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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > General
Nobody quite knew what to make of them. Were they simply fun-loving
thrillseekers leaping from surfboards and roaring motorcycles to
hang gliders, and then on to the most advanced rocket-propelled
jetpacks on the planet? Or were they a genuine menace to religious
traditionalists who were outraged when the Order began taking over
churches, cathedrals and temples for their fiery flying rituals?
Bets swung both ways, but as the self-styled revolutionaries
swelled in number and the media culture exulted, zealots turned
violent and the press immediately warned of dogfights in the sky,
street battles, mind games and soul wars.
Behind the scenes, the Powers That Be were strangely silent.
But then word began filtering out that the secret elite were
playing the two sides off against each other and there were
whispers of a hidden agenda that could shift global power, profits
and the future of the world itself.
Telepathy, thought transference, unconscious communication. While
some important early psychological theorists such as William James,
Frederic W. H. Myers and Sigmund Freud all agreed that the
phenomenon exists, their theoretical approaches to it were very
different. James's and Myers's interpretations of and experimental
investigations into telepathy or thought transference were an
inextricable part of their psychical researches. Freud's insistence
on the reality of thought transference had nothing to do with
psychical research or paranormal phenomena, which he largely
repudiated. Thought transference for Freud was located in a theory
of the unconscious that was radically different from the subliminal
mind embraced by James and Myers. Today thought transference is
most commonly described as unconscious communication but was
largely ignored by subsequent generations of psychoanalysts until
most recently. Nonetheless, the recognition of unconscious
communication has persisted as a subterranean, quasi-spiritual
presence in psychoanalysis to this day. As psychoanalysis becomes
more interested in unconscious communication and develops theories
of loosely boundaried subjectivities that open up to transcendent
dimensions of reality, it begins to assume the features of a
religious psychology. Thus, a fuller understanding of how
unconscious communication resonates with mystical overtones may be
more deeply clarified, articulated and elaborated in contemporary
psychoanalysis in an explicit dialogue with psychoanalytically
literate scholars of religion. In Legacies of the Occult Marsha
Aileen Hewitt argues that some of the leading theorists of
unconscious communication represent a 'mystical turn' that is
infused with both a spirituality and a revitalized interest in
paranormal experience that is far closer to James and Myers than to
Freud.
Antero Alli and Klint Finley discuss Antero's 'paratheatre'
projects, his relationships with Christopher Hyatt and Robert Anton
Wilson, and much more. Approximate running time is 36 minutes.
Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice brings together
the latest research on Islamic occult sciences from a variety of
disciplinary perspectives, namely intellectual history, manuscript
studies and material culture. Its aim is not only to showcase the
range of pioneering work that is currently being done in these
areas, but also to provide a model for closer interaction amongst
the disciplines constituting this burgeoning field of study.
Furthermore, the book provides the rare opportunity to bridge the
gap on an institutional level by bringing the academic and
curatorial spheres into dialogue. Contributors include: Charles
Burnett, Jean-Charles Coulon, Maryam Ekhtiar, Noah Gardiner,
Christiane Gruber, Bink Hallum, Francesca Leoni, Matthew
Melvin-Koushki, Michael Noble, Rachel Parikh, Liana Saif, Maria
Subtelny, Farouk Yahya, and Travis Zadeh.
When Jean-Francois Champollion rediscovered how to translate the
Egyptian hieroglyphs in the early nineteenth century he described
them as "....a complex system, a writing that is figurative,
symbolic, and phonetic all within the same text, a single sentence,
I would even say a single word." Since then, although his
discoveries have led to the translation of most of the ancient
Egyptian texts, the emphasis in modern scholarship is to regard the
hieroglyphs purely as sounds and to disregard or even deny their
symbolic meaning. This book explores how the hieroglyphs function
as a comprehensive system of magical symbolism, the medw neter or
Words of the Gods by which the sacred truths of the Inner worlds of
creation are conveyed to humanity. Their effect is 'magical'
because when we study them and ponder their meaning they cause
changes in our consciousness, enabling us to reach a deeper
understanding of ourselves, of our surroundings and of the
universal principles that lie behind all creation. They also
incidentally teach us a great deal about the magical beliefs and
practices of the ancient Egyptians and their perception of the
relationship between the earthly and spiritual worlds. Using many
examples and illustrations, this book demonstrates how the
hieroglyphs formed the basis of Egyptian magic and were the means
by which it was taught and practiced. It offers an entirely new
interpretation of Egyptian magic, and shows how the hieroglyphs can
be used as a magical tool that is as transformative today as it was
in ancient times.
Fourteen years after it was first published, the 2021 edition of
The Red Goddess has been freshly typeset and is introduced with a
preface by Alkistis Dimech. The Red Goddess is an ecstatic journey
through the unheard history of Babalon, the goddess of Revelation,
an explicit and challenging vision of a very modern goddess coming
into power. From the Revelation of St John the Divine, back through
the Ishtar Gate and forward into a living modern magical current.
This is more than a history, it is a passionate account of living
magic and the transcendent power of Love. The epic sweep of the
text takes us from Babylon to Jerusalem to Rome, and onwards to
Apocalypse. It confronts us with the language and symbols of our
own culture and the denied demonic feminine. It looks at the
angelic work of John Dee and places it in a European eschatology.
It delivers a devastating exegesis on the excesses of Aleister
Crowley, and unlocks the secrets of 'Waratah Blossoms.' It explains
the immolation of the Californian antichrist-superstar Jack Parsons
and his relationship with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. There
is also a full supporting cast of Solomon, Simon Magus, St John the
Divine, Earl Bothwell, the Templars, Mary, the Magdalene and
countless others. This is the missing history of the love goddess
in the West. Thirteen essays conclude the book on subjects
including: roses, mirror magick, bdsm, aphrodisiac drugs, the
information age, love and lust, and the meaning of apocalypse. The
Red Goddess is for anyone with blood in their veins, regardless of
tradition, background or experience.
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