Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
*THE PHILOSOPHER

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gemon (knocks) 40 hierophant (knocks "khabs" hiereus (knocks "am" hegemon (knocks "pekht" hiereus (knocks "konx" hegemon (knocks "om" hierophant (knocks "pax" hegemon (knocks "light" hierophant (knocks "in" hiereus (knocks "extension" hierophant "all make the neophyte grade sign towards the altar" hierophant "may what we have partaken of sustain us in our search for the quintessence, the stone of the philosophers, true wisdom, perfect happiness, the summon bonum. and may it sustain us in love, truth, and knowledge. i now invoke the divine scribe of this order to record and place this event into thy tablets. i now release any spirits that may have been imprisoned by this ceremony. go back to thine own abodes and habitation with the blessings of yehashua yehovashah, for i now declare this ri

0 0 INITIATION CEREMONY

his place) all rise hiero (knocks) tetelestai! hiereus (knocks) heg (knocks) hiero (knocks) khabs. hiereus (knocks) am. heg (knocks) pekht. hiereus (knocks) konx. heg (knocks) om. hiero (knocks) pax. heg (knocks) light. hiero (knocks) in. hiereus (knocks) extension. all make the signs towards the altar. hiero: may what we have partaken maintain us in our search for the quintessence, the stone of the philosophers. true wisdom, perfect happiness, the summum bonum. officers remain in the temple while the new neophyte is led out by kere 1= 10 zelator grade initiation part i outer order officers hierophant: red robe, red& white nemyss, gold shoes, lamen, white collar, sceptre hiereus: black robe, black& white nemyss, red shoes, lamen, red collar, sword hegemon: white robe, white nemyss, red sh

1 10 INITIATION CEREMONY

countenances, the great archangel metatron. frater (name) before you can be eligible for advancement to the next grade of theoricus you will be required to pass an examination in certain subjects. 1) the names and alchemical symbols of the three principles of nature. 2) the metals attributed in alchemy to the seven planets. 3) the names of the alchemical particular principles, the sun and moon of the philosophers, the green lion, the king and queen. 4) the names and astrological value of the twelve houses of heaven. 5) the names, astrological symbols and values of the aspects of the planets. 6) the meaning of the querent and quesited. 7) the four great classes of astrology. 8) the arrangement of the ten sephiroth, hebrew and english, in the tree of life. this is especially important. 9) th

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK SPELLS

enied or projected on other people whom we then unconsciously disliked because they mirrored our faults. in formal magick, the four elements are seen as providing natural energies for transforming wishes into reality. together they combine to form the fifth element- ether, or akasha- that represents pure spirit, or perfection. medieval alchemists attempted to create this elusive substance, called the philosopher's stone. it was said to turn base metal into gold and, as an elixir according to the eastern tradition, to cure all ills and offer immortality. these elements form the basis for raising power in formal magick and in less formal spells too and are represented by devas, the guardians of the watchtowers or the four main archangels. earth earth represents midnight, winter and the quart

ABRAMELIN1

t jacques de la boucherie which exists at the present day, is the tower, which stands near the place du ch telet, about ten minutes walk from the biblioth que de l'arsenal; and there is yet a street near this tower which bears the title of rue nicolas flamel, so that his memory still survives in paris, together with that of the church close to which he lived, and to which, after the attainment of the philosopher s stone, he and his wife pernelle caused a handsome peristyle to be erected. from his own account, the author of the present work appears to have been born in a.d. 1362, and to have written this manuscript for his son, lamech, in 1458, being then in his ninety-sixth year. that is to say, that he was the contemporary both of nicholas flamel and pernelle, and also of the mystical chr

ALEISTER CROWLEY BOOK OF LIES

er; it is necessary to separate things, in order that they might rejoice in uniting. see liber legis i, 28-30, which is paraphrased in the penultimate paragraph. in the last paragraph this doctrine is interpreted in common life by a paraphrase of the familiar and beautiful proverb "absence makes the heart grow fonder (ps. i seem to get a subtle after-taste of bitterness (it is to be observed that the philosopher having first committed the syllogistic error quaternis terminorum, in attempting to reduce the terms to three, staggers into non distributia medii. it is possible that considerations with sir wm. hamilton's qualification (or quantification) of the predicate may be taken as intervening, but to do so would render the humour of the chapter too subtle for the average reader in oshkosh

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

combine these ideas, not in the mutual toleration of subcontraries, but in the affirmation of contraries, that transcending of the laws of intellect which is madness in the ordinary man, genius in the overman who hath arrived to strike off more fetters from our understanding. the savage who cannot conceive of the number six, the orthodox mathematician who cannot conceive of the fourth dimension, the philosopher who cannot conceive of the absolute all these are one; all must be impregnated with the divine essence of the phallic yod of macroprosopus, and give birth to their idea. true (we may agree with balzac, the absolute recedes; we never grasp it; but in the travelling there is joy. am i no better than a staphylococcus because my ideas still crowd in chains? but we digress. the last att

en among serious philosophers the confusion is very great. such terms as god, the absolute, spirit, have dozens of connotations, according to the time and place of the dispute and the beliefs of the disputants. time enough that these definitions and their inter-relation should be crystallised, even at the expense of accepted philosophical accuracy. 2. the principal sources of our tables have been the philosophers and traditional systems referred to above, as also, among many others, pietri di abano,2 lilly, eliphaz levi, sir r. burton, swami vivekananda, the hindu, buddhist, and chinese classics, the q ran and its commentators, the book of the dead, and, in particular, original research. the chinese, hindu, buddhist, moslem and egyptian systems have never before been brought into line with

testy senior of genesis, that lawgiver of leviticus, that phallus of the depopulated slaves of the egyptians, that jealous king-god of the times of the kings, that more spiritual conception of the captivity, only invented when all temporal hope was lost, that medi val battleground of cross-chopped logic, that being stripped of all his attributes and assimilated to parabrahman and the absolute of the philosopher? satan, again, who in job is merely attorney-general and prosecutes for the crown, acquires in time all the obloquy attaching to that functionary in the eyes of the criminal classes, and becomes a slanderer. does any one really think that any angel is such a fool as to try to gull the omniscient god into injustice to his saints? then, on the other hand, what of moloch, that form of

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

siastical persecution, and the profanation of the secrets of power, were equally dreaded. worse still, from our point of view, this motive induced writers to insert intentionally misleading statements, the more deeply to bedevil unworthy pretenders to their mysteries. we do not propose to discuss any of the actual processes. most readers will be already aware that the main objects of alchemy were the philosopher's stone, the medicine of metals, and various tinctures and elixirs possessing divers virtues; in particular, those of healing disease, extending the span of life, increasing human abilities, perfecting the nature of man in every respect, conferring magical powers, and transmuting material substances, especially metals, into more valuable forms. the subject is further complicated by

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

get any book for free on: www.abika.com 88 curse. its primary theorem is the "first noble truth" of the buddha "everything is sorrow" in the primitive classics of this school the idea of sorrow is confused with that of sin (this idea of universal lamentation is presumably responsible for the choice of black as its symbolic colour. and yet? is not white the chinese hue of mourning) the analysis of the philosophers of this school refers every phenomenon to the category of sorrow. it is quite useless to point out to them that certain events are accompanied with joy: they continue their ruthless calculations, and prove to your satisfaction, or rather dissatisfaction, that the more apparently pleasant an event is, the more malignantly deceptive is its fascination. there is only one way of escap

row is nothing, and that therefore to escape from sorrow is the attainment of nothingness) western philosophy has on occasion approached this doctrine. it has at least asserted that no known form of existence is exempt from sorrow. 50 huxley says, in his evolution and ethics "suffering is the badge of all the tribe of sentient things" magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 89 the philosophers of this school, seeking, naturally enough, to amend the evil at the root, inquire into the cause of this existence which is sorrow, and arrive immediately at the 'second noble truth' of the buddha "the cause of sorrow is desire. they follow up with the endless concatenation of causes, of which the final root is ignorance (i am not concerned to defend the logic of this school: i me

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

else. now the mind refuses to rest in a belief of the unreality of its own experiences. it may not be what is seems; but it must be something, and if (on the whole) ordinary life is something, how much more must that be by whose light ordinary life seems nothing! the ordinary man sees the falsity and disconnectedness and purposelessness of dreams; he ascribes them (rightly) to a disordered mind. the philosopher looks upon waking life with similar contempt; and the person who has experienced dhyana takes the same view, but not by mere pale intellectual conviction. reasons, however cogent, never convince utterly; but this man in dhyana has the same commonplace certainty that a man has on waking from a nightmare "i wasn't falling down a thousand flights of stairs, it was only a bad dream" si

e three spheres of lead, tin, and gold respectively; the moons are silver, and the grip contains quicksilver, thus making the sword symbolic of the seven planets. but this is a phantasy and affectation "whoso taketh the sword shall perish by the sword" is not a mystical threat, but a mystical promise. it is our own complexity that must be destroyed. 89 here is another parable. peter, the stone of the philosophers, cuts off the ear of malchus, the servant of the high priest (the ear is the organ of spirit. in analysis the spiritual part of malkuth must be separated from it by the philosophical stone, and then christus, the anointed one, makes it whole once more "solve et coagula" it is noticeable that this takes place at the arrest of christ, who is the son, the ruach, immediately before hi

rom the initials of the sentence "ateh gibor leolahm adonai "to thee be the power unto the ages, o my lord" and the acid which eats into the steel should be oil of vitrol. vitrol is a notariqon of "visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem" that is to say: by investigating everything and bringing it into harmony and proportion you will find the hidden stone, the same stone of the philosophers of which mention has already been made, which turns all into gold. this oil which can eat into the steel, is further that which is written, liber lxv, i, 16 "as an acid eats into steel. so am i unto the spirit of man" note how closely woven into itself is all this symbolism! the centre of ruach being the heart, it is seen that this sword of the ruach must be thrust by the magician

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE LOST CONTINENT

in powder finer than precipitated gold, harder than diamond, eleven times heavier than yellow phosphorus, quite incombustible, and so shockingly poisonous that, in spite of every precaution, an ounce of it cost the lives (on an average) of some two hundred and fifty men. of its properties i shall speak later. the people were left in utmost slavery and ignorance by the wise counsel of the first of the philosophers of atlas, who had written "an empty brain is a threat to society" he had consequently instituted a system of mental culture, comprising two parts: 1. as a basis, a mass of useless disconnected facts. 2. a superstructure of lies. part 1 was compulsory; the people then took part 2 without protest* the language of the plains was simple but profuse. they had few nouns and fewer verbs

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

nds now incarnate have made the last ten years memorable. al ii,33 "enough of because! be he damned for a dog" the old comment 33. we pass from the wandering in the jungle of reason to- the awakening (see next verse. the new comment this is the only way to deal with reason. reason is like a woman; if you listen, you are lost; with a thick stick, you have some sort of sporting chance. reason leads the philosopher to self-contradiction, the statesman to doctrinaire follies; it makes the warrior lay down his arms, and the lover cease to rave. what is so unreasonable as man? the only because in the lover's litany is because i love you. we want no skeleton syllogisms at our symposium of souls. philosophically 'because is absurd' there is no answer to the question "why" the greatest thinkers hav

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

suddenly, once the rate of change has been sufficiently slowed down, so that, even for a few seconds, the relation of subject and object remains impregnable. it is a circumstance of little interest to the present essayist that this annihilation of duality is associated with intense and passionless peace and delight; the fact has been a bribe to the unwary, a bait for the charlatan, a hindrance to the philosopher; let us discard it* hume, and kant in the prolegomena, discuss this phenomenon unsatisfactorily. a. c. it is this rapture which has ever been the bond between mystics of all shades; and the obstacle to any accurate observation of the phenomenon, its true causes, and so on. this must always be a stumblingblock to more impressionable minds; but there is no doubt as to the fact it is

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 1

gent" now this metal is not in any wise like unto earthly metals; let the brethren well beware, for many false knaves be abroad. three things be golden: the mineral gold of the merchant, that is dross; the vegetable gold that groweth from the seed of the scroll by virtue of the lion; and the animal gold that cometh forth from the regimen of the dragon, and this last is the sole marketable gold of the philosopher. for, behold, an arcanum! i charge you, keep secret this matter; for the vile brothers, could they divine it, would pervert it. this mineral gold cannot be changed into any other substance by any means. this vegetable gold is fluidic; it must increase wonderfully and be fixed in the perfection of the sphinx. but this our animal gold is to this mighty pitch unstable, that it can nei

of the temple of the ego, whose bricks are the impressions. and the ego? the sum of our experience, may be (i doubt it) anyhow, we have got values of "y" and "z" for "x, and the values of "x" and "z" for "y- all our equations are indeterminate; all our knowledge is relative, even in a narrower sense than is usually implied by the statement. under the whip of the clown god, our performing donkeys the philosophers and men of science run round and round in the ring; they have amusing tricks: they are cleverly trained; but they get nowhere. i don't seem to be getting anywhere myself. ii a fresh attempt. let us look into the simplest and most certain of all possible statements "thought exists, or if you will "cogitatur. descartes supposed himself to have touched bed-rock with his "cogito "ergo

r, for all its? form. and the name of that question is nibbana. take this matter of the soul. when mr. judas mccabbage asks the man in the street why he believes in a soul, the man stammers out that he has always heard so; naturally mccabbage has no difficulty in proving to him by biological methods that he has no soul; and with a sunny smile each passes on his way. 128 but mccabbage is wasted on the philosopher whose belief in a soul rests on introspection; we must have heavier metal; hume will serve our turn, may be. but hume in his turn becomes perfectly futile, pitted against the hindu mystic, who is in constant intense enjoyment of his new-found atman. it takes a buddha-gun to knock "his" castle down. now the ideas of mccabbage are banal and dull; those of hume are live and virile; th

is turn becomes perfectly futile, pitted against the hindu mystic, who is in constant intense enjoyment of his new-found atman. it takes a buddha-gun to knock "his" castle down. now the ideas of mccabbage are banal and dull; those of hume are live and virile; there is a joy in them greater than the joy of the man in the street. so too the buddha-thought, anatta, is a more splendid conception than the philosopher's dutch-doll-like ego, or the rational artillery of hume. this weapon, too, that has destroyed our lesser, our illusionary universes, ever revealing one more real, shall we not wield it with divine ecstasy? shall we not, too, perceive the inter-dependence of the questions and the answers, the necessary connection of the one with the other, so that (just as 0 x is an indefinite) we

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

v. vi) open wide your gates, o city of god, for i bring no-one with me. sink your swords and your spears in salutation, for the mother and the babe are my companions. let the banquet be prepared in the palace of the king's daughter. let the lights be kindled; are not we the children of the light"(refrain (v. vii) for this is the key-stone of the palace of the king's daughter. this is the stone of the philosophers. this is the stone that is hidden in the walls of the ramparts. peace, peace, peace unto him that is throned therein"(refrain" now then we are passed within the lines of the army, and we are come unto a palace of which every stone is a separate jewel, and is set with millions of moons. and this palace is nothing but the body of a woman, proud and delicate, and beyond imagination f

ad the crown. he is spirit and matter; he is peace and power; in him is chaos and night and pan, and upon babalon his concubine, that hath made him drunk upon the blood of the saints that she hath gathered in her golden cup, hath he begotten the virgin that now he doth deflower. and this is that which is written: malkuth shall be uplifted and set upon the throne of binah. and this is the stone of the philosophers that is set as a seal upon the tomb of tetragrammaton, and the elixir of life that is distilled from the blood of the saints, and the red powder that is the grinding-up of the bones of choronzon. terrible and wonderful is the mystery thereof, o thou titan that hast climbed into the bed of juno! surely thou art bound unto, and broken upon, the wheel; yet hast thou uncovered the nak

of the neophyte was the falsehood of the zelator! again and again the the fortress must be battered down! again and again the pylon must be overthrown! again and again must the gods be desecrated! and now i lie supine before thee, in terror and abasement. o purity! o truth! what shall i say? my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, o thou medusa that hast turned me to stone! yet is that stone the stone of the philosophers. yet is that tongue hadit. 159 aha! aha! yea! let me take the form of hadit before thee, and sing: a ka dua tuf ur biu bi a'a chefu dudu ner af an nuteru. nuit! nuit! how art thou manifested in this place! this is a mystery ineffable. and it is mine, and i can never reveal it either to god or to man. it is for thee and me! aha! aha! a ka dua tuf ur biu bi a'a chefu dudu ner af an

onx om pax' is the apotheosis of extravagance. the last word in eccentricity. a prettily told fairy-story 'for babes and sucklings' has 'explanatory notes in hebrew and latin for the wise and prudent- which notes, as far as we can see, explain nothing- together with a weird preface in scraps of twelve or fifteen languages. the best poetry in the book is contained in the last section 'the stone of the philosophers' here is some fine work" occultism ramsey (william. astrologie restored: being an introduction to the general and chief part of the language of the stars, in four books, folio "fine "portrait by cross. calf, rebacked, fine copy" 1654 "4 4"s" glanvil (joseph. saducismus triumphatus: or full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions; with letter of dr. more on the same s

ry of certain swedish witches; done into english by ant. horneck. 8vo "curious frontispiece in six "compartments by faithorne. old calf, rebacked" 1681 "1 5"s" alchemy- suchten (alex. van. of the secrets of antimony; also basil valentine's salt of antimony, with its use, translated out of high dutch by daniel cable, a person of great skill in chemistry, 1671- treatise concerning the fiez water of the philosophers, written in he german tongue, and now published in english by j. f. houpreght, a student of the wonderful secrets of hermes "n.d- marrow of alchemy, an experimental treatise discovering the most hidden mystery of the philosopher's elixer, by e. p. philalethes (lewis du moulin, 1654-55. in one volume, 8vo "being a series "of beautifully written manuscripts, as legible as copper-pla

e" etc. etc. portrait of the author, and all the original engravings. 8vo, 406 pp, cloth, 1896. published 15s offered at 7s. 6p. the pillars of the temple, triangle of solomon, the tetragram, the pentagram, magical equilibrium, the fiery sword, realisation, imitation, the kabbalah, the magic chain, necromancy, transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, charms and philtres, the stone of the philosophers, the universal medicine, divination, the triangle of pantacles, the conjuration of the four, the blazing pentagram. medium and mediator, the septenary of talismans, a warning to the imprudent, the ceremonial of initiates, the key of occultism, the sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft and spells, the writing of the stars, philtres and magnetism, the mastery of the sun, the thaumatu

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

cessity (alleged) of recording his results, or failed to overcome the duality of thoth. otherwise, even if he comprehended the base, he certainly failed at the apex of the pyramid. in any case, he cannot blame the ceremony, which is most potent; one or two small details may need correction, but no more. here then he is down at the bottom of the hill again, a rosicrucian sisyphus with the stone of the philosophers! an ixion bound to the wheel of destiny and of the samsara, unable to reach the centre, where is rest. he must add to the entry 1.13 that the "telephone-cross" voices came as he composed himself to sleep, in the will to adonai. this time he detached a body of cavalry to chase them to oblivion. perhaps an unwise division of his forces; yet he was so justly indignant at the eternal

onx om pax' is the apotheosis of extravagance, the last word in eccentricity. a prettily-told fairy-story 'for babes and sucklings' has 'explanatory notes in hebrew and latin for the wise and prudent' which notes, as far as we can see, explain nothing together with a weird preface in scraps of twelve or fifteen languages. the best poetry in the book is contained in the last section 'the stone of the philosophers. here is some fine work."to be obtained of the" walter scott publishing co. ltd. paternoster row, e.c."and through all booksellers""crown 8vo, scarlet buckram, pp. 64. this edition strictly limited to 500 copies. price 10s a. a. publication in class b. book 777 this book contains in concise tabulated form a comparative view of all the symbols of the great religions of the world; t

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 2

which wetteth not the hands" true, much "twaddle" was written concerning balsams, and elixirs, and bloods, which, however, to the merest tyro in alchemy can be sorted from the earnest works as easily as a "bart's" student can sort hair-restoring pamphlets and blackhead eradicators from lectures and essays by lister and m ller. thus frenziedly, at the age of twenty-two, p. set out on the quest of the philosopher's stone. visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultam lapidem veram medicinam; this is indeed the true medicine of souls; and so p. sought the universal solvent vitriolum, and equated the seven letters in vitriol, sulphur, 235 and mercury with the alchemical powers of the seven planets; precipitating the salt from the four elements- subtilis, aqua, lux, terra; and minglin

d of life triumphant over death. he who partaketh with me shall rise with me. i am the manifester in matter of those whose abode is in the invisible. i am purified; i stand upon the universe: i am the reconciler with the eternal gods: i am the perfecter of matter: and without me the universe is not "may what we have this day partaken of, sustain us in our search for the quintessence; the stone of the philosophers; the true wisdom and perfect happiness, and the summum bonum" all then disrobe and disperse. undoubtedly the passing through the ritual of the neophyte had an important influence on p.'s mind, and on his spiritual progress; for shortly after its celebration, we find him experiencing some very extraordinary visions, which we shall enter upon in due course. suffice it to say that by

ot at the outset be mistaken for sarasate or paganini; for there will be discord and confusion of sound. so now, as we start upon the first visions of p. we find chaos piled on chaos, much struggling and noise, a roaring of wild waters in the night, and then finally, melody, silence and the communication of the mystic books of v.v.v.v.v. 301 let us now trace his progress in search of the stone of the philosophers, which is hidden in the mountain of abiegnus. there are eighteen recorded visions33 between the commencement of november and the end of december 1898, but as there is not sufficient space to include them all, only six of the most interesting will be given. being all written in his private hieroglyphic cipher by frater p, we have been obliged to re-write them completely, and elabor

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

nd his tendency (sankhara) to perceive. the oyster gets no fun out of the rose. this state establishes a dualistic conception, such as mansel was unable to transcend, and at the same time places the original rose in its cosmic place. the creative forces that have made the rose and the observer what they are, and established their relation to one another, are now the sole consciousness. here lives the philosopher. easily enough, this state passes into one of pure consciousness (vin n anam. the rose and the observer and their tendencies and relations have somehow vanished. the phenomenon (not the original phenomenon "a rose" but the phenomenon of the tendency to perceive the sensation of a rose) becomes a cloudless light; a static, no longer a dynamic conception. one has somehow got behind t

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 3

nto my tutor's desk, and h2so4, because i poured some on his chair to see if it would turn his trousers red, with the result that what lived beneath mine turned very pink shortly after he had discovered who the miscreant was. how i should have learnt to love chemistry instead of hating it, if i had been taught from sir edward thorpe's little book! there is more elementary education in chapter iv_ the philosopher's stone_ than ever i learnt in five years with newth and thompson; and after all, should not school teach us to love knowledge instead of hating it? should not school teach us the pretty little fables of great men's lives that we can use them in our conversation afterwards, rather than scores of musty dry-as-dust facts, which can only help us to pass dry-as-dust and useless examina

" etc. etc. portrait of the author, and all the original engravings. 8vo, 406 pp, cloth, 1896. published 15s offered at 7s. 6p. the pillars of the temple, triangle of solomon, the tetragram, the pentagram, magical equilibrium, the fiery sword, realisation, initiation, the kabbalah, the magic chain, necromancy, transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, charms and philtres, the stone of the philosophers, the universal medicine, divination, the triangle of pantacles, the conjuration of the four, the blazing pentagram, medium and mediator, the septenary of talismans, a warning to the imprudent, the ceremonial of initiates, the key of occultism, the sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft and spells, the writing of the stars, philtres and magnetism, the mastery of the sun, the thaumatu

n of letters, placed in a certain manner, are said to possess a peculiar species of automatic intelligent vitality, apart from any of the methods given for their use; and students are recommended to make no use of these whatever unless this higher divine knowledge is approached in a frame of mind worthy of it. new pearl of great price: a treatise concerning the treasure and most precious stone of the philosophers; the original aldine edition of 1546, translated into english, with preface and index; the original illustrations, photographically reproduced. crown 8vo, cloth, 1894 (published 12s. 6d. net) 4s. 6d. paracelsus_ the hermetic and alchemical writings of aureolus philippus theophrastus bombast of hohenheim, called paracelsus the great, now for the first time translated into english

s_ the hermetic and alchemical writings of aureolus philippus theophrastus bombast of hohenheim, called paracelsus the great, now for the first time translated into english. edited, with elucidatory notes, a copious hermetic vocabulary and index, by a. e. waite. 2 vols, 4to, cloth, 1894 (published 2 12s. 6d) 27s. 6d. alchemical writings of edward kelly, the englishman's two excellent treatises on the philosopher's stone, together with the theatre of terrestrial astronomy. by edward kelly, translated from the hamburg edition of 1676, and edited, with a biographical preface, emblematic figures. crown 8vo, cloth, 1893 (published, 7s. 6d) 4s. 6d. ashmole (elias) theatrum chemicum britannicum. containing severall poeticall pieces of our famous english philosophers, who have written the hermetiq

onx om pax' is the apotheosis of extravagance. the last word in eccentricity. a prettily told fairy-story 'for babes and sucklings' has 'explanatory notes in hebrew and latin for the wise and prudent_ which notes, as far as we can see, explain nothing_ together with a weird preface in scraps of twelve or fifteen languages. the best poetry in the book is contained in the last section 'the stone of the philosophers' here is some fine work" a. crowley's works the volumes here listed are all of definite occult and mystical interest and importance "the trade may obtain them from "the equinox" 124 victoria street, s. w. tel: 3210 victoria; and messrs. simpkin, marshall, hamilton, kent& co, 23 paternoster row, e.c "the public may obtain them from "the equinox" 124 victoria street, s. w. mr. elkin

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

ts assembled in convocation. the work ranks next to gober as a fountain-head of alchemy in western europe. it reflects the earliest byzantine, syrian and arabian writers. this famous work is accorded the highest place among the works of alchemical philosophy which are available for the students in the english language. the new pearl of great price. the treatise of bonus concerning the treasure of the philosopher's stone. translated from the latin. edited by a. e. waite. crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. net. one of the classics of alchemy, with a very curious account, accompanied by emblematical figures showing the generation and birth of metals, the death of those that are base and their resurrection in the prefect forms of gold and silver. a golden and blessed casket of nature's marvels. by benedictus

ng the generation and birth of metals, the death of those that are base and their resurrection in the prefect forms of gold and silver. a golden and blessed casket of nature's marvels. by benedictus figulus. with a life of the author. edited by a. e. waite. crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. net. a collection of short treatises by various authors belonging to the school of paracelsus, dealing with the mystery of the philosopher's stone, the revelation of hermes, the great work of the tincture, the glorious antidote of potable gold. benedictus figulus connects by imputation with the early rosicrucians. the triumphal chariot of antimony. by basil valentine. translated from the latin, including the commentary of kerckringius, and biographical and critical introduction. edited by a. e. waite. crown 8vo, 4s. 6

&c &c. fourth edition, greatly enlarged and revised, by grand orient. crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 252 pp, 2s. 6d. net. collectanea chemica. being certain select treatises on alchemy and hermetic medicine. by eirenaeus philalethes &c. crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. contents_ the secret of the immortal liquor called alkahest_ aurum potabile_ the admirable efficacy of the true oil of sulphur fire_ the stone of the philosophers_ the bosom book of sir george ripley_ the preparation of the sophic mercury. the hermetic museum, restored and enlarged: most faithfully instructing all disciples of the sopho-spagyric art how that greatest and truest medicine of the philosopher's stone may be found and held. now first done into english from the latin original published at frankfort in the year 1678. containing 22

nter1 i bought his body for ten francs. months before i had bought his soul, bought it for the first glass of the poison_ the first glass of the new series of horrors since his discharge, cured_ cured_ from the "retreat" yes, i tempted him, i, a doctor! bound by the vows_ faugh! i needed his body! his soul? pah! but an incident in the bargain. for soul is but a word, a vain word_ a battlefield of the philosopher fools, the theologian fools, since anaximander and gregory nanzianus. a toy. but the consciousness? that is what we mean by "soul" we others. that then must live somewhere. but is it, as descartes thought, atomic? or fluid, now here, now there? or is it but a word for the totality of bodily sense? as weir mitchell supposed. well, we should see. i would buy a brain and hunt this elu

lashing tablet of mars. after this period, fit on the alembic head, and distil first in balneum mariae, then in balneum arenae till what time the mixture be clean distilled over. s. now let the alchemist take the fluid of the distillate and let him perform over it an invocation of the forces of mercury to act in the clear fluid; so as to formulate therein the alchemic mercury: even the mercury of the philosophers (the residuum of the dead head is not to be worked with at present, but is to be set apart for future use) after the invocation of the alchemic mercury a certain brilliance should manifest itself in the whole fluid (that is to say, that it should not only be clear, but also brilliant and flashing. now expose it in an hermetic receiver for seven days to the light of the sun: at the

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 3

e" etc. etc. portrait of the author, and all the original engravings. 8vo, 406 pp, cloth, 1896. published 15s offered at 7s. 6p. the pillars of the temple, triangle of solomon, the tetragram, the pentagram, magical equilibrium, the fiery sword, realisation, imitation, the kabbalah, the magic chain, necromancy, transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, charms and philtres, the stone of the philosophers, the universal medicine, divination, the triangle of pantacles, the conjuration of the four, the blazing pentagram. medium and mediator, the septenary of talismans, a warning to the imprudent, the ceremonial of initiates, the key of occultism, the sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft and spells, the writing of the stars, philtres and magnetism, the mastery of the sun, the thaumatu

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

onx om pax' is the apotheosis of extravagance, the last word in eccentricity. a prettily told fairy-story 'for babes and sucklings' has 'explanatory notes in hebrew and latin for the wise and prudent- which notes, as far as we can see, explain nothing- together with a weird preface in scraps of twelve or fifteen languages. the best poetry in the book is contained in the last section 'the stone of the philosophers' here is some fine work" occultism to the readers of "the equinox- all who are interested in "curious old" literature should write to frank hollings for his catalogue of over 1000 items. sent post free on receipt of name and address, and all future issues. a few selected items below. the book of ceremonial magic, including the rites and mysteries of goetic theurgy, sorcery, and in

etc, etc "portrait of the author, and all the original engravings" 8vo, 406 pp "cloth" 1896 (pub. 15"s. postage free. 10"s" 6"d" the pillars of the temple, triangle of solomon, the tetragram, the pentagram, magical equilibrium, the fiery sword, realsation, initiation, the kabbalah, the magic chain, necromancy, transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, charms and philtres, the stone of the philosophers, the universal medicine, divination, the triangle of pantacles, the conjuration of the four, the blazing pentagram, medium and mediator, the septenary of talismans, a warning to the imprudent, the ceremonial of initiates, the key of occultism, the sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft and spells, the writing of the stars, philtres and magnetism, the mastery of the sun, the thaumatu

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6

ael; the face of a madonna, perhaps; but a madonna of rodin. besides this, 115 she was seductive, alluring, a messalina rather than an aspasia. chienne de race! she was young, and her lips rather sheered than smiled, rather gloated than sneered. one instinctively muttered the word "cannibal" she had a perfect and perverse enjoyment of life, a perfect and perverse contempt of life; the contempt of the philosopher, the enjoyment of the wallowing pig. procus e grege epicuri. this much edgar rolles smelt rather than saw; for as he turned to her, he caught her eyes. they were the eyes of an enthusiast, of a saint, of an ascetic- but of a saint who, strong in his agony through faith and hope and love, still endures the dark night of the soul "you shall lunch with me, nice boy (she said "and beg

ALICE A BAILEY01 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ATOM

hope in these talks to broaden somewhat our point of view. i hope we shall come to the realisation that the man who is only interested in the scientific aspect, and who confines himself to the study of those manifestations which are purely material, is just as much occupied with the study of the divine as is his frankly religious brother who only concerns himself with the spiritual side; and that the philosopher is, after all, occupied in emphasising for us the very necessary aspect of the intelligence which links the matter aspect and the spiritual, and blends them into one coherent whole. perhaps by the union of these three lines of science, religion, and philosophy we may get a working knowledge of the truth as it is, remembering at the same time that "truth lies within ourselves" no on

lly merges all units and all groups, until you have that sumtotal of manifestation which can be called nature, or god, and which is the aggregate of all the states of consciousness. this is the god to whom the christian refers when he says "in him we live, and move, and have our being; this is the force, or energy, which the scientist recognises; and this is the universal mind, or the oversoul of the philosopher. this, again, is the intelligent will which controls, formulates, binds, constructs, develops, and brings all to an ultimate perfection. this is that perfection which is inherent in matter itself, and the tendency which is latent in the atom, in man, and in all that is. this interpretation of the evolutionary process does not look upon it as the result of an outside deity pouring h

ALICE A BAILEY04 A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

nfluence the individual cells. this work of transmuting cell activity was begun on this planet during the last root-race, and the divine alchemy proceeds. the progress made is as yet but small, but each transmuted conscious cell increases the speed and the accuracy of the work. time alone is needed for the completion of the work. in connection with this matter of transmutation comes the legend of the philosopher's stone, which is literally the application of the rod of initiation, in one sense. division a- manas or mind and its nature i. three manifestations of manas- 179- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust ii. some definitions of manas: 1. manas is the fifth principle. 2. manas is electricity. 3. manas is that which produces cohesion. 4. manas is the key opening the door

naturally to the transmutation of metals into gold with the aim in view of the alleviation of poverty. the mind of the scientist seeks the universal solvent which will reduce matter to its primordial substance, release energy, and thus reveal the processes of evolution, and enable the seeker to build for himself (from the primordial base) the desired forms. the mind of the alchemist searches for the philosopher's stone, that effective transmuting agent which will bring about revelation, and the power to impose the will of the chemist upon the elemental forces, which work in, by, and through matter. the religious man, especially the christian, recognises the psychic quality of this transmutative power, and frequently speaks in the sacred books, of the soul being tried or tested seven times

92."the veda, the world song in human sound that was given to man for his use metaphysically from the standpoint of its meaning, and magically from the standpoint of its proper recitation. the world song obeying certain laws of proportions or the pythagorean arithmetic and imparting its thrilling effect to the domain of cosmic substance, has induced the latter into a crystallisation process that the philosopher plato called the geometry of the cosmos. the various forms that are observed from a molecule of salt crystal to the wonderfully complex organism of the human body are all the structures of the great cosmic geometriser known as viswakarma, the deva carpenter in our puranic writings. the revealed veda whose function is to trace out the cosmos from one basic sound substance symbolised

ALICE A BAILEY05 THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

ror and from danger. this has been very clearly and ably stated by charles johnston in his commentary on this sutra as follows "each state or field of the mind, each field of knowledge, so to speak, which is reached by mental and emotional energies, is a psychical state, just as the mind picture of a stage with the actors on it, is a psychical state or field. when the pure vision, as of the poet, the philosopher, the saint, fills the whole field, all lesser views and visions are crowded out. this high consciousness displaces all lesser consciousness. yet, in a certain sense, that which is viewed as part, even by the vision of a sage, has still an element of illusion, a thin psychical veil, however pure and luminous that veil may be. it is the last and highest psychic state" 51. when this s

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

tative statements and has in it the element of trust in the writers and speakers, and in the trained intelligences of the workers in any of the many and varied fields of thought. the truths accepted as such have not been formulated or verified by the one who accepts them, lacking as he does the necessary training and equipment. the dicta of science, the theologies of religion, and the findings of the philosophers and thinkers everywhere colour the point of view and meet with a ready acquiescence from the untrained mind, and that is the average mind- 10- a treatise on white magic copyright 1998 lucis trust then, secondly, we have discriminative knowledge, which has in it a selective quality and which posits the intelligent appreciation and practical application of the more specifically scie

that interesting sensitivity of man, with its three outstanding characteristics of instinct, intellect and intuition is brought to a condition of intelligent coordination. instinct relates man to the animal world, intellect unites him to his fellow men, whilst the intuition reveals to him the life of divinity. all these three are the subject matter of philosophical investigation, for the theme of the philosophers is the nature of reality and the means of knowledge. the two most modern groups are the psychologists who work under the delphic injunction "man, know thyself, and the financiers who are the custodians of the means whereby man can live upon the physical plane. these two groups necessarily, and in spite of apparent divergences and differences are more synthetic in their foundationa

tive, is but an illusion. we are told again and again in the ancient writings that it is not a principle. why is this so? because it is only an appearance brought about by the merging of the higher three and the fourth, and this appearance is a fiction or a figment of the human mind. i speak not in parable; i utter only facts in nature and one that is slowly coming into mature consideration among the philosophers of both hemispheres. both in the solar system, the macrocosm of the microcosm, and likewise in the microcosm, there are ever the three highest planes which embody the principles and produce the dynamic purpose, and which constitute the four levels of the etheric body of both god and man, viewing them from what we call the energy or physical angle. these four are reflected in the f

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

ration on philosophic studies, patience, caution, absence of the tendency to worry himself or others over trifles. vices of ray: intellectual pride, coldness, isolation, inaccuracy in details, absent-mindedness, obstinacy, selfishness, overmuch criticism of others. virtues to be acquired: sympathy, tolerance, devotion, accuracy, energy and common-sense. this is the ray of the abstract thinker, of the philosopher and the metaphysician, of the man who delights in the higher mathematics but who, unless modified by some practical ray, would hardly be troubled to keep his accounts accurately. his imaginative faculty will be highly developed, i.e, he can by the power of his imagination grasp the essence of a truth; his idealism will often be strong; he is a dreamer and a theorist, and from his w

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

o were devoted to its prosecution were first denominated sages, or wise men. pythagoras termed this system. the gnosis or knowledge of things that are. under the noble designation of wisdom, the ancient- 5- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust teachers, the sages of india, the magians of persia and babylon, the seers and prophets of israel, the hierophants of egypt and arabia, and the philosophers of greece and the west, included all knowledge which they considered as essentially divine; classifying part as esoteric and the remainder as exterior."3 we know much of the exoteric teaching. orthodox and theological christianity is founded on it, as are all the orthodox formulations of the great religions. when, however, the inner wisdom teaching is forgotten and the esoteric si

ALICE A BAILEY13 PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY

she must answer. germany of the faults of the german nation, there is little need to speak; they have been made painfully clear to the entire world. the germany of the mystical poets and writers of the middle ages will again arise the germany of the musical festivals, the germany which has given the world the best of the music of all time, the germany of schiller and of goethe and the germany of the philosophers. the major fault of the german people is an extreme negativity which makes them the most easily "conditioned" people of all time, plus an ability to accept dictatorship and propaganda without any questioning or revolt and with a deep sense of inferiority. the german- 10- problems of humanity copyright 1998 lucis trust people are consequently easily exploited, easily convinced by t

s recognize the self-proven fact that there is a peculiar quality in every man, an innate, inherent characteristic to which one may give the name "mystical perception. this characteristic connotes an undying, though oft unrecognized, sense of divinity; it involves the constant possibility to vision and contact the soul and to grasp (with increasing aptitude) the nature of the universe. it enables the philosopher to appreciate the world of meaning and through that perception to touch reality. it is, above all else, the power to love and to go out towards that which is other than the self. it confers the ability to grasp ideas. the history of mankind is fundamentally the history of the growth of ideas, progressively realized and of man's determination to live by them; with this power goes th

ALICE A BAILEY15 THE DESTINY OF THE NATIONS

tanding silent and still in their pristine magnificence, which today call for the attention of- 64- the destiny of the nations copyright 1998 lucis trust archaeologists and travellers; the forms of lesser magic which they produced were dedicated to the magical protection of the physical form and allied matters. in later days, we have the appearance of alchemy in its many forms plus its search for the philosopher's stone and the teaching as to the three basic mineral elements. they were driven esoterically and from the subjective side of life to search for that which could unify the three lower physical levels and this is in its nature deeply symbolic of racial unfoldment. these levels symbolise the integrated man physical, astral and mental. when to these elements the philosopher's stone i

d this is in its nature deeply symbolic of racial unfoldment. these levels symbolise the integrated man physical, astral and mental. when to these elements the philosopher's stone is added and has done its magical work, then you have the symbolic representation of the control by the soul of the four higher levels of the physical plane, the etheric or energy levels. of this desirable consummation, the philosopher's stone is the emblem. i said "emblem" and i did not say "symbol" a symbol is an outer and visible sign of an inner and spiritual reality, carried out into expression upon the physical plane by the force of the inner embodied life. an emblem is man's formulation of a concept, created by man and embodying for him the truth as he sees it and understands it. a symbol is ever greater i

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

ill gradually begin to pour in. the world must begin to accept and give weight to the conclusions of its intuitives; they have ever- 305- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iii: esoteric astrology copyright 1998 lucis trust taken the first needed steps in the unfoldment of the human consciousness. it is the complexity of detail which primarily is responsible for the confusion. the intuition (as the philosopher understands it) is the ability to arrive at knowledge through the activity of some innate sense, apart from the reasoning or logical processes. it comes into activity when the resources of the lower mind have been used, explored and exhausted. then, and then only, the true intuition begins to function. it is the sense of synthesis, the ability to think in wholes, and to touch the w

ALICE A BAILEY21 EDUCATION IN THE NEW AGE

ed groups or one or two great intuitives. the discussions of the man in the street are today connected with some political, social, educational or religious philosophy, based on some school of idealism. from the standpoint of those who are responsible for man's evolutionary development, a great step forward has been made in the last two hundred years. what were the themes of the intellectuals and the philosophers in the middle ages are today the points for animated discussion in restaurants, railway carriages, or wherever people consort, argue and talk. this is apt to be forgotten, and i would ask you to ponder on its implications and to enquire what is liable to be the final outcome of this widespread ability of the human mind to think in terms of the larger whole and not only in terms of

BASIL VALENTINE TWELVE KEYS

chapter with one more remark. when a man looks into a mirror, he sees therein reflected an image of himself. if, however, he try to touch it, he will find that it is not palpable, and that he has laid his hand upon the mirror only. in the same way, the spirit which must be evolved from this matter is visible, but not palpable. this spirit is the root of the life of our bodies, and the mercury of the philosophers, from which is prepared the liquid water of our art v the water which must once more receive a material form, and be rectified by means of certain purifying agents into the most perfect medicine. for we begin with a firm and palpable body, which subsequently becomes a volatile spirit, and a golden water, without any conversion, from which our sages derive their principle of life

ody, soul, and spirit exist in both, whence the whole matter proceeds. it proceeds from one, and is one matter. bind together the fixed and the volatile; they are two, and three, and yet one only. if you do not understand you will attain nothing. adam was in a bath v v wherein venus found her like, which bath the aged dragon had prepared when his strength was deserting him. there is nothing, says the philosopher, save a double mercury; i say that no other matter has been named; blessed is he who understands it. seek therein, and be not weary; the result justifies the labour. a short appendix and clear resumption of the foregoing tract concerning the great stone of the ancient sages i, basil valentine, brother of the benedictine order, do testify that i have written this little book, wherei

shew. salt of tartar by itself is a powerful fixative, particularly if the heat of quicklime be incorporated with it. for these two substances are singularly efficacious in producing fixation. twelve keys of basil valentine 78 of 95 in the same way, the vegetable salt of wine fixes and volatilizes according to the manner of its preparation. its use is one of the arcana of nature, and a miracle of the philosopher s art. when a man drinks wine, there may be gained from his urine a clear salt, which is volatile, and renders other fixed substances volatile, causing them to rise with it in the alembic. but the same does not fix. if a man drank nothing but wine, yet for all that the salt obtained from his urine would have a different property from that gained out of the lees of wine. for it has

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

ave to be performed through all the planes of existence half unconsciously, if not entirely so, as in the case of the animals. it is owing to this rebellion of intellectual life against the morbid inactivity of pure spirit, that we are what we are- self-conscious, thinking men, with the capabilities and attributes of gods in us, for good as much as for evil. hence the rebels are our saviours. let the philosopher ponder well over this, and more than one mystery will become clear to him. it is only by the attractive force of the contrasts that the two opposites- spirit and matter- can be cemented on earth, and, smelted in the fire of selfconscious experience and suffering, find themselves wedded in eternity. this will reveal the meaning of many hitherto incomprehensible allegories, foolishly

gassiz 'has spent many hundreds of thousands of years, during the present geological period, in building out the peninsula of florida. produce their offspring from themselves like the buds and ramifications in a tree' bees are somewhat in the same line. the aphides or plant lice keep house like amazons, and virgin parents perpetuate the race for ten successive generations" what say the old sages, the philosopher-teachers of antiquity. aristophanes speaks thus on the subject in plato's "banquet "our nature of old was not the same as it is now. it was androgynous, the form and name partaking of, and being common to both the male and female. their bodies were round, and the manner of their running[[footnote(s* see extracts from that essay in "the theosophist" of february, 1883[[vol. 2, page]

demonstrated its defects. pythagoras and plato, who proceeded from the universals downwards, are now shown more learned, in the light of modern science, than was aristotle. for he opposed and denounced the idea of the revolution of the earth and even of its rotundity "almost all those" he wrote "who affirm that they have studied heaven in its uniformity, claim that the earth is in the centre, but the philosophers of the italian school, otherwise called the pythagoreans, teach entirely the contrary" because (a) the pythagoreans were initiates, and (b) they followed the deductive method. whereas, aristotle, the father of the inductive system, complained of those who taught that "the centre of our system was occupied by the sun, and the earth was only a star, which by a rotatory motion around

nite universal deity, before whose incomprehensible awful grandeur the highest human intellect feels dwarfed. let not the modern philosopher, while arbitrarily placing himself on the highest pinnacle of human intellectuality hitherto evolved, show himself spiritually and intuitionally so far below the conceptions of even the ancient greeks, themselves on a far lower level, in these respects, than the philosophers of eastern aryan antiquity. hylozoism, when philosophically understood, is the highest aspect of pantheism. it is the only possible escape from idiotic atheism based on lethal materiality, and the still more idiotic anthropomorphic conceptions of the monotheists; between which two it stands on its own entirely neutral ground. hylozoism demands absolute divine thought, which would

ss. their jivas (monads) were not ready. these were set apart among the seven (primitive human species. they (became the) narrow-headed. the third were ready. in these shall we dwell, said the lords of the flame and of the dark wisdom (c. this stanza contains, in itself, the whole key to the mysteries of evil, the so-called fall of the angels, and the many problems that have puzzled the brains of the philosophers from the time that the memory of man began. it solves the secret of the subsequent inequalities of intellectual capacity, of birth or social position, and gives a logical explanation to the incomprehensible karmic course throughout the aeons which followed. the best explanation which can be given, in view of the difficulties of the subject, shall now be attempted (a) up to the fou

which very little real philosophy is requisite, in the puranas one may find the most scientific and philosophical "dawn of creation" which, if impartially analyzed and rendered into plain language from its fairy tale-like allegories, would show that modern zoology, geology, astronomy, and nearly all the branches of modern knowledge, have been anticipated in the ancient science, and were known to the philosophers in their general features, if not in such detail as at present! puranic astronomy, with all its deliberate concealment and confusion for the purpose of leading the profane off the real track, was shown even by bentley to be a real science; and those who are versed in the mysteries of hindu astronomical treatises, will prove that the modern theories of the progressive condensation

antages 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- especially the initiate- hesiod's theogony is as historical as any history can be. plato accepts it as such, and gives out as much of its truths as his pledges permitted him. the fact that the atlantes claimed uranos for their first king, and that plato commences his story of atlantis by the division of the great continent by neptune, the grandson of uranos, shows that there were

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

fested universe, or its "atma-buddhi- manas (spirit, soul, intelligence, the triad branching off and dividing into the seven cosmical and seven human principles, in the western kabala of the christian mystics it is the triad or trinity, and with their occultists, the male-female jehovah, jah-havah. in this lies the whole difference between the esoteric and the christian trinities. the mystics and the philosophers, the eastern and western pantheists, synthesize their pregenetic triad in the pure divine abstraction. the orthodox, anthropomorphize it. hiranyagarbha, hari, and sankara- the three hypostases of the manifesting "spirit of the supreme spirit (by which title prithivi- the earth- greets vishnu in his first avatar- are the purely metaphysical abstract qualities of formation, preserva

ge] rest, and may as well mean "holy" as not. it is a blind, very suggestive in connection with certain superstitions- e.g, that of the russian people who will not use the pigeon for food; not because it is "unclean" but because the "holy ghost" is credited with having appeared under the form of a dove* not the mediaeval alchemists, but the magi and fire-worshippers, from whom the rosicrucians or the philosophers per ignem, the successors of the theurgists borrowed all their ideas concerning fire, as a mystic and divine element[[vol. 1, page] 82 the secret doctrine. now, why is light called in the stanzas "cold flame? because in the order of cosmic evolution (as taught by the occultist, the energy that actuates matter after its first formation into atoms is generated on our plane by cosmic

there are two kinds of sidereal beings, the[[footnote(s* says the scholarly vossius, in his theol. cir. i. vii "though st. augustine has said that every visible thing in this world had an angelic virtue as an overseer near it, it is not individuals but entire species of things that must be understood, each such species having indeed its particular angel to watch it. he is at one in this with all the philosophers. for us these angels are spirits separated from the objects. whereas for the philosophers (pagan) they were gods" considering the ritual established by the roman catholic church for "spirits of the stars" the latter look suspiciously like "gods" and were no more honoured and prayed to by the ancient and modern pagan rabble than they are now at rome by the highly cultured catholic

relation of earthly beauty and eternal truth- the uneducated of every nation understood neither, at any time. they do not understand it even now. the evolution of the god-idea proceeds apace with man's own intellectual evolution. so true it is that the noblest ideal to which the religious spirit of one age can soar, will appear but a gross caricature to the philosophic mind in a succeeding epoch! the philosophers themselves had to be initiated into perceptive mysteries, before they could grasp the correct idea of the ancients in relation to this most metaphysical subject. otherwise- outside such initiation- for every thinker there will be a "thus far shalt thou go and no farther" mapped out by his intellectual capacity, as clearly and as unmistakeably as there is for the progress of any na

before the shemesh worship. the ignorance of the incipient reasons for such a distinction, and of occult principles, led the nations into anthropomorphic idol-worship. but the religion of every ancient nation had been primarily based upon the occult manifestations of a purely abstract force or principle now called "god" the very establishment of such worship shows, in its details and rites, that the philosophers who evolved those systems of nature, subjective and objective, possessed profound knowledge, and were acquainted with many facts[[footnote(s* during that period which is absent from the mosaic books- from the exile of eden to the allegorical flood- the jews worshipped with the rest of the semites dayanisi[[hebrew "the ruler of men" the "judge" or the sun. though the jewish canon a

ime, if successful, in simple mortals. sorcery and incantations are regarded as fables now; yet from the day of the institutes of justinian down to the laws against witchcraft of england and america- obsolete but not repealed to this day- such incantations, even when only suspected, were punished as criminal. why punish a chimera? and still we read of constantine, the emperor, sentencing to death the philosopher sopatrus for unchaining the winds, and thus preventing ships loaded with grain from arriving in time to put an end to famine. pausanias, when affirming that he saw with his own eyes "men who by simple prayers and incantations" stopped a strong hail-storm, is derided. this does not prevent modern christian writers from advising prayer during storm and danger, and believing in its ef

and contains the potentialities of every quality in the manvantaric worlds" it is said* hypotheses cosmogoniques, c. wolf, 1886[[vol. 1, page] 600 the secret doctrine. it allows that this "fire mist may have previously existed in a cold, nonluminous and invisible condition (iv "and that finally: it does not profess to discover the origin of things, but only a stadium in material history. leaving "the philosopher and theologian as free as they ever were to seek for the origin of the modes of being* but this is not all. even the greatest philosopher of england- mr. herbert spencer- arrayed himself against the fantastic theory by saying that (a "the problem of existence is not resolved" by it (b) the nebular hypothesis "throws no light upon the origin of diffused matter" and (c) that "the neb

er hope to pass "philosophers in the present as in the past- men who certainly have not worked in the laboratory- have reached the same view from another side" thus mr. herbert spencer records his conviction that 'the chemical atoms are produced from the true or physical atoms by processes of evolution under conditions which chemistry has not yet been able to produce "and the poet has forestalled the philosopher. milton('paradise lost' book v) makes the archangel raphael say to adam, instinct with the evolutionary idea, that the almighty had created 'one first matter, all indued with various forms, various degrees of substance" nevertheless, the idea would have remained crystallized "in the air of science" and never have descended into the thick atmosphere of materialism and profane mortal

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

r power the "ultimate deity" is some genderless force which is so far beyond our comprehension that we can have only the vaguest understanding of its being. yet we know that it is there and, frequently, we wish to communicate with it. as individuals, we wish to thank it for what we have and to ask it for what we need. how do we do this with such an incomprehensible power? in the sixth century bce the philosopher xeno-phones remarked on the fact that deities are determined by ethnic factors. he pointed out that the black ethiopians naturally saw their gods as negroid, whereas the thracians' gods were white, with red hair and gray eyes. he cynically commented that if horses and oxen could carve they would probably represent their gods in animal form! about seven hundred fifty years later max

CASSANDRA EASON A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

enied or projected on other people whom we then unconsciously disliked because they mirrored our faults. in formal magick, the four elements are seen as providing natural energies for transforming wishes into reality. together they combine to form the fifth element- ether, or akasha- that represents pure spirit, or perfection. medieval alchemists attempted to create this elusive substance, called the philosopher's stone. it was said to turn base metal into gold and, as an elixir according to the eastern tradition, to cure all ills and offer immortality. these elements form the basis for raising power in formal magick and in less formal spells too and are represented by devas, the guardians of the watchtowers or the four main archangels. earth earth represents midnight, winter and the quart

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

e sage)the attribution to the andalusian mathematician al-majriti (or al-madjriti d. ca. 1004-7) is considered pseudo-epigraphic. listing of decans. one of the principal sources of the aim of the sage was the encyclopedia of the brethren of purity (ihw n al-saf. king alfonso the wise of castile orders translation of alchemical texts from arabic. he is supposed to have written tesoro a treatise on the philosophers' stone. 1257 franciscan friar bonadventura d'iseo's 'liber compostella' provides some alchemical recipes 1257-67, writes the soul's journey into god while meditating on francis's vision of the six-winged seraph; he also writes an authoritative life of saint francis to replace earlier versions. bonaventure believed that st. francis's order would inherit the 'key of david' given to

l provencal kabbalist 1400-1464 nicholas of cusa 1402-1442 bernard of treviso 1403-1472 cardinal johannes bessarion encouraged the spread of greek studies in italy 1403 king henry iv of england issues a prohibition of alchemy and to stop counterfeit money 1405 moses botarel sefer yezirah commentary 1412-1480 lacinius 1415 early german ms buch der heiligen dreifaltigkeit paralleling the christ and the philosophers' stone 1419 cristoforo de' buondelmonti's purchase, on the island of andros of a manuscript of the hieroglyphica, attributed to horapollo. 1420-1477+ bonifacio bembo 1420 splendor solis manuscript 1423 cards are condemned in a speech made a bologna by st. bernardin of siena. he does not refer to the tarot major arcana 1423-77 townbooks of nuremberg name several women as card-paint

n the the conversion of the jews and a "full restoring of the jewish nation; a literal kingdom on earth. 1558 elizabeth i becomes queen of england; giambattista della porta's magia naturalis published; zohar printed in mantua. john dee propaedeumata. 1559 august, postel and other prisoners are freed upon the death of the pope. 1559-1598 edward kelley theatre of terrestrial astronomy. the stone of the philosophers. 1560-1605 heinrich khunrath proto-rosicrucian amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae "what good are torches, light, or spectacles, to those who will not see" 1560 foxe's book of martyrs. zohar printed in cremona. adam von bodenstein begins his work of editing various writings of paracelsus. giambattista della porta magia naturalis. postel fearing reimprisonment goes to basle and baden

sts and magicians in palestine into arabia accompanied by a christian youth, christoph possible literary model for the development of the character of christian rosencreutz. h. khunrath, the amphitheatre of eternal wisdom (completed by erasmus wolfurt, which reproduced dee s monad and emphasised the symbolism of the microcosm and the macrocosm. containing a correspondence between jesus christ and the philosopher s stone, this work by khunrath was held in high esteem by lutherans, who referred to him in their writings. 1610-1685 joseph de voisin editor of pugio fidei, author of conclusiones cabalisticae 1610-1660 johann harprecht proto-rosicrucian who called himself "filius sendivogii" 1612 flamel figures hierogliphiques (first publication. ruland's lexicon alchemiae. jacob boehme aurora 16

COLLIER IRENE CHINESE MYTHOLOGY

resents streams flowing together, running parallel, merging or diverging from many places and from many different models of reality.1 myths contain strong influences from chinese folk religion, confucianism, taoism, and buddhism. chinese folk religion, the oldest of the four, pays homage to ancestors who watch from afar and guide the lives of those still living on earth. in the fifth century b.c, the philosopher confucius introduced his ideas, which stressed fulfilling obligations and maintaining proper conduct. although confucianism is not a religion, its influence is deeply ingrained in chinese ideas about behavior and government. between 600 300 b.c. taoism emerged. at first, it was a philosophy that encouraged people to seek harmony with the tao, or the way, a nature force. later, it e

wls, jewelry. professor d argenc sums up its symbolism: with time jade came to be associated in popular belief with everything that is noble, pure, beautiful and indestructible. 6 chinese mythology 94 9 monkey introduction by the first century a.d, a philosophy called taoism dominated chinese thought. taoism was based on the tao te ching [dow deh jing, a collection of eighty-one verses written by the philosopher lao-tzu. the tao te ching puts forth the idea of following the tao, usually translated as the way, the natural creative life force of the universe. it also speaks of noninterference, or wu-wei, with living creatures and forces. from a philosophy, taoism gradually grew into a religion. temples were built, and monks were given the task of overseeing these places of worship. the taois

ks of wine, each more fragrant than the one before. in his haste, he accidentally tipped over some wine barrels and broke monkey 101 several casks. monkey ran out into the night, fearing that the palace cooks would find him. looking for a place to hide, he stumbled into tushita palace, where the great philosopher lao-tzu lived. since the wise man was not at home, monkey peeked at all the rooms in the philosopher s house. in the alchemy lab, monkey found five gourds full of the elixir of immortality. on the table, almost a hundred pills, rolled out from the cooled elixir, were neatly lined up in rows, ready for the banquet. he scooped up a fistful of pills and gulped them down like toasted soybeans, scattering the rest all over the floor. he dropped to his hands and knees and grabbed the re

onkey found five gourds full of the elixir of immortality. on the table, almost a hundred pills, rolled out from the cooled elixir, were neatly lined up in rows, ready for the banquet. he scooped up a fistful of pills and gulped them down like toasted soybeans, scattering the rest all over the floor. he dropped to his hands and knees and grabbed the remaining pills, turning over several tables in the philosopher s tidy workroom. surveying the mess he had made in the alchemy lab, and remembering similar scenes of wreckage in the peach garden, kitchen, and wine cellar, monkey decided to sneak out of heaven. when he returned to his mountain home, the monkeys welcomed him with date wine, but having been spoiled by the fine wines of heaven, the monkey king spat out their local brew. he boasted

system is currently favored by chinese scholars. the q is pronounced like ch, the x is pronounced like sh, and zh is pronounced like j. p pa a chinese lute, or musical instrument. quiver a case for holding arrows. sinologist a scholar who studies the language and culture of the chinese people. tao translated as the way, or a nature force. tao te ching a collection of eighty-one verses written by the philosopher lao-tzu, forming the basic ideas of taoism. taoism a religion based on the belief in the tao, or the way. it was originally a philosophy based on the 81 verses of the poet lao-tzu. trigram a design made of three broken and/or solid lines. each design stands for an important element heaven, earth, fire, water, wind, storm, mountain, laa commentary on the seal of the nine angles by m

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

e statistical chances of that. it was these very forces that created the bible and decided what would be in it. they brought together the texts of the old testament with the texts they wrote, or chose, to form the new. they translated it into latin, english, and other languages. even the original versions of the biblical texts continued to be changed and new phrases added whenever it suited them. the philosopher, celsus, wrote to the church leaders in the 3rd century "you utter fables, and you do not even possess the art of making them seem likely..you have altered three, four times and oftener, the texts of your own gospels in order to deny objections to you."41 220 children of the matrix celsus said that the church leaders were forever telling their followers not to examine the evidence

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

ally. the gospels and other books of thebible are only those chosen by the hierarchy of the christian church from those writtenby the pisos and pliny and the many copies and offshoots which followed. many othertexts were available that were just as valid, often very much more so, than those whichmade it into the holy book. texts were rejected, destroyed or rewritten to fit the official116line and the philosopher, celsus, wrote of the church leaders in the third century:you utter fables, and you do not even possess the art of making them seem likely. youhave altered three, four times and oftener, the texts of your own gospels in order to denyobjections to you.25in 1958, a manuscript was discovered at a monastery at mar saba, east of jerusalem,which shows how the jesus story was rewritten by

he bond they have in common, egfire becomes air through the common bond of heat. substances are made from theelements and if you can transform the elements into each other, you must be able totransform the substances the elements are made from. for instance, lead can be changedinto gold. there is, it is believed, a secret powder which is necessary for thistransformation and it has become known as the philosophers stone. the dhautpoulfamily are said to have been holders of such secrets. the document, le serpent rouge,when speaking of the 13th sign of the zodiac, ophiuchus, says: the base lead of mywords may contain the purest gold 13 for five hundred years, rennes-le-chateau wasowned by the count of razes and became an important centre for the cathars. withtheir demise its power waned. a pl

nnier ornavigators and the ones between 1188 and 1918 were listed (or claimed to be) indocuments known as the dossiers secrets, which were privately published textsdeposited at the national library in paris. among them were marie and jean de saint-clair; leonardo da vinci; sandro botticelli, another italian artist and friend of da vinci;nicolas flamel, the famous medieval alchemist; robert fludd, the philosopher; isaacnewton, who discovered the law of gravity and was a major player in the creation ofthe this-world-is-all-there-is version of science; robert boyle, a close friend ofnewton and another founder of modern science; and jean cocteau, the french writerand artist. two others in office during the lifetime of sauniere, were the french writerand poet victor hugo, and his friend the com

DEITUS

had ended and the life-energies had returned to the world. the pre-christian pagan world was more, however, than simply a time of nature worship. men lived in greater harmony with the natural world than they did during the cycle of restriction which followed, but they also celebrated the carnal, exalted the ego, and explored deep philosophical thought. this was the time of the mystery schools and the philosophers of greece. this was the time of the great empires of babylon and rome. this was the time when men discovered astronomy, mathematics, and science. the aeon of isis was not a single aeon but a succession of aeons in a cycle of expansion. the religions which rose during this time involved the worship of fire or of planetary bodies: the sun, the moon, and the stars. 2100 years ago, th

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

always remember that different minds go back different distances, and that for some the veil is drawn in one place, and for others in another. the ignorant man goes no further than the concept of god as an old man with a long white beard who sat on a golden throne and gave orders for creation. the scientist will go back a little further before he is compelled to draw a veil called the ether; and the philosopher will go back yet further before he draws a veil called the absolute; but the initiate will go back furthest of all because he has learnt to do his thinking in symbols, and symbols are to the mind what tools are to the hand-an extended application of its powers. 4. the qabalist takes for his starting-point kether, the crown, the first sephirah which he symbolises by the figure one

ensual advances; but because of the reverence in which the function of sex was held among the greeks, it is probable that at no grade of society did the hetaira approximate to the degradation of the modern professional prostitute. 21. the function of the hetaira was to minister to the intellect of her clients as well as their appetites; she was a hostess as well as a mistress, and to her resorted the philosophers and poets to receive inspiration and sharpen their wits; for it was well realised that there is no greater inspiration to an intellectual man than the society of a vital and cultured woman. 22. in the temples of aphrodite the art of love was sedulously cultivated, and the priestesses were trained from childhood in its skill. but this art was not simply that of provoking passion, b

DONALDTYSON EVILEYE

cult to imagine what practical purpose this gesture might serve, even in a symbolic sense, but it was believed to be a highly effective means of protection. for christians, to cross oneself and to utter a prayer under the breath offered some protection. a cross or crucifix worn around the neck was a sentinel against not only vampires, but the evil eye as well. stories of the evil eye are ancient. the philosopher francis bacon observed "scripture calleth envy an evil eye" a reference to proverbs 23:6-8, which reads "eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats; for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. the morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words"

EMPERORS NEW RELIGION CHURCH OF SATAN

ated his past that have personality cult mentality in the words of michael rose (magister: another common avenue of attack is to charge that members of the church of satan worshipped dr. lavey. these dolts cannot distinguish worship from respect. they imagine that by criticizing dr. lavey they can diminish, or cause us to reject, the church of satan. they do not attack the philosophy; they attack the philosopher. this makes it quite clear that it is they who are the personality cultists [55] while it is true that an attack on the founder does not necessarily imply an attack on the ideology, it is false to state that the attack implies personality cult mentality on behalf of the attacker. the argument may apply to some people, but does not address the following cases, for example: if anythi

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culous spiritual healer at work. escondido, calif: the author [1966. randi, james. flim-flam! buffalo, n.y: prometheus books, 1982. sherman, harold. wonder healers of the philippines. los angeles: devorss, 1967. valentine, tom. psychic surgery. chicago: henry regnery, 1973. agricola name adopted by mineralogist georg bauer (1490.1555, who had also searched for the elixir of life and the secret of the philosophers stone. agrippa von nettesheim, henry cornelius (1486.1535) german soldier and physician, and an adept in alchemy, astrology, and magic. he was born at cologne september 14, 1486, and educated at the university of cologne. while still a youth he served under maximilian i of germany. in 1509 he lectured at the university of dole, but a charge of heresy brought against him by a monk

expected to have a meal outside in the garden. their host urged them to be seated, assuring them that all would be well. though doubtful, they took their places, and had only begun to eat and drink when their annoyance vanished, for the snow around them melted away and the sun shone brightly. the alchemist michael maier (author of museum chimicum, declared that albertus had succeeded in evolving the philosophers stone and passed it to his pupil thomas aquinas, who subsequently destroyed it, believing it to be diabolical. the alleged discoverer himself says nothing on this subject, but, in his de rebus metallicis et mineralibus, he tells how he had personally tested some gold that had been manufactured by an alchemist, and it resisted many searching fusions. whether this story is true or n

ly; and there is sometimes added (3) the manufacture of an artificial process of human life (see homunculus. religiously, the transmutation of metals can be thought of as a symbol of the transmutation of the self to a higher consciousness and the discovery of the elixir as an affirmation of eternal life. the transmutation of metals was to be accomplished by a powder, stone, or elixir often called the philosophers stone, the application of which would effect the transmutation of the baser metals into gold or silver, depending on the length of time of its application. basing their conclusions on the examination of natural processes and metaphysical speculation concerning the secrets of nature, the alchemists arrived at the axiom that nature was divided into four principal regions: the dry, t

e which, applied to matter, exalts and perfects it. this substance, eugenius philalethes and others called the light. the elements of all metals were said to be similar, differing only in purity and proportion. the entire trend of the metallic kingdom was toward the natural manufacture of gold, and the production of the baser metals was only accidental as the result of an unfavorable environment. the philosophers stone was the combination of the male and female seeds that form gold. the composition of these was so veiled by symbolism as to make their precise identification impossible. occult scholar arthur edward waite, summarized the alchemical process once the secret of the stone was unveiled: given the matter of the stone and also the necessary vessel, the processes which must be then u

works, that only those who are instructed by god can achieve the grand secret. others, again, state that while a novice might possibly stumble upon it, unless guided by an adept the beginner has small chance of achieving the grand arcanum. the transcendental view of alchemy, however, rapidly gained ground through the nineteenth century. among its exponents was a. e. waite, who argued, the gold of the philosopher is not a metal, on the other hand, man is a being who possesses within himself the seeds of a perfection which he has never realized, and that he therefore corresponds to those metals which the hermetic theory supposes to be capable of development. it has been constantly advanced that the conversion of lead into gold was only the assumed object of alchemy, and that it was in realit

23 on the part of the alchemical mystic that he might lay himself open through his magical opinions to the rigors of the law. meanwhile, several records of alleged transmutations of base metals into gold have survived. these were reportedly achieved by nicholas flamel, van helmont, martini, richthausen, and sethon. in nearly every case the transmuting element was said to be a mysterious powder or the philosophers stone. modern alchemy a correspondent writing to the british newspaper liverpool post in its saturday, november 28, 1907, edition gave an interesting description of a veritable egyptian alchemist whom he had encountered in cairo not long before: i was not slow in seizing an opportunity of making the acquaintance of the real alchemist living in cairo, which the winds of chance had

clad in the flowing robes of a graduate of al azhar, his long grey beard giving him a truly venerable aspect, the sage by the eager, far-away expression of his eyes, betrayed the mind of the dreamer, of the man lost to the meaner comforts of the world in his devotion to the secret mysteries of the universe. after the customary salaams, the learned man informed me that he was seeking three things.the philosophers stone, at whose touch all metal should become gold.the elixir of life, and the universal solvent which would dissolve all substances as water dissolves sugar; the last, he assured me, he had indeed discovered a short time since. i was well aware of the reluctance of the medieval alchemists to divulge their secrets, believing as they did that the possession of them by the vulgar wo

ment he had ample means of making. but no, he had not yet reached the seventeenth century; he had not observed the fact, but was none the less ready with his answer; the rust of iron was an impurity proceeding from within, and which did not affect the weight of the body in that way. he declared that a few days would bring the realisation of his hopes, and that he would shortly send me a sample of the philosophers stone and of the divine elixir; but although his promise was made some weeks since, i have not yet seen the fateful discoveries. that alchemy has continued to be studied in relatively modern times there can be no doubt. louis figuier in his l alchimie et les alchimistes (1854, dealing with the subject of modern alchemy, as expressed by the initiates of the first half of the ninete

mankind into rapport with the supermundane spheres. modern alchemists, he continued, rejected the greater part of these ideas, especially those connected with spiritual contact. the object of modern alchemy might be reduced to the search for a substance having power to transform and transmute all other substances one into another.in short, to discover that medium known to the alchemists of old as the philosophers stone and now lost to us. in the four principal substances of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote, we have the tetractus of pythagoras and the tetragram of the chaldeans and egyptians. all the sixty elements are referable to these original four. the ancient alchemical theory claimed that all the metals are the same in their composition, that all are formed from sulphur and mercury

ame matter differently arranged and proportioned. this theory successfully demolished the difficulties in the way of transmutation. if transmutation is thus theoretically possible, it only remains to show by practical experiment that it is strictly in accordance with chemical laws, and by no means inclines to the supernatural. at this juncture, the young alchemist proceeded to liken the action of the philosophers stone on metals to that of a ferment on organic matter. when metals are melted and brought to red heat, a molecular change may be produced analogous to fermentation. just as sugar, under the influence of a ferment, may be changed into lactic acid without altering its constituents, so metals can alter their character under the influence of the philosophers stone. the explanation of

character under the influence of the philosophers stone. the explanation of the latter case is no more difficult than that of the former. the ferment does not take any part in the chemical changes it brings about, and no satisfactory explanation of its effects can be found either in the laws of affinity or in the forces of electricity, light, or heat. as with the ferment, the required quantity of the philosophers stone is infinitesimal. the alchemist then averred that medicine, philosophy, every modern science was at one time a source of such errors and extravagances as are associated with medieval alchemy, but they are not therefore neglected and despised. why, then, should we be blind to the scientific nature of transmutation? one of the foundations of alchemical theories was that minera

ally called for some music, alfarabi accompanied the musicians on a lute with such marvelous skill and grace that the entire company was charmed. the sultan wished to keep such a valuable philosopher at his court, and some say that alfarabi accepted his patronage and died peacefully in syria. others maintain that he informed the sultan that he would never rest till he had discovered the secret of the philosophers stone, which he believed himself on the verge of finding. they say that he set out but was attacked and killed by robbers in the woods of syria. alford, alan f (1961) alan alford, an independent researcher on ancient mysteries, was born and raised in england. he attended the university of birmingham, where he earned a degree in commerce (1982) and later completed his mba at covent

nthly publication with reports on ufos, mysterious animals and other fortean phenomena. last known address: 7098 edinburgh, lambertville, mi 48144. anonymous adept alchemist alluded to in the two-volume work entitled mundus subterraneus (amsterdam, 1665, published by the learned german jesuit of the seventeenth century with athanasius kircher (1602.1680. this alchemist long endeavored to discover the philosophers stone and met with no success. one day he encountered a venerable individual who said to him: i see by these glasses and this furnace that you are engaged in search after something very great in chemistry, but, believe me, you will never attain your object by working as you are doing. these words led the alchemist to suspect that his visitor was learned in alchemy, so he begged hi

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ncients, signified wise, which was the interpretation of it given by the greek and roman writers. stobaeus expressly called the science of the magi, the service of the gods, as did plato. according to joseph ennemoser in his book the history of magic (1847, magiusiah, madschusie signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and afterward magi and magician. the philosopher j. j. brucker maintained that the primitive meaning of the word was fire worshiper and worship of the light, an erroneous opinion. in modern persian, the word is mog; mogbed signifies high priest. the high priest of the parsees at surat was called mobed. others derive the word from megh, meh-ab signifying something that is great and noble; zoroaster s disciples were called meghesto

s an antidote to poisons. he also points to the virtue of seven, as in the power of the seventh son to cure the king s evil. one was the origin and common measure of all things. it is indivisible, not to be multiplied. in the universe there is one god; one supreme intelligence in the intellectual world, man; in the sidereal world, one sun; one potent instrument and agency in the elementary world, the philosophers stone; one chief member in the human world, the heart; and one sovereign prince in the nether world, lucifer. two was the number of marriage, charity, and social communion. it was also regarded sometimes as an unclean number; in the bible, beasts of the field went into noah s ark by twos. three had a mysterious value as shown in time s trinity. past, present and future; in that of

tz (ca. 1608) early alchemist whose work is recorded in his tract gemma gemmarum alchimistarum; oder, erleuterung der parabolischen und philosophischen schrifften fratris basilij, der zwolff schlussel, von dem stein der vharalten weisen, und desselben aufsdrucklichen und warhaften praeparation; sampt etlichen seinen particularen, published in leipzig in 1608. this edition also includes a tract on the philosophers stone by conrad schulern (see also alchemy) mellon, annie fairlamb (mrs. j. b. mellon (ca. 1850.ca. 1938) british materialization medium. her first supernormal experience was at the age of nine, when she saw her brother at sea in danger of drowning. later physical powers manifested in a violent trembling of hand and arm. this was followed, in the family circle, by automatic writin

alchemy. in its refined state it forms a coherent, very mobile liquid that at ordinary room temparature was a well-known unique substance. the early alchemists believed that nature formed all metals from mercury, and that it was a living and feminine principle. it went through many processes, and the metal that evolved was pure or impure according to the locality of its production. the mercury of the philosophers stone needed to be a purified and revivified form of the ordinary metal; as the arabian alchemist geber stated in his summa perfectionis: mercury, taken as nature produces it, is not our material or our physic, but it must be added to. mercury seems to have been an entirely different substance than any ordinary metal or chemical element. depending upon one s interprepation of alch

nd went to palestine, found a retreat in the vicinity of jerusalem, and began to lead a hermit s life there. meanwhile the erudition of the deceased arabian acquired a wide celebrity, and some of his manuscripts chanced to fall into the hands of kalid, sultan of egypt. he was a person of active and enquiring mind, and observing that on the cover of the manuscripts it was stated that the secret of the philosophers stone was written within, he naturally grew doubly inquisitive. he found, however, that he himself could not elucidate the precious documents, and therefore he summoned illuminati from far and near to his court at cairo, offering a large reward to the man who should solve the mystery. many people presented themselves in consequence, but the majority of them were mere charlatans, a

lluminism and drawing to itself like a magnet all the scattered truths of the bygone ages, could alone preserve mankind from skepticism. he occupied himself only with the most abstract questions concerning knowledge and being. truth, according to plotinus, is not the agreement of our comprehension of an external object with the object itself, but rather, the agreement of the mind with itself. for the philosopher the objects we contemplate, and that which contemplates are identical; both are thought. all truth is then easy. reduce the soul to its most perfect simplicity, and we find it is capable of exploration into the infinite; indeed it becomes one with the infinite. this is the condition of ecstasy, and to accomplish it, a stoical austerity and asceticism was necessary. the neoplatonist

but three times as yet, and porphyry hitherto not once. all that tends to purify and elevate the mind will assist you in this attainment, and facilitate the approach and the recurrence of these happy intervals. there are, then, different roads by which this end may be reached. the love of beauty which exalts the poet; that devotion to the one and that ascent of science which makes the ambition of the philosopher; and that love and those prayers by which some devout and ardent soul tends in its moral purity towards perfection. these are the great highways conducting to that height above the actual and the particular where we stand in the immediate presence of the infinite, who shines out as from the deeps of the soul. plotinus appears to have been greatly indebted to numenius for some of th

spiritual servants, honours the sons of this sacred science. after receiving this very friendly and encouraging letter, norton hurried straightway to ripley s presence, and thereafter for more than a month the two were constantly together. the elder man taught the novice many things, and he even promised that, if norton showed himself an apt and worthy pupil, he would impart to him the secret of the philosophers stone. in due course this promise was fulfilled, though it is reported that norton s own alchemical research met with various disappointments. on one occasion, for instance, when he had almost perfected a certain tincture, his servant absconded with the crucible containing the precious fluid; while at a later time, when the alchemist was at work on the same experiment and thought

ndon: j. murray, 1861. reprint, new york: negro university press, 1961. williams, joseph j. voodoos and obeahs; phases of west indian witchcraft. new york: dial press, 1933. obercit, jacques hermann (1725.1798) swiss mystic and alchemist. he was born december 2, 1725, in arbon, switzerland, the son of a scientist keenly interested in hermetic philosophy. early in his life he decided to search for the philosophers stone, hoping to resuscitate the fortunes of his family, which were at a low ebb. the young man worked strenuously, maintaining that whoever would triumph in this endeavor must not depend on scientific skill alone but rather on constant communion with god. notwithstanding this theory, he soon found himself under the ban of the civic authorities, who came to his laboratory and forc

o templi orientis ouija board apparatus for psychic communication. the name was derived from the french word oui and the german word ja meaning yes. a medium spells out messages by pointing out letters on a board with the apex of a wooden tripod on rollers. it is an ancient invention; a similar device was used in the days of pythagoras, about 540 b.c.e. according to a french historical account of the philosopher s life, his sect held seances or circles at a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs, which the philosopher and his pupil, philolaus, interpreted to the audience as being revelations supposedly from the unseen world. the original ouija board was replaced with a piece of alphabetical cardboard, and a finger-like pointer was added to the narrow end of the wooden tripod

ey were individuals put out of heaven because of their great sin. some of these devils had individual names and were the tempters of men to special sins; others entered into the bodies of men and took possession of them. it was also believed that the souls of wicked men joined the paigoels. sources: kindersley, nathaniel e. specimens of hindoo literature. n.p, 1794. palingenesy a term employed by the philosophers of the seventeenth century to denote the resurrection of plants, and the method of achieving their astral appearance after destruction. the roman poet/philosopher lucretius (ca. 98.55 b.c.e) attacked the popular notion of ghosts by claiming they were not spirits returned from the mansions of the dead, but nothing more than thin films, pellicles, or membranes, cast off from the sur

e various elements of the human body into harmony with the elements of nature.fire, light, earth.old age, and death might be indefinitely postponed. his experiment in the extraction of essential spirits from the poppy resulted in the production of laudanum (a popular form of opium through the nineteenth century, which he prescribed freely in the form of three black pills. the recipes he gives for the philosophers stone, the elixir of life, and various universal remedies are exceedingly obscure. he was known as the first physician to use opium and mercury, and to recognize the value of sulphur. he applied himself also to the solution of a problem that exercised the minds of scientific men in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.whether it was possible to produce life from inorganic matter

e body directs and governs at its will. this universal spirit is not simple.not more simple, for instance, than the number 100, which is a collection of units. the spiritual units are scattered in plants and minerals, but principally in metals. there exists in these inferior productions of the earth a host of sub-spirits that sum themselves up in us, as the universe does in god. so the science of the philosopher has to unite them to the body, disengage them from the grosser matter that clogs and confines them, and separate the pure from the impure. to separate the pure from the impure is to seize upon the soul of the heterogeneous bodies and evolve their predestined element, the seminal essence of beings, and the first being, or quintessence. to understand this latter word quintessence, it

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

i (d.1111, and the recorded teachings of sufi masters such as rumi, ibn arabi, al- suhrawardi, ibn ata allah, al bayazid al bistami, al junaid of bagdad, abdul qadir al jilani, al hallaj and others.30 western alchemy was derived in great measure from the writings of a number of sufis concerning the mystical analogy of the purification and transformation of metals into the stone of unity, known as the philosopher s stone. 31 33' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% the mystical worldview of sufism, as delineated in the qur an, is basically identical to the qabalistic worldview rooted in the torah. as with the qabalah, someone new to the study of sufism will find a plethora of specialized and abstract terminology used to describe its mystical worldview. the challenge is further exacerbated by the fact that the

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

al world or terrestrial world, the celestial world or the world of the stars, and the supercelestial world. between all these worlds there was continuity of influences. pico found no difficulty in linking this concept both with neoplatonism and with the christian or pseudo-dionysian mysticism. he makes the link with neoplatonism by identifying (as ficino had also done) the angelic world with what the philosophers call the intelligible world. the highest of the three worlds is called "by the theologians angelic, and by the philosophers, intelligible; then comes the celestial world, and last the sublunar world which we inhabit.2 he then goes on to draw the parallel with the three worlds of the cabalists, which moses represented symbolically when he divided the tabernacle into three parts.3 p

the renaissance in historical thought, cambridge, mass, 1948. 161 against magic (2) the humanist tradition defended himself from the charge of having lost time over barbarous authors which he might have used for polite scholarship: we have lived illustrious, friend ermolao, and to posterity shall live, not in the schools of the grammarians and teaching-places of young minds, but in the company of the philosophers, conclaves of sages, where the questions of debate are not concerning the mother of andromache or the sons of niobe and such light trifles, but of things human and divine.1 pico is reproaching his humanist friend for remaining on the childish level of the trivium, with his grammatical and linguistic studies and cultivation of purely literary ornament, whereas he himself is concern

form which he used in the works written in england (except in the thirty seals which is the only one of these which is in latin) suited his remarkable dramatic gifts. he felt such gifts stirring strongly within him and describes himself as hesitating between the tragic and the comic muse.2 though he wrote no plays in england, some of the scenes in the dialogues for example between the pedants and the philosopher in the cena are inimitable though scurrilous. bruno's genius is developing towards poetic and literary expression in england, perhaps encouraged by happier conditions than he was ever to meet with again. he had during his english period a sense of backing and support, whether or not actually from the french king, certainly from the french ambassador who seems to have been very kind

tion with the unsolved mystery of the origin of the rosicrucians who are first heard of in germany in the early seventeenth century, in lutheran circles.1 early in 1588, bruno left wittenberg for prague where he stayed for about six months.2 here the emperor rudolph ii held his court and gathered under his wing astrologers and alchemists from all over europe to assist in his melancholy search for the philosopher's stone. bruno was not a practising alchemical hermetist, but he tried to interest the emperor in his "mathesis, dedicating to him a book, which was published at prague, and which had the provocative title of articuli adversus mathematicos? it may be only a curious coincidence that fabrizio mordente happened to be in prague at this time, in the position of imperial astronomer!4 the

divine which are very like passages in the eroici furori; and he gives another formulation of his belief that poetry, painting, and philosophy are all one, to which he now adds music "true philosophy is music, poetry or painting; true painting is poetry, music, and philosophy; true poetry or music is divine sophia and painting."3 it is in such contexts as these, which have been little studied by the philosophers who have admired giordano bruno, that one should see the philosophy of the infinite universe and the innumerable worlds. such concepts are not with him primarily philosophical or scientific thinking, but more in the nature of hieroglyphs of the divine, attempts to figure the infigurable, to be' op. lat, ii (iii, p. 102. 2 op. lat, ii (iii, p. 117. 3 ibid, p. 198. 336 giordano brun

in connection with such a famous catholic work is extraordinary enough in view of his past history. and the faith which campanella wanted to propagate throughout the whole world was, of course, the catholicised natural religion. as blanchet points out, in the atheismus triiimphatus, another book associated with the missionary plans to all heretics, mohammedans, jews, and all peoples of the world, the philosopher reproduces the visions and the conception of natural religion which had inspired ins enterprise of 1599- it was in 1628, in rome, that campanella did his anti-eclipse magic for pope urban viii; walker sees this effort as, in part, an effort to obtain this astrologically-minded pope's favour for his schemes "if he could convince the pope of the sun's slow approach and the events thi

and first rightly thought of divine things; and engraved his opinion for all eternity on lasting stones and huge rocks. thence orpheus, musaeus, linus, pythagoras, plato, eudoxus, parmenides, melissus, homerus, euripides, and others learned rightiy of god and of divine things. and this trismegistus was the first who in his pimander and asclepius asserted that god is one and good, whom the rest of the philosophers followed.1 thus the hieroglyphs and the hermetka were both writings of hermes trismegistus in which he made the same statements about divine things in which he was followed by all the poets and philosophers of antiquity. in the light of this profound belief, kircher interprets all egyptian monuments and obelisks, as having written on them in the hieroglyphs the truths of ficinian

fied by giordano bruno. from the new approach to him put forward in this book, bruno once more swings into place as an important landmark in the history of thought, not for the old wrong reasons but for the new right ones. ever since domenico berti2 revived him as the hero who died rather than renounce his scientific conviction of the truth of the copernican theory, the martyr for modern science, the philosopher who broke with medieval aristotelianism and ushered in the modern world, bruno has been in a false position. the popular view of bruno is still roughly as just stated. if i have not finally proved its falsity, i have written this book in vain. for what is the truth? bruno was an out-and-out magician, an "egyptian" and hermetist of the deepest dye, for whom the 1 f. bacon, works, ed

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL 2

rknown attachment to masonry, i have no doubt that you will perform all the duties which may be devolved upon you in a manner creditable to yourself and satisfactory to the grand lodge. maine masonic text book file//c /grand lodge/bluebook/bluebook1.htm (76 of 76 [11/22/1999 11:51:56 f freemasonry and catholicism by max heindel [1865-1919] click here to return to the previous html page. part vii the philosopher's stone--what it is and how it is made. those who have studied the writings of the ancient alchemists have always been much mystified by what is said concerning the philosopher's stone and the process of transmuting the base metals into gold. these claims have naturally given rise to a great deal of vague speculation. from time to time, students have asked for a direct statement fr

raised higher and higher and when it reaches the pituitary body and the pineal gland in the brain, it sets them to vibrating, opening up the spiritual worlds and enabling man to commune with the gods. then this fire radiates in all directions and permeates the whole body and its auric atmosphere, and man has become a living stone, whose luster surpasses that of the diamond or the ruby. he is then the philosopher's stone" there are many other symbols and similes taken from the world of chemistry and applied to the processes of spiritual growth which eventually makes men living stones in the temple of god. but enough has been said in the foregoing to show what was meant by the ancient alchemists by such terms and the reason why they clothed their teachings in symbolical language. the way of

iation is, however, and has always bee open to anyone who really an truly seeks for enlightenment and is willing to pay the price in the coin of self-denial and self-sacrifice. therefore, seek the temple door and you shall find it; knock and it shall be opened unto you. if you seek prayerfully, if you knock persistently and if you labor manfully you will in time reach the goal and you will become the philosopher's stone. celibacy and marriage in order to avoid misunderstanding, it should be said that this lesson was only given to the aspirant to discipleship to show him the reason why it is necessary for him to live a pure and chaste life. it does not apply to the masses who have no spiritual aspirations and are as yet unable to restrain their passions. the rosicrucians do not even advocat

an sink below its level, it would, indeed, be very wrong for aspirants to discipleship to live an entirely celibate life for the sake of self- advancement when conditions permit them to wed; furthermore, the expenditure of the creative force at the few times in a life when it is legitimately required for propagation would not seriously interfere with the spiritual development undertaken to become the philosopher's stone, and the soul- growth gained by assuming the duties of parenthood would far outweigh any possible loss. what the rosicrucians teach then is that marriage between people who will limit their use of the creative function to the purpose of propagation is eminently good, noble and productive of great soul-growth, but that unmarried aspirant should live an absolutely celibate li

so does every other tekton, mason or phree messen (child of light) as the egyptian called such, descend through the nine arch-like strata of the earth. we shall find at the time of the first advent of christ both hiram abiff, the son of cain, and solomon, the son of seth, reborn to take from him the next great initiation into the christian mysteries. in the last chapter we saw while considering "the philosopher's stone" that the spinal cord is the principal laboratory for the alchemist, and that the spinal spirit fire, generated by turning the creative force upward through the spinal canal, passing it between the pituitary body and the pineal gland in the brain, gives to man a third eye as it were wherewith to see in the spiritual worlds. when this serpentine spirit fire has been sufficie

of its true ancient mystic self, and though catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in this one thing there is no difference, namely, that the war is as keen as ever. the efforts of the church are not concentrated upon the masses, however, as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life so that they may gain admission to the mystery temple and learn how to make the philosopher's stone. as mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized, giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiments, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex. this accounts for the growing tendency towards altruism which

that our dense body gravitates towards the center of the earth, therefore, a change must take place; also paul tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. but he also points out that we have a soma psuchicon (mistranslated natural body) a soul body, and this is made of ether, which is lighter than air and therefore capable of levitation. this is the golden wedding garment, the philosopher's stone, or the living stone, spoken of in some of the ancient philosophies as the diamond soul, for it is luminous, lustrous, and sparkling--a priceless gem. it was also called the astral body by the mediaeval alchemists, because of the ability it conferred upon the one who has it to traverse the starry regions. but it is not to be confounded with the desire body which some of the

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL

nderlying these two great institutions as determined by occult investigation the rosicrucian fellowship international headquarters p.o. box 713 oceanside, california, 92054, u.s.a. table of contents* part i: lucifer, the rebel angel* part ii: the masonic legend* part iii: the queen of sheba* part iv: casting the molten sea* part v: the mystery of melchisedec* part vi: spiritual alchemy* part vii: the philosopher's stone--what is it and how it is made* part viii: the path of initiation* part ix: armageddon, the great war, and the coming age part i lucifer, the rebel angel the rosicrucian fellowship aims to educate and construct, to be charitable even to those from whom we differ, and never to vent the venom of vituperation, spite, or malice even upon those who seem deliberately determined t

ly merge and be unified in the kingdom of christ. we have already seen how hiram abiff, the widow's son, left his father, the lucifer spirit samael, after the baptism of fire in the molten sea, and how he received the mission to prepare the way for the kingdom among the sons of cain, his brethren, by developing their arts and crafts as temple builders--masons- and teaching them the preparation of the philosopher's stone or molten sea. thus also the physically negative sons of seth must learn to leave their father, jehovah, and naturally the first to take the step must be a great soul. as the superlative skill of the sons of cain was focused in hiram abiff at the time of his baptism of fire, so the sublime spirituality of the sons of seth was centered in jesus at the time of his baptism in

h will allow him to form altruistic purposes and desires. thus the age of altruism was there inaugurated. by faith in this blood, and by imitation of the christ life the sons of seth are therefore provided with a means of purging from themselves the curse of selfishness; while the sons of cain were given the emblem of the rose and the cross to teach them to work faithfully to make the molten sea, the philosopher's stone, and to find the new word which shall admit them to the kingdom, for they believe more in works than in faith. the accompanying chart shows graphically the three ages mentioned in this article (1) the first age, when each human being was a complete creative unit, male-female, double sexed, and ruled by one hierarch, melchisedec, who filled a dual office as king and priest (

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

thus, the torch signifies the belief that lucifer will ultimately defeat jesus christ. masonic author, manley p. hall, 33 degree mason, states that "the torches represent the occult arts and sciences, the doctrines and dogmas by the light of which truth is made visible [hall, freemasonry of the ancient egyptians to which is added an interpretation of the crata repoa initiation rite, los angeles, the philosophers press, 1937, p. 122; emphasis added] we also find it highly inte resting that one of the masonic publishing houses is called the torch press. we also know from history that the statue of liberty was given to us by illuminist french freemasons in 1876 ring "towe above the shimmering but polluted waters, she holds in her outreached arm and hand a torch of fire and light. a gift of t

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

ver popularized for fear of upsetting religion, by means of which authority over the ignorant masses was maintained. early in the fourth century a.d. we find lactantius writing: it is an absurdity to believe that there are men who have feet above their heads, and countries in which all is inverted, in which the trees and plants grow from the top to the bottom. we find the germ of that error among the philosophers who have claimed that the earth is round.5 st. augustine held a similar opinion.6 long before copernicus wrote his book, revolution of the heavenly bodies (about a.d. 1542, we find that the medieval jews had buried this secret in the zohar, in which may be read: in the book of hammannunah the old we learn. that the earth turns upon itself in the form of a circle; that some are on

succeeded. in persia itself the persecution that raged intermittently up to the beginning of the present century has been all in vain. the religion grows and grows, silent and unobtrustive like a plant in the dark. 12 nor are these mysterious retirements, concerning which the masters tell us so little, solely connected with religious manifestations for they are to be found in the lives of many of the philosophers. pythagoras exacted silence and abstinence amongst his disciples for five years; lao-tze retired from the world and was inspired of taoism; plato enjoined meditation on his pupils; and bishop berkeley was wont to retire into solitude at stated periods. once, writing to a friend, he said i propose to set out for dublin. but of this you must not give the least intimation to anyone

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

in his childhood; in particular in thearabian tales that had so delighted him with its stories of the 'hidden city of ad' and of that 'other and greater city which iscalledirem. this was the city,raisedon pillars, that contained the great secret of earthly riches and had as its chief treasure 'a chest of goldfilledwith a red powder. waite could not know then that 'this is the powder of alchemyand the philosopher's stone. it is encircled by a river of mercury; for 'what should1know in my childhood concerning the stoneat the red, or thatestinmercurioquicquidquaeruntsapientesibut the talismanicseedof this romance of alchemyfellunawares in receptive soilandbecameaplant which iwas destinedto tend long afterin my own garden of the mind'(sly,p.28).beforethisalchemicalplantfloweredwaitehaddiscover

nthetrue path leading to the transmutationofmetals'(sly,pp.128-9)-presumablyhe had readlivesofalchemysticalphilosophers.if waite 'could not, wouldnot,mustnottell himhowto makegold'he could yet help by arranging for the translationofalchemical.texts,beginningwiththelexiconofalchemyofmartin ruland. waite duly found a translator('a friendwithtime on his hands, added a supplement 'containingthetermsofthe philosophers and the veilsofthe great mystery, and arranged for the text to beprinted-inan edition of only sixcopies-atlord stafford's expense. this idiosyncratic production, which was printed in 1892, was followed by a seriesof others, for each of which lord stafford supplied a translationbutwithout revealing the identityofthe translator. waite's task was editorial and proved to be a light on

GILBERT THE GOLDEN DAWN TWILIGHT OF THE MAGICIANS

ordermottoesof'srioghail mo dhream, quod scis nescis (westcott as himself, although he normally used the motto sapere aude) and magna est veritas et praelavebit,'toconstitute and rule the isis-urania temple no. 3'.thisthey duly did, their first act being the initiation of nine members at the spring equinox ceremony that same march.thefirst of the new initiates was miss mina bergson, the sister of the philosopher henri bergson, soon to bemrsmathers and thus central to the entire story of the order. mathers himselfis an enigma.hewas born in1854,educated at bedford grammar school and lived with his widowed mother atbournemouth255where he was made a mason in18n-untilher death in1885,when he moved to london to dedicate himself to hermetic philosophy, magical practice and an obsession with his f

ates; but when he is handed the chalice he consumes the wine and holding the cup on high turnsitupside down and cries with a loud voice:kerux:'itis finished' all rise.thekerux restores the chalice to the altar and returns to his place.hierophant:(knocks 'tetelestai!'hiereus:(knocks once. all give sign.hierophant:'may what we have received sustain us in our search for the quintessence the stone of the philosophers, true wisdom and perfecthappiness-thesummumbonum.'hierophant(knocks:'khabs'hiereus(knocks:'am'hegemon(knocks:'pekht'appendixchiereus(knocks:'konx'hegemon(knocks:'om'hierophant(knocks:'pax'hegemon(knocks:'light'hierophan:(knocks:'in'hiereus(knocks:'extension'125ifthe hall is not reserved exclusively for temple meetings, it should be purified by the lesser ritualofthe pentagram, per

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

, is left unexplained by science, so long may, such as desire it, hold the belief that god or some divine power, or some spiritual being superior to ourselves, may on occasion deliver unto some man, some truth it is good for him to know. let no one be ashamed still to believe in a spiritual world, although he cannot prove its existence to the rationalist or material philosopher; for remember that the philosopher candreams 191certainly never prove that a divinity and a spiritual world do not exist.[paper read on 4 october 1906. reprinted from s.r.i.a.,transactionsofthe metropolitan college(1906, pp.31-8.]20.divinationandits historya famous poet has written 'knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and the phrase embodies a solemn truth. from his first entry upon the world man began to observe h

e and have a function in the world around them.inour own country theya recent spiritual development 289seem to have inspired robert fludd and lord bacon, kenelm digby, thomas vaughan, ashmole, and possibly influenced the notions of shakespeare, and in recent times lord lytton, the author ofzanoni,wasan initiate and admirer of their mystic philosophy.thepoet goethe, author of the drama offaust,and the philosopher liebnitz were under rosicrucian influ255 ence, and so is wiedemann, a notable physiologist of the present day. they are in part now represented by a notable philosopher, author of many treatises on theosophy and anthroposophy and the occult sciences, rudolf steiner, who has several thousand pupils on the continent of europe. from these students, modern continental teachers who clai

rines in the pictures of the stations of the cross.therosicrucian mode of attaining supra-normal powers was, i have learned, by the mental faculties, by meditation, concentration and by force of will; this system also was conducted by seven methods (1) intellectual studies (2) cultivation of the imaginative faculty (3)themeans of attaining to intuition (4) the preparation of the physical stone of the philosophers (5) realization of the microcosm as aa recent spiritual development 295representation of the macrocosm (6)themerging of the ego into the realm of macrocosmic beings (7) the state of beatific peace accepting and glorying in the cosmic will.itis alleged that there are persons having a certain birthright and peculiar constitution who have succeeded by theserneansinattaining supra-nor

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

he foundations of the hermetic order of the golden dawn. from 1888 the story of macgregor mathers is the story of the golden dawn,butbefore then, in 1885, he had moved to london, joined anna kingsford's hermetic society, in which he delivered his first major lecture" and publishedthe kabbalah unveiled,his most successful and influential work.5and before 1888 he had met mina bergson, the sister of the philosopher henri bergson, who was to become successively the first initiate of the golden dawn and mathers' wife. after their marriage, in june 1890, they lived at forest hill close to the horniman museum, of which mathers had been made curator;butby 1892 they had moved to paris, where they remained- save for a prolonged visit to london for theequinoxandlooking glasscases of 1910 and 1911- un

GILBERT R A CHAOS OUT OF ORDER THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SWEDENBORGIAN RITE

band of visionaries believed and taught is unclear; their doctrines have been described as a blend of swedenborgianism and roman catholicism, salted with occultism. to the cold intellectualism of the swedish visionary was added the veneration of the virgin mary and recital of the athanasian creed; while individual members studied renaiss-ance alchemy, the theurgy of alexandria, hermetic authors, the philosopher s stone, the divine science of numbers, and the mystical interpretation of dreams4[4. even less is known of the rituals they practised, but when two english swedenborgians, william bryan and john wright, visited the society in 1789, they were finally initiated into the mysteries of their order, after a certain process of examination, probation, and injunction of secresy 5[5. subseq

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

igions, and lure it into paganism. in the following section we will consider some high-points of european history, country by country, and follow the traces of this masonic war against religion. the first country we must examine is france. the struggle against religion in france in earlier works we have examined the important role played by masonry in the french revolution. a very large number of the philosophers of the enlightenment, especially those with the strongest anti-religious views, were masons. the jacobins, who set the stage for the revolution, and became its leaders, were lodge members.122 the role played by masons in the revolution was admitted by an "agent-provocateur" by the name of count cagliostro. cagliostro was arrested by the inquisition in 1789, and made some important

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

t be rooted out and destroyed. the promise offered to those who correctly use this chakra include the eating of the hidden manna and the gift of the white stone with a new name engraved on it. these promises are highly symbolic, the hidden manna represents a special stage known in the alchemical process of self transformation. it is also sometimes known as the white powder, it is a stage prior to the philosophers stone. this substance is symbolic of the processes of internal transformation that are working through transfiguration. the church of thyatira the church of thyatira is the heart or anahata chakra. it is known as "sacrifice or contrition" as it involves the sacrifice of the fallen facets of the organism and the things of the world to the higher self (yechidah. the characteristic o

wake, he outlined a powerful system in which he taught that man was asleep and that mankind as a whole spent their whole lives in that state. he emphasised the need for a superhuman act of will to go beyond the sleep we are in and the need for a new path for the present age. he argued that the paths of the fakir, monk and yogi were for the old age and a new path was needed for the present period. the philosopher of the equinox of the gods- fredrich nietzsche we have considered some religious and occult perceptions of the equinox of the gods, there are obviously many more, we could fill a whole book just considering many of the perceptions people had of the change that occurred. when it comes to philosophy it is much the same, however, one name stands out above the others- that of fredrich

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS A

nation on [h. the adept must now pass an examination on assigned ritual work [h1. reading list for z.a.m *1. astral projection, ritual magick and alchemy by francis king *2. fama fraternitas (provided *3. confessio (provided) 4. the middle pillar by israel regardie 5. the gospel of john- new testament 6. the book of revelations- new testament 7. genesis- old testament 8. ezekiel- old testament 9. the philosopher's stone- by israel regardie 10. catenea- by homeri 11. lexicon of alchemy- by rulandus 12. philosophy of natural magic- by agrippa 13. egyptian magic- by florence farr 14. the kabbalah unveiled- by s.l. mathers 8 15. zanoni- bulwer lytton 16. history- sword of wisdom- by ithell colquhon it is not required that the z.a.m. read each book, but the z.a.m. must furnish a report of at le

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ENOCHALL

o known as czons. czons: angel, also known as czns. d: three/ third. d ialprt: third flame. d u i v/ du iv: in to the third angle. da: there/ three. daalo: demonic name (reversal of olaad) commanding cacodemons of earth of water. daltt: angel also known as datt. damploz: variety. daox: 5678. dapi: subservient angel of fire angle of water tablet, also known as daspi. darbs: obey. darg: 6739. darr: the philosopher's stone. dansar: wherefore. darsar: wherefore (cf. bagle. daspi: angel, also known as dapi. datt: subservient angel of earth angle of fire tablet, 19 also known as daltt. dax: loin/ loins. daxil: thy loins. dazis: head/ heads/ their heads. dazis siatris: the heads of scorpions. daziz: heads/ their heads. ddnh: subservient angel of air angle of water tablet. de: of/ to. dedvilh (mea

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z2

e same) for seven days, upon a flashing tablet of f. after this period, fit on the alembic head, and distill first in balneum mariae, then in balneum arenae till what time the mixture be all distilled over. s. now, let the alchemist take the fluid of the distillate, and let him perform over it an invocation of the forces of b to act in the clear fluid so as to formulate therein the, even the b of the philosophers (the residuum or the dead 20 head is not to be worked with at present, but is to be set apart for future use) after the invocation of the, a certain brilliance should manifest itself in the whole fluid, that is to say, it should not only be clear, but also brilliant and flashing. now expose it in a hermetic receiver for seven days to the light of the a; at the end of which time th

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM21

e, be thou destroyed! you who would desecrate this temple or order by intentional acts of malice, be thou desecrated! by all the forces and powers invoked here this day, and by the power of the blood of the rose, as it is desired, so shall it be (all move back to original positions) chief adept "fraters and sorors, let us first seek always in all things true wisdom, the summun bonum, the stone of the philosophers. our order is dedicated to healing, not to hurting, to helping, not to hindering, to the higher genius the true will and the great work. but let us remember the blood of the martyrs, and let us always commit to defending this temple, this order and all those who in innocence seek the true and celestial light with whatever force necessary. let us kneel "oh lord of the universe, the

GRERALD SCHUELER AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO ENOCHIAN MAGICK

ce, which underlies all organic and inorganic matter. h.p. blavatsky, glossary to the voice of the silence the practice of alchemy has often been associated with the chemical process of turning base metals into gold. how-ever, enochian magick recognizes another important branch of alchemy- turning ignorance into wisdom, sickness into health, and mortality into longevity. it is symbolically called the philosopher's stone, the stone of the magician, and it works through a magical process of transmutation. it is not just a physical process but mental as well. the 'base metal' is the human body and mind, and the 'pure gold' is the body immunized against sickness and age with mind enl ightened to the true nature of things. within and around the human body is an aura, a subtle body of light with

H SPENCER LEWIS ROSICRUCIAN MANUAL AMORC 1990

aterial world of objectivity. the next step or phase is that of limitation, or form, caused by natural laws or by man's desires and handiwork. hence the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness should follow dimensions of objective proportion, which is a more correct term for the fourth dimension. mystics will see, now, why the fourth dimension, in its true nature, has always interested the philosophers and was one of the laws carefully studied and utilized by the alchemists of old, and the advanced mystics of today use the law in many strange manifestations. this rosicrucian concept differs from the fourth-dimensional continuum of space-time as advocated in the theory of relativity. funeral service.the rosicrucian funeral service is a ceremony of celebration in its spirit, at wh

in daily life.(see reincarnation and also soul personality. philosopher's stone.the principal search of the alchemists was for a pure and penetrating matter which, when applied to the metals, plants, or vegetables, exalts them. this perfect essence, this soul of matter, imparts its nature to all that is brought into contact with it. this substance which transmits its perfect qualities was called the philosopher's stone. to the transcendental alchemists, the philosopher's stone was not a substance but the spiritual gnosis and exalted wisdom whose virtue transmutes man to a higher plane of consciousness and personal power. pineal and pituitary.glands which, in their physiological purpose, have to do with the regulating of various functions of the body such as the circulation of the blood, t

HAMIL THE ROSICRUCIAN SEER

ngatintervalsduringthenight,andwerereproduceduponmesmerisingthepublishedmaterial217youth, the learned sceptic dogmatically declares it impossible, and contradicted by the established laws of nature;-forgetting that these laws are merely certain modes of acting which we have discovered nature tofollow.such an objection,infact, assumes that we have a complete knowledge of physical science; whereas, the philosopher most deeply versed initwillbe the first to confess, like newton, that he is but a boy gathering pebbles on the seashore, and knowing almost nothing of the vast ocean of truth that rolls athisfeet'-editorofthedublinuniversitymagazine,vol.xxxviii.,p. 384.to the editor of the zoistsir,-ibeg to submit to your notice a mesmeric cure, effected without medicine, of a 'declared hopeless ca

le] or paper [illegible] know the work i will get a copy also. i hope mrs irwin is quite well and has become converted and trust i shall soon be well enough to pay my respects to her,&with kind regards i remain, faithfully and fraternally yours.1anuntitled paper given by spencer to the bristol college sria, a rather confused statement on the history of occultism, rosicrucianism and the search for the philosopher's stone.323 raymond buildings, grays inn,w.e.8 march 1876 dear bro. irwin, i rejoice i am so soon to see you. i shall be in the restaurant (down below) at the freemasons' tavern! on thursday atvlpast 4 to get a [illegible].hockley'slettersto theirtmns75freemasonry, alchemy and occultism. hockley is possibly referring tothelifeofcagliostro,printed by hookham (1787).3260[no address]z

eerthepimanderofhermestrismegistusand the works of paracelsus.20see note 5 above.21william canynges(?1399-1474),five times mayor of bristol; m.p. for bristol1451and1455;rebuilt st mary redcliffe, bristol, and the college at westbury where he became a monk in1467and deanin1469 22john frederick helvetius (d.1709),alchemist. on27december1666he received a mysterious visitor whom he claimed showed him the philosopher's stone. he believed the stranger to be artist elias, the prophetofalchemy, whose coming had been foretold by paracelsus. see a. e. waite,thesecrettraditioninalcherny(1926),pp.307ff.23johannes amos comenius(1592-1671),scholar and educational reformer. memberofthe moravian brethren: pastor(1614);elder(1632);bishop of lissa, poland(1648).influenced by the mystical writings of boehme

beratus,which first appeared in1680. 28probably reuchlin,deartecabalistica(1517).29see note 9 above.30john heydon'stheholyguideleadingthewayto thewonderof theworld(acompletephysitian. withrosiecrudenmedicines(london,1662. 31see note 8ofletter2.32presumably hockley had supplied irwin with the meeting dates of british lodge no. 8 and the grand stewards lodge.hockley'slettersto the[twins51discovered the philosopher's stone in 1645. his writings were published 1654-84. 8theauthor of the two editions is unknown. they consist of potted lives of alchemists 'a selectionofthe most celebrated treatises on the theory and practice of the hermetic art, and an interesting if inaccurate booklist. they were hastily re-edited and added tobya. e. waite for his edition of 1888, a work whose existence he prob

shmole(1717).17 arthur dee (1579-1657, sonofdrjohn dee, alchemist, astrologer and unlicensed medical practitioner. author of the rosicru255 cianfasciculuschemica,(1631).18 dr john dee (1527-1608, the most celebratedofenglish astrologers. a mathematician by training he practised crystallomancy with albert laski and invoked spirits with edward kelly. he headed a fraternity, dissolved in 1589,toseek the philosopher's stone and invoke angels. wroteatreatiseof therosiecruciansecrets.19drjohn everard(c.i575-c.1650, divine and mystic, translator of50 therosicrucianseerpage 8 of his holy guide,30 fudged from agrippa's occult philos. book2page30.31i have many different forms of same twomssandit is a curious subject, i would go into it if i had time and were not so precious old. i hope this summer t

ipts1825 habai, containing the nature and offices of spirits, mystic incantations..extracted from scarce and valuable works. 1828 magia de profundis seu clavicula solomonis regis et theurgia goetia. with drawingsofcharacters, seals, penta255 cles etc (hi02* 1829 occult spells (talismanic magic.(hii2)1829 journal of a rosicrucian philosopher from apriljothto june 15th 1797, containing the processofthe philosopher's stone. by an alchemist. 1832 bookofthe offices and ordersofspirits; transcribed from a folioms.written byt.porter, 1583 [and] keys of rabbi solomon, transcribed from a ms translation into french, and thence into english bydrsibley, byt.palmer (hioi) 1833 collection of horoscopesofalchemists, astrologers and occult philosophers.(hi2i)*1833 journal of a rosicrucian philosopher.[as

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

of ammonius, who endeavored to induce gentiles and christians, jews and idolaters, to lay aside their contention and strife, remembering only that they were all in possession of the same truth under various vestments, and were all the children of a common mother. this is the aim of theosophy likewise. page 6 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt says mosheim of ammonius: conceiving that not only the philosophers of greece, but also all those of the different barbarian nations, were perfectly in unison with each other with regard to every essential point, he made it his business so to expound the thousand tenets of all these various sects as to show they had all originated from one and the same source, and tended all to one and the same end. if the writer on ammonius in the edinburgh encyc

tant detail is withheld, which those who study the esoteric philosophy and are pledged to silence, are alone entitled to know -ooo- the greek teachings q. we have magnificent greek and latin, sanskrit and hebrew scholars. how is it that we find nothing in their translations that would afford us a clue to what you say? a. because your translators, their great learning notwithstanding, have made of the philosophers, the greeks especially, misty instead of mystic writers. take as an instance plutarch, and read what he says of "the principles" of man. that which he describes was accepted literally and attributed to metaphysical superstition and ignorance. let me give you an illustration in point. says plutarch: man is compound; and they are mistaken who think him to be compounded of two parts

w" viz, that the fire of one flame is imparted to and caught up by another-like as in a trail of inflammable substance. this is precisely emanation, as shown in isis unveiled. in evolution, as it is now beginning to be understood, there is supposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher form-a supposition clearly expressed by manu and other hindu philosophers of the highest antiquity. the philosopher's tree illustrates it in the case of the zinc solution. the controversy between the followers of this school and the emanationists may be briefly stated thus: the evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of "the unknowable" the emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved-or, as the word means, unwombed or born-except it has first been involved, thus indicating that life

s 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. they flourished in the first three centuries of the christian era. the following were eminent: valentinus, basilides, marcion, simon magus, etc. golden age the ancients divided the life cycle into the golden, silver, bronze, and iron ages. the golden was an age of primeval purity, simplicity, and general happiness. great age the

HOWE THE ALCHEMIST OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

had arrived at as much 30 perhaps 40 years ago, and yet.i have not accomplished it, partly certainly, because i ?ave n?t tned: when you come to the astral practice, then your difficulties begin, i will explain to you as to books and mss, when i see you. as to the gift of god &c, that does not mean e.xact y what it says, any more than it does as to the very long time it takes to make the stone of the philosophers. mrs ayton has not been at all well- congestion of the brain_ but is. nearly herself again, and will accompany me to london, but will not go about much. she joins me in kind regards to mrs gardner and yourself. i do not know whether the time of the gd. will not clash with the thursday seance at no. 17 [lansdowne road. we would go there if we could. 21 chacombe vicarage 12 march 18

etween the passages, which will change in the above named hour, and, n.b. become as yellow as gold, such as i have found in the mountains of kipphausen. take this and immediately put it into an oaken firkin so that it may not be acted on by the weather. from this fill a retort &c. it goes on to describe the process when you have got it home, and finishes by declaring that it is the [illegible] of the philosophers and that the l[apis] p[hilosophorum] may be made from it. could i have spared the time from chacombe, i should have been there long ago. ofcourse, many have been to it, and it may all be gone. it is too late for this season. that theory as to pure alcohol has been propounded before. from what i know, i fear it will not stand the test. i have made pure alcohol from the best french

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

was the laboratory where most of the chemical experiments were conducted. curious porters and teamers who delivered bottles, bags, or boxes at the small read door would exchange accounts of the fantastic flasks, crucibles, alembics, and furnaces they saw in the low shelved room; and prophesied in whispers that the close-mouthed "chymist- by which they meant alchemist- would not be long in finding the philosopher's stone. the nearest neighbours to this farm- the fenners, a quarter of a mile away- had still queerer things to tell of certain sounds which they insisted came from the curwen place in the night. there were cries, they said, and sustained howlings; and they did not like the large numbers of livestock which thronged the pastures, for no such amount was needed to keep a lone old man

HP LOVECRAFT HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON

ess city, and the annals and secrets of its one time inhabitants will be found in the story the nameless city, published in the first issue of fanciful tales, and written by the author of this outline] he was only an indifferent moslem, worshipping unknown entities whom he called yog- sothoth and cthulhu. in a.d. 950 the azif, which had gained a considerable tho' surreptitious circulation amongst the philosophers of the age, was secretly translated into greek by theodorus philetas of constantinople under the title necronomicon. for a century it impelled certain experimenters to terrible attempts, when it was suppressed and burnt by the patriarch michael. after this it is only heard of furtively, but (1228) olaus wormius made a latin translation later in the middle ages, and the latin text

s the crimson desert as the place where al-hazred witnessed much of what he wrote down. note also that in the simon version, al-hazred warns against worshipping "iak-sakkak" and "kutulu, whereas lovecrafts claims he did just that. note also the improper use of the a.d. prefix until the next paragraph. kkc in a.d. 950 the azif, which had gained a considerable tho' surreptitious circulation amongst the philosophers of the age, was secretly translated into greek by theodorus philetas of constantinople under the title necronomicon (10) another inconsistency. simon claims that al-hazred rendered the necronomicon in greek first, rather than arabic. kkc i haven't been able to find this claim in simon's text, but he does claim that the manuscript he translated is a greek version. as noted below, l

HP LOVECRAFT THE ALCHEMIST

old castle in which i sat had been a feared and impregnable fortress. it told of a certain ancient man who had once dwelled on our estates, a person of no small accomplishments, though little above the rank of peasant, by name, michel, usually designated by the surname of mauvais, the evil, on account of his sinister reputation. he had studied beyond the custom of his kind, seeking such things as the philosopher's stone or the elixir of eternal life, and was reputed wise in the terrible secrets of black magic and alchemy. michel mauvais had one son, named charles, a youth as proficient as himself in the hidden arts, who had therefore been called le sorcier, or the wizard. this pair, shunned by all honest folk, were suspected of the most hideous practices. old michel was said to have burnt

INITIATION INTO HERMETICS

rical. the last vertebra& anus: fore and back part neutral, right and left side as well, the inside magnetical. with the help of this occult anatomy and the key of the tetrapolar magnet, the adept may compile further analogies if wanted. the alchemist will recognize that the human body represents a genuine athanor in which the most perfect alchemistic process, the great work or the preparation of the philosophers stone is visibly performed. herewith the chapter dealing with the body is finished. i do not assert that all has been regarded, but in any case, with respect to the elements, i mean to say, the four-pole magnet, i have treated the most important problems and revealed the secret of the tetragrammaton in view of the body. 10. the roughly material plane or the material world in this

ISIS UNVEILED

ve the repositories of their sacred lekming. theophtlus, a bishop, who left behind him the reputation of a most rascally and mercenary villain, was accused by one named antoninus, a famous theurgist and eminent scholar of occult science of alexandria, with bribing the slaves of the serapion to steal books which he sold to foreigners at great prices. history tells us bow theophilus had the best of the philosophers, in a. d. 389; and how his successor and nephew, the no less infamous cyril, butchered hypatia. suidaa gives us some details about antoninus, whom he caua antonius, and his eloqu it friend olympus, the defender of the serapion. but history is far from being complete in the miserable renmanta of hooks, which, crosung so many ages, have reached our own learned century; it fails to g

bishop of alexandria, and his nepher cyril the murderer of the young, the learned, and the innocent hypatia* with the death of the martyred daughter of theon the mathemati- cian, there remained no possibility for the neo-platonlsts to continue their school at alexandria. during the life-time of the youthful hypatia her friendship and influence with orestes, the governor of the city, had as- sured the philosophers security and protection against their muideroua enemies. with her death they had lost their strongest friend. howmudi she was revered by all who knew her for her erudition, virtues, and noble character, we can infer from the letters addressed to her by synesius, bishop of ftolemais, fragments of which have reached us "my heart yearns for the presence of your divine spirit" he wrot

ahaorption, when it is proved that the hindlls and buddhists believe in the immortiuiiy of the spirit, must necessarily mean intimate union, not annihilation. let christians call them idolaters, if tb^ still dare do so, in the face of science and the latest translations of the sacred sanskrit books; they have no right to present the speculative philosophy of ancient sages as an inconsistency and the philosophers themselves as illogical fools. with far better reason we can accuse the ancient jews ttf utter nihilinn. there is not a word contained in the books of moses or the prophets either which taken literally implies the spirit's immortality. yet every devout jew hopes likewise to be "gathered into the bosom of a-braham" the hierophants and sonw br&hmanas are accused of having adminis- t

codes of ethics, jesus is one of the grandest and most clearly-defined figures on the panorama of human history. his age may, with every day, be receding farther and farther back into the gloomy and hazy mists of the past; and [the christian] theology based on human fancy and supported by untenable dogmas may, nay, must with every day lose more of its unmerited prestige; alone the grand figure of the philosopher and moral reformer instead of grow- ing paler will become with every century more pronounced and more clearly defined. it will reign supreme and universal only on that day when the whole of humanity recognises but one father the omknown one above and one brother the whole of mankind below' 331. thii gem u in the ctjiectioii of the aatbor ct tlu onotuct, tie see p. 201 (lit ed. 335

med endogamous marriages, while the tatars and all barbarous nations required all alliances to be exogamous. 60s. jenu man, mytk, or oodf digitizecoy google the raising of kalavati 241 there was but one apostle of jesus worthy of that oame, and thac was paul. however dis6gured were his epituet by dogmatic hands before being admitted into the canon, his conception of the great and divine figure of the philosopher who died for his idea can still be traced in his addresses to the various gentile nations. only he who would understand him better yet, must study the philonean logog reflecting now and then the hindfi sima oogos) of the mimdrud school. as to the other apostles, those whose names are prefixed to the goapelt we cannot well believe in their veracity when we find them attributing to t

(scotland, and a mason not likely to be imposed upon, stating the following, under the head 'hermetic brothers of egypt "an occult fraternity, which has endured from very ancient times, having a hierarchy of officers, secret signs, and passwords, and a peculiar method of instruction 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

pirit of bravado against the government, as much as out of re- ligious fanaticism, mount the funeral pile with a smile on th^ face; where, to quote the words of the great lecturer "men in the prime of life throw themsdves under the car of jaggemith, to be crushed to death by the idol they beuevein; where the plaintiff who cannot get redress starves himself to death at the door of his judge; where the philosopher who thinks he has learned all which this world can teach him, and who longs f^ absorption into the deity, quietly steps into the ganges in order to arrive at the other shore of existence* in such a country even a voluntary crucifixion would have passed unnoticed. in judaea, and even among braver nations than the jews the romans and the greeks where every one clung more or less to l

ISRAEL REGARDIE A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GEOMANTIC DIVINATION

boldly paraphrase the remark made by garibaldi, and say that "a priest knows himself to h an impostor, unless he be a fool, or htue been tavght to lie from boyhood" digitizecoy google digilizocb, google digilizocb, google !cb, google digilizocb, google digilizocb, google digilizocb, google digilizocb, google i digilizocb, gooesby the same author the golden dawn the tree of life the middle pillar the philosopher's stone the eye in the triangle a garden of pomegranates in this series how to make and use talismans a practical guide to geomantic divination by israel regardie the aquarian press 37/38 margaret street, london, w.e first published june 1972 israel regardie 1972 contents introduction 1. the gcomantic symbols 2. method 3. the judge and two witnesses 4. the question 5. the i louse 6

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

us 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 attention of both the philosopher and the theologian. the thinkers of the past days, after restlessly searching for a scientific system which should disclose to them the deepest depths of the divine nature, and approve to the understanding the real tie which binds all things together, found the craving of their mind satisfied by this theosophy. we say enough in reference to the august possessors of this knowledge w

nions of the world to the contrary, there may have been men who have possessed these gifts, that is, the power of making gold and of perpetuating their lives, and yet that the exercise of these powers was forborne; and also that their secrets of production have most carefully been kept, lest less wise men should (to speak in figure) have rushed in where they feared to tread, and have abused where the philosophers even would not use despising wealth, which they could not enjoy, and declining a perpetuated life, which would only add to their weariness, life being only a repetition of the same suns, already 18 the rosicrucians. found too unmeaning and too long. for it is a mistake to suppose that this life is so equally enjoyable by all. there is a sublime sorrow of the ages, as of the lone o

g a perpetuated life, which would only add to their weariness, life being only a repetition of the same suns, already 18 the rosicrucians. found too unmeaning and too long. for it is a mistake to suppose that this life is so equally enjoyable by all. there is a sublime sorrow of the ages, as of the lone ocean. there is the languishment for the ever-lost original home in this tearful mortal state. the philosophers knew that possession blunted desire, and that rich men may be poor men. a remarkable answer was made by a man who, to all appearance, possessed superabundantly the advantages of life wealth, honour, wife, children, troops of friends, even health, by day; but in his night he lived another life, for in it was presented another picture, and that unfailingly uncomfortable, even to thi

hose of his fraternity so the author adds to be living even now; and a person of great credit at nuremberg, in germany, affirms that he conversed with him but a year or two ago. nay, it is further asserted, continues the author, that this very individual is the president of the illuminated in europe, and that he sits as such in all their annual meetings. thomas vaughan, according to the report of the philosopher robert boyle, and of others who knew him, was a man of remarkable piety, and of unstained morals. he has written and edited several invaluable works upon the secrets of the philosophers, some of which are in our possession; among others: introitus apertus ad occlusum regis palatium; lumen de lumine; magia adamica; anima magica abscondita; and other learned books; advancing very pec

se giants in wisdom who know how to carry on to perfection the knowledge which centuries have been piling up before them. but the age in which such men are cast is often unequal to appreciate the genius which seeks to elevate its aspiration. thus it was in 1820 that mr. william brougham proposed to consign george stephenson to bedlam, for being the greatest benefactor of his time. but now that we the philosopher hume. 37 have adopted somewhat fully his rejected ideas of steamlocomotion and high rates of speed, which were with so much difficulty forced upon us, we complacently call ourselves enlightened; and doubtless we are tolerably safe in doing so, considering that the stephensons, and similar scientific visionaries, no longer live to contradict us. we might add, that the rosicrucians h

see montfau on s monumens de la monarchie fran aise, paris, 1729, also jean-jacques chifflet, anutasis de childerie, 1655. see also notes and queries, 1856, london, 2d series, for some under the stone or the mystic human possibility, is the infant saviour, born in the mysterious month of the propitiation, or the mystical astrological and astronomical escaped month of the zodiac; and the stone is the philosopher s stone. the lisses of france. 43 learned papers on the fleur-de-lis. in the early armorial bearings of the frankish kings, the lilies are represented as insects, sembed (seeded, or spotted, on the blue field. these are, in their origin, the scarab ei of the orientals; they were dignified by the egyptians as the emblems of the enlightened. if the reader examines carefully the sculp

sicians. we imagine that it will be said that it is impossible that any religionists could have seriously entertained such extraordinary doctrines; but, incredible as it may seem, because it requires much preparation to understand them, it is certainly true, that it is only in this manner the ideas of the divinity of fire, which we know once prevailed largely, can be made intelligible we mean, to the philosopher, who knows how properly to value the ancient thinkers, who were as giants in the earth. we shall shortly show that reveries of the magi. 79 the monuments raised to this strange faith still remain, and that, surviving from the heathen times, the forms still mingle and lurk largely amidst the christian european institutions the traces of the idolatry, if not the idolatry itself. obel

the thing conviction, as we call it would be the measure of everything past, present, and to come, which we know it is not. hume, or any philosopher, is wrong in dogmatising at all, because he only speaks from his own experience; and individual experience will in no wise assist towards the discovery of real truth. in philosophy, no one has a right to lay down any basis, and to assume it as true. the philosopher must always argue negatively, not affirmatively. the moment he adopts the latter course, he is lost. hume presupposes all his treatise on miracles in this single assumption that nature itself has laws, and not laws only to our faculties. the mighty difference between these two great facts will be at once felt by a thinker; but we will ideas and emotions. 123 not permit hume to assu

would urge that hume has no capacity to argue in this way, inasmuch as he has taken the human mind as the capacity of arguing. either reason or miracle must be first removed, because you can admit either; for they are opposites, and cannot camp in the same mind: one is idea, the other is no idea in this world; and as we are in this world, we can only judge as in this world. in another world, hume the philosopher may himself be an impossibility, and therefore be a miracle, through his own philosophy, and the application of it. 124 the rosicrucians. hume is the man of ideas, and is therefore very correct, as a philosopher, if philosophy were possible; but we deny that it is possible in regard to any speculation out of this world. ideas that is, philosophical ideas may be described as the ste

scientific journals and elsewhere. in a lecture delivered at the royal institution, mr. w. s. savory made the following remarks: there is close relationship between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. the organic kingdom is connected with both by the process of crystallisation, which closely resembles some of the processes of vegetation and of the growth of the lower orders of animal creation. the philosopher's stone, in one of its many senses may be taken to mean the magic mirror, or translucent 132 the rosicrucians. spirit-seeing crystal, in which things impossible to ordinary ideas are disclosed. know, says synesius, that the quintessence (five-essence) and hidden thing of our stone is nothing less than our celestial and glorious soul, drawn by our magistery out of its mine, which en

l be rightly regarded as the most extraordinary dream of philosophy as depth of depths beyond idea. schubert, in his symbolism of dreams, has the following passages, which we have before adduced and made use of for illustration: it may be asked whether that language, which now occupies so low a place in the estimation of men, be not the actual waking language of the higher regions, while we, adds the philosopher, coming out with something very strange, awake as we fancy ourselves, may be sunk in a sleep of many thousand years, or, at least, in the echo of their dreams, and only intelligibly catch a few dim words of that language of god, as sleepers do scattered expressions from the loud conversation of those around them. the following is a fair view of the rosicrucian theory concerning mus

masculing and benevolent in its influence. the dragon s tail is the point where the planet s southward progress begins; it is feminine and malevolent. the dragon mystically is the self-willed spirit, which is externally dervied into nature by the fall into generation (hermes trismegistus. the same fine, catholic nature which in its preternatural exaltation appears so very precious in the eyes of the philosopher is in the common world defiled; abiding everywhere in putrefactions and the vilest forms of seemingly sleeping, but in reality most active, forms of life. according to ennemoser, magiusiah, madschusie, signified the office and knowledge of the priest, who was called mag, magius, magiusi, and afterwards magi t 296 the rosicrucians. and magician. brucker maintains (historia philosoph

these were such, gassendus charges him with a stupendous puzzle* that of passing the entire interpretation of scripture over, not to the mystics only, but to alchemy. gassendus asserts, as the opinion of flood, that the key of the bible mysteries is really to be found in the processes of alchemy and of the hermetic science; that the mystical sense of scripture is not otherwise explainable than by the philosopher's stone; and that the attainment of the great art or of the secrets which lie locked, is heaven, in the rosicrucian profundities. old and new testament, and their historical accounts, are alike hermetic in this respect. the grand magisterium the great work, as the alchemists call it is mythed by moses in genesis, in the deliverance from egypt, in the passage of the red sea, in the

LAITMAN M KABBALAH SCIENCE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

effort to obtain what it wants. 202 k a b b a l i s t s w r i t e a b o u t k a b b a l a h rabbi moshe chaim lutzato (the ramchal (1707-1747) all of man's engagements are guided by a single, intrinsic premise, and the internality dresses within all people. it is what they referred to as nature, whose numeric count is the same as elohim (god. and this is the truth that the creator concealed from the philosophers--ramchal, the book of the war of moses, rule 15 rabbi eliahu the vilna gaon (1138-1204) our rabbi [the vilna gaon] engaged extensively in the study of the qualities of nature and the studies of the earth in order to attain the wisdom of the torah, to sanctify the name of god among the nations, and to bring the redemption closer. from his youth, he manifested wonders in all seven t

LAITMAN M THE KABBALAH EXPERIENCE

b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 240 t h e s o u l a n d t h e p h y s i c a l b o dy q: where inside the body is the soul? a: it is impossible to describe what the soul is and where it is in the body just by observing it with our minds. that is because within us there is now only the animate soul, the force that sustains us. there is not an organ in our body that is capable of feeling the soul. q: the philosopher deckard argued that the soul is where the third eye is, whereas yogananda maintained that it is in the brain. a: you are trying to convince me that the soul is somehow connected with the body and that it is, for example, where the third eye is. perhaps you agree with yogananda that the soul is in the brain, and thus you ascribe the brain activity to the soul because you, as yet, do

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

he held the parchment called t, the which next unto the bible is our greatest treasure, which ought not to be delivered to the censure of the world. various other objects were discovered- looking-glasses of divers virtues, little bells, burning lamps, and chiefly wonderful artificial songs- and most important of all, the secret book m. and other volumes, including certain of those of paracelsus, the philosopher and chemist of the sixteenth century. 718. such is the traditional history of christian rosenkreutz, as contained in the documents of the order. the form in which the story is cast shows that it is obviously not intended to be an historical narrative. it is clearly designed as an allegory to express certain hidden truths to those whose eyes are opened, even though historical detail

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

ocence, the first considerable work to be executed by his novel method of illuminated printing, combining text and decorations on a simple etched plate. by 1795, blake lived through the american and french revolutions, which left a deep impression on his mind. his songs of experience are permeated by undertones of indignation and pity for the human state. he was also deeply influenced by study of the philosophers as well as of mystical writers such as paracelsus, jakob boehme, and emanuel swedenborg. among blake s illuminated books are the marriage of heaven and hell, a work mixing satires on swedenborg with metaphysical and religious discussions; the book of thel, a delicate allegory of the descent of the soul from eternity into mortal life; visions of the daughters of albion, in which fr

e east. mathers claimed to have written to her, and to have received a great mass of information and rituals, along with a charter for the isis-urania temple. after the other two founders died, westcott resigned in 1887 to concentrate on the sria, of which he was supreme magus, leaving mathers in complete control of the hogd. in 1892 mathers moved to paris, where he married moira, the daughter of the philosopher henri bergson, and from where he proceeded to direct the affairs of the hogd. the four had claimed to have a charter and a set of rituals from the secret chiefs of the rosicrucian order in germany, but in fact it was all written by mathers.mathers was one of the most brilliant amateur scholars of his generation, who also translated the greater key of solomon and several major cabal

LIBER 141

esser initiations confirmeth this. yet considerations of divinity and of philosophy, and even of physics, do assure that our way excelleth others even as spring tides exceed the neap. water burneth the skin not at all, and the oil of vitriol but slowly but add a drop of water to the drop of oil, and instantly cometh heat and a pang intense and sharp. this is but analogy, yet just, and pleasing to the philosopher. xii of the choice of an assistant with regard to the choice of one to serve this sacrament, man is so confused in mind, and so easily deceived as to this matter, that it seems to us not unreasonable to allow full sway to the caprice of the moment. for this caprice so-called is in truth perhaps the voice of the sub-consciousness; that is, it is the deliberate choice of the holy pha

LIBER 777

combine these ideas, not in the mutual toleration of subcontraries, but in the affirmation of contraries, that transcending of the laws of intellect which is madness in the ordinary man, genius in the overman who hath arrived to strike off more fetters from our understanding. the savage who cannot conceive of the number six, the orthodox mathematician who cannot conceive of the fourth dimension, the philosopher who cannot conceive of the absolute all these are one; all must be impregnated with the divine essence of the phallic yod of macroprosopus, and give birth to their idea. true (we may agree with balzac, the absolute recedes; we never grasp it; but in the travelling there is joy. am i no better than a staphylococcus because my ideas still crowd in chains? but we digress. the last att

en among serious philosophers the confusion is very great. such terms as god, the absolute, spirit, have dozens of connotations, according to the time and place of the dispute and the beliefs of the disputants. time enough that these definitions and their inter-relation should be crystallised, even at the expense of accepted philosophical accuracy. 2. the principal sources of our tables have been the philosophers and traditional systems referred to above, as also, among many others, pietri di abano,2 lilly, eliphaz levi, sir r. burton, swami vivekananda, the hindu, buddhist, and chinese classics, the q ran and its commentators, the book of the dead, and, in particular, original research. the chinese, hindu, buddhist, moslem and egyptian systems have never before been brought into line with

testy senior of genesis, that lawgiver of leviticus, that phallus of the depopulated slaves of the egyptians, that jealous king-god of the times of the kings, that more spiritual conception of the captivity, only invented when all temporal hope was lost, that medi val battleground of cross-chopped logic, that being stripped of all his attributes and assimilated to parabrahman and the absolute of the philosopher? satan, again, who in job is merely attorney-general and prosecutes for the crown, acquires in time all the obloquy attaching to that functionary in the eyes of the criminal classes, and becomes a slanderer. does any one really think that any angel is such a fool as to try to gull the omniscient god into injustice to his saints? then, on the other hand, what of moloch, that form of

LIBER CXLVIII SOLDIER AND THE HUNCHBACK

ry? the mortar of the temple of the ego, whose bricks are the impressions. and the ego? the sum of our experience, may be (i doubt it) anyhow, we have got values of y and z for x, and values of x and z for y. all our equations are indeterminate; all our knowledge is relative, even in a narrower sense than is usually implied by the statement. under the whip of the clown god, our performing donkeys the philosophers and men of science run round and round in the ring; they have amusing tricks: they are cleverly trained; but they get nowhere. i don ft seem to be getting anywhere myself. ii a fresh attempt. let us look into the simplest and most certain of all possible statements. though exists, or if you will, cogitatur. the soldier and the hunchback 3 descartes supposed himself to have touched

ther, for all its? form. and the name of that question is nibbana. take this matter of the soul. when mr. judas mccabbage1 asks the man in the street why he believes in a soul, the man stammers out that he has always heard so; naturally mccabbage has no difficulty in proving to him by biological methods that he has no soul; and with a sunny smile each passes on his way. but mccabbage is wasted on the philosopher whose belief in a soul rests on introspection; we must have heavier metal; hume will serve our turn, may be. but hume in his turn becomes perfectly futile, pitted against the hindu mystic, who is in constant enjoyment of his new-found atman. it takes a buddha-gun to knock his castle down. now the ideas of mccabbage are banal and dull; those of hume are live and virile; there is a j

onstant enjoyment of his new-found atman. it takes a buddha-gun to knock his castle down. now the ideas of mccabbage are banal and dull; those of hume are live and virile; there is a joy in them greater than the joy of the man in the street. so too the buddha-thought, anatta, 1 [joseph mccabe, a grationalist h/ atheist writer of the period. t.s] 14 liber cxlviii is a more splendid conception than the philosopher fs dutch-dolllike ego, or the rational artillery of hume. this weapon, too, that has destroyed our lesser, our illusionary universes, ever revealing one more real, shall we not wield it with divine ecstasy? shall we not, too, perceive the interdependence of the questions and the answers, the necessary connection of the one with the other, so that (just as 0 is an indefinite) we des

LIBER DCCCLX JOHN ST

of recording his results, or failed to overcome the duality of thoth. otherwise, even if he comprehended the base, he certainly failed at the apex of the pyramid. in any case, he cannot blame the ceremony, which is most potent; one or two small details may need correction, but no more. john st. john 95 here then he is down at the bottom of the hill again, a rosicrucian sisyphus with the stone of the philosophers! an ixion bound to the wheel of destiny and of the samsara, unable to reach the centre, where is rest. he must add to the entry 1.13 that the .telephone-cross. voices came as he composed himself to sleep, in the will to adonai. this time he detached a body of cavalry to chase them to oblivion. perhaps an unwise division of his forces; yet he was so justly indignant at the eternal

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

suddenly, once the rate of change has been sufficiently slowed down, so that, even for a few seconds, the relation of subject and object remains impregnable. it is a circumstance of little interest to the present essayist that this annihilation of duality is associated with intense and passionless peace and delight; the fact has been a bribe to the unwary, a bait for the charlatan, a hindrance to the philosopher; let us discard it* hume, and kant in the .prolegomena. discuss this phenomenon unsatisfactorily..a. c. it is this rapture which has ever been the bond between mystics of all shades; and the obstacle to any accurate observation of the phenomenon, its true causes, and so on. this must always be a stumblingblock to more impressionable minds; but there is no doubt as to the fact.it is

LIBER XLI THIEN TAO

he anomalies which disgusted the nation by a campaign of glaring and venal sophistries. these deceived nobody, and only inspired the contempt, which might have been harmless, with a hate which threatened to engulph the community in an abyss of the most formidable convulsions. such was the razor-edge upon which the unsteady feet of the republic strode when, a few years before the date of my visit, the philosopher kwaw landed at nagasaki after an exhilarating swim from the mainland. ii( gstanding alone. h) kwaw, when he crossed the yellow sea, was of the full age of thirtytwo years. the twenty previous equinoxes had passed over his head as he wandered, sole human tenant, among the colossal yet ignoble ruins of wei hai wei. his only companions were the lion and the lizard, who frequented the

f the hustle of the stockyards; there are business men in a hurry, and they shall travel in central asia to acquire the art of repose. gso much for the equilibrium, and for two months in every year each member of your governing classes shall undergo this training under skilled advice. gbut what of the great tao? for one month in every year each of these men shall seek desperately for the stone of the philosophers. by solitude and fasting for the social and luxurious, by drunkenness and debauch for the austere, by scourging for those afraid of physical pain, by repose for the restless, and toil for the idle, by bull-fights for the humanitarian, and the care of little children for the callous, by rituals for the rational, and by philosophy for the credulous, shall these men, while thien tao;

LIBER XV CHYMICAL JOUSTING OF PERARDUA

rgent. now this metal is not in any wise like unto earthly metal; let the brethren well beware, for many false knaves be abroad. three things be golden: the mineral gold of the merchant that is dross; the vegetable gold that groweth from the seed of the scroll by virture of the lion; and the animal gold that cometh forth from the regimen of the dragon, and this last is the sole marketable gold of the philosopher. for, behold, an arcanum! i charge you, keep secret this matter; for the vile brothers, could they divine it, would pervert it. this mineral gold cannot be changed into any other substance by any means. this vegetable gold is fluidic; it must increase wonderfully and be fixed in the perfection of the sphinx. but this our animal gold is to this mighty pitch unstable, that it can nei

MACNULTY W KIRK KABBALAH AND FREEMASONRY

at the yesod of beriah, and that is exactly where he is located as a candidate in the chapter. kneeling at yesod (in figure 22, the candidate looks up the path of honesty to tiferet, up the path of awe and through the daat of beriah to glimpse the divine persona at the yesod of azilut (figure 23. this moment is a dramatic representation of the culmination of the mystical ascent, the final goal of the philosophers of the renaissance. when this event occurs, not as a ritual representation in a chapter room in london, but in fact, within the consciousness of an incarnate human being, then he knows within himself el hai shaddai, the living almighty, the presence of divinity. in this realization he knows not from reading, not from being told, figure 21. representation of a royal arch chapter fr

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

e new jerusalem--the grand secret of nature. 145 alchemy and its exponents the multiplication of metals--the medal of emperor leopold i--paracelsus of hohenheim--raymond lully--nicholas flarnmel--count bernard of treviso. 149 the theory and practice of alchemy the origin of alchemical philosophy--alexander the great and the talking trees--nature and art--alchemical symbolism--the song of solomon--the philosopher's gold. 153 the theory and practice of alchemy, part ii the alchemical prayer--the emerald tablet of hermes--a letter from the brothers of r. c--the magical mountain of the moon--an alchemical formula--the dew of the sages. 157 the chemical marriage christian rosencreutz is invited to the chemical wedding--the virgo lucifera--the philosophical inquisition--the tower of olympus--the

holy ghost--were separate and yet one. in different parts of europe may be seen figures similar to the above, wherein three faces are united in one head. this is a legitimate method of for to those able to realize the sacred significance of the threefold head a great mystery is revealed. however, in the presence of such applications of symbology in christian art, it is scarcely proper to consider the philosophers of other faiths as benighted if, like the hindus, they have a three-faced brahma, or, like the romans, a two-faced janus. p. 20 always followed by the process of dissolution. according to spencer, however, disintegration took place only that reintegration might follow upon a higher level of being. the chief position in the italian school of philosophy should be awarded to giordano

allegory; and those who can today discover its lost keys may open with them a treasure house of philosophic, scientific, and religious truths. click to enlarge the orphic egg. from bryant's an analysis of ancient mythology. the ancient symbol of the orphic mysteries was the serpent-entwined egg, which signified cosmos as encircled by the fiery creative spirit. the egg also represents the soul of the philosopher; the serpent, the mysteries. at the time of initiation the shell is broke. and man emerges from the embryonic state of physical existence wherein he had remained through the fetal period of philosophic regeneration. next: the ancient mysteries and secret societies which have influenced modern masonic symbolism sacred texts esoteric index previous next the ancient mysteries and secr

t, under those moving chords, is engraved on the one side the face of isis, and on the other that of nephthys--by the faces symbolically representing generation and corruption (which, as has been already observed, is nothing but the motion and alteration of the four elements one amongst another (from plutarch's isis and osiris) p. 47 the image or representative of the great works of the wise men: the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life, and the universal medicine. other hieroglyphics seen in connection with isis are no less curious than those already described, but it is impossible to enumerate all, for many symbols were used interchangeably by the egyptian hermetists. the goddess often wore upon her head a hat made of cypress branches, to signify mourning for her dead husband and also

creatures of diverse forms through periods of perpetual change. the cymbal is made square instead of the usual triangular shape in order to symbolize that all things are transmuted and regenerated according to the harmony of the four elements. dr. sigismund bacstrom believed that if a physician could establish harmony among the elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and unite them into a stone (the philosopher's stone) symbolized by the sixpointed star or two interlaced triangles, he would possess the means of healing all disease. dr. bacstrom further stated that there was no doubt in his mind that the universal, omnipresent fire (spirit) of nature "does all and is all in all" by attraction, repulsion, motion, heat, sublimation, evaporation, exsiccation, inspissation, coagulation, and fi

s, searches into the hidden truths which he concealed under them, and examines the whole by the dictates of reason and philosophy" during the middle ages the troubadours of central europe preserved in song the legends of this egyptian goddess. they composed sonnets to the most beautiful woman in all the world. though few ever discovered her identity, she was sophia, the virgin of wisdom, whom all the philosophers of the world have wooed. isis represents the mystery of motherhood, which the ancients recognized as the most apparent proof of nature's omniscient wisdom and god's overshadowing power. to the modern seeker she is the epitome of the great unknown, and only those who unveil her will be able to solve the mysteries of life, death, generation, and regeneration. mummification of the eg

ted as a tiny flame, called by the hebrews yod. jakob b hme, the teutonic mystic, calls the trinity the three witnesses, by means of which the invisible is made known to the visible, tangible universe. the origin of the trinity is obvious to anyone who will observe the daily manifestations of the sun. this orb, being the symbol of all light, has three distinct phases: rising, midday, and setting. the philosophers therefore divided the life of all things into three distinct parts: growth, maturity, and decay. between the twilight of dawn and the twilight of evening is the high noon of resplendent glory. god the father, the creator of the world, is symbolized by the dawn. his color is blue, because the sun rising in the morning is veiled in blue mist. god the son he illuminating one sent to

from pagan antiquity is the story of the beautiful, blueeyed sun god, with his golden hair falling upon his shoulders, robed from head to foot in spotless white and carrying in his arms the lamb of god, symbolic of the vernal equinox. this handsome youth is a composite of apollo, osiris, orpheus, mithras, and bacchus, for he has certain characteristics in common with each of these pagan deities. the philosophers of greece and egypt divided the life of the sun during the year into four parts; therefore they symbolized the solar man by four different figures. when he was born in the winter solstice, the sun god was symbolized as a dependent infant who in some mysterious manner had managed to escape the powers of darkness seeking to destroy him while he was still in the cradle of winter. the

can conclude that the isiac table was originally the introduction to a collection followed by the mysteries of isis. it was engraved on copper in order to be used in the ceremonial of initiation (see new essay on the isiac table) p. 60 within itself the matter called fundus, or foundation 'these seven, plus the one invisible crown, constitute the eight worlds "plato writes that it is needful for the philosopher to know how the seven circles beneath the first one are arranged according to the egyptians. the first triad of fire denotes life; the second, water, over which rule the ibimorphous divinities; and the third, air, ruled by nephta. from the fire the heavens were created, from the water the earth, and air was the mediator between them. in the sephira yetzirah it is said that from the

l flame, but because probably the devil set them there, maliciously intending thereby to obtain fresh credence for a false worship" having admitted that dependable authorities defend the existence of the ever-burning lamps, and that even the devil lends himself to their manufacture, kircher next declared the entire theory to be desperate and impossible, and to be classed with perpetual motion and the philosopher's stone. having already solved the problem to his satisfaction once, kircher solves it again--but differently--in the following words "in egypt there are rich deposits of asphalt and petroleum. what did these clever fellows [the priests] do, then, but connect an oil deposit by a secret duct with one or more lamps, provided with wicks of asbestos! how could such lamps help burning p

future generations. the pythoness answered in the affirmative, but declared that it would always be calumniated. apollonius left the cavern in anger, but time has proved the accuracy of the prediction, for the early church fathers perpetuated the name of apollonius as the antichrist (for details of the story see histoire de la magie) the messages given by the virgin prophetess were turned over to the philosophers of the oracle, whose duty it was to interpret and apply them. the communications were then delivered to the poets, who immediately translated them into odes and lyrics, setting forth in exquisite form the statements supposedly made by apollo and making them available for the populace. serpents were much in evidence at the oracle of delphi. the base of the tripod upon which the pyt

tion continued to promulgate his doctrines. as is so often the case with genius, pythagoras by his outspokenness incurred both political and personal enmity. among those who came for initiation was one who, because pythagoras refused to admit him, determined to destroy both the man and his philosophy. by means of false propaganda, this disgruntled one turned the minds of the common people against the philosopher. without warning, a band of murderers descended upon the little group of buildings where the great teacher and his disciples dwelt, burned the structures and killed pythagoras. accounts of the philosopher's death do not agree. some say that he was murdered with his disciples; others that, on escaping from crotona with a small band of followers, he was trapped and burned alive by hi

y of magic "he was an important champion of what used to be called the doctrine of metempsychosis, understood as the soul's transmigration into successive bodies. he himself had been (a) aethalides, a son of mercury (b) euphorbus, son of panthus, who perished at the hands of menelaus in the trojan war (c) hermotimus, a prophet of clazomenae, a city of ionia (d) a humble fisherman; and finally (e) the philosopher of samos" pythagoras also taught that each species of creatures had what he termed a seal, given to it by god, and that the physical form of each was the impression of this seal upon the wax of physical substance. thus each body was stamped with the dignity of its divinely given pattern. pythagoras believed that ultimately man would reach a state where he would cast off his gross n

MEANING OF MASONRY

initiated, passed and raised in the higher sense of those expressions, whatever ceremonies we have formally passed through" the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life" let us enquire what the spirit of this puzzle-language is. the method of all great religious and initiatory systems has been to teach their doctrine in the form of myth, legend or allegory. as our first tracing-board lecture says" the philosophers, unwilling to expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, meaning concealed their tenets and principles of philosophy under hieroglyphical figures" and our traditional history is one of these hieroglyphical figures. now the literally-minded never see behind the letter of the allegory. the truly initiated mind discerns the allegory's spiritual value. in fact, part of the purpose of all

ng the old manner of life, which at every moment negates all that ritual implies? the ancient mysteries, then, involved much more than a merely notional philosophy. they required also a philosophic method of living--or rather of dying. for as socrates said (in plato's phoedo, from which much masonic teaching is directly drawn and which every masonic student should study deeply" the whole study of the philosopher (or wisdom-seeker) is nothing else than to die and be dead; an assertion repeated by plutarch" to be initiated is to die; and by the christian apostle" i die daily" their method was divided into two parts, the lesser and the greater mysteries. the lesser were those in which the more elementary instruction was imparted, so that candidates might forthwith set about to purify and adap

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

nd care. it is this attitude which then leads to thedesecration of nature, animals, and indigenous peoples as well. the druids did notpermit themselves the luxury of cutting a single living thing with a sharpened edge.compare this to todays savagery and carnage. in a sincere desire to discover the origins of evil and in a need to circumvent the drive,personally and collectively, we have turned to the philosophers and to the scientistsand priests. for all their musings and pontification, the academic philosophers havecome up relatively empty when providing clear understanding of this matter for allhumanity. science does not exalt the moral question to any intense degree. scientistscannot even find consensus on the mysteries of the physical earth. orthodox geolo-gists have generally failed t

MOODY RAYMOND A LIFE AFTER LIFE

says, for example, that whereas the physical body was weak and ugly, the spiritual body will be strong and beautiful. this reminds one of the account of a near-death experience in which the spiritual body seemed whole and complete even when the physical body could be seen to be mutilated, and of another in which the spiritual body seemed to be of no particular age, i.e, not limited by time- plato the philosopher plato, who was one of the greatest thinkers of all time, lived in athens from 428 to 348 b.c. he left us a body of thought in the form of some twenty-two philosophical plays or dialogues, most of which include his teacher socrates as chief interlocutor, and a small number of letters. plato believed strongly in the use of reason, logic, and argument in the attainment of truth and wi

MORALS AND DOGMA

n claimed to be the lord god; and statues and images of him, in silver and gold, were found throughout the known world. he claimed to be regarded as the god of all men; and, according to suetonius, began his letters thus"_our lord and god commands that it should be done so and so" and formally decreed that no one should address him otherwise, either in writing or by word of mouth. palfurius sura, the philosopher, who was his chief delator, accusing those who refused to recognize his divinity, however much _he_ may have believed in that divinity, had not the right to demand that a single christian in rome or the provinces should do the same. reason is far from being the only guide, in morals or in political science. love or loving-kindness must keep it company, to exclude fanaticism, intole

a spiritual _non_-sense "to retract" for example, is to _draw back, and when applied to a _statement, is symbolic, as much so as a picture of an arm drawn back, to express the same thing, would be. the very word"_spirit" means"_breath" from the latin verb, breathe. to present a visible symbol to the eye of another is not necessarily to inform him of the meaning which that symbol has to you. hence the philosopher soon superadded to the symbols explanations addressed to the ear, susceptible of more precision, but less effective and impressive than the painted or sculptured forms which he endeavored to explain. out of these explanations grew by degrees a variety of narrations, whose true object and meaning were gradually forgotten, or lost in contradictions and incongruities. and when these w

y, even to the poor. it is sweeter to forgive than to take vengeance. gaming and quarrels lead to misery. there is no true merit without the practice of virtue. to honor our mother is the most fitting homage we can pay the divinity. there is no tranquil sleep without a clear conscience. he badly understands his interest who breaks his word" twenty-four centuries ago these were the chinese ethics "the philosopher [confucius] said 'san! my doctrine is simple, and easy to be understood' thseng-tseu replied 'that is certain' the philosopher having gone out, the disciples asked what their master had meant to say. thseng-tseu responded 'the doctrine of our master consists solely in being upright of heart, and loving our neighbor as we love ourself" about a century later, the hebrew law said "if

n he. religion, to obtain currency and influence with the great mass of mankind, must needs be alloyed with such an amount of error as to place it far below the standard attainable by the higher human capacities. a religion as pure as the loftiest and most cultivated human reason could discern, would not be comprehended by, or effective over, the less educated portion of mankind. what is truth to the philosopher, would not be truth, nor have the effect of truth, to the peasant. the religion of the many must necessarily be more incorrect than that of the refined and reflective few, not so much in its essence as in its forms, not so much in the spiritual idea which lies latent at the bottom of it, as in the symbols and dogmas in which that idea is embodied. the truest religion would, in many

ars of alexander in three-quarters of the globe, the doctrines of greece, of egypt, of persia, and of india, met and intermingled everywhere. all the barriers that had formerly kept the nations apart, were thrown down; and while the people of the west readily connected their faith with those of the east, those of the orient hastened to learn the traditions of rome and the legends of athens. while the philosophers of greece, all (except the disciples of epicurus) more or less platonists, seized eagerly upon the beliefs and doctrines of the east--the jews and egyptians, before then the most exclusive of all peoples, yielded to that eclecticism which prevailed among their masters, the greeks and romans. under the same influences of toleration, even those who embraced christianity, mingled tog

ourn for they shall be comforted" he pours the oil of consolation and peace upon every crushed and bleeding heart. every sufferer is his proselyte. he shares their sorrows, and sympathizes with all their afflictions. he raises up the sinner and the samaritan woman, and teaches them to hope for forgiveness. he pardons the woman taken in adultery. he selects his disciples not among the pharisees or the philosophers, but among the low and humble, even of the fishermen of galilee. he heals the sick and feeds the poor. he lives among the destitute and the friendless "suffer little children" he said "to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven! blessed are the humble-minded, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; the meek, for they shall inherit the earth; the merciful, for they shall ob

truction; and vehicles of useful and interesting information. they represent the different phases of the human mind, its efforts and struggles to comprehend nature, god, the government of the universe, the permitted existence of sorrow and evil. to teach us wisdom, and the folly of endeavoring to explain to ourselves that which we are not capable of understanding, we reproduce the speculations of the philosophers, the kabalists, the mystagogues and the gnostics. every one being at liberty to apply our symbols and emblems as he thinks most consistent with truth and reason and with his own faith, we give them such an interpretation only as may be accepted by all. our degrees may be conferred in france or turkey, at pekin, ispah n, rome, or geneva, in the city of penn or in catholic louisiana

trating persia and chald a, gave birth to the egyptian mysteries. we find that the use of hieroglyphics was preceded in egypt by that of the easily understood symbols and figures, from the mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms, used by the indians, persians, and chald ans to express their thoughts; and this primitive philosophy was the basis of the modern philosophy of pythagoras and plato. all the philosophers and legislators that made antiquity illustrious, were pupils of the initiation; and all the beneficent modifications in the religions of the different people instructed by them were owing to their institution and extension of the mysteries. in the chaos of popular superstitions, those mysteries alone kept man from lapsing into absolute brutishness. zoroaster and confucius drew the

. the very object proposed by them shows that their basis was the theory of the two principles and their relations with the soul "we celebrate the august mysteries of ceres and proserpine" says the emperor julian "at the autumnal equinox, to obtain of the gods that the soul may not experience the malignant action of the power of darkness that is then about to have sway and rule in nature" sallust the philosopher makes almost the same remark as to the relations of the soul with the periodical march of light and darkness, during an annual revolution; and assures us that the mysterious festivals of greece related to the same. and in all the explanations given by macrobius of the sacred fables in regard to the sun, adored under the names of osiris, horus, adonis, atys, bacchus, etc, we invaria

hierophant, who represented the grand demiourgos or maker of the universe, who was posted in the interior of the temple, and there received the candidates, represented the sun. it was also held that the vicissitudes experienced by the father of light had an influence on the destiny of souls; which, of the same substance as he, shared his fortunes. this we learn from the emperor julian and sallust the philosopher. they are afflicted when he suffers: they rejoice when he triumphs over the power of darkness which opposes his sway and hinders the happiness of souls, to whom nothing is so terrible as darkness. the fruit of the sufferings of the god, father of light and souls, slain by the chief of the powers of darkness, and again restored to life, was received in the mysteries "his death works

lstitial doors, along the milky way, to be for the first time immured in its prison-house of matter. but the mysteries also represented to the candidate, by sensible symbols, the invisible forces which move this visible universe, and the virtues, qualities, and powers attached to matter, and which maintain the marvellous order observed therein. of this porphyry informs us. the world, according to the philosophers of antiquity, was not a purely material and mechanical machine. a great soul, diffused everywhere, vivified all the members of the immense body of the universe; and an intelligence, equally great, directed all its movements, and maintained the eternal harmony that resulted therefrom. thus the unity of the universe, represented by the symbolic egg, contained in itself two units, th

e theory relative to the origin of the soul and its destiny, were taught in the mysteries, of which they were the great object. the emperor julian, explains the mysteries of atys and cybele by the same metaphysical principles, respecting the demiurgical intelligence, its descent into matter, and its return to its origin: and extends this explanation to those of ceres. and so likewise does sallust the philosopher, who admits in god a secondary intelligent force, which descends into the generative matter to organize it. these mystical ideas naturally formed a part of the sacred doctrine and of the ceremonies of initiation, the object of which, sallust remarks, was to unite man with the world and the deity; and the final term of perfection whereof was, according to clemens, the contemplation

ch seconded by his troops of genii, are ever in conflict, there to submit to one or more organizations in the body which is its prison, until it shall at last return to its place of origin, its true native country, from which during this life it is an exile. but one thing remained--to represent its return, through the constellations and planetary spheres, to its original home. the celestial fire, the philosophers said, soul of the world and of fire, an universal principle, circulating above the heavens, in a region infinitely pure and wholly luminous, itself pure, simple, and unmixed, is above the world by its specific lightness. if any part of it (say a human soul) descends, it acts against its nature in doing so, urged by an inconsiderate desire of the intelligence, a perfidious love for

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

science of society such as the one the romans had let loose. despite the official resistance of the church, this science was a synthesis, a joining: the great renown of the roman empire, like the wisdom of greece or egypt, had never vanished from the memory of men. the church was the direct heir to rome and retained its dominance in this new world. but now next to the theologian stood the jurist, the philosopher, and the scholar. this conjugation, a return of authentic traditions, was the collective work of the latins (europeans or their descendants living in the latin states in the holy land, the people of the east, and the arabs. we have seen a broad view of the role played by the byzantine world in the growth of culture in the west. it was the arabs, though, who reintroduced aristotle i

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

as the archer god that led him to be identified with the sun, whose rays fall like arrows to earth, and earned him the name phoebus, the bright. the laurel was sacred to apollo as a result of his love for daphne. at his shrine at delphi, his high priestess, pythia, chewed a laurel leaf before uttering an oracle. the answers given in her divinely inspired ecstasy were often obscure and ambiguous. the philosopher heraclitus wrote, the lord whose oracle is in delphi neither declares nor conceals, but gives a sign. apollo even the swan sings of you. as it lands upon the banks of the river peneus. the sweet-singing bard sings of you first and last with his high-tuned lyre. hail lord! hear my song. homeric hymn to apollo this greek votive relief dating from the 5th century bce shows a family sa

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

soul. all this allows us to answer the following question: how is it possible that material bread can nourish a person fs soul, which is spiritual? if a person refrains from eating bread or any other food for several days, he will die of hunger and his soul will depart from him, but if he eats bread he will live. how can the bread retain the spiritual soul [in the body? because of this question, the philosophers insisted that the soul does not live on [after death, and that when the body dies the soul dies also [they argued] since it is nourished from a physical thing, it must also be physical. the truth is not like this, g-d forbid, for they did not know what we said [above, namely, that there is life-force within the food, which is its spiritual dimension, and this spiritual aspect [of

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

ing further the nature and qualities of the supemals "a most pure sweet virgin, for nothing as yet hath been generated out of her. she yields to nothing but love, for her end is generation, and that was never yet performed by violence. he that knows how to wanton and toy with her, the same shall receive all her treasures. first, she sheds at her nipples a thick heavy water, but white as any snow; the philosophers call it virgin's milk. secondly, she gives him blood from her very heart; it is a quick, heavenly fire; some improperly call it their sulphur. thirdly and lastly, she presents him with a secret crystal, of more worth and lustre than the white rock and all her rosials. this is she, and these are her favours" from this first triad, a second triad of emanations is reflected or projec

be "the chaos, the darkness, and the gates of the land of night" while man is assumed into godhead, and the divine spirit is brought down into manhood, a new heaven and a new earth make their appearance, and familiar objects take on a divine radiance as though illumined by an inter <39> nal spiritual light. and this is what, in part at any rate, was meant by the old alchemists, for the finding of the philosopher's stone converts all base metals into the purest gold. in his book centuries of meditation, thomas traherne gives an interesting description of the rapture of the inner personality, its reaction to the world, when it is freed by the mystical experience from all entanglements. he says "the corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be reaped, nor was ever sown. i thought

dreamed not of poverties, contentions, or vices. all tears and quarrels were hidden from my eyes. everything was at rest, free and immortal. i knew nothing of sickness or death or exaction. in the absence of these i was entertained like an angel with the works of god in their splendour and glory; i saw all in the peace of eden. all time was eternity, and a perpetual sabbath" such is the stone of the philosophers, the quintessence, the summurn bonum, true wisdom and perfect happiness. psellus, the neoplatonist, has written that the function of initiatory magic was "to initiate or perfect the human soul by the powers of materials here on earth; for the supreme faculty of the soul cannot by its own guidance aspire to the sublimest intuition and to the comprehension of divinity" it is a commo

knocks) 1 tetelestai! hiereus (knocks) 1 heg (knocks) 1 hiero (knocks) khabs. hiereus (knocks) am. heg (knocks) pekht. hiereus (knocks) konx. heg (knocks) om. hierophant (knocks) pax. neophyte ritual 133 heg (knocks) light hiero (knocks) in hiereus (knocks) extension. all make the signs towards the altar. hiero may what we have partaken maintain us in our search for the quintessence, the stone of the philosophers. true wisdom, perfect happiness, the summum bonum. officers remain in the temple while the new neophyte is led out by kerux (note: full instructions as to the magical work performed by the officers during the ceremony are given in documents z.1 and 2.3. these latter will be found in volume 111 of this work. i. r) the neopirye signr sign of iiaiipocratps sign of horus 0 signs of ei

e same time that the first consecration establishes a semblance of the pillats to his right and left, it also has drawn forth from him a semblance of himself to the place vacated by the hegemon between the pillars (that is, the ceremony induces a species of schizophrenia so that the initiation may be effected. but see jung's commentary to the secret of the golden fher, and also my book on alchemy the philosopher's stone.-i. r) here then stands the shadow of the candidate while the scales of the balance oscillate unseen. unseen also and colossal, there is imaged before him tho-0th) as mettatron, in the sign of the enterer of the threshold, ready, according to the decision of the human will, to permit or withhold the descent of the lower genius of the candidate. meanwhile, the great assessor

hing tablet of mars. after this period, fit on the alembic head, and distil first in balneum mariae, then in balneum arenae till what time the mixture be all distilled over. s-now let the alchemist take the fluid of the distillate and let him <189> perform over it an invocation of the forces of mercury to act in the clear fluid, so as to formulate therein the alchemic mercury, even the mercury of the philosophers (the residuum or the dead head is not to be worked with at present, but is to be set apart for future use) after the invocation of the alchemic mercury a certain brilliance should manifest itself in the whole fluid, that is to say, it should not only be clear, but also brilliant and flashing. now expose it in an her398 .the golden dawn: volume 111 book five metic receiver for seve

who rule over the earth in the north quadrangle, and who bear the names of laidrom, alhedega, aczinor, ahrnbicv, lzinopo, liiansa. be this day present with me, so that the angel axir may be caused to manifest physically unto me in this temple, to the end that he may teach me the creative art, and how i may divinely fix the higher self within a purified body, and how i may find the hidden stone of the philosophers, that stone whereon is a new name written. 0 thou angel, axir, subservient in the lesser angle of earth, in the great northern quadrangle, i do invocate and conjure thee, being armed with divine power. by the name of ic zod heh chaland by the spirit <204> name of nanta, i conjure thee. by the name of cabalpt and arbiz the holy names of god, and by the name of nroam that great arch

ommand and conjure thee not in my name but by the majesty of adonai ha-aretz and emor dial hectega, the lord and king of earth, and ruler over malkuth, that thou formulate between thy kingdom and my soul a true and potent link. that thou teach me the mystery of the earthly self of man, and how it may be made creative. teach me in what manner it may be purified, and fix therein the hidden stone of the philosophers, that stone whereon is written the new name of redemption. and finally swear thou by the mighty magic seal which in my hand i hold that thou wilt always speedily appear before me, coming whensoever i call thee by word or will, or by a magical ceremony. to the end that thou mayest be a perpetual link of communication between the lords of malkuth and my human soul therein. when all

RITUALS OF THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANIS IN ANGLIA

s of four rooms on the south side of thesacred hall, that occupied by the theorici being the first, and which leads into this by a connectingpassage-way. here you beheld loss of confusion in the retorts, bulbs, receivers, worms and cylindersfor compounding and distilled. here were required scales and measures, heating and hanging lamps,and all the appliances necessary and requisite for the use of the philosophers of hermes. salt,sulphur and mercury abound in various shapes. alkali and acids continually met the gaze: and inlong rows, systematically arranged and occupying one side of the room, were many books of theegyptians, treating of universal principles, of the nature and orders of celestial beings. of medicinesand ever of divination. the philosophers were termed 'practicus, and here th

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

dental magic universal doctrine of the trinity; that, in a word, he regretted nothing of the old world but its magnificent symbols and its too gracious images. julian was not a pagan; he was a gnostic allured by the allegories of greek polytheism, who had the misfortune to find the name of jesus christ less sonorous than that of orpheus. the emperor paid in his person for the academical tastes of the philosopher and rhetorician, and after affording himself the spectacle and satisfaction of expiring like epaminondas with the periods of cato, he had in public opinion, by this time fully christianized, but anathemas for his funeral oration and a scornful epithet for his ultimate memorial. let us pass over the petty minds and small matters of the bas-empire, and proceed to the middle ages. sta

sufferings; to know as one should alone know it, namely, to make use of and conceal it, is to be master of the absolute. a single word comprehends all things, and this word consists of four letters: it is the tetragram of the hebrews, the azot of the alchemists, the thot of the bohemians, or the taro of the kabalists. this word, expressed after so many manners, means god for the profane, man for the philosophers, and imparts to the adepts the final term of human sciences and the key of divine power; but he only can use it who understands the necessity of never revealing it. had oedipus, instead of killing the sphinx, overcome it, harnessed it to his chariot and thus entered thebes, he would have been king without incest, without misfortunes and without exile. had psyche, by meekness and a

magic of freemasonry. in his treatise on the wonders of nature, coglenius describes the talismans of solomon and those of rabbi chael. designs of many others that are most ancient will be found in the magical calendars of tycho brahe and duchentau, and should have a place in m. ragon's archives on initiation, a vast and scholarly undertaking, to which we refer our readers' 93 xix f t the stone of the philosophers elagabalus vocatio sol aurum the ancients adored the sun under the figure of a black stone, which they named elagabalus, or heliogabalus. what did this stone signify, and how came it to be the image of the most brilliant of luminaries? the disciples of hermes, before promising their adepts the elixir of long life or the powder of projection, counselled them to seek for the philoso

this stone, and why is it so called? the great initiator of the christians invites his believers to build on the stone or rock, if they do not wish their structures to be demolished. he terms himself the cornerstone, and says to the most faithful of his apostles, thou art peter (petrus, and upon this rock (petram) i will build my church. this stone, say the masters in alchemy, is the true salt of the philosophers, which is the third ingredient in the composition of azoth. now, we know already that azoth is the name of the great hermetic and true philosophical agent; furthermore, their salt is represented under the figure of a cubic stone, as may be seen in the twelve keys of basil valentine, or in the allegories of trevisan. once more, what is this stone actually? it is the foundation of a

that is to say, of transforming the vital forces represented by the six metals into sol, otherwise into truth and light, the first and indispensable operation of the great work, leading to the secondary adaptations and discovering, by the analogies of nature, the natural and grosser gold to the possessors of the spiritual and living gold, of the true salt, the true mercury and the true sulphur of the philosophers. to find the philosophical stone is then to have discovered the absolute, as the masters say otherwise. now, the absolute is that which admits of no errors; it is the fixation of the volatile; it is the rule of the imagination; it is the very necessity of being; it is the immutable law of reason and truth. the absolute is that which is. now that which is in some sense precedes he

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

ultra-christian abstraction, and the cultus of the pantheons, by rehabilitating socrates, prepared altars for that unity of god, of which israel had been the mysterious preserver. but the synagogue denied its messiah, and the hebrew letters were effaced, at least for the blinded eyes of the jews. the roman persecutors dishonoured hellenism, and it could not be restored by the false moderation of the philosopher julian, surnamed perhaps unjustly the apostate, since his christianity was never sincere. the ignorance of the middle ages followed, opposing saints and virgins to gods, goddesses and nymphs; the deep sense of the hellenic mysteries was less understood than ever; greece herself did not only lose the traditions of her ancient cultus but separated from the latin church; and thus, for

fication, 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. otherwise, fluid, air and water; the goat represents fire and is at the same time the symbol of generation. two goats, one pure and one impure, were consecrated in judea; the first was sacrificed in expiation for sins; the other, loaded with those sins by imprecation, was set at liberty in the desert. a strange ordinance, but one 8

adept. hermetic science, like all real sciences, is mathematically demonstrable. even its material results are as exact as a well-worked equation. hermetic gold is not only a true doctrine, a shadowless light, truth unalloyed with falsehood; it is also material, actual, pure gold, the most precious which can be found in the veins of the earth; but the living gold, living sulphur, or true fire of the philosopher, must be sought in the house of mercury. this fire feeds on air; to express its attractive and expansive power, a better comparison is impossible than that of lightning, which primally is a dry and terrestrial exhalation united to humid vapour, and afterwards, assuming an igneous nature, in virtue of its exaltation, acts on its inherent humidity, which it attracts and transmutes in

ning, which primally is a dry and terrestrial exhalation united to humid vapour, and afterwards, assuming an igneous nature, in virtue of its exaltation, acts on its inherent humidity, which it attracts and transmutes into its own nature, when it falls rapidly to earth, where it is drawn by a fixed nature similar to its own. these words, enigmatic in form but clear in essence, express openly what the philosophers understand by their mercury fructified by sulphur, which becomes the master and regenerator of salt. it is azoth, universal magnesia, the great magical agent, the astral light, the light of life, fertilized by animic force, by intellectual energy, which they compare to sulphur on account of its affinities with divine fire. as to salt, it is absolute matter. all that is material co

ve stars and having the moon beneath her feet. she is the mystical quintessence of the triad; she is spirituality, immortality, the queen of heaven. d the porte or government of the easterns, initiation, power, the tetragram, the quaternary, the cubic stone, or its base. hieroglyph, the emperor, a sovereign whose body represents a right-angled triangle and his legs a cross image of the athanor of the philosophers. h indication, demonstration, instruction, law, symbolism, philosophy, religion. hieroglyph, the pope, or grand hierophant. in more modern tarots this sign is replaced by the image of jupiter. the grand hierophant, seated between the two pillars of hermes and of solomon, makes the sign of esotericism and leans upon a cross with three crossbars of triangular form. two inferior mini

is an egg. f but the book of hermes 145 they understood thereby the physical, material world, while the seers meant the geographical, ideal, image-world, created by mind and the logos. as a fact, the priests of egypt represented mind, intelligence, kneph, with an egg placed upon his lips, to express clearly that the egg was here only a form of comparison, an image, a mode of speech. choumountou, the philosopher of the ezour-veda, explains after the same manner to the fanatic biache what must be understood by the golden egg of brahma. h we must not despair altogether of a period which still concerns itself with these serious and reasonable researches; we have therefore cited these pages of m. chaho with great mental satisfaction and profound sympathy. here is no longer the negative and des

ROBERT KIRK WALKER BETWEEN WORLDS

tal researcher or author groping after the yet-tobe- established disciplines of folklore. he marshals his evidence of customs, occurrences, beliefs and individual cases to support a deeply philosophical or metaphysical argument and not with the intent of making a definitive or preliminary collection of gaelic beliefs in its own right. the techniques that kirk uses to present his case are those of the philosopher and scholar of his period, and they are easily overlooked by the modern reader, even by the trained folklorist, as they derive from a type of classical and religious education and training in logical presentation no longer used today. we shall return shortly to the ultimate aim and nature of his argument. second, he is not presenting 'evidence' of the second sight, not even in the

me obscure testimonies of it [that is, the existence of otherworldly beings] such as pythagoras' doctrine of transmigration; socrates' daemone that gave him precautions of future dangers; plato's classing them into various vehiculated species of spirits; dionysius areopagita's marshalling [of] nine orders of spirits [from] superior [to] subordinate; the [classical] poets [in] their borrowing from the philosophers, and adding their own fancies of fountain, river, and sea nymphs, wood, hill and mountain inhabitants, and worldwide copyright 1990, 1998-2001 ,rjstewart, all rights and permissions reserved http//www.dreampower.com/kirk_wbw/pg_40.htm (9 of 9 [10/9/2001 12:34:55 am] robert kirk- walker between worlds(pages 50-59) flip to page# the secret commonwealth 50 that every place and thing

iding on saddles with stirrups, and the discoveries of the secret commonwealth 54 microscopes [all of] which were sometimes as great a wonder and hard to be believed [in. http//www.dreampower.com/kirk_wbw/pg_50.htm (4 of 10 [10/9/2001 12:35:05 am] robert kirk- walker between worlds(pages 50-59) 10. though i will not be so curious nor so peremptory as he who will [seek to] prove the possibility of the philosopher's stone from scripture [as in] job 28:1,2 [or] job 22:24-25, or [to prove] the plurality of worlds from john l4:2, and hebrews 11:3 or [to attempt to prove] the circulation of the blood from ecclesiastes 12:6; nor the talismanical art from the blind and the lame mentioned in 2 samuel 5:6. yet i humbly propose these passages which may give some light to our subject at least, and sho

ique elements to it, such as the mason word. 3. the second sight. 4. curative charms (see page 63) 5. magical proof against wounding used by scottish soldiers. with the possible exception of the scottish mason word, these curiosities are found worldwide in various folk traditions, albeit taking varied forms. page 54 though i will not be so curious nor so peremptory as he who will [seek to] prove. the philosopher's stone from scripture. or the plurality of worlds. or the circulation of the blood. nor the talismanical art. yet i humbly propose these passages which may give some light to our subject. first kirk disclaims a list of passages as possible proofs of obscure subjects revealed by the bible, thus encouraging us to look such passages up immediately. his choice is in some cases rather

RUBY TABLET OF SET

ml revision: oct 13, 1997 ce subject: philosophy reading list: 3l, 16a, 16l, 16m thomas aquinas (1225-1274) was a christian cleric who ultimately achieved catholic sainthood by his success in reacting to (a) the challenge of islam and (b) the rediscovery of classical philosophy, particularly that of aristotle, ca. 1140. by 1250 aristotle's influence had become so great that he was referred to as "the philosopher" hence it was necessary to refine catholicism to an intellectual precision comparable with that of aristotle, and also to make aristotle's more secular/scientific works tolerable to the church through a flattering interpretation of them. the bewildering complexity of thomas aquinas' philosophy may be illustrated by one dictionary definition, which describes "thomism" as. teaching t

he "general will" rousseau allows no reserved or inalienable rights against the government [as does locke, because they de facto weaken the "general will" by allowing individuals to ignore the social contract at critical moments. moreover it is the private life of the individual which determines his respect for public laws and institutions. rousseau is perhaps a little too conveniently considered the philosopher of the french revolution [as locke is of the american. it is true that rousseau's espousal of emotion over reason, and his glorification of the masses (the "general will) lend themselves to this interpretation. but the actual causes of the french revolution (more properly revolutions, as there was a series of them) were (1) the inability of the french absolute monarchy to effective

see in god the father both the yhwh of the hebrews and the various attempts at describing apollo as the god above gods among the greek philosophers. in god the son and the events of his earthly life we find plagiarisms of various cults such as that of mithras. in god the holy ghost is every concept the mystic could desire, sufficiently ambiguous to allow unlimited explanation and devotion. surely the philosophers and gnostics could be kept busy. the pantheon of deities would not be complete without the legendary saints. these were not supposed to be worshipped, as they were not divine. it was claimed that they had all lived exemplary lives, and were worthy of veneration. there was a saint for every day of the year, and for almost any function you could think of except sex. the blessed virg

d fragments, so too the magician who discovers and manifests his or her true will forges the ultimate magical weapon from out of their many and fragmented sub-personalities "so with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. do that, and no other shall say nay (al 1:42-43) this achievement of self-unification has been spoken of in elder books of arcane lore as the great work, the creation of the philosopher's stone and, in the symbolism of the old aeon, as the knowledge and conversation of the holy guardian angel. this "angel" is no angel of god in any theistic sense. rather it is the crystallization of the magician's own ultimate selfhood. in the language of the book of opening the way, it is the neter xem whose name is unknown. to seek to know one's true will requires time, effort

the beginning of the actual quest for the unknown and nameless one. the work is the preparation for and concludes only with the great work- which in itself is but a new beginning, having fulfilled the challenge set forth in the statement of leviathan.(5) for this reason it would not be inappropriate to call the initiates of xem "alxemists" initiation is the preparation for the work toward finding the philosopher's stone- xem! initiation then is the giant step toward true understanding of the mysteries and secrets of xem. xem's foundation is in the abstract. to the uninitiated, xem will always be veiled in mystery and will seem to them very much like the second foundation did to outsiders in asimov's foundation trilogy. and they won't be entirely wrong. as was true of the orders and temples

dden aspects of anubis are now important, and their reasons can be seen. he who wears the double crown is needed also for the work that is to be done. ra is man and harwer is exalted/majestic man. he who wears the crown of the two lands exists and is michael aquino. he must be supported for there must be an order within the realm wherein the elect are found. xem must not fade and be ended. xem is the philosopher's stone for xem will change and know its being. the old world fades behind xem to exist no more. we are those who define and shape. reason will be born and a new world recognized.(6) in the year x a.s, michael a. aquino was ceremonially crowned with the double crown and entrusted with the crook and flail. these are not symbols of the high priesthood, but they are symbols of majesti

who carries the uas also holds its meaning. on the stele there are two uas scepters which face each other and frame several lines of hieroglyphs; the scepter on the left issues forth the word "xem" while the scepter on the right limits the same. the reason for this is as simplistic as it is obvious. xem is a goal with not an end, but rather a new beginning as its purpose. xem has been compared to the philosopher's stone, and not without good reason. an alchemist labors diligently to create his 'stone' but not for possession of the stone itself- rather for its transformational properties. the same holds true for the initiate in his quest for xem, as will be seen later in this key. between the two scepters is the neter anubis, represented as a black jackal. in this form the neter is pure pri

d being. xem- the quest xem must be recognized as a desirable state of being, willfully chosen as a step of one's xeper, accurately perceived by the initiate, and earnestly worked towards. xem does not occur by accident. xem is reached through a quest. each initiate must define his own question, and must quest for the answer. just as in alchemy the initiate himself is transformed upon creation of the philosopher's stone, so too is the initiate transformed to xem upon resolution of or during his quest. i invite initiates of the order of the trapezoid to compare this quest to the grail search. the question and the quest are individual. initiates may occasionally share a question, but more often our quests will each be unique. this is because we are individuals, willfully individualistic, and

world) where those in xem create and functionalize their own world. at that point, all that have actualized xem will be parts and the whole. ordered in and of themselves.4 satan (set) in its true glory shall be free from all the bonds to exercise its will, because set will have been transformed (the essence that set gives to us now is the transforming taking place. set will be, in final form, us. the philosopher's stone is us (who actualize xem. in being us, the philosopher's stone is set. transformed. or i could be way off track! key #3- comments and analysis as an initial general comment, specifically aimed at true understanding of words, i have had to rethink just what is behind the words as they are spoken by anubis in relation to set and setians and xem. words such as function, knowle

hat "willingness to work it" it is again obvious that there are orders, and that there is an order to/in xem. we, as elect, must be able to utilize our sense of setii [and you, anubis, see to it that we are guided] and recognize when that constant change is moving through what is, and what it is moving toward. in performing the great work, we are using ourselves in/as that most prized possession. the philosopher's stone.jj and that stone is capable of actually transforming base material [mankind with the gift] into precious jewels, which are the elect in xem. we know that we are alxemists. and the agent of our transformation is ourselves and our higher selves. the elect of set are fortunate in that we possess something that most conventional alchemists have not/do not have, and that is dir

d many a senior initiate harp on the principle of balance. the further along on the initiatory path, the more defined (and secure 'sense' of balance you need. jj. we found out a long time ago, thanks partly to the pioneering word of dr. aquino, that we are it. there is no external magical elixir, agent, or mineral, which once obtained, will transform us. in seeking to be alxemists, the search for the philosopher's stone begind and ends with the self. kk. the question is as equally valid today as it was when i first posed it. contemporary words esist- xeper, xem, remanifest, runa- yet the masses do not apprehend them directly. people are affected by the words, by the aeon, but are largely, if not totally unaware of it, or even what an "aeon" is. mankind continues to (unconsciously) ignore w

into being, the gate of the west at twilight; i shall be the mediator of the two lands, the known and the unknown i am. i am the ancient knower and that which is known, ever apart from all that i am not. that i shall become, folly and wisdom are mine; and the depths of understanding in no- man. i shall be the man-god. i am the word of my soul, the fountain of eternal youth; the lad transformed in the philosopher's stone. away from myself i am naught in the void of chaos; child of pure darkness i am that i shall be. knowledge and power i am, i shall be the awaking of the god in the dream of eternity. i am the fool in the holy quest, an ancient one thrice great of the black earth. i am without parent or mortal lineage; i shall become the continuum of my love in ma'at most high. i am life; i

a symbol of set is a distorted one. the goat's horns and the brush-like ears of the lord of the aeon can have a link, as can the admittedly somewhat vague likeness of the frontal part of the goat's head with the elongated and curved face of set. it is a distant connection, but one that is not impossible, given the thousands of years involved in the relationship of the mind with a something else. the philosopher heidegger taught that the fundamental question of metaphysics id that of why there is something instead of nothing; it is as applicable to the presence of the goat in atu xv. but is there a real reason for a goat's presence beyond something residing in the at times perverse mind of aleister crowley? dclxvi sees the card as a visual portrayal of pan pangenetor, that which brings all

SALMANRUSHDIE THESATANICVERSES

he had to make sure there would be enough for the hotel room, and everything, so that he was too nervous to ask his father if they could go to a movie, not even one, not even _the pure hell of st trinians, or to eat out, not a single chinese meal, and in later years he would remember nothing of his first fortnight in his beloved ellowen deeowen except pounds shillings pence, like the disciple of the philosopher--king chanakya who asked the great man what he meant by saying one could live in the world and also not live in it, and who was told to carry a brim-full pitcher of water through a holiday crowd without spilling a drop, on pain of death, so that when he returned he was unable to describe the day's festivities, having been like a blind man, seeing only the jug on his head. changez c

SATANIC RITUALS

ed that he entertained a private belief in the mythos, he would reply that an objective detachment from one's material was necessary for effective writing. he was wont to mention the most nightmarish of his narratives with a levity bordering upon scorn, as though he did not consider them of genuine literary substance. as an author, lovecraft enjoys an established reputation, but what of lovecraft the philosopher? perhaps the most significant clues to the philosophy in the cthulhu mythos derive from the author's fascination with human history, particularly that of the classical eras. that much of his work used material taken from egyptian and arabian legends is well known. there is evidence that he was acutely aware of civilization's effects upon mankind-both educational and repressive. his

SATANISM AN EXAMINATION OF SATANIC BLACK MAGIC

describe a system of esoteric knowledge and practical techniques- and this system is also known as 'the black arts. the difference between the left and right hand paths: the aim of all genuine occult paths or systems, whether designated right hand or left hand, is to achieve or find a certain goal as well as to impart esoteric knowledge and abilities. the goal is variously described (e.g.'gnosis, the philosopher's stone, enlightenment. however, it has been a common misconception that the rh paths were altruistic and the lh paths egocentric- i.e. the difference between them was seen in individual moral terms. another misconception is in seeing the difference in absolute moral terms- i.e. the rh paths as representing "good" and the lh paths as "evil. recently, attempts have been made to form

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

major sect of hinduism, which sees shiva( the destroyer) as the central god. shrine (jinja) shinto: the traditional, mainstream practice of shinto, with emphasis on the local shrine. skepticism: doubt or disbelief toward a particular proposition or object. skepticism: a philosophical system that doubted the possibility of ever discovering real truth through the senses. socratic: having to do with the philosopher socrates and his method of asking questions of students to develop an idea. solstice: the points in the year when the day is longest (the summer solstice, generally on june 21) and the shortest (the winter solstice, generally on december 21. sophists: a group of traveling teachers in ancient greece who doubted the possibility of knowing all the truth through the physical senses. st

nd the sun were material objects and not heavenly bodies, or god-like spirits to be worshipped. another thinker, protagoras (c. 485 420 bce, was banned from athens for saying that he had no way to know if gods existed or not, which is the central idea of agnosticism. ancient greece also provides an example of a movement that could be consistent with modern atheism. the epicureans, or followers of the philosopher epicurus (c. 340 c. 270 bce, believed in a material universe, like the atomists. they rejected the idea of divine wrath (anger) and retribution( punishment, refusing to believe that gods took vengeance on individuals who made them angry. epicureans took great care, however, to avoid denying the existence of gods. instead, epicurus taught that the gods were physical beings, unconcer

west and south, and small kingdoms banded together for a time for mutual protection and then broke apart. it was a dangerous and lawless time, and confucius, as well as other philosophers, looked for a way to make society better and more stable. the period after the time of confucius is called the warring states period (401 256 bce) because of the violence and disruption of the time. the work of the philosopher mengzi (also spelled meng tzu, known in the west as mencius (c. 371 c. 289 bce, further developed confucianism. mengzi comes from the warring states period. because so many philosophers were at work, the period from 551 to 233 bce is also referred to as the period of the one hundred schools, or systems of thought. the slow spread of confucianism confucius formed a school and had fo

or and conduct. pantheon: a collection of deities, or gods and goddesses. philosophy: the rational or logical investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. rationalism: belief that knowledge can come exclusively from the mind. skepticism: a philosophical system that doubted the possibility of ever discovering real truth through the senses. socratic: having to do with the philosopher socrates and his method of asking questions of students to develop an idea. sophists: a group of traveling teachers in ancient greece who doubted the possibility of knowing all the truth through the physical senses. stoicism: the philosophical system that holds that people should pursue the knowledge of human and divine things through the use of logical systems. it also says that w

would prevent a person from suffering any retribution from society. indeed, epicureans believed that the soul died with the body and, therefore, death was not to be feared. 218 world religions: almanac greco-roman religion and philosophy the skeptics formed another hellenic school of thought, as founded by pyrrho of elis (c. 365 275 bce) and expanded by the roman sextus empiricus in about 200 ce. the philosophers of this school doubted the possibility of ever discovering real truth through the senses. as a result, they taught that people should reserve judgment on things and thereby gain release from the tyranny of theories. while they held that the nature of absolute ethical values could never be known, the skeptics taught that living by the customs of society was wise. the last of the gr

e metamorphoses, supplies a 228 world religions: almanac greco-roman religion and philosophy history of the world, from creation to ovid s own age. in doing so, he uses various greek myths to create his historical survey. philosophical texts while many of the early greek philosophers, up to and including socrates, either did not record their thoughts or wrote books and essays that were destroyed, the philosophers from the time of plato onward did leave books of their teachings. these are essential for understanding the principles of the various philosophical schools. among pre-socratic philosophers, a part of parmenides s work is found in his on nature. heraclitus also left behind writing, usually referred to as the fragments or sometimes the cosmic fragments. several other early philosoph

also served as pilgrimages, such as the panathenaea, the olympic games, and the isthmian games. there were additionally numerous healing sanctuaries and caves throughout greece where people would go to pray for good health. similarly, attendance at events such as the equiria and the secular games were forms of pilgrimage for the ancient romans. everyday living religion, more so than the words of the philosophers, influenced the structure of the daily lives of the citizens of ancient greece and rome. the daily prayers and sacrifices gave routine and schedule to their lives. no major decisions would be taken in life without first consulting an oracle or other priest who was trained to interpret the future. rites of passage the large cycles of life, or rites of passage, including birth, marr

holars. in 1091, at only thirty-three years old, he was named the chief professor at baghdad s nizamiyya college. this was one of the most prominent positions in the muslim world. he lectured to large crowds of students on law and logic. he was noted for giving clear and easily understood presentations on complicated religious matters. he also wrote one of his best known works, the incoherence of the philosophers, in which he attempted to reveal the mistakes in the theories of al-farabi and ibn sina. he believed these earlier thinkers had relied too much on rational thought, which he felt was not adequate for understanding concepts such as allah and infinity, or something without boundaries. al-ghaza l s philosophy was adopted by a group known as the kalam thinkers, who attempted to prove

cholars such as st. thomas aquinas (c. 1225 1274) to establish the power of catholic christianity in europe. indeed, al-ghaza l was so successful in his arguments in favor of religion that some scholars have accused him of damaging the growth of philosophy. about a century after al-ghaza l s death, the great spanish muslim philosopher ibn rushd (1126 1198) attempted to disprove the incoherence of the philosophers with his own book, tahafut al-tahafut (the incoherence of the incoherence. despite the fine reasoning in that work, al-ghaza l s comments about the weakness of philosophy still influence islam. al- ghaza l s own experiences provided examples of how a rich inner life and a mystical pursuit of allah could be combined with the full observance of the rules of islam. his work ended the

. leaman. london: routledge, 1996, 258 74. this chapter is also available online at http//www.ghaza l .org/articles/gz2.htm. ghazali, abu hamid muhammad al. freedom and fulfillment: an annotated translation of al-munqidh min al-dalal and other relevant works of al-ghazali. translated by richard j. h. mccarthy. boston, ma: twayne publishers, 1980. ghazali, abu hamid muhammad al. the incoherence of the philosophers. translated by michael e. marmura. provo, ut: brigham young university, 2002. smith, margaret. al-ghazali, the mystic. london, england: luzac and co, 1944. watt, w. montgomery. muslim intellectual: a study of al-ghaza l. edinburgh, scotland: edinburgh university press, 1963. also available online at http/ www.ghazali.org/articles/watt.htm. 150 world religions: biographies abu ha m

down his wisdom before leaving his native country. this laozi did over the course of several days, creating a work of five thousand chinese characters, divided into eighty-one chapters. this work was what would become known as the dao de jing. after completing the book, laozi reportedly left china and was never heard from again. while sima qian never suggested laozi had divine powers, he recorded the philosopher s life span as between 160 and 200 years. sima qian claimed laozi s extremely long life was a result of his beliefs and meditation practices. some historians believe that the mythical person of laozi is actually three historical figures combined into one. the first of these is sima qian s li er. the second is someone with a similar name, lao laizi (lao lai-tzu, also born in chu. li

and philosophy because of the influence of one of his teachers, the political radical bruno bauer (1809 1882. a political radical is someone who supports extreme change in views, conditions, and institutions. bauer introduced marx to the work of the german philosopher georg wilhelm friedrich hegel (1770 1831. marx joined a university group called the young hegelians, who met to discuss and debate the philosopher s views. marx was especially drawn to hegel s view of history and historical progress, which was based on his theory of the dialectic. according to this theory, in any area of human activity, such as history, law, and economics, a thing cannot exist without its opposite. for example the upper classes cannot exist without the lower classes, poverty cannot exist without wealth, and a

and lessing was first established through the game of chess, which they both loved. soon mendelssohn found lessing s views entirely consistent with his own, and the two men became lifelong friends. mendelssohn also developed a friendship with the renowned german philosopher immanuel kant (1724 1804. although the two were professional rivals, kant became one of mendelssohn s admirers. mendelssohn the philosopher during the 1750s and 1760s mendelssohn became one of the leading philosophers in europe and found himself at or very near the center of some of the age s fiercest philosophical debates. after he wrote his first book, philosophical conversations, he shared the manuscript with lessing, who had it published anonymously in 1755 without telling his friend. with lessing s encouragement

SECRET TEACHINGS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS IN THE 16 17C

ublic and with several figures of similar content added by p.s. altona. printed and published by joh. ad. eckhardt, book-printer to h.m. the king of denmark. the full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet- proverbs 27, 7. a scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not; but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth- proverbs 14, 6. an anonymous treatise on the philosophers' stone if a philosopher you wish to be, let only patience dwell in thee. where on this globe lives a man so wise, who'll ever learn what four ones do comprise, and even if he'd know all this, he'd still always be an apprentice. therefore, o human, with all thy might, recognise god and thyself in god's and nature's light, both these lights god pours into thee, that a likeness of hi

lth of the body suffered through a fall, salvation came to the human soul through iehova, jesus christ. the bodily health is brought back through a thing not good to look at. it is hidden in this painting, the highest treasure in this world, in which is the highest medicine and the greatest parts of the riches of nature, given to us by the lord iehova. it is called pator metallorum, well known to the philosopher sitting in front of the mountain-cave, easy to obtain for anybody. but the sophists in their sophistic garb, tapping on the walls, recognise him not. at the right is to be seen lepus, representing the art of chemistry, marvellously white, the secrets of which with fire's heat are being explored. to the left one can see freely what the right clavis artis is; one cannot be too subtle

on- hard men on the road to the truth. i am the moisture which preserves everything in nature and makes it live, i pass from the upper to the lower planes; i am the heavenly dew and the fat of the land; i am the fiery water and the watery fire; nothing may live without me in time; i am close to all things yea; in and through all things, nevertheless unknown. nevertheless i only am in the grasp of the philosophers. i unfold and fold up again, bringing contentment to the artists, without me thou canst do nothing furthering any of your affairs. therefore fear god, pray and work in patience, if you find me your want would cease and you have a merciful god who befriendeth thee and giveth thee whatever thy heart may desire. this moisture must be caught lest it should change into vapour or fume

SEPHER YETZIRAH WESTCOTT

introduced here. the following interesting quotation is from rabbi moses botarel, who wrote his famous commentary in 1409-"it was abraham our father--blessed be he--who wrote this book to condemn the doctrine of the sages of his time, who were incredulous of the supreme dogma of the unity. at least, this was the opinion of rabbi saadiah--blessed be he--as written in the first chapter of his book the philosopher's stone. these are his words: the sages of babylon attacked abraham on account of his faith; for they were all against him although themselves separable into three sects. the first thought that the universe was subject to the control of two opposing forces, the one existing but to destroy the other, this is dualism; they held that there was nothing in common between the author of e

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

e would not unfrequently double the sum. demur, and in brisk delight he snatched the venerable charmer from your hands; accede, and he became the picture of despair, nor unfrequently, at the dead of night, would he knock at your door, and entreat you to sell him back, at your own terms, what you had so egregiously bought at his. a believer himself in his averroes and paracelsus, he was as loth as the philosophers he studied to communicate to the profane the learning he had collected. it so chanced that some years ago, in my younger days, whether of authorship or life, i felt a desire to make myself acquainted with the true origin and tenets of the singular sect known by the name of rosicrucians. dissatisfied with the scanty and superficial accounts to be found in the works usually referred

arpe's handwriting, and the story is given on m. petitot's authority, volume i. page 62. it is not for me to enquire if there be doubts of its foundation on fact. ed "you ask how it will affect yourselves, you, its most learned, and its least selfish agents. i will answer: you, marquis de condorcet, will die in prison, but not by the hand of the executioner. in the peaceful happiness of that day, the philosopher will carry about with him not the elixir but the poison "my poor cazotte" said condorcet, with his gentle smile "what have prisons, executioners, and poison to do with an age of liberty and brotherhood "it is in the names of liberty and brotherhood that the prisons will reek, and the headsman be glutted "you are thinking of priestcraft, not philosophy, cazotte" said champfort (cham

delineated were sufficiently removed from the ideal to show that they were portraits; in a large, bold, irregular hand was written beneath these drawings "the future of the aristocrats" in a corner of the room, and close by an old bureau, was a small bundle, over which, as if to hide it, a cloak was thrown carelessly. several shelves were filled with books; these were almost entirely the works of the philosophers of the time, the philosophers of the material school, especially the encyclopedistes, whom robespierre afterwards so singularly attacked when the coward deemed it unsafe to leave his reign without a god("cette secte (les encyclopedistes) propagea avec beaucoup de zele l'opinion du materialisme, qui prevalut parmi les grands et parmi les beaux esprits; on lui doit en partie cette e

ck" of all the weaknesses which little men rail against, there is none that they are more apt to ridicule than the tendency to believe. and of all the signs of a corrupt heart and a feeble head, the tendency of incredulity is the surest. real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny. while we hear, every day, the small pretenders to science talk of the absurdities of alchemy and the dream of the philosopher's stone, a more erudite knowledge is aware that by alchemists the greatest discoveries in science have been made, and much which still seems abstruse, had we the key to the mystic phraseology they were compelled to adopt, might open the way to yet more noble acquisitions. the philosopher's stone itself has seemed no visionary chimera to some of the soundest chemists that even the p

e tenets and powers have never been more than most partially explored, the rosicrucians, especially arrogated. he remembered to have heard in germany of the work of john bringeret (printed in 1615, asserting that all the languages of the earth were known to the genuine brotherhood of the rosy cross. did zanoni belong to this mystical fraternity, who, in an earlier age, boasted of secrets 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 fai

ustration suitable to a work he was about to publish on the origin of languages, to be called "babel" and published in three quartos by subscription. chapter 2.vii. learn to be poor in spirit, my son, if you would penetrate that sacred night which environs truth. learn of the sages to allow to the devils no power in nature, since the fatal stone has shut 'em up in the depth of the abyss. learn of the philosophers always to look for natural causes in all extraordinary events; and when such natural causes are wanting, recur to god. the count de gabalis. all these additions to his knowledge of zanoni, picked up in the various lounging-places and resorts that he frequented, were unsatisfactory to glyndon. that night viola did not perform at the theatre; and the next day, still disturbed by bew

med dimly through the darkened knowledge of latter disciples, labouring, like psellus and iamblichus, to revive the embers of the fire which burned in the hamarin of the east. though not to us of an aged and hoary world is vouchsafed the name which, so say the earliest oracles of the earth "rushes into the infinite worlds" yet is it ours to trace the reviving truths, through each new discovery of the philosopher and chemist. the laws of attraction, of electricity, and of the yet more mysterious agency of that great principal of life, which, if drawn from the universe, would leave the universe a grave, were but the code in which the theurgy of old sought the guides that led it to a legislation and science of its own. to rebuild on words the fragments of this history, it seems to me as if, i

; conduct me to the chamber of viola pisani. you have no further need of her. the death of the jailer opens the cell of the captive. be quick; i would be gone" mascari muttered some inaudible words, bowed low, and led the way to the chamber in which viola was confined. chapter 3.xviii. merc: tell me, therefore, what thou seekest after, and what thou wilt have. what dost thou desire to make? alch: the philosopher's stone. sandivogius. it wanted several minutes of midnight, and glyndon repaired to the appointed spot. the mysterious empire which zanoni had acquired over him, was still more solemnly confirmed by the events of the last few hours; the sudden fate of the prince, so deliberately foreshadowed, and yet so seemingly accidental, brought out by causes the most commonplace, and yet asso

. i will pay one rent to the count, and another to you "with that we soon came to terms; and as the strange signor doubled the sum i myself proposed, he is in high favour with all his neighbours. we would guard the whole castle against an army. and now, signor, that i have been thus frank, be frank with me. who is this singular cavalier "who? he himself told you, a philosopher "hem! searching for the philosopher's stone, eh, a bit of a magician; afraid of the priests "precisely; you have hit it "i thought so; and you are his pupil "i am "i wish you well through it" said the robber, seriously, and crossing himself with much devotion "i am not much better than other people, but one's soul is one's soul. i do not mind a little honest robbery, or knocking a man on the head if need be, but to m

a joyous heart he repaired to paolo, inly resolving to visit again the chamber at an hour when his experiment would be safe from interruption. as he crossed his threshold, paolo started back, and exclaimed "why, excellency! i scarcely recognise you! amusement, i see, is a great beautifier to the young. yesterday you looked so pale and haggard; but fillide's merry eyes have done more for you than the philosopher's stone (saints forgive me for naming it) ever did for the wizards" and glyndon, glancing at the old venetian mirror as paolo spoke, was scarcely less startled than paolo himself at the change in his own mien and bearing. his form, before bent with thought, seemed to him taller by half the head, so lithesome and erect rose his slender stature; his eyes glowed, his cheeks bloomed wi

n sublimity and valour, to pass the threshold and disdain the foe? wretch! all my silence avails nothing for the rash, for the sensual, for him who desires our secrets but to pollute them to gross enjoyments and selfish vice. how have the imposters and sorcerers of the earlier times perished by their very attempt to penetrate the mysteries that should purify, and not deprave! they have boasted of the philosopher's stone, and died in rags; of the immortal elixir, and sunk to their grave, grey before their time. legends tell you that the fiend rent them into fragments. yes; the fiend of their own unholy desires and criminal designs! what they coveted, thou covetest; and if thou hadst the wings of a seraph thou couldst soar not from the slough of thy mortality. thy desire for knowledge, but p

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

y point of view, life far transcends the limits of individual existence, making intelligible that glimpse of the eternal conveyed by the verses of pindar: the mysteries and pre-socratic philosophy 35 blessed is he who has seen these things, and then is laid in the hollow earth. he knows life s end; he knows the beginning ordained by zeus.39 we understand too those characteristic proud gestures of the philosophers such as heraclitus, who could justly say that much had been revealed to them, since they attributed their knowledge not to the transitory self but to the immortal daimon within them. it was a pride necessarily impressed also with the seal of humility and modesty. that is shown by the words: all knowledge of transistory things is as changeable as those things themselves. for heracl

nts; do you think that he values them or despises them insofar as there is no real necessity for him to go in for that sort of thing. is it not your opinion in general that a man of this kind is not concerned with the body, but keeps his attention directed as much as he can away from it and toward the soul. in this, then in despising the body and avoiding it, and endeavoring to become independent the philosopher s soul is ahead of all the rest.48 in conclusion, says socrates, the pursuit of wisdom has this much in common with dying, that it leads a person away from the body. but to what does it lead? to the spiritual. socrates takes up the theme: now take the acquisition of knowledge; is the body a hindrance or not, if one takes it into partnership to platonic mysteries 45 share an investi

tinguishing true things from false must be set in opposition to our bodily senses and is not subject to the conditions that bind them. in particular it cannot be subject to the law of coming-to-be and passingaway, for it contains in it the true, which has no yesterday or today, and unlike the things of sense cannot fluctuate from one day to another. the true must itself be eternal. and insofar as the philosopher turns away from the perishable objects of sense and turns toward the true, he or she enters the domain of the eternal. and if we immerse 46 christianity as mystical fact ourselves totally in the spirit, we are living totally in the true. the sense-world is simply no longer there for us in its merely sensible form. socrates says: don t you think that the person who is likely to succ

ect, cutting himself off as much as possible from his eyes and ears and virtually all the rest of his body, as an impediment which by its presence prevents the soul from attaining to truth and clear thinking?50 and a little later: is not what we call death a freeing and separation of soul from body. and the desire to free the soul is found chiefly, or rather only, in the true philosopher; in fact the philosopher s occupation consists precisely in the freeing and separation of soul from body. well then, as i said at the beginning, if a man has trained himself throughout his life to life in a state as close as possible to death, would it not be ridiculous for him to be distressed when death comes to him. then it is a fact, simmias, that true philosophers make dying their profession, and that

nd pride of existence, brought together by love, the elements forming a union. then come hatred and strife, and fatally tear them asunder, once more they wander alone, on the desolate confines of life. 72 christianity as mystical fact so is it with the bushes and trees and the water-inhabiting fishes, animals roaming the mountains, sea-birds borne by their wings.79 empedocles clearly implies that the philosopher is one who rediscovers the divine original unity in things, hidden under a spell, whirled about by love and strife. but if we find the divinity who is hidden there, we must ourselves be divine beings. for empedocles adheres to the view that like can only be known by like. 80 these ideas about the nature of humanity and the cosmos transcend considerations of sense experience. they a

in their mystery-teachings to such a personality. when they described his life, it was in terms of their own particular mystery-traditions. if the synoptics (the first three gospels) describe it in similar ways, that proves nothing except that they were working out of similar traditions from the mysteries. the writer of the fourth gospel steeps his narrative with ideas that recall the thought of the philosopher of religion, philo of alexandria; again, that proves nothing except the proximity of the tradition out of which he wrote to that of philo.100 in the gospels we meet with several sorts of material. there are in the first place reports of events, which apparently lay claim to historicity. secondly, there are the parables, where the story only serves to present a deeper truth in imagi

umbering within him. experience of the spirit permitted members, after a certain stage had been reached, to be admitted into a higher order. this exercised authority, not by compulsion, but as a source of the community s fundamental convictions.155 a related group were the therapeutae, who were to be found in egypt. all our reliable information about their organization is contained in the work by the philosopher philo, on the contemplative life.156 a few passages from philo s book will be sufficient to convey an idea of its contents: the houses of those thus banded together are quite simple, affording protection against the two things requiring it most, the blazing heat of the sun and the frostiness of the air. they are neither contiguous as in towns, since close proximity is troublesome a

led nietzsche-maniac. afterword 199 not served by exposing haeckel s weaknesses to his contemporaries, but by explaining to them the greatness of his phylogenetic concept. 18 he therefore wrote the two volume work world and life views in the nineteenth century (which later appeared in an expanded version as the riddles of philosophy, in which he immersed himself in the ways of thinking of many of the philosophers and natural scientists of the nineteenth century.19 he portrayed them in such a way that he could say of himself, you have shown your comprehension of current directions of thought by treating them as only someone would who fully supports them. 20 he understood his contemporaries. however, he experienced entirely the opposite from others. on his path he remained misunderstood. thu

rational thought leads, for steiner, to the tragic dividedness of so much in modern life and also to a wrong evaluation of ancient myths, and so on, as primitive and irrational, whereas they are in fact a stage on the trajectory that includes philosophical and later scientific thought. 21. plato, phaedo, 69 c. 22. see the epigram in the palatine anthology ix, 540; also diogenes laertius, lives of the philosophers ix, 5;16. the main fragments of heraclitus are presented in kirk, raven, and schofield, the presocratic philosophers, pp. 18lff. in fragment 1 heraclitus introduces his logos idea a universal meaning inherent in and sustaining the world; but despite its universality it is accessible only to the few, the understanders. this is orphic mystery-terminology; cf. m.l.west, the orphic po

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g new worlds in outer space, but, osis wonders how the age-old problem, what happens when someone dies, compares with these material challenges? is it not equally important to know the certain answer to such a basic question of human existence? in his a practical guide to death and dying (1988) author john w. white, a founding member of the international association for near-death studies, quotes the philosopher socrates (c. 470 399 b.c.e) statement just before drinking the hemlock that would kill him: to fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not; for it is to think one knows what one does not know. no man knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greater of blessings for a human being, and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain th

n the soul as a thought of god, and he considered the physical body to be simply one of a succession of receptacles for the housing of the soul. many of his followers became vegetarians, for he taught that the soul might live again in animals. because of his importance to early greek culture, pythagoras is among those individuals given the status of becoming a myth in his own lifetime. therefore, the philosopher was said to have been born of the virgin parthenis and fathered by the god apollo. pythagoras s human father, mnesarchus, a ring merchant from samos, and his mother consulted the delphic oracle and were told that he would be born in sidon in phoenicia and that he would produce works and wonders that would benefit all humankind. wishing to please the gods, mnesarchus demanded that h

anced state of consciousness, they fall under the control of a particular spirit that has become their special guide and who speaks through them and works all manner of mysterious phenomena on their behalf. although this spirit was once a living person, it has, since its time in the spirit world, become greatly elevated in spiritual awareness. the concept of a spirit guide goes back to antiquity. the philosopher socrates (c. 470 b.c.e. 399 b.c.e) furnishes the most notable example in ancient times of an individual whose subjective mind was able to communicate with his objective mind by direct speech stimulus. socrates referred to this voice as his daemon (not to be confused with demon, a fallen angel or a negative, possessing entity. daemon is better translated as guardian angel or muse, a

philosopher socrates (c. 470 b.c.e. 399 b.c.e) furnishes the most notable example in ancient times of an individual whose subjective mind was able to communicate with his objective mind by direct speech stimulus. socrates referred to this voice as his daemon (not to be confused with demon, a fallen angel or a negative, possessing entity. daemon is better translated as guardian angel or muse, and the philosopher believed that his guardian spirit kept vigil and warned him of approaching danger. parapsychologists have suggested that the spirit guide may be another little-known power of the mind which enables the medium s subjective level of consciousness to dramatize another personality, complete with a full range of personal characteristics and its very own voice. the subjective mind of the

tact and mediums. the german philosopher arthur schopenhauer (1788 1860) insisted that psychical research explored the most important aspects of human experience and that it was the obligation of every scientist to learn more about them. julian huxley (1887 1975, the biologist; sir james jeans (1877 1946, the astronomer; arnold toynbee (1889 1975, the historian; alfred north whitehead (1861 1947, the philosopher all of these great thinkers urged that their fellow scientists seriously approach psychical research. in spite of the attention of such commanding intellects and the painstaking research of such individuals as sir william crookes, sir oliver lodge (1851 1940, dr. gardner murphy (1895 1979, hereward carrington (1880 1958. j. b. rhine (1895 1980, g. n. m. tyrell (1879 1973, dr. karli

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yone. the manifestos created great excitement in early seventeenth-century europe. royalty, common folk, merchants, mystics, alchemists. all clamored for more information about the mysterious secret brotherhood. those who were ill wished healing. those who were poor were eager to accept a portion of the wealth the brotherhood was willing to distribute. those who were greedy wanted their turn with the philosopher fs stone and their opportunity to transmute tons of base metals into tons of gold. and perhaps most of all, people wanted to join the secret society and become rosicrucians, but no one knew where any of their lodges were or where they might find the house of the sainted spirit. desperate individuals placed their letters of application for the fraternity in public places where they

atholic church? unlikely, for luther would not have used the language of the alchemist and the magus. another member, according to some, is the great francis bacon (1561.1626, whose unfinished manuscript, the new atlantis (1627, describes an earthly utopian paradise, a secret brotherhood who wear the rose cross on their turbans, who heal people without charge, and who meet yearly in their temple. the philosopher rene descartes 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 secret societies 31 (1596.1650) was once nearly arrested on the accusation that he was a member of the secret society, but he convinced his accusers that the rosicrucians were invisible, while, he, it was plain to see, was not. while the true identity of the rosicrucians may nev

ed helvetius, his place in the history of alchemy is secure because, according to tradition, he witnessed a genuine transmutation of base metal into gold and later replicated the process in the presence of doubtful observers. on december 27, 1666, when he was working in his study at the hague, a stranger appeared and informed him that he would remove all helvetius fs doubts about the existence of the philosopher fs stone that could serve as the catalyst to change base metals into gold because he possessed such magic. the stranger immediately drew from his pocket a small ivory box, containing three pieces of metal of the color of brimstone and, for their size, extremely heavy. with those three bits of metal, the man told helvetius, he could make as much as 20 tons of gold. helvetius examine

by himself, allowing the alchemist to convert six ounces of lead into pure gold. 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 magic and sorcery 45 helvetius found it impossible to keep a secret of such immense value and importance. soon the word of his remarkably successful experiments spread throughout holland, and helvetius demonstrated the power of the philosopher fs stone in the presence of the duke of orange and many other prestigious witnesses. the duke fs own goldsmith assayed the gold and declared it to be of highest quality. the famous philosopher baruch spinoza (1632.1677) visited helvetius in his laboratory and examined the crucible and gold for himself. he left the alchemist convinced that the transmutation had been authentic. soon

an encyclopedia of occultism. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. albertus magnus (c. 1193.1280) albertus magnus, bishop of ratisbon, became interested in alchemy and is credited with some extraordinary accomplishments, including the invention of the pistol and the cannon. albertus is said to be one of those magi who actually achieved the transmutation of base metals into gold by means of the philosopher fs stone. in addition, some said that he was able to exert control over atmospheric conditions, once even transforming a cold winter day into a pleasant summer afternoon so he and his guests could dine comfortably outside. a prolific writer, albertus produced 21 volumes containing directions for the neophyte- practicing alchemist. certain witnesses to his laboratory credited him wi

icture library) meyer, marvin, and richard smith, eds. ancient christian magic. san francisco: harpersanfrancisco, 1994. seligmann, kurt. the history of magic. new york: meridian books, 1960. spence, lewis. an encyclopedia of occultism. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. count allesandro cagliostro (1743.1795) count allesandro cagliostro was widely known as the man who held the secret of the philosopher fs stone, the alchemist who turned lowly metals into gold and in strasburg produced alchemically a diamond which he presented to cardinal louis de rohan. cagliostro was said to have invented the gwater of beauty, h a virtual fountain of youth, and when the best doctors in europe admitted their defeat in difficult cases, they summoned the count and his curative powers. although most

magical elixir of regeneration, and count cagliostro is said to have cured thousands of people with his lotions and potions during his reign in europe as a master conjurer. today, researchers can only guess if these 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 magic and sorcery 61 countallesandro cagliostro was allegedly the one who held the secret of the philosopher fs stone. illnesses were linked to hysteria or psychosomatic delusions. although the church had chosen to ignore accusations of deception and charlatanism directed against cagliostro, it could not overlook the formation of another masonic lodge. and when the grand copt sought to establish a lodge within the boundaries of the papal states, he was arrested on september 27, 1789, by o

e, he was taught by zoroaster (c. 628.c. 551 b.c.e, the persian 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 70 magic and sorcery prophet, and the brahmans of india; and he initiated into the orphic, egyptian, judaic, chaldean, and many other mystery schools. pythagoras is among those individuals given the status of becoming a myth in his own lifetime. the philosopher was said to have been born of the virgin parthenis and fathered by the god apollo. pythagoras f human father, mnesarchus, a ring merchant from samos, and his mother consulted the delphic oracle and were told that he would be born in sidon in phoenicia and that he would produce works and wonders that would benefit all humankind. wishing to please the gods, mnesarchus demanded that h

une, invited him to join the order of stella matutina. in 1937 regardie published four volumes entitled simply the golden dawn. it was regardie fs belief that the heritage of magic was the spiritual birthright of every man and woman and that the principles of such magical systems as the golden dawn should be made available to all who wished to pursue the ancient wisdom teachings. regardie fs work the philosopher fs stone (1937) was written from the perspective of jungian symbolism. in 1941, he took up practice as a lay analyst, and in 1947, he relocated to california where he taught psychiatry. regardie retired from practice in 1981 and moved to sedona, arizona, continuing to write until his death. sources: bonewits, p. e. i. real magic. new york: coward, mccann& georghegan, 1971. monnastr

osopher fs stone at the center of the alchemist fs quest was the legendary philosopher fs stone, a magical piece of the perfect gold, which could immediately transform any substance it touched into gold as pure as its own nature. the emerald tablets of the great hermes trismegistus spoke of such a marvelous catalyst, and ever since that secret knowledge had been made known to certain individuals, the philosopher fs stone had become the symbol of the alchemical pursuit. according to tradition, albertus magnus actually came to possess such a wonder of transmutation, and helvetius was given a small piece of the philosopher fs stone by a mysterious man in black. some alchemists believed that the stone was somehow hatched like a chick from an egg if one could only find the proper ingredients wi

to tradition, albertus magnus actually came to possess such a wonder of transmutation, and helvetius was given a small piece of the philosopher fs stone by a mysterious man in black. some alchemists believed that the stone was somehow hatched like a chick from an egg if one could only find the proper ingredients with which to create the substance of the shell and the gyolk. h others believed that the philosopher fs stone, that most marvelous of all catalysts, oozed somehow out of the moon or from one of the stars and fell to earth where it solidified into the magical stone of transformation. as the works of more of the alchemists have come to light, it becomes clear that the philosopher fs stone wasn ft really a stone at all.even though it is always referred to as such. sometimes the catal

dalai. translated by jeffrey hopkins. foreword by tenzin gyatso. the meaning of life. boston: wisdom publications: 2000. rinpoche, dagyap. buddhist symbols in tibetan culture: an investigation of the nine-best known groups. boston: wisdom publications: 1995. the prayer wheels in asia on, an elixir, a tincture, or an as-yet unknown chemical compound. many alchemists began to consider that somehow the philosopher fs stone was not a thing at all, but a system of knowledge. once the alchemist truly perceived the reality that lay behind the symbols, he would achieve an intellectual and spiritual level wherein he would become one with the power that existed within the mysterious goal for which he searched so long. once he understood what the philosopher f stone represented, he would have found

ious goal for which he searched so long. once he understood what the philosopher f stone represented, he would have found it at last.and he would have become one with it. many scholars have since insisted that the true alchemists sought not to turn base metals into gold, but to transform the dense material of their physical bodies into a spiritually evolved immaterial entity. in this perspective, the philosopher fs stone becomes the holy spirit that mystically transmutes humans into true manifestations of god on earth. m delving deeper cavendish, richard. the black arts. new york: capricorn books, 1968. de saint-didler, l. hermetical triumph: the victorius philosopher fs stone. edmonds, wash: holmes publishing group, 2001. kelly, edward. the stone of the philosophers. edmonds, wash: holmes

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

nothing but the diverse manifestations of one same universal agent, which is light. 2 degree. light is the fire which serves for the great work under the form of electricity. 3 degree. the human will directs the vital light by means of the nervous system. in our days this is called magnetism. 4 degree. the secret agent of the great work, the azoth of the sages, the living and life-giving gold of the philosophers, the universal metallic productive agent, is magnetized electricity< the alliance of these two words still does not tell us much, and yet, perhaps, they contain a force sufficient to overturn the world. we say "perhaps" on philosophical

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

gical philosophy primarily by transition through medieval christian thinkers who saw in kabbalah a model and validation for their own tradition. from the late fifteenth century jewish converts to christianity brought kabbalistic views to the attention of other theologians. a platonic academy in florence, founded by giovanni mirandola (1463-94) furthered research and discussion of kabbalah amongst the philosophers of the time. the later publication of the shaarey orah "gates of light" in latin (1516) brought further interest in the teachings of the bahir and the fundamental plan of the tree of life. the prime source for the precursors of the occult revival were without question athanasius kircher (1602-80, a german jesuit whose "oedipus aegyptiacus (1652) detailed kabbalah amongst its study

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

chings. he was the one initiate uniquely qualified for his appointed task-the task of successfully presenting magic as a therapeutic tool to the skeptical world of psychology, and ultimately, to bring psychotherapy and magic together. in the winter of 1936-37, regardie was bedridden in london for two weeks with a bad case of bronchitis. during this time he wrote most of what would be published as the philosopher's stone, a book about alchemy from a jungian perspective. at the time regardie was convinced that laboratory alchemy was fallacious, and that only theoretical, spiritual, or psychological alchemy was valid (by 1970, however, interaction with practical alchemists such as frater albertus of the paracelsus research society caused him to change his opinion on this. he began his own alc

with the superficial levels of the instinctual life, concerned with primitive things, of self-assertion and the unbridled gratification of its every w h an d caprice. it is ths new factor of adjustment whch comprises the principal impetus to what has been variously called in the east the golden flower, and in mediaeval europe the growth of the red rose upon the cross of gold.3 it is the stone of the philosophers, the medicine of metals.4 to the four central sephroth plus the shadowy daath as the fifth, are attributed divine names-whch, as in the former exercise, are to be vibrated powerfully in conjunction with the imaginative formulation of various images. let me expatiate upon these divine names by stating that they may be considered as the keynote or vibratory rates of various degrees

he higher self. silence with reference to symptoms and results is therefore most desirable. endnotes 1. ths is daath, which is not a sephirah, but rather a conjunction of chokmah and binah. 2. from the neophyte ritual. see regardie, the golden dawn, 129. 3. the symbol of the rosicrucians. rosicrucianism is a form of mystic or esoteric christianity whose teachings embrace the hermetic sciences. 4. the philosopher's stone is an alchemical symbol of true spiritual attainment. the search for the philosopher's stone is the search for truth and illumination. 5. along the same lines, each letter of the hebrew alphabet has a musical note attributed to it. thus each divine name in hebrew can be sung or played on a musical instrument. see the appendix: the musical qabalah. 6. in this list, regardie

voidable, as always when we try to define sornething that lies beyond the bourn of our understanding..i24 it is obvious that jung is bordering on the mystical here. jungian psychology differs from other systems in that it presents ethcal objectives that have much in common with magical goals. the discovery of the self might well be described as the completion of the great work, or the creation of the philosophers' stone. the expansion of consciousness, through the elevation of heretofore unconscious material, is a form of spiritual illumination. ths does not mean that the individual who experiences illumination or self-realization will spend the rest of his days in blissful meditation, but rather that he will gradually gain a more true understanding of himself and his connection to the div

analytical psychology, the techniques of magic, or a combination of the two systems, is an easy matter. but here, even the smallest achievement will be a monumental step in one's personal inner growth. if the mind is kept open to both new and old ways of exploring human development, one will discover that the psychologist's pursuit of a healthy, integrated human psyche, the alchemist's search for the philosophers' stone, and the magician's quest to complete the great work are all natural complements of each other. humanity's spiritual development is a long and arduous journey, an adventure through strange lands full of surprises, difficulties, and even dangers. it involves a drastic transmutation of the "normal" elements of the personality, an awakening of potentialities which had hitherto

f philosophical stone and of the great work. the most perfect alembic in which the quintessence can be elaborated is conformable to this figure, and the quintessence itself is represented by the sign of the pentagram.l2 here levi gives us clues about the numerical dimensions of the pentagram, for by it is "measured the exact proportions" of the athanor, the alchemical oven which is used to obtain the philosopher's stone-a symbol for spiritual illumination and expanded consciousness. what is so important about the proportions of the pentagram? through the number five, the number of points on this figure, the pentagram is connected to the sphere of geburah on the tree of life, and to its corresponding planet, mars. the pentagram represents that fiery, purifying power of the divine that takes

THE ROSICRUCIAN MANIFESTOS

nments of men, and have darkened the most part of them. for form thence are proceeded an innumerable sort of all manner of false opinions and heresies, that scarce the wisest of all was able to know whose doctrine and opinion he should follow and embrace, and could not well and easily be discerned; seeing on the one part they were detained, hindered, and brought into errors through the respect of the philosophers and learned men, and on the other part through true experience. all the which, when it shall once be abolished and removed, and instead thereof a right and true rule instituted, then there will remain thanks unto them which have taken pains therein. but the work itself shall be attributed to the blessedness of our age. 24 as we now willingly confess, that may principal men by thei

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

he ruby of the poppy and the sapphire of the cornflower; so with us, it is synthetically that we rise, and not analytically. blake grasped this idea and so did joseph de maistre. the arcanum of solomon is represented by the two pillars of the temple, yakheen and boaz, the two forces, the white and the black; separate and contrary, yet in their polarity they are uniform, equilibrating their unity. the philosopher fs stone, as hermes declared, consisted in separating the ethereal from that which was gross. thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the ethereal from the gross, gently, but with great industry. it ascends from earth to heaven, and again it comes down from heaven to earth, and it is invested with the potency of superior and inferior things. thou wilt possess by this means the

first, a or b? and the answer depends entirely upon the direction of thought. science will say that intelligence is last, and that matter slowly evolves into animal life; in fact, that matter (a) is first, and intelligence (b) is second. the idealists and sankhyas will put intelligence (b) first, and the series will run b,a,b,a,b,a. both, however, are indicating the same chain; but crowley* like the philosophers of the vedanta, strides beyond both intellect and matter to find an gi g (purusha) or self, which is beyond all intellect, and of which intellect is but the borrowed light, as patanjali says in one of his yoga aphorisms: gthe seer is intelligence only, and though pure, sees through the colouring of the intellect. g *this is the earlier fichtean crowley, though he has already passe

s love are met a new desire possesses altogether my whole new self as in a golden net of transcendental love one fiery tether, dissolving all my woe into one sea of weather *songs of the spirit, vol. i, p. 43. in many other of these poems do we find depicted other phases of the philosophy of the qabalah; one, the hermetic maxim, gthat which is above is as that which is below, h we find stated in gthe philosopher fs progress h: that which is highest as the deep is fixed, the depth as that above: death fs face is as the face of sleep; and lust is likest love *songs of the spirit, vol. i, p. 34. in gthe quest h and in several parts of gtannhauser, h we are conveyed into the maze of mystic numbers, which we do not intend to enter here. gmy womb is pregnant with mad moons and suns, h* and yet w

he neophyte, or the noonday brilliancy of the supreme magus, reason deserts us, and we at length are forced to seek a diviner illumination beyond those dark realms of rational understanding. crowley writes on this point, in geleusis, h as follows: not while reason is, as at present, the best guide known to men, not until humanity has developed a mental power of an entirely different kind. for, to the philosopher, it soon becomes apparent that reason is a weapon inadequate to the task. hume saw it, and became a sceptic in the widest sense of the term. mansel saw it and counsels us to try faith, as if it was not the very fact that faith was futile that bade us appeal to reason. huxley saw it, and, no remedy presenting itself but a vague faith in the possibilities of human evolution, called h

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

be on your guard: for they that seek to devour you are about the gate! but of all this it is not here written: this is the book of the pathway that leadeth unto life. of the alchymists our illuminated brethren the alchymists, being wise with the wisdom of god, and cunning with the cunning of men, did apply themselves more especially to physical magick, to the finding of the medicine of metals and the philosopher s stone, the tinctures white and red, and the elixir of life. for (said they) with wealth cometh leisure, and with health, energy, and with long life an extension of file//c /documents%20and%20settings/michael..0secret%20rituals%20of%20the%20o.t.o/p3c3.html (5 of 18 [12/28/2001 2:05:41 pm] the secret rituals of the o.t.o. time; all these will we devote to the performance of the gre

TURNER ROBERT ARBETEL OF MAGICK

. he hath 4000 legions of spirits and over every thousand he ordaineth kings for their appointed seasons. 15 ophiel is the governour of such things as are attributed to mercury: his character is this. his spirits are 100000 legions: he easily giveth familiar spirits: he teacheth all arts: and he that is dignified with his character, he maketh him to be able in a moment to convert quicksilver into the philosophers stone. phul hath this character. he changeth all metals into silver, in word and deed; governeth lunary things; healeth the dropsie: he giveth spirits of the water, who do serve men in a corporeal and visible form; and maketh men to live 300 yeers. the most general precepts of this secret. 1. every governour acteth with all his spirits, either naturally, to wit, always after the s

honest and constant minde may learn of the spirits, without any offence unto god. the mean secrets are likewise seven in number. 1. the first is, the transmutation of metals, which is vulgarly called alchymy; which certainly is given to very few, and not but of special grace. 2. the second is, the curing of diseases with metals, either by the magnetick vertues of precious stones, or by the use of the philosophers stone, and the like. 3 the third is, to be able to perform astronomical and mathematical miracles, such as are hydraulick-engines, to administer business by the influence of heaven, and things which are of the like sort. 4. the fourth is, to perform the works of natural magick, of what sort soever they be. 5. the fifth is, to know all physical secrets. 19 6. the sixth is, to know

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

phic monad. in theorem xi11 he writes concerning mercury: in the progression we will notice this other mercury will appear who is truly the twin brother of the first: for by the complete lunar and solar magic of the ele- ments, the hieroglyph of this messenger speaks to us very distinctly, and we should examine it carefully and listen to what it says. and (by the will of god) it is the mercury of the philosophers, the greatly celebrated microcosm and adam. therefore, some of the most expert were inclined to place him in a posi- tion of, and give him a rank equal to, the sun himself (john dee, the hiero- glyphic monad [antwerp, 15641, translated by j. w. hamilton-jones [london, 19471, reprinted by samuel weiser, maine, 1975, p. 17) dee goes on to say that this exchange cannot be made in the

places with no pattern of repetition (3.14159265. hence, it is impossible to convert a square into a circle of exactly equal area, or vice versa. alchemists and rosicrucians regarded this inability to convert the measure of a circle to the measure of a square as of supreme significance. they used it as the basis for one of their spiritual quests after enlightenment, the others being the quest for the philosopher's stone that would turn base metal into gold, and the quest for the elixir of life that would cure all disease and grant immortality. the magus draws the circle clockwise in imitation of the apparent course of the sun, moon, and stars across the heavens, establishing a sovereign rule of order under the light. the circle is drawn out through the centerpoint of the magus and mentally

the customs and sanctions of their society have fashioned for them, and imposed upon them by a lifelong regimen of conditioning that consists of rewards and punish- ments. the magi sense that the real world is a larger and more wondrous place than they have been led to believe. they know that there is danger in relinquishing the common view, which was born of the necessity for survival, but like the philosophers of olden times, they yearn to put their heads through the sky and look upon the mechanism that drives the stars. to do this, a magus must make his or her own point of view accord with the cen- ter point of the universe. what the magus normally thinks of as self is not the true self but an illusion he or she has created; in the same way, the tables and chairs the magus looks at thr

e categories and magically acted upon through the appropriate point of the nonagram. other uses will suggest themselves to the magus. the mystic and cult leader g. i. gurdjieff taught a type of nonagram in private lectures given to his inner circle of followers in st. petersburg in 1915. the construction of gurdjieff's symbol, which he called the enneagram and regarded as the universal symbol and the philosopher's stone, is based on the decimal equivalents of the divisions of seven'/7,2/7 'y7, and is completely described by p. d. ouspensky in his work in search of the miraculous. serious stu- dents may wish to consult this work. t he decagram can be drawn in two ways. the common decagram is made of two interlocking pentagrams, one pointing up and the other down. it accords with the structu

ith only the vaguest ideas about the object of their adoration, blindly embrace magic for such shallow reasons as power and romance. both approaches display a lack of balance and violate the golden mean formulated by pythagoras "one must choose in all things a mean just and good" 23 error and confusion dwell in extremes. pythagoras teaches "even as truth, does error have its lovers: with prudence the philosopher approves or blames" do not be quick to embrace any definition of magic; by the same token, con- sider well before you reject it. above all, think for yourself. if you have not yourself considered a subject in detail, turning over its pros and cons in your own mind, then what you believe about that subject is not the product of your personal understanding, but is doctrine received f

d from the face of the all. newton showed with glass prisms that white light is an amalgam of all the col- ors of the spectrum. the ancients did not know that white is a composite. to them it appeared the most rarefied and pure of colors. it is transparent, and cannot be fmed by a particular quality-like pure water it has no flavor-yet it illuminates and pervades the entire world. for this reason the philosophers assigned to white the spirit of the unmanifest that is everywhere and nowhere, that promotes seeing but is itself unseen. in alchemical plates this understanding is best presented as a snow-white dove that circles the mists of chaos, with radiance streaming behind it, to form the cosmos. the modern awareness that white is a composite only reinforces the attribution of white to spi

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

always a vacillation between three and four which comes out over and over again (psychology and alchemy [princeton university press, 19801, p. 26. jung saw the shifting of focus back and forth between systems based on three and four as a wavering between a spiritual and a physical emphasis. alchemists captured this dynamic relationship in the symbol of the squared circle. along with the making of the philosopher's stone and the discovery of the water of life, the squaring of the circle was the prime achievement of alchemy. it was represented geometrically by a circle within which was a triangle, within which was a square, within which was a circle. from the unity of the circle arises trinity, and trinity gives birth to quaternity, which in the highest mystery returns to unity once again. t

and act as his seer. many times he threatened to leave dee, but always he was held by the prospect of discovering the secret of the powder, which could turn base metals to gold. throughout his association with dee, kelley constantly urged dee to devote himself to alchemical matters. the salary dee paid kelley for his labors as a seer was scant compensation compared with the glittering visions of the philosopher's stone. 186 tetragrammaton references by the spirit guide madimi, who came in the form of a little girl, to her "mother" are highly significant. madimi constantly refers to the authority of her mother, who is a kinswoman of nalvage, the spirit who delivers the enochian keys. dee asks madimi's mother her name, and the spirit answers "i am of the word, and by the word (casaubon, p

publishing, 19401, pp. 18-9) the absolute being and visible nature have but one name, whose meaning is god (ibid, p. 112) a single word comprehends all things, and this word consists of four letters: it is the tetragram of the hebrews, the azot of the alchemists, the thot of the bohemians, or the taro of the kabalists. this word, expressed after so many manners, means god for the profane, man for the philosophers, and imparts to the adepts the final term of human sciences and the key of divine power; but he only can use it who understands the necessity of never revealing it (tkanscendental magic [1855-61, a. e. waite translation [new york: weiser, 19701, pp. 16-7) adam is the human tetragram, summed up in the mysterious jod,t ype of the kabalistic phallus. by adding to this jodth e triadic

WALLIS BUDGE E A LEGENDS OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS

n; and finally she took the dead to her bosom and gave them peace, and introduced them to a life of immortality and happiness similar to that which she had bestowed upon osiris. the message of the cult of isis as preached by her priests was one of hope and happiness, and coming to the greeks and romans, as it did, at a time when men were weary of their national cults, and when the speculations of the philosophers carried no weight with the general public, the people everywhere welcomed it with the greatest enthusiasm. from egypt it was carried to the islands of greece and to the mainland, to italy, germany, france, spain and portugal, and then crossing the western end of the mediterranean it entered north africa, and with carthage as a centre spread east and west along the coast. wherever

nd to the mainland, to italy, germany, france, spain and portugal, and then crossing the western end of the mediterranean it entered north africa, and with carthage as a centre spread east and west along the coast. wherever the cult of isis came men accepted it as something which supplied what they thought to be lacking in their native cults; rich and poor, gentle and simple, all welcomed it, and the philosopher as well as the ignorant man rejoiced in the hope of a future life which it gave to them. its egyptian origin caused it to be regarded with the profoundest interest, and its priests were most careful to make the temples of isis quite different from those of the national gods, and to decorate them with obelisks, sphinxes, shrines, altars, etc, which were either imported from temples

ution, the seven-day phase of the moon, and the fourteen days' moon, or full moon. apis was begotten by a ray of light from the moon, and on the fourteenth day of the month phamenoth[fn#343] osiris entered the moon. osiris is the power of the moon, isis the productive faculty in it [fn#343] marked in the papyrus sallier iv. as a particularly unlucky day [fifth explanation of the story [sec. xliv. the philosophers say that the story is nothing but an enigmatical description of the phenomena of eclipses. in sec. xlv. plutarch discusses the five explanations which he has described, and begins to state his own views about them. it must be concluded, he says, that none of these explanations taken by itself contains the true explanation of the foregoing history, though all of them together do. t

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

igure 9-k lamb had authority. the value in latin for lamb (agnus) is fifty-six, and this number is emphasized in rosicrucian teaching as being the length, in feet, of the seven vertical lines bounding to the vault of brother c. r. in the adaptation of the gematria to the german alphabet, often used in rosicrucian texts, it stands for the word alchimia, or. alchemy. in latin gematria, the "gold of the philosophers (aurum philosophorum) equals 231, which is the, number of gates connected to the sephiroth. this number also equals "dawn of the philosophers (aurora philosophorum, a hidden reference to the true golden dawn. the 231 gates are all of the possible two-letter combinations of the hebrew letters, a hint that a practicing qabalistic philosopher should perhaps explore these hidden gates

oth christ.often taken as the symbolic philosopher's stone to the christian qabalists.as well as mercury. dr. case said: the real secret of this stone is the real secret of the cross, which is the end and so the fulfillment of that whole dispensation that is represented symbolically by the twentytwo letters of the hebrew alphabet (1985, p. 41. the function of this magical principle represented by the philosopher's stone was synthesis. on the tree, mercury is the synthesized principle represented by the joining of the masculine and feminine polarities (mars and venus) on the twentyseventh path, peh. one of the magical numbers of mercury, 260, has several interesting words through gematria that point to this alchemical mystery: tzimtsen (tzmtzm, which means to contract or draw together, and

WICCA MAGICK OCCULT THREE GREEN BOOKS DRUIDISM

r me to detain you longer. you may go. and he returned home. having been prevailed upon to preach for the third friday in succession, he started his address as before: do you know or do you not? the congregation was ready; some of us do, and others do not. excellent, said nasrudin, then let those who know communicate their knowledge to those who do not. and he went home. nasrudin and the wise men the philosophers, logicians and doctors of the law were drawn up at court to examine nasrudin. this was a serious case, because he had admitted going from village to village saying: the so-called wise men are ignorant, irresolute and confused. he was charged with undermining the security of the state. you may speak first, said the king. have paper and pens brought, said the mulla. paper and pens w

s which people ask. a teaching always remains the same: truth cannot alter! some time later, mulla nasrudin approached the same man for a job as a gardener. you seem rather old, said the lecturer, and i am not sure that you can manage the job. i may look different, said nasrudin, but i have the same strength i had twenty years ago. he got the job on the strength of his assurance. soon afterwards, the philosopher asked nasrudin to shift a paving- stone from one part of the garden to another. tug as he might, the mulla could not lift it. i thought you said that you were as strong as you were twenty years ago, said the sage. i am, answered nasrudin, exactly as strong. twenty years ago i could not have lifted it, either! the value of the past nasrudin was sent by the king to investigate the lo

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

marks that 220 is equal to the sum of the aliquot parts of 284. thus 1+2+4+71+142=220; and 284 is equal to the sum of the aliquot parts of 220. thus 1+2+4+5+10+11+20+22+44+55+110=284. another such pair of numbers is 17,296 and 18,416. very curious speculations as to the relation between numbers and marriage, and the character of offspring from it, are to be found scattered through the writings of the philosophers. plato, in his republic, has a passage concerning a geometric number, which, divinely generated, will be fortunate or unfortunate. nicomachus also speaks of this same number, and he calls it the nuptial number; and he passes from it to state that from two good parents only good offspring can come. from two bad parents only bad; and from a good and a bad parent only bad. whence he

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

god is the being of eternity, the eternal being, which temporally becomes in the eternality of temporal becoming.334 in the essay das neue denken, published in 1925 with the aim of offering readers pointers on how to read der stern, rosenzweig writes that time is entirely real for the one who embraces the new thinking (neue denken, which he also calls speech-thinking (sprachdenken, in contrast to the philosopher interested in immutable essences who wants to know nothing of time. the critical element of speech, therefore, is the verb, which in german is zeitwort, literally, timeword, the part of language that conveys knowledge of the tenses (zeiten) of reality. 335 rosenzweig thus expresses the secret of the wisdom of the new philosophy encapsulated in goethe s phrase understanding at the r

rgence 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 return13 yielding a temporality where the interminably ephemeral is ephemerally interminable.14 as the philosopher eric voegelin observed in his reflections on the historical evolution of ancient israelite cosmology and eschatology, when the revelation of the transcendent god has become the experiential center of order and symbolization, the transcendental implications of the compact symbols are set free; and correspondingly the volume of meaning in the symbols shrinks until the ritual renewal

iji, the temporal occurrence of each moment, unprecedented, unpredictable, not susceptible to replication, neither cyclical nor linear,100 the time of dharma s arising, shiho-kiji,101 non-duality of being-time, uji, permanence of impermanence.102 for the mystically enlightened, time is not illusory, as some theologians would have it, nor is it dependent solely on the motion of physical bodies, as the philosophers linear circularity (a)temporal poetics 71 would have it, but it is eternity itself( azli, time without beginning; and abdi, time without end. before-ness and after-ness of things are only relational; otherwise creation and annihilation are in one and the same moment. time is the eternal attribute of god. 103 in this moment of confluence wherein time is eternal and eternity tempora

ion of the son of god, edited by stephen t. davis, daniel kendall, sj, and gerald o collins, 273 299. new york: oxford university press, 2002. time and eternity. ithaca: cornell university press, 1991. lepoidevin, robin. zeno s arrow and the significance of the present. in time, reality, and experience, edited by craig callender, 57 72. cambridge: cambridge university press, 2002. levin, david m. the philosopher s gaze: modernity in the shadows of enlightenment. berkeley: university of california press, 1999. levinas, emmanuel. alterity and transcendence. translated by michael b. smith. new york: columbia university press, 1999. basic philosophical writings. edited by adriann t. peperzak, simon critchley, and robert bernasconi. bloomington: indiana university press, 1996. di cult freedom:

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