Initiation - Death - Underworld
Author : Christoph Riedweg
Publisher :
Page : 38 pages
File Size : 50,52 MB
Release : 2011
Category :
ISBN :
Author : Christoph Riedweg
Publisher :
Page : 38 pages
File Size : 50,52 MB
Release : 2011
Category :
ISBN :
Author : Henrik Bogdan
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 36,2 MB
Release : 2012-02-01
Category : 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.
Author : R. J. Stewart
Publisher : Aquarian Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 22,63 MB
Release : 1985
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9780850303995
Author : Jan N. Bremmer
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 22,2 MB
Release : 2014-07-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3110376997
The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book. It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity. Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
Author : Radcliffe G. Edmonds
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 397 pages
File Size : 18,88 MB
Release : 2011-01-06
Category : History
ISBN : 0521518318
Examines new methodologies used in the study of these tablets. Includes an updated edition and translation of the tablet texts.
Author : Amanda Yates Garcia
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 36,93 MB
Release : 2019-10-22
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1538763079
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes meets Women Who Run With The Wolves in this "gorgeously written, fierce, political, personal, and deeply inspiring" (Michelle Tea) memoir about finding meaning, beauty, and power through a life in witchcraft. An initiation signals a beginning: a door opens and you step through. Traditional Wiccan initiates are usually brought into the craft through a ceremony with a High Priestess. But even though Amanda Yates Garcia's mother, a practicing witch herself, initiated her into the earth-centered practice of witchcraft when she was 13 years old, Amanda's real life as a witch only began when she underwent a series of spontaneous initiations of her own. Descending into the underworlds of poverty, sex work, and misogyny, Initiated describes Amanda's journey to return to her body, harness her power, and create the magical world she longed for through witchcraft. Hailed by crows, seduced by magicians, and haunted by ancestors broken beneath the wheels of patriarchy, Amanda's quest for self-discovery and empowerment is a deep exploration of a modern witch's trials - healing ancient wounds, chafing against cultural expectations, creating intimacy - all while on a mission to re-enchant the world. Peppered with mythology, tales of the goddesses and magical women throughout history, Initiated stands squarely at the intersection of witchcraft and feminism. With generosity and heart, this book speaks to the question: is it possible to live a life of beauty and integrity in a world that feels like it's dying? Declaring oneself a witch and practicing magic has everything to do with claiming authority and power for oneself, of taking back our planet in the name of Love. Initiated is both memoir and manifesto calling the magical people of the world to take up their wands: stand up, be brave, describe the world they want, then create it like a witch.
Author : Jean Sybil La Fontaine
Publisher : Manchester University Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 27,22 MB
Release : 1986
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780719019661
Author : Diana Stein
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 560 pages
File Size : 46,69 MB
Release : 2021-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 1000464733
For millennia, people have universally engaged in ecstatic experience as an essential element in ritual practice, spiritual belief and cultural identification. This volume offers the first systematic investigation of its myriad roles and manifestations in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. The twenty-nine contributors represent a broad range of scholarly disciplines, seeking answers to fundamental questions regarding the patterns and commonalities of this vital aspect of the past. How was the experience construed and by what means was it achieved? Who was involved? Where and when were rites carried out? How was it reflected in pictorial arts and written records? What was its relation to other components of the sociocultural compact? In proposing responses, the authors draw upon a wealth of original research in many fields, generating new perspectives and thought-provoking, often surprising, conclusions. With their abundant cross-cultural and cross-temporal references, the chapters mutually enrich each other and collectively deepen our understanding of ecstatic phenomena thousands of years ago. Another noteworthy feature of the book is its illustrative content, including commissioned reconstructions of ecstatic scenarios and pairings of works of Bronze Age and modern psychedelic art. Scholars, students and other readers interested in antiquity, comparative religion and the social and cognitive sciences will find much to explore in the fascinating realm of ecstatic experience in the ancient world.
Author : Frater Barrabbas
Publisher : Crossed Crow Books
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 43,71 MB
Release : 2024-08-07
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 196453769X
Initiation is one of the most mysterious and documented traditional practices of Witchcraft. What is not well known is that behind the scripted initiations are the symbols of transformation encapsulated in the twenty-two tarot trumps of the Major Arcana. Initiations follow the literary cycle of the hero and the heroine and, combined with the trumps, produce a system of magic used to trigger and wield the powers of psychic transformation. Additionally, this book analyzes the traditional scripted initiations of Witchcraft, their relationship to Masonic initiations, and produces new practices like the periodic dedication rite, the third-degree ordeal, self-initiation of the four elements, the rumored fourth and fifth degrees, and the initiation mysteries of a Witchcraft inner order. Most importantly, this book gives the reader the ability to direct and shape their own inner cycles of transformation so that they might master the art of inner change for themselves and their students. The purpose of directing and shaping inner change is to assist in achieving a sustainable mind-state of conscious ascension. The rituals and practices in this book give the reader, for the first time, the ability to design, write, perform, and realize the powers of psychic transformation and initiation.
Author : Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 465 pages
File Size : 21,63 MB
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : History
ISBN : 1107512603
This book examines the fragmentary and contradictory evidence for Orpheus as the author of rites and poems to redefine Orphism as a label applied polemically to extra-ordinary religious phenomena. Replacing older models of an Orphic religion, this richer and more complex model provides insight into the boundaries of normal and abnormal Greek religion. The study traces the construction of the category of 'Orphic' from its first appearances in the Classical period, through the centuries of philosophical and religious polemics, especially in the formation of early Christianity and again in the debates over the origins of Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A paradigm shift in the study of Greek religion, this study provides scholars of classics, early Christianity, ancient religion and philosophy with a new model for understanding the nature of ancient Orphism, including ideas of afterlife, cosmogony, sacred scriptures, rituals of purification and initiation, and exotic mythology.