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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > Mysticism
"Come to us you who thirst for the nature of reality. Come you who
yearn for yourself. Come brothers of the breach and broken sisters.
Come you who cannot find rest, and who can have no peace." -The
Book of Specularis. This is the second book in a trilogy on the
Sethian Gnostic tradition of today, and it contains a selection of
texts from the Charaxio, the holy book of the organization
Sodalitas Sanctum Seth. This collection of modern Sethian writings
intends to give new perspectives to those who have stumbled upon an
encounter with Metanoia, Our Lady of Unexpected Insight and
Perplexity, and thus perceived the shape of the Mystery. Consider
this entire book as a projective test. As in the field of
psychology, such a test has no meaning in itself: It is you; with
your background, opinions, cultural frame of mind and
self-understanding that determine what you see, or are shown. As in
the previous volume, The Key, it is important to remember that as
you read this book, the book is also reading you.
This book is the only comprehensive study in a European language
that analyzes how Sufi treatises, Qur'anic commentary, letters,
hagiography, and poetry define and depict jihad. Harry S. Neale
analyzes Sufi jihad discourse in Arabic and Persian texts composed
between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries, providing access to
many writings that have hitherto been unavailable in English.
Despite the diversity of practice within Sufism that existed
throughout the premodern period, Sufi writings consistently
promulgated a complementary understanding of jihad as both a
spiritual and military endeavor. Neale discusses the disparity
between contemporary academic Sufi jihad discourse in European
languages, which generally presents Sufis as peaceful mystics, and
contemporary academic writing in Arabic that depicts Sufis as
exemplary warriors who combine spiritual discipline with martial
zeal. The book concludes that historically, Sufi writings never
espoused a purely spiritual interpretation of the doctrine of
jihad.
'Stations of the Sufi Path' is a new translation of a key Sufi text
and the first Persian work to address the stages, or stations, of
the Sufi way. Its author, Abdullah Ansari, was born in 1006 in
Herat in present-day Afghanistan, and is considered one of the
greatest as well as one of the earliest of the Persian Sufi
scholars whose works constitute an important contribution to the
intellectual history of Islam. Detailed descriptions of each
'station' make this work an esoteric masterpiece, now almost one
thousand years old, that invites the reader ona spiritual journey
of self-discovery.
"It is not the time of the creation in itself that disturbs us, nor
is it the so-called fall or the time when mankind wandered the
world between light and darkness. What disturbs us is what we
suspect transpired in the time before time." Magister Amarantus
Sodalitas Sanctum Seth Classical Gnosticism points to a path, which
is not a path, but rather a path between the paths. It is a story
told at the strike of the thirteenth hour on the mystical dial of
the wise; from a mental position between truth and falsehood,
reality and dream, in a spiritual place that unites all things in a
point without a centre. The tradition, to which this book refers is
based on Biblical stories of creation, the nature of God, how man
came to live on earth, and how we may recapture what humanity lost.
This tradition has a systematic enquiring approach to redemption.
It thus relies on our own understanding and our own experiences to
grasp it. This is the path called Gnosticism; Sethian Gnosticism.
The Book of Black Magic is Arthur Edward Waite's magnum opus of
occult lore; this edition contains the author's original icons,
symbols, seals and drawings. This supreme guide to occultist
history, lore, magick, and ceremony is split into two parts: The
first is entitled ""The Literature of Ceremonial Magic."" Here,
Waite examines the ritualistic traditions which surrounding the
occult movement for centuries. He notes various texts, and how
these had a bearing upon the practice of the occult and of magical
ceremony. The second part, ""The Complete Grimoire,"" concerns how
those who practice black magic and occult ritual become versed in
the craft. The stringent physical and mental requirements, and the
need to practice a spiritual attunement and inner ablution, is
detailed. Astronomical knowledge of the planets and their movements
is a necessity, as is possession of a variety of instruments, plus
a deep knowledge of the various symbols and scripts used in
occultism.
This book is Wiebe's defense of the claim that a significant form
of spiritual experience is found in 'knowing something we have no
right to know'. He selects forty-five first-hand accounts from a
data-base at the University of Wales to make his case, and, in
solidarity with those people, recounts something of his own
experience.
Lincoln, Rumi, Shams and Rabi'a in one volume? How is that
possible? While three are Sufis, even Rumi and Shams are separated
by a gulf of 400 years from Rabi'a. As for Rabi'a, she was at
different times in her life, an orphan, a slave and a prostitute.
And Lincoln? On top of another 500 years, the great statesman
belongs to an entirely different civilization and religion. Where's
the connection? "To the spiritual seeker, " Kehl and Walker
contend,"The connection ... is unmistakable. Christ said "I am the
good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me." Sincere aspirants
on the Spiritual Path recognize Masters; it can be no other way, as
they are striving after the same reality." Lincoln, Rumi and Rabi'a
are "linked by their unwavering pursuit of Spiritual Truth through
Self Knowledge." The proof will be in the reading: In these three
remarkable drama produced and performed during the fall and summer
months of 2010 and 2011 the authors encourage readers to "search
out the connections-rather than notice any supposed differences."
192 pages.
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