Contemporary seekers on the hunt for an overview of the Western mystery traditions often face a small selection of dense, out-of-date tomes. Alternatively, Hidden Wisdom is a fresh, coherent, and accessible work that expounds many of the teachings of Western esotericism, examining its key figures and movements.

The success of books such as "Elaine Pagels' Gnostic Gospels" and Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. Many people now are delving into the byways of this tradition of inner Christianity, hoping to find an alternative to stale dogmas and blind beliefs. Among the most compelling of these lost traditions is Gnosticism. "Forbidden Faith" explores the legacy of the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, from its influence on early Christianity to contemporary popular culture.

This gem-like, concise anthology provides thoughtful people with both an introduction to the paranormal and a reason to take a fresh look at it. Nostradamus...channeling...Atlantis...divination. Most serious people consider such topics nonsense. But look again. Writing with intellectual verve and a deeply critical mind, religious thinker Richard Smoley explores and reconsiders the supernatural in history and today. We are often conditioned to think of the Judeo-Christian tradition as the only valid, historically accurate, and rational spiritual philosophy. Occultism, magic, and the esoteric are, by contrast, considered illegitimate, delusional, and lacking in intrinsic worth.Supernaturalchallenges this prejudice, revealing that Western occult traditions are richer and more historically impactful than most of us imagine. The book reveals hidden diamonds and neglected ideas that characterize the magical tradition in the West. For any reader, at any level of experience, who has ever been curious about an arcane subject – from psychical powers to secret societies – here is a book that gives a complete yet precise, critical, yet serious, and always respectful account of topics from the unseen world.Supernaturalis a brilliant primer to the occult and magical traditions of the West. Praise for RICHARD SMOLEY “I have a standing rule: I read anything Richard Smoley writes.” —Larry Dossey, M.D. “Smoley . . . is adept at unknotting the paradoxes of spiritual traditions and making new connections across centuries and lang

A uniquely serious and accessible introduction to the life and work of the mysterious sixteenth-century seer Michel de Nostradamus.
From his predictions about life and death in the Middle French court of Catherine de' Medici to his uncannily suggestive preconceptions of World War II, Michel de Nostradamus has aroused continual fascination-and commercialization-in the West. Today, many search his elliptical "centuries"-or collected verses-for new truths about 9/11 and End Times, while supermarket tabloids routinely falsify and exploit his pronouncements.
What is the difference between prophecy and prediction, and how has it led to a misuse of the ideas of Nostradamus, as well as those of other post-biblical prognosticators? What is the nature of the oracular tradition in the West-stretching back to the oracle at Delphi-and how can Nostradamus be understood from this perspective? In The Essential Nostradamus, the highly regarded spiritual thinker and writer Richard Smoley provides a true sourcebook in the life and messages of one of history's most peculiar figures.
This volume offers a host of advantages beyond other collections of Nostradamus's work. Many commentators on Nostradamus take liberties in their translations, further confusing the matter of what the prophetic quatrains actually said. In "The Essential Nostradamus," Smoley presents a fresh, scholarly, and literal translation of Nostradamus's Middle French, allowing readers to make their own determination as to the passages' historical references and accuracy.
Smoley also supplies detailed commentary on Nostradamus's key quatrains, with a sharp eye toward the political and social events of the writer'sera-elements that many commentators overlook or fail to grasp. An authoritative biographical essay-highlighting Nostradamus's separate roles as physician, astrologer, and prognosticator-rounds out the volume to create a truly essential exposition of the work of one of Western culture's most mysterious men.

Here is an in-depth look at the deeper, symbolic meanings behind the central concepts and practices of the Christian tradition including prayer, love, evil, forgiveness, and salvation. This is also the first introduction to mystical and esoteric Christianity for the general reader. Inner Christianity speaks from a nonsectarian point of view, unearthing insights from the whole of the Christian tradition, orthodox and heretical, well-known and obscure. The esoteric tradition has always refused to take the texts, rites, and tenets of the Christian faith at face value, searching for meanings that would yield a deeper inner knowledge of the divine. While traditional Christianity draws a timeline from Adam's Fall to the Day of Judgment, esotericists often see time as folding in on itself, bringing every point to the here and now. While the Church fought bitterly over dogma, esotericists borrowed freely from other traditions (including Kabbalah, astrology, and alchemy) in their search for models of truth.

Rather than basing his book around exponents of esoteric doctrine, scholar Richard Smoley concentrates on the questions that are of interest to every searching Christian.

-- How can one attain direct spiritual experience?

-- What is the inner meaning of the Gospel?

-- What does the doctrine of "the Fall" tell us about coming to terms with the world we live in?

-- Can we find salvation in everyday life?

-- How can we discover the feminine face of the Divine?

From the Gospel of Thomas to A Course in Miracles, from the Jesus Prayer to alchemy and Tarot, from Origen to Dante to Jung, Richard Smoley sheds the light of an alternative Christianity on these issues and more.