Examining the recent radical re-invention of monastic tradition in the everyday life of New Monastic Communities, Exploring New Monastic Communities considers how, growing up in the wake of Vatican II, new Catholic communities are renewing monastic life by emphasizing the most innovative and disruptive theological aspects which they identify in the Council. Despite freely adopting and adapting their Rule of Life, the new communities do not belong to pre-existing orders or congregations: they are gender-mixed with monks and nuns living under the same roof; they accept lay members whether single, married or as families; they reject enclosure; they often limit collective prayer time in order to increase time for labour, evangelization and voluntary social work; and are actively involved in oecumenical and interreligious dialogue, harbouring thinly-veiled sympathy with oriental religions, from which they sometimes adopt beliefs and practices. Offering unique sociological insights into New Monastic Communities, and shedding light on questions surrounding New Religious Movements more generally, the book asks what 'monastic' means today and whether these communities can still be described as 'monastic'.

A comparative analysis of both secular and religious communal groups in contemporary America, this study, originally published in 1978, shows that contemporary communalists stand in relation to collectivism much the same as early Protestants stood in relation to individualism - as the self-proclaimed pioneers of the new age. There is great diversity among communal groups, a diversity which is found to stem from alternative orientations towards time and alternative assumptions about the cognitive status of the social world. The author has made use of a phenomenologically derived typological framework to organize the data he has obtained through living in and visiting a number of communal groups. Within this framework, Alfred Schutz's 'mundane' phenomenology and Max Weber's interpretive sociology are employed as ways of approaching the situated sociology of knowledge in various communal groups. Six ideal types of communal groups are described: the commune, the intentional association, the community, the warring sect, the other-worldly sect and the ecstatic association. Two of these types - the intentional association and the community - are identified as participants' efforts to demonstrate 'worldly utopian' models for the reconstruction of society at large.

This title was first published in 2002. This book builds on contemporary discussion of 'mysticism' and religious experience by examining the process and content of 'religious knowing' in classical and modern Advaita. Drawing from the work of William Alston and Alvin Plantinga, Thomas Forsthoefel examines key streams of Advaita with special reference to the conditions, contexts, and scope of epistemic merit in religious experience. Forsthoefel uniquely employs specific analytical categories of contemporary Western epistemologies as heuristics to examine the cognitive dimension of religious experience in Indian Vedanta. Showing the developing nuances in the analysis of religious experience in the thought of Shankara and his immediate disciples (Suresvara and Padmapada) as well as in the teaching of Ramana Maharshi, an understudied but important South Indian saint of the 20th century, this book offers a substantial contribution to studies of Indian philosophy as well as to contemporary philosophy of religion. Using the tools of exegesis and comparative philosophy, Forsthoefel argues for a careful justification of claims following religious experience, even if such claims involve, as they do in the Advaita, a paradoxical 'knowing beyond knowledge'.

The Witchcraft Reader offers a wide range of historical perspectives on the subject of witchcraft in a single, accessible volume, exploring the enduring hold that it has on human imagination. The witch trials of the late Middle Ages and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have inspired a huge and expanding scholarly literature, as well as an outpouring of popular representations. This fully revised and enlarged third edition brings together many of the best and most important works in the field. It explores the origins of witchcraft prosecutions in learned and popular culture, fears of an imaginary witch cult, the role of religious division and ideas about the Devil, the gendering of suspects, the making of confessions and the decline of witch beliefs. An expanded final section explores the various "revivals" and images of witchcraft that continue to flourish in contemporary Western culture. Equipped with an extensive introduction that foregrounds significant debates and themes in the study of witchcraft, providing the extracts with a critical context, The Witchcraft Reader is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this fascinating subject.

Who wrote this mysterious guide to the principles of esoteric psychology and worldly success? History has kept readers guessing . . . and now, for the first time, seekers everywhere can discover a widely available edition of a guidebook that has been an underground classic for generations.
Here are the teachings of the legendary sage Hermes Trismegistus, reinterpreted for the modern reader. Rumored to be an ancient Egyptian man-god who fathered astrology, alchemy, and other magical arts, the figure of Hermes has fascinated readers of occult literature for generations. Writers in late antiquity named Hermes Trismegistus as the author of their own esoteric teachings, building the mystery of his lineage. Since 1908, "The Kybalion"awritten at the hand of the unnamed aThree Initiatesaahas itself generated debate and controversy. Who is behind it? Do its ideas really arise from the secrets of a distant era? And, most important, do they work for the modern seeker? In this concise, engaging guide, the pseudonymous author breaks down Hermetic doctrine into seven compelling principles, and then provides practical methods for how to apply them for self-development in daily life. Here is the definitive edition of a classic of esoteric psychology, now available to readers everywhere.

Hermann Beckh (1875-1937) was one of the co-founders of The Christian Community. A remarkable linguist and universal scholar, he mastered six European and six Oriental languages and published more than twenty works on the humanities, dealing with Christology, Cosmology and Musicology. Having first studied Law, he later channeled his extensive research of Hinduism and Buddhism into a renewal of sacramental Christianity. 'Without the Professor', wrote his colleague Rudolf Meyer, the beginnings of the new religious movement were 'unthinkable'. Gundhild Kacer-Bock - daughter of Beckh's priest-colleague and fellow author Emil Bock - creates a lively picture of a unique personality. Beginning with his birth in Nuremberg and education in Munich, she reviews Beckh's manifold studies and writings, his meeting with Rudolf Steiner in 1911, the founding of the Movement for Religious Renewal in Stuttgart in 1922, and the seminal Christmas Conference in Dornach in 1923. Having known Beckh personally, she builds on her own memories as well as Beckh's recorded memoirs, and utilizes newly-discovered letters and documents. This new edition contains Beckh's fairy-tale 'The Story of the Little Squirrel, the Moonlight Princess and the Little Rose' (with colour illustrations by Tatjana Schellhase), with additional appreciations of the author and an illustrative plate section. --- 'A University Professor, who had been a Judge and Orientalist, now became a priest with us. He actively took part in carrying the birth of the new ritual words; he was an expert in the mysteries of language... An abundance of books came into existence whose significance perhaps will only be properly appreciated in the future.' - Emil Bock (1959)

Many individuals with autism are highly intelligent and gifted, but some are effectively imprisoned in their bodies and unable to communicate verbally. However, developments in technology have enabled autistic people to transmit their thoughts directly. In this true account, three autistic people, two of them brothers, speak via the method of 'facilitated communication', with the aid of a computer keypad. What is conveyed are not just everyday thoughts and experiences, but surprising and sometimes shattering spiritual and metaphysical perceptions. The conversations reveal remarkable clairvoyant gifts, such as the ability to read other people's thoughts, to see past lives, and to communicate with supernatural entities. Erik speaks of a past life during the Second World War, and the horrendous experience of being killed at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As a result of this, his soul had no desire to reincarnate on earth - although he also describes encounters with Christ, and how these eventually led to his present life. Andreas speaks of his perceptions of elemental beings - nature spirits - and how we can develop more intimate contact with such entities, for example through special kinds of music. He also describes Christ's workings in nature as well as his Second Coming. Each of the interviewees discuss meditation and how it can engender vital spiritual processes and perceptions. Together, their insights provide an astonishing glimpse into the way some people with autism appear to experience the world, and how their knowledge can enrich our own. Additional interviews with educators and therapists, working with people with disabilities in the autistic spectrum, give a broad view of progressive and inspirational educational methods.

Now in paperback, "an examination of the most profound issues of faith and science that is both intellectually rigorous and generous in spirit." ("Shelf Awareness")
An impassioned, erudite, thoroughly researched, and beautifully reasoned book--from one of the most admired religious thinkers of our time--that argues not only that science and religion are compatible, but that they complement each other--and that the world needs both.
"Atheism deserves better than the new atheists," states Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "whose methodology consists of criticizing religion without understanding it, quoting texts without contexts, taking exceptions as the rule, confusing folk belief with reflective theology, abusing, mocking, ridiculing, caricaturing, and demonizing religious faith and holding it responsible for the great crimes against humanity. Religion has done harm; I acknowledge that. But the cure for bad religion is good religion, not no religion, just as the cure for bad science is good science, not the abandonment of science."
Rabbi Sacks's counterargument is that religion and science are the two essential perspectives that allow us to see the universe in its three-dimensional depth. Science teaches us where we come from. Religion explains to us why we are here. Science is the search for explanation. Religion is the search for meaning. We need scientific explanation to understand nature. We need meaning to understand human behavior. There have been times when religion tried to dominate science. And there have been times, including our own, when it is believed that we can learn all we need to know about meaning and relationships through biochemistry, neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology. In this fascinating look at the interdependence of religion and science, Rabbi Sacks explains why both views are tragically wrong.
***National Jewish Book Awards 2012, Finalist***
Dorot Foundation Award forModern Jewish Thought and Experience

Speaking to audiences in Denmark, Germany and France, Rudolf Steiner discusses a wide range of topics: from positive and negative human soul capacities, true self-knowledge and karma, to changes in human consciousness, from ancient times to the modern era - all in the context of the incarnation of Christ on earth. The lectures illustrate the diversity of Steiner's approach when speaking to different audiences. Reflecting on the polymath Novalis, for example, he is urgent about the responsibility of spiritual science to help humanity awaken to the new age. A few months later, talking of Hegel and deploring the fact that an interest in spiritual matters often fails to be accompanied by an equal interest in logical thought, Steiner uses a dispassionate, philosophical tone. But throughout the lectures he is consistent in his view that spiritual science does not reject conventional science. Trained philosophical thinking leads to different conclusions than materialism, he says, but there is nothing in the field of spiritual science that need be rejected by rigorous scientific thought. Although the lectures were given to a variety of audiences, ideas recur from different perspectives and in different contexts, with strong thematic links binding them together. These include the relationship between philosophy and science; the nature of clairvoyance; Christ's presence in the etheric realm; reincarnation and karma; the mystery drama The Portal of Initiation; Christmas and its symbols; and the transformation of consciousness that occurred when Christ incarnated physically on earth. In the final lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks inspiringly about the Christmas festival, contrasting the feeling of inwardness that people used to experience with the hectic cultural environment of modern cities. However, this does not lead Steiner to be nostalgic about the past. Rather, he states, we should seek to recreate a mood of inwardness in a new way, appropriate to our modern age and consciousness. These lectures give us the tools to bring such a contemporary spiritual approach to our lives.

Austrian philosopher, playwright, and artist Rudolf Steiner (1861 1925) is perhaps best known as an educational philosopher and reformer, the founder of Steiner (or Waldorf) schools located around the world. These schools' philosophy represents the priorities Steiner discusses in Theosophy: the development of body, soul, and spirit. Goethe was an important influence on Steiner, and he edited the poet's scientific works (1889 1896). Steiner was an active member and leader of the German branch of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, eventually broke away from theosophy, as he developed his own spiritual philosophy termed 'anthroposophy'; this philosophical movement asserted the potential of realizing a spiritual reality through cognition. This 1910 translation by Elizabeth Douglas Shields is of the book's third German edition; it was first published in 1904. This work will be of particular interest to historians of philosophy, of spiritual movements and of education.

In these remarkable lectures, Rudolf Steiner reestablishes the human being as a participant in an evolving, dynamic universe of living spiritual beings: a living universe, whole and divine. He does so in concrete images, capable of being grasped by human consciousness as if from within.

Science and Magic in the Modern World is a unique text that explores the role of magical thinking in everyday life. It provides an excellent psychological look at the subconscious belief in magic in both popular culture and society, as well as experimental research that considers human consciousness as a derivative of belief in the supernatural, thus showing that our feelings, emotions, attitudes and other psychological processes follow the laws of magic. This book synthesises the science of 'natural' phenomena and the magic of the 'supernatural' to present an interesting look at the juxtaposition of the inner and outer selves. Fusing research into psychological disorders, subconscious feelings, as well as the rising presence of artificial intelligence, this book demonstrates how an engagement with magical thinking can enhance one's creativity and cognitive skills. Science and Magic in the Modern World is an invaluable resource for those studying consciousness, as well as those looking at the effect of magical thinking on religion, politics, science and society.

Science and Magic in the Modern World is a unique text that explores the role of magical thinking in everyday life. It provides an excellent psychological look at the subconscious belief in magic in both popular culture and society, as well as experimental research that considers human consciousness as a derivative of belief in the supernatural, thus showing that our feelings, emotions, attitudes and other psychological processes follow the laws of magic. This book synthesises the science of 'natural' phenomena and the magic of the 'supernatural' to present an interesting look at the juxtaposition of the inner and outer selves. Fusing research into psychological disorders, subconscious feelings, as well as the rising presence of artificial intelligence, this book demonstrates how an engagement with magical thinking can enhance one's creativity and cognitive skills. Science and Magic in the Modern World is an invaluable resource for those studying consciousness, as well as those looking at the effect of magical thinking on religion, politics, science and society.

Norse Revival offers a thorough investigation of Germanic Neopaganism (Asatru) through an international and comprehensive historical perspective. It traces Germanic Neopaganism's genesis in German ultra-nationalist and occultist movements around 1900. It demonstrates how ambiguous ideas about Nordic myth permeate general discourses on race, religion, gender, sexuality, and aesthetics. Ultimately, Norse Revival raises the question whether Norse mythology can be freed from its reactionary ideological baggage.

"McGrath is a cool-eyed chronicler of a dispossessed generation – philosophical, astute and ultimately unforgiving. This is no pseudo rock'n'roll road trip, but an accessible and insightful study of the modern condition. The final autobiographical chapter is breathtaking."
DEBORAH BOSLEY, 'Literary Review'

"McGrath meets the nation's lost souls of the New Age. A 267-year-old princess from the tribe of Atlantis, a technoshaman, an alien who talks to Barbie dolls, an overweight angel and a prince who will never die all impress her with their certainties as much as they depress her with their chronic self-awareness. It's an ambitious debut: McGrath has a keen sense for deadpan descriptions of off-kilter encounters, and an acute knack for deflating the Myth."
EMER BRIZZOLARA, 'Ikon'

"Fortifying herself with booze, cigarettes and a useful amount of asperity and common sense, McGrath painstakingly trawls the aisles of the spiritual supermarket. She writes beautifully about the terrain, offers deliciously dyspeptic observations…and is very funny on the sense of spiralling dislocation which arises from being confronted not just with unfamiliar behaviour but with 'an entirely inner architecture'."
MICK BROWN, 'Daily Telegraph'

McGrath has a fine, questing mind, a splendid eye for detail and a healthily cynical attitude. Confronted at every turn – in her deliciously sardonic picaresque travelogue through America's south-western desert states – by the strange, the sinister and the just plain barmy…she maintains a fine, dense and colourful narrative that brings the desert landscape and the loony-tune New Agers vividly to life."
NICK CURTIS, 'Financial Times'

The definitive edition of HPB's writings in 15 volumes. Volume 4 is from 1882 to 1883, and includes articles such as: The Hermetic Brethren; Reincarnations in Tibet; Masons and Jesuits; Death and Immortality; Zoroastrianism in the Light of Occult Philosophy.

Salomos Oder er en poetisk skatt fra tidlig kristen mysterietradisjon. De ble skrevet i tiden mellom Jesu' dod og 300-tallet. Dette verket er i sin poetiske form gjennomtrukket av ekstatisk mystikk og andelig kjaerlighet, og er derfor saeregent for sin samtid. Odenes opphav er imidlertid fortsatt uklar, selv om de kan synes a vaere pavirket av en urkristen tradisjon som gikk under betegnelsen gnostisisme, pa grunn av vektleggingen av den mystiske og andelige erkjennelsen. Verket forsvant imidlertid for middelalderen, og ble regnet som tapt, i likhet med tekstene til mange andre tidlige kristne retninger. Ved en tilfeldighet ble de gjenfunnet, og brakt til England, hvor Rendel Harris oppdaget dem i 1909, uten at noen visste hvilken poetisk skatt de hadde brakt med seg fra Midtosten. Rendel Harris, som oppdaget odene i den usorterte forsendelsen, oversatte Salomos Oder til engelsk. Hundre ar etter presenteres Odene i norsk oversettelse, slik at de kan vaere til glede og inspirasjon for nye lesergrup

I 1460 kom munken Leonardo de Pistoia til Cosimo de Medicis hoff i Italia, med en samling greske traktater. Disse skulle vise seg for ettertiden a bli grunnsteinen i den sakalte hermetiske laere. Tekstenes hovedperson er den mytiske vismannen Hermes Trismegistus som har likhetstrekk med sa vel Bibelens Moses som romernes Merkur og egypternes Thoth. Det er disse traktatene som for ettertiden er blitt kalt Corpus Hermeticum, og som apenbarer en personlig erkjennelseslaere. Verket har i arhundrene etter det ble tilgjengliggjort gatt sin seiersgang gjennom filosofiske og religiose kretser. Det har fascinert, inspirert og provosert, og tekstenes rikdom har en dybde som evner a gripe sa vel forskere, som menn og kvinner pa soken etter andelig veiledning pa livets stier, pa vei mot menneskets fullbyrdels

Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today. In The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism's next incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple challenge to religious authority.

Gnosticism is far more than an ancient Christian and Jewish heresy. It arises in many religions as the belief in a radical dualism both in human beings and the cosmos: immateriality is perceived as good and matter as evil. In the modern age, Gnosticism is very much alive, focused on the belief that human beings are alienated from their true selves. Modern Gnosticism continues to espouse a radical dualism, but this can take a psychological, social and political, rather than a metaphysical form. Among the writers and thinkers of the last two centuries who can be labelled Gnostics are: Hegel, Blake, Goethe, Schelling, Emerson, Melville, Byron, Yeats, Hesse and Toynbee. This text is a collection of 16 essays illuminating Gnosticism in its relation to such issues as Jungian thought, the nature of evil, the place of the feminine, communism and fascism, existentialism, Christian scriptures, Kafka and Buddhism.

Between 1906 and 1908, G. R. S. Mead published eleven small books under the series title "Echoes from the Gnosis." These books contain translations and interpretations of the Gnostic writings of the ancients. Long before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, Mead translated these esoteric texts of various origins (Christian, Roman, Greek). He wanted to make this material accessible to the growing number of people at the time eager to encounter this ancient mystical religion based on an intuitive process of knowing oneself and the hidden aspects of life and existence. Upon the publication of the 100-year anniversary edition of the series, the appeal for this same material remains stronger than ever.