Access to Western Esotericism
Title | Access to Western Esotericism PDF eBook |
Author | Antoine Faivre |
Publisher | SUNY Press |
Total Pages | 388 |
Release | 1994-12-05 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780791421789 |
This is the first systematic treatment of esotericism to appear in English. Here is also a historical survey, beginning with the Alexandrean Period, of the various esoteric currents such as Christian Kabbalah, Theosophy, Alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Hermeticism. Common characteristics of these currents are the notion of universal interdependency and the experience of spiritual transformation. The author establishes a rigorous methodology; provides clarifying definitions of such key terms as gnosis, theosophy, occultism, and Hermeticism; and offers analysis of contemporary esotericism based on three distinct pathways. The second half of the book presents a series of studies on several important figures, works, and movements in Western esotericismstudies devoted to some of the most characteristic and illuminating aspects that this form of thought has taken, such as theosophical speculations on androgyny, rosicrucian literature, and Masonic symbolism. The book is completed by a rich and selective Bibliography conceived as a means of orientation and a tool for research.
Western Esotericism
Title | Western Esotericism PDF eBook |
Author | Antoine Faivre |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Total Pages | 139 |
Release | 2010-10-06 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1438433794 |
Widely received in France, this brief, comprehensive introduction to Western esotericism by the founder of the field is at last available in English. A historical and pedagogical guide, the book is written primarily for students and novices. In clear, precise language, author Antoine Faivre provides an overview of Western esoteric currents since late antiquity. The bulk of the book is laid out chronologically, from ancient and medieval sources (Alexandrian hermetism, gnosticism, neoplatonism), through the Renaissance up to the present time. Its coverage includes spiritual alchemy, Jewish and Christian Kabbalah, Christian theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Illuminism, 'mystical' Free-Masonry, the Occultist current, Theosophical and Anthroposophical Societies, the Traditionalist School, and 'esotericism' in contemporary initiatic societies and in New Religious Movements. Faivre explores how these currents are connected, and refers to where they appear in art and literature. The book concludes with an annotated bibliography, which makes it an essential resource for beginners and scholars alike.
Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition
Title | Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition PDF eBook |
Author | Antoine Faivre |
Publisher | SUNY Press |
Total Pages | 310 |
Release | 2000-02-17 |
Genre | Body, Mind & Spirit |
ISBN | 9780791444351 |
A historical and interpretive study of three aspects of Western esotericism from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.
The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism
Title | The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism PDF eBook |
Author | Glenn Alexander Magee |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 820 |
Release | 2016-04-18 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1316679357 |
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.
Western Esotericism
Title | Western Esotericism PDF eBook |
Author | Nicholas Goodricke-Clarke |
Publisher | Routledge |
Total Pages | 180 |
Release | 2017-07-05 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1351537164 |
Esotericism is the search for an absolute but hidden knowledge accessed through mystical vision, the mediation of higher beings, or personal experience. In Western cultural history esoteric approaches to religion have often been in conflict with - and suffered at the hands of - more established forms of religious belief and practice. 'Western Esotericism' presents a very broad and engaging history of the people and ideas which have shaped occult history from antiquity to today. Throughout the history of esotericism the dynamic of concealment and revelation has characterized the search for secret knowledge. Pursued both publically and privately, esotericism has come to influence more mainstream religious practice and culture and has significantly shaped our understanding of modernity. Today, esotericism continues to be practised by a range of both established and new religious movements. 'Western Esotericism' presents the essential guide to one of the most fascinating, provocative, and sustained of religious traditions.
Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation
Title | Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation PDF eBook |
Author | Henrik Bogdan |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Total Pages | 250 |
Release | 2012-02-01 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0791480100 |
For more than three hundred years the practice of Masonic rituals of initiation has been part of Western culture, spreading far beyond the boundaries of traditional Freemasonry. Henrik Bogdan explores the historical development of these rituals and their relationship with Western esotericism. Beginning with the Craft degrees of Freemasonry—the blueprints, as it were, of all later Masonic rituals of initiation—Bogdan examines the development of the Masonic High Degrees, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—the most influential of all nineteenth-century occultist initiatory societies—and Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft movement of the 1950s, one of the first large-scale Western esoteric New Religions Movements.
Restoring Paradise
Title | Restoring Paradise PDF eBook |
Author | Arthur Versluis |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Total Pages | 204 |
Release | 2012-02-01 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780791484852 |
Focusing on how spiritual initiation takes place in Western esoteric religious, literary, and artistic traditions from antiquity to the present, Restoring Paradise provides an introduction to Western esotericism, including early modern esoteric movements like alchemy, Christian theosophy, and Rosicrucianism. The author argues that European and American literature and art often entail a written transmission of spiritual knowledge in which writing itself works to transmute consciousness, to generate, provoke, or convey spiritual awakening. He focuses on several important figures whose work has not received the attention it deserves, including American writer and Imagist poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) and British painter Cecil Collins, among others. While Arthur Versluis presents a new way of understanding Western esotericism in a contemporary light, above all he has crafted a book about knowing, and about how we come to know, and what "knowing" by way of literature and language actually means.