This book is about the emergence of a new activist Sufism in the Muslim world from the sixteenth century onwards, which emphasized personal responsibility for putting Godas guidance into practice. It focuses specifically on developments at the centre of the Ottoman Empire, but also considers both how they might have been influenced by the wider connections and engagements of learned and holy men and how their influence might have been spread from the Ottoman Empire to South Asia in particular. The immediate focus is on the Qadizadeli movement which flourished in Istanbul from the 1620s to the 1680s and which inveighed against corrupt scholars and heterodox Sufis. The book aims by studying the relationship between Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisarias magisterial Majalis al-abrar and Qadizadeli beliefs to place both author and the movement in an Ottoman, Hanafi, and Sufi milieu. In so doing, it breaks new ground, both in bringing to light al-Aqhisarias writings, and methodologically, in Ottoman studies at least, in employing line-by-line textual comparisons to ascertain the borrowings and influences linking al-Aqhisari to medieval Islamic thinkers such as Ahmad b. Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, as well as to several near-contemporaries. Most significantly, the book finally puts to rest the strict dichotomy between Qadizadeli reformism and Sufism, a dichotomy that with too few exceptions continues to be the mainstay of the existing literature.

When Alfred Schwab was given the opportunity to meet a "contact"-an incorporeal entity who had been communicating with someone Alfred barely knew-he was skeptical, to say the least. But his curiosity and open mind encouraged him to at least explore the possibility.Orifi, a non-physical being with a special affection for humans, was willing and able to share his insights from beyond our understanding. Over the course of many years, he and Alfred shared countless conversations filled with humor and earthly give-and-take. Orifi shared generously about our reality, fate, free will, health, love, religion, and our physical world-past, present, and future. When Alfred was faced with unimaginable tragedy in the death of his child, he turned to Orifi for guidance and hope. And what Orifi shared allowed the grieving father to view his life experiences in a new and optimistic way. "You are never alone," Orifi promised his friend, and that sentiment rings through Alfred's story and words.

Primordial Traditions was the winner of the 2009 Ashton Wylie Award for Literary Excellence. This new second edition of the original award winning collection features a selection of essays by Gwendolyn Taunton and other talented authors from the original periodical Primordial Traditions (2006-2010). The new version of Primordial Traditions offers a revised layout and a new binding. This edition also has content not contained in the original publication. The first section of Primordial Traditions deals with aspects of perennial philosophy covering the broader applications of the Primordial Tradition in the modern world. Alchemy, philosophy, civilization, the Kali Yuga, and even the problems afflicting the economy are addressed here from a traditional perspective. This section deals with the nature of the Primordial Tradition and how all True Spiritual Traditions consequently relate to it in this new philosophy of religion. The second section of the book then breaks down Traditions into geographic locations to discuss European, Eastern, Middle Eastern and South American Traditions at an advanced level. Topics covered here include: Tibetan Tantra, Sufism, Yezidi, Tantrism, Vedic Mythology, Theravada Buddhism, Thai Magic, Tantrism, Oneiromancy, Norse Berserkers, Runes, Celtic Mythology, Mithras, Hellenic Mythology and Mayan Ceremonial Astrology to name but a few fascinating obscurities. Content includes the following articles by Gwendolyn Taunton: Sophia Perennis: The Doctrine of Ascension, The Primordial Tradition, The Age of Darkness: Prophecies of the Kali Yuga, Mercury Rising: The Life & Writing of Julius Evola, Ars Regia: The Royal Art Revisited, Tantra: Fifth Veda or Anti-Veda?, Aesthetics of the Divine in Hinduism, Divine Mortality: Nataraja, Shankara & Higher Consciousness in the Imagery of Siva, Monks & Magic: The Use of Magic by the Sangha in Thailand, Does Practice Make One Perfected? The Role of gTum-mo in the Six Yogas of Naropa, Clarifying the Clear Light, Oneiromancy: Divination by Dreams, Of Wolves and Men: The Berserker and the Vratya, Ancient Goddess or Political Goddess? and The Black Sun: Dionysus in the Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche & Greek Myth. Primordial Traditions also contains articles by Damon Zacharias Lycourinos, Matt Hajduk, Krum Stefanov, Bob Makransky and many more.....