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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Magic, alchemy & hermetic thought
As a practising Christian priest, Hermann Beckh was profoundly
aware that the mystery of substance - its transmutation in the
cosmos and the human being - was a mystical fact to be approached
with the greatest reverence, requiring at once ever-deepening
scholarship and meditation. He viewed chemistry as a worthy but
materialistic science devoid of spirit, while the fullness of
spiritual-physical nature could be approached by what he preferred
to call 'chymistry' or 'alchymy', thereby taking in millennia of
spiritual tradition. In consequence, Beckh's Alchymy, The Mystery
of the Material World is not limited to the conventional workings
of Western alchemy, nor to what can be found in the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation - although he does unveil hidden riches
there. Neither should Beckh be considered only as a learned
Professor with impeccable academic qualifications and European-wide
recognition. Beckh writes about such topics as 'Isis', 'the Golden
Fleece', traditional fairy-stories and Wagner's Parsifal in a way
that enables the reader to catch glimpses of the Mystery of
Substance; to share the writer's authentic experience of the divine
substantia - the living reality - of Christ in the world. Beckh's
Alchymy set an entirely new standard, and went on to become his
most popular publication. This is the first time that it has been
translated into English, along with updated footnotes, making his
ideas and insights accessible to a wide readership. In addition,
this edition features translations of Beckh's 'The New Jerusalem',
where theology could best be expressed in verse; his exemplary
essay on 'Snow-white'; observations on 'Allerleirauh', and a
substantial excerpt from Gundhild Kacer-Bock's biography of Beckh.
Often regarded as an artistic movement of interwar Paris,
Surrealism comprised an international community of artists,
writers, and intellectuals who have aspired to change the
conditions of life itself over the course of the past century.
Consisting of a wide range of dedicated case studies from the 1920s
to the 1970s, this book highlights the international dimensions of
the Surrealist Movement, and the radical chains of thought that
linked its followers across the globe: from France to Romania, and
from Canada to the former Czechoslovakia. From very early on, the
surrealists approached magic as a means of bypassing, discrediting,
and combatting rationalism, capitalism, and other institutionalized
systems and values that they saw to be constraining influences upon
modern life. Surrealist Sorcery maps out how this interest in magic
developed into a major area of surrealist research that led not
only to theoretical but also practical explorations of the subject.
Taking an international perspective, Atkin surveys this important
quality of the movement and how it's remained an important element
in the surrealist project and its ongoing legacy.
An alchemical approach seeks to release the latent potential which
resides within the individual and within the cosmos. There was
never any question that the work of the alchemists depended upon a
knowledge of the planets and their cycles, since alchemical
transformations could only be successful if carried out at the
astrologically appropriate times. This book has been steadily
fermenting and evolving for over twenty-five years, and as such it
represents a true alchemical process. It has gone from being an
idea to a passion, and then a project and now it is a fully-fledged
book. Learn firstly about the mystical process of alchemy, and then
discover how it deepens our understanding of the transits of the
outer planets to the natal chart. A fascinating book that deserves
a place in every astrologer’s library.
The Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of
scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive
insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic
between c.1100 and c.1500. This book covers a wide range of topics,
including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe,
the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in
which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and
the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it
offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had
within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles,
natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the
book's interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to
archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as
texts and manuscripts. The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also
outlines how research on this subject could develop in the future,
highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new
approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established
scholars and students of medieval magic.
In 1510, nine men were tried in the Archbishop’s Court in York
for attempting to find and extract a treasure on the moor near
Mixindale through necromantic magic. Two decades later, William
Neville and his magician were arrested by Thomas Cromwell for
having engaged in a treasonous combination of magic practices and
prophecy surrounding the death of William’s older brother, Lord
Latimer, and the king. In The Magic of Rogues, Frank Klaassen and
Sharon Hubbs Wright present the legal documents about and open a
window onto these fascinating investigations of magic practitioners
in early Tudor England. Set side by side with sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century texts that describe the sorts of magic those
practitioners performed, these documents are translated,
contextualized, and presented in language accessible to
nonspecialist readers. Their analysis reveals how magicians and
cunning folk operated in extended networks in which they exchanged
knowledge, manuscripts, equipment, and even clients; foregrounds
magicians’ encounters with authority in ways that separate them
from traditional narratives about witchcraft and witch trials; and
suggests that the regulation and punishment of magic in the Tudor
period were comparatively and perhaps surprisingly gentle.
Incorporating the study of both intellectual and legal sources, The
Magic of Rogues presents a well-rounded picture of illicit learned
magic in early Tudor England. Engaging and accessible, this book
will appeal to anyone seeking to understand the intersection of
medieval legal history, religion, magic, esotericism, and Tudor
history.
Tormented girls writhing in agony, stern judges meting out harsh
verdicts, nineteen bodies swinging on Gallows Hill. The stark
immediacy of what happened in 1692 has obscured the complex web of
human passion, individual and organized, which had been growing for
more than a generation before the witch trials. Salem Possessed
explores the lives of the men and women who helped spin that web
and who in the end found themselves entangled in it. From rich and
varied sources-many previously neglected or unknown-Paul Boyer and
Stephen Nissenbaum give us a picture of the events of 1692 more
intricate and more fascinating than any other in the already
massive literature on Salem. "Salem Possessed," wrote Robin Briggs
in The Times Literary Supplement, "reinterprets a world-famous
episode so completely and convincingly that virtually all the
previous treatments can be consigned to the historical
lumber-room." Not simply a dramatic and isolated event, the Salem
outbreak has wider implications for our understanding of
developments central to the American experience: the breakup of
Puritanism, the pressures of land and population in New England
towns, the problems besetting farmer and householder, the shifting
role of the church, and the powerful impact of commercial
capitalism.
Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and
influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary
teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish
mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the
first scholarly work on him in English. Most studies of Lurianic
Kabbalah focus on Luria’s mythic and speculative ideas or on the
ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise
of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a
lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the
book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his
disciples. What attracted Luria’s students to him? How did they
react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did
Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective
quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?
In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Franciscan friar John
of Rupescissa sent a dramatic warning to his followers: the last
days were coming; the apocalypse was near. Deemed insane by the
Christian church, Rupescissa had spent more than a decade confined
to prisons--in one case wrapped in chains and locked under a
staircase--yet ill treatment could not silence the friar's
apocalyptic message. Religious figures who preached the end times
were hardly rare in the late Middle Ages, but Rupescissa's
teachings were unique. He claimed that knowledge of the natural
world, and alchemy in particular, could act as a defense against
the plagues and wars of the last days. His melding of apocalyptic
prophecy and quasi-scientific inquiry gave rise to a new genre of
alchemical writing and a novel cosmology of heaven and earth. Most
important, the friar's research represented a remarkable
convergence between science and religion. In order to understand
scientific knowledge today, Leah DeVun asks that we revisit
Rupescissa's life and the critical events of his age--the Black
Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Avignon Papacy--through his
eyes. Rupescissa treated alchemy as medicine (his work was the
conceptual forerunner of pharmacology) and represented the emerging
technologies and views that sought to combat famine, plague,
religious persecution, and war. The advances he pioneered, along
with the exciting strides made by his contemporaries, shed critical
light on later developments in medicine, pharmacology, and
chemistry.
Magic and Modernity is the first book to explore comparatively how
magic-usually portrayed as the antithesis of the modern-is also
something that is at home in modernity. "Magic" and "modernity" are
rarely regarded as belonging together. Evolutionism regarded magic
as quintessentially "unmodern." Although psychologists and romantic
artists have sometimes declared magic to be a human universal, few
modern scholars in the humanities and social sciences have studied
how modern culture and institutions incorporated and even produced
magic. This book is the first to adopt a comparative approach to
the study of magic as something that has a place in modernity, and
that helped to constitute modern society at local and global
levels. The essays in this collection contribute to recent
discussions in anthropology, cultural studies, comparative
literature, history, and sociology that increasingly question the
extent to which modern self-conceptions are accurate reflections of
a state of affairs in the world rather than cultural interventions.
Original and comprehensive, "Magic in the Ancient Greek World
"takes the reader inside both the social imagination and the ritual
reality that made magic possible in ancient Greece.
Explores the widespread use of spells, drugs, curse tablets, and
figurines, and the practitioners of magic in the ancient world
Uncovers how magic worked. Was it down to mere superstition? Did
the subject need to believe in order for it to have an effect?
Focuses on detailed case studies of individual types of magic
Examines the central role of magic in Greek life
This is the first book to examine extensively the religious aspects
of Chinese alchemy. Its main focus is the relation of alchemy to
the Daoist traditions of the early medieval period (third to sixth
centuries). It shows how alchemy contributed to and was tightly
integrated into the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that
Daoists built at that time, from which Daoism as we know it today
evolved. The book also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and
the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation
practices. It contains full translations of three important
medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries,
making available for the first time in English the gist of the
early Chinese alchemical corpus.
Encuentre una fuente magica en su jardin. Este es un libro sobre
magia tan antigua como el conocimiento sobre las plantas. Aprenda a
preparar amuletos y encantamientos, bolsas con hierbas magicas,
inciensos y aceites aromaticos, infusiones y unguentos. Las hierbas
son faciles de conseguir en las tiendas, el campo o en su propio
jardin. Sus aplicaciones son infinitas: para ayudar a la vision
psiquica, obtener proteccion, despertar la pasion y para mantener
la salud y la felicidad. Puntos de venta -Contiene informacion
sobre 118 hierbas principales, reglas astrologicas y planetarias,
nivel de vibracion, nombre comun y cientifico, polvos magicos y
usos especiales -Escrito por el autor de La casa magica;
Enciclopedia de cristales, gemas y metales magicos; Enciclopedia de
las hierbas magicas; Inciensos, aceites e infusiones; Poderes
terrenales; Que es la wicca?; Suenos divinos; y La verdad sobre la
brujeria. - Find potent magic in your own backyard. This is a book
about magic as old as our knowledge of plants, an art anyone can
practice and enjoy. It is the magic of amulets and charms; sachets
and herbal pillows; incenses; and scented oils, infusions, and
anointments. The herbs are easy to find in stores, the wild, or in
your own garden. Their uses are endless: as aids to psychic vision,
for protection, and for arousing passion and maintaining health and
happiness. Selling Features -Contains an encyclopedia of 118 major
herbs, with astrological and planetary rulership, vibrational
level, folk and technical names, magical powers, and special
uses-Written by the author of La casa magica; Enciclopedia de
cristales, gemas y metales magicos; Enciclopedia de las hierbas
magicas; Inciensos, aceites e infusiones; Poderes terrenales; Que
es la wicca?; Suenos divinos; and La verdad sobre la brujeria
* Examines the foundational texts and principles of Hermeticism and
alchemy, showing how they offer a foundation for a psycho-spiritual
creative practice * Takes the reader on a Hermetic journey through
each of the seven traditional planets, offering meditative
discourses that speak directly to the intuitive soul * Provides
examples from traditional alchemical art and the author's own
intricate esoteric paintings Drawing on ancient Egyptian and Greek
cosmogonies and essential Hermetic texts, such as the Corpus
Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina), and the Nag
Hammadi codices, Marlene Seven Bremner offers a detailed
understanding of Hermetic philosophy and the art of alchemy as a
foundation for a psycho-spiritual creative practice. Offering
examples from traditional alchemical art and her own intricate
esoteric paintings, Bremner examines the foundational principles of
Hermeticism and alchemy and shows how these traditions are a direct
means for accessing higher consciousness and true self-knowledge,
or gnosis, as well as a way to extract the essence of one's own
creative gifts. The author takes the reader on a Hermetic journey
through each of the seven traditional planets--Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon--exploring their
mythological, philosophical, alchemical, Qabalistic, magical,
astrological, and energetic natures and offering meditative
discourses that reach past the rational mind to speak directly to
the intuitive soul. She relates the seven planets to the esoteric
anatomy of the human body, specifically the seven chakras, and
shows how the planets can offer understanding and experience of
archetypal energies and patterns in the body, in one's life, and in
the creative process. A profound synthesis of magical and occult
teachings as well as an initiation into the alchemical opus, this
book reveals how to integrate and apply Hermetic and alchemical
principles to awaken inner knowing, liberate the imagination, and
live a mystical, creative, and truly inspired life.
This volume presents editions of two fascinating anonymous and
untitled manuscripts of magic produced in Elizabethan England: the
Antiphoner Notebook and the Boxgrove Manual. Frank Klaassen uses
these texts, which he argues are representative of the overwhelming
majority of magical practitioners, to explain how magic changed
during this period and why these developments were crucial to the
formation of modern magic. The Boxgrove Manual is a work of learned
ritual magic that synthesizes material from Henry Cornelius
Agrippa, the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, Heptameron, and
various medieval conjuring works. The Antiphoner Notebook concerns
the common magic of treasure hunting, healing, and protection,
blending medieval conjuring and charm literature with materials
drawn from Reginald Scot’s famous anti-magic work, Discoverie of
Witchcraft. Klaassen painstakingly traces how the scribes who
created these two manuscripts adapted and transformed their
original sources. In so doing, he demonstrates the varied and
subtle ways in which the Renaissance, the Reformation, new currents
in science, the birth of printing, and vernacularization changed
the practice of magic. Illuminating the processes by which two
sixteenth-century English scribes went about making a book of
magic, this volume provides insight into the wider intellectual
culture surrounding the practice of magic in the early modern
period.
Major Philosophers of Jewish Prayer in the Twentieth Century
addresses the troubling questions posed by the modern Jewish
worshiper, including such obstacles to prayer as the inability to
concentrate on the words and meanings of formal liturgy, the
paucity of emotional involvement, the lack of theological
conviction, the anthropomorphic and particularly the masculine
emphasis of prayer nomenclature, and other matters. In assessing
these difficultites, Cohen brings to the reader the writings on
prayer of some seminal 20th century Jewish theologians. These
include Herman Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Avraham Yitzhak, Hoakohen
Kook, Mordecai M. Kaplan, R. Arele, Aaron Rote, Elie Munk, Abraham
J. Heschel, Jakob J. Petuchowski, Eugene B. Borowitz, and Lawrence
A. Hoffman.
With his philosophical and scientific training, Steiner brought a
new systematic discipline to the field of spiritual research,
allowing for fully conscious methods and comprehensive results. A
natural seer, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree,
enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled
mysteries.
What is a grimoire? The word has a familiar ring to many people,
particularly as a consequence of such popular television dramas as
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. But few people are sure
exactly what it means. Put simply, grimoires are books of spells
that were first recorded in the Ancient Middle East and which have
developed and spread across much of the Western Hemisphere and
beyond over the ensuing millennia. At their most benign, they
contain charms and remedies for natural and supernatural ailments
and advice on contacting spirits to help find treasures and protect
from evil. But at their most sinister they provide instructions on
how to manipulate people for corrupt purposes and, worst of all, to
call up and make a pact with the Devil. Both types have proven
remarkably resilient and adaptable and retain much of their
relevance and fascination to this day. But the grimoire represents
much more than just magic. To understand the history of grimoires
is to understand the spread of Christianity, the development of
early science, the cultural influence of the print revolution, the
growth of literacy, the impact of colonialism, and the expansion of
western cultures across the oceans. As this book richly
demonstrates, the history of grimoires illuminates many of the most
important developments in European history over the last two
thousand years.
Magic and Medieval Society presents a thematic approach to the
topic of magic and sorcery in Western Europe between the eleventh
and the fifteenth century. It aims to provide readers with the
conceptual and documentary tools to reach informed conclusions as
to the existence, nature, importance and uses of magic in medieval
society. Contrary to some previous approaches, the authors argue
that magic is inextricably connected to other areas of cultural
practice and was found across medieval society. Therefore, the book
is arranged thematically, covering topics such as the use of magic
at medieval courts, at universities and within the medieval Church
itself. Each chapter and theme is supported by additional
documents, diagrams and images to allow readers to examine the
evidence side-by-side with the discussions in the chapters and to
come to informed conclusions on the issues. This book puts forward
the argument that the witch craze was not a medieval phenomenon but
rather the product of the Renaissance and the Reformation, and
demonstrates how the components for the early-modern prosecution of
witches were put into place. This new Seminar Study is supported by
a comprehensive documents section, chronology, who's who and
black-and-white plate section. It offers a concise and
thought-provoking introduction for students of medieval history.
2013 Reprint of 1906 Edition. Full facsimile of the original
edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Three
Volumes bound into one. Volume contents are: Vol. 1. Prolegomena.
-- Vol. 2. Sermons. -- Vol. 3. Excerpts and fragments This work
exemplifies all that is best in Mead's dedicated, scholarly, but
eminently readable studies of the spiritual roots of Christian
Gnosticism and, more generally, of personal religion in the
Greco-Roman world. His work encompassed much more than this; Mead
was equally at home with Sanskrit texts, Patristic literature,
Buddhist thought, and the problems of contemporary philosophy and
psychical research. He devoted his intellectual energy to the
complex interplay of Gnosticism, Hellenism, Judaism, and
Christianity. This three volume set presents his insights into the
formation of the Gnostic world-view and establishes him as an
outstanding translator of these Hermetic books, and as the first
modern scholar of Gnostic tradition.
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