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Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library

OF RELIGIOUS

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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK SPELLS

y. do something positive to help a person, animal or place on the day after the third ritual. it need not involve money. you can re-light the oils at any time if energies seem sluggish and repeat the whole ritual a moon cycle later for as long as is necessary. there may be a lot of negative vibes swimming the other way, so persevere and be patient. incense magick incense has formed a central part of religious and magical ceremonies for thousands of years in lands as far apart as india and north america. it has been used for purification purposes, to invoke angels and to bind or repel demons by medieval magicians. it is said to release specific energies contained in its fragrance and to carry prayers and petitions to the god or goddess figure being invoked. since the 1960s, incense sticks

ALEISTER CROWLEY EIGHT LECTURES ON YOGA

join) when a dancing girl is dedicated to the service of a temple there is a yoga of her relations to celebrate. yoga, in short, may be translated 'tea fight' which doubtless accounts for the fact that all the students of yoga in england do nothing but gossip over endless libations of lyons' 1s. 2d (4) yoga means union. in what sense are we to consider this? how is the word yoga to imply a system of religious training or a description of religious experience? you may note incidentally that the word religion is really identifiable with yoga. it means a binding together (5) yoga means union. what are the elements which are united or to be united when this word is used in its common sense of a practice widely spread in hindustan whose object is the emancipation of the individual who studies a

ote well! concentration has reduced our moral obligations to their simplest terms: there is a single standard to which everything is to be referred. to hell with the pope! if lobster newburg upsets your digestion- and good digestion is necessary to your practice- then you do not eat lobster newburg. unless this is clearly understood, the yogi will constantly be side-tracked by the sophistications of religious and moral fanatics. to hell with the archbishops! 8. you will readily appreciate that to undertake a course of this kind requires careful planning. you have got to map out your life in advance for a considerable period so far as it is humanly possible to do so. if you have failed in this original strategical disposition, you are simply not going to carry through the campaign. unforese

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

a. but see appendix, liber samekh. compare also "the book of the spirit of the living gods- where there is a ritual given "in extenso" on slightly different lines: equinox i, iii, pages 269-272. there is an etymological identity between tetragrammaton and "i a o, but the magical formulae are entirely different, as the descriptions here given have schewn. professor william james, in his "varieties of religious experience" has well classified religion as the "once-born" and the "twice-born; but the religion now proclaimed in liber legis harmonizes these by transcending them. there is no attempt to get rid of death by denying it, as among the once-born; nor to accept death as the gate of a new life, as among the twice-born. with the a. a. life and death are equally incidents in a career, very

effect than a magician working by himself. the psychology of "revival meetings" will be familiar to almost every one, and though such 73 meetings<ceremonial, equinox i, ix "energized enthusiasm, and equinox iii, l. liber xv, ecclesiae gnosticae catholicae cannon missae. the "revival meetings" here in question were deliberate exploitations of religious hysteria> are the foulest and most degraded rituals of black magic, the laws of magick are not thereby suspended. the laws of magick are the laws of nature. a singular and world-famous example of this is of sufficiently recent date to be fresh in the memory of many people now living. at a nigger camp meeting in the "united" states of america, devotees were worked up to such a pitch of

of the mind. 209 the spiritual guide of molinos. a simple manual of christian mysticism. the star of the west (captain fuller) an introduction to the study of the works of aleister crowley. the dhammapada (s.b.e. series, oxford university press) the best of the buddhist classics. the questions of king milinda (s.b.e. series) technical points of buddhist dogma, illustrated by dialogues. varieties of religious experience (james) valuable as showing the uniformity of mystical attainment. kabbala denudata, von rosenroth: also the kabbalah unveiled, by s. l. mathers. the text of the kabalah, with commentary. a good elementary introduction to the subject. konx om pax. four invaluable treatises and a preface on mysticism and magick. the pistis sophia. an admirable introduction to the study of gn

song "the book of the dead "rituel et dogme de la haute magie. 373 "the book of the sacred magic of abramelin the mage "the goetia "the hathayoga pradipika "the spiritual guide of molinos. erdmann's "history of philosophy "the star in the west (captain fuller "the dhammapada (s.b.e. series, oxford university press "the questions of king milinda (s.b.e. series "777 vel prolegomena, etc "varieties of religious experience (james "kabbala denudata "knox om pax. 3. careful study of these books will enable the pupil to speak in the language of his master, and facilitate communications with him. 4. the pupil should endeavour to discover the fundamental harmony of these very varied works; for this purpose he will find it best to study the most extreme divergencies side by side. 5. he may at any t

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

ion of god" or "union with god" or "samadhi" or whatever we may agree to call it, has many kinds and many degrees, although there is an impassable abyss between the least of them and the greatest of all the phenomena of normal consciousness "to sum up" we assert a secret source of energy which explains the phenomenon of genius<religious genius. other kinds are subject to the same remarks, but the limits of our space forbid discussion of these> we do not believe in any supernatural explanations, but insist that this source may be reached by the following out of definite rules, the degree of success depending upon the capacity of the seeker, and not upon the favour of any divine being. we assert that the critical pheno

ALEISTER CROWLEY TAO TEH KING

ish, greek and celtic traditions. one quintessential truth was common to all cults, from the hebrides to the yellow sea, and even the main branches proved essentially identical. it was only the foliage that exhibited incompatibility. when i walked across china in 1905-6, i was fully armed and accoutred by the above qualifications to attack the till-then-insoluble problem of the chinese conception of religious truth. practical studies of the psychology of such mongolians as i had met in my travels, had already suggested to me that their acentric conception of the universe might represent the correspondence in consciousness of their actual psychological characteristics. i was therefore prepared to examine the doctrines of their religious and 2 philosophical masters without prejudice such as

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

d by christians the book of the beast aleister crowley y h a r h f s u r k h y h w here is wisdom: let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast. for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, three score, and six the apocalypse of john this electronic edition prepared by celepha s press somewhere beyond the tanarian hills first published society for the propagation of religious truth benares [i.e. boleskine, foyers, inverness] 1904 e.v. reprinted in vol ii. of crowley s collected works society for the propagation of religious truth 1906 e.v. this electronic edition (based on the collected works printing) hastily prepared by frater t.s. for sunwheel oasis, o.t.o. 2001 e.v. re-proofed and corrected edition issued by celepha s press august 2003 e.v (c) ordo tem

awake, awake, o sword of song! my strength this agony of the age win through; my music charm the old sorrow of years: my warfare wage by iron to an age of gold: the world is old, and i am strong awake, awake, o sword of song* the name of siegfried s sword. introduction to ascension day and pentecost not a word to introduce my introduction! let me instantly launch the boat of discourse on the sea of religious speculation, in danger of the rocks of authority and the quicksands of private interpretation, scylla and charybdis. here is the strait; what god shall save us from shipwreck? if we choose to understand the christian (or any other) religion literally, we are at once overwhelmed by its inherent impossibility. our credulity is outraged, our moral sense shocked, the holiest foundations o

y than the metric system with the great pyramid. but see piazzi smyth! henry morley has even the audacity to claim shelley shelley! as a christian in spirit. talking of shelley: with regard to my open denial of the personal christian god, may it not be laid to my charge that i have dared to voice in bald language what shelley* as represented by his encylop dia article; not in such works as limits of religious thought. a.c. an astronomer whose brain gave way. he prophesied the end of the world in 1881, from measurements made in the great pyramid. the sword of song 4 sang in words of surpassing beauty: for of course the thought in one or two passages of this poem is practically identical with that in certain parts of queen mab and prometheus unbound. but the very beauty of these poems (espec

and the egyptian god of wisdom. crowley dismissed with a jest. still you re young yet, scarce forty we ll hope at three score you ll be more of a singer, and less of a whore. 115 each to his trade! live out your life! fondle your child, and buss your wife! trust not, fear not, street straight and strong! don t worry, but just get along. i used to envy all my balti coolies21 120 in an inverse kind of religious hysteria, though every one a perfect fool is, to judge by philosophic criteria, my lord archbishop. the name of winchester, harrow, or eton22 makes them not two inches stir. 125 they know not trinity, merton, or christchurch; they worship, but not at your back-pews-high-priced church. i ve seen them at twenty thousand feet on the ice, in a snow-storm, at night fall, repeat their praye

nds of men had a trying ordeal to pass through. in zola s la cur e we see how such ordinary and natural characters as those of saccard, maxime, and the incestuous heroine, were twisted and distorted from their normal sanity, and sent whirling into the jaws of a hell far more affrayant than the mere cheap and nasty brimstone sheol which is a shibboleth for the dissenter, and with which all classes of religious humbug, from the pope to the salvation ranter, from the mormon and the jesuit to that mongrol mixture of the worst features of both, the plymouth brother, have scared their illiterate, since hypocrisy was born, with abel, and spiritual tyranny with jehovah! society, in the long run, is eminently sane and practical; under the second empire it ran mad. if these things are done in the gr

(2) the diminution of his sensibility to physical charms. pure and sane is his early work; then he is carried into the outer current of the great vortex of sin, and whirls lazilky though the sleepy waters of mere sensualism; the pace quickens, he grows fierce in the mysteries of sapphism and the cult of venus aversa with women; later of the same forms of vice with men, all mingled with wild talk of religious dogma and a general exaltation of priapism at the expense, in particular, of christianity, in which religion, however, he is undoubtedly a believer till the last (the pious will quote james ii. 19, and the infidel will observe that he died in an asylum; then the full swing of the tide catches him, the mysteries of death become more and more an obsession, and he is flung headlong into

empliers. migne, abb. oeuvres. montalembert. the monks of the west. morley, j. life of mr. gladstone. motley. history of the dutch republic. napier. history of the peninsular war. prescott. history of the conquest of mexico. prescott. history of the conquest of peru. renan. vie de j sus. robertson, e.w. historical essays. rosebery, ld. napoleon. shakespeare. histories. society for the propagation of religious truth. transactions, vols. i- dclxvi. stevenson, r. l. a footnote to history. thornton, ethelred, rev. history of the jesuits waite, a. e. the real history of the rosicrucians. wolseley, ld. marlborough. the above works and many others of less importance were carefully consulted by the author before passing these lines for the press. their substanital accuracy is further guaranteed by

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 1

ord of song "the book of the dead "rituel et dogme de la haute magie "the book of the sacred magic of abramelin the mage "the goetia "the hathayoga pradipika" erdmann's "history of philosophy "the spiritual guide of molinos "the star in the west (captain fuller "the dhammapada [s.b.e. series, oxford university press "the questions of king milinda [s.b.e. series "777. vel prolegomena &c "varieties of religious experience (james "kabbala denudata "knox om pax" 3. careful study of these books will enable the pupil to speak in the language of his master and facilitate communication with him. 4. the pupil should endeavour to discover the fundamental harmony of these very varied works; for this purpose he will find it best to study the most extreme divergences side by side. 5. he may at any time

dent of the mysteries when he has paused whilst reading the work or the life of some well-known mystic, a moment of perplexity in which, bewildered, he has turned to himself and asked the question "is this one telling me the truth" still more so does this strike us when we turn to any commentative work upon mysticism, such as r c jac's "bases of the mystic knowledge" or william james's "varieties of religious experience" in fact, so much so, that unless we are more than commonly sceptical of the wordy theories which attempt to explain these wordy utterances we are bound to clasp hands with the great school of medical-materialism, which is all but paramount at the present hour, and dismiss all such as have had a glimpse of something we do not see as "d traqu s" degenerates, neuropaths, psyc

reat spanish mystics, who carried the habit of ecstasy as far as it has often been carried, appear for the most part to have shown indomitable spirit and energy, and all the more so for the trances in which they indulged" writing of st. ignatius, he says "st. ignatius was a mystic, but his mysticism made him assuredly one of the most powerful practical human engines that ever lived("the varieties of religious experience" p. 413. in the old days, when but a small portion of the globe was known to civilised man, the explorer and the traveller would return to his home with weird, fantastic stories of long-armed hairy men, of impossible monsters, and countries of fairy-like wonder. but he who travels now and who happens to see a gorilla, or a giraffe, or perchance a volcano, forgets to mention

fruit shall it be known, and by its fruit shall it be judged.4 3 "in the natural sciences and industrial arts it never occurs to any one to try to refute opinions by showing up their author's neurotic constitution. opinions here are invariably tested by logic and by experiment, no matter what may be their author's neurological type. it should be no otherwise with religious opinions "the varieties of religious experience" pp. 17, 18. 4 "dr. maudsley is perhaps the cleverest of the rebutters of supernatural religion on grounds of origin. yet he finds himself forced to write('natural causes and supernatural seemings' 1886, pp. 256, 257"'what right have we to believe nature under any obligation to do her work by means of complete minds only? she may find an incomplete mind a more suitable inst

resort of certitude- namely the common assent of mankind, or of the competent by instruction and training among mankind "in other words, not its origin, but "the way in which it works "on the whole" is dr. maudsley's final test of a belief. this is our own empiricist criterion; and this criterion the stoutest insisters on supernatural origin have also been forced to use in the end "the varieties of religious experience" pp. 19, 20. to put it vulgarly "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" and it is sheer waste of time to upbraid the cook before tasting of his dish. 5 or pyrrho-zoroastrianism. 6 "we have to confess that the part of it [mental life] of which rationalism can give an account is relatively superficial. it is the part that has the "prestige" undoubtedly, for it has the loq

that has the "prestige" undoubtedly, for it has the loquacity, it can challenge you for proofs, and chop logic, and put you down with words. but it will fail to convince or convert you all the same, if your dumb intuitions are opposed to its conclusions. if you have intuitions at all, they come from a deeper level of your nature than the loquacious level which rationalism inhabits "the varieties of religious experience" p. 73. the rationalists who will slay the magic of darwin; so that four hundred years hence perchance will some disciple of lamarck 151 be torn to pieces in the rooms of the royal society by the followers of haeckel, just as hypatia, that disciple of plato, was torn to pieces in the church of christ by followers of st. john. we have nothing to say against the men of scienc

a somewhat irrelevant matter, this is what actually happened to the complier of this book: for ten years he had been a sceptic, in that sense of the word which is generally conveyed by the terms infidel, atheist, and freethinker; then suddenly, in a single moment, he withdrew all the scepticism with which he had assailed religion, and hurled it against freethought itself; and as 7 "the varieties of religious experience" pp. 498-501. 8 "the varieties of religious experience, pp. 507, 508. the former had crumbled into dust, so now the latter vanished in smoke. in this crisis there was no sickness of soul, no division of self; for he simply had turned a corner on the road along which he was travelling and suddenly became aware of the fact that the mighty range of snow-capped mountains upon w

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 3

tween saint and sinner. now and then we find the extremes of self and selflessness in the same soul. dante tells us how the lover kissed the trembling mouth, and with the same thrill describes his own passionate abandonment before the mystic rose. in our own day, the greatest of french lyric poets, verlaine, has given us volumes of the most passionate love songs, and side by side with them a book of religious poetry more sublimely credulous and ecstatic than anything that has come down to us from the ages of faith. we are all, as sainte-beuve said 'children of a sensual literature' and perhaps for that reason we should expect from our singers fervent religious hymns "there is one of london's favourites almost unrivalled to express by her art the delights of the body with a pagan simplicity

an anything that has come down to us from the ages of faith. we are all, as sainte-beuve said 'children of a sensual literature' and perhaps for that reason we should expect from our singers fervent religious hymns "there is one of london's favourites almost unrivalled to express by her art the delights of the body with a pagan simplicity and directness. now she sends us a book 'amphora' a volume of religious verse: it contains song after song in praise of mary" etc. etc. etc. the "scotsman" says "outside the latin church conflicting views are held about the worship of the virgin, but there can be no doubt that this motive of religion has given birth to many beautiful pieces of literature, and the poets have never tired of singing variations on the theme of 'hail, mary' this little book is

to her high themes, divides her poems into four series of thirteen each- thus providing a song for each week of the year. the songs are all of praise or prayer addressed to the virgin, and, though many have a touch of mysticism, most have a simplicity of expression and earnestness of devotion that will commend them to the author's co-religionists" the "catholic herald" says "this anonymous volume of religious verse reaches a very high level of poetic imagery. it is a series of hymns in honour of our lady, invariably expressed in melodious verse. the pitfalls of religious verse are bathos and platitude, but these the sincerity of the writer and a certain mastery over poetic expression have enabled him- or her- to avoid. the writer of such verse as the following may be complimented on a very

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

entals. as levi says "the love of the magus for such beings is insensate, and may destroy him" it surely will, if he beware not in time. higher again because more purely formless and for this reason truer to the vedana type are the ecstasies of joy and agony experienced by such men as luther, fox, molinos, and others. professor william james treats most adequately of this matter in his "varieties of religious experience" the limitations of this stage are first, its absorption in self; secondly, its almost always insuperable tendency to self-limitation and narrowness. two mystics, the one wallowing in jesus and the other in vishnu, will describe their experiences in almost identical language, yet denounce each other as "heathen" and "mlechha" respectively. among hashish phenomena the corres

ALICE A BAILEY01 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ATOM

consciousness of the atom copyright 1998 lucis trust have had something of this sort in mind when he spoke about the heavenly man. by the "body of christ" he surely means all those units of the human family who are held within his sphere of influence, and who go to the constitution of his body, as the aggregate of the physical cells form the physical body of the man. what is needed in these days of religious upheaval is that these fundamental truths of christianity should be demonstrated to be scientific truths. we need to make religion scientific. there is a very interesting sanskrit writing, many thousands of years old, which i am venturing to quote here. it says "every form on earth, and every speck (atom) in space, strives in its efforts towards self-formation, and to follow the model

is becoming so strong that it finds them a prison and a limitation; and we must recollect that this transition period is the time of the greatest promise that the world has ever seen. there is no room for pessimism and despair, but only for the profoundest optimism. many to-day are upset and distraught because the foundations seem to be shaken, the carefully reared and deeply cherished structures of religious thought and belief, and of philosophical finding seem in danger of falling, yet our anxiety exists simply because we have been too much engrossed with the form, and too much occupied with our prison, and if disruption has set in, it is only in order that the life may build for itself new forms and thereby evolve. the work of the destroyer is as much the work of god as that of the cons

ALICE A BAILEY04 A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

3. there are four branches of knowledge to which h. p. b. specially refers s.d, i, 192. these four are probably those with which man has dealt the most, in this fourth round and fourth chain. compare s. d, i, 70, 95, 107, 227. the four noble truths. the four vedas. the four gospels. the four basic admissions. the four ready elements. the four grades of initiation. a. yajna vidya t he performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results. ceremonial magic. it is concerned with sound, therefore with the akasha or the ether of space. the "yajna" is the invisible deity who pervades space. perhaps this concerns the physical plane? b. mahavidya t he great magic knowledge. it has degenerated into tantrika worship. deals with the feminine aspect, or the matter (mother) aspect. the ba

ALICE A BAILEY05 THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

the liberty-producing means. ignorance (avidya) must be supplanted by the true vidya or knowledge, and as is well-known, in this fourth race on this fourth globe and in the fourth round, the four vidyas and the four noble truths and the four basic elements form the sum total of this knowledge. the four vidyas of the hindu philosophy might be enumerated as follows: 1. yajna vidya. the performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results. ceremonial magic. is concerned with sound, therefore with the akasa or the ether of space. the "yajna" is the invisible deity who pervades space. 2. mahavidya. the great magic knowledge. it has degenerated into tantrika worship. deals with the feminine aspect, or the matter (mother) aspect. the basis of black magic. true maha-yoga has to do w

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

ading him into his spiritual heritage is the work of religion and of- 7- from intellect to intuition copyright 1998 lucis trust science. dr. pupin tells us that "science and religion supplement each other, they are the two pillars of the portal through which the human soul enters into the world where divinity resides."12(12) let us give the word "spiritual" a wide connotation! i do not here speak of religious truths; the formulations of the theologians and the churchmen in all the big religious organizations, both eastern and western, may, or may not, be true. let us use the word "spiritual" to signify the world of light and beauty, of order and of purpose, about which the world scriptures speak, which is the object of the attentive research of the scientists, and into which the pioneers o

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

cessfully fused and merged and the mechanism or instrument of the indwelling self is a usable and valuable asset. the man is a potent personality and becomes the centre of a group; he finds himself to be a focal point for other lives, and is an influential magnetic individual, swaying others, coordinating human units into groups, and organisms. he becomes the head of organizations and of parties, of religious and political bodies and of nations in some cases. thus do the dominant personalities come into being and find themselves; they discover thus the distinction between the centre of power, the self, and the equipment; they finally become conscious of vocation in the true sense of the term. it should be noted that this sequential development is paralleled by an inner growth of soul aware

ense of the term. it should be noted that this sequential development is paralleled by an inner growth of soul awareness, though the mode of expression of that inner growth is largely dependent upon the ray upon which the spiritual entity is found. one point should be here noted and upon this point aspirants should exercise care. the usual connotation of the words spiritual growth is largely that of religious growth in understanding. a man is deemed spiritual if he is interested in the world scriptures, if he is a church member and if he lives a saintly life. but this is no true definition for it is not sufficiently comprehensive. it has grown out of the impress set upon human thought and terminologies by the piscean age, and through the influence of the sixth ray, and the work of the chri

and through the influence of the sixth ray, and the work of the christian church all most necessary and all inherent in the great plan, but which (divorced from their eternal context) lead to the over-emphasis of certain divine expressions, and the overlooking of other as vital manifestations of the divine consciousness. is far wider and more inclusive than their manifestation through the medium of religious and mystical literature and organisations for the imparting of metaphysical truth. power, purpose and will are divine qualities and expressions, and show themselves with equal clarity through a mussolini or through a pope. in both cases the mechanism of expression modifies and steps down the qualities and serves as a handicap. a potent personality may- 229- a treatise on white magic c

ALICE A BAILEY09 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME I ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY I

love, tenderness, intuition, loyalty, reverence. vices of ray: selfish and jealous love, over-leaning on others, partiality, self-deception, sectarianism, superstition, prejudice, over-rapid conclusions, fiery anger. virtues to be acquired: strength, self-sacrifice, purity, truth, tolerance, serenity, balance and common sense. this is called the ray of devotion. the man who is on this ray is full of religious instincts and impulses, and of intense personal feeling; nothing is taken equably. everything, in his eyes, is either perfect or intolerable; his friends are angels, his enemies are very much the reverse; his view, in both cases, is formed not on the intrinsic merits of either class, but on the way the persons appeal to him, or on the sympathy or lack of sympathy which they shew to hi

for the objects of his devotion or reverence, but he will not lift a finger to help those outside of his immediate sympathies. as a soldier, he hates fighting but often when roused in battle fights like one possessed. he is never a great statesman nor a good business man, but he may be a great preacher or orator. the sixth ray man will be the poet of the emotions (such as tennyson) and the writer of religious books, either in poetry or prose. he is devoted to beauty and colour and all things lovely, but his productive skill is not great unless under the influence of one of the practically artistic rays, the- 132- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust fourth or seventh. his music will always be of a melodious order, and he will often be the

re transitting into a new sign of the zodiac, and the "coming of christ" is imminent. these three great happenings are the cause of much of the present upheaval and chaos; at the same time they are responsible for the universal turning to spiritual realities which all true workers at this time recognise, and for the growth of understanding, of welfare movements and of the tendency to cooperation, of religious unity and of internationalism. types of energy which have hitherto been latent are now becoming potent. the consequent world reaction is, in the initial stages, material in its- 176- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust manifestation; in its final stages, divine qualities will manifest and change history and civilisation. the interes

ions. hence the many experiments. a process is going forward whereby these groups, large or small, are being subjected to a housecleaning, to a discarding of the rubbish of old and worn-out ideas, and to a period of disciplining and training which must precede all real group life. when this process is over, we shall have these groups approaching each other in a new and real spirit of cooperation, of religious fusion, and in an international attitude which will be new indeed. then they will have something of a surer and greater value to offer to the whole. within all these groups which are struggling towards this newer realisation and integration, and which express what we might call "the sixth stage of adaptation, are those who are already at the seventh stage. 7. here we have complete uns

ALICE A BAILEY11 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME II ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY II

uperhuman, are fundamentally the powers which express group activity, and the virtues are only effects of group life, rightly handled, which are attempting to express themselves on the physical plane. the growing science of social relations, of social responsibility, or coordinated civic life, of scientific economics and of human inter-relations, the steadily developing sense of internationalism, of religious unity, and of economic interdependence, are all of them indications of the energies of soul life upon the physical plane, and within the human family. hence the conflict of ideals in the world today; hence the massed dualism which produces such bewilderment; hence the compromises and hence the inconsistencies. here is to be found the cause of all the divergencies in the world of civil

are ever to be found, nevertheless, even in the most undesirable types of human beings; it is evolved in moments of high destiny or immediate urgency, and of supreme difficulty. the heart of man is sound, but oft asleep. serve and obey! these are the watchwords of the disciple's life. they have been distorted into terms of fanatical propaganda and have thus produced the formulas of philosophy and of religious theology; but these formulas do, at the same time, veil a truth. they have been presented to the consideration of man in terms of personality devotions and of obedience to masters and leaders, instead of service of, and obedience to, the soul in all. the truth is, however, steadily emerging, and must inevitably triumph. once the aspirant upon the probationary path has a vision of this

nce: first, into the solar plexus and from thence to the throat centre. the throat centre is not, at this period, active enough or sufficiently awakened to absorb and utilise the sacral energies. they are arrested in some cases in their upward passage and retained temporarily in the heart centre, producing the phenomena of sex urges (accompanied at times with definitely physical sexual reactions, of religious eroticism and a generally unwholesome attitude, ranging all the way from real sexuality to fanatical celibacy. this latter is as much an undesirable extreme as the other and produces most undesirable results. frequently in the case of a male mystic there will be over developed sexual expression on the physical plane, perversions of different kinds or a pronounced homosexuality. in the

es must be formulated in the simplest terms and made practical in action. thirdly, the general public must be educated in these principles. steadily, regularly and systematically, they must be taught the principles of brotherhood, of an internationalism which is- 403- a treatise on the seven rays- volume ii: esoteric psychology ii copyright 1998 lucis trust based on good will and love of all men, of religious unity, and of cooperative interdependence. the individual in every nation and group must be taught to play his important part with good will and understanding; the group must shoulder its responsibility to other groups; and the responsibility of nation to nation and of all nations to the world of nations must be explained and emphasised. this is no idle or mystical, impractical progra

ALICE A BAILEY13 PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY

the problem of the children of the world still exists in most parts of the world but in a different form and under different conditions to those prevailing in the immediate post-war period, particularly in europe. the problems of capital, labour and employment also differ today in an increasingly automated and computerised world. change is occurring within many crystallized and reactionary areas of religious orthodoxy and separateness, creating new problems within the churches. similar comments can be made for all these problems, with the added fact that new problems are arising under present day conditions which are variations and extensions of the basic six discussed in this book. therefore, when in 1967 we are again faced with the need to reprint the book we realise that there are two

found existing today between the moslem and hindu populations of india an ancient problem which the british inherited. to all these contributing factors in the problem of the minorities must be added the- 50- problems of humanity copyright 1998 lucis trust separative tendencies which the differing religious systems have fostered and which today they deliberately continue to foster. the narrowness of religious creeds is a potent, contributing cause. at the very outset of our discussion, it would be wise to remember that the entire problem we are considering can be traced back to the outstanding human weakness, the great sin or heresy of separateness. there is surely no greater sin than this; it is responsible for the entire range of human evil. it sets an individual against his brother; it

e which hounds him everywhere; the gentile must shoulder his responsibility for endless persecutions and pay the price of restitution. the jew has evoked and still evokes dislike, and for this there is absolutely no need. to sum up, the jew has set up an ancient pattern of living within other nations; as a citizen with all the rights of citizenship, he has built up a wall of taboos, of habits and of religious observances which separate him off from his environment and make him non-assimilable. these must go, and he must become a citizen not only in name but in fact. there is no other problem like it in the world today an entire people of distinctive race, religion, goals, characteristics, culture and a uniquely ancient and most reactionary civilization, scattered as a minority in every nat

igion, as was hitherto its major significance, but that it connotes divine activity in every phase of human living and human thinking; they will grasp the stupendous truth that sound economics, clear humanitarianism, effective education (as it fits men for world citizenship) and a science, dedicated to human betterment, are all deeply spiritual and in their aggregated usefulness constitute a body of religious truth; they will discover that organized religion is only one phase of this worldwide experience of divinity. christ will, therefore, surely come in three ways. he will come as men recognize that he is truly here as he has been ever since he apparently left the earth; he will come in the sense also that he will overshadow, inspire and directly guide and personally confer with his adva

ace, no security and no immediate hope of either. it is essential for the future happiness and progress of humanity that there should be no return to the old ways, whether political, religious or economic. therefore, in handling these problems we should search out the wrong conditions which have brought humanity to its present state of almost cataclysmic disaster. these conditions were the result of religious faiths which have not moved forward in their thinking for hundreds of years; of economic systems which lay the emphasis upon the accumulation of riches and material possessions and which leave all the power and the produce of the earth in the hands of a relatively few men, while the rest of humanity struggle for a bare subsistence; and of political regimes run by the corrupt, the tota

ALICE A BAILEY14 THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

gentsia throughout the world has been helpful. a new type of mystic is coming to be recognised; he differs from the mystics of the past by his practical interest in current world affairs and not in religious and church matters only; he is distinguished by his lack of interest in his own personal development, by his ability to see god immanent in all faiths and not just in his own particular brand of religious belief, and also by his capacity to live his life in the light of the divine presence. all mystics have been able to do this to a greater or less degree, but the modern mystic differs from those in the past in that he is able clearly to indicate to others the techniques of the path; he combines both head and heart, intelligence and feeling, plus an intuitive perception, hitherto lacki

(love-wisdom in full manifestation, motivated by divine will or power. then the buddha and the christ will together pass before the father, the lord of the world, will together see the glory of the lord and eventually pass to higher service of a nature and a calibre unknown to us. i write here in no fanatical or adventist spirit; i speak not as a speculative theologian or an exponent of one phase of religious, wishful thinking. i speak because many know that the time is ripe and that the appeal of simple, faithful hearts has penetrated to the highest spiritual sphere- 20- the reappearance of the christ copyright 1998 lucis trust and set in motion energies and forces which cannot now be stopped. the invocative cry of distressed humanity is today of such a volume and sound that united to the

ther christ would be at home in the churches if he walked again among men. the rituals and the ceremonies, the pomp and the vestments, the candles and the gold and silver, the graded order of popes, cardinals, archbishops, canons and ordinary rectors, pastors and clergy would seemingly have small interest for the simple son of god, who when on earth had not where to lay his head. the presentation of religious truth in the past has blocked the growth of the religious spirit; theology has brought mankind to the very gates of despair; the delicate flower of the christ life has been stunted and arrested in the dark caves of man's thinking; fanatical adherence to human interpretations has taken the place of christian living; millions of books have obliterated the living words of christ; the arg

ALICE A BAILEY15 THE DESTINY OF THE NATIONS

which will give new vitality to the work of the hierarchy upon the physical plane. the outstanding characteristic of the disciple and the aspirant under the old regime was devotion. the race had, of necessity, to achieve a different and right orientation to the world of spiritual values, and hence the effort of the hierarchy during the past twenty centuries was to lay the emphasis upon the realm of religious values. the world religions have held the centre of the stage for several thousand years in an effort to make humanity seek one-pointedly for the soul and thus prepare itself for the emergence of the fifth kingdom in nature. this is slated (if i might use such a specialised word) to come into manifestation during the imminent aquarian age; this age will be predominantly the age of wor

somewhat higher motives and the acquisition of more land and territorial possessions has not been the true and the main motive. war has been prompted by economic necessity, or it has been in the nature of the imposition of the will of some nation or group of nations and their desire to impose some ideology or other upon some nation or to rid itself of a worn out system of thought, of government, of religious dogma which is holding back racial development. this is being now consciously done and is an expression of the shamballa or will force and is not so definitely the desire force of the past. the seventh ray is one of the direct lines along which this first ray energy can travel and here again is another reason for its appearance at this time, because, in the releasing of the life into

ALICE A BAILEY18 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME III ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

osture and correct feeding, and when there is also a more proper apportionment of time; when esoteric psychology and esoteric astrology give their contribution of- 141- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iii: esoteric astrology copyright 1998 lucis trust knowledge to the bringing up of young people. the old methods must give way to the new and the conservative attitude must be dropped in favour of religious, psychic and physical training and experiment, scientifically applied and mystically motivated. when i say religious, i do not refer to doctrinal or theological teaching. i mean the cultivation of those attitudes and conditions which will evoke reality in man, bring the inner spiritual man to the foreground of consciousness and thus produce the recognition of god immanent. i must writ

ed. it is conditions which evoke, aided at times by voiced words of power on the part of the hierarchy. pisces, through its ruler, pluto (ruling both the mass and the disciples esoterically, necessitated the triumph of death not necessarily physical death leading to the dissolution of the form of man. it is frequently the death or ending of old forms of civilisations which cyclically come and go; of religious teaching when it does not serve the need of the spiritual nature of the people (as is today the case; of educational processes which fail to educate the developing nature of man and serve only to delude and imprison. when i say this, i mean not the death of religion or of forms of thought. i refer here to death as the great releaser, which shatters the forms which are bringing death t

ALICE A BAILEY19 THE UNFINISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY

ous people, what was it that made me so fixed in my spiritual aspiration and my determination to be straight good? that this determination took colouring from my religious environment has no real bearing on the question; i knew nothing different than to express my spirituality in attending the early communion service every day, if possible, and in trying to save people. that particular expression of religious service and enterprise could not be helped and i eventually outgrew it. but what was the factor that changed me from a very bad tempered, rather vain and idle young girl into a worker and temporarily into a fanatic? on june 30th, 1895, i had an experience which has made that date for me one that i never forget and always keep. i had been for months in the throes of adolescent miseries

nswer them, and underneath all the surety and dogmatism, great changes were taking place. i know that this period saw me take a definite step forward along the path. slowly, and without knowing it in my brain consciousness, i was transitting from authority to experience and from a narrow theological belief in the verbal inspiration of the scriptures and the interpretations of my particular school of religious conviction, into a certain and sure knowledge of the spiritual verities to which the mystics of all time have borne witness and for which many of them have suffered and died. i found myself eventually possessed of a knowledge which has stood the test of time and trouble, as my earlier beliefs did not. it is a knowledge which reveals to me steadily and continuously how much, how very m

ill try hard to be good" i had the most delightful voyage. those men were unbelievably good to me and i remember them with affection and gratitude. it was the nicest voyage i made and i made the trip between london and bombay six times in five years, so i had some experience. whether these men had a good time is another matter, but they were unfailingly nice to me. one of them later sent me a lot of religious books for one of the soldiers homes. another sent a nice, fat cheque and still another, a prominent railroad man, sent me a free pass on the great indian peninsula railroad which i used all the time i was in india. when we got to bombay i had expected to trans-ship there and take the british india boat to karachi and so on to quetta, baluchistan. but it was not to be at that time, tho

serve outside the arcane school is the reason why we have students with so many loyalties actively associated with us as students, but at the same time as actively working in other groups. you will find several kinds of theosophists and rosicrucians working in the arcane school as well as christian scientists, churchmen of every denomination protestant and catholic and men and women of every type of religious and political persuasion. they feel free and they are free. again, arcane school students can form their own groups and give expression to their own ideas and modes of service without interference from us. this they frequently do. however, we take absolutely no responsibility for such groups and they are not regarded as part of the arcane school or as in any way affiliated with us; th

ciological or economic as a vast method or field of experience whereby and wherein divine purpose is slowly being worked out; we ask him to investigate how his particular belief fits into that world programme, and also whether he is exclusive or inclusive in his approach. because of this attitude in the arcane school, our students today express every kind of political belief and are of every kind of religious persuasion. they should have no barriers or separating wall between themselves and others. how could there be in reality! a man's religious background and his political ideology are usually determined by his place of birth and his national background and tradition. churchmen of all denominations and spiritual people who own no ecclesiastical allegiances are working with us; members of

ALICE A BAILEY22 DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE VOLUME II

esent. a new type of mystic is coming to be recognised; he differs from the mystics of the past (except in a few outstanding instances) by his practical interest in current world affairs and not in religious and church matters only; he is distinguished by his lack of interest in his own personal development, by his ability to see god immanent in all faiths and not just in his own particular brand of religious belief, and also by his capacity to live his life in the light of the divine presence. all mystics have been able to do this to a greater or less degree, but he differs from those in the past in that he is able clearly to indicate to others the techniques of the path; he combines both head and heart, intelligence and feeling, plus an intuitive perception, hitherto lacking. the clear c

nd with spiritual brooding upon this subject during the coming year, it may be possible for me greatly to enlarge upon the matter in my next instruction. part v i would like in this instruction, my brothers, to make certain suggestions to you anent the approach to discipleship that humanity is making and the approach to initiation which disciples in every country and of all schools of thought and of religious persuasion are today making. i have told you in many places that the techniques for training disciples are changing in order to conform to the rapid progress being made in mass orientation, and that a new light upon the entire theme of initiation is imminent. i would like, if possible, to be somewhat more explicit. you, at least, after these years of training by me, should be suscepti

ALICE A BAILEY23 THE EXTERNALISATION OF THE HIERARCHY

t caused by the ambitions of any one person or race, or by the materialism, aggression and pride of any particular nation. it is not basically the result of the wrong economic conditions existing in the world at this time. it is caused entirely by the widespread hatred in the world hatred of people and of races, hatred of individuals and of those in power, or of influence, and hatred of ideas and of religious beliefs. fundamentally, it is caused by the separative attitudes of all peoples and races who, down the centuries and also today, have hated each other and loved themselves. it is caused by people in every country, who have sought to cast the blame for conditions on everyone except themselves, and who have diligently sought for scapegoats whereby they may feel personal immunity for th

ther nation; it should be taught that the function of each nation is the perfecting of its national life, rhythm and machinery, so that it can be an efficient co-partner with all other nations. it is equally essential that the new world order should develop in humanity a sense of divinity and of relationship to god, yet with no emphasis upon racial theologies and separative creeds. the essentials of religious and political beliefs must be taught and a new simplicity of life inculcated. today, these are lost in the emphasis laid upon material possession, upon things and upon money. the problem of money will have to be faced; the problem of the distribution of wealth whether natural or human will need careful handling and a compromise reached between those nations which possess unlimited res

and situation in which we find ourselves will have proved dynamically useful or (such is the sad possibility) negatively futile. a fresh cycle of civilisation, culture and growth will have been inaugurated which will be coloured by the ancient hues of selfish desire and aggressive acquisitiveness, or by the newer and more beautiful colouring of happy and satisfactory international relationships, of religious understanding and of the much needed and demanded economic cooperation. such a dual possibility confronts us now. one new, right and spiritually oriented; the other, ancient, evil and undesirable. whether man will go forward into the better way of life or permit the perpetuation of the old ways and the domination of selfish personal, national and racial interests remains yet to be det

le because the whole of mankind will be recognised as the essential unit and as being of greater spiritual importance than the part- 159- the externalisation of the hierarchy copyright 1998 lucis trust this is no idle and visionary dream. it is already happening. embryonic movements toward this world synthesis are already being made. there is a dream of federation, of economic interdependence and of religious unity, plus social and national interrelation which is rapidly taking form, first in the minds of men, and then in experiments. there is a tie of united purpose, felt by many in the political and economic fields, which is no wish fulfilment or fantasy but indicative of an emerging reality. it is felt and recognised by thinkers everywhere, and has worked out in the field of government

e is a power which such "elect" can wield understanding its nature, preparatory and selfless. and death to what does this refer? not to the death of the body or form, for that is relatively unimportant; but to the "power to relinquish" which becomes in time the characteristic of the pledged disciple. the new era is coming; the new ideals, the new civilisation, the new modes of life, of education, of religious presentation and of government are slowly precipitating and naught can stop them. they can, however, be delayed by the reactionary types of people, by the ultra-conservative and closed minds, and by those who cling with adamantine determination to their beloved theories, their dreams and their visions, their interpretations and their peculiar and oft narrow understanding of the presen

els with those lesser angels or devas who vitalise thoughtforms and who keep alive the thoughts of the guides of the race for the benefit of humanity- 330- the externalisation of the hierarchy copyright 1998 lucis trust the master k.h, the chohan on the teaching ray and he who will be the next world teacher, is already active in his line of endeavour. he is attempting to transmute the thoughtform of religious dogma, to permeate the churches with the idea of the coming, and bring to a sorrowing world the vision of the great helper, the christ. he works with the rose devas and with the blue devas on astral levels, with the wise help of the great guardian angel of that plane, called (in hindu terminology) the lord varuna. the activity of the astral plane is being much intensified and the ange

disciple who is charged with laying the foundation for the new age methods and with the labour of getting ready for the first group of ashram members, is hard indeed. he stands for so much that is deemed visionary and impossible; the difficulties which confront him seem impossible; he teaches truths whose first effect is necessarily destructive, because he endeavours to rid humanity of old forms of religious, economic and political doctrine; his impersonality which recognises faults as well as virtues enrages many and often those from whom he had expected understanding and a true impartiality; his failure to be impressed or attentive to old rites and ceremonies, to ancient and obsolete but precious ideas, and his constant warfare on conditioning glamours and illusions meet, in these early

wn in our struggling, bewildered, unhappy world of men, the cry is ceaselessly rising "may christ return to earth" thus in the three great spiritual centres the father's house, the kingdom of god, and awakening humanity there is but one purpose, one idea and one united expectancy. i write here in no fanatical or adventist spirit; i speak not as a speculative theologian or an exponent of one phase of religious wishful thinking. i speak because the time is ripe and because- 389- the externalisation of the hierarchy copyright 1998 lucis trust the appeal of simple faithful hearts has penetrated to the highest spiritual sphere and set in motion energies and forces which cannot now be stopped; i speak because the invocative cry of distressed humanity is today of such a volume and sound that unit

. this is rapidly coming into an unique potency and its effects today are reaching down into the very depths of humanity, thus bringing to the surface the mental capacity which is latent in and hitherto unused by the masses of men everywhere. it can be described as pouring into the human consciousness by means of four divisions of mental energy: a. the energy of ideological thought. b. the energy of religious formulations; these are in process of creating great changes in the minds of men concerning the religious concepts of the world and the new spiritual values. c. the energy which is today producing the struggle for freedom and liberation from environing conditions. this may express itself as the world fight (at this time) for the freedom of the will of men, as it expresses itself in th

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

neral view of this philosophy, there are now three standard works; two are in english; one by dr. c. ginsburg, 1865, a formal and concise r sum of the doctrines; the other, an excellent book "the doctrine and literature of the kabalah" by arthur e. waite, 1902; and one in french by adolph franck, 1889, which is more discursive and gives fewer details. many points of the teaching of indian systems of religious philosophy are not touched on by the hebrew system, or are excluded by differences of a fundamental nature: such as the cosmogony of other worlds, unless the destroyed worlds of unbalanced force refer to these; the inviolability of law, as karma, is not a prominent feature; reincarnation is taught, but the number of re-births is limited generally to three. some small part of the kabal

BANISHING THE SLAVE GODS

complimentary comment here: http//www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/4052/starruby.htm this rite serves as both a banishing and an invocation. the "io pan" may be substituted with "hail satan" as they are both essentially the same force. the visualization of the pentagram is of utmost importance in this rite. it is used later in a non-ritual context when you are in the actual presence of any type of religious figure, authority, or someone that is just plain witnessing to you with their chosen "faith. to intiate an offensive attack- which is actually a blessing in disguise- you will imagine this inverse pentagram slightly between your eyebrows at the center of your forehead. in the same manner that said pentagram is projected out during the rite, you may project this onto the center of the

BELL CHRISTOPHER PAUL TSIU MARPO THE CAREER OF A TIBETAN PROTECTOR DEITY

inents of the world and the eight subcontinents, creating a complete cosmogram (photo: wesley borton 2005) 70 4 text and ritual tsiu marpo s mythic history and iconographic paradigm are important in order to understand how he is represented in the religious environment of tibet; however, his central purpose is one of ritual. since ritual is so important in tibetan buddhism as well as the entirety of religious traditions118 it is necessary to examine the key texts that are the foundation of this study along their ritual programs. however, due to the grand variety of ritual forms in tibetan buddhism, i will restrict my focus to those ritual forms and aims of the texts studied herein, only to make passing references to other significant ritual expressions for the purposes of contrast and unde

BLACK SERPENT1

ive faith after his religion has been disclosed. 4. derogatory comments are openly made, by co-workers, about the employee's religious beliefs. before you can effectively argue that you've been terminated for your alternative beliefs, however, you need documentation and evidence to back it up. 1. keep a notebook hidden in your car or at home (never at the office) documenting any and all instances of religious intolerance (including how you were outed in the first place. be sure to note the full names of the people involved, their positions in the company, and the date and time of the incidents. write things down, including dialogue, exactly as you remember them. if there were any witnesses to the harassment, be sure to note his/her name and ask them if they would be willing to give you a w

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

it is stated that, having been cured by surya (the sun) of leprosy, samba, having built a temple dedicated to the sun, was looking for pious brahmins to perform the appointed rites in it, and receive donations made to the god. but narada (this virgin ascetic whom one finds in every age in the puranas) advised him not to do so, as manu forbade the brahmins to receive emoluments for the performance of religious rites. he therefore referred samba to gauramukha (white face, the purohita or family priest of hgrasena, king of mathura, who would tell him whom he could best employ. the priest directed samba to invite the magas, the worshippers of surya, to discharge the duty. ignorant of the place they lived in, it is surya, the sun himself, who directs samba to sakadwipa beyond the salt water. th

the difference in the views of the two races is easy to account for. the aryan hindu belongs to the oldest races now on earth; the semite hebrew to the latest. one is nearly one[[vol. 2, page 471] the craft of the rabbins. million years old; the other is a small sub-race some 8,000 years old and no more* but phallic worship has developed only with the gradual loss of the keys to the inner meaning of religious symbols; and there was a day when the israelites had beliefs as pure as the aryans have. but now judaism, built solely on phallic worship, has become one of the latest creeds in asia, and theologically a religion of hate and malice toward everyone and everything outside themselves. philo judaeus shows what was the genuine hebrew faith. the sacred writings, he says, prescribe what we o

comes to our rescue the literary curiosity of our age- the oldest and best preserved gospel of the gnostics, pistis sophia[[pictic cophia. to make the proof absolutely complete, we shall quote from an authority (c. w. king- the only archaeologist who had a faint glimmer of this elaborate doctrine, and the best writer of the day on the gnostics and their gems. according to this extraordinary piece of religious literature- a true gnostic fossil- the human entity is the septenary ray from the one* just as our school teaches. it is composed of seven elements, four of which are borrowed from the four kabalistical manifested worlds. thus "from asia it gets the nephesh or seat of the physical appetites (vital breath, also; from jezirah, the ruach, or seat of the passions; from briah, the neshamah

chastise his father (as zeus did with kronos. in any manner that he likes, and in this will only be following the example of the first and greatest of the gods. in my opinion, these stories are not fit to be repeated" to this dr. max muller observes that "the greek religion was clearly a national and traditional religion, and, as such, it shared both the advantages and disadvantages of this form of religious belief; while the christian religion is "an historical and, to a great extent, an individual religion, and it possesses the advantage of an authorised codex and of a settled system of faith (p. 349. so much the worse if it is "historical" for surely lot's incident with his daughters would only gain, were it "allegorical[[vol. 2, page] 765 the god-bearing land. to the philosopher- espe

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

tion (in bhagavata purana) of a certain caste named "hamsa" or "hansa" which was the "one caste" par excellence; when far back in the mists of a forgotten past there was among the hindus only "one veda, one deity, one caste" there is also a range in the himalayas, described in the old books as being situated north of mount meru, called "hamsa" and connected with episodes pertaining to the history of religious mysteries and initiations. as to the name of kala-hansa being the supposed vehicle of brahma-prajapati, in the exoteric texts and translations of the[[footnote(s* this is again similar to the doctrine of fichte and german pantheists. the former reveres jesus as the great teacher who inculcated the unity of the spirit of man with the god-spirit (the adwaita doctrine) or universal princ

he ancient college-temples. hence only a few of the doctrines were revealed in their broad outlines, while details were constantly withheld, and all the efforts made to elicit more information about them were systematically eluded from the beginning. this is perfectly natural. of the four vidyas- out of the seven branches of knowledge mentioned in the puranas- namely "yajna-vidya (the performance of religious rites in order to[[footnote(s "lucifer" may, 1888[[vol. 1, page] 169 the seven branches of the tree of knowledge. produce certain results "maha-vidya" the great (magic) knowledge, now degenerated into tantrika worship "guhya-vidya" the science of mantras and their true rhythm or chanting, of mystical incantations, etc- it is only the last one "atma-vidya" or the true spiritual and div

3 man, the oldest son of the earth. created for each of the countless milliards of human beings that have passed away, and had there been no reincarnation- it would become difficult indeed to provide room for the disembodied "spirits" nor could the origin and cause of suffering ever be accounted for. it is the ignorance of the occult tenets and the enforcement of false conceptions under the guise of religious education, which have created materialism and atheism as a protest against the asserted divine order of things. the only exceptions to the rule just stated are the "dumb races" whose monads are already within the human stage, in virtue of the fact that these "animals" are later than, and even half descended from man, their last descendants being the anthropoid and other apes. these "h

hat high form. we touch heaven when we lay our hand on a human body "this sounds like a mere flourish of rhetoric" adds carlyle "but it is not so. if well meditated it will turn out to be a scientific fact; the expression. of the actual truth of the thing. we are the miracle of miracles- the great inscrutable mystery[[footnote(s* there is no nation in the world in which the feeling of devotion or of religious mysticism is more developed and prominent than in the hindu people. see what max muller says of this idiosyncracy and national feature in his works. this is direct inheritance from the primitive conscious men of the third race[[vol. 1, page] 213 the creative powers. stanza vii. 1. behold the beginning of sentient formless life (a. first, the divine (vehicle (b, the one from the mother

gard them. we have travelled far, and unclean have been the paths, since those old anchorites first spoke of god and the soul in the solemn depths of their first sanctuaries. let us not smile at their mode of tracing the infinite and the incomprehensible cause throughout all the mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own grossness on their patriarchal simplicity("progress of religious ideas" vol. 1, p. 17, et seq[[vol. 1, page] 359 the egg-born god. vi. the mundane egg. whence this universal symbol? the egg was incorporated as a sacred sign in the cosmogony of every people on the earth, and was revered both on account of its form and its inner mystery. from the earliest mental conceptions of man, it was known as that which represented most successfully the origin a

as many names in towns and provinces" coming out from the primordial water crowned with the uraeus, which is the serpent emblem of cosmic fire, and himself the seventh over the six primary gods issued from father-mother, nou and nout (the sky, who can osiris be, but the chief prajapati, the chief sephiroth, the chief amshaspend-ormazd! that this latter solar and cosmic god stood, in the beginning of religious evolution, in the same position as the archangel "whose name was secret" is certain. this archangel was the representative on earth of the hidden jewish god, michael, in short: it is his "face" that is said to have gone before the jews like a "pillar of fire" burnouf says "the seven amshaspends, who are most assuredly our archangels, designate also the personifications of the divine v

ng at each other" but to do this requires a boundless love of truth and the surrender of that prestige- however false- of infallibility, which the men of science have acquired among the ignorant and flippant, though cultured, masses of the profane. to blend the two sciences, the archaic and the modern, requires first of all the abandonment of the actual materialistic lines. it necessitates a kind of religious mysticism and even the study of old magic, which our academicians will never take up. the necessity is easily explained. just as in old alchemical works the real meaning of the substances and elements meant are concealed under the most ridiculous metaphors, so are the physical, psychic, and spiritual natures of the elements (say of fire) concealed in the vedas, and especially in the p

BLUE EQUINOX

prolegomena symbolica ad systemam sceptico-mystic vi explicand, fundamentum hieroglyphicam sanctissimorum scienti summ. a complete dictionary of the correspondences of all magical elements, re-printed with extensive additions, making it the only standard comprehensive book of reference ever published. it is to the language of occultism what webster or murray is to the english language. varieties of religious experience (james. valuble as showing the uniformity of mystical attainment. kabbala denudata, von rosenroth: also the kabbalah unveiled, by s.l. mathers. the text of the qabalah, with commentary. a good elementary introduction to the subject. konx om pax. four invaluable treatises and a preface on mysticism and magick. the pistis sophia. an admirable introduction to the study of gnos

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

and fulfillment of life in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness giving meaning to the universe we know and our personal role within it. 10. our only animosity towards christianity, or towards any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the only way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief. 10/ auckland's complete book of witchcraft 11. as american witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. we are concerned with our present and our future. 12. we do not accept the concept of absolute evil, nor do we worship any entity known as "satan"

craft of wica, of chicago heights, and asked him how he felt about it. stan told him he thought there would be all sorts of hell to pay if they said they were going to burn a jew or a baptist, and immediately wrote to all five villages, several local papers (including the tribune) and an attorney, saying that making a witch-burning, even in effigy, was a poor lesson for the kids, that it smacked of religious persecution and he was prepared to go to court to stop such demonstrations if they did not call it off. bonfires were okay, but no witches in them. a town meeting was held by one village, which was attended by the "village fathers, several local residents, representatives of several local covens and the channel 7 news (the local abc affiliate. the controversy was picked up by both tv

wo german monks, heinrich institoris kramer and jakob sprenger. 6. dr. margaret alice murray. 7. 1951. 8 (a) gerald brousseau gardner (b) raymond buckland 9. a witch's only animosity towards christianity, or towards any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the only way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief. 10. no, you do not have to belong to a coven to work magick there are many witches who work alone (solitaries. there are also many people who are not witches who work magick (magicians. lesson two 1. the necklace brosingamene represents the brightness of the sun. its loss, therefore, brings on fall and winter (freya's descent into dreun. its return heralds spring

on practical magick, such as practical color magick and practical candleburning rituals. he is regarded as one of the leading authorities on witchcraft, voodoo and the supernatural. today ray buckland has retired from public work to concentrate on his screenwriting career and to more fully explore his gypsy heritage. with the discovery that neo-witchcraft or wicca is not devil-worship, thousands of religious seekers around the world have finally come to realize that this earth religion may well be the answer to their needs. yet it has been almost impossible to gather together all the ingredients that go to make up this religious practice; particularly in addressing specific personal needs. now along comes buckland's complete book of witchcraft; one volume that brings it all together. in i

CASSANDRA EASON A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

CHIREAU YVONNE BLACK MAGIC RELIGION AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CONJURING TRADITION

s were enlisted by black conjurers for supernatural protection. the slave old divinity, a mississippi conjurer who claimed to be the grandson of a witch, was buried clutching his cherished silver medal of saint anthony and the infant jesus. w. d. siegfried, a baptist missionary who lived among the freedmen in augusta, georgia, after the civil war, complained bitterly of the sale and dissemination of religious books and pictures to african americans, who frequently adopted them as charms and protective objects. especially notorious was the "letter from jesus christ" that, according to siegfried, circulated extensively among black families "the poor people have been deluded into the belief that the letter is genuine" he railed "that it was written especially for them, that those possessing i

digenous african religious concepts and the new world perspectives to which they were linked. thus, as i noted, a sharp delineation between "magic" and "religion" can be misleading, for these notions were nearly always connected in practice "magic" and "religion" were reflected in attitudes toward the human relationship to the unseen, or supernatural, world. as the authors of an influential study of religious movements in zaire have written "the constituent components of magic are the same as those of religion c in practice religion and magic are often blended in ritual performance" a yoruba historian, bolaji idowu, further notes that "although african traditional beliefs recognize a clear distinction between what is manmade and what is of the spirit, the intermingling of religion and magi

l africa, where oaths were administered by priests and other religious functionaries. oaths were sworn in order to detect thieves, to find social malefactors, or to adjudicate cases with conflicting claims. often, oaths functioned as sacred ordeals by which a person's guilt or innocence could be determined. willem bosman, on the gold coast in the seventeenth century, described akan oaths as "part of religious worship" which dictated "that their fetiche may punish them with death" in the event that they violated the oath. other african cultures such as those of the kongolese, conceived of the oath as a nkisi, a spiritual being that attacked witches and human beings who had been black magic page 39 of 144 http//content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docid=kt600020q0&chunk.id=0&doc.view=print 7/14/2006 c

6 instance, in eighteenthcentury south carolina, three blacks.a slave and two freedmen. plotted an insurrection in st. helena parish, with the intent to kill the "buckras" the governor accused the trio's leader of trying to "stir up sedition among the negroes" after he received an apocalyptic vision in which he had fellowshiped with "god almighty c in the woods" these prophetic, visionary strains of religious radicalism were also in evidence among black insurrectionists in north carolina and virginia at the turn of the nineteenth century.[9] what was distinctive about the turner and vesey uprisings, however, was the rebels f perception of african-based supernaturalism as an additional weapon in their arsenal of resistance. in these conspiracies, conjure harming beliefs and practices would

ealm of new possibilities, african americans viewed the future as selfconscious observers as well as participants in the fashioning of their own destinies.[3] between the years 1861 and 1875, a great mass of black and white administrators, schoolteachers, and clergy swept into the south, spearheading a vigorous campaign that was directed toward the former slaves. sponsored by a powerful coalition of religious and secular black magic page 77 of 144 http//content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docid=kt600020q0&chunk.id=0&doc.view=print 7/14/2006 associations spanning some nineteen states, members of the largest northern benevolent agencies.including the american missionary association, the freedmen's aid society, and the american baptist home missionary society of new england.took part in this redemptiv

ew england.took part in this redemptive venture. bound by the tenets of abolitionism and christian evangelicalism, the freedmen's aid movement provided for the relief, medical care, and supervision of the scores of refugees and freedpersons whose uncertain political and economic status, they believed, presented a potential threat to regional stability\ 125\ within a short time, however, the goals of religious uplift had replaced the priorities of material relief. to accomplish the herculean task of spiritual instruction and proselytism, more than one thousand schoolteachers and missionaries were dispatched to the southern states. the cultural welfare of the freed slaves had become the main thrust of missionary efforts in what has been viewed as the "neo-puritanization" of the south.[4] whe

school and bible class and we can see the effect of our teaching"[7] what especially troubled the missionaries was the lack of a "practical" dimension to black religion. some found their worst expectations confirmed as they witnessed the high-spirited expressions of the freedpersons f religion "the great mass of the colored people are deplorably ignorant, often sadly immoral, and in their manner of religious worship, wild and extravagant, often mistaking mere animal excitement for true religious emotion and joy" remarked one new england pastor after returning from a visit in the south in 1867. others bemoaned the black magic page 78 of 144 http//content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docid=kt600020q0&chunk.id=0&doc.view=print 7/14/2006 day-today disruptions that accompanied black spirituality. one po

its worst, an outgrowth of african idolatry and heathenism, the result of forces that the elevating power of christianity had failed to check.[8] for many white southerners, whose disposition toward african american traditions vacillated between derision and contempt, the practices of the former slaves were familiar. still, many showed surprise that independence had brought such a powerful sense of religious autonomy to blacks, as was evidenced in their hasty and conspicuous departure from most biracial southern churches. as they wrested control of their own places of worship or withdrew from racially segregated congregations, african americans publicly acknowledged aspects of their spiritual lives that had been concealed within the confines of bondage. white southerners viewed the indepe

f time, ignore such doctrine, for they are being educated, and the time will come when such simple and nonsensical teachings will find no place among them" to many of these observers, conjuring traditions harked back to anachronistic beliefs that had been carried over from bondage. these cultural reformers hoped that the rites and revels of the slave past would give way to more proper expressions of religious faith.[14] implicit in the defamation of conjure as heathenism was its identification with indigenous african religions, which african american supernaturalism had sustained for more than a century. octave thanet, an anglo-american collector of negro folktales, articulated this view "conjurers are a feature of african life" he wrote "they probably represent the survival of the old fet

3. 3. james g. frazer, the golden bough (london: macmillan, 1922, p. 59. following frazer, a number of writers have given attention to the magic-religion dichotomy. emile durkheim and marcel mauss placed magic and religion within distinctive social contexts, while bronislaw malinowski emphasized the functional elements that distinguished magic from religious ritual (durkheim, the elementary forms of religious life, trans. karen e. fields [new york: macmillan, 1915; mauss, a general theory of magic, trans. robert brain[london: routledge and kegan paul, 1972; malinowski, magic, science and religion, and other essays [garden city, n.y: doubleday, 1948, and a scientific theory of culture [chapel hill: university of north carolina press, 1944, p. 200. in his formulation of a "workable dichotomy

and his folklore in nineteenth-century periodicals, ed. bruce jackson (austin: university of texas press, 1967, p. 335; b. a. botkin, lay my burden down: a folk history of slavery (chicago: university of chicago press, 1945, p. 30; raboteau, slave religion, p. 82. 30. as john thornton has noted, such communications between humans and entities from the invisible world often functioned as the basis of religious knowledge in precolonial africa (thornton, africa and africans in the making of the atlantic world, 1400.1680 [cambridge: cambridge university press, 1992, p. 236; see muller "description of the fetu country" p. 172; atkins, voyage to guinea, p. 102; and jones, german sources for west african history, p. 256. 31. maryland journal and baltimore advertiser, october 5, 1784, p. 320; chlo

p. 435; francis neale parker "witchcraft in maryland" maryland historical magazine 31 (december 1936: 271.72. in virginia, where the first american prosecutions of witchcraft took place, numerous scourgings, banishings, and investigations effectively established that colony's intolerance for malign spiritual practices prior to the end of the seventeenth century. see darrett rutman "the evolution of religious life in early virginia" lex et scientia 14 (1978: 193.96; edward w. james "grace sherwood, the virginia witch" william and mary quarterly, s. 1, 3 (1894.95; sobel, world they made together, p. 79. awareness of the powers of witches also persisted among members of the population of colonial north and south carolina. in 1702, for example, the society for the propagation of the gospel mi

COSIMANO CHARLES ELEMENTARY PSIONICS

here is always the fear that a zealous reader will take the advice given to him and do something really stupid, like give up insulin for his diabetes. therefore, in putting this information before you i am going to expect that you will use some degree of common sense in its application. let me illustrate what i expect you to avoid. at one time in my life i found myself hanging around with a group of religious-type people (hell, the girls were cute) and a faith healer came to town. being of a somewhat skeptical bent, i was unimpressed by his habit of pouring oil on people and pronouncing them cured of everything from arthritis to the dreaded spotted nose-drip. as you may well expect, my lack of faith was a great trial to my friends but they came to appreciate my point of view after one of t

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

e plan has been to engineer events and propaganda which devalue the word cult in the public mind and then, once that is achieved, to apply the label "cult" to any group or organisation which the elite wish to discredit and destroy. that means anyone who is challenging the status quo or living in ways that undermine centralised control. the concise oxford dictionary definition of cult is "a system of religious worship as expressed in ceremonies; devotion or homage to person or thing. so every religion is a cult by that definition, and so is the banking and financial system, where they are devoted and pay homage to a 'thing: money. the all-seeing eye secret society network is a cult because it worships the luciferic, prison warder consciousness through ceremonies, devotion, and homage. the w

keley. their murder remains unsolved. a journalist, kathy hunter, who had reported the deaths of seven members who had been killed for trying to leave the original headquarters compound in california, also died in strange circumstances. it is the old, old, story we have seen repeated so many times in this book. but ask most people today and if they remember the jonestown massacre, they will speak of religious 'nutters' who committed suicide while under the influence of a 'mad messiah' and cult leader. that is what they are supposed to think. jonestown, the massacre, and its repercussions, served the manipulators well. it was a cover to train mercenaries for the cia's covert activities in angola; it provided on-the-spot political support for cia asset, forbes burnham; it eliminated .ultorco

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

ing vibrations by chanting words or sounds, comes from the same root. manu was the name for the indian version of noah, who survived the deluge with the help of the great serpent vasuki" in earlier times manu was the womb of the goddess. the levites, those babylonian mystery school initiates, invented an entire history for the hebrews to hide the real story and create a fiercely imposed structure of religious control. the rabbis continue that tradition to this day. there is far more about this story in the biggest secret, where i have highlighted the way these texts were coded with esoteric knowledge and why the vast majority of people who we call "jewish" today have no genetic connection to palestine or israel. they originate, as jewish sources have confirmed, from the khazars, a people f

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

two examples.you can easily understand that a race performing technological feats of such magnitudeshould be seen as gods by a people unable to comprehend such abilities. in the 1930s,american and australian servicemen landed their planes in remote parts of new guineato drop supplies for their troops. the locals, who had never seen a plane, believed theservicemen were gods and they became a focus of religious beliefs. this would havebeen even more extreme in the ancient world had their advanced race been beings fromother planets, stars or dimensions, flying craft more advanced than anything flown (atleast officially) by todays military. an influx of knowledge from outside this planet oranother source would explain so many of the mysteries that official history greets with4a deafening silen

atives working in high positions in the v aticantold me how, during the reign of pope john paul ii, he was given a guided tour of theplace which blew his mind. he was shown the popes solid gold bath which is decoratedwith all the astrological symbols and he saw inside the vacuum-sealed vaults whichcontain thousands of ancient esoteric books which have been stolen and hoarded overhundreds of years of religious dictatorship and so taken out of public circulation. theroman church and the babylonian brotherhood are one and the same.nimrod was also eannus, the god with two faces, who was later known to theromans as janus. one of the anunnaki brothers, enki the serpent god, was alsofigure 6: the fleur-de-lis, symbolof the babylonian trinity of nimrod,queen semiramis and tammuz,among other things

hese three massive prisons ofthe mind, suppressors of the female, and creators of bloody conflict, should all come119from the same part of the world? or that people having visions and visitations shouldplay such a crucial part in the formation and legend which created these monsters?mohammed said he had his vision near the cave where he used to go. caves and darkplaces constantly recur in stories of religious superstars and sun gods like mithra andjesus. mohammed said his visitor claimed to be the angel gabriel of biblical fameand during the encounter mohammed said he lost consciousness and entered a trancestate. while mohammed was in his trance or hypnotic state, gabriel gave him amessage to remember and recite. mohammed said that when he awoke the messagewas inscribed upon his heart. wha

n ever before. it also enlisted many more influential people into the gathering secretsociety network. the pressure on the church establishment was increased still further bythe publication of the rosicrucian manifestos in 1614 to 1616 which claimed to beissued by a secret group of initiates in germany and france. they pledged to transformthe world with the esoteric knowledge and herald a new era of religious and politicalfreedom. the catholic church and the holy roman empire were fiercely condemned.the order of the rose cross or rosicrucians, however, was no new fad. it wasfounded, apparently, at least as long ago as the pharaoh thothmes iii in the 15thcentury bc. his personal seal (cartouche) is used on modern rosicrucian literature7 andthe rosicrucians connect with the royal court of th

DEMONIC BIBLE

nd grew quickly to include twenty-five consulates in ten countries several hundred members. with the exception of a few gifted individuals, most who sought membership in the eol were eager and curious but lacked any serious understanding of the concepts put forth. magus susej needed time to reflect on the deeper significance of the word deitus and, therefore, left the eol to pursue a deeper study of religious history. the international office of the embassy of lucifer was temporarily closed leaving regional consulates to continue on their own initiative. those gifted individuals who understood the law of deitus, will to come into being as a god, would apply deitic philosophy to their lives and continue without the guidance of the eol. those who did not understand the philosophy would fall

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

e ancient rabbis say that the first is the body of the tradition, the second its rational soul, and the third its immortal spirit. ignorant men may with profit read the first; learned men study the second; but the wise meditate upon the third. it is a strange thing that christian exegesis has never sought the keys to the old testament in the qabalah. 12. in our lord's day there were three schools of religious thought in palestine: the pharisees and the sadducees, of whom we read so frequently in the gospels; and the essenes, who are never referred to. esoteric tradition avers that the boy jesus ben joseph, when his calibre was recognised by the learned doctors of the law who heard him speak in the temple at the age of twelve, was sent by them to the essenian community near the dead sea to

lower potential. this is a relationship which is in a perpetual state of flux, and which varies at every separate point at which we make our innumerable contacts with our environment. 33. for the most part, the relationship between a man and a woman is not entirely satisfactory to either party, and they have either to put up with incomplete satisfaction in their relationship under the compulsion of religious or econorflic pressure, or supplement elsewhere their incompleteness, with as a rule a recurrence of the previous conditions when once the novelty has worn off. it is to be observed that under such circumstances it is only in novelty that sexual satisfaction at its highest is to be found; and novelty is a thing which requires constantly to be renewed, with disastrous results to sexual

the kisses of the lips of god" these things tell a great deal to those who have understanding. 36. the dionysiac aspect of religion represents an essential factor in human psychology, and it is the misunderstanding of this factor which upon the one hand prevents the manifrstation of the higher spiritual experiences in our modern civilisation, and upon the other permits of the strange aberrations of religious feeling that from time to time give rise to scandal mystical qabala page 135 [page 198] and tragedy in the high places of the more dynamic religious movements. 37. there is a certain emotional concentration and exalta tion which makes the higher phases of consciousness available, and without which it is impossible to attain them. the images of the astral plane pass over into an intens

s between it and kether. this sephirah, as we have already seen, may best be understood as apprehension, the dawning of consciousness; and we may interpret the phrase "tetragrammaton aloah va daath" as "god made manifest in the sphere of mind" 69. in the microcosm tiphareth represents the higher psychism, the mode of consciousness of the individuality, jr higher self. it is essentially the sphere of religious mysticism as distinguished from the magic and psychism of yesod; for be it remembered, the sephiroth of the central pillar of the tree represent levels of consciousness, and the sephiroth on the side pillars represent powers and modes of functino. tiphareth is also said to be the sphere of the greater masters; it is the temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens and the great

DONALDTYSON POSSESS

temporarily, or permanently, rendered unconscious, as it is during deep, dreamless sleep. the consciousness of the spirit takes over the motor control of its human host. in effect, the spirit pushes out the human soul and takes possession of its body, just as we would evict tenants from an apartment and assume residence there. in voudoun (voodoo) possession by spirits and gods is a necessary part of religious practice. the spirit or loa is said to "ride" the body of the possessed person the way a man rides a horse. the reality of possession is that the human consciousness is seldom completely excluded. usually the human consciousness goes into a kind of trance state in which it has no will. such possessions happen to everyone, and usually are of short duration. we can recognize when a spir

EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD PAPYRUS OF ANI MALESTROM

interlinear transliteration and word for word translation 1-242 translation 245-369 bibliography 371-377 next: the versions of the book of the dead. contents http//www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod02.htm [8/10/2001 11:22:27 am] sacred texts egypt index previous next introduction. the versions of the book of the dead. the four great versions of the book of the dead. the history of the great body of religious compositions which form the book of dead of the ancient egyptians may conveniently be divided into four[1] of the periods, which are represented by four versions- 1. the version which was edited by the priests of the college of annu (the on of the bible, and the heliopolis of the greeks, and which was based upon a series of texts now lost, but which there is evidence to prove had pass

the text of the book of the dead, still the value of the monument as an evidence of the antiquity of the book of the dead is scarcely impaired, for those who added the inscription would certainly have chosen it from a text of the time of mycerinus. the book of the dead in the vth dynasty. in the vth dynasty we have--in an increased number of mastabas and other monuments--evidence of the extension of religious ceremonials, including the [1. see the texts of teta and pepi i. in maspero, recueil de travaux, t. v, pp. 20, 38 (ll. 175, 279, and pp. 165, t73 (ll. 60, 103, etc. 2. so far back as 1883, m. maspero, in lamenting (guide du visiteur de boulaq, p. 310) the fact that the b l q museum possessed only portions of wooden coffins of the ancient empire and no complete example, noticed that th

lection of the chapters for a papyrus seems to have been left to the individual fancy of the purchaser or scribe, but certain of them were no doubt absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the deceased in the tomb, and for the welfare of his soul in its new state of existence. traditional selections would probably be respected, and recent selections approved by any dominant school of religious thought in egypt were without doubt accepted. change in forms. while in the period of the pyramid texts the various sections were said or sung by priests, probably assisted by some members of the family of the deceased, the welfare of his soul and body being proclaimed for him as an established fact in the theban version the hymns and prayers to the gods were put into the mouth of the

bs,[1] stel, and papyri[2] of the xviiith dynasty; and these prove that the egyptians ascribed the attributes of the creator to the creature. the religious ideas which we find in these writings in the xviiith dynasty are, no doubt, the outcome of the religion of earlier times, for all the evidence now available shows that the egyptians of the later periods invented comparatively little in the way of religious literature. where, how, and in what way they succeeded in preserving their most ancient texts, are matters about which little, unfortunately, is known. in course of time we find that the attributes of a certain god in one period are applied to other gods in another; a new god is formed by the fusion of two or more gods; local gods, through the favourable help of political circumstance

EMPERORS NEW RELIGION CHURCH OF SATAN

the truism goes, you are known by the company you keep. thus, having our materials rubbing elbows with the scribblings of these people would only give them credence that they do not deserve [32] 4. the religious group prefers to describe itself as a philosophy that straddles a boundary between psychology and religion, not as a religion [33, p. 35] the term religion has connotations that followers of religious groups often prefer to avoid. these groups typically make no direct use of anthropomorphic gods, which is a hallmark of traditional religions and silently implied by the term religion. instead they see themselves as groups that follow a specific philosophy formulated by the founder. for example, the transcendental meditation program describes itself as a technique and spurns the term

o actual involvement in the religion, respectively. new age religious people are characterized by rather unorganized religious training [25, pp. 316-317. like the religious people mentioned earlier they typically consider themselves followers of science-founded philosophies, but their relation to the founder and spinoff organizations is usually much more relaxed. the technical term for their form of religious study is audience cult [31, p. 207, which means that their understanding of their religion is self-taught via books and perhaps occasional meetings. they are free to pick and choose from various books and sources: a religious buffet. ideologies vary greatly among new age religions, but a universal characteristic is that of personal development [31, p. 206; 33, p. 24-27. most of these

o practise their particular understanding of the satanic bible and other documents may be the very ones that, in contrast to the church of satan, have genuine ideologies to offer: ideologies that do not embody opposing interpretations with the intent to deceive the followers. 16. acknowledgments i would like to thank amina olander lap for her careful reviews and her clarifications on the dynamics of religious behavioopand nandor fodor s encyclopedia of psychic science (1934. later, editor leslie shepard took on the task of updating their observations and supplementing the volume with new entries. the production of this massively ambitious work was sparked by a heightened interest in psychic phenomena, the occult, witchcraft, and related topics in the 1970s. this interest, which led directl

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

d war ii there has been a noticeable popular response to such ideas. as early as 1925 the rosicrucians were present in west africa, and new thought was introduced into africa in the 1930s when several american teachers toured the country and assisted in the formation of the school of practical christianity in 1937 (now known as the school of truth. today a broad range of such groups as the church of religious science, the unity school of christianity, swedenborgians, and the church universal and triumphant are in existence. in the last two decades, guru-oriented groups such as eckankar, subud, and the grail movement, and some of the new japanese religions have appeared. numerous gurus, including maharishi mehesh yogi, satya sai baba, and guru maharaj ji have a following. the new age moveme

iod had long ago died out, although magical practices and beliefs could be found throughout the country s rural areas and in the poorer sections of the urban centers. the last of the witchcraft trials was held in the early eighteenth century, when there were a few cases in virginia. the twentieth-century revival of witchcraft and satanism owed more to the freedom of the cities and the new climate of religious and cultural pluralism of the post- world war ii era, undoubtedly strengthened by the widespread use of psychedelic drugs. one of the most widespread popular preoccupations has been the phenomena of flying saucers or unidentified flying objects (ufos, mysterious aerial objects of a disk-like shape. such sightings had been reported for many centuries, but during the emerging space age

he paranormal, which is devoted to debunking occult and related claims and publishes a journal, skeptical inquirer. the united states remains home to a vital popular interest in matters psychical and occult. fate, the oldest of the occultrelated periodicals, is but one of hundreds. the occult forms the basis for numerous books, movies, and television shows, and provides the substance for hundreds of religious groups and spiritual organizations, all of which provide the committee for the scientific investigation of the claims of the paranormal with an endless agenda. sources: berger, arthur s, and joyce berger. the encyclopedia of parapsychology and psychical research. new york: paragon house, 1991. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. america, united states of 39 boyer, paul

he prepared the group for their leaving the planet. finally, as the comet came closest to earth in march 1997, over a several-day period (march 23.25, applewhite and the remaining group members committed suicide using vodka and phenobarbital. because the bodies were not discovered for several days, the exact time of death remains unknown. in the wake of the deaths, applewhite has joined the list of religious leaders known for the destructive twist they gave to their original vision and the multiple deaths that resulted. sources: balch, robert w. waiting for the ships: disillusionment and the revitalization of faith in bo and peep s ufo cult. in james r. lewis, ed. the gods have landed. albany, n.y: state university of new york press, 1995. henry, william. the keeper of heaven s gate: the

the cause. writing to the banner of light on the subject of anglican clergyman j. tyerman s accession to the spiritualist ranks, an american correspondent stated, encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. australia 121 the rev. j. tyerman, of the church of england, resident in one of the country districts, boldly declared his full reception of spiritualism as a great fact, and his change of religious faith consequent upon the teachings of spirits. of course, he was welcomed with open arms by the whole body of spiritualists in melbourne, the only city where there was any considerable number enrolled in one association. he soon became the principal lecturer, though not the only one employed by the association, and well has he wielded the sword of the new faith. he is decidedly of th

he lack of organization, to which i have before alluded, and the imperative necessity for the workers who come here to make their labors remunerative, paralyses all attempts at advancement, except in the sensation line. still i feel confident that with united action throughout the scattered force of spiritualistic thought in these colonies, spiritualism might and would supersede every other phase of religious thought in an incredibly short space of time. i must not omit to mention that the friends in every place i have visited have been more than kind, hospitable and appreciative. the public have defied both press and pulpit in their unstinted support of my lectures. the press have been equally servile, and the christian world equally stirred, and equally active in desperate attempts to cr

g to flournoy, insipid and foolish enough to give one nausea. in england, j. garth wilkinson published in 1857 an octavo volume of impressional poetry. the first continued a series of automatically received messages deserving serious attention that were produced by william stainton moses between 1870 and 1880. his scripts contained many evidential messages, but their main purpose was the delivery of religious teaching. the scripts of cleophas, paul in athens, and the chronicle of ephesus, produced by cummins under the alleged influence of philip the evangelist, and cleophas, bear signs of close acquaintanceship with the apostolic circle, an early american spiritualist group which claimed close contact with jesus apostles and other new testament characters. sir oliver lodge claims to have r

he babylonian king assurbani-pal, around 668 b.c.e. babylonian astrologers attributed human characteristics to planetary influences at birth, and laid the foundation for modern astrologers. sources: encyclopedia.com. babylonia. http/ www.encyclopedia.com. june 26, 2000. ferry, david. gilgamesh: a new rendering into english verse. new york: farrar, straus and giroux, 1992. jastrow, morris. aspects of religious belief and practice in babylonia& assyria. new york: g. p. putnam s sons, 1911. kramer, samuel n. from the tablets of sumer. falcon s wing, 1956. gilgamesh and the huluppu-tree: a reconstructed sumerian text. chicago: university of chicago press, 1938. lenormant, francois. chaldean magic: its origin& development. london: samuel bagster [1877. spence, lewis. myths and legends of babylo

ia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 180 eral issues of the iskcon review, a biannual interdisciplinary publication intended to stimulate and communicate research and reflection on all aspects of the hare krishna movement. although sponsored by the iskcon movement, the institute and its review were independent and autonomous, thus providing a meeting place between iskcon and informed scholars of religious history, theologians, sociologists, and others. bharati, agehananda (1923.1991) scholar of eastern religion and mysticism who was ordained as acharya in dashanami mahavidyalaya, benares, india, in 1951. scholars in the west considered him an important interpreter of hindu tradition, especially tantra. he became a professor and chair of the department of anthropology at syracuse univer

ilian groups, umbanda and macumba, both analogous to haitian voudou, and kardec-style spiritism. both have possession by spirits as central to their practice. brazil is officially a roman catholic country. still it is estimated that there are nearly four million people following these various alternative religions, many continuing to regard themselves as nominal catholics. the complex interchange of religious and cultural traditions over the centuries makes precise distinctions difficult, since many nominally non-christian blacks incorporate the figure of jesus into tribal magic, while many christians have fused tribal magic with catholicism. one of the most striking developments of the last few decades has been the emergence of a form of psychic surgery in which it is claimed that psychic

phs, examples of automatic writing and slate writing, wax hands (formed in materialization seances, apports, paranormal paintings, and personal effect of famous spiritualists. the address is britten memorial museum, britten house, stansted hall, stansted, mountfitchet, essex, england. bro, harmon hartzell (1919.1997) professor of philosophy and religion and specialist in parapsychological aspects of religious life, including meditation, faith-healing, mystical experience, and conversion. he was born december 14, 1919, in nanking, china to missionary parents. he studied at williams college and the university of chicago (b.a; he pursued graduate education at st. olaf college, harvard divinity school, and the university of chicago divinity school (ph.d. he was ordained a minister in the chris

ailed were peopled either by the pelasgi or by the aeolians, who of all the tribes comprehended under the general name hellenes, approach the most nearly in antiquity and language to the pelasgi. we seem warranted, then, kenrick observes, in two conclusions; first that the pelasgian tribes in italy, greece and asia were united in times reaching high above the commencement of history, by community of religious ideas and rites, as well as letters, arts, and language. secondly, large portions of what is called the heroic history of greece, are nothing else than fictions devised to account for the traces of this affinity, when time and the ascendancy of other nations had destroyed the primitive connection, and rendered the cause of the similarity obscure. the original derivation of the cabiria

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

ts in the kabala and probably representing one of the four simple elements. air, water, earth, or fire. macroprosopus means creator of the great world. macumba african-derived brazilian religions that have spirit possession as a central feature. madonna ministry the madonna ministry is a new thought metaphysical ministry founded by bishop arnold michael, formerly a minister with the united church of religious science. as a young man, in 1947 he had written a book, blessed among women, on the life of the virgin mary published in 1948. the writing of the book became a life-altering event and michael left his job managing a restaurant and studied for the religious science ministry. he served religious science churches for the next 35 years. in 1980, he returned to his consideration of the vir

llied as to be almost identical. frazer s anthropologist successors in the early twentieth century, most notably malinowski and marcel mauss, regarded magic as entirely distinct from religion. magic possessed certain well-marked attributes that could be traced to mental processes differing from those from which the religious idea springs, they said. the two had become fused by the superimposition of religious rites upon magic practice. it has also been said that religion consists of an appeal to the gods, whereas magic is the attempt to force their compliance. henri hubert and marcel mauss, in greatness and decline of the celts (1934, argue that magic is essentially traditional. holding that the primitive mind is markedly unoriginal, they explain magic as an art that did not exhibit freque

et and its inhabitants were quite impossible. and the language itself bore remarkable resemblance to french, the native tongue of the medium. the grammar and construction of both languages were the same, and even the vowel sounds were identical, so that the source of the martian language was clearly an extraordinary construction from the medium s unconscious. as such it greatly resembled the form of religious speech known as glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, which is a new language that is a cutdown version of the language the speaker uses normally everyday. sources: flournoy, theodore. from india to the planet mars. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1963. martin, dorothy r(andolph (1912) associate professor of psychology with special interest in parapsychology. she was bor

nsequence. he established a magnetic sympathy between himself and them, by means of which he imparted his own confidence and good humour; he flattered them in his refaces, termed them his precious, most illustrious patients, and dedicated his books to them. so are we convinced that gargantua and pantagruel cured more black humours, more tendencies to madness, more atrabilious whims, at that epoch of religious animosities and civil wars, than the whole faculty of medicine could boast. occult medicine is essentially sympathetic. reciprocal affection, or at least real good will, must exist between doctor and patient. syrups and juleps have very little inherent virtue; they are what they become through the mutual opinion of operator and subject; hence homeopathic medicine dispenses with them a

tion, enabling the adept to view the wonders of a new world and communicate with its inhabitants. to accomplish this magic, the ordinary faculties were almost invariably heightened by artificial means. the grandeur of the magical ritual overwhelmed the neophyte and quickened his senses. ceremonial magic was a spur to the latent faculties of human psychic nature, just as were the rich concomitants of religious mysticism. in the medieval mind, as in other periods of human history, it was thought that magic could be employed both for good and evil purposes, its branches being designated white and black, according to whether it was used for benevolent or wicked ends. the term red magic was also occasionally employed, as indicating a more exalted type of the art, but the designation is fanciful

edjugorje won a grudging tolerance from the government, which saw the influx of pilgrims as a vindication of yugoslavia as an open country. part of the price of the spiritual revival at medjugorje has been the inevitable commercialization of the religious tourist trade. the simple village life has been totally uprooted by thousands of tourists, ice cream and soft drink stands, stalls for the sale of religious souvenirs, and other worldly activities. but villagers still meet in small groups, sometimes at night. two younger girls claim to have seen visions and received messages. the original group of six young visionaries claimed that the virgin confided ten secrets, including warnings of future world chastisements if people did not return to spiritual life. people were recommended to give u

te intellectually advanced theological discussions. the occasional contradictory elements in the claimed communications from the virgin (as in the instance of apparent criticism of the bishop, may be due to the intense pressures from lay and ecclesiastical authorities to which the children were subjected; they may also have been misquoted from time to time. the messages about the need for renewal of religious faith and practice are a relevant comment on the secularism of our time, although with a sophistication normally beyond the awareness of village children. but, as with lourdes, fatima, garabandal, and other apparitions, the messages are only within the framework of the roman catholic faith, and there is no insightful communication for hindus, buddhists, or people of other religions. i

s conference of the united methodist church and was appointed pastor of the emmanuel united methodist church in evanston, illinois. in 1980 he left the pastorate and was appointed director of the institute for the study of american religion, a post he has retained to the present. in 1985 the institute relocated to santa barbara, california. melton is also a research specialist with the department of religious studies at the university of california. santa barbara. in 1990 he co-founded the society for the study of metaphysical religion and sits on its board. melton achieved prominence after publishing his encyclopedia of american religions (1979; 6th ed, 1999, tracking the many different religions as well as the small religious and psychic/ occult organizations in the united states and can

ical religion and sits on its board. melton achieved prominence after publishing his encyclopedia of american religions (1979; 6th ed, 1999, tracking the many different religions as well as the small religious and psychic/ occult organizations in the united states and canada. the encyclopedia documents their origins, interrelationships, and beliefs. he has taken a special interest in the problems of religious pluralism and the growth of many divergent religions in the christian west. melton ardently supports religious freedom and actively opposes the efforts of the anticult movement to stigmatize new religions as destructive cults. the institute for the study of american religion maintains a unique and comprehensive collection of research materials on religious groups and organizations in

itor for vampires unearthed by martin riccardo, the first comprehensive bibliography of englishlanguage vampire literature. in 1994 he authored the vampire book: an encyclopedia of the undead (2nd edition, 1999, video hound s vampires on video (1996, and the vampire gallery (1998. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. melton, j(ohn) gordon 1021 sources: melton, j. gordon. a directory of religious bodies in the united states. new york: garland publishing, 1977. directory of religious organizations. detroit: gale research, 1992. encyclopedic handbook of cults in america. new york: garland publishing, 1986. rev. ed. 1992. a history of the new age movement. in not necessarily the new age. edited by robert basil. buffalo, n.y: prometheus press, 1988. paganism, magic, and witchcraft

lso appeared on the scene. those students most attached to eddy s thought founded what has been a continuing independent christian science movement, while the more autonomous thinkers became the founders of what would in the 1890s become known as new thought. new thought has been perpetuated through such organizations as the unity school of christianity, the divine science association, the church of religious science, and the international new thought association. it produced a number of best-selling authors, such as ralph waldo trine, prentice mulford, elizabeth towne, and orison swett marden. the term mind cure had largely passed from the scene by the beginning of the twentieth century, but the basic movements, christian science, independent christian science, and new thought, have conti

subjects. in 1954, he incorporated university books, inc. in new york, and began publishing important out-of-print books on occultism, mysticism, psychical research, and comparative religion. these included key works such as a. e. waite s books on the tarot and ceremonial magic; lewis spence s encyclopedia of occultism; montague summers books on witchcraft and vampires; william james s varieties of religious experience; r. m. bucke s cosmic consciousness; f. w. h. myers s human personality and its survival of bodily death; scholarly works by charles guignebert on the origins of christianity; d. t. suzuki s books on zen; nandor fodor s encyclopedia of psychical research; g. r. s. mead s books on gnosticism; alexandra david-neel s magic and mystery in tibet; and scores of similar books that

EXTRAORDINARY ENCOUNTERS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND OTHERWORLDY BEINGS

ier times, channeling was called revelation, or mediumship. whatever the name, it is often accompanied by visions of otherworldly entities or unearthly realms. some channelers believe that through their consciousness alone, they can travel through the universe and into other dimensions. in ancient times oracles and priests communicated with the gods. the resulting divine messages formed the basis of religious and mystical faiths. such communications often involved prophecies as well. in the judeo- christian tradition, the bible documents visions and messages recognizably related to the channeling 59 phenomenon of channeling. channeling seems ubiquitous in human experience. historically prominent practitioners include nostradamus, emanuel swedenborg, helena petrovna blavatsky (founder of th

its crew came from a planet behind a planet visible from earth. their own planet, however, was always hidden from earthly view. they lived in a communal society without war, disease, or crime. they also had a religion that worshipped the supreme deity. during the tour padrick was shown a consultation room used for worship and invited to go inside. after he prayed there, padrick experienced a kind of religious awakening. during their interaction, he noticed that whenever he would ask xeno a question, xeno would hesitate for as long as half a minute before answering. patrick speculated that he was getting telepathic instructions on how to reply. he was shown a photograph of a city on xeno s planet. through a telescopelike device he observed a cigar-shaped mother ship which had brought the sm

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

ra torah. they generally regard the current version of the torah to be the exact original, faithful in every detail to the one penned by master mosheh. hence, they consider every word and every line to be irrefutably delivered by the hand of god. like all traditional religions that center primarily upon a conventional, dualistic understanding of scriptures, the principal intention of the majority of religious jews is to cultivate purity and righteousness for the redemption of their souls and to secure a place in heaven in the company of the righteous. from a qabalistic perspective, this would correspond to ascending the tree via the column of the right way of the angels of elohim) to become like angels and gain access to the lower heavens. while many contemporary religious students of the

an of liadi.15 hitbonenuth, as described by rabbi zalman, requires intense mental exertion to increase one's awareness of the open, simple and revealed meaning of an idea, to scrutinize and elaborate on a concept's many details, facets and ramifications, and not to allow the mind to contract and settle on one point alone. rabbinical jews often feel that any qabalistic practice outside the context of religious jewish observance is not legitimately connected with the mystical tradition of the children of abraham. they generally regard such qabalah as either hybrid variants adulterated by admixtures of ideas from other mystical traditions, or as the purview of occultists and the practical qabalah. this is not surprising. the orthodoxy in all organized religions has historically viewed the stu

ce. from its earliest beginning, it (the karaite revolt) spread throughout the jewish diaspora into every stratum of society. karaism derives from the hebrew word karah (lit. to read) i.e. to read the torah without the intervention of rabbis. they rejected the talmud as a conspiracy of the rabbis to separate ordinary people from the simplicity of the torah. for them, the torah was the sole source of religious laws. karaites created different oral laws to deal with modern life. many talmudic dietary laws were abolished and the use of tefillin (phylacteries) was abandoned. in response to the threat that the karaites posed to their authority, the jewish rabbis were able to prevent a final schism in judaism by co-opting many acceptable karaite ideas and reforming abuses. gradually, the karaite

buddhist mystical traditions. some jews, who seriously studied and engaged in the meditation practices of other mystical traditions, have recently come back to judaism only to discover or see in a new light their own mystical qabalah. this has been one of the major factors involved in the jewish renewal movement' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% as a final note, anything that runs counter to an ingrained sense of religious identity can be perceived as a threat to that identity. those with an orthodox or fundamentalist viewpoint may therefore feel uncomfortable with or disturbed by the universal perspective of this book, perhaps dismissing it outright as new age synthesis or ashram spirituality. each of the religious vessels through which the universal mystical spirituality has been filtered and uniquely

tic hebrew became virtually extinct after the decimation of lachish circa 701 bce. the sinatic alphabet could have evolved as an alphabetic representation of the twentysix sumerian cuneiform ciphers, the world s oldest known nonalphabetic language.2 by the time the current torah was redacted, the original sinatic hebrew alphabet had long been extinct. after hundreds 04' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% of years of religious and cultural repression under the assyrians, babylonians, and romans, the original biblical hebrew had faded from the memories of the jews. as a solution, the final redactor (i.e. ezra) chose to record the torah in a new alphabet that would be more recognizable to the generations of jews who had long forgotten the original. it was derived by using the twenty-two letter format of the o

ny parts of the peninsula. a large amount of critical evidence, beyond the scope of this book, concludes that this interaction substantially impacted the content of the qur an. the jews had immigrated to the arabian peninsula via the well-traveled trade routes across the red sea long before master mohammed was born. they were largely centered in mecca and medina, and included a substantial number of religious teachers well versed in talmudic halacha (interpretations of verses in torah) and midrashic commentary (i.e. on the halacha. the sabaeans are thought to have been among the earliest inhabitants of syria, and only a little is known of their history, culture, and spirituality. the christian inhabitants consisted largely of the descendants of heretics who had been expelled from the roman

, eliyahu is said to be the incarnate form of the letter tzade o (letter-gate on the column of the left on the flat tree. the tzade o is at war with the letter zayin z (letter-gate on the column of the right. the zayin z incarnated as yezebel, who was subsequently vanquished by eliyahu; and then as salome, whose infamous nude dance resulted in the beheading of john the baptist. so, the mainstream of religious jews deny master yeshuvah as a messianic appearance of the lord hvhy within the context of judaism. they greatly revere, but do not generally ascribe messianic stature to master mosheh, ignore the massive commonalties with islam, and wait for acharit who will bring the jews to the great sabbath. mainstream religious christians politely respect master mosheh, but certainly have no sens

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

nd both the hermetica and the new testament (op. cit p. xv, note. 21 ficino's "pimander"and the "asclepius" thought out philosophy. they are records of individual souls seeking revelation, intuition into the divine, personal salvation, gnosis, without the aid of a personal god or saviour, but through a religious approach to the universe. it is this religious approach, their character as documents of religious experiences, which give the hermetica a unity which they entirely lack as a thought system. the cosmological framework which they take for granted is always astrological, even where this is not expressly stated. the material world is under the rule of the stars, and of the seven planets, the "seven governors. the laws of the nature within which the religious gnostic lives are the astr

measure of man's ability."1 the marrying together of hermetism and cabalism, of which pico was the instigator and founder, was to have momentous results, and the subsequent hermetic-cabalist tradition, ultimately stemming from him, was of most far-reaching importance. it could be purely mystical, developing hermetic and cabalist meditations on creation and on man into immensely complex labyrinths of religious speculation, involving numerological and harmonic aspects into which pythagoreanism was absorbed. but it also had its magical side, and here, too, pico was the founder who first united the hermetic and cabalist types of magic. it was in i486 that the young pico della mirandola went to rome with his nine hundred theses, or points drawn from all philosophies which he offered to prove in

same time as orphic singing. possibly pico simply means that psalm singing 1 pico, de hominis dignitate, etc, ed. garin, pp. 319, 321. 2 pico, opera, p. 106. 104 pico della mirandola and cabalist magic should alternate with orphic singing. or perhaps it is done with an intentio anitnae towards the true god above nature whilst singing the hymns to the natural gods. or could it be through influence of religious chanting on the hymns to the natural gods, which would also work the other way, as a memory of the hymns to the natural gods within the religious hymns to the god of david sung in church? the problem is perhaps insoluble, but in thinking of it we are in the presence of a problem which was to agitate later controversies about religion in relation to magic, namely, should a religious re

ious allusions to hermetic and cabalist secrets, the dignification which the magus at this level undergoes, are very much in the vein of pico's oration on the dignity of man. but, again, agrippa is going much further than pico, for it is evident that the magic in the third or intellectual world which is now going to be discussed is really priestly magic, religious magic, involving the performance of religious miracles. he next outlines a true divinely magical religion, based on faith, and a superstitious religion, based on credulity.4 the two are not altogether unrelated, though the second is greatly inferior to the first. miracles can be worked by the second kind, as well as by the 1 agrippa, de occult, phil, i l l, i; ed. cit, p. 253. 2 ibid, i l l, 2; ed. cit, p. 254. 3 ibid, i l l, 3;

d cabala be accepted as aids to religion or rejected" this question might also be put in the form "does an increase of magic help a religious reform" to which one answer might be the strong negative "let us get rid of all magic and break the images" this is not, however, the form in which the question is put in cornelius agrippa's highly influential book. according to agrippa, there are two kinds of religious magic, one good and leading to the highest religious insights and powers; the other bad and superstitious, as it were a bad copy of the good kind. this was how giordano bruno, the religious magician, saw the problem, and he got much indeed most of his material for his solution of it from cornelius agrippa. 143 chapter viii t he cosmos, or the world-picture, within which the agrippan m

wrought' are not done by wicked demonic magic but by a natural use of number. john dee has to the full the dignity, the sense of operational power, of the renaissance magus. and he is a very clear example of how the will to operate, stimulated by renaissance magic, could pass into, and stimulate, the will to operate in genuine applied science. or of how operating with number in the higher sphere of religious magic could belong with, and stimulate, operating with number in the lower sphere of "real artificial magic. the hermetic science par excellence is alchemy; the famous emerald table, the bible of the alchemists, is attributed to hermes trismegistus and gives in a mysteriously compact form the philosophy of the all and the one.2 in the renaissance, a new style "alchymia" becomes associ

pico, which turned on the question of whether magia and cabala confirm the divinity of christ which was so impressively answered in the affirmative by pope alexander vi? a sonnet by "hermes junior, almost certainly "joannes mercurius, is interpreted by the commentator as referring at one point to alexander vi (see kristeller, studies, pp. 252, 255. 171 religious hermetism in the sixteenth century of religious experience.1 a french translation of the crater hermetis was included in a french translation of the hermetica dedicated to cardinal charles de lorraine in 1549, which suggests that hermetic religious enthusiasm was making headway in french ecclesiastical circles. symphorien champier of lyons was a leading apostle of neoplatonism in france, and an admirer of ficino. in his de quadrupl

e de vita coelitus comparanda against which he utters a warning. and it is champier who first put forward the comforting view that the magical passage in the asclepius was not by the holy hermes himself but was interpolated into the latin translation by the wicked magician apuleius of madaura.2 this idea was repeated by later french writers on hermetism and did much to help the general acceptance of religious hermetism. champier printed in his de quadruplici vita a latin translation by ludovico lazzarelli of the definitiones, namely the last treatise of the corpus hermeticum? which ficino had not translated because it was not in his manuscript. the most striking feature of this hermetic treatise, now published in latin translation for the first time, is the tremendous passage on the sun an

ent in tone and content from the protestant non-magical hermetism of mornay. another striking example of sixteenth-century religious hermetism, is the commentary on the pymander hermetis mercurii tris megistus, in six huge volumes, by hannibal rosseli, an italian capucin, published at cracow, 1585-90' rosseli is using foix de candale's text of the hermetica, which puts him in the french tradition of religious hermetism, and his commentary introduces the whole range of ancient writers used in renaissance neoplatonism. rosseli is guarded in what he says about magic, and warns against it.2 he devotes many pages to the hierarchies of pseudo-dionysius3 before passing on to the "seven governors" mentioned in pimander, which he identifies with angels.4 he is, one might say, ecstatically aware of

etic influence was published at antwerp, where william of orange was trying to establish religious toleration, so also rosseli's great effort of catholic hermetism was first published in poland, a country which practised religious toleration. such efforts need not have been aiming specifically at eirenism, or religious reunion, but merely at toleration or the avoidance of force for the settlement of religious problems, by creating an atmosphere of christian tolerance through mutual return to the hermetic religion of the world, understood in a christian sense. at the french court in the fifteen-eighties, the king, henri iii, was the centre of an intensive religious movement in which he was very much influenced by capucins, an order which he greatly encouraged and to which his numerous penit

. but after they hearde us speake of the name of christ. you will not beleve with howe gladde mindes, they agreed unto the same: whether it were by the secrete inspiration of god, or elles for that they thought it nieghest unto that opinion, which among them is counted chiefest.2 the converted utopians are then, perhaps, christian hermetists. at any rate they already display the distinctive badge of religious hermetism in the sixteenth century, the disapproval of the use of force in religious matters. when a utopian, converted to christianity, grew bigoted and began to condemn all other religions, he was sharply rebuked and banished. for this is one of the auncientest lawes amonge them: that no man shall be blamed for resininge in the maintenance of his owne religion. for kyng utopus. made

rlie, without hastie and contentious rebuking and invehing against other. if he could not by faire and gentle speche induce them unto his opinion yet he should use no kinde of violence, and refraine from displeasaunte and seditious woordes. to him that would vehemently and fervendye in this cause strive and contende was decreed banishment or bondage.3 thus did thomas more enunciate the principles of religious toleration before the disasters of the sixteenth century had begun 1 more's utopia, robinson's translation, everyman edition, p. ioo. 2 ibid, pp. ioo-i. 3 ibid, pp. 101-2. 186 religious hermetism in the sixteenth century before his own execution, before the fires had been lighted at smithfield under mary, before the torturing of catholic missionaries under elizabeth, before the french

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

ur profession [masonry] is derived from the druids. and our chief emblems originally came from egypt [william hutchinson, mason, the spirit of masonry, revised by george oliver, new york, bell publishing, originally published in 1775, p. 195] another masonic writer (albert churchward, states that masons are "our present druids [albert churchward, signs and symbols of primordial man: the evolution of religious doctrine from the eschatology of the ancient egyptians, london, england, george allen and company, ltd. 1913, second edition, p. 189. another masonic author, george oliver, also noted freemasonry's connection with the druids "the druids had a high veneration for the serpent. their great god, hu, was typified by that reptile; and he is represented by the bards as 'the wonderful chief d

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

d in different garments the same gods and goddesses of chaos and order, of love and death, of hatred and life, of fertility, of dawn, of night, etc, etc. from such is built up the normal religious mood of the masses; nevertheless there is yet another mood, for from time to time in the world's history something happens: a man appears, be he prince or pauper, who throws the masses into such a state of religious fervour that all reason and with it all doubt is obliterated and a spiritual condition is produced which closely resembles physical drunkenness. such men were orpheus, oedipus, osiris, zoroaster, krishna, odin, buddha, christ, mahomet, and a host of lesser names, mythological and historical, many of which have passed into oblivion. for a time these men have lifted the multitudes out o

s use of virtue to enhance virtue and of vice to enhance vice- that is things built upwards- an individual who has experienced the four-dimensional vision, on his re-entering three-dimensional consciousness, sees things upside down. consequently it happens that, unless his intellect has, as in a telescope, been provided with a lens which will reverse the object, he will affirm with all the frenzy of religious faith that the world is standing upon its head. as he knows (three-dimensionally) that the world should stand on its feet, and as he believes (four-dimensionally) that this reversion is necessary to salvation, he will in actual fact turn the world upside down in order to attain his end. to him in his higher wisdom virtue and vice are equivalents, for both are illusions when compared t

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

rt gamble preface. much of the material for this volume was collected during the time that i was preparing for the press the evolution of woman, or while searching for data bearing on the subject of sex-specialization. while preparing that book for publication, it was my intention to include within it this branch of my investigation, but wishing to obtain certain facts relative to the foundations of religious belief and worship which were not accessible at that time, and knowing that considerable labor and patience would be required in securing these facts, i decided to publish the first part of the work, withholding for the time being that portion of it pertaining especially to the development of the god-idea. as mankind construct their own gods, or as the prevailing ideas of the unknowab

he ascendancy over that of man, human energy was directed by the altruistic characters which originated in and have been transmitted through the female; but after the decline of woman's power, all human institutions, customs, forms, and habits of thought are seen to reflect the egoistic qualities acquired by the male. nowhere is the influence of sex more plainly manifested than in the formulation of religious conceptions and creeds. with the rise of male power and dominion, and the corresponding repression of the natural female instincts, the principles which originally constituted the god-idea gradually gave place to a deity better suited to the peculiar bias which had been given to the male organism. an anthropomorphic god like that of the jews--a god whose chief attributes are power and

e brought forward as a contribution to our fund of general information. as well might we hope to gain a complete knowledge of human history by studying only the present aspect of society, as to expect to reach reasonable conclusions respecting the prevailing god-idea by investigating the various creeds and dogmas of existing faiths. the object of this volume is not only to furnish a brief outline of religious growth, but to show the effect which each of the two forces, female and male, has had on the development of our present god- idea, which investigation serves to accentuate the conclusions arrived at in the evolution of woman relative to the inheritance of each of the two lines of sexual demarcation. e.b.g. contents- chapter introduction i--sex the foundation of the god-idea ii--tree

known to be closely connected with primitive belief and worship, and the records found on tablets which are being unearthed in various parts of the world, are, with the unravelling of extinct tongues, proving an almost inexhaustible source for obtaining information bearing upon the early history of the human race, and, together, furnish indisputable evidence of the origin, development, and unity of religious faiths. by comparing the languages used by the earlier races to express their religious conceptions; by observing the similarity in the mythoses and sacred appellations among all tribe and nations, an through the discovery of the fact that the legends extant in the various countries of the globe are identical, or have the same foundation, it is probable that a clue has already been ob

broadcast over the entire earth, is perhaps not settled; yet, from the facts which have been brought forward during the last century, the latter theory seems altogether probable, such divergence in religious ideas as is observed among the various peoples of the earth being attributable to variations in temperament caused by changed conditions of life. in other words, the divergence in the course of religious development has doubtless been due to environment. in an attempt to understand the history of the growth of the god-idea, the fact should be borne in mind that, from the earliest conception of a creative force in the animal and vegetable world to the latest development in theological speculation, there has never been what might consistently be termed a new religion. on the contrary, r

ence, and as the primitive conceptions of a deity lie buried beneath ages of corruption, glimpses of the earlier faiths of mankind, as has already been stated, must be looked for in the traditions, monuments, and languages of extinct races. in reviewing this matter we shall doubtless observe the fact that if the stage of a nation's growth is indicated by its religious conceptions, and if remnants of religious beliefs are everywhere present in the languages, traditions, and monuments of the past through a careful study of these subjects we may expect to gain a tolerably correct understanding not alone of the growth of the god-idea but of the stage of development reached by the nations which existed prior to the beginning of the historic age. we shall be enabled also to perceive whether or n

if we would unravel the mysteries involved in present religious faiths, we should begin not by attempting to analyze or explain any existing system or systems of belief and worship. such a course is likely to end not only in confusion and in a subsequent denial of the existence of the religious nature in mankind, but is liable, also, to create an aversion for and a distrust of the entire subject of religious experience. in view of this fact it would appear to be not only useless but exceedingly unwise to spend one's time in attempting to gain a knowledge of this subject simply by studying the later developments in its history. if we are really desirous of obtaining information regarding present religious phenomena, it is plain that we should adopt the scientific method and turn our attent

female and hale elements in the deity. glimpses of antiquity as far back as human ken can reach reveal the fact that in early ages of human society the physiological question of sex was a theme of the utmost importance, while various proofs are at hand showing that throughout the past the question of the relative importance of the female and male elements in procreation has been a fruitful source of religious contention and strife. these struggles, which from time to time involved the entire habitable globe, were of long duration, subsiding only after the adherents of the one sex or the other had gained sufficient ascendancy over the opposite party to successfully erect its altars and compel the worship of its own peculiar gods, which worship usually included a large share of the temporal

ans were deified, not as an expression or symbol of the operations of nature, but as a means to the stimulation of the lower animal instincts in man. with religion bestialized and its management regulated wholly with an idea to the gratification of man's sensuous desires, religious temples, under the supervision of the priesthood, became brothels, in which were openly practiced as part and parcel of religious rites and ceremonies the most wanton profligacy and the most shameless self-abandonment. the worship of aphrodite or venus, and also that of bacchus, originally consisted in homage paid to the reproductive principles contained in the earth, water, and sun, but, as is well known, this pure and beautiful worship, in later times, and especially after it was carried to greece, became syno

hip, are still in use. the masses of the people, however, are without a knowledge of their origin or early significance. everywhere, throughout the early historic nations, were worshipped symbols of the attributes or functions of the dual or triune god. each symbol represented a distinctive female or male quality. animals, trees, the sea, plants, the moon, and the heavens were, at a certain stage of religious development, symbolized as parts of the deity and worshipped as possessing certain female or male characteristics or attributes. it is plain that, with the decline of female power, and the consequent stimulation of the animal instincts in man, the pure creative principles involved in nature-worship gradually became unsuited to the sensualized capacities and tastes of the masses; but i

ain that the titles and attributes of female gods have been appropriated by males, but it is also true that the more ancient deities, which are now known to have been female, have by later investigators been represented as male. the interpretations which have hitherto been put upon the babylonian and assyrian deities by many of those who have attempted to unravel the mysteries of an earlier stage of religious worship, is doubtless due to the fact that since the so-called historic period began, the qualities which have been considered godlike have all been masculine; it has therefore never occurred to the minds of these writers that the ancients may have entertained quite different notions from their own regarding the attributes of a deity; hence, whenever the sex of a god has appeared doub

d of the world's history they were worshipped as the creator, or, at least, as representations of the creative agencies in the universe. concerning the origin and character of the people who executed them there is scarcely a trace in written history. through the unravelling of extinct tongues, however, the monumental records of the ancient nations of the globe have been deciphered, and the system of religious symbolism in use among them is now understood. a small volume by various writers, printed in london some years ago, entitled a comparative view of the ancient monuments of india, says "those who have penetrated into the abstruseness of indian mythology, find that in these temples was practiced a worship similar to that practiced by all the several nations of the world, in their earlie

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

wareness that waite had perceived the true nature of magic and pointed to anotherway-thatofthe mystic. unwilling to acceptwhathe knewinwardly to be true; crowley turned to verbiage and venom, at the same time belittling himself and ensuring that future generationsofoccultists should knowofwaite and be curious.andwhowaswaite?arthuredward waite, the child of anglo-american parents, wasbornat a time of religious upheaval and left this world as it was busily engaged in tearing apart its social fabric. he was a prolific author,butone whose books are, for themostpart,unknownand unread; he was not recognized as a scholar by. the academic world,buthe remains the only comprehensive analyst of the history of occultism in all its many branches.notthatheapproved of thetermor the looseness of its conno

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

e been a coincident rearrangement of facts and notions, by means of which a clear stream of the truth concerning the origins of human religions and human know255 ledge has reached even down to our own time, and that some glimpses of the secret doctrine still existing in the fastnesses of central asia have been offered for our acceptance. to such as hold this belief, the existence of other systems of religious philosophy which are found to present points of similarity to the secret doctrine is explained by the suggestion that they come from the same ancient stock, at some period of the history of man which may be unknown to us; and that lapse of time, and remoteness of dwelling of the custodians of the similar, but more or less divergent, systems will explain at once the similarity and the

times were partly reproduced in the mystery plays of medieval christian europe and england. these may have been sometimes practised in the160themagical masonform of dramas, partly carried out in dumb show and partly explained by characterisation, by catechisation, and by conver255 sational discussion, as well as by set lectures. there is a general agreement that the ancient mysteries taught forms of religious belief and also morals, and it is often asserted that the grand central doctrine they taught was that of personal immortality, or alternatively the theory of reincarnation. the mysteries were in many places and at various ages especially performed about the birth-time of the sun of the new year, or the return of the lengthening of the days, about what we now call christmas.itwas sugge

ropitiation of gods, and from these short and simple prayers the rituals of all religions have been elaborated. as men observed the sun, moon and stars in their courses, they formed the ideas of being superior to themselves in power and glory, enthroned ill those heavenly bodies, and did not doubt that such gods ruled them, catered for them, and at times destroyedthem-hencethe need of a theology, of religious worship, of offerings and of sacrifices. from primeval worship and prayers offered for safety and success, followed petitions for a state of peace at least, and of reward if possible,tofollow the death which men saw came todivination and its history193all in turn.thehuman mind perceived the utter absence of certainty in the results of these prayers and sacrifices; evil fate often foll

ed to as the corner stone of the church, the cape stone of the church fabric and the key (stone) of heaven.theold testament had also, before the time of jesus, used the term corner stones to mean persons of eminence, and prophetically for the messiah; in isaiah xxvi, 16, we read of 'a precious corner stone to be laid in zion'.theworship of stones as representing gods was perhaps the earliest form of religious observance; the stone from its solidity and durability would suggest the power and stability of a deity; stone worship has been traced in almost all lands and among almost all uncivilised races, and is hardly extinct even in our days. certainly traces have been found in europe within the last two centuries: scheffer in 1673 describes the worship of an unhewn stone by laplanders: marti

and in all nations andinall ages the fact has been denied' said godfrey higgins.thegradual adoption of the christian faith was probably the chief cause of the cessation of the performance of the ancient pagan religious mysteries, which, however, appear to have degenerated in type towards the end oftheir history. the oldest records of the ancient mysteries give the highest credit to these systems of religious ceremonial. in each country they appear to have gradually lost their sacred character, and to have become merely popular festivals and public holidays.thewritings of the classical authors which remain to us, affordbuta slender outline of the history and purpose of theancientmysteries. the early christian fathers wrote about them only to condemn, while the modern revival of literature

thers wrote about them only to condemn, while the modern revival of literature provides us with a great number of volumes which profess to270themagical masonexplain these religious ceremonials of antiquity. many of these authors are, however, so charmed with the mysterious part of the institution, that they seem to draw largely upon their imagination for their facts, and have conjured up a system of religious belief and ceremonial, for which there exists but a slender basis. the information gleamed from the old greek and roman authors has been, however, to some extent amplified by the most recent discoveries in the tombs and ruins of ancient egypt, and by the acquirement of the ability to decipher the funeral papyri and the inscriptions on the monuments of that wonderful land.thereligion o

usean essay ontheancient mysteries 273we still see in egyptian ruins the works of men who must have possessed such great knowledge and such vast powers, that we moderns are forced to confess that we are ignorant of how they erected such pyramids and temple buildings, and some of our engineers doubt if we could erect such structures even now withourmodern machinery. we recognise that such builders of religious monuments must have had a science and arts of their own, which have been lost to the world, and we can only suppose that men with such giant intellects must have had equally notable religious conceptions and exalted ideas of the universe and its creator, god.inthe times of the ancient egyptian dynasties, the priest255 hood was the dominant power, and not the military. each pharaoh was

e country. he was esteemed the chief magician as well as the benevolent despot of his people.thepriestly caste included a prophetic branch of diviners and astrologers, mathematicians and wonder workers.thename and titles of the great god varied from time to time, and in the several districts the secondary gods had different names,butat all times and at all places there appears to have been a form of religious worship for the people, and a special esoteric faith and ceremonial for the priesthood of the higher classes, and for the cultured few who became initiated into the sacred mysteries. this system lasted down to the greek conquest of egypt about600b.c.,butappearstohave gradually lost its early power and dignity.thegreatest gods of egypt seem to have been types of the sun: as aten the su

an incarnation, sufferings, death, and re-birth, as is learnedly explained by olympiodorus, a neo-platonic philosopher of the sixth century. clemens, of alexandria, tells us of the special attributes or symbols which were used- the thyrsus, the pine cone, the golden apples, a wheel, a fleece of wool, the bone of the ankle, and a spotted animal skin.thepanathenaiawere another very important series of religious festivals. they were held in honour of athene255 minerva, the patroness of athens. in this case also there were two stages of reception.thelesser rites were performed every third year, and the greater ones every five years. the lesser festival was chiefly notable for the contests of strength and skill, special dances, and a competition of musicians. in the greater festival there was a

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

yself prefer, as being the truest rendering of the hebrew word qblh.itis derived from qbl, meaning 'to receive, and denotes 'received tradition. but, notwithstanding the fact that the writers of the encyclopaedias have decided somewhat rashly against its claims as being the true esoteric interpretation of the mystical passages of scripture, other men, of as deep minds firm and satisfactory scheme of religious philosophy; and one which, while satisfying the cravings of their minds for a transcendent system of religion, could disclose to them in language sublime and logical, the mystical abysses of the mind divine. a system which could captivate such men as reuchlin, athanasius kircher, knorr de rosenroth (whose 'kabbalah denudata' is the leading work on the subject, picus de mirandola, dr h

the balance of the table of osiris, indicates the weighing of the actsofthedead, and the future state as the certain result thereof, a conception natural and obvious to a people whose ideas were bounded by the lower principles, and who had not learnt the possibility of rising above these principles and beyond the law of karma.thesubstitution of libra for ara marks a distinct stage in the progress of religious history; many others are marked in the zodiac, and will appear as we proceed.thesymbol of libra is simply ara cut off at the top (fig 12. to see one instance of how these symbols are written on the face of physical nature, and how everyone of them must be in fact just as true on the physical plane asitis on the abstract metaphysical or spiritual plane, consider a ray of light. we know

GILBERT R A THE MASONIC CAREER OF A

8 83[83] aqc 15 (1902, pp. 163-74. waite's comments are printed on pp. 170-2 84[84] diary, 3 october 1902 really- that it is an incoherent and slovenly paper i begin to see very clearly how much a real history of the templars is wanted in england to set matters right, so far as they can be set, once and for all. this is of course a scheme of my own doing for my seminal work on the secret doctrine of religious societies'85[85. waite's strictures on castle's paper were, of course, quite unjust but his diary entry is highly significant in that it reveals how his unpublished esoteric history of freemasonry was being transformed into the secret tradition in freemasonry. magnum opus i before this great work was published waite had written a series of articles on the origins of freemasonry and on

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

ng an intelligent design that is evidence for creation (for details refer to harun yahya, darwinism refuted: how the theory of evolution breaks down in the light of modern science) moreover, the erroneous claim that religious belief was the factor that prevented humanity from progressing and drew it into conflict has been disproved by historical experience. humanists have claimed that the removal of religious belief would make people happy and at ease, however, the opposite has proved to be the case. six years after the first humanist manifesto was published, the second world war broke out, a record of the calamity brought upon the world by the secular fascist ideology. the humanist ideology of communism wreaked, first on the people of the soviet union, then on the citizens of china, cambo

olution and portrays the real results of humanism. ing something in return and to reach this level are the great evolution.51 the claims in the above quotation are highly misleading. without the moral discipline of religion there can be no sense of self-sacrifice for the rest of society. and, where this would appear to be accomplished, relationships are merely superficial. those who have no sense of religious morality have no fear of god or respect for him, and in those places where there is no fear of god, human beings are concerned only for their own gain. when people think that their personal interests are at stake, they cannot express true love, loyalty or affection. they show love and respect only to those who may be of benefit to them. this is because, according to this misconception

litical and social currents. in order to help sects in their attempt to exercise religious freedom, freemasonry engaged in a struggle against the power and influence of the clergy in the attempt to achieve their sole aim of toppling the church's power and influence over the people. for this reason, in 1738 and 1751 it was declared godless by the pope in those countries that adopted the principles of religious freedom, freemasonry was a mysterious and secret society only in name; in these countries it was both ignored and encouraged, found members among the middle class and high officials who had time and means, and installed leading state officials in positions of leadership in its own organizations. in southern countries where everyone had to be a catholic, they maintained their character

st and humanist philosophies they established in the nineteenth century, and returned europe to its pre-christian paganism. dif the masonic war against religion global freemasonry dig an illustration of an eighteenth century french masonic lodge. dih the masonic war against religion global freemasonry dii when these words were uttered in 1902, a series of laws passed in france broadened the scope of religious opposition. 3,000 religious schools were closed and it was forbidden to give any religious education in schools. many of the clergy were arrested, some were exiled and religious persons began to be regarded as second-class citizens. for this reason, in 1904, the vatican broke all diplomatic relations with france but this did not change the country's attitude. it took the loss of the l

every nation a state" was the spark that ignited minority rebellions, which were to be the cause of the fall of multi-ethnic empires, such as the global freemasonry djg giuseppe mazzini and count di cavour: two master masons who brought the papal state to an end. djh the masonic war against religion austro-hungarian and the ottoman empires. this slogan of mazzini alienated people from their sense of religious fraternity; it was a call that pushed them into ethnic conflict with one another and inspired them to "fanatical rage"(qur'an, 48: 26. the fact that this call came from masons, indeed, high-ranking masons, is certainly significant. according to information from the lodge publication 10,000 famous freemasons, mazzini rose within the masonic lodge, and years later, in 1867, was chosen m

GNOSTIC CATECHISM

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

tute for gnostic studies gnostic apostolic church po box 492 armidale nsw 2350 australia email:pleroma@ozemail.com.au web: http//www.ozemail.com.au/ pleroma we have felt for many years that there is a great need for a study of the principles on which the gnostic tradition is built. at first we avoided such a task as our knowledge of the gnostic tradition was still evolving and because any outline of religious symbolism can come across as dogmatic. however, as time progressed we realized that if we waited until all the facts were in and we worked to avoid all possible misconceptions, we would end up with the gnostic handbook never being written. accordingly, we believe that within this handbook is a comprehensive summary of the basic principles of the gnostic tradition. we realize that what

baptism. 3 ordination. 4 union. 5 illumination. 6 rites of passing. 7 feasts and festivals. the gnostic handbook page 123 in connection with these the church also acknowledges healing sacraments and the sacred eucharist. naming rituals are similar to baptisms, they welcome a child into the world and give a special protection for that child. however, they do not lock a child into any specific form of religious practice or tradition. as our church no longer encourages reproduction this rite is of limited importance. baptism recognises the great spiritual changes which take place during this period. these rites, sometimes known as "rites of water and fire" are somewhat similar to confirmation however, they confirm a persons entry into adulthood as well as into a spiritual life. ordination. or

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

dy battle between "the forces of light and darkness" or the literal expulsion of satan from heaven. at first these traditions may seem disparate and it may seem advantageous to jettison one or the other depending on your own level of comprehension. however, if we examine these various traditions in more detail, we may discern a common foundation and come to the realisation that the problem is one of religious or symbolic language rather than truth. when we are teaching children about mathematics, we may discuss apples and orange, trees and coins, however, as adults we enter into the world of algebra and equations. nobody really considers these two different approaches to be in conflict, we simply realise that a different set of metaphors are being used to explain the same essential truth

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS U1

an can but rarely act through the spiritual consciousness since for it to do so, the king of the physical body, that is the lower will, must rise from his throne to acknowledge his superior. this is the reason why, in some cases, when sleeping does the higher will only manifest itself by dream unto the ordinary man. 8 in other cases, it may be manifested; at the times through the sincere practice of religious rights or in cases where the opportunity of self-sacrifice occurs. in all these cases, the lower will hath, for a moment, recognized a higher form of itself, and the hwhy of the man hath reflected from the eternal lord the higher self. this yechidah is the only part of man which can truly say- hyha, i am. this is but the rtk of assiah of the microcosm, that is, it is the highest part

GRAHAM HANCOCK FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

, and therefore marked the point of transition between the northern and southern halves of the monument.1 somewhat like an altar in appearance, the step also provided a solid horizontal platform immediately in front of the low square tunnel that served as the entrance to the king s chamber. pausing for a moment, i looked back down the gallery, taking in once again its lack of decoration, its lack of religious iconography, and its absolute lack of any of the recognizable symbolism normally associated with the archaic belief system of the ancient egyptians. all that registered upon the eye, along the entire 153-foot length of this magnificent geometrical cavity, was its disinterested regularity and its stark machinelike simplicity. looking up, i could just make out the opening of a dark aper

the egyptian book of the dead, introduction, p. xlix; qsiris and the egyptian resurrection, volume ii, pp. 1-11. graham hancock fingerprints of the gods 350 egypt. the priests of heliopolis, after all, had taught of the creation, but who had taught them? had they sprung out of nowhere, or was it more likely that their doctrine, with all its complex symbolism, was the product of a long refinement of religious ideas? if so, when and where had these ideas developed? i looked up to discover that we had left heliopolis behind and were winding our way through the noisy and crowded streets of down-town cairo. we crossed over to the west bank of the nile by way of the 6 october bridge and soon afterwards entered giza. fifteen minutes later, passing the massive bulk of the great pyramid on our rig

GRIFFIN DAVID MAGICAL EVOCATION OF THE AVERSE FORCES

london, 1975) provides an excellent historical analysis of this phenomenon. 2 at the close of the twentieth century, as well as of the millennium, we live under very different conditions than did the magicians of earlier times. science has greatly diminished the power of dogma to determine how we see the world, and psychology has emerged to fill the role once played by theurgy. we live in an age of religious tolerance, wherein christians may again begin to embrace the value of magic. indeed, christ the magus is the ideal of christian magicians. let the intolerant and the self-righteous remember that the religious leaders of his day accused christ himself of evil magic, of commanding demons by the power of the prince of demons. hierarchies of demons an important obstacle to overcome in the

GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 3

opious spring, from its stagnant swamps the ancient river. nations hold fast by prescription: we shall never comprehend their tradition, their superstition, unless we spread under it a bed on still heathen soil. and these views are confirmed by what we know to be true of poetry and legend. if the heathens already possessed a finely articulated language, and if we concede to them an abundant stock of religious myths, then song and story could not fail to preface. vll lay hold of these, and to interweave themselves with the rites and customs. that such was the case we are assured by tacitus; aud the testimony of jornandes and eginhart leaves not the smallest room for doubt respecting later ages. those primitive songs on tuisco, on mannus and the three races that branched out of him, are echo

H SPENCER LEWIS ROSICRUCIAN MANUAL AMORC 1990

the martinist order of the world, with authority to perpetuate it. until his transition. dr. h. spencer lewis had held this authority. in march of 1940, mr. lewis was elected president of the international supreme council of the order rosae crucis. throughout the years, he has organized and conducted several motion- picture expeditions to the sites of the ancient civilizations and the birthplaces of religious and philosophical truths throughout the world. he has several times traveled throughout the world, filming ancient cultures in egypt, india, indonesia, pakistan, siam (thailand) ceylon (sri lanka) peru, greece, persia (iran) tibet, and iraq. in fact, he has been to every continent. these films are freely exhibited as an adjunct of the rosicrucian egyptian museum, of which he is the di

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the naos are accompanied by short speeches saying what they will do for the king. these images may be the oldest surviving representation of the ennead of heliopolis, a group of nine deities that was very important in the creation myths recorded in later times. some of these myths could already have been current, but whether they were written down or existed only in oral form is not clear. a type of religious text that does seem to have developed in this period was the topographical list.17 this listed deities according to their cult places and summarized their functions and qualities with epithets. some epi- 8 handbook of egyptian mythology thets, such as horus, protector of his father, suggest the existence of a story behind them. in the fourth dynasty the king s role was redefined as be

took part in the reenactment of mythical events, such as the coronation of the god horus (see figure 3).24 more is known about the religious life of the government officials and their families who formed the elite of egyptian society. in their decorated tombs, no- 12 handbook of egyptian mythology marchs could be shown presiding over religious festivals and venerating sacred objects. other modes of religious activity and belief could be presented in encoded ways.25 short hymns to deities, of the type that might have been sung at festivals, start to be written on tomb walls or funerary stelae. the coffins in elite burials of this period were sometimes painted with texts and scenes that formed part of the second of the major collections of funerary literature: the coffin texts (ct. the coff

a multicultural society and that they needed the support of influential egyptians. as a symbol of cultural fusion, the ptolemies established the cult of a new god, serapis, who combined features of the egyptian deities apis and osiris with aspects of greek deities such as zeus and dionysus. many of the ptolemies were crowned in the temple of ptah at memphis, and they often contributed to the cost of religious ceremonies in the ancient capital. ptolemaic kings and queens were happy to identify themselves with egyptian deities and to rule in their names. they encouraged the egyptians to worship them as divine rulers. the memphis decree of king ptolemy v (205 180 bce) ordered the setting up of egyptian-style statues of ptolemy who has preserved egypt in every temple. in the decree, ptolemy re

often utilize egyptian deities in their traditional mythical roles for dubious purposes. so, for example, the myth of the rape of the goddess tefnut is invoked in a spell to separate a woman from her husband. the spells in greek are populated by figures borrowed from egyptian, greek, and roman myth and aramaic and jewish religion. egypt was a cosmopolitan country, and the roman period was an age of religious synthesis. this is also apparent in the greek texts known as the hermetica.108 like the book of thoth, hermetic texts were usually in the form of a dialogue between a disciple and a deity or a revered sage. the deity is most commonly hermes, the greek god identified with thoth. some hermetica feature isis or asclepius, the greek god of medicine identified with the deified egyptian sag

ptian texts. it includes a valuable summary of the ideas of the leading german-language writers on egyptian myth. r. t. rundle clarke. myth and symbol in ancient egypt. london: thames and hudson, 1959. this book is primarily about developments in the mythology of osiris from the old kingdom through to the end of the new kingdom. there are summaries of some other important myths and a useful chart of religious symbols. egyptian myth: annotated print and nonprint resources 217 h. frankfort. ancient egyptian religion. new york: columbia university press, 1948. a short book that is still worth reading. in the section change and permanence in literature and art, frankfort argues that the coherent myths preserved in writing belong to the repertoire of popular storytellers. george hart. a diction

HEAVEN HELL

gdom in the other world over which he reigned. the beliefs connected with the cult of osiris developed naturally p. ix out of the beliefs of the predynastic egyptians, who, we have every reason to think, dealt largely in magic both "black" and "white" many of the superstitions, and most of the fantastic and half-savage ideas about the gods and supernatural powers enshrined in the great collection of religious texts called per-em-hru, were inherited by the dynastic egyptians from some of the oldest dwellers in the nile valley. those who died in the faith of osiris believed in the efficacy of the book per-em-hru, and were content to employ it as a "guide" to a heaven which was full of material delights; the number of those who were "followers" of osiris was very large under every dynasty in

peace and prosperity. the innate conservatism of the egyptians made them cling to their ancient beliefs during this period of stress, but p. 7 no important pyramids were built, and very few private funeral chapels were maintained at expensive rates, and the souls of the dead were committed to such protection as could be obtained by the prayers of their relatives and friends, and by the utterance of religious formulae, and by inexpensive amulets. with the rise to power of the princes of thebes, things took a turn for the better so far as worship in the temples and the care for the dead were concerned. so soon as they had overcome their enemies the princes of herakleopolis, and their confederates the princes of asyut, and had firmly established themselves on the throne of egypt, they sent m

ffect were usually cut into the walls of the chambers wherein their stone sarcophagi were placed. the pyramids of the kings of the xith and xiith dynasties, whether in the north or south of egypt, are not, so far as the information at present available goes, characterized by lengthy extracts from books of the dead, and officials and men of rank in general were content to dispense with the cutting of religious p. 15 inscriptions into the sides of stone sarcophagi, and into the walls of the passages and chambers of their tombs in the mountains, and to transfer them to the sides of their brightly painted, rectangular wooden coffins. the practical advantages of this change are obvious. wooden coffins were easier to obtain and cheaper than stone sarcophagi, longer and fuller selections from rel

found it impossible to eliminate from the minds of the people the effect which the traditions of a material heaven, handed down for untold generations, had made upon. them. among the servants of amen and his temple, however, there were some who preferred to put their faith in the religious writings which had satisfied their ancestors many centuries before, and to these we owe the great collection of religious and funeral texts called per em hru"[the book of] coming forth by day" which is now commonly known as the theban recension of the book of the dead. it is true that the subject matter of many of the texts is older than the ivth dynasty, and that the phraseology of some dates from the period of the vth and vith dynasties, and that the forms in which most of them are cast are not more re

bodies cut in pieces, and their souls destroyed. in many particulars the views of the book of gates concerning the future state agree closely with those of the book of coming forth by day. the net result of the facts stated in the last two paragraphs proves that seti i. relied for salvation upon the protection, part magical and part religious, afforded by the sacred writings of two great schools of religious thought, the leaders of which in his day preached opposing and contradictory doctrines. it may be argued that by filling the walls of his tomb and sarcophagus with the texts of such books he was merely acting from the point of view of religious expediency, wishing to indicate his impartiality in respect of the followers of amen and the followers of osiris, and his respect for the anci

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

hist, and his memory will live forever in our annals. in our sight this poor belgian priest stands immeasurably higher than-for instance-all those sincere but vain-glorious fools, the missionaries who have sacrificed their lives in the south sea islands or china. what good have they done? they went in one case to those who are not yet ripe for any truth; and in the other to a nation whose systems of religious philosophy are as grand as any, if only the men who have them would live up to the standard of confucius and their other sages. and they died victims of irresponsible cannibals and savages, and of popular fanaticism and hatred. whereas, by going to the slums of whitechapel or some other such locality of those that stagnate right under the blazing sun of our civilization, full of chris

gebirol was certainly one of the greatest philosophers and scholars of his age. he wrote much in arabic, and most of his manuscript have been preserved. his greatest work appears to be the meg r hayyim, i.e, the fountain of life "one of the earliest exposures of the secrets of the speculative cabala" as his biographer informs us. gnosis (gr) lit "knowledge" the technical term used by the schools of religious philosophy, both before and during the first centuries of so-called christianity, to denote the object of their enquiry. this spiritual and sacred knowledge, the gupta-vidya of the hindus, could only be obtained by initiation into spiritual mysteries of which the ceremonial "mysteries" were a type. gnostics (gr) the philosophers who formulated and taught the "gnosis" or knowledge. the

religion. yoga (sans) a school of philosophy founded by pata jali, but which existed as a distinct teaching and system of life long before that sage. it is yaj avalkya, a famous and very ancient sage, to whom the white yajur-veda, the satapatha-brahmana and the brihak-aranyaka are attributed and who lived in pre-mahabharatean times, who is credited with inculcating the necessity and positive duty of religious meditation and retirement into the forests, and who, therefore, is believed to have originated the yoga doctrine. professor max m ller states that it is yaj avalkya who prepared the world for the preaching of buddha. pata jali's yoga, however, is more definite and precise as a philosophy, and embodies more of the occult sciences than any of the works attributed to yaj avalkya. yogi or

HUEBNER LOUISE WITCHCRAFT FOR ALL WICCA 04

concept that words are symbols of your ideas and thus have a magical quality. we use words to place what is happening in our minds with another person's mind. some of the older religions still believe that the symbolism of letters is powerful, too. during world war ii the jews in syria had every reason to believe they were about to be invaded by the germans. they called up their cabalists (a body of religious scholars) who spent an evening in meditation. the cabalists discovered they could manipulate the letters in "syria" and by reversing them, spell "russia. after chanting this reversal over and over, they appeared in the plaza and told the assembled crowd to have no fear, the germans were going to invade russia, not syria. the germans did indeed turn to russia, but whether or not the ca

IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY

d exhortation, which encouraged the man to defy satan and all his works. the upshot of the matter was, that he became very charitable to the poor, and seems to have entirely renounced his intemperate habits. 1 rejecting the supernatural element in the above as being merely the fruits of a diseased mind, there is no reason to doubt the truth of the story. mr. blair also met with some strange cases of religious hysteria, which became manifest in outbursts of weeping and bodily convulsions, but which he attributed to the devils "playing the ape, and counterfeiting the works of the lord" he states that one sunday, in the midst of public worship, p. 93 "one of my charge, being a dull and ignorant person, made a noise and stretching of her body. incontinent i was assisted to rebuke that lying sp

nd cryed out 'for christ's sake, take the devil out of the room' and being asked, said the third woman, for she was the woman that did torment her" yet jane miller does not seem to have been arrested. in one of the earliest of the depositions, that sworn by james hill on the 5th of march, we find an extraordinary incident recorded, which seems to show that at least one of the accused was a victim of religious mania. he states that on the 1st of march "he being in the house of william sellar of island magee, one mary twmain (sic) came to the said house and called out janet liston to speak to p. 213 her, and that after the said janet came in again she fell a-trembling, and told this deponent that the said mary had been desiring her to go to mr. haltridge's to see mary dunbar, but she declare

ISIS UNVEILED

4 isis untbiled well in thus making a timely assertion of independence; for if it be not done 800q, it will soon be too late to be done well' when a mate- rialistic doctrine is repudiated so strongly by two such materialists as huxley and maudsley, then we must thhik indeed that it is absurdity itself. among christians there is nothing but dissenidon. their various churches represent every degree of religious belief, from the omnivorous credulity of blind faith to a condescending and high-toned deference to the deity which thinly masks an evident conviction of their own deific wisdom. all these sects believe more or less in the immortality of the soul. some admit the intercourse between the two worlds as a fact; some entertain the opinion as a sentiment; some positively deny it; and only a

he christians were outdoing the pagans in every kind of ferocity and religious intolerance. and if we look still farther back, and seek for examples of true chrimtum, in ages when buddhism had hardly superseded brfthmanism in india, and the name of jesus was only to he pronounced three centuries later, what do we find? which of the holy pillars of the church has ever elevated himself to the level of religious tolerance and noble simplicity of character of some of the heathen? compare for instance the hindfi a^ka, who lived 300 b. c, and the carthaginian st. augustine, who flourished three centuries after christ. according to max muller, this is what is found engraved on the rocks of gimar, dhauli, and kapurdigiri "poradasi, the king beloved of the gods, desires that the ascetics^ all creed

the same apprehension of the possible necessity of 197. initiate* uid leen. 199. t\t btatkm rtligwa. digitizecoy google ji7stin martyr's confession about thetjrgic amulets 07 having to modify some of their erroneoiuly-establiahed theories of sci- ence "nothing but such pitiable prejudice" says gross "can have thus misrepresented the theology of heathenism, and distorted nay, caricatured its forms of religious worship. it is time that posterity should raise its voice in vindication of violated truth, and that the present age should learn a little of that common sense of which it boasts with as much self-complacency as if the prerogative of reason was the birthright only of modem times" all this gives a sure clew to the real cause of the hatred felt by the early and medieval christian toward

nd most awful of all the mysteries. there are writers who have often wondered at the meaning of this claim to a "friendship and interior communion with god" christian authors have denied the pretensions of the 'pagans' to such 'com- munion' affirming that only christian saints were and aie capable of enjoying it; materialistic skeptics have altogether scoffed at the ideas ot both. after long ages of religious materialism and spiritual stagna- tion, it has most certainly become difficult if not altogether impossible to substantiate the claims of either party, llie old greeks, who had 205. mj/ileria rf the eggpfioti, chakbuaiu, and auyriant, ch. zi. 206. dtniu legatum c^ motet iemonttrom, tie, ii. p. 172. 207. on at theol. of plato, p. 200 (taylor'i edit: london. 1816. 208. this eipreanon mu

t the nazaraeans have no other sacred literature, no other literary relics than four doctrinal works and that curious volume full of astrology and magic which they are bound to peruse at the sunset hour on every sol's day (sunday. tills search after truth leads us, indeed, into devious ways. many are the obstades that ecclesiastical cunning has placed in the way of our find- ing the primal source of religious ideas. christianity is on trial, and has been, ever since science felt strong enough to act as public prosecutor. a portion of the case we are drafting in this book. what of truth is there in this theology? tbrou^ what sects has it been transmitted? whciux vxu it primarily derisedf to answer, we must trace the history of the world religion, alike throu^ the aearet christian sects as t

hose of other great religious subdivisions of the race; for the secret dodrwu it the trvih, and that religion is nearest divine that has contained it with least adulteration. our search takes us hither and thither, but never aimlessly do we bring secia widely separated in chronological order into critical juxta- position. there is one purpose in our work to be kept constantly in view the analysis of religious beliefs, and the definition of their descent from the post to the present. what has most blocked the way is roman catfaoudsm; and not until the secret principles of this religion are uncovered can we comprehend the iron staff upon which it leans to steady its now tottering steps. we shall begin with the ophites, nazaraeans, and the modem druzes. the personal views of the author, as th

cceeding ages^ it is from these descendants that the sufis, chiefly composed of persians and syrians, acquired their profound know- ledge of astrology, medicine, and the esoteric doctrine of the ages "the sufi doctrine" says c. w. king "involved the grand idea of one uni- versal creed which could be secretly held under any profession of an oul> ward faith; and in fact took virtually the same view of religious systems as that in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such matters* the mysterious druzes of moimt lebanon are the descendants of all these. solitary copts, earnest students scattered hither and thither throughout the sandy sohtudes of egypt, arabia petraea, palestine, and the impenetrable forests of abyssinia, though rarely met with, may some- times be seen. many and various

dated, how- erer much gueu-work may have been expended on them. 792. the onoitict and tiuir aflnoiiu, p. 415; 2dd ed. digitizecoy google the herhetic brothers of egyft 307 the disciples of that mysterious school, and many the side-shoots of that one primitive stock. the secrecy preserved by th^e sub-lodges, as well as by the one and supreme great lodge, has ever been proportionate to the activity of religious persecutions; and now, in the face of the growing materialism, their very existence is becoming a mystery* but it must not be inferred, on that account, that such a, mysterious brotherhood is hut a fiction, not even a naitie, though it remaioa unknown to this day. whether its affiliates are called by an egyptian, hindfl, or fersian name, it matters not. persons belonging to one of the

truction in science, moral philosophy and relif^on. if we may believe those who at the present time profess to belong to it, the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life, the art of imdsibilily, and the power of conununication directly with the ultramundane life, are parts of the inheritance they possess. the writer has met with only three per- sons who maintained the actual existence of this body of religious philo- sophers, and who hinted that they themselves were actually members. ilere was no reason to doubt the good faith of these individuals apparently unknown to each other, and men of moderate competence, blameless lives, austere manners, and almost ascetic in their habits. 793. thcae are trutlu whiob cannot fail to iniotcai tbemadtea upon the minda of carneit thinkaa. wliile the ebi

anti-libanus. they were the work of an apos- tate dervish^ who was expelled from the sect hanafi for improper con- duct the embezzlement of the money of widows and orphans, llie expoai de la rdigian dea druxes, in two volumes, by silvestre de sacy (1838, is another network of hypotheses. a copy of this work was to be found, in 1870, on the window-sill of one of their principal holowsa, or places of religious meeting. to the inquisitive question of an english traveler as to their rites, the oldud^ a venerable old man who spoke english as well as french, opened the volume of de sacy, and, offering it to his interlocutor, remarked, with a benevolent smile "read this instructive and truthful book; i could explain to you neither better nor more correctly the secrets of god and our blessed 'ham

ns, almost naked, with fierce looks" that ludan describes as paul's fouowers* we should hesitate to believe such an infamous story. how much less probable then that men who were platonisls as well as christians should have ever been guilty of such preposterous rites. payne knight seems never to suspect the testimony of epiphanius. he argues that "if we make allowance for the willing exaggerations of religious hatred, and consequent popular prejudice, the general convic- tion that these sectarians had rites and practices of a licentious character appears too strong to be entirely disregarded^ if he draws an honest line of demarcation between the gnostics of the first three centuries and those medieval sects whose doctrines "rather closely resembled modem communism" we have nothing to say. o

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

se renown has filled, and whose mystical doctrines (assumed or supposed, have puzzled the ages; in the intenser degree, still, in the present time; as the inquisitive reception of the authors first edition of the rosicrucians abundantly proved. dr. ginsburg says of the cabala, or kabbalah (regarding the mysteries of which the rosicrucians claimed to be the only true exponents, that it is a system of religious philosophy, or more properly of theosophy, which has not only exercised, for hundreds of years, an extraordinary influence on the mental development of so shrewd a people as the jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the greatest t viii preface thinkers of christendom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. it and all that refers to it therefore claims the greatest attentio

in interior light, which assume form, not according to arbitrary laws, but according to the state of mind. this interior light, if we understand plato, unites with exterior light in the eye, and is thus drawn into a sensual or imaginative activity; but when the outward light is separated, it reposes in its own serene atmosphere. it is, then, in this state of interior repose, that the usual class of religious, or what are called inspired, visions occur. it is the same light of eternity so frequently alluded to in books that treat of mysterious subjects; the light revealed to pimander, zoroaster, and all the sages of the east, as the emanation of the spiritual sun. bohmen writes of it in his divine vision or contemplation, and molinos in his spiritual guide, whose work is the ground of quie

ontifex, or pontifex maximns (the great, or the highest, bridge-maker, or builder, elicited in direct translation from the two latin words pons and facio in the earliest pre-christian theologies, and become pontiff in the roman and the christian sense pontiff from pontifex? it is surely this meaning that of fabricator or maker of the bridge between things sensible and things spiritual, the nature of religious rites. 119 between body and spirit, between this world and the next world, between the spiritualising thither and the substantiating hither, trans being the transit. the whole word, if not the whole meaning, may be accepted in this roman- catholic sense of transubstantiation, or the making of miracle. never idolatry but idea, recognising and acknowledging. persian talisman. chapter th

and therefore, also, of the horse-shoe curves of the arabian arches, and the hooked curves of all gothic architectural reproduction, whether in arches or otherwise. chapter the thirtieth. rosicrucianism origin of the order of the garter. he natural horns of the bull or the cow both which animals were deified by the egyptians, and also by the indians, who particularly elected the cow as the object of religious honour were the models from which originally all the volves and volutes, presenting the figure of curved horns, or the significant suggestion of thethin horns of the crescent or growing moon, were obtained. the representative horns figures largely afterwards in all architecture, and were copied as an important architectural expression of the second operative power of nature. the egypt

ets will, on examination, present the same suspicious undulation. these letters have an intimate refluent connection with all the signs which mean the sea, the great deep, matter in the abstract, or the personified receptive feminine principle, which eventually is to be the conqueror of the dragon or enemy. we thus desire to show the unity of the myths and the forms made use of for the expression of religious ideas in the glory of woman. woman, in fact, is the maker of nature; as we know nature. we wish the reader particularly to take notice that the above singular notions are in no way shared by us, further than as occurring in our account of some of the strange reveries of the illuminati or gnostics; due, therefore, in our comments. i will put enmity between thee and the woman, and betwe

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

ther on halevi, see israel efros, some aspects of yehudah halevi s mysticism and some textual notes on yehudah halevi s kuzari, in studies in medieval jewish philosophy (mentioned above) yochanan silman, philosopher and prophet: judah halevi, the kuzari, and the evolution of his thought (albany: state university of new york press, 1995) diane lobel, between mysticism and philosophy: sufi language of religious experience in judah ha-levi s kuzari (state university of new york press, 2000. chapter 4 (titled the sefer yetzira) of joseph dan s unique cherub circle (t bingen: mohr siebeck, 1999, begins the literature of the unique cherub circle is devoted, almost exclusively, to the interpretation of sefer yetzira. although we do not understand the main aspects of the circle s pseudepigraphical

KASAK VEEDE UNDERSTANDING PLANETS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

orm1 tablets of sumerian period give us very interesting material but unfortunately no astronomical or astrological texts. though some texts have been thought to originate from former periods, they have been only found in later copies, making dating extremely difficult. the oldest existing texts about stars, one astrological and one astronomical, both come from the old babylonian period. analysis of religious texts has led some scientists to suppose semitic or even west-semitic origin for the concept connecting stars and earthly phenomena, because akkadians (the term is hereby used to denote linguistically close semitic peoples. babylonians, assyrians and their predecessors) take a much more personal approach to gods than sumerians. on the other hand, the akkadian use of sumerian names of

LAITMAN M KABBALAH ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

to be rid of our egos, the source of all suffering, or ask for spiritual qualities, even without knowing what they are prior to receiving them, the creator will award us the gift we desire. if kabbalah centers only on the spiritual work that takes place in our minds and hearts, asserting that our spiritual progress depends solely on these factors, then what is the relation between our observance of religious rituals and the goal of creation? since all the commandments of the bible are actually descriptions of a kabbalist s spiritual actions when in the higher realms, then by observing them physically in our world even though it has no impact on the spiritual worlds we are physically carrying out the will of the creator. undoubtedly, the creator s desire is to spiritually elevate his creat

LAITMAN M THE KABBALAH EXPERIENCE

rform the same mechanical mitzvot as an ordinary believer would. these two are not connected. you can ask great experts in mitzvot, great ravs, and they will tell you that they don t know kabbalah. you don t have to know kabbalah in order to keep mitzvot. t h e k a b b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 62 t wo s e t s o f ru l e s q: judaism or kabbalah? that is the question! a: judaism is a collection of religious rules that dictate how to conduct ourselves in our world. other than what we must know, such as how to provide for our livelihood, how to behave, dress, or how to raise a family, kabbalah teaches something more. the kabbalah tells what we must do besides providing for the natural needs on the corporeal-human level. a person must observe 613 laws. why? there is no rational answer. thes

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

cessions were masses of splendid, glowing colour, the priests wearing vestments of crimson and a gorgeous blue supposed to represent the blue of the sky, and many other brilliant colours also. the life of ancient egypt, as indeed of modern egypt, centred round the river nile, slow-flowing and majestic, and richly decorated barges were used for all purposes of transit, and also for the celebration of religious festivals. on these the priests were arranged in certain symbolical figures, standing or sitting; and all wore the colours appropriate to the particular aspect of the deity which they symbolized. 47. not only were solemn sacrifices offered to the gods upon these barges at altars wonderfully adorned with flowers and precious embroideries, sometimes built up by stages to a hundred feet

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

xtreme antiquity of rose-croix as of craft and arch signs and symbols, and the same may be said of the signs of many other degrees as well. it is quite clear from the researches of anthropologists that, whatever may be the precise links in the chain of descent, we in masonry are the inheritors of a very ancient tradition, which has for countless ages been associated with the most sacred mysteries of religious worship. 17. the mystical school 18. a third school of masonic thought, which we may call the mystical, approaches the mysteries of the craft from another standpoint altogether, seeing in them a plan of man s spiritual awakening and inner development. thinkers of this school, on the record of their own spiritual experiences, declare that the degrees of the order are symbolical of cert

ivine possession, aptly symbolize her dominion of earth, air and sea. the triple group of sacral horns further emphasize the threefold aspect of the cult, which also explains the triple basin of the libation table. so, too, we see the pillar shrines of the goddess, like that of the knossian wall-painting, regularly divided into three compartments. 259. both the votive tablet and the ring are full of religious meaning and masonic symbolism, and well repay close study. they incidentally show how far the minoan worship spread from crete to the mainland. similarly the introduction of the masonic square as a decorative pattern on a vase found in aphidna on the mainland of greece is of interest as showing that with the spread of minoan culture to the mycenaean settlements the symbols of the mino

LEFT HAND PATH AND RIGHT HAND PATH

vidual, and right-hand path, since it regards good deeds as the means by which enlightenment may be attained. criticism the existence of the dichotomy between the left-hand path and the right-hand path is not generally accepted by scholars of religion. critics of the dichotomy argue that it is derived from a rather limited subset of the world's religions and that it fails to encompass the variety of religious beliefs and practices found throughout the world, and that the terms are too loosely defined to be of much use in formal study and too loaded with pejorative connatations to be useful in ordinary discourse between people holding different religious views. defenders of the dichotomy reply that the terms may still be useful when it comes to examining the effect that different religions

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

onses to his brother s good creations. thus, for example, when ahura mazda created life, ahriman responded by creating death. ahriman also formed an infernal host as an inverted mirror image of the celestial host. for instance, in opposition to asha, the archangel of truth, he created the archdemon druj, the lie. see also demons; satan; zoroastrianism for further reading: eliade,mircea. a history of religious ideas. vol. 1. chicago: university of chicago press, 1978. noss, john b.man s religions. 1956. 4th ed. new york:macmillan, 1969. all dogs go to heaven charlie, this 1989 film s animated canine protagonist, gets killed by a big bad dog. after spending a short time in heaven, charlie becomes bored, and wants excitement and challenges again. he also wants to get even. he is warned that i

into chick publications. http//home.flash.net/ twinkle/psycho/dark/chick. a chick parody site containing, at the time of this writing, almost two dozen chick-related links mostly other parodies. http//members.aol.com/monsterwax/chick.html. a useful compendium of and commentary on chick tracts, including ones that have gone out of circulation. childrearing, satanic although the original perception of religious satanism by outside observers was that it was a mono-generational phenomenon that most participants would drift in and out of, it is now clear that it has taken root and is being passed down from parents to children. satanists have thus had to seriously consider what it means to rear their offspring as satanists, despite the fact that, as one satanist mother noted, the whole idea of r

e same as this evil demiurge. pointing to the discrepancy between the jealous, vengeful god of the old testament and the teachings of the gentle jesus, these gnostics asserted that jesus was a teacher sent from the pleroma to guide us back to our true home, and that the father to which he referred was different from yahweh. see also archon; gnosticism for further reading: eliade,mircea. a history of religious ideas. vol. 1. chicago: university of chicago press, 1978. robinson, james m. the nag hammadi library. 1977. new york: harper& row, 1981. demons the belief that malicious entities lie behind natural disasters and other unpleasant aspects of human life is very old and is still prevalent in many traditional societies. especially before the development of scientific discoveries that prof

f a satanic being. liberal christianity is a different story. as a baptist periodical noted, religious liberals do not believe in the literal reality and actual personality of satan. the devil or satan is not at all a real person, but only an impersonal evil force present and operating in the world( does satan really exist? 1993. the unnamed author of this piece goes on to assert that, any system of religious belief that denies the literal reality and actual personality of satan is radically unchristian and unbiblical in demons 67 nature and clearly under the dominion of the very devil whom it denies. this article estimates that 75 percent of american ministers held this nonrealistic view of the prince of darkness, implying that most christian churches are unchristian. the difference betwe

into hell to rescue the damned and to demonstrate his victory over the reign of evil. in medieval culture, the first part of the divina commedia, the inferno, describes dante s descent to hell under the guidance of the latin poet virgil. see also dante alighieri; underworld; virgil for further reading: eliade,mircea, ed. encyclopedia of religion. new york:macmillan, 1987. eliade,mircea. a history of religious ideas. vol. 1. chicago: university of chicago press, 1978. turner, alice k. the history of hell. new york: harcourt brace& co, 1993. the devil and daniel webster in this 1936 short story by stephen vincent benet, an impoverished farmer from new hampshire, devil s advocate 69 jabez stone, sells his soul to the devil in exchange for seven years of prosperity. however, when the time come

he asuras became demons in hinduism. this confusion is reflected in modern english, in which the term divinity and the term devil derive from the same root word, deva or daeva. see also asuras; hinduism; zoroastrianism for further reading: cohn, norman. cosmos, chaos and the world to come: the ancient roots of apocalyptic faith. new haven, ct: yale university press, 1993. eliade,mircea. a history of religious ideas. vol. 1. chicago: university of chicago press, 1978. noss, john b.man s religions. 1956. 4th ed. new york:macmillan, 1969. the infernal chapel the infernal chapel was founded in june of the year 2000 for the spreading of left-hand path philosophy in the southern california area. the infernal chapel is located in orange county california and was founded by reverend haile, d.d, th

of asmodeus. from the book of delight western notions of hell, satan, and demons represent a synthesis of influences from different cultural traditions. the two most significant sources for this diabolical mythology are judaism and zoroastrianism, though it should be noted that even the zoroastrian influence was mediated to christianity by judaism. judaism s history exhibits many different layers of religious development, some of which are reflected in hebrew scriptures (the christian old testament. as many scholars have pointed out, there are often ambiguities with respect to notions about demons and the demonic in early jewish scriptures. in particular, it is sometimes difficult to tell when terms associated with demonic entities are being used literally, figuratively, or some combinatio

ch was developed in france by allan kardec, emphasized the invocation of spirit guides who could help with the healing of diseases that originated out of a spiritual need. in more recent times, especially in the occult/metaphysical/new age subculture, mediums have been redesignated as channels, who focus on delivering metaphysical information rather than messages from the dead. there are a number of religious movements that are based on the authority of channeled messages. most conservative christians would view all such mediumship and channeling as a form of demonic possession. typically, fundamentalist christians who are not charismatic also view pentecostal phenomena as demonic. the societies in the areas around ancient israel were ardent believers in possession and regularly practiced

al judgement, a separate organization descended from the process, was founded in 1979 primarily as a secular community action group. these successor groups distanced themselves from the satanic aspects of robert de grimston s legacy. for further reading: bainbridge,william sims. satan s power. berkeley: university of california press, 1978. the process church of the final judgement. the sociology of religious movements. new york: routledge, 1997. satan s process. the satanism scare. ed. james t. richardson and david bromley. new york: aldine de gruyter, 1991. melton, j. gordon. process church of the final judgement the encyclopedia of american religions. detroit: gale research, 1996. procter and gamble in the early 1980s, at around the same time the satanic ritual abuse scare was getting o

ch craze gets underway in salem now danvers massachusetts. during the course of the witchcraft trials, 141 people were arrested as suspects, 19 were hanged, and one was pressed to death. 1717 formal beginning of freemasonry, when four lodges met in london and established the grand lodge, in order to restore masonry. freemasonry influenced the rituals of ceremonial magic, and, in turn, the rituals of religious satanism. 1810 birth of alphonse-louis constant( eliphas levi, 1810 1875, a french occultist and writer who is a major link in the chain that led to modern magical practices. 1821 birth of charles baudelaire (1821 1867) a french poet who wrote about alienation and evil. one of baudelaire s most important satanic pieces is his litanies of satan, which was repeated in the rituals of the

orary satanism is, for the most part, a decentralized movement. in the past, this movement has been propagated through the medium of certain popular books, especially anton lavey s satanic bible. in more recent years, the internet has come to play a significant role in reaching potential converts, particularly among disaffected young people. does this phenomenon, however, exhaust the significance of religious satanism? are most satanists, in other words, just angry teenagers who adopt diabolical trappings to express their alienation, only to renounce the prince of darkness as soon as they mature into adults? while many youthful satanists undoubtedly fit this profile, i came to feel that this was, at best, only a partial picture. instead, i reasoned, there must be a core of committed satani

LIBER E

ead. h grituel et dogme de la haute magie. h gthe book of the sacred magic of abramelin the mage. h gthe goetia. h gthe hathayoga pradipika. h erdmann's ghistory of philosophy. h gthe spiritual guide of molinos. h gthe star in the west h (captain fuller. gthe dhammapada [s.b.e. series, oxford university press. gthe questions of king milinda h [s.b.e. series. g777. vel prolegomena &c. h gvarieties of religious experience h (james. gkabbala denudata. h gkonx om pax. h 3. careful study of these books will enable the pupil to speak in the language of his master and facilitate communication with him. 4. the pupil should endeavour to discover the fundamental harmony of these very varied works; for this purpose he will find it best to study the most extreme divergences side by side. 5. he may at

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

.d.s, o.m, and another, the authority of the triad, who in turn have delegated it unto others, and they yet again, so that the body of initiates may be perfect, even from the crown unto the kingdom and beyond. 32. for perfection abideth not in the pinnacles, or in the foundations, but in the ordered harmony of one with armthe sword of song [liber lxvii] first published society for the propagation of religious truth .benares [i.e. boleskine, foyers, inverness] 1904 e.v. reprinted in vol ii. of crowley.s collected works society for the propagation of religious truth 1906 e.v. this electronic edition (layout &c. based on the collected works printing) first hastily prepared by frater t.s. for sunwheel oasis, o.t.o. 2001 e.v. re-proofed and corrected edition issued by celepha s press august 200

ake, awake, o sword of song! my strength this agony of the age win through; my music charm the old sorrow of years: my warfare wage by iron to an age of gold. the world is old, and i am strong. awake, awake, o sword of song* the name of siegfried.s sword. introduction to .ascension day and pentecost. not a word to introduce my introduction! let me instantly launch the boat of discourse on the sea of religious speculation, in danger of the rocks of authority and the quicksands of private interpretation, scylla and charybdis. here is the strait; what god shall save us from shipwreck? if we choose to understand the christian (or any other) religion literally, we are at once overwhelmed by its inherent impossibility. our credulity is outraged, our moral sense shocked, the holiest foundations o

than the metric system with the great pyramid. but see piazzi smyth. henry morley has even the audacity to claim shelley.shelley!.as a christian .in spirit. talking of shelley:.with regard to my open denial of the personal christian god, may it not be laid to my charge that i have dared to voice in bald language what shelley* as represented by his encylop dia article; not in such works as .limits of religious thought..a.c. an astronomer whose brain gave way. he prophesied the end of the world in 1881, from measurements made in the great pyramid. iv the sword of song sang in words of surpassing beauty: for of course the thought in one or two passages of this poem is practically identical with that in certain parts of .queen mab. and .prometheus unbound. but the very beauty of these poems (e

l impasse. practical advice. advice to poet.s fat friend. pentecost 25 still you.re young yet, scarce forty.we.ll hope at three score you.ll be more of a singer, and less of a whore. each to his trade! live out your life! fondle your child, and buss your wife! trust not, fear not, street straight and strong! don.t worry, but just get along. i used to envy all my balti coolies21 in an inverse kind of religious hysteria, though every one a perfect fool is, to judge by philosophic criteria, my lord archbishop. the name of winchester, harrow, or eton22 makes them not two inches stir. 125 they know not trinity, merton, or christchurch; they worship, but not at your back-pews-high-priced church. i.ve seen them at twenty thousand feet on the ice, in a snow-storm, at night fall, repeat their praye

s of men had a trying ordeal to pass through. in zola.s .la cur e. we see how such ordinary and natural characters as those of saccard, maxime, and the incestuous heroine, were twisted and distorted from their normal sanity, and sent whirling into the jaws of a hell far more affrayant than the mere cheap and nasty brimstone sheol which is a shibboleth for the dissenter, and with which all classes of religious humbug, from the pope to the salvation ranter, from the mormon and the jesuit to that mongrol mixture of the worst features of both, the plymouth brother, have scared their illiterate, since hypocrisy was born, with abel, and spiritual tyranny with jehovah! society, in the long run, is eminently sane and practical; under the second empire it ran mad. if these things are done in the gr

(2) the diminution of his sensibility to physical charms. pure and sane is his early work; then he is carried into the outer current of the great vortex of sin, and whirls lazilky though the sleepy waters of mere sensualism; the pace quickens, he grows fierce in the mysteries of sapphism and the cult of venus aversa with women; later of the same forms of vice with men, all mingled with wild talk of religious dogma and a general exaltation of priapism at the expense, in particular, of christianity, in which religion, however, he is undoubtedly a believer till the last (the pious will quote james ii. 19, and the infidel will observe that he died in an asylum; then the full swing of the tide catches him, the mysteries of death become more and more an obsession, and he is flung headlong into

templiers. migne, abb .uvres. montalembert. the monks of the west. morley, j. life of mr. gladstone. motley. history of the dutch republic. napier. history of the peninsular war. prescott. history of the conquest of mexico. prescott. history of the conquest of peru. renan. vie de j sus. robertson, e.w. historical essays. rosebery, ld. napoleon. shakespeare. histories. society for the propagation of religious truth. transactions, vols. i- dclxvi. stevenson, r. l. a footnote to history. thornton, ethelred, rev. history of the jesuits waite, a. e. the real history of the rosicrucians. wolseley, ld. marlborough. the above works and many others of less importance were carefully consulted by the author before passing these lines for the press. their substanital accuracy is further guaranteed by

LIBER SAMEKH

and 2 (intro. f.i. regardie. dallas, texas: sangreal, 1969; reprinted york beach, maine: weiser, 1980, 1992, 1998. the sangreal edition has a number of omissions in part ii; the one major one was restored in the first weiser printing, the remainder in the 1998 printing. commentaries on the holy books and other papers. see equinox iv (1. collected works (3 vols. foyers: society for the propagation of religious truth, 1905-1907. reprinted des plaines, illnois: yogi publications society, n.d (1970s. the equinox. crowley was managing editor for all of vol. i and the first five numbers of vol. iii (vol. ii was not published and not intended to be published, it was described as ga volume of silence h, and wrote most of the contents. i (1. london: simpkin marshall, hamilton, kent& co, march 1909

(2 vols; english trans. by a.e. waite as transcendental magic, london: redway, 1896; revised edition london: rider, 1923; various reprints. majercik, ruth (trans/ ed: the chaldaan oracles. leiden: e.j. brill, 1989. mathers, s.l. gmacgregor h and crowley, aleister (eds; mathers f gtranslator h credit is spurious: goetia vel clavicula salamonis regis. foyers, inverness: society for the propagation of religious truth, 1904. facsimile reprint london: equinox, 1976. facsimile reprint including crowley fs holograph annotations and marginal doodles, thame, oxon: first impressions, 1992. re-set reprint with additional editorial material, york beach, maine: samuel weiser, 1995 (ed. by william breeze. preisendanz, karl (ed: papyri graca magica: die griechischen zauberpapyri (2 vols. leipzig: teubne

LINDOW JOHN NORSE MYTHOLOGY A GUIDE TO THE GODS HEROES RITUALS AND BELIEFS

functioned as a commonwealth in which judicial power was in the hands of a group of chieftains, and there was no king or other central authority. these leaders were called go.ar (sing, go.i, and although the sources rarely show much religious activity on their part.and what they do show may not be reliable.the term clearly incorporates the word for ggods. h therefore they must have had some sort of religious function. go.ar had gthingmen, h who owed them allegiance and whom they in turn helped; every free man had to be some go.i fs thing-man. the word gthing h( ing) means assembly, and one of the duties of a go.i and his thing-men was to attend the local assemblies and the national assembly (al ingi) to participate in litigation and, one assumes, to renew friendships and exchange stories

LURQUIN STONE EVOLUTION AND RELIGIOUS CREATION MYTHS

incere tenebras [science will defeat darkness. motto of the free university of brussels (p.f.l. s alma mater) this page intentionally left blank preface america is becoming more and more isolated fromthe rest of the world. this statement is true enough politically and ideologically, with the faulty intelligence used to justify the 2003 war in iraq, now known worldwide, and the increased influence of religious thinking in the conduct of government affairs, starting at the presidential level with george w. bush. there is fear that our nation s separation of church and state is now threatened, considering further that some politicians are using an anti-evolutionary, creationist stance to sway their constituencies. but for a scientist, it is not just politics that is of the essence. for a pers

hem, he fully espouses evolution. to wit, making reference to the famous nineteenthcentury debate between thomas huxley (a friend and defender of darwin) and bishop wilberforce (an acerbic critic of darwin and strong proponent of divine design, dyson wrote: looking back on the battle a century later, we can see that darwin and huxley were right. in other words, god as creator is right as a matter of religious faith, and evolution by natural selection is right as a matter of science. figure 1.1 stellar lifetimes in 72 hypothetical, random universes. stellar lifetimes are expressed in the form of logarithms. on such a scale, a value of zero means a lifetime of just one year. log values of 5, 9, and 10 mean lifetimes of 100,000, 1 billion, and 10 billion years, respectively, and so on. of the

cepts of dharma and moksha. dharma refers to the religious duty to maintain and perfect the world and society. moksha refers to spiritual release from this world, often by renouncing society. there are various ways and means within hinduism to both maintain the world and seek ultimate release from it. contrary to monotheistic judaism, islam, and christianity, polytheistic hinduism has a plurality of religious texts. such books as the rig-veda, the upanishads, and the bhagavad-gita come to mind. likewise, hinduism has more than one myth of creation. one version restricts itself to saying that some sort of substance, prakrit, is at the origin of all that exists in the universe. another version is much more descriptive; it explains how the universe is reborn multiple times in cycles of destru

rating vedic and hindu traditions within the main body of science. this may reflect the enormous power of syncretism in hinduism. as david kinsley put it in his book hinduism: a cultural perspective (1982, hinduism historically has been an incurable collector, incorporating a great diversity of ideas and rarely discarding anything. the result has been hinduism s renowned tolerance for a diversity of religious ideas and practices. yet even in india, there is a small battle between science and creationism: western fundamentalist christian organizations are currently proselytizing there. one of these organizations is the creation science association of india trust, based in west bengal but coordinated by individuals in the united kingdom and in the united states, where donations should be sen

stion has an infinite number of possible answers. for another, ideas about a purpose in nature cannot be objectively tested. ideas about nature s purpose are, however, valid in metaphysical or religious realms that seek spiritual understanding. what is your opinion? 5. faith and beliefs in divinities do not belong in the scientific world. nor do scientific concepts and methods belong in the world of religious faith. why is it that some people want to merge the two, in spite of countless unsuccessful attempts in the past centuries? 6. monotheistic religious fundamentalism seems to be at the root of both creationism and id. thus, these movements do not represent the majority view of the great world religions. 7. of the five major world religions examined in this book, only buddhism and hindu

(recall chapter 2, so named because in this case acquired characteristics are indeed transmitted from parents to children. this type of cultural transmission is called vertical transmission. a good example of vertical transmission is transmission of language, which often takes place mostly between mother and child (think about the expression mother tongue. another good example is the transmission of religious beliefs from parents to their children, which tends to be stable over generations. thus, like gene transmission, vertical cultural transmission is the origins and evolution of homo sapiens 105 conservative and helps explain the stability and persistence of particular cultural formations in the world: changes are slow to come and may take several generations to be implemented. but hori

$4.1 million in gifts and grants. when asked, prominent figures of the discovery institute do not hesitate to proclaim their conservative christian beliefs. one of these individuals is actually a moonie who once wrote, my prayers convincedme that i should devote my life to destroying darwinism (quoted in the new york times, august 21, 2005. in spite of claims that id endorsers come from a variety of religious backgrounds, in reality members of the discovery institute are christian fundamentalists. amusingly, some id defenders have gone so far as to claim that an intelligent designer should not necessarily be construed as a monotheistic divinity: a polytheistic god would also do. but as we described in chapter 1, hinduism, a polytheistic religion par excellence, has so far shown no interest

bottom, with only 25% of adults who think that evolution is a valid theory. the authors of the study (j. d. miller, e. c. scott, and o. okamoto) blame protestant fundamentalism and the politicization of science for the poor showing of the united states. as for turkey, it is likely that islamic fundamentalism is responsible for its score. thus, in both countries, one witnesses the negative impact of religious thinking on science. what, then, can we do to counter creationism? interestingly, eugenie scott of the national center for science education reminds us that the creationist movement is highly factionalized. among several other factions, one distinguishes what we call classical creationists, who believe in a young earth and the full fixity of species. these people reject all scientific

MACNULTY W KIRK KABBALAH AND FREEMASONRY

information about the nature and history of the masonic order. a definition of the order as it exists today is relatively easy: freemasonry is a secular fraternal organization, open only to men, which promulgates the principles of morality and seeks to advance the practice of brotherly love and charitable action among all persons not simply among masons. it is not a religion; but it is a society of religious men in that as it requires its members to believe in the existence of "a supreme being" the name of that being and the form in which it is to be worshipped is entirely the business of the individual mason. masons are obligated on the "volume of sacred law" and each mason takes his obligation on that particular volume of sacred writings which he holds to be sacred. while encouraging ea

ions; and sectarian religious discussion is forbidden at masonic gatherings. while not a religion, the order might be considered to be a "philosophical companion to religion" to my way of thinking that very idea is implicit in this definition, taken from the first lecture: masonry is "a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."1 as might be expected of a society of religious men, the moral and philosophical principles communicated by these symbols are considered to have been derived from the divine source. historical information about freemasonry's origin is much more difficult to provide than a definition. as one historian of thought, francis a. yates, has put it "the origin of freemasonry is one of the most debated, and debatable, subjects in the whole

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

he mundane universe is recognized as her symbol. she represents nature as receptive and terrestrial, and as fruitful only when bathed in the glory of the solar orb. the mithraic cult is a simplification of the more elaborate teachings of zarathustra (zoroaster, the persian fire magician. click to enlarge the ground plan of stonehenge. from maurice's indian antiquities. the druid temples of places of religious worship were not patterned after those of other nations. most of their ceremonies were performed at night, either in thick groves of oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. how these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisfactorily explained. the most famous of their altars, a great stone ring of rocks, is stonehenge, in southwestern england. this structu

e hierophant represents plato's demiurgus, or creator of the world; the torch bearer, the sun; the altar man, the moon; the herald, hermes, or mercury; and the other officials, minor stars. from the records available, a number of strange and apparently supernatural phenomena accompanied the rituals. many initiates claim to have actually seen the living gods themselves. whether this was the result of religious ecstasy or the actual cooperation of invisible powers with the visible priests must remain a mystery. in the metamorphosis, or golden ass, apuleius thus describes what in all probability is his initiation into the eleusinian mysteries "i approached to the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold of proserpine i, returned from it, being carried through all the elements. at m

uits. in support of this viewpoint they describe the "gardens of adonis" which were small baskets of earth in which seeds were planted and nurtured for a period of eight days. when those plants prematurely died for lack of sufficient earth, they were considered emblematic of the murdered adonis and were usually cast into the sea with images of the god. in phrygia there existed a remarkable school of religious philosophy which centered around the life and untimely fate of another savior-god known as atys, or attis, by many considered synonymous with adonis. this deity was born at midnight on the 24th day of december. of his death there are two accounts. in one he was gored to death like adonis; in the other he emasculated himself under a pine tree and there died. his body was taken to a cav

e trait des myst res, served as the entrance to the sacred subterranean chambers in which the trials of the initiate were undergone. this entrance, obstructed in our day by sands and rubbish, may still be traced between the forelegs of the crouched colossus. it was formerly closed by a bronze gate whose secret spring could be operated only by the magi. it was guarded by public respect: and a sort of religious fear maintained its inviolability better than armed protection would have done. in the belly of the sphinx were cut out galleries leading to the subterranean part of the great pyramid. these galleries were so artfully crisscrossed along their course to the pyramid that in setting forth into the passage without a guide through this network, one ceaselessly and inevitably returned to th

was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. the murky water of the nile were believed to account for the blackness of osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue. next: the sun, a universal deity sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 49 the sun, a universal deity the adoration of the sun was one of the earliest and most natural forms of religious expression. complex modern theologies are merely involvements and amplifications of this simple aboriginal belief. the primitive mind, recognizing the beneficent power of the solar orb, adored it as the proxy of the supreme deity. concerning the origin of sun worship, albert pike makes the following concise statement in his morals and dogma "to them [aboriginal peoples] he [the sun] w

an archer in sagittarius. in pisces, the fishes, he was a fish--dagon, or vishnu, the fish-god of the philistines and hindoos" a careful analysis of the religious systems of pagandom uncovers much evidence of the fact that its priests served the solar energy and that their supreme deity was in every case this divine light personified. godfrey higgins, after thirty years of inquiry into the origin of religious beliefs, is of the opinion that "all the gods of antiquity resolved themselves into the solar fire, sometimes itself as god, or sometimes an emblem or shekinah of that higher principle, known by the name of the creative being or god" the egyptian priests in many of their ceremonies wore the skins of lions, which were symbols of the solar orb, owing to the fact that the sun is exalted

bol--the stone. thus the intrinsic nature of saturn is synonymous with that spiritual rock which is the enduring foundation of the solar temple, and has its antitypc or lower octave in that terrestrial rock--the planet earth--which sustains upon its jagged surface the diversified genera of mundane life. although its origin is uncertain, litholatry undoubtedly constitutes one of the earliest forms of religious expression "throughout all the world" writes godfrey higgins "the first object of idolatry seems to have been a plain, unwrought stone, placed in the ground, as an emblem of the generative or procreative powers of nature (see the celtic druids) remnants of stone worship are distributed over the greater part of the earth's surface, a notable example being the menhirs at carnac, in brit

d as winged, sometimes as tiny cherubs and at other times as delicate fairies. next: hermetic pharmacology, chemistry, and therapeutics sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 109 hermetic pharmacology, chemistry, and therapeutics the art of healing was originally one of the secret sciences of the priestcraft, and the mystery of its source is obscured by the same veil which hides the genesis of religious belief. all higher forms of knowledge were originally in the possession of the sacerdotal castes. the temple was the cradle of civilization. the priests, exercising their divine prerogative, made the laws and enforced them; appointed the rulers and controlled than; ministered to the needs of the living, and guided the destinies of the dead. all branches of learning were monopolized by

onal dictionary, 1926) this definite reference to a humanity existing prior to the "creation of man" described in genesis must be evident to the most casual reader of scripture. an examination of bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries discloses the plural form of the word elohim to be beyond the comprehension of their respected authors and editors. the new schaff- herzog encyclopedia of religious knowledge thus sums up the controversy over the plural form of the word elohim "does it now or did it originally signify plurality of divine being" a dictionary of the bible, edited by james hastings, contains the following conclusion, which echoes the sentiments of more critical etymologists of the bible "the use of the plur. elohim is also difficult to explain" dr. havernick conside

s of life, as these mysteries were explained within the temples of isis, osiris, and serapis. there is much controversy concerning the nationality of moses. some assert that he was a jew, adopted and educated by the ruling house of egypt; others hold the opinion that he was a fullblooded egyptian. a few even believe him to be identical with the immortal hermes, for both these illustrious founders of religious systems received tablets from heaven supposedly written by the finger of god. the stories told concerning moses, his discovery in the ark of bulrushes by pharaoh's daughter, his adoption into the royal family of egypt, and his later revolt against egyptian autocracy coincide exactly with certain ceremonies through which the candidates of the egyptian mysteries passed in their ritualis

osition in the service of the god whose voice he heard while meditating in the cavern on mount hira in the month of ramadan. year after year mohammed climbed the rocky and desolate slopes of mount hira (since called jebel nur "the mountain of light) and here in his loneliness cried out to god to reveal anew the pure religion of adam, that spiritual doctrine lost to mankind through the dissensions of religious factions. khadijah, solicitous over her husband's ascetic practices which were impairing his physical health, sometimes accompanied him in his weary vigil, and with womanly intuition sensed the travail of his soul. at last one night in his fortieth year as he lay upon the floor of the cavern, enveloped in his cloak, a great light burst upon him. overcome with a sense of perfect peace

destruction, the zunis, hopis, and navahos ascended to the surface of the earth. the sand painting here reproduced is part of the medicine series prepared far the healing of disease. in the healing ceremony the patient is placed upon the drawing, which is made in a consecrated hogan, and all outsiders excluded. the sacred swastika in the center of the drawing is perhaps the most nearly universal of religious emblems and represents the four corners of the world. the two hunchback god, at the right and left assume their appearance by reason of the great clouds borne upon their backs. in navaho religious art, male divinities are always shown with circular heads and female divinities with square heads. p. 194 patterns of all forms manifesting in the earth plane, the theory of group, or elder

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

s been almost totally overlaid. everything that seems to have an inherent power in it, that triggers the emotions strongly, is pressed into use for the purposes of magic. snippets of folklore, religion, myth, and herbal lore, all are blended together with notorious in difference to mixing of styles and cultures. all that matters is the item's effect on you and your deep mind. while on the subject of religious components "words of power" cabalistic names of god and the like, here is a tip for the wise witch: better results will always be obtained if you happen to subscribe to the religion from which your words of power derive, in the case of the cabala, judaism, or maybe unorthodox christianity. however, always remember, it is only the awe, the shiver of emotional excitement, aroused by the

the average witch as extremely clumsy and, as such, highly unsuitable for performance. not only are they closely bound up with judeo-christianity, but they are also always bogged down with endless preachy pages of invocation, as you will see if you ever consult one, which, far from awakening the deep mind of the operating witch, will generally tend to send it even more securely to sleep. apropos of religious beliefs, the modern witch tends to "reserve judgement" generally; there are those who devote themselves entirely to the fertility cult of habondia and her horned consort. this is by no means universal, however. the gods are there if and when you need them. but more of this in a later chapter. as a witch, you do not necessarily have to worship any complete and permanent hierarchy of su

MEANING OF MASONRY

been written at different times, may be found in later chapters of points already dealt with in previous ones, though the restatement may be advantageous in emphasizi ng those points and maintaining continuity of exposition. for reasons of explained in the chapter itself, that on the holy royal arch will probably prove difficult of comprehension by those unversed in the literature and psychology of religious mysticism; if so, the reading of it may be deferred or neglected. but since a survey of the masonic system would, like the system itself, be incomplete without reference to that supreme degree, and since that degree deals with matters of advanced psychological and spiritual experience about which explanation must always be difficult, the subject has been treated here with as much simp

tions, is intended to furnish those who care to discover its purport and to take advantage of the hints it throws out in allegorical form, with an example and with instructions by which our return to the" east" may be accelerated. it refers to no architecture of a mundane kind, but to the architecture of the soul's life. it is not in itself a religion; but rather a dramatized and intensified form of religious processes inculcated by every religious system in the world. for there is no religion but teaches the lesson of the necessity of bodily purification of our first degree; none but emphasizes that of the second degree, that mental, moral and spiritual developments are essential and will lead to the discovery of a certain secret centre" where truth abides in fulness" and that centre is a

d, the circle of our existence is bounded by two grand parallel lines" one representing moses; the other king solomon" that is to say, law and wisdom; the divine ordinances regulating the universe on the one hand; the divine "wisdom and mercy that follow us all the days of our life" on the other. very truly then the mason who keeps himself thus circumscribed cannot err. masonry, then, is a system of religious philosophy in that it provides us with a doctrine of the universe and of our place in it. it indicates whence we are come and whither we may return. it has two purposes. its first purpose is to show that man has fallen away from a high and holy centre to the circumference or externalized condition in which we now live; to indicate that those who so desire may regain that centre by fin

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

s repre-sented by a solar disc with downward pointing rays. aten was not the sun god, however, for the egyp-tian sun god was ra (p. 189)the first religious intolerancethe israelite concept of a god without an image was already established in egypt before akhenatoncame on the throne. what he did that was so different was to install aten as the sole god of egypt, andthis is the worlds first example of religious intolerance at state level a strict monotheism foisted uponthe people (p. 190).sigmund freudit was this somewhat discordant concept of the one god in egypt that originally inspired the 1930sresearch of sigmund freud, leading him to associate moses with the reign of the pharaoh akhenaton.(p. 190)adonthe name aten was the equivalent of the hebrew adona tile borrowed from the phoenician

lege and in the myster-ies of religion. these the ambitious and unscrupulous caesar hastened to seize with the office of high-priest and the assumption of sacerdotal powers, which, in proportion as they exceeded the attributes ofearthly kings, rivaled those of gods. to this discipline and subordination was added that moral influencewhich the church alone could wield, the influence of blind faith, of religious myths and superstition, therespect for ecclesiastical displeasure, the fear of committing sacrilege, and the dread of excommunica-tion and anathema. these are elements of power and government which no statesman in any age, canafford to despise, and which we may feel assured were not permitted to lie unused by so profound a pol-itician as julius caesar (p. 28)caesar was a master astrol

MORALS AND DOGMA

wisely requires no more than a belief in one great all-powerful deity, the father and preserver of the universe. therefore it is she teaches her votaries that toleration is one of the chief duties of every good mason, a component part of that charity without which we are mere hollow images of true masons, mere sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. no evil hath so afflicted the world as intolerance of religious opinion. the human beings it has slain in various ways, if once and together brought to life, would make a nation of people; left to live and increase, would have doubled the population of the civilized portion of the globe; among which civilized portion it chiefly is that religious wars are waged. the treasure and the human labor thus lost would have made the earth a garden, in which

, or not; whether he has once spoken of religion and god, or not; if there has been the inward purpose, the conscious intent and desire, that sacred justice should triumph, he has that day led a good and _religious_ life, and made a most essential contribution to that religion of life and of society, the cause of equity between man and man, and of truth and right action in the world. books, to be of religious tendency in the masonic sense, need not be books of sermons, of pious exercises, or of prayers. whatever inculcates pure, noble, and patriotic sentiments, or touches the heart with the beauty of virtue, and the excellence of an upright life, accords with the religion of masonry, and is the gospel of literature and art. that gospel is preached from many a book and painting, from many a

nt, therefore, with that which you have seen and heard and await patiently the advent of the greater light [illustration] xxiv. prince of the tabernacle. symbols were the almost universal language of ancient theology. they were the most obvious method of instruction; for, like nature herself, they addressed the understanding through the eye; and the most ancient expressions denoting communication of religious knowledge, signify ocular exhibition. the first teachers of mankind borrowed this method of instruction; and it comprised an endless store of pregnant hieroglyphics. these lessons of the olden time were the riddles of the sphynx, tempting the curious by their quaintness, but involving the personal risk of the adventurous interpreter "the gods themselves" it was said "disclose their in

he great crimes deserving these punishments, contempt for and disregard of the holy mysteries; whose object was to lead men to piety, and thereby to respect for justice and the laws, chief object of their institution, if not the only one, and to which the needs and interest of religion itself were subordinate; since the latter was but a means to lead more surely to the former; for the whole force of religious opinions being in the hands of the legislators to be wielded, they were sure of being better obeyed. the mysteries were not merely simple lustrations and the observation of some arbitrary formulas and ceremonies; nor a means of reminding men of the ancient condition of the race prior to civilization: but they led men to piety by instruction in morals and as to a future life; which at

bull, and descended toward the region of darkness and winter. then, says apuleius, came "one who carried in his bosom an object that rejoiced the heart of the bearer, a venerable effigy of the supreme deity, neither bearing resemblance to man, cattle, bird, beast, or any living creature: an exquisite invention, venerable from the novel originality of the fashioning; a wonderful, ineffable symbol of religious mysteries, to be looked upon in profound silence. such as it was, its figure was that of a small urn of burnished gold, hollowed very artistically, rounded at the bottom, and covered all over the outside with the wonderful hieroglyphics of the egyptians. the spout was not elevated, but extended laterally, projecting like a long rivulet; while on the opposite side was the handle, which

word _bal_ or _baal, like the word _adon, signifies lord and master. he was also the supreme deity of the moabites, amonites, and carthaginians, and of the sabeans in general; the gauls worshipped the sun under the name of belin or belinus: and bela is found among the celtic deities upon the ancient monuments. the northern ancestors of the greeks maintained with hardier habits a more manly style of religious symbolism than the effeminate enthusiasts of the south, and had embodied in their _perseus, hercules and mithras, the consummation of the qualities they esteemed and exercised. almost every nation will be found to have had a mythical being, whose strength or weakness, virtues or defects, more or less nearly describe the sun's career through the seasons. there was a celtic, a teutonic

ove had his share of pain and trial. by vanquishing earthly difficulties he proved his affinity with heaven. his life was a continuous struggle. he fainted before typhon in the desert; and in the commencement of the autumnal season (cum long redit hora noctis, descended under the guidance of minerva to hades. he died; but first applied for initiation to eumolpus, in order to foreshadow that state of religious preparation which should precede the momentous change. even in hades he rescued theseus and removed the stone of ascalaphus, reanimated the bloodless spirits, and dragged into the light of day the monster cerberus, justly reputed invincible because an emblem of time itself; he burst the chains of the grave (for busiris is the grave personified, and triumphant at the close as in the da

aints' day; and the harvest is hallowmass to mankind. before the human race marched down from the slopes of the himalayas to take possession of asia, chaldea, and egypt, men marked each annual crisis, the solstices and the equinoxes, and celebrated religious festivals therein; and even then, and ever since, the material was and has been the element of communion between man and god. nature is full of religious lessons to a thoughtful man. he dissolves the matter of the universe, leaving only its forces; he dissolves away the phenomena of human history, leaving only immortal spirit; he studies the law, the mode of action of these forces and this spirit, which make up the material and the human world, and cannot fail to be filled with reverence, with trust, with boundless love of the infinite

his intellect, his reason, his soul, the bond-slave of his appetites, of his passions, of that which is material and animal, selfish and brutish in his nature. it is not possible to create a true and genuine brotherhood upon any theory of the baseness of human nature: nor by a community of belief in abstract propositions as to the nature of the deity, the number of his persons, or other theorems of religious faith: nor by the establishment of a system of association simply for mutual relief, and by which, in consideration of certain payments regularly made, each becomes entitled to a certain stipend in case of sickness, to attention then, and to the ceremonies of burial after death. there can be no genuine brotherhood without mutual regard, good opinion and esteem, mutual charity, and mut

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

s of nuit. it is the mistake of the vulgar to expect to find satisfaction in the objects of sense. disillusion is inevitable; when it comes, it leads only too often to an error which is in reality more fatal than the former, the denial of 'materiality' and of 'animalism. there is a correspondence between these two attitudes and those of the 'once-born' and 'twice born' of william james (varieties of religious experience. thelemites are 'thrice-born; we accept everything for what it is without lust of result, without insisting upon things conforming with a priori ideals, or regretting their failure to do so. we can therefore 'enjoy all things of sense and rapture' according to their true nature. for example, the average man dreads tuberculosis. the 'christian scientist' flees this fear by p

ted this note in full to give an idea of the several phases through which aleister crowley passed in his personal (in the sense of personality) attempts at commentary on the third chapter of al. it is utter folly to try to interpret these verses in terms of passing things 'parasites of man the jews, for instance, is a phrase that the roman catholic church slyly encouraged throughout ten centuries of religious persecution. a much more enlightened attitude is to be found in his letter to a pupil reproduced as chapter lxxiii of magick without tears "ra-hoor-khu: the name of the god varies according to his manner of manifestation. accordingly. ra-hoor-khut is his manifestation as sender of the current that radiates from boleskine; ra-hoor-khuit is his manifestation as lord of the aeon; ra-hoor

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS E

s ends this charming story, which was a favourite theme with all the classic authors. page 59 it is very possible that the poets who first created this graceful myth merely intended it as an allegory to illustrate the change of seasons; in the course of time, however, a literal meaning became attached to this and similar poetical fancies, and thus the people of greece came to regard as an article of religious belief what, in the first instance, was nothing more than a poetic simile. in the temple erected to demeter at eleusis, the famous eleusinian mysteries were instituted by the goddess herself. it is exceedingly difficult, as in the case of all secret societies, to discover anything with certainty concerning these sacred rites. the most plausible supposition is that the doctrines taught

terwards incorporated with the city of rome. evander is said to have been the first who introduced greek art and civilization into italy, and also the worship of greek divinities. a temple was erected to carmenta on the capitoline hill, and a festival, called the carmentalia, was celebrated in her honour on the 11th of january. page 215 egeria is said to have initiated numa pompilius in the forms of religious worship, which he introduced among his people. she was regarded as the giver of [185]life, and was therefore invoked by women before the birth of their children. the camena are frequently identified by roman writers with the muses. genii. a comforting and assuring belief existed among the romans, that each individual was accompanied through life, from the hour of his birth to that of

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

began his letter like a man completely stupefied at the sight of so much abnegation among his colleagues. he described their manner of living as "a completely new kind of piety that is unknown to all the centuries" piety and fervor do not explain everything, however. these folk migrations and regroupings also implied economic, social, political, and juridical causes and effects. the construction of religious edifices is a phenomenon that cannot be separated from the general context in which it occurs. enthusiastically erected with extraordinary fervor, churches and cathedrals were not merely places of prayer. built to the scale of their respective cities that were constructed and organized around them, people gathered there to argue freely about matters that concerned them. they were hous

gave a charter to the masons. the oldest text attesting to the existence of this document, however, the cooke manuscript* dates back only to* this manuscript takes the name of its first publisher, matthew cooke. secular brotherhoods: the germanic and anglo-saxon guilds 59 the beginning of the fifteenth century. it is doubtful that the craftsman guild was formed in the tenth century. while traces of religious and social guilds are quite ancient, their oldest known statutes those of the guilds of abbotsbury, exeter, and cambridge date back only to the beginning of the eleventh century. these statutes offer an analogy to those described by the judicia "once a year in abbotsbury and three times a year in exeter, the member felows will gather together to worship god and their patron saint. the

nt times to the middle ages communities of builders. the primary question one that has always been subject to controversy is this: did the templars wield any influence over these brotherhoods and communities and, if so, what was the nature of this influence? in this chapter we will examine: 1. the direct influence of the templars on the art of the builders. in this sense they followed the example of religious communities such as the benedictines and cistercians. 2. the influence that the eastern world byzantine and islamic exercised over western civilization at the time of the crusades and the primary role assumed by the templars in this social and cultural influence, including the close ties they developed to byzantine and muslim guilds. 3. the templars' specific involvement in the format

. the bond that tied operatives to the temple was now simply one of a manorial order. in this insecure time, tradesmen flocked to the commanderies, where, in addition to its powerful protection, the temple offered to operatives considerable advantages, including the right of asylum, the right of franchise, and fiscal privileges. the privileges of the temple: asylum and franchise like the majority of religious orders, the templars had the privilege of asylum, meaning that they could protect those individuals who sought refuge in their domains from any legal proceedings against them. one of the oldest legal documents that offers evidence of this is a papal bull from innocent iii dating from 1200 and stating that those who used violence against the colleagues and liegemen of the temple who ha

ially in the censive district of the benedictine abbey saint magloire. the templars and the parisian builders 125 either a spiritual or temporal nature" in 1547 the court of parliament reorganized trinity and delegated five "good bourgeois of the city of paris to administer it."28 cocheris points out the existence in trinity chapel of a confederation of the ascension, which he connects to tailors of religious habits. it may be more likely, however, that this was the seat of a confederation of stonecutters, for the ascension of our lord was depicted on the coat of arms of the association of masons and stonecutters.29 according to a trade legend, it was a stonecutter who unsealed the stone that covered the tomb of jesus and a mason who demolished the rest of it to enable jesus to ascend to h

r craftsmen that were created and nurtured under the aegis of the templars continued to live, with their rites and symbols, traditions and franchises, under the protection of the templars' successors, the hospitallers and the knights of malta, whose religious orthodoxy has never been in doubt. in order to dispel any misunderstanding, it is helpful to emphasize here how the medieval mind conceived of religious orthodoxy. in the middle ages and up until the reformation, though theology was the chief topic of debate, freedom of expression was quite considerable. while not more expansive, the notion of orthodoxy was much more flexible than it is today, for the essential dogmas hadn't varied over time. certain systems that today may appear daring, at least to catholics, were never suspected by

it would be thoughtless to believe that he was displaying his total disdain for the highest authorities of the church. what he wished to express was a basic christian truth: that in christ's judgment, everyone will receive what he or she deserves, whether good or bad. the same could be said of the workers who carved stone* recall that the second council of nicea (787) decided that the composition of religious images should not be left to the artists' initiative but should originate in the principles established by the church and religious tradition "the art alone belongs to the painter, its placing and arrangement belong to the fathers+ it should be noted that these depictions are generally placed outside the church, and on the portal facing west, which is to say, outside and in opposition

of the statutes of the ratisbonne stonecutters from 1458 listed similar prescriptions+ c. enlart, 68 "in the middle ages artistic or industrial property was understood and protected differently from how we envision it. it was not the monopoly of a single model for the benefit of its inventor but the monopoly of a kind of labor for the benefit of a corporation" universal freemasonry 213 struction of religious buildings. spiritual authority and unity were interrelated. this was why builders communities identified with monastic associations. their ecclesiastical quality conferred upon craftsmen the privilege of internationality. the builders, both lay and clerical, who belonged to the benedictine, cistercian, and templar brotherhoods could circulate freely, build, and settle anywhere in the

mple of jerusalem" on reading these privileges, it is difficult to believe, like clavel (who accepts them, that the members of these corporations were opposed to the pope. while we may accept the authenticity of these briefs, the originals of which are missing, it is necessary to measure their scope. they were applicable only within the framework of canon law. they addressed only the construction of religious buildings. the pope held no temporal power that allowed him to grant anyone private privileges that would constitute a departure from the rules of feudal or manorial law or to strike a blow against the power and competence of those administering high or low justice. with the exception of canon law, the church could act only in the temporal sphere and within the limits of its own juris

ch had already been torn in this universalism by the communal movement, when purely local brotherhoods formed without any solid bonds to another brotherhood or ties of origin to the monastic association and, through them, to tradition. the renaissance and reformation dealt a fatal blow to this universal character. the sixteenth century was marked first and foremost by a serious decline in the art of religious construction. the essentially religious gothic art disappeared to make way for the essentially secular renaissance art. the christian symbolic language, vehicle of the tradition, was erased with the same stroke. despite the efforts of the italian academies and the most prestigious artists, such as leonardo da vinci and michelangelo, the return to antiquity was accompanied by little in

he art of building to the art of thinking reference to "the holy church" to which masons had always been expected to swear fidelity. this omission appears to show that the expression "holy church" was not assumed to refer to the anglican church. the orangemen deemed it preferable simply to suppress a dangerous connection to a catholic tradition. in the next chapter we will revisit these incidents of religious interference and the controversies they raised with the formation of the great lodge of london and with scottish freemasonry. the decline of operative freemasonry at the same time that speculative and "accepted" freemasonry was developing under the effect of philosophical, religious, and political influences, the corporation of professional masons was undergoing a slow death. in 1666

been argued that english freemasonry originally recognized only the grades of apprentice and journeymen. the term master was used by english freemasons only to designate the patron or elder of the lodge. things were different in scotland, however, where the grade of master was pan of the craft hierarchy. this had been true for a long time as is demonstrated by the schaw statutes. during this era of religious and dynastic struggles, it is said that the scots tried to use this distinctive feature as a means of dominating the lodges. at this same time they were developing the symbolism of the master grade. in particular, the legend of hiram, the brilliant builder of the temple who was murdered by three evil journeymen and was res [clodion refers to the merovingian king whose brother, fredemu

ONYX TABLET OF SET

m as mere commercial professions. whether or not such a priest, pastor, or minister takes personal mystical pleasure in the job is ultimately incidental to whether he or she makes money for the church, brings in a flow of converts, prevents defections, attacks competitors, and acquires political influence in the community. indeed the most successful clerics are those who allow the least intrusion of religious idealism into their decision-making: in essence those who do not make the mistake of fooling themselves along with their victims. this is central to the art of popular control by propaganda, to which all conventional religions finally reduce. in his propaganda: the formation of men's attitudes jacques ellul remarks "the propagandist cannot believe in the ideology he must use in his pr

PIKE CUMMINGS THE SPURIOUS RITES OF MEMPHIS AND MISRAIM

combination of the ancient mysteries; it taught the first men to render homage to the deity. its dogmas are based on the principles of humanity its mission is the study of that wisdom which serves to discern truth; it is the beneficent dawn of the development of reason and intelligence; it is the worship of the qualities of the human heart, and the repression of its vices; in fine, it is the echo of religious toleration, the union of all belief, the bond between all men, the symbol of the sweet illusions of hope, preaching the faith in god that saves, and the charity that blesses. thus it will be seen that this rite,which purports to be it continuation of the ancient mysteries, and pretends to contain a vast amount of instruction, does but announce the aim and mission of modern free-masonr

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

nary man can but rarely act through the spiritual consciousness, seeing that for it to do so the king of the physical body, that is the lower will, must rise from his throne to acknowledge his superior. that is the reason why, in some cases, in sleep only doth the higher will manifest itself by dream unto the ordinary man. in other cases it may be manifested; at times through the sincere practice of religious rites, or in cases where the opportunity for self-sacrifice occurreth. in all these cases the lower will hath for a moment recognised a higher form of itself, and the yhvh of the man hath reflected from the eternal lord of the higher life. this yechidah is the only part of the man which can truly say-ei-ieieh, i am. this is then but the kether of the assiah of the microcosm, that is

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

ifying, the amorous peculiarities of anacreon or sappho. a skilful magnetizer should take all these subtle distinctions into account, and we shall provide in our ritual the rules for their recognition. there are two kinds of realization, the true and the fantastic. the first is the exclusive secret of magicians, the other belongs to enchanters and sorcerers. mythologies are fantastic realizations of religious dogma; superstitions are the sorcery of mistaken piety; but even mythologies and superstitions are more efficacious on human will than a purely speculative philosophy apart from any practice. hence st. paul opposes the conquests of the folly of the cross to the inertness of human wisdom. religion realizes philosophy by adapting it to the weaknesses of the vulgar; such is for kabalists

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

ded upon a false understanding of the words: gye have one father, one master, and ye are all brethren, h dealt a terrible blow at the sacred hierarchy. since that time, sacerdotal dignities have become a matter of intrigue or of chance; energetic mediocrity has managed to supplant modest superiority, misunderstood because of its modesty. yet, and notwithstanding, initiation being an essential law of religious life, a society which is instinctively magical formed at the decline of the pontifical power and speedily concentrated in itself alone the whole strength of 56 the ritual of transcendental magic christianity, because, though it only understood vaguely, it exercised positively the hierarchic power by recourse to the ordeals of initiation and the omnipotence of faith in passive obedienc

t is that of the god pan, the god of our modern schools of philosophy, the god of the alexandrian theurgic school and of our own mystical neo-platonists, the god of lamartine and victor cousin, the god of spinoza and plato, the god of the primitive gnostic schools; the christ also of the dissident priesthood. this last qualification, ascribed to the goat of black magic, will not astonish students of religious antiquities who are acquainted with the phases of symbolism and doctrine in their various transformations, whether in india, egypt or judea. the bull, the dog and the goat are the three symbolical animals of hermetic magic, resuming all the traditions of egypt and india. the bull represents the earth or salt of the philosophers; the dog is hermanubis, the mercury of the sages. otherwi

nsequence. he established a magnetic sympathy between himself and them, by means of which he imparted his own confidence and good humour; he flattered them in his prefaces, termed them his precious, most illustrious patients, and dedicated his books to them. so are we convinced the gargantua and pantagruel cured more black humours, more tendencies to madness, more atrabilious whims, at that epoch of religious animosities and civil wars, than the whole faculty of medicine could boast. occult medicine is essentially sympathetic. reciprocal affection, or at least real goodwill, must exist between doctor and patient. syrups and juleps have very little inherent virtue; they are what they become through the mutual opinion of operator and subject; hence homeopathic medicine dispenses with them an

ROBERT KIRK WALKER BETWEEN WORLDS

but he compares it with mythical or enchanted islands. such islands were part of the celtic legendary tradition, and both the subterranean and marine otherworlds were places of beauty, timelessness, light, and power. to the commentary 85 modern imagination, a realm beneath the earth suggests cold rock, damp, darkness, fear, and perhaps burning fire and punishment, deriving from the long centuries of religious propaganda concerning hell. but in earlier tradition the underworld was said to be a place filled with light, with many realms or great dimensional realms and spaces. it is in this kind of location that the fairy houses in kirk's text are located. http//www.dreampower.com/kirk_wbw/pg_82.htm (3 of 10 [10/9/2001 12:36:03 am] robert kirk- walker between worlds(pages 82-91) we find a deta

RUBY TABLET OF SET

nd he excused all incidental excesses in a state only if an ultimate, common good could thereby be more quickly and thoroughly attained. the reformation by 1500, as a consequence of the invention of the printing press, europe possessed an estimated 9 million books, as opposed to fewer than 100 thousand hand-wrought manuscripts ca. 1450. the exchange of ideas was accelerated, and with it criticism of religious, political, and social norms. classification: v2- 102- 10 author: michael a. aquino vi date: october 1, xix revision: january 1, xxiv html revision: oct 13, 1997 ce subject: philosophy reading list: 16a, 16l, 16m the reformation, usually dated ca. 1517 to ca. 1648 (end of the thirty years' war, was a 16th century religious movement aimed at correcting real or assumed abuses in the rom

e a heretic" said paul iv "i would burn him" in 1540 ignatius loyola founded the society of jesus (jesuits, characterized by extreme discipline and machiavellian social influence. loyola placed great stress on education, and by the 17th century jesuit-dominated universities were educating virtually all of catholic europe. after 1550 tensions between catholics and protestants had reached the stage of religious warfare, culminating in the terrible thirty years' war between denmark, sweden, and the protestant german principalities on one hand and the catholic hapsburgs (spain, austria, netherlands, italy, and most of catholic germany) on the other. france, though catholic, fought against the hapsburgs for secular political reasons. approximately one-third of germany's population died from the

hailed them as old friends, calling each species by a folk name and even going so far as to gather some for the table. the depth of the difference in their attitudes seemed so bizarre to him that he began to look into myths, folk tales, and words used by each culture, trying to understand the reason for it. he eventually concluded that the roots of such a radical difference must lie in some type of religious taboo. this led him to investigate the evidence for use of mushrooms in religious cults. the "heart" of his thesis, as it relates to our perspective on conventional religion, is this: plant agents that disrupt consciousness were originally used as a means to induce unusual experiences in hunter-gatherer cultures "vision quest" ordeals, whether chemical or physical, are characteristic

the learning of that nation, and enquiring into the commentaries of the priests of former times, he knew the observations of innumerable ages, as valerius maximus saith. and living admir'd and belov'd of all the priests and prophets with whom he conversed, he informed himself by their means accurately, concerning every thing; not omitting any person, eminent at that time for learning, or any kind of religious rites; nor leaving any place unseen, by going into which he conceived, that he might find something extraordinary [for he went into the adyta of the egyptians (and, as clemens saith, permitted himself to that end to be circumcised) and learned things not to be communicated concerning the gods, mystick philosophy] he travelled to all the priests, and was instructed by every one, in tha

aism o reform judaism. sikh/sant mat groups o eckankar o elan vital o movement for spiritual inner awareness, church of the o sikh council of north america o sikh dharma (3ho "other" groups o baha'i faith o church of satan o church of scientology o church universal and triumphant o gardnerian wicca o "i am" religious activity o native american church o rastafarians o temple of set o united church of religious science o universal church of the master o universal life church o vajradhatu o wicca introduction purpose this handbook has been prepared for the office of chaplains, department of the army, in order to provide information useful for chaplains on the beliefs and practices of certain "religious" groups. specifically, the purposes of this handbook are three: 1. to facilitate the provis

eligious science o universal church of the master o universal life church o vajradhatu o wicca introduction purpose this handbook has been prepared for the office of chaplains, department of the army, in order to provide information useful for chaplains on the beliefs and practices of certain "religious" groups. specifically, the purposes of this handbook are three: 1. to facilitate the provision of religious activities which serve the needs of persons of certain faiths not otherwise represented by military chaplains and others; 2. to define the specific requirements and practices in such a way as to enable commanders at all levels to make effective personnel decisions in those instances when religious beliefs and practices are claimed to be in conflict with military directives and practic

es from the individual groups themselves, it is by no means comprehensive. lay persons, particularly, are cautioned that the handbook is not a guide to religion, and that consideration of the implications of adopting a particular faith or belief system is best accomplished under the careful guidance of a chaplain or other religious leader. this handbook is a thorough revision of the first edition of religious requirements and practices of certain selected groups: a handbook for chaplains. it was originally published in 1979, and a supplement was issued in 1980. the development of this new edition of the handbook was accomplished in a series of steps, the first of which was the selection of the groups to be included. beginning with the list of groups in the original edition, those which had

chosen to typify a set of groups. there are, for example, a number of different zen buddhist groups, the zen center of rochester and its affiliated centers being but one example. there are any number of wiccan covens not affiliated with the gardnerians, the largest of the coven networks. fortunately there are seven authoritative resources which provide regularly updated material on a wide variety of religious groups which can be used to extend the value of and supplement the material in this handbook. they include. hill, samuel (ed, handbook of denominations in the u.s. nashville, tn: abingdon press, annual edition. melton, j. gordon, encyclopedia of american religions. detroit, mi: gale research company, 3rd ed. 1989. 1100 pp. encyclopedic handbook of cults in america. new york: garland p

we thank the library staff for its support. finally, we thank the staff of the institute for the study of american religion and the santa barbara centre for humanistic studies who assisted the authors in compiling and checking the handbook, including matthew roberts, aidan a. kelly, and suzette p. melton. introduction "other" groups the groups considered in this section manifest the wide variety of religious options available in the u.s. they draw upon several distinct religious impulses, each with a long heritage. metaphysical groups one can trace within the western religion an alternative tradition which might be termed mystical, platonic, or idealistic. this tradition emerged in force in the nineteenth century in philosophical idealism which in america became visible in the movement ca

thin the western religion an alternative tradition which might be termed mystical, platonic, or idealistic. this tradition emerged in force in the nineteenth century in philosophical idealism which in america became visible in the movement called transcendentalism. what has been termed the metaphysical movements in america represent a blossoming of this old alternative tradition in the atmosphere of religious freedom and relative secularity of nineteenth century america. the three main branches of metaphysical religion emerged in the nineteenth century as spiritualism, theosophy, and new thought. each affirmed the reality of a spiritual reality of which the visible material world was but a pale reflection. spiritualism was built around the belief in the possibility of contacting the spirit

cience had asked the question of healing within the context of an idealist philosophical framework. new thought, begun by one of mary baker eddy's students, emma curtis hopkins, differed from christian science at first over organizational disputes, but has during the twentieth century developed in various new perspectives which have taken it some distance from christian science. the united church of religious science is one form of new thought (as is the unity school of christianity considered in the first section of this manual. psychic groups from ancient times people have claimed powers of mind and spirit far surpassing those recognized by modern science. in years past these phenomena (e.g. spiritual healing, telepathy, clairvoyance, mind over matter) were termed "supernatural; they are

t characterize a religious effort as neo-pagan. classification: v2- 290.p- 1 author: ruth nielsen ii date: october, xxv publication: trail of the serpent html revision: sept. 14, 1998 ce subject: neo-paganism reading list: 3c the original discussion derived from comments in an article from gnosis, which in brief stated that pagan organizations were now having to use the same arguments for freedom of religious expression in this country as have the orthodox judeo-christian religions. elements of neo-paganism the term "neo-paganism" implies two things: first that what it describes relates to what is known as paganism, and secondly that it is somehow new. the definition i learned as a catholic of "pagan" is "one who worships false gods" for this commentary "paganism" will mean any religion of

SATANIC BIBLE

is. what you see may not always please you; but you will see! here is satanic thought from a truly satanic point of view. the church of satan san fransisco, walpurgisnacht 1968 prologue the gods of the right-hand path have bickered and quarreled for an entire age of earth. each of these deities and their respective priests and ministers have attempted to find wisdom in their own lies. the ice age of religious thought can last but a limited time in this great scheme of human existence. the gods of wisdom-defiled have had their saga, and their millennium hath become as reality. each, with his own "divine" path to paradise, hath accused the other of heresies and spiritual indiscretions. the ring of the nibelungen doth carry an everlasting curse, but only because those who seek it think in ter

hich would willfully choose denial of itself. in countries where this is used as a sop for the willingly impoverished, it is understandable that a philosophy which teaches the denial of the ego would serve a useful purpose- at least for those in power, to whom it would be detrimental if their people were discontented. but for anyone who has every opportunity for material gain, to choose this form of religious thought seems foolish, indeed! the eastern mystic believes strongly in reincarnation. to a person who has virtually nothing in this life, the possibility that he may have been a king in a past life or may be one in the next life is very attractive, and does much to appease his need for self-respect. if there is nothing in which they can take pride in this life, they can console themse

SATANIC RITUALS

cthulhu! i'a sha-t'n (by the seal of nine and by the shining trapezoid, let none hazard thy wrath, for we are known to the old ones. hail, cthulhu! hail, satan) the satanic baptisms since the formation of the church of satan, many persons wishing to solemnize their newly acknowledged dedication to satanic principles have requested a "baptismal" rite, whereby they might utilize an established form of religious observance for more compatible beliefs. as a result, two distinct ceremonies have been created, one for infants and the other for adults who have reached the legal age of consent. of course any ceremony performed for an infant is not really performed for the child, but for the parents. with this thought in mind, a baptism in the traditional sense could serve no productive purpose by s

SATANICON

ken of in revelation this requires wisdom. for those who have perception the ascension of satan in the third year of the age of evil as a religious philosopher of evil, i don t fell the need to stay within a strict set of traditional rules (isn t that an affliction of xianity) regarding our satan/reality-based mythology and symbolism. it s time we evolve (an inability of xianity) into a new phase of religious reverence: satan will be actively represented and recognized by more than the one traditional aspect of fire. it s only proper and becoming that he be symbolized also by the nightsky, darkness moreover, as our apocalyptic creed continues its prophetic trek, it s also time we symbolically, and literally, depose the tyrant; replace god, the so-called supreme being with a god truly repre

rrior spirit of the beast 666. the cross, of course, is associated with the nazarene and his teachings; the inversion of such is the symbolic renunciation and antithesis of his religious philosophy. the lightning bolt represents the will and power and the cruel wrath of antichrist. the 666 is of course, the accepted numerical symbol of antichrist. ultimately, the sigil of antichrist is the symbol of religious revelation and anarchy of things to come! the sigil replaces the satanagram as the altarpiece above the altar. six black candles are employed as this symbolizes the singular aspect of the number of the beast and the sixth sense of all antichrists. regarding placement, five of the six candles rest upon the points of the angles of the pentagonia on the floor before the altar. a single b

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

oversaw the writing and editing, while michael j. o neal and j. sydney jones wrote the text. thanks also to ken shepherd, who assisted with copyediting, nora harris for indexing, and gloria lam for proofing. special thanks are due for the invaluable comments and suggestions provided by u x l s world religions reference library advisors and consultants: george alscer, associate professor and chair of religious studies, philosophy and pastoral ministry, marygrove college, detroit, michigan. viii world religions: almanac reader s guide janet callahan, ford interfaith network, dearborn, michigan. mary ann christopher, librarian, yellow springs high school, yellow springs, ohio. margaret hallisey, retired library media specialist and former board member of the american association of school lib

anet callahan, ford interfaith network, dearborn, michigan. mary ann christopher, librarian, yellow springs high school, yellow springs, ohio. margaret hallisey, retired library media specialist and former board member of the american association of school librarians; the massachusetts school library media association; and the new england educational media association. fatima al-hayani, professor of religious studies, university of toledo, toledo, ohio. madan kaura, bharatyia temple, ford interfaith network, dearborn, michigan. ann marie laprise, huron school district, monroe, michigan. ann w. moore, librarian, schenectady county public library, schenectady, new york. chuen pangcham, midwest buddhist meditation center (buddha vihara temple, warren, michigan. gene schramm, retired professor

the building block of creation. arihant: an enlightened person. ark of the covenant: a cabinet in which the ten commandments were kept in the first temple of jerusalem. artha: prosperity and success in material affairs. asatru: a neo-pagan religion based on worship of the norse (scandanavian) gods. ascetic: a person who practices rigid self-denial, giving up all comforts and pleasures, as an act of religious devotion. jain monks and nuns are ascetics. asha: righteousness that derives from natural law. ashkenazic: term used to refer to jews of france, germany, and eastern europe. astrology: the study of the movement of the planets and stars in relation to one another in order to predict future events. ataraxia: serenity, tranquility, or peace of mind. atheism: a disbelief in the existence

words to know church: from the greek, this word refers to the community of all christians. it is also the place where christians go to worship. consciousness: the condition of being aware of one s thoughts, feelings, and existence. conservative: a movement in modern judaism that tries to strike a balance between orthodox and reform judaism. conversion: a change in which a person adopts a new set of religious beliefs. coven: a group of neo-pagans, such as wiccans. alternately referred to as circles, groves, kindreds, garths, hearths, and other terms. covenant: in religion, a covenant refers to an agreement between god or a messenger of god and his followers. creed: a statement of belief or basic principles. crucifixion: the suffering and death by nailing or binding a person to a cross. cun

r collection of all gods and goddesses in a system of belief. polytheism: a religion worshiping many gods. shaman: in indigenous tribes, an intermediary between the gods and the tribal members; also one who controls various spiritual forces, can look into the future, and can cure the ill with magic. supreme being: the central god responsible for creating the cosmos. theology: the study of god and of religious truths. totem: some sort of object or animal that assumes a spiritual symbolism for a clan or tribe. 2 world religions: almanac what is religion? origins of religion there are essentially two different theories on the origins of religion. one is called the faith-based theory. it assumes that religions are the result of divine messages from one or more gods, or from prophets (messenger

out the existence of god. huxley was a believer in darwin s theory of naural selection, which states that life becomes increasingly more complex over time randomly( by chance, not because of divine intervention from a supreme being, and that stronger types adapted and survived. a great advocate for science, huxley was a powerful speaker and writer. his new term quickly became part of the language of religious discussion. during the twentieth century organized religion in the west began responding to attacks on theism. scholars found new ways to discuss the existence of god when science proved unable to resolve the question. some of these arguments question the truth of science, proposing alternate theories about how life has evolved. the theory of intelligent design states that life is too

ater for the artisan class as well, the first stage in the funeral rites. mummies were placed in tombs or pyramids with numerous personal items the deceased would need in the afterlife. these included everything from jewelry to weapons, furniture, and even (for the wealthy) their slaves. the daily routine of work for the majority of ancient egyptians was broken up throughout the year by a variety of religious observances. for some workers almost one-third of the year was set aside for religious observances and celebrations. the tomb makers eight-day work week, for example, had a two- or three-day weekend. put together, these weekend days of rest accounted for about sixty days a year. there were another sixty-five days of religious festivals, from full moon days to the celebration of the fl

fore this holy day, baha s fast, going without food or drink from sunrise to sunset for nineteen days. the celebration of naw-ruz includes feasting and praying, and there is no work on that day. in addition, at the beginning of each baha month is the nineteen-day feast baha. the meetings that happen on these days are divided into three parts: the first part is dedicated to prayers and the reading of religious texts. the second part is an administrative session when reports are given about local baha activities and community issues are discussed. during these administrative sessions all members of the community are encouraged to talk and share their concerns. the third part of these monthly meetings is the meal shared by all community members. food served is as varied as the congregations t

, a razor, a needle, a water strainer, and a bowl for collecting alms. during their stay they are educated in the principles of buddhism and given instruction by the monks in right living. once back from the monastery, these laypeople maintain small shrines in their homes, may go to preaching halls rather than temples to hear teachings, and visit sacred sites on pilgrimages. the second major form of religious practice and worship involves the concept of dana, or generosity. it also deals with the relationship between the lay community and the monks and nuns. monks and nuns represent a higher form of spiritual achievement. they share this experience and knowledge with laypeople through their examples, by teaching lessons 104 world religions: almanac buddhism from the sacred texts, and by ho

ow atonement: in christianity, the sacrifice and death of jesus christ to redeem humankind from its sins. baptism: a religious ceremony in which a person is dipped in or sprinkled with water as a sign of being cleansed of sin. church: from the greek, this word refers to the community of all christians. it is also the place where christians go to worship. conversion: when a person adopts a new set of religious beliefs. creed: a statement of belief or basic principles. crucifixion: the suffering and death by nailing or binding a person to a cross. disciple: a person who accepts and assists in spreading the teachings of a leader. in the bible, one of the followers of jesus christ. doctrine: a set of ideas held by a religious group. evangelical: describing a protestant group that emphasizes th

an citizen. a religion like christianity that taught there was only one god and whose believers could not worship the emperor was a threat to the emperor s power. despite such difficulties, by the fourth century, christianity had spread as far west as spain and into both persia (present-day iran) and india to the east. in 313 the roman emperor constantine (d. 337; ruled 306 337) declared a policy of religious tolerance. he made christianity a legal religion in the roman empire. then in 380 theodosius i (347 395) declared it the official religion of the roman empire. as of 410 christians had the power to ban non-christian religions from the empire. the church adapted parts of the roman culture to its organization. it used roman political districts to mark its own religious districts and all

st religion. christianity in the twentieth century christianity continued to grow throughout the twentieth century. the second vatican council (1962 65) was an attempt at reviving catholicism. the council also hoped and worked for closer connections with other christian branches and with judaism. communist governments throughout eastern europe and the soviet union, which had prohibited many types of religious celebration, collapsed in the late 1980s. the political system of communism eliminates private property and gives the state control of goods and services. after communists lost control, the eastern orthodox church in many central and eastern european countries and in russia was able to hold services without fear of repression. another trend in the twentieth century was a decline in eu

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

ecrets of which the philosopher's stone was but the least; who considered themselves the heirs of all that the chaldeans, the magi, the gymnosophists, and the platonists had taught; and who differed from all the darker sons of magic in the virtue of their lives, the purity of their doctrines, and their insisting, as the foundation of all wisdom, on the subjugation of the senses, and the intensity of religious faith? a glorious sect, if they lied not! and, in truth, if zanoni had powers beyond the race of worldly sages, they seemed not unworthily exercised. the little known of his life was in his favour. some acts, not of indiscriminate, but judicious generosity and beneficence, were recorded; in repeating which, still, however, the narrators shook their heads, and expressed surprise how a

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

ced in the death and resurrection of osiris. a matter for surprise is that they seem to see nothing incongruous in such a mixture of magic and religion, and the general attitude of the mind of the egyptian on the point is well illustrated by the following facts. attached to the service of ra, the sun-god, at thebes were numerous companies of priests whose duties consisted as much in making copies of religious books and in keeping alive the "divine traditions" as in ministering to the god in their appointed seasons. the members of these companies who wrote the copies of the book of the dead which were buried with kings and queens and personages of royal or exalted rank declared the power and omnipotence of almighty god, whose visible emblem to mankind was the sun, and his sovereignty over t

" hence "amulet" is "something which is carried or worn" and the name is applied broadly to any kind of talisman or ornament to which supernatural powers are ascribed. it is not clear whether the amulet was intended first of all to protect the living or the dead body, but it seems that it was originally worn to guard its owner from savage animals and from serpents. as time went on the development of religious ideas and beliefs progressed, and as a result new amulets representing new views were invented; and the objects which were able to protect the living were made, by an easy transition p. 26 in the minds of those who wore them, to protect the dead. moreover, as the preservation of the corruptible body, with the number of its members complete and intact, was of the most vital importance

r origin was divine, and from this point of view were inspired. from a papyrus of the ptolemaic period we obtain some interesting facts about the great skill in working magic and about the knowledge of magical formula p. 143 which were possessed by a prince called setnau kha-em-uast. he knew how to use the powers of amulets and talismans, and how to compose magical formula, and he was master both of religious literature and of that of the "double house of life" or library of magical books. one day as he was talking of such things one of the king's wise men laughed at his remarks, and in answer setnau said "if thou wouldst read a book possessed of magical powers come with me. and i will show it to thee, the book was written by thoth himself, and in it there are two formula. the recital of t

; without this knowledge nothing could save him from calamity. we unfortunately understand very few of the allusions to mythological events which are contained in the names of the various parts of the machinery which work the net, but it is quite certain that they have reference to certain events in the lives of the gods who are mentioned, and that these were well known to the writers and readers of religious texts. from the above descriptions of the means whereby the deceased made his way through the gates and the p. 171 halls of the underworld and escaped from the fowler and his net, it will be readily understood that the knowledge of the name alone was, in some cases, sufficient to help him out of his difficulties; but in others it was necessary to have the name which was possessed of m

SORCERIES OF ZOS

uite erroneous- that celibacy is a sine qua non of magical success; but such celibacy is of a purely local character and confined to the physical plane, or waking state, alone. celibacy, as commonly understood, is therefore a meaningless parody or travesty of the true formula. such is the initiated rationale of tantric celibacy, and some such interpretation undoubtedly applies also to other forms of religious asceticism. the 'temptations' of the saints occuedrr on the astral plane precisely because the physical channels had been deliberately blocked. the state of drowsiness noted in the votaries of the ku suggests that the ensuing shadow-play was evoked after a fashion similar to that obtained by a species of dream control. gerald massey, aleister crowley, austin spare, dion fortune, have

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

cong tac himself under house arrist. in early march, 1956, the general forced the "pope" into exile in pnompenh in cambodia, by collecting certified letters from 19 "vestal virgins" of cao dai who complained that pham cong tac had raped them. the cao dai. at the height of its power in l955, controlled. with two other sects. one-third of south viet nam. the three sects formed an exotic consortium of religious fanatics, feudal warlords, uniformed hoodlums and racket bosses. their combined armies totaled 40,000 men. one of the sects, the hoa hao. is composed of dissident buddhists founded by the deceased huynh phu so, who. so the story goes, converted his psychiatrist when he was sent to a lunatic asylum. the other sect, the binh xuyen. is an organization of bandits, in mustard-colored unifo

" the pagan symbolism should not be lost to the reader["see as judith elsewhere] juliet hollister* equipped with the design of the temple executed by the architect, lathrop douglas, approached eleanor roosevelt for her aid in planning the creation of the real temple. she wrote that it was mrs. roosevelt "who suggested a trip around the world, in order to awaken the interest and enlist the support of religious leaders and heads of states. let the peoples of the world create this building, she said, and then it will belong to the whole world: it will be a spiritual united nations "this was the real beginning of our venture. i took mrs [eleanor] roosevelt's good advice; i visited our embassy to the united nations and i talked also with many other u.n. representatives. i went to washington, an

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

nt by utilizing the modern terminology of existentialist philosophy; his theories became the starting point for most twentieth-century theological debate. xii christianity as mystical fact patterns in myth and research into the hidden structures of the mind. h. p. blavatsky s idea of a unity behind it all touched a nerve of the age, and an attempt to explain the extraordinary and undeniable unity of religious phenomena has remained a central strand in twentieth-century thought, persisting far outside the theosophical circles where it was first nurtured.3 but from the beginning steiner followed his own critical line. it seemed as though the theosophists wanted to manufacture a new synthetic religion that would replace the parochialism of local faiths. steiner knew that any real spiritual li

he biographies of the buddha and jesus. one has only to observe the detailed correspondences between them to realize that any attempt at denial would be vain.91 there is an annunciation of buddha s birth to queen maya by a white elephant, which overshadows her and tells her that she is to bring forth a divine man. and he will attune all beings to love and friendship, and will unite them in a bond of religious fervor. compare with this the passage from the gospel of luke where an angel is sent: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named joseph, a descendant of david. the virgin s name was mary. the angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. you will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name jesus. he will be great and will be calle

advancing it. such advances are necessary if we are to be able to get inside the spiritual processes that shape the inner realities of christianity or other world religions. to apply these methods may stir up opposition from the scientific establishment, but they are justifiable and in accord with the scientific way of thinking. this kind of research must go beyond the philological investigation of religious documents. the analogy from natural scientific research still holds: to explain a law of chemistry, it is of no use to characterize the retorts, vessels, or tweezers used in the experiment that led to its discovery! there is just as little point, if we are trying to explain the emergence of christianity, in pinning down the sources that luke drew upon for his gospel, or upon which joh

ussions of the eleusinian mysteries by steiner in wonders of the world and mystery knowledge and mystery centres. the official eleusinian account of the demeter-persephone myth is contained in the homeric hymn to demeter from around the seventh century b.c; it is translated in meyer, the ancient mysteries, pp. 20ff. an important survey of the eleusinian cult is contained in mircea eliade, history of religious ideas, vol. i (university of chicago press, chicago, 1981, pp. 290-301. 85. the spirit of the eleusinian mysteries is brilliantly captured by edouard schur in sanctuaires d orient (paris, 1898 (r.st) 86. it has been called the greatest coherent literary work that has come down to us from ancient egypt; r. lepsius, das totenbuch der alten gypter (berlin, 1842, p. 17 (r.st) a modern eng

nbuch der alten gypter (berlin, 1842, p. 17 (r.st) a modern english rendering is: r. faulkner, the ancient egyptian book of the dead (university of texas, austin, 1990. the ideas it contains about astral immortality are already prefigured in much older egyptian texts subsequently discovered, for example, the coffin texts and pyramid texts. on their initiatory significance see m. eliade, a history of religious ideas, vol. i, pp. 94ff. the nature, and even the existence, of egyptian mysteries has been disputed; but see the brilliant remarks by h. frankfort, kingship and the gods, ch. 11. steiner was far ahead of his time in recognizing the initiatory significance of becoming osiris. a fine study of the pharaoh from an anthroposophical point of view is furnished by f.teichmann, die kultur der

TECHNICIANS GUIDE TO THE LEFT HAND PATH

wledge and information of operation and technical expertise. knowledge must precede the method, and so the first key is realizing that knowledge is absolutely necessary, and the second key is engaging personally within an activity that involves the acquiring of that knowledge. for the antinomian, this knowledge is only useful once its essential principles have been separated from the inscriptions of religious, cultural and political indoctrination. resistance can be overcome through the processes of subtraction or distillation, addition or expansion and augmentation, and finally neutralization which is a function of synchronization. the first two of these processes- distillation and augmentation- are interchangeable in the sense that they can both lead to the third process of neutralizatio

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

o gentiles as the goyim (cattle. the late dr. israel shahak, professor at hebrew university in israel, a man i respected greatly, was a constant critic of such a deviant, superiority attitude. shahak noted that many zionist jews are unashamed advocates of human slavery: the israelis have resuscitated a book in spanish by jews dating from the 14th century which has been adopted for use as a manual of religious instruction in israel's secondary schools. it explains why non-jews ought to be the slave of jews because jews are the elite of the human race. because of this they deserve to have slaves, and these slaves must be non-jews.10 this outrageous and imperious attitude does not take those of us by surprise who have studied the jewish talmud, the rabbis' holiest book. according to the talmu

and lodge of jerusalem, the rabbi disguises the masonic hand grip with his left hand. this is called the "cover grip (duncan's masonic ritual and monitor, 3d ed, p. 216) 174 codex magic a neal wilson, president of the general conference of seventh-day adventists (left) exchanges an indisputable (in my opinion) masonic handshake with konstantin kharchev, the soviet union's chairman of the ministry of religious affairs. the occasion was a socialist-sponsored environmental conclave, called the international forum for a non-nuclear world and the survival of humanity, february 13-15, 1987. the leadership of the seventh-day adventist church (sda) is heavily masonic. many sda officials have cooperated with pro-communist, anti-christian lobby groups such as americans united, people for the america

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

proach to life completely ignored the subjective life of humans or that area of existence which is commonly called the spiritual. it in no way accounted for emotions the manner in which human beings experience the feelings of love between a woman and a man, between parents and children; the joy upon hearing a magnificent symphony; the sense of beauty and awe in sighting a rainbow; the inspiration of religious thought. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 22 afterlife mysteries the chepren pyramid in giza, egypt (archive photos, inc) but the major tenets of western science hold fast. such human experiences, material scientists insist, are mere transient illusions things that people imagine for themselves or dream for themselves while the

ie beyond physical death. throughout history there have been men and women who have been somehow brought back to life after accidents, severe injuries, surgeries, and other physical traumas, and they have related their own accounts of life beyond death, the journey of the soul, and the process of judgment that awaits the spirits of the deceased on the other side. while the various representatives of religious orthodoxy may often look upon such stories as visions wrought by the severity of a painful ordeal and a subsequent misinterpretation of accepted religious teachings, and while the proponents of the material sciences may consider these experiences delusions, those who have survived such near-death encounters cannot be shaken from the testimony of their own personal experiences, regardl

23 parapsychologists followed up the initial questionnaire with telephone calls, additional questionnaires, and correspondence. a total of 385 respondents reported 1,318 cases wherein deathbed patients claimed to have seen apparitions or phantasms. fifty-two percent of these apparitions represented dead persons who were known to the patients; 28 percent were of living persons; and 20 percent were of religious figures. visions that either gave the dying patient a view of the traditional heaven or depicted scenes of wondrous beauty and brilliant color were reported by 248 respondents to have been observed in 884 instances. mood elevation that is, a shift in the patient s emotions from extreme pain and fear to tranquility was reported by 169 respondents in 753 cases. about half of the apparit

es, is that an indication that not only do we have a soul, we are a soulresident in a lifeform? if that is true, what else is true about life, about death, about purpose and mission and source and creation? while skeptics ridicule the will to believe in an afterlife as religious wishful thinking, it might be suggested that many of them embrace a will to disbelieve with what also amounts to a kind of religious fervor. for many scientists, there can be no consciousness after the physical body dies. the universe is comprised exclusively of material realities, and without the physical organism there can be no mind, no consciousness and certainly no life after death. many believe near-death experiences are but hallucinations caused by reasons that may be psychological, pharmacological, or neuro

its restrictive religious doctrines concerning the afterlife and rebirth. each of the contemporary mystery schools examined in this section anthroposophy, the association for research and enlightenment, and theosophy accept the concept of reincarnation and blend many of the beliefs of christianity and judaism with traditional teachings of hinduism and buddhism. in his classic work, the varieties of religious experience, william james (1842 1910) has this to say regarding the oneness and unity of the mystical traditions: this overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the absolute is the great mystic achievement. in mystic states we both become one with the absolute and we become aware of our oneness. this is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly al

cs dictionary. http//skepdic.com. 1 october 2001. seance those who accept the teachings of spiritualism believe that the varied phenomena associated with a seance, such as the levitation of objects, the materialization of spirit forms, or the acquisition of information beyond the normal sensory channels, emanate from spirits of the dead. nonspiritualists who attend seances may hold a wide variety of religious and philosophical views, but they are likely to believe that some part of their being survives physical death, and they are willing to base their hope for life eternal on the phenomena of the seance room and the messages that they receive from discarnate beings. after the sitters have been ushered into the seance room with its subdued lighting, they are invited to be seated, generally

ough her, notably the spirit of george pelham, a friend of the well-known psychical researcher dr. richard hodgson. pelham communicated through automatic writing until sometime in 1897 when both he and phinuit essentially retreated back into the spirit world upon the arrival of a powerful control known simply as the imperator. harvard university psychologist william james, author of the varieties of religious experience, was brought to piper s seance room by some rather astonishing reports which he had heard from his mother-in-law and his sister-inlaw. the elder woman had heard the medium give the names, both first and last, of distant relatives. later, james s sister-in-law had approached piper with a letter written in italian that had been sent to her by a writer who was known only to tw

ralph waldo emerson (1803 1882, and ramakrishna paramahansa. bucke concluded that the recipient of such illumination must be a person of high intellectual, moral, and physical attainment and express a warm heart, courage, and strong and religious feeling. he considered the approximate age of 36 as the most propitious time in one s life to achieve this elevated state of consciousness. in varieties of religious experience (1902) william james (1842 1910) cites four features that he feels may distinguish a mystical state of consciousness from other states of consciousness: 1. ineffability. when one receives an illumination experience, james comments, it defies expression; no adequate report of its contents can be given in words. the mystical experience, he suggests, must be directly experienc

mportant part in the making of civilization. most early civilizations owe a good deal to this creative minority. the early mystics would also be among the priests and medicine men of the tribe. m delving deeper bach, marcus. the inner ecstasy. new york-cleveland: world publishing, 1969. bancroft, anne. twentieth century mystics and sages. chicago: henry regnery co, 1976. james, william. varieties of religious experience. garden city, n.y: masterworks program, 1963. johnson, raynor c. the imprisoned splendour. new york: harper& brothers, 1953. otto, rudolf. mysticism east and west. new york: macmillan, 1970. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 146 mediums and mystics stace, walter t. the teachings of the mystics. new york: new american l

ss s secret message: roseabelle, believe. m delving deeper brandon, ruth. the spiritualists. new york: alfred a. knopf, 1983. houdini, harry. a magician among the spirits. new york: arno press, 1972. mysteries of the unknown: spirit summonings. alexandria, va: time-life books, 1989. william james (1842 1910) william james is best known for his classic work on the mystical experience the varieties of religious experience (1902. james had a career t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 166 mediums and mystics as a psychologist, a philosopher, and a teacher. his father, henry james, sr (1811 1882, was a philosopher, a friend of the poet and essayist ralph waldo emerson (1803 1882, and an ardent follower of the teachings of emanuel swedenborg

any other natural object that is revered as a personal or tribal symbol. transference the process of change that happens when one person or place is transferred to another. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d mediums and mystics 175 chapter 3 religious phenomena this chapter will explore a number of the phenomena that surround a great variety of religious beliefs, from the veneration of sacred objects to the expectation of miracles, from the power of prayer to heal to the judgment of ecclesiastical tribunals to cause suffering. 177 antichrist apocalypse apparitions of holy figures armaggedon cosmic consciousness demons devil s mark ecstasy exorcism faith healing guardian angels illumination inquisition miracles possession power of pray

suspect possession in themselves or others are not gullible or that they open themselves to the suggestion of demonic possession when other mundane explanations may exist. sources: cuneo, michael w. american exorcism: expelling demons in the land of plenty. new york: doubleday, 2001. demonic invasions individual psyche occurs during the awesome splendor of a mystical experience. in his varieties of religious experience (1902, william james (1842 1912) states his view that personal religion has its origin in the mystical consciousness. the mother sea and fountainhead of all religions lie in the mystical experiences of the individual, taking the word mystical in a very wide sense. all theologies and all ecclesiasticisms are secondary growths superimposed. at the same time that men and women

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 3

ousness, brought about by a period of heightened vigilance, such as sentry duty, watching over a sick child, or by certain drugs, such as amphetamines. levels or types of consciousness with varying degrees of what could be considered an altered state might include: 1. rapturous consciousness, characterized by intense feelings and overpowering emotions and induced by sexual stimulation, the fervor of religious conversion, or the ingestion of certain drugs. 2. hysterical consciousness, induced by rage, jealousy, fear, neurotic anxiety, violent mob activity, or certain drugs. as opposed to rapturous consciousness, which is generally evaluated as pleasant and positive in nature, hysterical consciousness is considered negative and destructive. 3. fragmented consciousness, defined as a lack of i

ods of inspiration to insanity. the composer peter ilyich tchaikovsky (1840 1893) once compared his behavior during creative periods to that of a madman. such comparisons are regrettable, and it is unfortunate that modern culture has few models other than madness to describe the throes of creativity. william james (1842 1910, the great pioneer of the study of consciousness, wrote in the varieties of religious experience that what is called normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, while all about it, separated by the slightest of barriers, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. while many individuals may go through life without suspecting the existence of these states of consciousness, apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are

ena that was outside of the usual processes of the inner life. the study of this unknown area between ordinary and pathological states, this paraphysical phenomena, he suggested, should be called parapsychology. william james (1842 1910, the foremost american psychologist of the nineteenth century, explored the nonphysical realm of psychic phenomena and mysticism in his classic work the varieties of religious experience (1902. sir william barrett (1844 1925, professor of physics and fellow of the royal society of london, became convinced of the reality of telepathy and was one of the founders of the british society for psychical research in 1882. frederic myers (1843 1901, a classical lecturer at cambridge, wrote human personality and its survival of bodily death, which was published posth

e energy of the food. large fires were built around the place of feasting in order to present an additional barrier to evil spirits that might wish to seize the soul of the dead. the fear of evil spirits also gave rise to the universal dread of cemeteries and the belief that burial grounds are haunted. as shall be shown in this section, many early funeral observances were transformed into aspects of religious ceremonies that still exist today. preserving the body. as early religions began to teach that there was a spirit within each person who died that might some day wish to return to its earthly abode, it became increasingly important that efforts be made to preserve the body. burial ceremonies, which had at first been intended solely as a means of disposing of the dead, came to be a met

d who expects unquestioning obedience, such as the ancient egyptian rulers of egypt. from the hebrew paroh and egyptian pr-o, meaning great house. predator any organism or animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals. can refer to a ruthless person who is extremely aggressive in harming another. from the latin praedator and praedari, meaning to seize as plunder. sabbath a day set apart as one of religious worship and rest from work observed on sunday for christians, saturday in judaism and some christian denominations. from the greek sabbaton, via the latin sabbatum, and hebrew sabba, meaning rest. spittle something that looks like or is saliva, which is secreted from the mouth. superstition the belief that certain actions and rituals have a magical effect resulting in either good or b

abia. via old french beduin, ultimately from arabic badw, or desert, nomadic desert people. betrothal the act of becoming or being engaged to marry another person. bhagavad gita from sanskrit bhagavadgi ta, meaning song of the blessed one. a hindu religious text, consisting of 700 verses, in which the hindu god, krishna, teaches the importance of unattachment from personal aims to the fulfillment of religious duties and devotion to god. bipedal any animal that has two legs or feet. from the latin stem biped, meaning twofooted. birthstone each month of the year has a particular precious gemstone or a semiprecious stone associated with it. it is believed that if a person wears the stone assigned their birth month, good fortune or luck will follow. bitumen any of a variety of natural substanc

zzling or not easily understood and might have a hidden meaning or riddle. ephemerality refers to the state of something living or lasting for a markedly short or brief time. the nature of existing or lasting for only a day, such as certain plants or insects. eschatology comes from the greek word eskhatos meaning last and -logy literally meaning discourse about the last things. refers to the body of religious doctrines concerning the human soul in relation to death, judgment, heaven or hell, or in general, life after death and of the final stage or end of the world. evocation the act of calling forth, drawing out or summoning an event or memory from the past, as in recreating. exorcism the act, religious ceremony, or ritual of casting out evil spirits from a person or a place. t h e g a l

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

avaria in 1776 with the political goal of encouraging rebellion of the people and the abolition of the established monarchies. structuring the society along the lines of the classes and orders of the freemasons, the illuminati included levels of enlightenment that could be achieved by undergoing initiation through various mystical rites and ceremonies. although the society fs founder, a professor of religious law named adam weishaupt, sought to establish a new world order in the late eighteenth- century, the illuminati was destroyed within 15 years of its founding. the term gilluminati h was first used by spanish occultists toward the end of the fif- t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 16 secret societies t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e

ght and darkness, and many individuals who claimed to be illuminati, those enlightened by a higher wisdom, joined the rosicrucians and took refuge in france to escape the fires of the spanish inquisition. the secret society known as the order of the illuminati was founded in the city of ingolstadt in the southern german monarchy of bavaria on may 1, 1776 by adam weishaupt, a 28-year-old professor of religious law. beginning with only five members, weishaupt fs order grew slowly, numbering about 60 in five cities by 1780. the professor deliberately blended mysticism into the workings of the brotherhood in order to make his agenda of republicanism appear to be more mysterious than a political reform group. he joined the masons in munich in 1777 and adopted many of their classes and orders an

have been a prosperous center of commerce and crafts. inscriptions on the palace walls showed that it was completed by a leader named tah ak chaan, who ruled over cancuen from 740 to around 790. unlike other mayan centers, there are as yet no indications that the rulers of the area engaged in warfare. there are no pyramids in the area, or outdoor plazas, and there appears to be a complete absence of religious symbols or any indications of the ceremonies evident in other mayan centers. rulers of the city appeared to specialize in commerce, not warfare, and a larger working-class group of people seemed to live in the place of serpents than at other mayan centers. hundreds of workshops where artisans plied their crafts were found. what factors caused the demise of the mayan empire remains a m

a. via old french beduin, ultimately from arabic badw, or desert, nomadic desert people. betrothal the act of becoming or being engaged to marry another person. bhagavad gita from sanskrit bhagavadgi ta, meaning gsong of the blessed one. h a hindu religious text, consisting of 700 verses, in which the hindu god, krishna, teaches the importance of unattachment from personal aims to the fulfillment of religious duties and devotion to god. bipedal any animal that has two legs or feet. from the latin stem biped, meaning twofooted. birthstone each month of the year has a particular precious gemstone or a semiprecious stone associated with it. it is believed that if a person wears the stone assigned their birth month, good fortune or luck will follow. bitumen any of a variety of natural substanc

or not easily understood and might have a hidden meaning or riddle. ephemerality refers to the state of something living or lasting for a markedly short or brief time. the nature of existing or lasting for only a day, such as certain plants or insects. eschatology comes from the greek word eskhatos meaning glast h and -logy literally meaning gdiscourse about the last things. h refers to the body of religious doctrines concerning the human soul in relation to death, judgment, heaven or hell, or in general, life after death and of the final stage or end of the world. evocation the act of calling forth, drawing out or summoning an event or memory from the past, as in recreating. exorcism the act, religious ceremony, or ritual of casting out evil spirits from a person or a place. t h e g a l

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

ace! happy the pure and the simple hearts that never think themselves better than others! humanity, my mother, humanity daughter and mother of god, humanity conceived without sin, universal church, mary! happy is he who has dared all to know thee and to understand thee, and who is ready to suffer all once more, in order to serve thee and to love thee! xviii the number eighteen this number is that of religious dogma, which is all poetry and all mystery. 65 the gospel says that at the death of the saviour the veil of the temple was rent, because that death manifested the triumph of devotion, the miracle of charity, the power of god in man, divine humanity, and human divinity, the highest and most sublime of arcana, the last word of all initiations. but the saviour knew that at first men woul

tes, which its popes no longer understand; the shadow of a living church, but one which insisted on stopping when that church moved on, and which is now no more than its bloated-out and headless silhouette. then, the protestants, those eternal regulators of anarchy, 85 who have broken down dogma, and are trying always to fill the void with reasonings, like the sieve of the danaides; these weavers of religious fantasy, all of whose innovations are negative, who have formulated for their own use an unknown calling itself better known, mysteries better explained, a more defined infinite, a more restrained immensity, a more doubting faith, those who have quintessentialized the absurd, divided charity, and taken acts of anarchy for the principles of an entirely impossible hierarchy; those men w

the domain of intelligence, a hangman, an extirminator armed by the justice of god himself. god sent voltaire between the century of bossuet and that of napoleon in order to destroy everything that separates those two geniuses and to unite them in one alone. he was the samson of the spirit, always ready to shake the columns of the temple; but in order to make him turn in spite of himself the mill of religious progress, providence made him blind of heart. 88 article v solution of the last problem to separate religion from superstition and fanaticism superstition, from the latin word "superstes" surviving, is the sign which survives the idea which it represents; it is the form preferred to the thing, the rite without reason, faith become insensate through isolating itself. it is in consequen

ces! magic, the holiest science, because it establishes in the sublimest manner the great religious truths! magic, the most calumniated of all, because the vulgar obstinately confound magic with the superstitious sorcery whose abominable practices we have denounced! it is only by magic that one can reply to the enigmatical questions of the sphinx of thebes, and find the solution of those problems of religious history which are sealed in the sometimes scandalous obscurities which are to be found in the stories of the bible. 198 the sacred historians themselves recognize the existence and the power of the magic which boldly rivalled that of moses. the bible tells us that jannes and jambres, pharaoh's magicians, at first performed "the same miracles" as moses, and that they declared those whi

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

. not only does it accept and recommend the results of analysis, but it proceeds still further. if analysis aims at the acceptance of the unconscious, and the validity of its co-existence with consciousness, then magic may be said to be a technique for realizing the deeper levels of the unconscious. these are levels of power and realization whose value we can but dimly grasp through contemplation of religious figures of the past. buddha, jesus, krishna, st. francis, and a host of others are instances of such illuminated men--of individuals who have striven, all in different ways, to know themselves and attain to a realization of their true divine nature. if so we wish, the techruques they employed we may call devotion, meditation, and contemplation. fundamentally however, they are identica

and spiritual integration. it is a systematic method of self-development and mystical ascent to universal wholeness on all levels of being. the main objective of yoga is the purification of the soul in order that the incarnated ego may be liberated from the karmic wheel. there are several different types of yoga, such as: bhakti yoga: union through devotion. dharma yoga: union through the virtues of religious duties. hatha yoga: union through physical discipline-breathing and postures. karma yoga: union through proper action or work in daily life. kriya yoga: union through the sacred outlook in everyday life, domestic ritual, and purification. laya yoga: union through developing the "serpent fire" or kundalini force. mantra yoga: union through spells and incantations. raja yoga: union thou

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

e. while the amateur investigators tend to concentrate on the very subjective descriptions of the observers, i probed deeper and studied the witnesses themselves. many, i found, suffered certain medical symptoms such as temporary amnesia, severe headaches, muscular spasms, excessive thirst and other effects, all of which have been observed throughout history in religious miracles (the appearances of religious apparitions, demonology, occult phenomena, and contacts with fairies. all of these manifestations clearly share a common source or cause. while chimeras can come in all sizes and shapes, ranging from twenty-foot giants to animated tin cans only a few inches in height, the most fascinating type is one who has appeared in almost every country on earth. in other ages he was regarded as t

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

ages of the works of aleister crowley? h listen. have any of crowley fs works been printed pueris virginibusque? are they intended for the gaping public? are they devoured by mental babes and sucklings, or worse, forcibly crammed down their throats in simple or other forms? i think not. to some it may seem curious that these poems are published by a society called gthe society for the propagation of religious truth. h by whom is the bible published? is it not also a religious society, and is the bible immaculate? was it not sir richard burton, the greatest of orientalists, who resolved in case the rabid pornophobic suggestions of certain ornaments of the home press were acted upon, to appear in court with the bible and shakespeare under one arm, and petronius arbiter and rabelais under the

but the new gods arise from rottenness *the fatal force, vol. i, p. 143. the first cause, a pervading terror, was grand in its wilfulness compared with the degraded images which soon eclipsed man fs reason, monopolizing worship and exacting prayer: what folly can compare with such stupidity, as prayer *the sword of song, pentecost, vol. ii, p. 178. crowley very truly remarks in that battering-ram of religious destruction, gpentecost h. a witty note is appended, quoted from the gsydney bulletin, h which suggested, that instead of perpetually worrying the almighty for rain, the people should pray once and for all for a high range of mountains in central australia, which would of course supply rain automatically*1. that man cannot elude fate by such a paltry dodge; for even the god of our ima

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

of bolgres, bougres, or bogres, became the popular name for heretics in general. with these heresies, through the more sensual parts of gnosticism and manich ism, there appears to be left hardly room for doubt that the ancient phallic worship, probably somewhat modified, and under the shadow of secret rites, was imported into western europe; for, if we make allowance for the willing exaggerations of religious hatred, and consequent popular prejudice, the general conviction 176 on the worship of the that these sectarians had rites and practices of a licentious character appears too strong to be entirely disregarded, nor does it present anything contrary to what we know of the state of medi val society, or to the facts which have already been brought forward in the present essay. these early

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

times, because records of these unions have been recorded in historical accounts and were regarded by the authors as factual. one of the most famous is the marriage between king numa of rome and the water nymph egeria, who dwelled in a spring within a sacred grove near the porta capena in the south wall of the old city of rome. the king went to her at night and received instruction in the making of religious laws, for which he was in later centuries renowned. although the satirist juvenal called egeria the king's mistress, others refer to her as his wife. the roman historian varro believed that the marriage between numa and egeria was a mythic explanation for the king's use of water divination, as saint augustine reports in his city of but in spite of varro's cynicism, such unions did occ

UNCLE SETNAKT SEZ BECOME EVIL AND RULE THE WORLD2

re self. we are gods after all. don't look for omens- you only recognize them long afterwards. 3. personalize your magic. white magic insists on repetitions. you say this, do that, breathe this way. in black magic, we move toward our own godhood. this is a harder path. we actively use our own memories and moods in the ritual chamber. this is not to be confused with introspection or simple moments of religious ecstasy. we refine and use our moods deliberately. they are just as concrete as swords, bells, incense, etc. and much more powerful. but like tools, we pick up our moods and use them and put them away. since black magic requires a tremendous self awareness, it is not for psychotics or weak-willed individuals. we do not deny that unaware individuals may achieve great sorcery, but they

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

nt. they decided after much argument that as the church didn't much mind their being heathens they would turn protestant' i can very well imagine that perhaps in king john's time, when all england was under interdict- when, as the immortal smith minor said 'the pope made a law that no one might be born, get married or die, for the space of ten years- then many moderately good christians, deprived of religious consolation, might easily have turned to the rival religion. after all, the witches' paradise is very attractive to the ordinary man. similar causes on the continent may have brought numerous converts to the cult and these may have brought in new ideas. possibly the great god, the protector, the giver of rest and peace, slowly came to be thought of only in his function as god of death

ugh the cult is very interesting and in part extremely fine, it is primitive, and when people 'let loose' in any community, then things are bound to happen and they do things which they would not normally do on their own. this is doubtless very distressing to the puritans; but then puritans rather glory in being 'distressed' at things and i can see the witches' point of view. we talk a great deal of religious freedom, of our rights, and the liberty of the subject, but we still deny all liberty to witches. they are still persecuted just because some snooper was shocked by finding people in some lonely place dancing naked round a fire at night many hundreds of years ago. people are still being shocked these days at what they see on the beaches and elsewhere, and rush to the newspapers to com

WICCA MAGICK OCCULT THREE GREEN BOOKS DRUIDISM

orld, and protect it from the chance and change of circumstance; but the springs of life are deeper, and often escape recognition. they are to be found in the vital union of the society with god and with one another, a union which allows the free flowing through the society of spiritual life which is its strength. such words as discipleship, fellowship, brotherhood, describe these central springs of religious fellowship. a starfish anonymous, collected by scharding one day a young man was walking along a deserted beach. he saw a frail old man bend over and pick up a starfish and put it back into the receding ocean. he watched for awhile, and to his amazement, the old man picked up one starfish after another and placed it back into the water. the young man walked up to the old man, who was

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

ns whereof he explained all ideas concerning the nature of things, and the same method of explaining the secrets of nature is once again being insisted upon in the new revelation of the secret doctrine, by h. p. blavatsky. numbers are a key to the ancient views of cosmogony in its broad sense, spiritually as well as physically considered and to the evolution of the present human race; all systems of religious mysticism are based upon numerals. the sacredness of numbers begins with the great first cause, numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott the one, and ends only with the naught or zero--symbol of the infinite and boundless universe. isis unveiled, vol. ii. 407. tradition narrates that the students of the pythagorean school, at first classed as exoteric

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

porality in western thought, is in fact false; the two cannot so easily be separated. 9 there has been a tendency based, in the words of jonathan z. smith, on a groundless distinction 10 to correlate linear time with the historical and cyclical time with the mythical, and likewise to correlate the former with ancient israel and judaism and the latter with either near eastern or hellenistic models of religious philosophy.11 but underlying the biblical and rabbinic conceptions of time is a convergence of history and myth that endows ritual performance with historical meaning and historical facticity with ritual transcendence. 12 recurrent patterns transpire within the narrative framework of linear succession the timelessness of lived time extending in an attenuated circle of 56 chapter two r

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