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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > Mysticism
From the asparas of Hindu myth to the swan maidens of European
fairy tales, tales of flying women-some with wings, others with
clouds, rainbows, floating scarves, or flying horses-reveal both
fascination with and ambivalence about female power and sexuality.
In Women Who Fly, Serinity Young examines the motif of flying women
as it appears in a wide variety of cultures and historical periods,
expressed in legends, myths, rituals, sacred narratives, and
artistic productions. She covers a wide range of themes, including
supernatural women, like the Valkyries, who transport men to
immortality; winged goddesses like Iris and the Greek goddess Nike;
figures of terror like the Furies, witches, and succubi; the
relationship of marriage and freedom; the connections between
women, death, and rebirth; dreams about flying and shamanistic
journeys; airborne Christian mystics; and wayward women like Lilith
and Morgan le Fay. Young also looks at the mythology surrounding
real-life female aviators like Amelia Earhart and Hanna Reitsch.
Throughout these examples of flying women, Young demonstrates that
female power has been inextricably linked with female sexuality and
that the desire to control it was and continues to be a pervasive
theme in these stories. The relationship between sex and power is
most vividly portrayed in the 12th-century Niebelungenlied, in
which the proud warrior-queen Brunnhilde loses her great physical
strength when she is tricked into losing her virginity. But even in
the 20th century the same idea is reflected in the exploits of the
comic book character Wonder Woman, who, posits Young, retains her
physical strength only because her love for fellow aviator Steve
Trevor goes unrequited. The first book to systematically chronicle
the figure of the flying woman in myth, literature, and art, Women
Who Fly sheds new light on the ways in which women have both
influenced and been understood by society and religious traditions
around the world.
The Zohar is the great medieval compendium of Jewish esoteric and
mystical teaching, and the basis of the kabbalistic faith. It is,
however, a notoriously difficult text, full of hidden codes,
concealed meanings, obscure symbols, and ecstatic expression. This
illuminating study, based upon the last several decades of modern
Zohar scholarship, unravels the historical and intellectual origins
of this rich text and provides an excellent introduction to its
themes, complex symbolism, narrative structure, and language. A
Guide to the Zohar is thus an invaluable companion to the Zohar
itself, as well as a useful resource for scholars and students
interested in mystical literature, particularly that of the west,
from the Middle Ages to the present.
For roughly two thousand years, the veneration of sacred fossil
ammonites, called Shaligrams, has been an important part of Hindu
and Buddhist ritual practice throughout South Asia and among the
global Diaspora. Originating from a single remote region of
Himalayan Nepal, called Mustang, Shaligrams are all at once
fossils, divine beings, and intimate kin with families and
worshippers. Through their lives, movements, and materiality,
Shaligrams then reveal fascinating new dimensions of religious
practice, pilgrimage, and politics. But as social, environmental,
and national conflicts in the politically-contentious region of
Mustang continue to escalate, the geologic, mythic, and religious
movements of Shaligrams have come to act as parallels to the
mobility of people through both space and time. Shaligram mobility
therefore traverses through multiple social worlds, multiple
religions, and multiple nations revealing Shaligram practitioners
as a distinct, alternative, community struggling for a place in a
world on the edge.
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The Book of Jasher
(Hardcover)
J. Asher; Introduction by Fabio De Araujo; Translated by Moses Samuel
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R699
Discovery Miles 6 990
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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"A Collection of Sufi Rules of Conduct" (Jawami Adab al-Sufiyya)
was written by one of the foremost early masters of Sufism and is
considered as the first work devoted to the description of the way
of life and the customs of the Sufis. It represents an early
attempt to illustrate the conformity of Sufi beliefs and manners
with the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet (Sunna). "A
Collection of Sufi Rules of Conduct" is therefore not only a
pioneering work of ethics and mysticism, it is also a summary of
the views of Sufis up till the eleventh century. It was a major
influence on the development of Sufism from the eleventh century
onwards. The translation by Dr Elena Biagi includes an introduction
that places the author in his historical, literary and religious
context, and a general glossary of Sufi technical terms.
Mysticism and esotericism are two intimately related strands of the
Western tradition. Despite their close connections, however,
scholars tend to treat them separately. Whereas the study of
Western mysticism enjoys a long and established history, Western
esotericism is a young field. The Cambridge Handbook of Western
Mysticism and Esotericism examines both of these traditions
together. The volume demonstrates that the roots of esotericism
almost always lead back to mystical traditions, while the work of
mystics was bound up with esoteric or occult preoccupations. It
also shows why mysticism and esotericism must be examined together
if either is to be understood fully. Including contributions by
leading scholars, this volume features essays on such topics as
alchemy, astrology, magic, Neoplatonism, Kabbalism, Renaissance
Hermetism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, numerology, Christian
theosophy, spiritualism, and much more. This Handbook serves as
both a capstone of contemporary scholarship and a cornerstone of
future research.
Sufism is typically thought of as the mystical side of Islam. In
recent years, it has been held up as a supposedly peaceful
alternative to the spread of forms of Islam associated with
violence, an embodiment of democratic ideals of tolerance and
pluralism. Are Sufis in fact as otherworldy and apolitical as this
stereotype suggests? Modern Sufis and the State brings together a
range of scholars, including anthropologists, historians, and
religious-studies specialists, to challenge common assumptions that
are made about Sufism today. Focusing on India and Pakistan within
a broader global context, this book provides locally grounded
accounts of how Sufis in South Asia have engaged in politics from
the colonial period to the present. Contributors foreground the
effects and unintended consequences of efforts to link Sufism with
the spread of democracy and consider what roles scholars and
governments have played in the making of twenty-first-century
Sufism. They critique the belief that Salafism and Sufism are
antithetical, offering nuanced analyses of the diversity,
multivalence, and local embeddedness of Sufi political engagements
and self-representations in Pakistan and India. Essays question the
portrayal of Sufi shrines as sites of toleration, peace, and
harmony, exploring cases of tension and conflict. A wide-ranging
interdisciplinary collection, Modern Sufis and the State is a
timely call to think critically about the role of public discourse
in shaping perceptions of Sufism.
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