|
Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > Mysticism
From the bestselling author of The Secret History of the World, an
exploration of the mystical forces that shape and protect us The
Sacred History is an account of the workings of the supernatural in
history. It tells the epic story of angels, from Creation, to
Evolution through to the operations of the supernatural in the
modern world. This tale of how people and peoples have been helped
by angels and other angelic beings is woven into a spellbinding
narrative that brings together Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Elijah, Mary
and Jesus, Mohammed, Joan of Arc, the angels who helped Hungarian
Jews persecuted by the Nazis, and stories from African, Native
American and Celtic traditions. Told from the spiritual point of
view, The Sacred History relates every betrayal, every change of
heart, every twist and turn, everything that looks like a
coincidence, every portent, every clue, every defeat, every rescue
moments before the prison door clangs shut. This is the angelic
version of events.
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.
|
The Book of Jasher
(Hardcover)
J. Asher; Introduction by Fabio De Araujo; Translated by Moses Samuel
|
R699
Discovery Miles 6 990
|
Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
|
"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.
|
|