With A Sketch Of His Work, Life, And Character By The Earl Of Carnarvon.

Even as public interest is attracted to this esoteric religion, Escholars have debated its origins, its relationship to Judaism and Christianity, and even whether one distinctive and separate Gnostic "religion" ever existed. Birger Pearson's expert and accessible introduction brings the reader into the debate. Directly addressing the nettling questions of origins and definition, Pearson situates the advent of Gnosticism within the Greco-Roman religious world and critically appraises the sources. With illustrations, maps, timeline, and bibliography, Pearson's volume facilitates the pursuit of gnosis, at least historically, by general readers, students and scholars alike.

The Codex Brucianus is a translation of an ancient Gnostic work from the sixth century and was brought to England from Upper Egypt and donated to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Gnosis is the power of receiving and understanding direct revelation of God and the transformation of the whole man into a spiritual being by contact with Him. This book is a very beautiful Gnostic work and should be read by anyone interested in experiencing the divine Gnosis of God.

In the last twenty years or so, numerous mainstream movies have drawn from the ideas and images of ancient thought to address the collapse of appearance and reality. These films have consistently featured the Gnostic currents that emerged from Plato: not only Gnosticism itself but also Cabbala and alchemy. Despite important differences, these traditions have provided filmmakers with ready-made ruminations on the relationship between surface and depth as well as with engaging plot lines and striking scenes. In films like "The Matrix" (1999) and "The Truman Show" (1998), Gnostic myths have offered speculations on the real as well as conspiracy theories. The Cabbalistic motif of golem-making has provided such movies as "A.I." (2001) and "Blade Runner" (1982) with mediations on the human and with parables of machines yearning for life. Pictures like "Dead Man" (1996) and "Altered States" (1980) have drawn on alchemical symbols to explore the possibilities of transmutation and to feature stories of the dead rising to life. Recent commercial Gnostic films are meditations on the conundrums of the post-modern age and the timeless soul. These pictures constitute archetypal sites for sacred contemplation. They create spaces akin to the caves of Eleusis or Lascaux, chambers where habits are annihilated and the ego is shattered. Maybe this spiritual attraction is the secret reason behind the recent abundance of Gnostic films. If so, then the dream factory is betraying its purpose. It is negating its deceptions and sales in the name of a bewildering reality that cannot be found. "Secret Cinema" explores these possibilities through engaging in three related activities. One, the book establishes the theoretical foundations and implications of the genre of Gnostic cinema. It develops these theoretical elements in the contexts of Gnosticism and the esoteric traditions emerging from it, Cabbala and alchemy. Two, in undertaking this work, Wilson considers several collateral issues. The book discusses the functions of genre, the relationships between cinema and psychology, the connections between the moving image and sacred power, the role of the cinematographic apparatus, and the romance of film. Three, the book is a broad meditation on the seductions of cinema. It is attuned to material attractions of the movies, those gorgeous lights and lurid shadows, but also the film's spiritual invitations, the gaps between the pictures, the empty spaces at the heart of life.

Recommended by top scholars in the field of Gnostic studies for many years, but has been virtually impossible to find until now. One of the best books on the subject, essential for any serious researcher. Takes the reader through every facet of the Gnostic experience including sections on The Soul is Sent Forth, Glory of the Indwelling Light, The Way to the Higher Mysteries, The Final Secret of the Self, and The Soul Travels Home. Based on rare, surviving works of ancient Gnostic teachers like Pistis Sophia and the two Books of Ieu. Other sources include the Agnew Codex, Bruce Codex, Akhmim Codex, Jung Codex, Cairo Codex, the Gnostic Acts (of Peter, Andrew, John, Thomas and Philip), the Chaldean Oracles, and various Gnostic hymns, prayers, Gospels and papyri. A virtual gold mine of Gnostic material, some translated and presented here for the first time.

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.

This volume, On the Mysteries, by Iamblichus (Abamun) is a unique form or scripture out of the Ancient Egyptian religious tradition. It is written in a form that is not usual or which is not usually found in the remnants of Ancient Egyptian scriptures. It is in the form of teacher and disciple, much like the Eastern scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads. This form of writing may not have been necessary in Ancient times, because the format of teaching in Egypt was different prior to the conquest period by the Persians, Assyrians, Greeks and later the Romans. The question and answer format can be found but such extensive discourses and corrections of misunderstandings within the context of a teacher - disciple relationship is not usual. It therefore provides extensive insights into the times when it was written and the state of practice of Ancient Egyptian and other mystery religions. This has important implications for our times because we are today, as in the Greco-Roman period, also besieged with varied religions and new age philosophies as well as social strife and war. How can we understand our times and also make sense of the forest of spiritual traditions? How can we cut through the cacophony of religious fanaticism, and ignorance as well as misconceptions about the mysteries on the other in order to discover the true purpose of religion and the secret teachings that open up the mysteries of life and the way to enlightenment and immortality? This book, which comes to us from so long ago, offers us transcendental wisdom that applied to the world two thousand years ago as well as our world today.

1861. The growing power of the infant Gnosticism acting with inspiration upon the quick warm nature of the Jordan Nazarenes laid the seed which, nourished by the accumulated wisdom of the illustrious teachers of the Pharisees, ultimately ripened into the New Testament - the priceless pearl of the Jewish conception. The earliest Gnosticism in Irenaeus extends a hand to the Gnosticism of the Kaball. Irenaeus's Gnostica, the Codex Basareus, the oldest parts of the Kabbala, the first three chapters of Genesis, the New Testament theology, Hippolytus, and some extracts from the Rabbins, are all brought together. See other works by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Reveals the hidden meaning of the Grail and a secret Christian doctrine for achieving higher consciousness
- Shows that Gnosticism is not a derivative of Christianity but the revelation of the true message of Jesus
- Describes the ancient relationship between water and spirit
- Explains the doctrine of immanence taught by Jesus at the Last Supper
- Features the translated source text from The Refutation of All Heresies by Bishop Hippolytus, the only existing record of the Naassene Sermon
In the third century C.E., the Catholic Bishop Hippolytus composed "A Refutation of All Heresies" in which his chief target was the Gnostic sect the Naassenes, whose writings included a recounting of Jesus' actual teachings at the Last Supper. Contrary to Church attacks, the Naassenes were not a heretical derivative of Christianity but the authentic foundation and purveyor of Christ's message. In fact, much of what passes as Christianity has nothing to do with the original teachings of its founder.
The message recorded in the Naassene Sermon was intended for an inner circle of disciples who were prepared for advanced initiation into Jesus' wisdom teachings. The Grail discussed therein was not an actual chalice but a symbol of the indwelling of the divine. The teachings involved the awakening of spirit and included practices aimed at restoring the soul's lost connection with God. "Immanence," in the true sense intended by Jesus, thus allows for spiritual attainment in this life by ordinary individuals without the intermediary of Church or priest. This was the real meaning of the Last Supper and why the Naassenes believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Mystery traditions.

An endeavor to systematize and elucidate the Corpus Hermeticum. This volume emphasizes the more primary and fundamental truths of the Pymander so the reader may gain a comprehensive survey of the entire field it covers.

Peter Wilberg presents a political history of the subversive 'gnostic' theologies of the first century, and with it, a theo-political critique of the ruling god-concepts of the 21st century. 'From New Age to New Gnosis' is spiritual Marxism and a powerful spearhead aimed at the 'New World Order' of economic 'liberalism', neo-conservatism and military imperialism. It challenges all four faces of its famous dollar pyramid - the 'i-dollartry' of new technologies, the reduction of the human being to a genetic machine, the politically illiterate platitudes of New Age 'spirituality' - and the spiritual illiterate 'literalism' of Christian biblical fundamentalism and racist Zionazism - which now see their own zealotry mirrored and confronted by militant Islam. What Peter Wilberg's recognises is that what our divided world now calls for is not a revival of fundamentalisms of any sort but a New Gnostic spirituality that understands the "wordless knowledge within the word" (Seth).

Early Christian mystical groups were called Gnostics, meaning those who know, because of their spiritual knowledge. Their teachers were persecuted and most documents destroyed because the Church desired a uniform set of beliefs to operate under. "Pistis Sophis" was the most important Gnostic work until the discovery and publication of "The Nag Hammadi Library." It remains an important milestone in Gnostic research and should be part of any serious study. It is the story of how we, as spiritual beings, have fallen into the physical world. The soul is asleep, unaware of its true nature, but the purpose of this gospel is to help awaken us.

This study traces the influence of Gnosis in European culture. Gnostic roots can be traced to the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch and William Blake, the romanticism of Novalis, the symbolic poetry of Gerard de Nerval, the dualistic writings of Herman Hesse, and to Heideggerean existentialism. Gnostic alternations between grace and damnation permeate the work of Luis Bunuel, and many others.;The idea that the body is the prison of the soul was expounded by Pythagoras, Plato, and the Orphics. Yet with the Gnostics the dualism of soul-spirit/body-matter became complete. Objects and lifeforms were created by an evil deity, whereas the souls embedded in them are particles chipped from an alien, boundless and eternal divinity. This book is interdisciplinary, combining personality theory, mythology and theology. It integrates ontological/ideological philosophy in bio-psycho-sociology. The claim is that Gnosis, Kabbala and Existentialism are the specific disciplines linking the dualities of human existence. Finally, an anthropocentric theory of religion is presented, which links history and transcendence through the mediation of the human.