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Music of the Sky: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry by Patrick Laude & Barry McDonald

The anthology which you hold in your hands contains poems from many different religious traditions. Although many books have been written about the meaning of poetry, since the advent of modernism early in the last century, most students of literature are quite willing to believe that a poem can take on just about any form imaginable. From surrealism to objectivism, we have seen many literary movements come and go. In all of them experimentation is admired, and originality is prized. Words are reveled in for their own sake, and every subject becomes fair game for the poet’s arrow.

Even translators of the poetry written by great saints and sages of the past, such as Rumi and Mirabai, seek to recast the intense rhymes and regular meters of the originals into a language which is more in conformity with contemporary blank verse, and some of these translators have gone so far as to suggest that the most appropriate medium for spiritual poetry is found in the informal and colloquial tones of modern American English. We thank the translators for making a good deal of these spiritual writings available to a wider reading public.

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A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus: And its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients by Richard Payne Knight

HAVING last made a curious discovery, that in a Province of this Kingdom, and not fifty miles from its Capital, a sort of devotion is still paid to PRIAPUS, the obscene Divinity of the Ancients (though under another denomination), I thought it circumstance worth recording; particularly, as it offers a fresh proof of the similitude of the Popish and Pagan Religion, so well observed by Dr. Middleton, in his celebrated Letter from Rome: and therefore I mean to deposit the authentic proofs of this assertion in the British Museum, when a proper opportunity shall offer. In the meantime I send you the following account, which, I flatter myself, will amuse you for the present, and may in future serve to illustrate those proofs. I had long ago discovered, that the women and children of the lower class, at Naples, and in its neighbourhood, frequently wore, as an ornament of dress, a sort of Amulets, (which they imagine to be a preservative from the mal occhii, evil eyes, or enchantment) exactly similar to those which were worn by the ancient Inhabitants of this Country for the very same purpose, as likewise for their supposed invigorating influence; and all of which have evidently a relation to the Cult of Priapus. Struck with this conformity in ancient and modern superstition, I made a collection of both the ancient and modern Amulets of this sort, and placed them together in the British Museum, where they remain. The modern Amulet most in vogue represents a hand clinched, with the point of the thumb thrust betwixt the index and middle finger.

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Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Centuries

This invaluable Rosicrucian resource includes explanations and exact reproductions of the original Rosicrucian symbols from the 16th and 17th centuries.

This book gets to the meaning behind all those mystical symbols of the 16th century. It is enough information to provide study and meditation material for a long time. It is more like a course of study than a book to read in a short time.

Book One
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Book Two
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The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich

In this classic study, Reich provides insight into the phenomenon of fascism, which continues to ravage the international community in ways great and small.

Drawing on his medical experiences with men and women of various classes, races, nations, and religious beliefs, Reich refutes the still generally held notion that fascism is a specific characteristic of certain nationalities or a political party ideology that is imposed on innocent people by means of force or political maneuvers. "Fascism on only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man's character. It is the basic emotional civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life."—Wilhelm Reich

Responsibility for the elimination of fascism thus results with the masses of average people who might otherwise support and champion it.

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Magick: Liber ABA (Book 4) by Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley devoted twenty-five years to writing and producing the four parts of this book. It is his magnum opus, in which he systematically expounds the mystical and magical theories and techniques taught in his magical orders, the AA and the O.T.O. This profusely illustrated new edition brings together the complete texts of all four parts of Liber ABA (Book 4) in one volume under the overall title Magick. This edition incorporates Crowley`s own additions, corrections, and annotations, and restores dozens of passages omitted from the first editions. Magick is the fundamental textbook of modern magick in the New on. It also has invaluable teachings for students of Yoga and meditation. Crowley mastered the practices of Yoga during his studies in the East, and writes about them lucidly, without recourse to the imprecise language of mysticism. Beginning with a discussion of the universal origin of world religions in mystical revelation, Magick then explores the theory and practice of mysticism and magick in the light of modern scientific thought. Crowley`s own revelation, The Book of the Law, is then treated as a case study, with an autobiographical study of events leading to its reception. Extensively cross-referenced and annotated, this edition features over 100 diagrams and photographs, as well as a glossary, bibliography, and detailed index. This second revised one-volume edition features revisions based on new typescripts for a more accurate text than all earlier editions, and it includes a revised AA curriculum, a new syllabus of the O.T.O. papers, and an important, previously-unpublished AA paper.

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Eight Lectures on Yoga by Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley was among the first Europeans to study, practice and teach Yoga. These lectures set forth some of Crowley's conclusions after a lifelong philosophical investigation. The first series of lectures is entitled 'Yoga for Yahoos.' The elements of Yoga are introduced, examined and demystified with a view to extracting the practical essence of Yoga doctrine. Yoga is also correlated with astrology and the Qabalah. The second series is entitled 'Yoga for Yellowbellies.' Here Crowley weaves Yoga into a conceptual framework the encompasses Western philosophy, magick and mathematical physics. All of these lectures are approached with humor, wit and a minimum of jargon.

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The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East by John M. Allegro

Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This book challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion. • The ancient fertility cult at the heart of Christianity • The living power of cultic rites and symbols • The sacred mushroom as the emblem and embodiment of divinity • The secret meaning of biblical myths • The language of religion that links us to our ancestors The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross sets out John Allegro's quest through a family tree of languages to find the truth about where Christianity came from.

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How to Make and Use Talismans by Israel Regardie

A TALISMAN IS any object, sacred or profane, with or  without appropriate inscriptions or symbols, uncharged or  consecrated by means of appropriate ritual magic or  meditation. Amongst other things it exerts an autosuggestive  effect on the wearer. It is made to serve a  specific end, to bring good fortune in some area of life, or  to achieve some specifically named goal. An amulet is in  effect no different, save that as a charm it is supposed to  be worn for protection against disease, sickness, ill-fortune,  or witchcraft. For the purpose of this manual, the  word talisman will be the preferred term. In passing, it  should be emphasized that I have no fundamental  objection to the theory of suggestion so long as it is  clearly understood that suggestion cannot implant in or  evoke from the psyche what is not already there.  Suggestion is evocative only of those psycho-spiritual  factors that are innate.

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The Tree of Life: An Illustrated Study in Magic by Israel Regardie

Israel Regardie wrote The Tree of Life, a book many consider his magnum opus, in 1932. It has continued to sell for decades. And no wonder. Up until the time this book was published, very little information about true high magic was available to the public.

In this book, Regardie reveals the secrets of real magic. He begins with an explanation of what magic is and, just as importantly, what magic is not. He explains that it is a spiritual study and practice which, along with forms of yoga, forms the two branches of the tree that is mysticism. Magic is not being a medium or a psychic. Then he explains the tools of the magician, what they mean, and how to use them. He explains the techniques of evocation and invocation, skrying, and astral travel. He shows how the Qabalah unites everything. He even gives a description of the secrets of sexual magick. All of this is in a clear, lucid writing style. This book is simply a must for anyone who is, or aspires to be, a real magician.

This book contains some of the finest occult writing that has ever been produced. And with the new material by the Ciceros, it becomes a must-have for any magician!

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The Jaguar Within: Shamanic Trance in Ancient Central and South American Art by Rebecca R. Stone

Shamanism is the practice of entering a trance state to experience visions of a reality beyond the ordinary and to gain esoteric knowledge has been an important part of life for indigenous societies throughout the Americas from prehistoric times until the present. Much has been written about shamanism in both scholarly and popular literature, but few authors have linked it to another significant visual realm art. In this pioneering study, Rebecca R. Stone considers how deep familiarity with, and profound respect for, the extra-ordinary visionary experiences of shamanism profoundly affected the artistic output of indigenous cultures in Central and South America before the European invasions of the sixteenth century.

Using ethnographic accounts of shamanic trance experiences, Stone defines a core set of trance vision characteristics, including enhanced senses, ego dissolution, bodily distortions, flying, spinning and undulating sensations, synaesthesia, and physical transformation from the human self into animal and other states of being. Stone then traces these visionary characteristics in ancient artworks from Costa Rica and Peru. She makes a convincing case that these works, especially those of the Moche, depict shamans in a trance state or else convey the perceptual experience of visions by creating deliberately chaotic and distorted conglomerations of partial, inverted, and incoherent images.

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Francis King - The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O. edited by Francis King

Some thirty-five years ago, before the public rise of the Caliphate O.T.O. in California, a djinni was let out of a bottle in Great Britain. It's a cryptic djinni, an incomplete djinni, a sometimes inaccurate djinni, one that has caused no end of arguments, deceptions, debates, and misinformed fools. Such are the natures of djinni, as any careful reading of the Tale of a Thousand Nights and a Night will inform.

In 1972, certain manuscripts were borrowed from private collections and copies of others alledgedly stolen from the Warburg collection were provided to Mr. Francis X. King, a researcher of no small fame in his native Great Britain, who had, among other things previously published a collection of the "Flying Rolls" of the Golden Dawn under the title of "Astral Projection, Ritual Magic, and Alchemy" and the decidedly more racy "Sexuality, Magic and Perversion." Mr. King's motives were supposedly genuine; he was reportedly trying to provide to modern students of the occult such rare and secret documents as he was able before they were lost, stolen, or locked away in private collections and rarely if ever to see the public light of day again. The end result, "The Secret Rituals Of The O.T.O." was published in a single edition by Samuel Weiser Books reportedly with a press run of 5,000 copies.

As I said, his motives were genuine: Mr. King used the best sources he had available to him, he used the best of his considerable skills and specialized knowledge of the subject to try and decrypt the odd abbreviations these manuscripts were plagued with, the hand-written notes on some of the scripts he was presented, and he presents the documents in question to the best of his not inconsiderable abilities. But his understanding of the subject in question was not perfect, and his sources were not always complete, reliable, or of the final draft for the ritual in question. So the book in question is not only incomplete, it is rife with mistakes.

Over the years, this book has been sought out by many would-be students of Aleister Crowley, who, for whatever reasons, try to discern the "secrets" of the Ordo Templi Orientis without submitting themselves to its initiatory mysteries. Perhaps it is the case as W.C. Fields noted in his biography, that a "stolen pie always tastes sweeter," and part of the glamour is that of the forbidden fruit. Whatever. This book is a tiresome read. It's like reading a straight script of a play or musical show-- the would-be student will find it's scripts inadequate and woefully short of stage-directions, songs, or dance-steps, the very sort of performance instructions that would give it life.

Any actor will tell you: Reading the script of "Hamlet" is hardly a substitute for seeing the play, let alone for actually acting the role in front of an audience. So too it is for "The Secret Rituals Of The O.T.O." It's no substitute, and will not communicate the secrets of the O.T.O. to the uninitiated, as if that was *ever* Mr. King's intention in the first place.

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Worship of the Generative Powers During the Middle Ages of Western Europe by Thomas Wright

The author presents this book on the origin and history of the worship of Priapus among the ancients. This worship, which was just a part of the generative powers, appears to have been the most ancient of the superstitions of the human race. It has prevailed more or less among all known peoples before the introduction of Christianity and so deeply it seems to have been implanted in the human nature that it continued to exist, accepted and often encouraged, by the medieval clergy. Illustrated throughout.

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A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

This book is the most comprehensive text ever published on yoga. It contains a complete course of 36 structured lessons on all the practices of integral yoga. The lessons were compiled from the teachings given by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and are useful as a practical and theoretical guide for all levels of yoga teachers and aspirants.

The book presents a synthesis of yoga in a scientific and systematic manner. The different branches of hatha yoga, mantra yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and kriya yoga are progressively introduced with special emphasis on practice, theory and application in daily life. Includes line drawings,diagrams and colour plates.

The techniques covered in this book have their basis in the ancient vedic (tantric and yogic) shastras and were handed over the centuries from guru to disciple.

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The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond the Brain by Julian Pepperell

Synthetic creativity, organic computers, genetic modification, intelligent machines - such ideas are deeply challenging to many of our traditional assumptions about human uniqueness and superiority. But, ironically, it is our very capacity for technological invention that has secured us so dominant a position in the world which may lead ultimately to (as some have put it) 'The End of Man'. The Posthuman Condition argues that such issues are difficult to tackle given the concepts of human existence that we have inherited from humanism, many of which can no longer be sustained.

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The Yogi and the Mystic: Studies in Indian and Comparative Mysticism by Karel Werner

Embraces a wide range of aspects of Indian mysticism, displaying the structural patterns in mystical experiences and the mystic paths in different traditions and schools, while there are also significant contributions to comparative mysticism, Eastern and Western. First published in 1989.

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Philosopher's Stone by Israel Regardie

Israel Regardie was an accomplished ceremonial magician, having studied under no less than Aleister Crowley, with heavy involvement in The Golden Dawn. He was also an accomplished alchemist, and associated with Frater Albertus, among other 20th century notables. Aside from his occult side, he was a practicing psychologist.

At one point in his magickal path, Regardie was convinced that alchemy was a thinly veiled psychological process, where the operations in traditional alchemy that purported to work on substances were really aimed at man's mind and spirit. This book was originally written during that period in Regardie's development. In this book he analyzes 3 traditional alchemical treatises, explaining how the operations they describe are really psychoanalytical in nature. He also adds analogies on how to map the different techniques into the Kabalah, another area in which he was very well versed.

Later in life, specifically after he began to work with Frater Albertus, Regardie changed his view and came to understand that alchemy and its source material are definitely aimed at practical, or laboratory, work. While an evolution of the alchemist at the same time that the gross matter he is working on evolves is a part of the alchemical practice, Regardie was wrong in excluding the practical aspects. This edition comes with a new foreword by Regardie where he plainly admits his earlier mistake.

He nonetheless chose not to change the material in the book as it still held validity, even if it was incomplete, and because he felt it could still be a boon to someone still at that earlier stage. Regardie's honesty in plainly admitting he was wrong is very refreshing, and a testament to a great man.

While this book is probably not for the common occultist, it will be of interest to anyone pursuing alchemy as well as to more advanced students of magick.

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The Middle Pillar: The Balance Between Mind and Magic by Israel Regardie

The classic book on working with the energy of the body for spiritual purposes, The Middle Pillar by Israel Regardie, is now more complete, more modern, more usable, and better than ever.

The exercise known as the Middle Pillar was devised by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Regardie expanded upon it and made it public over 60 years ago in the first edition of this book. Since that time, the exercise has been altered and adapted for just about any spiritual use you could think of. It is a mainstay of many Western traditions of magic.

Now in its third edition, The Middle Pillar is better than ever.  It has been edited by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, close friends of the late Regardie and senior Adepts of the Golden Dawn. They have also added new material in a separate section that more than doubles the size of the book with their valuable insights and knowledge.

* Includes the complete original text, with nothing eliminated
* Spelling has been standardized to Western traditions
* Each chapter now has a title to identify its content
* The Ciceros's notes to each chapter add insight and history to Regardie's work
* Modern and clearer illustrations have been added
* New, a further exploration of the relationship between magic and psychology
* New, more than five techniques to enhance relaxation
* New, the Middle Pillar and the Chakras * New, versions of the Middle Pillar exercise in Egyptian, Greek, and Gaelic
* New, a shamanic version of the Middle Pillar
* New, how to use the Middle Pillar to charge talismans and do healings

The Middle Pillar is now expanded to what it always should have been, a thorough, accessible examination and extension of the single ritual that has become the very embodiment of magic. Get The Middle Pillar and learn the real secrets of magic.

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Dictionary of Symbols by J. C. Cirlot

The unvarying essential meanings of around 1,000 symbols and symbolic themes commonly found in the art, literature and thought of all cultures through the ages are clarified. This is one of the most frequently used and most deeply pondered works of my permanent collection. It is, in my humble opinion, the best single volume on the subject of symbols and symbolism written in modern times.

Symbolism is a sacred way of looking at the outer world. It is a way of connecting the outer and inner worlds. A materialist sees, let's say an eagle, and simply sees a bird, while a symbolist sees an eagle and sees a message, a lesson, or a sermon. To the symbolist, the eagle also represents height, spirit, the sun, nobility, power, the lion of the air, etc. The symbolist doesn't totally ignore the materialist and mundane aspect of the eagle, he just realises that there is immeasurably MORE behind it.

The introduction of this book is an excellent essay of the symbolist mind-set. It covers symbolism in platonic thought, hermetism, renaissance thought, alchemy, heraldry, dream symbolism, as well as, the views of Goethe, Saunier, Bele, Guenon, Eliade, Scheider, and, of course, Jung.

The body of the book is in dictionary form with concise but comprehensive descriptions of topics from a historic and multi-cultural viewpoint. This is assisted by the many excellent line drawings, as well as, two sections of carefully chosen black and white photographs.

This is a book of correspondences, of resonance, of the common rythym that connects things with a higher, sacred place. You learn that there are immeasurable depths to creation- and that you have merely been skipping across the surface of that creation like a stone across deep waters.

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A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life by Israel Regardie

Long considered the best single introduction to the Qabalah for magicians, the third edition of Israel Regardie's A Garden of Pomegranates is now better than ever, thanks to the extensive annotations and new material by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero. Their work has made A Garden of Pomegranates easier to understand, more complete, and up to date. It now includes over 300 pages of never-before-published information from two Senior Adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

—Expands Regardie's definitive text into a practical manual for
    Qabalistic magic
—Includes pathworkings and guided visualizations for the 32 Paths of Wisdom
—Suggests a course of study for learning the Qabalah and incorporating its teachings into daily life
—Shows how to create your own personal Qabalistic mantra using gematria or Hebrew numerology
—Includes a technique for Rising on the Planes, so you can explore different Qabalistic worlds
—Features a Middle Pillar-style exercise for exploring and activating different parts of the soul
—Written by one of the most influential magical teachers of modern times and two of his
    personal students

The Qabalah is the ancient system of Hebrew mysticism that is the foundation of Western magical and esoteric studies. Its primary symbol is the Tree of Life, a diagram that can aid in the study of the nature of the Universe, the essence of God, and the human mind, spirit, and soul. A Garden of Pomegranates is the clearest introductory guide on this subject.

When Israel Regardie wrote A Garden of Pomegranates in 1932, he designed it to be a simple yet comprehensive guidebook outlining the complex system of the Qabalah and providing a key to its symbolism. Since then, it has achieved the status of a classic among texts on the Qabalah. The full annotations, critical commentary, and explanatory notes now make this book the ultimate single resource on the subject. The new material, including pathworkings, exercises, daily affirmations, rituals, meditations, and more, not only complement the original, full text included in this edition, but also make A Garden of Pomegranates indispensable for modern magicians.

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Ceremonial Magic by Israel Regardie

Proper working of ritual is at the heart of the Western magical tradition. This book shows exactly how ceremonial techniques can be used to concentrate and harness the enormous psychic and spiritual potential of human consciousness. Israel Regardie’s detailed analysis and description of key rituals are based on his own considerable experience and knowledge of Golden Dawn techniques. In addition to providing practical instructions he also links current occult practice to broader historical precedents. Includes the Opening of the Watchtower Ritual for Self Transformation.

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Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study

From the review:
Mathematics and the Divine seem to correspond to diametrically opposed tendencies of the human mind. Does the mathematician not seek what is precisely defined, and do the objects intended by the mystic and the theologian not lie beyond definition? Is mathematics not Man's search for a measure, and isn't the Divine that which is immeasurable ?

The present book shows that the domains of mathematics and the Divine, which may seem so radically separated, have throughout history and across cultures, proved to be intimately related. Religious activities such as the building of temples, the telling of ritual stories or the drawing of enigmatic figures all display distinct mathematical features. Major philosophical systems dealing with the Absolute and theological speculations focusing on our knowledge of the Ultimate have been based on or inspired by mathematics.

A series of chapters by an international team of experts highlighting key figures, schools and trains of thought is presented here. Chinese number mysticism, the views of Pythagoras and Plato and their followers, Nicholas of Cusa's theological geometry, Spinozism and intuitionism as a philosophy of mathematics are treated side by side among many other themes in an attempt at creating a global view on the relation of mathematics and Man's quest for the Absolute in the course of history.

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