Though a familiar name, little was known about the English mystic Margery Kempe (c. 1373-c. 1440) for hundreds of years except that she had an association with the great Julian of Norwich. This all changed in 1934 with the discovery of "The Book of Margery Kempe" in a library where it had lain hidden for four hundred years. Finding Margery's own story was important not just because of the light it shed on her life, but it also turned out to be the first known autobiography in the English language. Even more intriguing to the experts of the day, this unique document was written by a woman.
But if anyone had expected to find her anything like her cloistered contemporary, Julian, they were in for something of a surprise. Far from being a typical holy woman, Margery Kempe was married and mother of fourteen children. Moreover, she had been a woman of substance, even running a large brewery for a time. After turning to religion, she traveled thousands of miles around the known world on pilgrimages to distant lands.
Beyond the circumstances of her life, what's most compelling about the text is the inner Margery that emerges. Her account of spiritual awakening, far from being a blissful episode is instead full of conflict and recrimination. What good was this new way of life if it caused her such trouble? Was this really the only way to lead a holy life? Margery remained unsure of the answers. But her patience in her struggle is a wonder to behold, and an example for us today.

The year 1200 marked a dynamic turning point in the history of Christian mysticism. New forms of religious life provided the impetus for a new mysticism whose influence continues today. This book documents the spirited dialogue between men and women that made possible the richness of mysticism in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Divine Will; Mystical Awakening; Agnostic and the Mystic; Logic of the Supernatural; The Mystical Mood; Going in t the Silence; Invisible Powers; The Fusion of Spirit and Matter His Miraculous Progress; A Prophetic Witness; Lincoln's Simplicity and Clairvoyant Wit; A Prophetic Vision of Hades; Shakespeare and Lincoln; A Prophecy Fulfilled; The Ordinances of Heaven; Lincoln's Face; The Great Debate; Forecasting and Premonitions; Illumination of the Spirit; Tycho Brahe an Lincoln; The Great Books; Veneration and Truth; The Great Puzzle.

Being a Magical and Qabalistic Interpretation of the Drama of Parzival by a Companion of the Holy Grail.

Edition with glossary: Informed by a combination of luminous spiritual insight and the integrity of common sense, this account of Julian's visionary experience is one of the most remarkable texts of the Middle Ages.

Preface; The Introduction; The Second Death; The Sealed Book; The Seven Seals; The Seven Trumpets; The Glassy Sea; The Two Witnesses; The Dragon and the Two Beasts, or Evil in Three Worlds; The Two Cities; The Apocalyptic Element in the Gospels; The Mystical Significance of Apocalyptic Numbers; The Paraousia; Historic Christianity and the Mystical Sense; History of Mysticism.

Mysticism and Experience discusses the dynamic relationship between revelation and personal experience epitomized by, but not exclusive to mystical experience. The author argues that the inner, personal understanding of nature, God, and the self that one acquires through feeling and connection is similar to a mystical experience, and that this inner knowledge is as important as the outer knowledge gained through our rational faculties. He approaches his subject through an analysis of the writings of the great German mystic Jacob B'hme. Deeply influenced by the growth of modern science and with ties to the 16th century spiritual and achemical philosophy, B'hme is seen as trying to balance the rational/spiritual scales that we are still discussing today.

First published in 1965, this book represents a refinement and further development of the core thesis that Henri de Lubac had originally put forward many years earlier in a bold and controversial work in which he first called into question the idea of pure nature.

The practice of Centering Prayer, which Father Thomas Keating presents in his book Open Mind, Open Heart, is the beginning of a process of spiritual growth. In Invitacion a Amar, Keating outlines and explains the actual stages of this process. In the course of numerous workshops and retreats, Keating is asked many questions regarding contemplative practice. How will it affect my life? Where does it lead us spiritually? What obstacles will I encounter along the way? Why is it necessary? How does it work?

Contents: Brain Building and Soul Growth; Man, Mind, and Divine Healing; Psychic and Spiritual Phenomena; Science, Reason, and Religion; Man's Fall, Christ's Atonement; How Man May Become In-Christed; Law, Faith, Prayer, Miracles; Service and the Christian Clinic; Christ and Civic Problems.

The Visible and Invisible Worlds; The Four Kingdoms; Man and the Method of Evolution; Rebirth and the Law of Consequence; Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis; Evolution; Stragglers and Newcomers; Our Solar System; Back to the Bible; Occult Analysis of the Bible; Man's Future Development and Initiation; Christ and His Mission; Alchemy, Intuition, The Rosicrucians.

A Treatise on Mystical Theology. This book is a survey of the Kingdom of Prayer in all its length and breadth, in its lowest as well as its most perfect forms. The Interior life is seen to be a process, an orderly evolution, of which we can outline the laws and mark the successive stages.

The object of this book is to learn how to conquer yourself; to free yourself from evil passions; to reform the disorder, great or little of your past life; to regulate it to the Divine will. To attain this goal, many obstacles must be overcome. This book, authored by the great mystic, Ignatius, shows how.

This study illustrates how the isolated prophet or mystic is no longer relevant and that it is only through the formation of prophetic communities of faith that our modern sense of fragmentation can be addressed.

Those students who have found only frustration in this giant mystic, will here find set forth the structural plan conceived to underlie the poet's cosmic conceptions, and to tie them into an organic whole. For this psychological key, the author has gone back for her sources to the ancient Scriptures, including the Kabbala, to the occult writings of Nietzsche, Thoreau, Boehme and Whitman and early Oriental philosophers. The key to the mystery of Blake is this: that he was a true seer and spokesman because he had come to an understanding of the processes of his own soul. Partial Contents: Symbolism in the songs; Great Crisis; Return to Illumination; Psychology of Symbol; Structural Plan of the Ancient Wisdom; Tiriel; Song of Liberty; America, Europe; Books of Urizen, Los, Ahania; Everlasting Gospel.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Contents: General Characteristics of Mysticism; Mystical element in the Bible; Christian Platonism and Speculative Mysticism; Practical and Devotional Mysticism; Nature Mysticism and Symbolism; Mystical Theology; Greek Mysteries and Christian Mysticism; Doctrine of Deification; Mystical Interpretation of the Song of Solomon.

This book aims at quickening personal religion by recalling the lessons in the spiritual life which some of the great Masters of Devotion have left to us in their lives and in their writings. Contents: St. Augustine and the "Confessions"; Julian of Norwich and "Revelations of Divine Love"; Thomas A. Kempis and the "Imitation of Christ"; Lorenzo Scupoli and the "Spiritual Combat"; Francis de Sales and the "Devout Life"; William Law and "A Serious Call."

Contents: What is Mysticism; The Mystical Element in the Gospel and Epistles; The Montanists, The Gnostics, and the Alexandrines; Neo-Platonism; The Influence of Neo-Platonism in Christianity; Three Types of Medieval Mysticism; The German Mystics of the Middle Ages; English, Italian, Spanish, and French Mystics; Post Reformation Mysticism in England; Puritan Mystics; Jacob Boehme and William Law; Modern Mysticism; Bibliography, Index.

One of the most important works on mysticism ever published! Contents: The best writing of: Eckhart; Tauler; Meditations on the Seven Words from the Cross; Suso; Ruysbroek; Theologia Germanica. Inspiring.

"I have been reading Lady Julian of Norwich," declares C.S. Lewis in a letter to his former pupil, the Benedictine mystic Bede Griffiths. "A dangerous book, clearly. I'm glad I didn't read it much earlier." Thomas Merton wrote simply, "There can be no doubt that Julian is the greatest of the English mystics."



Few texts have had held such interest or been the object of such enduring devotion as has Julian of Norwich's 14th-century classic A Revelation of Love. This great work--along with The Cloud of Unknowing and Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle--form the very heart of Western mysticism, and each generation has cherished its beautiful poetry and profound account of a soul's quest for the divine. This new translation of Julian's mystical writings offers today's reader immediate access to this most powerful spiritual of books written in English. Julian's message of God's intimate and enabling love is revealed as both beguiling and inescapable. The poetry and rhythmic structure of the original Middle English text are respected, yet it is given fresh immediacy since it is now rendered in inclusive language for the first time ever. Moreover Julian's key ideas are easily identified-even by newcomers to her unique system of thought-by means of an original and authoritative linking commentary at the head of each key chapter, as well as continuing support from highly informative footnotes and a detailed glossary of the main terms used.

Building on the success of "The Foundations of Mysticism," this second volume of McGinn's classic The Presence of God series covers the major theoreticians of the period 500 to 1200 CE. Major figures include Gregory the Great, John Scotus Eriugena, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, and Hugh of St. Victor.

The great stories and myths have much to teach today's men and women. For most men, none are more rewarding than the ancient Arthurian legends of the lives of knights dedicated to the search for the Holy Grail. At their core these stories invite men to move outside comfortable boundaries and to risk a much greater calling: nothing less than the discovery of the true self. The starting point for many men is the receiving of a "sacred wound": a death, a betrayal, some grievous loss. Trying to accept and understand the significance of these life events is important, for from this wound can come healing for self and others. As Richard Rohr puts it: "The work of religion is to open your eyes and see that everything swirls with meaning". Enter into the quest with Fr. Rohr back to the beginnings of Christianity and its deepest symbols, to ancient stories of the death of the hero and strength passed on through the drinking of his blood; to the intertwining of these myths in the Grail legends, particularly in the story of Parsifal and his search for the Grail and wholeness. The author not only makes these legends come vividly alive, he also shows that despite changes in culture and advances in science and technology the universal truths are unchanging, and the quest remains the same, sacred challenge for today.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

A distinctive feature of Western religous life in recent years has been the rediscovery of the contemplative tradition in Christianity. Within the Christian mystical tradition, England holds a unique place, with a number of major figures from the Middle Ages and later whose writings have fascinated generations of readers. This book presents seven of them, five from the medieval period, the golden age of English mysticism - Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe; and two from later centuries - William Law and George Herbert. Each chapter consists of an introductory essay on the life and writings of each individual, followed by carefully chosen extracts from their writings. Those from the medieval period are in fresh new translations. All these writers see the spiritual life as an ongoing process, a pilgrimage. This inner pigrimage requires no outer excursions, but throughout the ages spiritual pilgrims have undertaken physical pilgrimages as well. One aim of this book is to encourage its readers to continue this tradition by visiting sites from which the writings arose. So each chapter is provided with a map of the area of immediate interest and a drawing of the place most associated with each figure, and the introductory essays contain practical information about how to get there. No other anthology of mystical and spiritual writings describes the lives and locations of these individuals in this way. Gordon L. Miller, Ph.D., is a writer and historian living near Seattle, Washington. He attended Milligan College and Christian Theological Seminary. This book developed from a period of post-graduate study at Cambridge University, when he visited the sites described in the book, a journey which, he says, "made the historical grounding of the English mystical tradition much more real to me." He is also the author of Wisdom of the Earth: Visions of an Ecological Faith.