Allan Kardec's supreme handbook about the world of the spirits and the movement of Spiritism is a valuable and insightful guide to existences beyond our corporeal realm. Kardec begins this work by delving into the historical significance of spirits, their connection with God and the physical universe. How spirits are situated in the world, and how they move unseen between the planes of existence, is discussed. The second part concentrates on The Spirit World in greater detail. The types of spirits and how they are incarnated are detailed, with Kardec proposing that several distinct planes of existence are extant, and that most individuals proceed through life without knowing or seeing their influence. A chapter is devoted to how spirits might intervene in our everyday, corporeal world. Often these excursions have a purpose; the spirits are on a mission to inform someone, or change something, that harmony may be restored.

Rudolf Steiner's superb thesis provides deep insight into spiritual science, and the history of mankind as viewed through the philosophy of the anthroposophy movement he founded. An Outline of Esoteric Science attempts to reconcile mankind's spiritual being with the scientific exactitude which had emerged among scholars in the 19th century. Steiner lays out the spiritual realms which are invisible to us, attempting to use a defined precision similar to that which had emerged in science. In the final section, this book refers to the spiritual development and contemplation necessary for individuals to see the spiritual realms and planes which comprise existence and the universe. The means by which individuals may train themselves introspectively to see are detailed by Steiner, whose theosophical philosophy was, by the time of this book's publication in 1909, well-developed.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages is perhaps the most comprehensive and complete esoteric encyclopedia ever written. The sheer scope and ambition of this book are stunning. In this book Manly P. Hall has successfully distilled the essence of more arcane subjects than one would think possible. He covers Rosicrucianism and other secret societies, alchemy, cryptology, Kabbalah, Tarot, pyramids, the Zodiac, Pythagorean philosophy, Masonry, gemology, Nicholas Flammel, the identity of William Shakespeare, The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, The Qabbalah, The Hiramic Legend, The Tree of the Sephiroth, and Mystic Christianity. There are more than 200 illustrations included here (and in the trade paperback edition) many of which have been omitted from other publisher's editions of this book. This is essential reading for anyone wishing to explore esoteric knowledge.

Lux in Tenebris is a collection of eighteen original interdisciplinary essays that address aspects of the verbal and visual symbolism in the works of significant figures in the history of Western Esotericism, covering such themes as alchemy, magic, kabbalah, angels, occult philosophy, Platonism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy. Part I: Middle Ages & Early Modernity ranges from Gikatilla, Ficino, Camillo, Agrippa, Weigel, Boehme, Yvon, and Swedenborg, to celestial divination in Russia. Part II: Modernity & Postmodernity moves from occultist thinkers Schwaller de Lubicz and Evola to esotericism in literature, art, and cinema, in the works of Colquhoun, Degouve de Nuncques, Bruskin, Doitschinoff, and Perez-Reverte, with an essay on esoteric theories of colour. Contributors are: Michael J.B. Allen, Susanna Akerman, Lina Bolzoni, Aaron Cheak, Robert Collis, Francesca M. Crasta, Per Faxneld, Laura Follesa, Victoria Ferentinou, Joshua Gentzke, Joscelyn Godwin, Hans Thomas Hakl, Theodor Harmsen, Elke Morlok, Noel Putnik, Jonathan Schorsch, Gyoergy Szoenyi, Carsten Wilke, and Thomas Willard.

A radically new way of understanding secularism which explains why being secular can seem so strangely religious For much of America’s rapidly growing secular population, religion is an inescapable source of skepticism and discomfort. It shows up in politics and in holidays, but also in common events like weddings and funerals. In The Secular Paradox, Joseph Blankholm argues that, despite their desire to avoid religion, nonbelievers often seem religious because Christianity influences the culture around them so deeply. Relying on several years of ethnographic research among secular activists and organized nonbelievers in the United States, the volume explores how very secular people are ambivalent toward belief, community, ritual, conversion, and tradition. As they try to embrace what they share, secular people encounter, again and again, that they are becoming too religious. And as they reject religion, they feel they have lost too much. Trying to strike the right balance, secular people alternate between the two sides of their ambiguous condition: absolutely not religious and part of a religion-like secular tradition. Blankholm relies heavily on the voices of women and people of color to understand what it means to live with the secular paradox. The struggles of secular misfits—the people who mis-fit normative secularism in the United States—show that becoming secular means rejecting parts of life that resemble Christianity and embracing a European tradition that emphasizes reason and avoids emotion. Women, people of color, and secular people who have left non-Christian religions work against the limits and contradictions of secularism to create new ways of being secular that are transforming the American religious landscape. They are pioneering the most interesting and important forms of secular “religiosity” in America today.