Nirvana: Now Available!

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This full length work is essentially comprised of three things; the authors' own personal experiences with Nirvana and "Buddhi" (which are sometimes theatrical and poetic), a bit about the history of the concept and its usage in more authentic Buddhist paths (as opposed to even modern misinterpretations, often by hippies who are spiritually clueless), and finally a lengthy appendix, partly academic, and contributed to by both Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant. The book is quite well made, and contains a bit of romantic-era poetry to illustrate some of its points.

190 pages.

The Devachanic Plane: Now Available!

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This work is essentially in two parts; the first part describes, more or less, the ascending rupa and arupa layers of the Theosophical concept of Devachan- the locale where the self rests between physical incarnations- and the second part describes the various human and non-human entities therein, such as manifested thought-forms, devas, etc.

75 pages.

The Four Great Religions: Now Available!

 

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This well made Theosophical work is, I think, my favorite by Besant thus far. It avoids some of the more strange material in that path associated with ethnic issues and focuses almost entirely on religious history- namely that associated with Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, proclaiming that those are akin to four epochs of spiritual development, with frequent allusions to their holy scriptures.

According to Besant there are similarities in these four spiritual systems that must be noted, in preparation for the arrival of a fifth age- the literal new age heralded by a new enlightened master.

130 pages.

Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan: Now Available!

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This short work is a compilation of religious lore mainly of a historical background. The primordial Japanese religion of Shinto is quite complex, but the linguistic content here is secondary and much of it is a description of the different types and usages of deities and rituals. It is worth noting that Astons' study coincides with the rise of Japan as a power in the world and the analysis herein is not so much tainted as colored by that.

56 pages.

Esoteric Buddhism: Now Available!

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AP Sinnett is the author of this fascinating book- his probably most well known, and one of the better written.

The number of topics covered within it are vast but there are two especially which concern the modern occultist perhaps most of all; the treatment of nirvana, devachan, and the general concept of the afterlife and reincarnation cycle first and foremost, and second to it, a bit about the history of the central Buddha of Buddhism itself. Some of the concepts elaborated on by Sinnett were, here, for the first time, de-westernized, that is, understood in the sense that Easterners actually practiced Buddhism. On some other topics, the mark is missed, but the work itself is quite good.

The fervent absorption of Eastern lore not previously understood or in some cases even quantified by the European and American spheres had begun in fervor by the 1880s.

173 pages.

Karma (Besant): Now Available!

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This is one of a series of four booklets written in the early 20th century by Besant to show the basic premises of Theosophy to newcomers. It was out of a realization, on her part, it seems, that much Theosophical literature was too long and/or obtuse to be understood unless a person was relatively highly literate or already trained in Theosophy.

It is an intermediate primer on karma and related topics from the Buddhist tradition as westernized (slightly) by the occultists of the era.

58 pages.

The Life After Death: Now Available!

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Yet another early work with no individual entry!

This tract is quite interesting and revolves- you guessed it- around the concept of the afterlife, that which happens after one is dead. To the theosophists a fusion of eastern and western lore is the answer; especially a sort of eastern-ized conceptualization of purgatory. Having expounded upon the form of the spirit world, Leadbeater also prescribes why Theosophists must help the departed and how.

56 pages.

Shaman Saiva and Sufi: Now Available!

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Of all the academic works I have edited thus far this is one of the most interesting of all; it dates to that sweet-spot period of occult study between the 1880s and the 1920s which I favor. This particular work delves fairly deep into Malaysian magic but it isn't just magic per se, in the sense of spells and such, but also religious ritualism, how it overlaps between, in the case of Malaysia, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and other practice.

Perhaps most notable here is the inclusion of both cryptozoology and demonology along with folklore and superstition itself.

135 pages.

The Esoteric Basis of Christianity: Now Available!

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This short work is one of Kingslands' additions to Theosophy; an interesting little booklet which compares Christendom with the claimed mystery religion at the core of Theosophy itself.

The words of Jesus in the canonical scriptures, as well as of Paul and others, here, are used to show that Jesus was not a believer in the kind of legalistic superstition of quasi-modern church dogma- indeed, not only is this inarguably factual, it has now recently emerged into other schools of completely legitimate philosophy.

44 pages.

Demonism Verified and Analyzed: Now Available!

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This work is an excellent look at some of the christian conceptions of demonology from its era, in the roaring twenties. Based on field work in China and India, mostly by the author but referencing other missionaries as well, it purports to prove that demons exist, that evil is the agency of Satan, and that mesmerism and psychology play a role in possession.

It contains several hundred of these anecdotes and speaks of strange idolatrous practices in typical early 20th century form, while listing polytheism and similar things as spiritually hazardous. Oddly, while proposing government moralism, it decries literal suppression of such beliefs in favor of mere coercion and education. It also attacks spiritualism.

140 pages.

Aryan Sun Myths: Now Available!

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This work is one of the best academic treatments of religious history that I have encountered. It spans a dozen cultures and many centuries in its pages, going from Babylon, Egypt, and ancient India, up through Greece, Rome, and into the then-modern period of the late 19th century.

Most of the lore here is in the form of historical quotation from Tacitus, Pliny, Caesar, and others, or else notations regarding the similarity between epic poems and literal mythology and the then-accepted trappings and symbols of Christendom. Indeed, the imagery of twelve followers (disciples), halos, resurrection, virgin birth, and many more such tropes, are originally pagan, and any actual historical Jesus is in all likelihood lost to history, because the subsequent writings on this figure were an amalgamation of a half dozen solar cults.

134 pages.

Funeral Customs: Now Available!

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This extremely interesting work is sadly little-known despite its scope; several thousand years of human history and a dozen or so cultures, with all funerary rites they're associated with- from the memento mori and then-modern practices back through embalming, interring, or burning corpses.

The greatest part of this work is its general mention of the slow (or occasionally mono-generational) process of change over time as applied to funeral customs. Nowhere is this as intrinsic as with the black death and the necessity of abandoning more elaborate and single-member graves and services in favor of mass burial, water burial, and expedited blessings.

238 pages.

The Stanzas of Dzyan: Now Available!

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The Stanzas of Dzyan are a short, purportedly Tibetan work which Helena Blavatsky claimed to have translated near the end of the 19th century from works she encountered in the far East. That it is essentially a short reworking of mundane Buddhist doctrine does not detract from the fact that this, above almost all other occult manuscripts, influenced the entire period of Victorian new agery- as such I decided to edit it, more as a work of historical rather than spiritual significance.

Helena Blavatsky was an interesting person; a chain smoker with the mouth of a sailor who indeed did travel far more widely than even the average socialite Victorian of her era; that she fused systems together into new rites and practices is generally seen as evidence of her being a fraud by most- I see fraud only in her seances and secret letters and relegate the fusion of systems to the most positive abandonment of moral traditionalism and the adaptation of what a hundred years later became the rudiments of the new, rising occult order which at least acknowledges the presence of each spiritual system outside of a vacuum.

26 pages.

General Update Time! New Works in Progress, etc

It hasn't quite been two weeks but I figure shaving a couple days off won't hurt anyone.

The first news to report is a new work that will be ready tomorrow; the infamous "Stanzas of Dzyan" by Blavatsky, a short treatise she claimed was translated from Tibetan occult works which loosely relates to Buddhism. I decided to edit and release this manuscript not because of any support of Blavatsky (she was a fraud!) but because of the importance of some of her works in shaping pre-modern Victorian occultism. This facet of the spiritual history of that era can't be denied; indeed her works were powerful enough to begin influencing human reality even long after her death.

The second news is that I'm editing the strange, Atlantean-style "City of the Sun" by Tomasso; added to this will be another work by Baring-Gould on ghost lore, a new Leland work on Etruscan culture, and the last three Phallic works. I've obtained a few new alchemical manuscripts also, and a slew of new material on demonology which always seems to be popular, demonology being of course the one field that virtually all cultures agree is interesting within spiritual paths.

I am also going to begin writing part II of "Sickness in Hell" next week; I will give an estimate of its length and when it will be ready at some later date. I have to return to working on "Macabre Tales" as well.