Esoterism

In SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE HERMETIC CODE, Ernesto Frers presents a virtual museum of artistic works that contain occult secrets. The scope of his research ranges from the paintings of Byzantine icons to Salvador Dali, from mystery sites such as the Pyramids to the architecture of Andrea Palladio's Villa Cornaro.

In Antiquity, the art of memory was a mnemonic device that allowed an orator, such as Cicero, to recall all the points he wished to make by associating each of them with an image or architectural element in the site he was speaking.

The main purpose of the hermetic science, as seen by Giuliano Kremmerz (1861-1930), Italian alchemist, hermeticist, philosopher and member of the Ur Group, is to allow the adept to concentrate on the natural and divine magic that will allow him or her to develop the latent powers innate in every human being.

Exploring the craftsman, warrior and magician archetypes - three vocations that echo the traditional tripartite division of society, Angel Millar reveals how these archetypes represent the three successive stages of spiritual growth in an individual's life. He shows how they provide structure for the initiatory process to develop one's mental, physical and spiritual potential.

Drawing on ancient Egyptian and Greek cosmogonies and essential Hermetic texts, such as the Corpus Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina), and the Nag Hammadi codices, Marlene Seven Bremner offers a detailed understanding of Hermetic philosophy and the art of alchemy as a foundation for a psycho-spiritual creative practice.

The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, often looked upon as the third Rosicrucian manifesto, has an entirely different tone from the other Rosicrucian documents. Unlike the Rosicrucian manifestoes, which address the transformation of society, The Chemical Wedding is concerned with the inner transformation of the soul.

TEMPLARS IN AMERICA reveals the story of two leading European Templar families who combined forces to create a new commonwealth in America nearly a century before the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Henry St. Clair of the Orkney Islands, then part of Normandy, and Carlo Zeno, a Venetian trader, made peaceful and mutually beneficial contact with the Mi'kmaq people of what is now Canada.

One of the last Renaissance men, Robert Fludd (1574-1637) was one of the great minds of the early modern period. A physician by profession, he was also a Christian Hermetist, a Rosicrucian, an alchemist, astrologer, musician and inventor.

In this initiatory guide to the hermetic art of alchemy, artist Marlene Seven Bremner reveals how the alchemical opus, the Great Work, offers a practical means for liberating the authentic creator within and attaining gnosis, or true self-knowledge.

Robert Fludd was one of the last true 'Renaissance men' who took all learning as their preserve and tried to encompass the whole of human knowledge. His voluminous writings were devoted to defending the philosophy of the alchemists and Rosicrucians, and applying their doctrines to a vast description of man and the universe.

The Rosicrucian Emblems is a significant yet little-known work of emblematic philosophy published in 1617, only one year after the appearance of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. The work consists of 40 emblematic plates, each bearing a title, together with a verse from the Bible and two lines in Latin.

This book reminds us that spiritual and material life has always been governed not just by God the Father, but, also, by God the Mother. It is the blending of these two energies which produces the power of the Christ within our own being and in the world.

For nearly 400 years, incredible myths and stories have been woven around the “invisible” Brothers of the Rose Cross, the Rosicrucians. It is said that they possessed the secret of man and God, that they could turn lead into gold, that they governed Europe in secret, that theirs was the true philosophy of Freemasonry, and that they could save--or destroy--the world.

Found near the small village of Shunga in Russia, the remarkable mineral known as shungite, formed naturally more than two billion years ago from living single-cell organisms. Used in Russian healing therapies since the time of Peter the Great, shungite contains almost the entire periodic table of the elements as well as fullerenes, the hollow carbon-based molecules that recent research shows are ...

During Paris's Belle Époque (1871–1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished - Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents - all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time.

The Tarot is a mythic map of the world and of consciousness. It offers a meta-language of signs and symbols that communicate their meaning precisely. Yet the true origins of the Tarot remain shrouded in mystery. These oracular cards have long been thought to have come from Egypt or from the “Gypsies,” but as Stephen E.