Hermetic Behmenists reproduces the writings of Dionysius Andreas Freher and Francis Lee, two exceptional commentators on Jacob Boehme’s philosophy. The texts contained in this book were originally published in 1854, in an edition of 500, given away to friends, and sent to university libraries by their editor, Christopher Walton. They were never sold in stores. Walton was an English Behmenist and devotee of William Law, and the texts were assembled as part of a research project that was never completed, “Notes and Materials Towards an Adequate Biography of William Law”. Unfortunately, Walton presented the texts haphazardly, without table of contents, in microscopic type, with footnotes going up to one hundred pages in length, that in turn contained other texts. This edition of the writings aims to put the writings of Freher and Lee in a more accessible, and readable format. Besides Walton’s book, only fragments of Freher’s writings have been published. A great quantity of writings have been preserved in manuscript form. Freher was referred to as “Second to Boehme” in his capacity as a commentator on Boehme’s philosophy, making the inaccessibility of his works an unfortunate loss.

Hermetic Behmenists brings to life the works of two of the most able commentators on Jacob Boehme's mystical philosophy. The writings of Dionysius Andreas Freher are, besides one publication only found in manuscript form. Francis Lee was a founder of the Behmenist Philadelphian Society

Witness Against the Beast is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary study in which the renowned social historian E.P. Thompson contends that most of the assumptions scholars have made about William Blake are misleading and unfounded. Brilliantly reexamining Blake’s cultural milieu and intellectual background, Thompson detects in Blake’s poetry a repeated call to resist the usury and commercialism of the “Antichrist” embodied by contemporary society—to “witness against the beast.”

In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of ancient wisdom. While many of their writings are lost, those that survived have been interpreted primarily as philosophical treatises about theological topics. Wouter J. Hanegraaff challenges this dominant narrative by demonstrating that Hermetic literature was concerned with experiential practices intended for healing the soul from mental delusion. The Way of Hermes involved radical alterations of consciousness in which practitioners claimed to perceive the true nature of reality behind the hallucinatory veil of appearances. Hanegraaff explores how practitioners went through a training regime that involved luminous visions, exorcism, spiritual rebirth, cosmic consciousness, and union with the divine beauty of universal goodness and truth to attain the salvational knowledge known as gnôsis.

Introduction to Hermeticism - Its Theory and Practice is a complete overview of the history, philosophy, and practice of Hermeticism from the classical to modern period. Students new to Hermeticism will find this book indispensable in helping them to find their way through the labyrinth of Hermetic ideas and how they are to be understood. Completely annotated, along with an outline of key points, and a suggested reading list, Introduction to Hermeticism - Its Theory and Practice is ideal for use in college classes as well as by members of practical study groups and lodges. This monograph is a completely revised and updated edition of an IHS paper previously released in 2004, and is the first title published in the Institute for Hermetic Studies Monograph Series.

An evaluation of the intellectual legacy in England of the ideas of Jacob Boehme (1575-1624).

'His finest work and one that was both symptom and engine of the concept of "history from below" ... Here Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Muggletonians, the early Quakers and others taking advantage of the collapse of censorship to bid for new kinds of freedom were given centre stage ... Hill lives on' Times Higher Education In 'The World Turned Upside Down' Christopher Hill studies the beliefs of such radical groups as the Diggers, the Ranters, the Levellers and others, and the social and emotional impulses that gave rise to them. The relations between rich and poor classes, the part played by wandering 'masterless' men, the outbursts of sexual freedom, the great imaginative creations of Milton and Bunyan - these and many other elements build up into a marvellously detailed and coherent portrait of this strange, sudden effusion of revolutionary beliefs. 'Established the concept of an "English Revolution" every bit as significant and potentially as radical as its French and Russian equivalents' Daily Telegraph 'Brilliant ... marvellous erudition and sympathy' David Caute, New Statesman 'This book will outlive our time and will stand as a notable monument to the man, the committed radical scholar, and one of the finest historians of the age' The Times Literary Supplement 'The dean and paragon of English historians' E.P. Thompson