R.A. Gilbert - Chaos out of Order - the Rise and Fall of the Swedenborgian Rite

33 pages, 649 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137970117/9 ... _Rite.html



Thomas Sargant - The Freemason's manual



The Freemason's manual: contining the first, second and third degrees of freemasonry, embellished with symbolical illustrations, together with installation, consecration and dedication ceremonies, etc. : also, rules and regulations for masonic trials, forms for minutes, by-laws, &c.

273 pages, 14.7 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137975337/9 ... anual.html



George Oliver - Symbol of Glory Showing the Object and End of Freemasonry



Essays on the symbols of Freemasonry. Sample contents: Valedictory address; On the present state of the Masonic Science; On the poetry and philosophy of Masonry; On the doctrines contained in the Lodge lectures; Twelve definitions of the circle and parallel lines considered; Three great lights at the foot of the Masonic ladder explained, with a description of the ladder and its accompaniments; On the theological virtues and their application to Freemasonry; Inquiry into the true Masonic reference of the Blazing Star; General import of the Symbol of Glory.

414 pages, 8.57 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137978313/5 ... sonry.html



The Perfect Ceremonies of the Masonic Knights Templar, Knight of Malta, Mediterranean Pass and Rose Croix de Heredom



205 pages, 2.11 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137980806/7 ... redom.html



T. A. Howard - Fundamental Principles of Freemasonry



35 pages, 1.67 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137982218/2 ... sonry.html



The Masonic Instructor



Comprising the first, second and third degrees of freemasonry, embellished with symbolical illustrations and the tracing boards of the three degrees, also royal arch degree : adapted for the Dominion of Canada.

67 pages, 3.45 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/137983898/5 ... uctor.html



Robert Catlin Wright - Indian Masonry



Throughout the world we find amazing similarities between other peoples who use Masonic rituals and symbols. This book reveals the American Indian's use of Freemasonry. Contents: Brotherhood; Signs; Medicines; Beliefs and Ceremonies; The Number 4; Ojibwa Grand Medicine Lodge; Esoteric Societies of the Zuni; Comparisons; Pin Indians; Lessons; Epilogue. Illustrated.

147 pages, 1.82 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/138011177/2 ... sonry.html



Alexander Slade - The Free Mason Examin'd (1758)



An Authentick Account of all the Secrets of the Antient Society of Free-Mason s which have been handed down by' Oral Tradition only', from the Institution, to the present Time.

32 pages, 1.34 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/138013223/f ... 1758_.html



Arthur C. Parker - American Indian Freemasonry



"Beautiful thy meditations
In thy consecrated forests,
Fragrant in their odorous incense
When, though groping in the darkness,
Thou wert lifted up and strengthened,
In thy earnest firm endeavor,
Nearer drawn to one Great Spirit
In thy ardor of devotion!
Converse."

44 pages, 4.26 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/138026681/9 ... sonry.html



More from FREEMASONRY 4shared folder:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/12503234/b6f ... stvo_.html

Jonathan Ashe - The Masonic Manual or Lectures on Freemasonry



1843. Or lectures on Freemasonry: containing the instructions, documents and discipline, of the Masonic economy, with annotations and remarks. This volume is a manual to supply a summary of the principles and duties of the Brotherhood for lodges and individuals.

369 pages, 6.41 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/140538004/9 ... sonry.html



Paschal Donaldson - The Masonic Offering a Gift For All Seasons



1854. The editors of this volume have attempted to furnish a cluster of literature from the field of thought and feeling cultivated under the broad sheen of their cherished institutions, that shall be agreeable to the taste of the Masonic fraternity.

373 pages, 9.08 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/140549154/e ... asons.html



Leader Scott - The Cathedral Builders, The Story of a Great Masonic Guild



"With the breaking up of the College of Architects and their expulsion from Rome, we come upon a period in which it is hard to follow their path. Happily the task has been made less baffling by recent research, and if we are unable to trace them all the way much light has been let into the darkness. Hitherto there has been a hiatus also in the history of architecture between the classic art of Rome, which is said to have died when the empire fell to pieces, and the rise of Gothic art. Just so, in the story the builders one finds a gap of like length, between the Collegia of Rome and the cathedral artists. While the gap cannot, as yet be perfectly bridged, much has been done to that end by Leader Scott in The Cathedral Builders; The Story of a Great Masonic Guild - a book itself a work of art as well as of fine scholarship. Her thesis is that the missing link is to be found in the Magistri Comacini, a guild of architects who, on the break-up of the Roman Empire, fled to Comacina, a fortified island in Lake Como, and there kept alive the traditions of classic art during the Dark Ages; that from them were developed in direct descent the various styles of Italian architecture; and that, finally, they carried the knowledge and practice of architecture and sculpture into France, Spain, Germany and England. Such a thesis is difficult, and from its nature not susceptible of absolute proof, but the writer makes it as certain as anything can well be." Bro Joseph Fort Newton

630 pages, 21.6 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/140554083/1 ... Guild.html



Charles Whitlock Moore - The New Masonic Trestle-Board



1860. Partial Contents: Part One: Apron, Architecture; Arithmetic; Astronomy; Addresses; Badge of a Mason; Benediction; Candidates; Ceremonial Illustrations; Charges at Opening, Initiation; Closing; Common Gavel; Corner Stones; Emblems; Funeral Ceremonies; Geometry; Jewels; Lamb Skin; Ornaments; Plumb Line; Prayers; Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences; Second Degree; Third Degree; Trowel. Part II: The Degree of Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master; Royal Arch, Select Master; Installation of Councils; Order of High-Priesthood; Consecration and Dedication of Chapters; Encampment Orders; Knights of the Red Cross; Knights Templars, Knights of Malta.

233 pages, 8.21 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/140572349/1 ... Board.html

Robert W. Billings - Architectural Illustrations and Account of the Temple Church (1838)



Table of Contents:

Essay on the symbolic evidences of the Temple church. Were the Templars gnostic idolators as alleged? / by Edward Clarkson.
Historical account of the Temple church.
Description of the Temple church.
Description of the plates.

143 pages, 14.3 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/141909188/7 ... hurch.html



Augustus C.L. Arnold - Philosophical History of Free-masonry and Other Secret Societies



1854. The secret societies of all ages considered in their relations with and influence on, the moral, social and intellectual progress of man. Through them came the new revelations of life, which contributed to the progress of Humanity. Contents: Importance of this History; Providential Character of these Institutions; Egyptian Mysteries; Secret Institution of Orpheus; Initiation at Eleusis; Secret Order of Pythagoras; Templars; Freemasonry; Second Period of Masonic History; Present Position of the Order; Christianity and Freemasonry; Thomas Paine's Essay on Freemasonry, with Comments.

291 pages, 6.58 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/141910368/a ... eties.html



George Oliver - A Dictionary of Symbolic Masonry



1853. Including the Royal Arch Degree, according to the system prescribed by the Grand Lodge and Supreme Grand Chapter of England, compiled from the best Masonic sources. The definitions have been studiously contracted into as brief a space as possible in order to increase the number of words, and to make the book more generally useful. It contains a summary view of the whole system of Blue Masonry, by a careful condensation of all that has ever been written on the subject.

417 pages, 10 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/141913218/f ... sonry.html



John R. Robertson - The Cryptic Rite



History Of The Degrees Of Royal, Select, And Super-Excellent Master; The Work Of The Rite In Canada, With A History Of The Various Grand Councils That Have Existed From The Inception Of The Rite In Canada Till The Present Time. And The History Of All Grand Councils In The United States, With Historical Memoranda Concerning The Rite.

271 pages, 18.1 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/141915588/c ... _Rite.html



Thomas Sargant - The Royal Arch Companion



1880. A manual of royal arch masonry: containing monitorial instructions in the degrees of Mark master, Past master, Most excellent master, and Royal arch ; with illustrations ; together with the ceremonies of constituting and dedicating chapters and installing officers, forms for minutes, by-laws and grandchapter returns.

191 pages, 5.19 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/141917112/9 ... anion.html



From FREEMASONRY 4shared folder:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/12503234/b6f ... stvo_.html

Shaul Magid - From Metaphysics to Midrash-Myth, History and the Interpretation of Scripture in Lurianic Kabbala



In From Metaphysics to Midrash, Shaul Magid explores the exegetical tradition of Isaac Luria and his followers within the historical context in 16th-century Safed, a unique community that brought practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into close contact with one another. Luria's scripture became a theater in which kabbalists redrew boundaries of difference in areas of ethnicity, gender, and the human relation to the divine. Magid investigates how cultural influences altered scriptural exegesis of Lurianic Kabbala in its philosophical, hermeneutical, and historical perspectives. He suggests that Luria and his followers were far from cloistered. They used their considerable skills to weigh in on important matters of the day, offering, at times, some surprising solutions to perennial theological problems.

369 pages, 6.09 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/144657638/1 ... drash.html



Pinchas Giller - Reading the Zohar



Comprising well over a thousand pages of densely written Aramaic, the compilation of texts known as the Zohar represents the collective wisdom of various strands of Jewish mysticism, or kabbalah, up to the thirteenth century. This massive work continues to provide the foundation of much Jewish mystical thought and practice to the present day. In this book, Pinchas Giller examines certaing sections of the Zohar and the ways in which the central doctrines of classical kabbalah took shape around them.

265 pages, 26.4 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/144662106/a ... Zohar.html



Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto - Secrets of the Future Temple



by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, translated by Avraham Greenbaum. The inner meaning and purpose of the Future Temple as prophesied by Ezekiel are explained in this translation of Mishkney Elyon, crowning jewel in the legacy of towering 18th century mystical genius, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("Ramchal", 1707-47). Includes clear explanatory overview, diagrams of the Temple and Altar and other study aids. "The Temple is the center point where all the branches of the Tree of Life connect with their roots, channeling a flow of sustenance and blessing to the entire world.

Contents:

Kabbalistic secrets of creation in the Temple structure
Divine Names create spatial reality
Meaning of the Temple layout
The roots and branches of the Tree of Life

118 pages, 1.47 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/144670989/6 ... emple.html



Gershom Scholem - The Curious History of the Six-Pointed Star

9 pages, 182 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/144671952/f ... _Star.html



Eliyahu Rosh Pinnah - The Sepher Yetzirah and the Original Tetragrammaton

15 pages, 319 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/144672501/c ... maton.html


From KABBALAH folder:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/12507292/2a1 ... bala_.html

Philip Ball - Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral



In this lively biography of Chartres Cathedral, Ball explores the configuration of cultural and technological factors that enabled Europe to achieve a "liberation from gravity" in the twelfth century, including the rise of scholasticism, Platonic obsessions with light and proportion, and heroic masons who "turned geometry into stone." The accomplishments of Gothic architecture were all the more remarkable given that stonework was virtually forgotten in the West in the centuries after Rome fell. Though much of the history of Chartres Cathedral remains opaque, Ball’s account of its construction reveals fascinating details (such as the origins of its blue glass, likely scavenged from Roman or Byzantine sites) and evokes its raison d’être: in an era when architecture "existed to reveal the deep design of God’s creation," Chartres "encoded a set of symbols and relationships that mapped out the universe itself."

"Anyone who has been thrilled by the great Gothic cathedrals will revel in this study of both the spiritual and architectural qualities of those medieval wonders. Ball’s passion, sharp critical mind and fluid prose open a window onto the remote, alien world we call the Middle Ages." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

355 pages, 7.89 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145719033/f ... edral.html



Samael Aun Weor - Authentic Christmas' Symbolism

21 pages, 342 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145719273/9 ... olism.html


Samael Aun Weor - Analysis of Human Psyche

17 pages, 233 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145719697/3 ... syche.html


Samael Aun Weor - Chaotic Consciousness and Intelligent Consciousness

14 pages, 232 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145720069/5 ... sness.html



Stanton Marlan - The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness



The black sun, an ages-old image of the darkness in individual lives and in life itself, has not been treated hospitably in the modern world. Although modern psychology has seen darkness primarily as a negative force, it actually has an intrinsic importance to the human psyche. In this book, Jungian analyst Stanton Marlan reexamines the paradoxical image of the black sun and the meaning of darkness in Western culture. Marlan draws on not only clinical cases, but also literature such as Goethe's Faust and Dante's Inferno, the black art of Rothko and Reinhardt, and other inspirations to explore the influence of light and shadow on the fundamental structures of modern thought as well as the contemporary practice of analysis. He shows that the black sun accompanies not only the most negative of psychic experiences but also the most sublime. The Black Sun offers insight into modernity, the act of imagination, and the work of analysis in understanding depression, trauma, and transformation of the soul. A contribution to the understanding of alchemical psychology, this book draws on a postmodern sensibility to develop an original way to look at the black sun and helps us explore the unknown darkness conventionally called the Self.

304 pages, 8.04 MB, PDF. Full of illustrations and diagrams.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145733756/c ... kness.html



Bernard Homer - The Image of the Cross and Lights on the Altar, in the Christian Church, and in Heathen Temples before the Christian Era (1879)



The image of the Cross and Lights on the Altar, in the Christian Church, and in heathen temples before the Christian era, especially in the British Isles, together with the history of the triangle, the dove, floral decorations, the easter egg, and other heathen symbols.

66 pages, 2.95 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145738120/b ... ples_befor
e_the_Christian_Era.html



Wilfred H. Schoff - Tammuz Pan and Christ (1912)



57 pages, 1.15 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/145740596/c ... hrist.html

Francis Bacon - Advancement of Learning and the New Atlantis



While he didn't exactly invent science, Francis Bacon is its best-known early promoter. The Advancement of Learning is his 1605 argument in favor of natural philosophy and inductive reasoning, and it is still vigorous and cogent today. Though using the language of Shakespeare, the book remains largely accessible to modern readers--still, a bit of classical knowledge is helpful. Shaking off the centuries-old domination of Aristotle, Bacon advocated building scientific theories on facts and observations rather than pure reason; little has changed in our approach to understanding the world since then. Of greatest interest to historians and philosophers of science, the book will also appeal to those curious about the underpinnings of today's naturalistic thinking.

The New Atlantis - This is one of Bacon's most mysterious and prophetical works. References to the philosophy of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons are abundant. It is maintained that the New Atlantis was the blueprint for the founding of America. "This fable my lord devised, to the end that he might exhibit therein a model or description of a college, instituted for the interpreting of nature, and the producing of great and marvellous works for the benefit of man, under the name of Solomon's House, or the College of the Six Days' Works." This book must be read by anyone interested in mystical history.

320 pages, 11.8 MB, PDF. Scan. Classic works. Must have!

http://www.4shared.com/file/148563919/d ... antis.html



Edward Bulwer Lytton - The Coming Race, or, the New Utopia



Accompanying an engineer down a mine shaft, a wealthy American discovers a series of caverns in which dwell the subterranean Vril-ya race. Yet not only have the Vril-ya 'people' devised the means with which to survive underground, they have also developed a highly sophisticated language, culture and civilization. Subservient to the mysterious and all-powerful force of Vril, they are primarily a peaceful race; but with a destiny to eradicate human civilization, it can only be a matter of time before they emerge from their underground caves to take on the world as we know it. From Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth to Chris Marker's La Jetee, subterranean worlds have been a source of both fascination and fear for the literary imagination and The Coming Race is no exception. An evolutionary fantasy first published in 1871, the story draws upon ideas of Darwinism to describe a near future world characterized by female dominance, physical perfection, and vast technological progress. The novel was extremely popular in its time and is now considered a seminal science fiction text by contemporary scholars.

318 pages, 14.9 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/148576258/c ... topia.html



Daniel Andreev - Rose of the World

Completed in 1959 after being hidden from the Soviet secret police for twenty years, this spiritual masterpeice was first made public in 1989 through excerpts in the magazine "Novy Mir." When it was finally published in its entirety in 1991, the first printing of 100,000 copies sold out immediately, and a modern Russian classic was born.

Daniel Andreev was the son of famous Russian writer and playwright Leonid Andreyev. The author, himself a poet, novelist and artist, was imprisoned in 1947 by Stalin for "anti-Soviet" activities. While in prison he wrote the first draft for The Rose of the World.

Here is a visionary work in the tradition of Blake and Dante. It is part fiction, part historical essay and part mystical vision. It describes in fascinating detail Andreev's philosophical system, with its complex, multiple-layered cosmos, and calls for a spiritual reunification of all peoples of the world.
This is the first English publication of this modern Russian classic. It constitutes a significant event in publishing that should not be missed.

201 pages, 1.26 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/148579810/f ... World.html



Karen E. Starr - Repair of the Soul : Metaphors of Transformation in Jewish Mysticism and Psychoanalysis



Repair of the Soul examines transformation from the perspective of Jewish mysticism and psychoanalysis, addressing the question of how one achieves self-understanding that leads not only to insight but also to meaningful change. In this beautifully written and thought-provoking book, Karen Starr draws upon a contemporary relational approach to psychoanalysis to explore the spiritual dimension of psychic change within the context of the psychoanalytic relationship. Influenced by the work of Lewis Aron, Steven Mitchell and other relational theorists, and drawing upon contemporary scholarship in the field of Jewish studies, Starr brings the ideas of the Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition, into dialogue with modern psychoanalytic thought. Repair of the Soul provides a scholarly integration of several kabbalistic and psychoanalytic themes relating to transformation, including faith, surrender, authenticity, and mutuality, as well as a unique exploration of the relationship of the individual to theuniversal. Starr uses the Kabbalah's metaphors as a vivid framework with which to illuminate the experience of transformation in psychoanalytic process, and to explore the evolving view of the psychoanalytic relationship as one in which both parties - the analyst as well as the patient - are transformed.

160 pages, 2.06 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/148587318/9 ... _Soul.html



J. Edward Wright - The Early History of Heaven



When we think of "heaven," we generally conjure up positive, blissful images. Heaven is, after all, where God is and where good people go after death to receive their reward. But how and why did Western cultures come to imagine the heavenly realm in such terms? Why is heaven usually thought to be "up there," far beyond the visible sky? And what is the source of the idea that the post mortem abode of the righteous is in this heavenly realm with God?

Seeking to discover the roots of these familiar notions, this volume traces the backgrounds, origin, and development of early Jewish and Christian speculation about the heavenly realm -- where it is, what it looks like, and who its inhabitants are. Wright begins his study with an examination of the beliefs of ancient Israel's neighbors Egypt and Mesopotamia, reconstructing the intellectual context in which the earliest biblical images of heaven arose. A detailed analysis of the Hebrew biblical texts themselves then reveals that the Israelites were deeply influenced by images drawn from the surrounding cultures. Wright goes on to examine Persian and Greco-Roman beliefs, thus setting the stage for his consideration of early Jewish and Christian images, which he shows to have been formed in the struggle to integrate traditional biblical imagery with the newer Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos. In a final chapter Wright offers a brief survey of how later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions envisioned the heavenly realms. Accessible to a wide range of readers, this provocative book will interest anyone who is curious about the origins of this extraordinarily pervasive and influential idea.

337 pages, 6.56 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/148593735/6 ... eaven.html

G.R.S. Mead - Selected Works of Plotinus



Edited, preface, and bibliography by G.R.S. Mead. Contents: On the virtues; On Dialectic; On Matter; Against the Gnostics; On the Impassivity of Incorporeal Natures; On Eternity and Time; On the Immortality of the Soul; On the Three Hypostases that rank as the Principles of Things; On Intellect, Ideas, and Real Being; On the Essence of the Soul; A discussion of Doubts relative to the Soul; On the Generation and Order of Things after the First; On Gnostic Hypostases, and That which is beyond Them; That the Nature which is beyond Being is not Intellective, etc.; On the Good, or the One.

438 pages, 19.2 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/152613362/5 ... tinus.html



Gregory Shaw - Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus



Theurgy and the Soul is a study of Iamblichus of Syria (ca. 240-325), whose teachings set the final form of pagan spirituality prior to the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Gregory Shaw focuses on the theory and practice of theurgy, the most controversial and significant aspect of Iamblichus's Platonism. Theurgy literally means "divine action." Unlike previous Platonists who stressed the elevated status of the human soul, Iamblichus taught that the soul descended completely into the body and thereby required the performance of theurgic rites--revealed by the gods--to unite the soul with the One. Iamblichus was once considered one of the great philosophers whose views on the soul and the importance of ritual profoundly influenced subsequent Platonists such as Proclus and Damascius. The Emperor Julian followed Iamblichus's teachings to guide the restoration of traditional pagan cults in his campaign against Christianity. Although Julian was unsuccessful, Iamblichus's ideas persisted well into the Middle Ages and beyond. His vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant world view for the entire medieval world and played an important role in the Renaissance Platonism of Marsilio Ficino. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he expected a reading of Iamblichus to cause a "revival in the churches." But modern scholars have dismissed him, seeing theurgy as ritual magic or "manipulation of the gods." Shaw, however, shows that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence in the material world.

259 pages, 13.5 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/152622653/f ... _Soul.html



Boethius - Consolation of Philosophy



Landmark of Western thought written by a 6th-century Roman statesman and philosopher awaiting execution. Comprising a dialogue in alternating prose and verse between Boethius and his spiritual guardian, the book concerns happiness: how to achieve and maintain it amid life's inevitable pain. A cornerstone of medieval humanism, the work remains a source of comfort and consolation for contemporary readers.

232 pages, 8.38 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/152630113/c ... sophy.html



Iamblichus - Theurgia or Egyptian Mysteries



Iamblichus, more than any other single philosopher, has generally been credited with the transformation of the Neoplatonism advocated by Plotinus earlier in the 3rd century into the stiff and complicated, yet often profound, pagan religious philosophy, best known from the works of Proclus. Attempting to develop a theology encompassing all of the rites, myths, and divinities of syncretistic paganism, he was the first Neoplatonist to displace Plotinus’ purely spiritual and intellectual mysticism in favour of theurgy, the magical conjuration of the gods. Beyond the One of Plotinus, identical with the Good, Iamblichus asserted that a higher One exists outside the range of human knowledge and qualifications. To the three existing ethical virtues of Neoplatonism—political, purifying, and exemplary—he added the contemplative virtue and placed above all four the priestly, or unifying, virtues by which men obtain ecstatic union with the One. For his stress on theurgy and his elevation of the nonintellectual virtues, Iamblichus was known for the next two centuries as “the divine,” or “inspired.”

Iamblichus also had a strong influence on other Renaissance occultists like Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, and Giordano Bruno.

Contents:

• Letter of Porphyry to Anebo
• Reply of Abammon
• The Superior Races
• Rites, Symbols, and Offerings
• The Superior Races and their Manifestations
• The Order Exhibited at the Rites
• Origin of the Art of Divination
• The Divining Art Universal
• Dæmons
• Concerning the Powers Invoked
• The Question Stated
• Notions of Priests Criticized
• Concerning the Mystic Rites
• Conditions for Successful Results
• Origin of Egyptian Symbolism
• Questions Proposed
• The Personal Dæmon
• Eudæmonia, or the True Success
• Valedictory

300 pages, 15 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/152646204/1 ... eries.html



Charles Bigg - Neoplatonism



An essential overview of Neoplatonism, its theories, doctrine, and central philosophies.

370 pages, 24.3 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/152661127/5 ... onism.html


From Neoplatonism, Platonism and Pythagoreans folder:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/23591484/de6 ... reans.html

Patrick Boylan - Thoth The Hermes of Egypt



The purpose of this essay is to indicate the chief tendencies of ancient Egyptian speculation in regard to the god Thoth. Taking as the basis of his work a fairly complete examination of the chief references to the god in Egyptian literature and ritual, the author has tried to distinguish the more important phases of Thoth's character as they were conceived by the Egyptians, and to show how these aspects, or phases, of his being help to explain the various activities which are assigned to him in the Egyptian legends of the gods and in the ritual of tombs and temples.

234 pages, 21.9 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/153407918/a ... Egypt.html



Valentina Izmirlieva - All the Names of the Lord



Christians face a conundrum when it comes to naming God, for if God is unnamable, as theologians maintain, he can also be called by every name. His proper name is thus an open-ended, all-encompassing list, a mystery the Church embraces in its rhetoric, but which many Christians have found difficult to accept. To explore this conflict, Valentina Izmirlieva examines two lists of God’s names: one from The Divine Names, the classic treatise by Pseudo-Dionysius, and the other from The 72 Names of the Lord, an amulet whose history binds together Kabbalah and Christianity, Jews and Slavs, Palestine, Provence, and the Balkans.

This unexpected juxtaposition of a theological treatise and a magical amulet allows Izmirlieva to reveal lists’ rhetorical potential to create order and to function as both tools of knowledge and of power. Despite the two different visions of order represented by each list, Izmirlieva finds that their uses in Christian practice point to a complementary relationship between the existential need for God’s protection and the metaphysical desire to submit to his infinite majesty—a compelling claim sure to provoke discussion among scholars in many fields.

251 pages, 2.41 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/153418167/1 ... _Lord.html



David Griffin - The Ritual Magic Manual: A Complete Course in Practical Magic



This book is something alot of people have been waiting for. A simple, down to Earth guide on how to utilize the forces of the elements, the planets, the zodical signs, the sephiroth on the tree of life and even the misunderstood "demonic" forces of the qulipoth. David Griffin writes in a clear, easy-to-understand manner, that makes this book much better for practical use than most books on the subject. The author starts with basic rituals like the Lesser banishing rituals of the Pentagram and hexagram, the middle pillar exercise and the Rose Cross Ritual, them guides the reader through rituals designed to invoke and banish any force from the elemental level to the sephirotic level.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how Griffin incorporates Enochian into the Planetary and Zodical rites, as well as the new guidelines for Enochian pronounciation.

666 pages, 28.3 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/153440383/8 ... anual.html



Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work



In 1926 the fabled alchemist Fulcanelli left his remarkable manuscript concerning the Hermetic Study of Gothic Cathedral Construction with a student. He than disappeared. The book decodes the symbology found upon and within the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe which have openly displayed the secrets of alchemy for 700 years.

179 pages, 27.4 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/153473802/6 ... drals.html

Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie - Numenius of Apamea, the Father of Neo-Platonism



Numenius of Apamea, the father of neo-Platonism; works, biography, message, sources, and influence.

232 pages, 13 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Thomas Whittaker - The Neo-Platonists





342 pages, 28.1 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Proclus - Metaphysical Elements



Proclus Lycaeus (8 February 412 – 17 April 485 AD), called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism. He stands near the end of the classical development of philosophy, and was very influential on Western Medieval Philosophy (Greek and Latin) as well as Islamic thought.

Proclus' system, like that of the other Neoplatonists, is a combination of Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic elements. In its broad outlines, Proclus' system agrees with that of Plotinus. However, following Iamblichus, Plutarch of Athens (not to be confused with Plutarch of Chaeronea), and his master Syrianus, Proclus presents a much more elaborate universe than Plotinus, subdividing the elements of Plotinus' system into their logically distinct parts, and positing these parts as individual things. This multiplication of entities is balanced by the monism which is common to all Neoplatonists. What this means is that, on the one hand the universe is composed of hierarchically distinct things, but on the other all things are part of a single continuous emanation of power from the One. From this latter perspective, the many distinctions to be found in the universe are a result of the divided perspective of the human soul, which needs to make distinctions in its own thought in order to understand unified realities.

230 pages, 16.9 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Iamblichus - Life of Pythagoras or Pythagoric Life



Authentic memoirs of the life of Pythagoras-the father of philosophy and the inventor of geometry-hold great interest for every lover of wisdom. Iamblichus' biography is universally acknowledged as deriving from sources of the highest antiquity. Its classic translation by Thomas Taylor was first printed in 1818 and is once again brought to light in this edition.

The Pythagorean Life is the most extensive surviving source on Pythagoreanism, and has wider interest as an account of the religious aspirations of late antiquity.

270 pages, 6.7 MB, PDF. Scan.

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From Neoplatonism, Platonism and Pythagoreans folder:

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B.A.G. Fuller - The Problem of Evil in Plotinus



Preliminary Considerations. Division of the subject. Definition and discussion of metaphysical, physical, and moral evil. The apportionment of reward to merit .

Reasons why evil presents a distinct problem. Primitive yet sophisticated character of the question

Types of attempted solution of the problem of Evil.
Four in number :

(1) Libertarianism. Evil the result of a misuse of free-will. A fall from an original perfection. Inheritance of consequent sin and suffering.

(2) Ethical Monism. Transubstantiation of Evil by the Absolute. Reality better for the inclusion of Evil.

(3) Naturalism. Evil as well as good purely relative to the human point of view. Reality unmoral and indifferent.

(4) Pluralism (Dualism). Evil as absolutely real as good. Existence in the universe of obstacles and limitations to the prevalence of the divine will, and the establishment of the Good .Review of the development of the problem of Evil in the history of Greek philosophy. The Pre-Socratic philosophers and contemporary "lay thought." Plato and Aristotle. The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics. The Neo-Pythagoreans and Neo-Platonists.

368 pages, 22 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Charles J. Whitby - The Wisdom of Plotinus A Metaphysical Study



A Metaphysical Study. "Casually introduced to the notice of the writer (Whitby), at an age when his mind must have been peculiarly susceptible to their significance, the Enneads of Plotinus took such a grip upon his imagination that for many months they seemed to have translated him bodily to the shining sphere of supersensual experience." Contents: Life of Plotinus; Ancient and Modern Methods; Neoplationism; Matter; The Universe; Individuality; The Problem of Evil; Providence and the Individual; Demons and the Demonic Faculty; Concerning Love and the Emotions; Substance or Corporeal Essence; Time and Eternity; Doctrine of the Soul; Individuality; Incarnation or Descension; The World-Soul as Basis of Movement; Intelligence, and the Intelligible World; Primal Categories or Elements of the Notion; Universal Number; Number and Unity; Time and Space in Eternity; Ideal Functions of Time and Space; Universal Differentiation; Intelligence and the One; The Cause of Beauty; The One; Potential Import ofthe Doctrine of Unity.

144 pages, 5.81 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Charles Elsee - Neoplatonism in Relation to Christianity





168 pages, 9.57 MB, PDF. Scan.

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G.R.S. Mead - The Chaldean Oracles







The Chaldean Oracles have survived as fragmentary texts from the 2nd century AD, and consist mainly of Hellenistic commentary on a single mystery-poem (which may have been compilations from several oracular sources, considering the random subject changes) that was believed to have originated in Chaldea (Babylonia). They appear to be a syncretic combination of neo-Platonic elements with others that were Persian or Babylonian in origin. Later neo-Platonists, such as Proclus and Iamblichus, rated them highly. The 4th-century Emperor Julian suggests in his Hymn to the Magna Mater that he was an initiate of the God of the Seven Rays, and was an adept of its teachings. When Christian Church Fathers or other Late Antiquity writers credit "the Chaldeans", they are probably referring to this tradition.

An analysis of the Chaldean Oracles demonstrates a similarity with contemporary gnostic teachings: fiery emanations initiate from the transcendental First Paternal Intellect, from whom the Second Intellect, the Demiurge comprehends the cosmos as well as himself. Within the First Intellect, a female Power, designated Hecate, is, like Sophia, the mediating World-Soul. At the base of all lies created Matter, made by the Demiurgic Intellect. The matter farthest from the Highest God (First Father/ Intellect) was considered a dense shell from which the enlightened soul must emerge, shedding its bodily garments. A combination of ascetic conduct and correct ritual are recommended to free the soul from the confines of matter and limitations, and to defend it against the demonic powers lurking in some of the realms between Gods and mortals.

The origins of the texts are unknown and mysterious. Some have claimed that the Chaldean Oracles, in the form in which they survive, were attributed to Julian the Theurgist, son of Julian the Chaldean, who served in the Roman army during Marcus Aurelius' campaign against the Quadi. Julian claimed to have saved the Roman camp from a severe drought by causing a rainstorm.[2] At least four other religious groups also claimed credit for this rainstorm. The circumstances surrounding the writing of the Oracles are mysterious, the most likely explanation being that Julian uttered them after inducing a sort of trance akin to that of the archaic oracles of Greece.

177 pages, 7.38 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Thomas Taylor - The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus



The Orphic Hymns are a set of pre-classical poetic compositions, attributed to the culture hero Orpheus, himself the subject of a renowned myth. In reality, these poems were probably composed by several different poets. Reminiscent of the Rig-Veda, the Orphic Hymns contain a rich set of clues about prehistoric European mythology.

This translation by Thomas Taylor, a British neo-Platonist classicist, is of additional interest for its introduction and extensive footnotes, which discuss in great detail Taylors' philosophy. Taylor, who was considered a bit outside the pale by contemporary scholars, was an influence on successive generations of occultists such as the Theosophists and the Golden Dawn, and in the 20th Century such writers as Manly P. Hall.

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Preface; A Dissertation On The Life And Theology Of Orpheus; Sect. I.; Sect. ii.; Sect. iii.; The Initiations Of Orpheus; To MusÆus ; To The Goddess ProthyrÆa ; To Night; To Heaven; To Fire; To Protogonus, Or The First-born; To The Stars; To The Sun; To The Moon ; To Nature ; To Pan ; To Hercules; To Saturn; To Rhea ; To Jupiter; To Juno ; To Neptune; To Pluto; To Thundring Jove; To Jove, As The Author Of Lightning; To The Clouds; To The Sea, Or Tethys ; To Nereus; To The Nereids; To Proteus ; To The Earth ; To The Mother Of The Gods; To Mercury; To Proserpine; To Bacchus; To The Curetes; To Pallas; To victory; To Apollo; To Latona; To Diana; To The Titans ; To The Curetes ; To Corybas ; To Ceres; To The Ceralian Mother; To Mises; To The Seasons; To Semele; To Dionysius Bassareus Triennalis ; To Liknitus Bacchus; To Bacchus Pericionius ; To Sabasius; To Ippa ; To Lysius LenÆus; To The Nymphs; To Trietericus; To Amphietus Bacchus; To Silenus, Satyrus, And The Priestesses Of Bacchus; To Venus; To Adonis; To The Terrestrial Hermes; To Cupid, Or Love; To The Fates; To The Graces; To Nemesis; To Justice; To Equity; To Law; To Mars ; To Vulcan ; To Esculapius; To Health; To The Furies ; To The Furies; To Melinoe; To Fortune; To The DÆmon, Or Genius; To Leucothea; To PalÆmon; To The Muses; To Mnemosyne, Or The Goddess Of Memory ; To Aurora; To Themis; To The North Wind; To The West Wind; To The South Wind; To Ocean; To Vesta; To Sleep; To The Divinity Of Dreams; To Death; Endnotes

264 pages, 9.77 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Augustine Baker - Holy wisdom



Baker, Augustine (1575–1641), Benedictine writer. Sancta Sophia, or Holy Wisdom (1657) is a posthumous collection of his ascetical writings; it expounds the way of contemplation.

Contemplative prayer is not just “contemplating while you pray.” The Bible instructs us to pray with our minds (1 Corinthians 14:15), so, clearly, prayer does involve contemplation. However, praying with your mind is not what “contemplative prayer” has come to mean. Contemplative prayer has slowly increased in practice and popularity along with the rise of the emerging church movement—a movement which embraces many unscriptural ideas and practices. Contemplative prayer is one such practice.

Contemplative prayer, also known as “centering prayer,” is a meditative practice where the practitioner focuses on a word and repeats that word over and over for the duration of the exercise. While contemplative prayer is done differently in the various groups that practice it, there are similarities. Contemplative prayer involves choosing a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within. Contemplative prayer usually includes sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settling briefly and silently, introducing the sacred word. When a contemplative pray-er becomes aware of thoughts, he/she is to return ever so gently to the sacred word.

Contemplative Prayer is a Christian meditation technique. It seeks to still the mind by watching the breath, repeating a sacred formula or resting in silence.

The practice of contemplative prayer goes back to early Christian times. Descriptions of contemplative prayer are found in the writings of the 4th century Christian monk by name Evagrius Ponticus and in a collection of early and medieval Christian writings called Philokalia.

Contemplative prayer gets also mentioned in the medieval text Cloud of Unknowing which is the works of an anonymous 14th century English writer. Furthermore, it is central to the teachings of St. John of the Cross, a famous Spanish mystic of the 16th century and contemporary of Teresa of Avila.

726 pages, 40.7 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Heinrich Seuse - A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom



Henry Suso - (ca.1295-1366), German mystic and Dominican friar

While studying at Cologne, Heinrich (Henry) Suso came under the influence of Meister Eckhart, whose writings he defended against charges of heresy. He became a popular preacher and was associated with Johannes Tauler.
At first harshly ascetic, he gradually emphasized detachment rather than mortification as central in the Christian discipline. His mysticism was expressed in terms of the contemporary literary romantic cult of the minnesingers. This gave him the epithet "Sweet Suso". His writings include Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit [the little book of eternal wisdom], an autobiography and a guide to beginners in the spiritual life; Das Minnebüchlein [the little book of love]; a scholarly defense of Eckhart and an attack on the Beghards and Brethren of the Free Spirit; and miscellaneous sermons. He was beatified in 1831.

Suso and his friend Johannes Tauler were students of Meister Eckhart. As a lyric poet and troubadour of divine wisdom, Suso explored with psychological intensity the spiritual truths of Eckhart’s mystical philosophy.

As in this, so in his other writings Suso, while betraying Eckhart's influence, always avoided the “errors” of his master. The book was really written in part against the pantheistic teachings of the Beghards, and against the libertine teachings of the Brethren of the Free Spirit. Henry Denifle considers it the most difficult "little book" among the writings of the German mystics.

Whereas in this book Suso speaks as a contemplative and to the intellect, in his next, Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit, published early in 1328, he is eminently practical and speaks out of the fullness of his heart to "simple men who still have imperfections to be put off". Karl Bihlmeyer accepts Denifle's judgment that it is the "most beautiful fruit of German mysticism", and places it next to the Homilies of St. Bernard, and the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. In the second half of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth century there was no more widely read meditation book in the German language.

172 pages, 9.01 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Saint Thomas Aquinas - On Prayer and the Contemplative Life



This book was the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, the great master of mystical theology in the 13th century. The book teaches the wisdom on prayer and contemplative life in the form of question-answer organized into the subjects of the virtue of religion, devotion, prayer, the prayers of the saints who are in heaven, contemplative life, active life, comparison between active life and contemplative life, and religious state. Each subject contains many related questions and each question is answered in great philosophical and theological depth, accompanied with different arguments and the thoughts from the great minds and spirits such as Cajetan and S. Augustine.

294 pages, 10.6 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Saint John of the Cross - The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross



Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 — 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Alvarez, was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic, and Carmelite friar and priest, born at Hontoveros, Old Castile.

Saint John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings.

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Although his complete poems add up to less than 2500 verses, two of them—the Spiritual Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul are widely considered to be among the best poems ever written in Spanish, both for their formal stylistic point of view and their rich symbolism and imagery.

The Spiritual Canticle is an eclogue in which the bride (representing the soul) searches for the bridegroom (representing Jesus Christ), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting. It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the Song of Songs at a time when translations of the Bible into the vernacular were forbidden.

Dark Night of the Soul (from which the spiritual term takes its name) narrates the journey of the soul from her bodily home to her union with God. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. A year after writing this poem, in 1586 he wrote a commentary on Dark Night of the Soul with the same title. This commentary explains the meaning of the poem verse by verse.

St. John also wrote four treatises on mystical theology, two of them concerning the two poems above, and supposedly explaining the meaning of the poems verse by verse and even word by word. He actually proves unable to follow this scheme and writes freely on the subject he is treating at each time.

The third work, Ascent of Mount Carmel is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavour of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the mystical events happening along the way. A four stanza work, Living Flame of Love describes a greater intimacy, as the soul responds to God's love. These, together with his Dichos de Luz y Amor, or "Sayings of Light and Love," and St. Teresa's writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named T. S. Eliot, Thérèse de Lisieux, Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and Thomas Merton. John has also influenced philosophers (Jacques Maritain), theologians (Hans Urs von Balthasar), and pacifists (Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, and Philip Berrigan). Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross.

520 pages, 44.1 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Martinez de Pasqually - Treatise of the Reintegration of Beings



The information available about Jacques de Livron de La Tour de la Case Martinez de Pasqually are poor . His memory is exclusively connected with the mission he devoted his short life to: making more accessible, to the Western world, the transmutation techniques of the Qabbalah, by transposing them in a theologically acceptable language (according to the Christian ethic point of view). He was born in Grenoble in 1727, to an affluent Jewish family of Portuguese origin. Since early childhood he devoted himself completely to the study of the Qabbalah which he probably studied with Simon Ben Jochai, one of the most prestigious masters of his time.

Introduced to Freemasonry by his father, Martinez traveled around Southern France’s Lodges from 1754 to 1760, gathering around him, passionate followers of his ideas. In 1760, in Foix, he created the first Chapter of a new High Masonic Degrees’ system: the Order of the Elected Cohen of the Universe.

Suddenly,in 1772 he left for Haiti with the purpose of establishing a Chapter of his Order in Port –au-France. A sudden attack of malaria killed him on September 20th 1774 in Port-au France.

According to the doctrine of the cabalist schools, the Glory of God spreads in the universe progressively filling ten symbolic vases, the so called Sephiroth that correspond to the ten further levels of manifestation. The ideal disposition of the Sephiroth is similar to the shape of a human body; man can awake their strength within himself progressively through a work of purification together with continuous invocations to the Angels who rule them. In case of successful outcome, man feels “reintegrated” with all the previous faculties Adam enjoyed before falling and he concludes the process of inner transmutation (which in cabalist terms is defined with “reintegration”).

Martinez’ idea was to create a Masonic system of 10 degrees, each corresponding to a Sephirah, according to this scheme:

Order of Elected Cohen

1st class- Blue Freemasonry:

1st degree- Apprentice(sephirah:Malkuth)
2nd degree- Fellow Craft(sephirah:Yesod)
3rd degree- Master(sephirah:Hod)
4th degree- Apprentice Cohen(sephirah:Netzach)

2nd class- Class of the Porch

5th degree- Fellow Craft Cohen (sephirah:Tiphareth)
6th degree- Master Cohen (sephirah:Geburah)
7th degree- Particular Master (sephirah:Chesed)

3rd class- Class of the Temple:

8th degree-Great Elected Cohen Master (sehirah:Binah)
9th degree- Knight of the Orient (sephirah:Choknah).

4th class (secret):

10th degree-Reau-Croix (sephirah:Kether).

A secret doctrine around man’s fall and reintegration was taught in the degrees of the Order. By following initiations, the transmutant would climb step-by step up the reintegrative ladder and through the operations of sacred magic he devoted himself and he was able to receive the signs (so called “steps”) of his own rise. These signs were created by the mental iradiation of luminous hieroglyphs.

Only by starting the degree of High Master Elected Cohen the real transmutative work was happening, through purification, exorcism and assistance to the theurgic operations of higher degrees. In the degree of Knight of Orient, the practical aspect was omitted and the transmutant student was exclusively engaged in the theoretic study of the inner transmutation.

The main textbook was a book by Martinez himself: ”The Treatise of the Reintegration of the Beings” where he greatly used his cabalist knowledge.

This book (that was circulating as a manuscript till 1899, and has been revealed recently outside by the Order)is practically a commentary on the early books of the Bible, where at the beginning is described the fall of the spiritual beings created by God, that originated the creation.

After this first tragedy, God derives man :a man-God whose mission is to “watch the fallen Angels and rule over the Universe, the Earth and all the celestial and earthy Spirits”. But man betrays him too because of man's arrogance and God sends him down from Eden to the Earth, giving him the chance of expiating his sin and walking the opposite path, of “reintegration in its original properties, virtues and powers”.

In the Hebraic history, Martinez researches examples and prototypes of reintegrated men: Abel, Enoch, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Salomon and Christ, who represent the highest point of those following reconciliation.

De Pasqually put forth the philosophy underlying the work of the Elus Cohens in his only book, Treatise on the Reintegration of Beings which first uses the analogy of the Garden of Eden, and refers to Christ as "The Repairer". The ultimate aim of the Elus Cohen was to attain - whilst living - the Beatific Vision, through a series of magical invocations and complex theurgic operations.

107 pages, 7.64 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Newman Hall - The Lord's Prayer a Practical Meditation



Many volumes have been written about that divine Prayer that teaches us all how to pray. But there was still room for this admirable work of the Rev. Newman Hall. All the gold had not yet been dug out of this inexhaustible mine, and he has brought to us many a fresh and most precious nugget. This volume is preeminently a labour of love. Its author prepared himself for his sacred task by many years of careful study of the Lord's Prayer ; he has diligently examined the Prayer itself, and all that the ablest authors have written concerning it; and he has enriched his treatise with condensed quotations from such master-thinkers as Milton, Luther, Wordsworth, Cowper, Jeremy Taylor, and Barrow.

488 pages, 20.3 MB, PDF. Scan.




Luis de la Puente - A Treatise on Mental Prayer



Contents:

PART I

FOR BEGINNERS

The Introduction
Chapter 1. - On the nature of mental prayer

Chapter 2. - On the manner of speaking to god in mental prayer

Chapter 3. - On the virtues which should accompany mental prayer

Chapter 4. - On the matter of mental prayer fit for meditation

Chapter 5. - How to begin our prayer

Chapter 6. - On the manner of meditating and discoursing in prayer, and how we are to resist the distractions which assail us

Chapter 7. - How to aid ourselves in mental prayer by means of the
imagination/ the tongue, and the other faculties

chapter 8. - On contemplation, and how some may use mental prayer without variety of discourse

Chapter 9. - On the extraordinary forms of mental prayer and the divers manners by which god communicates himself in it

Chapter 10. - On the time to be employed in mental prayer and of ejaculatory prayer


PART II

FOR PROFICIENTS IN THE
ILLUMINATIVE WAY

A. Of the three lives, active, contemplative and mixed

Chapter 1. - On the perfect imitation of our saviour Christ which is the end of these meditations

Chapter 2. - On the two lives, active and contemplative

Chapter 3. - On the principal actions of the active life

Chapter 4. - On the actions and works of the contemplative life

Chapter 5. - On the necessity which the active life has of the contemplative and of the complaints made against the contemplative

Chapter 6. - On other imperfections of the active life and on our Lord's method of correcting them

Chapter 7. - On the „one thing necessary“

Chapter 8. - On the excellences of the contemplative life

Chapter 9. - On the excellency of the mixed life


PART II - continued

FOR PROFICIENTS IN THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY

B. Of meditation on the mysteries of the passion of Jesus Christ our lord

Introduction - On mental prayer on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ

Chapter 1. - On the end we should set before ourselves in meditating on the passion

Chapter 2. - On the dispositions with which we should meditate on the
passion

Chapter 3. - On the different manners of meditating on the passion


PART III

FOR THE PERFECT IN THE UNITIVE WAY

The meditation of the mysteries of Christ our Lord glorified

Chapter 1. - On union with almighty God, which is the end of the unitive way

Chapter 2. - On the fervent affections of love and gratitude which should
accompany these meditations

Chapter 3. - On the manner of meditating the divine benefits with affections of gratitude

167 pages, 4.63 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Vital Lehodey - The Ways of Mental Prayer



„Since, then, mental prayer is so vital an element in our contemplative life, we ought to esteem it, to love it, and to apply ourselves to it with a holy ardour. But it is a divine art, and by no means one of the easiest to acquire. Beginners require to learn a method of prayer, just as even the most intelligent apprentice must be initiated into the secrets of his trade. They will find is useful to know the various processes which may serve as substitutes for meditation, in order not to remain idle when this latter fails them. Those who are making progress, as well as those who are still more advanced in the ways of prayer, have need to know when they should pass on to affective prayer or to active contemplation, and how they should conduct themselves therein. Later on, should it please God to raise souls to the different degrees of mystical contemplation, and this ought not to be of rare occurrence amongst religious, especially in a contemplative Order, they will need to have a clear light thrown upon their road and an experienced guide to direct their steps. Otherwise the soul would be exposed to all kinds of illusions. This is what makes many promising beginners stand still upon the road, or keep performing the goose-step upon the same spot without ever advancing; they have not a sufficient knowledge of this art of prayer, which should be the groundwork of their whole life.“

448 pages, 25.7 MB, PDF. Scan.

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Rene de Maumigny - Practice of Mental Prayer



„For some years, cases regarding extraordinary prayer have often been laid before me and I have thought Christian charity entailed upon me the duty of giving my humble opinion, in spite of the difficulty of the subject. But in these lofty paths a single answer is generally not enough, and I have been asked to supplement these individual counsels by a treatise on infused Contemplation. I will say nothing more as to the origin of this work, because this is enough to indicate its spirit. It is not a theological, but a practical treatise that I have in mind, and I have avoided, as far as possible anything which might give rise to controversy."

The treatise is divided into five parts:

Part I speaks of the Mature and degrees of Contemplation, but only so far as to give the necessary ideas to directors for the guidance of souls. I have inserted lengthy citations from the writings of the Saints. Doubtless a few lines from an author would sometimes have been enough to prove the point at issue, yet I have believed it very useful to quote several pages. These passages, indeed, in their all-heavenly beauty if quoted in part might have stirred hearts but little to the love of God; but reproduced in their entirety, they afford souls a spiritual food well calculated to sanctify them, as Holy Church says in the prayer for St. Teresa's feast.

Part II shows the great trials to which souls raised to Contemplation are sooner or later subjected. It is upon this point that I have been most often consulted and consequently. I have been obliged to develop it rather at length. I hope these pages, written with bruised hearts rather than written books before my eyes, will bring some comfort to the afflicted soul's, who read them.

The subject of Part III is the virtues necessary to contemplative souls. This part is of supreme importance, since the greater number of souls who are raised to Contemplation and who make only indifferent progress in it, must attribute it to the absence of solid virtues.

Part IV treats of supernatural visions and speech. Here illusion is easy and I have been obliged to dwell at length upon the discernment of spirits.
Lastly, the subject of Part V is the vocation to infused Contemplation. The importance of this question is obvious: in order to reach the goal, it is not enough to run, but the running must be along the path leading to the goal.

304 pages, 11.8 MB, PDF. Scan.

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John Roothaan - The Method of Meditation





98 pages, 3.86 MB, PDF. Scan.

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John Michael Greer - Paths of Wisdom: Principles and Practice of the Magical Cabala in the Western Tradition



From Cornelius Agrippa to the adepts of the Golden Dawn, the magicians of the west have used the Cabala as the foundation of their work. This is a guide to exploring the theory and practice of Cabalistic magic from a modern perspective. It also covers Pathworking on the Tree of the Sephiroth.

John Michael Greer (Maryland) has been a student of monster lore and the occult since 1975. He is also the author of several books, including Natural Magic: Potions and Powers from the Magical Garden, Circles of Power: Ritual Magic in the Western Tradition, and Inside a Magical Lodge He has written articles for Renaissance Magazine, Golden Dawn Journal, Mezlim, New Moon Rising, Gnosis, and Alexandria.

A student and practitioner of geomancy and sacred geometry for more than twenty years, fluent in Latin and medieval French for the past five years, and a Certified Tarot Grand Master, Greer has studied geomantic texts from the Middle ages and Renaissance, learning and testing out the techniques that were used when geomancy was at its height. Greer is an active member of five fraternal and two magical lodges. He lives in Seattle, where he studied the legends and monster lore of the Pacific Northwest and attends lodge meetings in a building with its own resident ghosts.

407 pages, 18 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/180966388/5 ... s_of_.html



G. John Champoux - The Secret of the Christian Way: A Contemplative Ascent Through the Writings of Jean Borella



A book of writings by the French spiritual writer Jean Borella that should appeal to the audience for Christian mysticism.

Gathering key writings from the French religious philosopher Jean Borella's works, this book moves the reader from the immediacy of the physical world to a world deep within ourselves. Throughout Borella's writings, there is a "resurrectional" power to his words, a way of seeing things that "makes all things new," that endows us with an ability to look anew on Christ and his Body the Church. Translator and editor G. John Champoux has used a selection from Saint Bonaventure's The Soul's Journey into God to preface each of Borella's writings and to show how these insights can take us from our ordinary surroundings into our innermost world.

234 pages, 1.41 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/180998422/2 ... cret_o.htm



William Harmless - Desert Christians



In this book, William Harmless provides an accessible introduction to early Christian monastic literature from Egypt and beyond. He introduces the reader to the major figures and literary texts, as well as offering an up-to-date survey of current questions and scholarship in the field. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of chronologies, maps, outlines, illustrations, and bibliographies. The book will not only serve as a text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on early Christianity, the Desert Fathers, and Christian asceticism, but it should stimulate further research by making the fruits of recent scholarship more readily and widely available.

In the fourth century, the deserts of Egypt became the nerve center of a radical new movement, what we now call monasticism. Groups of Christians-from illiterate peasants to learned intellectuals-moved out to the wastelands beyond the Nile Valley and, in the famous words of Saint Athanasius, made the desert a city. In so doing, they captured the imagination of the ancient world. They forged techniques of prayer and asceticism, of discipleship and spiritual direction, that have remained central to Christianity ever since. Seeking to map the soul's long journey to God and plot out the subtle vagaries of the human heart, they created and inspired texts that became classics of Western spirituality. These Desert Christians were also brilliant storytellers, some of Christianity's finest. This book introduces the literature of early monasticism. It examines all the best-known works, including Athanasius' Life of Antony, the Lives of Pachomius, and the so-called Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Later chapters focus on two pioneers of monastic theology: Evagrius Ponticus, the first great theoretician of Christian mysticism; and John Cassian, who brought Egyptian monasticism to the Latin West. Along the way, readers are introduced to path-breaking discoveries-to new texts and recent archeological finds-that have revolutionized contemporary scholarship on monastic origins. Included are fascinating snippets from papyri and from little-known Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic texts. Interspersed in each chapter are illustrations, maps, and diagrams that help readers sort through the key texts and the richly-textured world of early monasticism. Geared to a wide audience and written in clear, jargon-free prose, Desert Christians offers the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to early monasticism.

513 pages, 3.76 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/181011813/b ... _Chri.html



Ahmed Osman – Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion



Contends that the roots of Christian belief come not from Judaea but from Egypt

• Shows that the Romans fabricated their own version of Christianity and burned the Alexandrian library as a way of maintaining political power

• Builds on the arguments of the author's previous books The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt, Moses and Akhenaten, and Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs

In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion author Ahmed Osman contends that the roots of Christian belief spring not from Judaea but from Egypt. He compares the chronology of the Old Testament and its factual content with ancient Egyptian records to show that the major characters of the Hebrew scriptures--including Solomon, David, Moses, and Joshua--are based on Egyptian historical figures. He further suggests that not only were these personalities and the stories associated with them cultivated on the banks of the Nile, but the major tenets of Christian belief--the One God, the Trinity, the hierarchy of heaven, life after death, and the virgin birth--are all Egyptian in origin. He likewise provides a convincing argument that Jesus himself came out of Egypt.

With the help of modern archaeological findings, Osman shows that Christianity survived as an Egyptian mystery cult until the fourth century A.D., when the Romans embarked on a mission of suppression and persecution. In A.D. 391 the Roman-appointed Bishop Theophilus led a mob into the Serapeum quarter of Alexandria and burned the Alexandrian library, destroying all records of the true Egyptian roots of Christianity. The Romans' version of Christianity, manufactured to maintain political power, claimed that Christianity originated in Judaea. In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion Osman restores Egypt to its rightful place in the history of Christianity.

291 pages, 12.9 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/181004131/6 ... y_An_.html



Paul Foster - The Apocryphal Gospels, A Very Short Introduction



This Very Short Introduction offers a clear, accessible, and concise account of the apocryphal gospels--exploring their origins, their discovery, and discussing how the various texts have been interpreted both within and outside the Church. Looking at texts ranging from the Gospels from Nag Hammadi to the Dialogues with the Risen Savior, Paul Foster shows how the apocryphal gospels reflect the diversity that existed within early Christianity, and considers the extent to which they can be used to reconstruct an accurate portrait of the historical Jesus. Foster demonstrates how close analysis of text, contents, and context are vital in assessing the value and authenticity of such ancient documents. Including discussions of controversies and case-studies such as the alleged hoax surrounding the discovery of Secret Mark, Foster concludes that the non-canonical texts, considered in the correct context, can help us reach a more complete understanding of the multi-faceted nature of early Christianity.

Paul Foster is Lecturer in New Testament Language, Literature & Theology, University of Edinburgh.

161 pages, 2.22 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/181026160/b ... hal_G.html



Denning and Phillips - Planetary Magick: The Heart of Western Magick





Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips are internationally-recognized authorities on the mainstream Western Mysteries and are two of the foremost exponents of the Ogdoadic Tradition, that premier hermetic school whose keywords are knowledge and regeneration, and whose influence and works are historically traceable for the past one thousand years.

The authors received their major esoteric training in the magical order Aurum Solis, a society which was founded in 1897 and which has continued in active existence to the present day. On July 8, 1987, the authors, then heads of Aurum Solis, retired from the Order; but on June 23, 1988, at the unanimous request of the members, they resumed office.

In 1997, Melita Denning passed from this earth.

399 pages, 30 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/183231430/b ... aneta.html



Donald Tyson - The Power of the Word: The Secret Code of Creation



The true structure of the most sacred name of God is the great arcanum of occultism-never before explicitly revealed but only hinted at in obscure religious and alchemical emblems. It is now laid bare in "The Power of the Word“.

Renowned occultist Donald Tyson clearly shows how IHVH, the four Hebrew letters in the lost name of God, hold the key that unlocks the meaning behind astrological symbolism, the Tarot, the kabbalah, the mysteries of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation, divinatory systems such as the I Ching and medieval geomancy, the Enochian magic of John Dee, and modern ritual magic. The holiest name of God is nothing less than the archetypal blueprint of creation, the basis for such fundamental forms as the DNA double helix and the binary language of modern computers.

This groundbreaking work is the most complete magical reference guide to the secret code of creation ever presented.

Donald Tyson is a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Early in life he was drawn to science by an intense fascination with astronomy, building a telescope by hand when he was eight. He began university seeking a science degree, but became disillusioned with the aridity and futility of a mechanistic view of the universe and shifted his major to English. After graduating with honors he has pursued a writing career. Now he devotes his life to the attainment of a complete gnosis of the art of magic in theory and practice. His purpose is to formulate an accessible system of personal training composed of East and West, past and present, that will help the individual discover the reason for one's existence and a way to fulfill it.

300 pages, 11.5 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/183242574/7 ... of_th.html

April D. De Conick - Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas



This monograph represents a critical juncture in Thomas studies since it dispels the belief that the Gospel of Thomas originates from gnostic traditions. Rather, Jewish mystical and Hermetic origins are proposed and examined. Following this analysis, the anthropogony and soteriology of Thomas are discussed. The Thomasites taught that they were the elect children of the Father, originating from the Light. The human, however, became unworthy of these luminous beginnings and was separated from the divine when Adam sinned. Now he must purify himself by leading an encratite lifestyle. He is to ascend into heaven, seeking a visio dei which will transform him into his original immortal state and grant him citizenship in the Kingdom.

226 pages, 10.7 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188898054/7 ... o_See.html



Harold Percival - Thinking and Destiny



In Thinking and Destiny, something new, although older than time, is now made known to the world--about Consciousness. The information is largely about the makeup of the human, where man comes from, what becomes of him; it explains what thinking is; it tells how a thought is created, and how thoughts are exteriorized into acts, objects and events, and how they make his destiny. Destiny is thus shown to be self-determined by thinking; and the process of re-existence and the after-death states are told in detail. A single reading of any one chapter of Thinking and Destiny brings rich rewards in new understanding of life`s puzzling mysteries. To read the entire book is to come nearer to knowledge of one`s destiny and how to shape it than is possible through study of anything previously written in the English language. Both the casually curious glancer at books and the most avid seeker for knowledge will be intrigued by the index, which lists more than 400 subjects in Thinking and Destiny, and by the fifteen chapter headings in the Table of Contents, which identify the 156 sections. The Foreword contains the only pages in which Mr. Percival uses the first personal pronoun. Here he relates some of the amazing experiences through which he was able to grasp the knowledge he transmits, and to acquire the ability to do so.

1080 pages, 5.05 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188905285/8 ... g_and.html



Florian Ebeling - The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times



Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various traditions: to Platonism in its many varieties, to Stoicism, to Gnostic ideas, and even to certain Aristotelian doctrines. The Gnostic, the esoteric, the Platonist, or the deist has each been able to find something familiar in the writings. One just had to have a penchant for remote antiquity, for the idea of a Golden Age, in order for Hermeticism, with its aura of an ancient Egyptian revelation, to have enjoyed such outstanding success."--from the Introduction

Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes," emerged from the amalgamation of the wisdom gods Hermes and Thoth and is one of the most enigmatic figures of intellectual history. Since antiquity, the legendary "wise Egyptian" has been considered the creator of several mystical and magical writings on such topics as alchemy, astrology, medicine, and the transcendence of God. Philosophers of the Renaissance celebrated Hermes Trismegistus as the founder of philosophy, Freemasons called him their forefather, and Enlightenment thinkers championed religious tolerance in his name. To this day, Hermes Trismegistus is one of the central figures of the occult--his name is synonymous with the esoteric.

In this scholarly yet accessible introduction to the history of Hermeticism and its mythical founder, Florian Ebeling provides a concise overview of the Corpus Hermeticum and other writings attributed to Hermes. He traces the impact of Christian and Muslim versions of the figure in medieval Europe, the power of Hermeticism and Paracelsian belief in Renaissance thought, the relationship to Pietism and to Freemasonry in early modern Europe, and the relationship to esotericism and semiotics in the modern world.

153 pages, 13 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188921170/8 ... ret_H.html



John P. Dourley - Paul Tillich, Carl Jung and the Recovery of Religion



Is religion a positive reality in your life? If not, have you lost anything by forfeiting this dimension of your humanity? This book compares the theology of Tillich with the psychology of Jung, arguing that they were both concerned with the recovery of a valid religious sense for contemporary culture. Paul Tillich, Carl Jung and the Recovery of Religion explores in detail the diminution of the human spirit through the loss of its contact with its native religious depths, a problem on which both spent much of their working lives and energies. Both Tillich and Jung work with a naturalism that grounds all religion on processes native to the human being. Tillich does this in his efforts to recover that point at which divinity and humanity coincide and from which they differentiate. Jung does this by identifying the archetypal unconscious as the source of all religions now working toward a religious sentiment of more universal sympathy. This book identifies the dependence of both on German mysticism as a common ancestry and concludes with a reflection on how their joint perspective might affect religious education and the relation of religion to science and technology. Throughout the book, John Dourley looks back to the roots of both men's ideas about mediaeval theology and Christian mysticism making it ideal reading for analysts and academics in the fields of Jungian and religious studies.

217 pages, 1.68 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188930263/8 ... lich_.html



Donald Tyson - New Millennium Magic : A Complete System of Self-Realization



The first incarnation of this work appeared in 1988 under the title The New Magus: Ritual Magic As A Personal Process. The result of several years of research into the principles and techniques of Western ceremonial magic, coupled with an intense regimen of personal experimentation, The New Magus evolved from my original magical diaries. It was inspired by the need for a book that presented the essential structure of modern ritual magic shorn of its quaint but often confusing and contradictory traditional trappings.
The book answers such fundamental question as: What is magic? How does it work? What is ritual? Are spirits real? What is a magic circle and how is one projected? How are objects cleansed and consecrated? What are the dangers of magic? How are sigils, amulets and talismans constructed? What instruments and furnishings are needed for a ritual temple? How can one defend against astral attacks? What is dream-making? How can I do finger magic? How do I cast the pentagram? How do I banish spirits? What role does the Tarot play in magic?

Although the book is firmly based in the ritual practices of the Western world that descended from the Renaissance revival of magic five centuries ago, almost every aspect of the ancient art has been newly examined with a critical eye. Where necessary, basic ritual techniques such as the method for drawing the pentagram and hexagram have been revised and rationalized. All of the changes are explained and compared with the traditional practices they replace so that the reader can easily perceive why each revision was judged useful. This process gives the reader an unparalleled depth of understanding into the most basic aspects of ritual magic.

The New Magus proved so much help to those seeking a fundamental grasp of the technical principles and techniques of ritual magic, the decision was made to bring out a greatly enlarged new edition in 1996 under the title New Millennium Magic.

Everything in The New Magus has been carried over into New Millennium Magic, but in the process of revising the work it was possible to correct a number of minor errors and to expand the content to cover a broader scope. The way in which the integrated original system of magic presented in this book differs from the conventional system, which was derived from the Victorian Rosicrucian society known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, is presented in much greater detail in this expanded and revised edition. This comparison reduces confusion and aids in a more complete understanding of the material.

372 pages, 13.9 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188939614/2 ... nium_.html



Donald Tyson - The Magical Workbook



Everything that a beginner needs to start performing ritual magic is in this basic training manual of daily study. These exercises do not merely teach--they transform. When practiced regularly, they will provoke changes in the body, brain, perceptions, emotions, and the will--changes necessary for the successful working of magic in any of its ancient or modern traditions.

This text contains 40 magical exercises to be done immediately, along with a progressive 40-week schedule of daily study that integrates inner mental conditioning with external words and movements. It is a primer for the further study of the Golden Dawn and other forms of Western magic.

Donald Tyson is a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Early in life he was drawn to science by an intense fascination with astronomy, building a telescope by hand when he was eight. He began university seeking a science degree, but became disillusioned with the aridity and futility of a mechanistic view of the universe and shifted his major to English. After graduating with honors he has pursued a writing career.

Now he devotes his life to the attainment of a complete gnosis of the art of magic in theory and practice. His purpose is to formulate an accessible system of personal training composed of East and West, past and present, that will help the individual discover the reason for one's existence and a way to fulfill it.

353 pages, 10.8 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/188946843/2 ... l_Wor.html

Louis Albert Billings - The Nature, Structure & Role of the Soul in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn



“The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a 19 th century English society engaged in the creation of a systematic form of western esotericism. Its founders created a synthesis of previous strands of esotericism and spiritual thought that had existed in Europe. One aspect of this synthesis was the creation of a new vision of the soul. This soul went beyond a simple mixing of elements from earlier traditions and provided an integral portion of the spiritual vision that gave an overall purpose to the spiritual practices of the Golden Dawn. A discussion of the nature and structure of this soul, its key influences, and unique aspects gives clarity to some of the spiritual goals and vision of the Golden Dawn as a system of spiritual practice. This demonstrates a system of thought unique to the end of the nineteenth century that places it with other spiritual traditions of the world.”

100 pages, 3.58 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/195209846/3 ... he_Na.html



Alta J. LaDage - Occult Psychology, A Comparison of Jungian Psychology and the Modern Qabalah

If you are a student or practitioner of "modern" or "Hermetic" Qabalah, then you really should have this book. Most of the well known authorities in this field - such W.E. Butler, Dion Fortune, Gareth Knight, Israel Regardie - refer to Jung's theories as offering a significant bridge between modern psychology and the ancient concepts and symbols of Qabalah. This book directly addresses that bridge in an exceptional way. It should be noted that LaDage is not offering a redefinition of Qabalah from a Jungian perspective, but showing where there are parallels and intersections, as well as some important differences. LaDage treats both subjects with great respect, and spices things up a bit with well-placed references to General Semantics.

In Chapter 1, LaDage writes:

"The two systems which we will deal mainly with herein are the teachings of the Qabalah and Dr. Carl Jung's system of Analytical Psychology. In addition to being the West's oldest system, the Qabalah is also the most timeless, having survived uninterrupted since its birth so many ages ago. Each new age with its new language turns again to the Qabalah for reference, for guidance, and for proof. So it is that the Tarot, Astrology, Alchemy, and Psychology have all touched briefly upon the Qabalah, and in so doing have not only preserved the system of thought but have enriched it with fresh and daring ideas.

"The system of the Qabalah and Dr. Jung's system can both be considered as instruments for obtaining direct religious experience. We can easily analyze and compare the psychological teachings of the Qabalah with those of Jung. Both systems deal with the gradual integration of the powers within the human psyche, and both use imagination to tap the energy bound in the archetypes and complexes of the personal and/or collective unconscious."

"In theory the systems map together with good grace. In practice, however, I have found that students of the two ways seldom agree on fundamentals, even though they might agree on the equivalence of the appearance."

"All I hope to show, however, is that Jung's system and the system of the Qabalah are fundamentally compatible, and not just superficially accommodating."

Table of Contents:

Forward
Chapter I The Eternal Quest
Chapter II The Roots of the Qabalah
Chapter III The Teachings of the Qabalah
Chapter IV The Universal Force
Chapter V The Collective Unconsious
Chapter VI The Archetypes as Psychological Factors
Chapter VII The Archetypes--the Gods on the Tree
Chapter VIII The Four Funtions
Chapter XI The Process of Individuation
Bibliography

93 pages, 673 KB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/195358000/5 ... ychol.html



Robert Masters - The Goddess Sekhmet, Psycho-Spiritual Exercises of the 5th Way



Robert Masters presents the wisdom of ancient Egypt through the perspective of contemporary research in psychology and religious studies in his profound study of The Goddess Sekhmet: Psycho-Spiritual Exercises of the Fifth Way. The fifth way refers to the Egyptian theory that humans consist of five bodies: the (most subtle) Spiritual Body (Egyptian: Sahu); and, after that, the increasingly less subtle: Magical Body (Khu); Shadow (Haidit); Double (Ka); and Physical Body (Aufu).

Also included are Sekhmet’s myth, her hundred Sacred Names, as well as her rites of meditation, prayer and exercises in body movement, awareness, mind expansion, imagination and creativity. This book initiates readers into a direct experience of the lost feminine mysteries.

Fascinating . . . Master’s unswerving devotion to the Goddess Sekhmet is captivating and infectious. -- Kenneth Grant

Masters has broken through to a new understanding of the sense and uses of the disciplines of inward-turned contemplation. -- Joseph Campbell, author of The Power of Myth

Pioneer of modern consciousness research -- Stanislav Grof, psychiatrist and author

221 pages, 11.5 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/195368217/c ... ess_S.html



Paul Huson - The Devil's Picturebook: The Complete Guide to Tarot Cards: Their Origins and Their Usage



Paul Huson's trend-setting book on Tarot cards published in 1971 explores the magical and mythological imagery of the famous deck. The New Haven Register recognized it as: „The most comprehensive and illuminating work on these 'mirrors of the soul.' Unique among books on the Tarot.“

Paul Huson is the author of Mastering Witchcraft, The Devil's Picturebook, The Coffee Table Book of Witchcraft and Demonology, Mastering Herbalism, The Keepsake, The Offering, and How To Test and Develop Your ESP!. He also writes and produces for television. He lives in Los Angeles.

252 pages, 48.6 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/195395467/f ... ictur.html

W.S. Andrews - Magic Squares and Cubes



The essays that appear in this book originally appeared in The Monist between 1905 and 1916.They were written by W.S. Andrews, other contributors include and such others as Harry A. Sayles, Dr. C. Planck, H.M. Kingsley, D.F. Savage, C.A. Browne, L.S. Frierson, and Paul Carus, and they cover topics such as magic squares, magic cubes, the Franklin squares, magics and Pythagorean numbers, the theory of reversions, magic circles, spheres, and stars, and magic octahedroids, among other things.

In the introduction, Paul Carus wrote, "There is no science that teaches the harmonies of nature more clearly than mathematics, and the magic squares are like a mirror which reflects the symmetry of the divine norm immanent in all things, in the immeasurable immensity of the cosmos and in the construction of the atom not less than in the mysterious depths of the human mind."

In the introduction to Magic Squares and Cubes, W.S. Andrews wrote writes, "The study of magic squares probably dates back to prehistoric times. Examples have been found in Chinese literature written about A. D. 1125 which were evidently copied from still older documents. It is recorded that as early as the ninth century magic squares were used by Arabian astrologers in their calculations of horoscopes, etc. Hence, the probable origin of the term magic, which has survived to the present day." He added that "a magic square consists of a series of numbers so arranged in a square that the sum of each row and column and of both the corner diagonals shall be the same amount which may be termed the summation."

428 pages, 23.5 MB, PDF. Scan.

http://www.4shared.com/file/204292905/9 ... s_and.html



Mark Stavish - Between the Gates: Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism



An A to Z guide to evolved states of consciousness.

Between the Gates is a manual of self-initiation and liberation that takes the student through the basic methods of experiencing dream states and conscious astral projection, to the ultimate culmination of consciousness-- creation of the Body of Light.

Between the Gates is for anyone who has ever desired to experience the "afterlife" while still alive, or who has desired to rid themselves of the fear of death. While drawing upon traditional Qabalistic and alchemical sources, the methods presented are applicable to a variety of traditions and schools of thought.

This book contains all you need to have the direct experience of lucid dreaming, astral projection, and the Body of Light, and rather quickly as well. Focused and dedicated practice will unlock the doors of perception to a series of individual nonmaterial realities within a few months. From these experiences, confidence will be built and sustained, which with concentrated effort, can lead to deep and profound revelation through direct experience of the very nature of life. --from the book

Between the Gates functions as an "A to Z" guide to psychic initiation toward higher consciousness, and ultimately, to preparation for the great transition beyond this life and this physical body.

* Stavish is featured in Guy Ritchie's hotly anticipated documentary on the Qabala.
* Features black and white illustrations to further guide the reader to a higher state of awareness.

Mark Stavish has over 25 years of experience in traditional spirituality and is an internationally respected authority on the study and practical application of alchemy, Qabala, and astrology. Stavish is the author of The Path of Alchemy. In 1998 he established the Institute for Hermetic Studies. Stavish resides in Wyoming, Pennsylvania.

269 pages, 1.47 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/204338612/f ... e_Gat.html



David Fontana - The Meditator's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Eastern & Western Meditation Techniques



Dr. Fontana's sincerity, enormous depth of both scholarship and practice of meditation all combine to make this book a beautiful companion for meditators at any stage of their spiritual journey.' Dr. Michael West, author of The Psychology of Meditation

This book is for novice and advanced practitioners alike. It describes the theory and practice of all the major Eastern and Western approached to meditation and brings together the insights provided by these spiritual traditions with those of modern psychology.

255 pages, 2.22 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/204347600/e ... s_Han.html



James M. Robinson - The Nag Hammadi Library



The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered in 1945 buried in a large stone jar in the desert outside the modern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. It is a collection of religious and philosophic texts gathered and translated into Coptic by fourth-century Gnostic Christians and translated into English by dozens of highly reputable experts. First published in 1978, this is the revised 1988 edition supported by illuminating introductions to each document. The library itself is a diverse collection of texts that the Gnostics considered to be related to their heretical philosophy in some way. There are 45 separate titles, including a Coptic translation from the Greek of two well-known works: the Gospel of Thomas, attributed to Jesus' brother Judas, and Plato's Republic. The word gnosis is defined as "the immediate knowledge of spiritual truth." This doomed radical sect believed in being here now--withdrawing from the contamination of society and materiality--and that heaven is an internal state, not some place above the clouds. That this collection has resurfaced at this historical juncture is more than likely no coincidence. --P. Randall Cohan

297 pages, 2.2 MB, PDF.

http://www.4shared.com/file/204380388/7 ... g_Ham.html