Hindu Magic: Now Available!

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This little text by Carrington explains some of the interesting tricks and illusions practiced at the time by Indian fakirs- some of them are well known, such as conjuring rope from a basket, while others are more obscure- such as the "colored sands" trick or the "mango seed" trick. It is both amusing and enlightening- a true skeptics' work. I include this as an occult entry as one of my sporadic forays into cautionary literature; not every miracle is really a miracle!

38 pages.

Mysticism in Heathendom and Christendom: Now Available!

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Lehmann's work on mysticism is quite fascinating; it does not simply relegate itself to the normal timeline of high antiquity, early Christian movements, and latter day ones, but delves into Hindu, Persian, Chinese, and even animist spiritual rituals and systems. While it proposes a generally evolutionist timeline to the development of mystic thought, it is more apologetic than most contemporary works.

201 pages.

Self-Knowledge: Now Available!

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This book is another Abhedananda volume dedicated to an aspect of Vedanta philosophy under the broader banner of Hinduism. It's intriguing, and is partly in the form of dialogue involving Indra.

The entire purpose is a philosophical expose on the concept of self- not the rudimentary physical self which passes away, but rather a higher variant of the self, posited not to be some spirit subjugate to an external deity, nor a will-less component of some divine totality, but something akin to and yet different from both, to be known, but not entirely via reason.

83 pages.

Divine Heritage of Man: Now Available!

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This little text is a Vedanta work, one of a number created during the period; it is from the Hindu path, and forms a very interesting counterpart to Western movements such as Theosophy, which always stated or insinuated the primacy of Christ and Christianity, while admitting Eastern enlightenment and inter-mixing some of Hindu and Buddhist lore into their system. This work, and others by the same author, do the opposite, and subjugate Christ to the Vedanta system by asserting an older origin (which is historically accurate) and similarities (which sometimes are accurate, sometimes less so.) The nature of divinity and of mans' relation to it are explored in depth.

93 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.

Dharma: Now Available!

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This short work is another oratory by Annie Besant, delivered in India, and talks at length about Dharma; what it is, the origins of its concept, and its relation especially to the Hindu caste system. Besant importantly denotes that the acquisition of negative karma differs in different stages of spiritual advancement, to lesser or greater degree. Through many lives the individual of course seeks to move upward towards Ishvara.

53 pages.

Ayurveda; The Hindu System of Medical Science: Now Available!

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This text explores Ayurveda; its basic categorical systems (types of disease, types of substances for healing, different sub-schools of medicine, etc) and a bit about its history. It is interesting to note that Ayurveda was among the few early systems with a fully categorical conceptualization, and allowed dissection, allowing for a greater understanding of anatomy. It contains a brief materia medica of herbal species as well as some recipes for compounds of note.

76 pages.

The Sacred Book of Death: Now Available!

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This particular book is one of the better works of L W DeLaurence, and is entirely centered around the concept of death- attendant to this, it speaks of Hindu, Christian, and generally occult materials, ruminating on social issues like suicide and alcoholism, while also promoting spiritism and mediumship. It culminates with two bizarre chapters at the end of the book which describe invocations used to secure familiar spirits, while warning the reader that using them to harass their neighbors is not in keeping with enlightened thought.

244 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.

Hatha Yoga: Now Available!

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This is the final Atkinson (Ramacharaka) title on the subject of yoga, and is somewhat intermediate between the very hands on how-to content of his work on Raja Yoga, and the abstract and philosophical discussions in Gnani Yoga. It combines scientific new thought with calisthenics and breathing exercises meant to strengthen the body, improve overall health, and aid with focus and attention.

A few passages under the "breathing exercises" section are taken from a previously edited work, "Hindu Yogi Breathing Exercises" also by Ramacharaka.

194 pages.

A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga: Now Available!

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This fine work on Raja (or royal) yoga was created by Yogi Ramacharaka- a pseudonym (it is generally held) for William Atkinson. it's quite good, and much more hands-on and instructional than many works, which tend towards mere philosophy. The ultimate goal is increased awareness, especially of the self but also in general, and exercises in mental focus and attention. Atkinson wrote two other full length works on Yoga; specifically Gnani (or Jnani) and Hatha yoga. I am editing them as well.

209 pages.

Exposition of the Doctrine of Karma: Now Available!

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This book is a nice analysis of the idea of karma, from a specifically Theosophical perspective. The authors' name is a pseudonym so it isn't entirely clear which theosophist actually compiled the materials here. It's a more legitimate take on the subject than much literature about karma- often it is boiled down to a simplified, singular idea and ideas like national or group karma are deliberately overlooked because they (in truth) don't make sense under the concepts of Western thought.

It manages to avoid the overtly new-age style of some then contemporary manuscripts which devolve into talking about psychic forces and other things which were in vogue at the time, and contains a good bit of religious history, to boot.

63 pages.

The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali: Now Available!

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This little work is comprised of a series of short statements on the Yogic system by the enigmatic figure of Patanjali, as analyzed and interpreted (using a prior translation) by Theosophist William Q. Judge. The actual subtopics are numerous; mystic powers, reincarnation, meditation, and so forth. It should be noted that Judges' surmising in the preface with regards to Patanjali is still debatable; it is not certain whether the author of the aphorisms listed here was involved with non-mystic materials, although Judges' opinion is that the latter involves a different individual.

58 pages.

The Hindu Yogi Science of Breath: Now Available!

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This book here is mostly authentic breathing exercises from Hindu lore (some of which are taught by Yogis today quite frequently) but the author was *probably* William Atkinson, a New Thought author and publisher thought to be the hand behind works listed under the auspices of a "Yogi Ramacharaka"- indeed the introduction deconstructs the concept of a Yogi and excuses the use of the term by those not entirely encompassed by Hinduism at large.

It's well made; the exercises are fairly simple and mostly used to increase health and physical vigor, although it also mentions the mental and psychic.

75 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.

The Supernatural In Romantic Literature: Now Available!

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This fairly short work was initially full length and 169 pages long; formatting in that era was often quite interesting. It's an extremely dense overview of many hundreds of bits of literature, the main point of which is to correlate and compare literary tropes, objects, and subjects across books and poetry. The author himself tries to restrain the lore to mostly the medieval and then-modern but gets dragged into some content from the Norse and Hindu systems of religion nonetheless.

As an occultist I see this as a very valuable work, more for its massive number of secondary sources to be used as a starting point to dig deeper into folklore and its cryptozoological and magical offshoots, than any value stemming from its own analysis; although the prevalence of Arthurian legend and the "Arabian Nights" and their enormous influence on then contemporary works is notable.

89 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.

Phallic Miscellanies: Now Available!

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This work is one of a number that comprised the phallic series, purportedly crafted by Hargrave Jennings anonymously to skirt censorship due to the taboo nature of the subject; it titillates the reader by rendering the solar, phallicist worship of the linga etc to degenerated status, then refusing to flesh out the more lurid parts of cultish ritual. Indeed the work isn't inaccurate per se, it just fails sometimes to mention the scarcity of the phallic cult in the East, the left hand path of sex worship and indulgence.

It contains hundreds of quotes from secondary sources and from Hindu scriptures and delves a bit into Islamic and Buddhist lore as well, albeit less. It is important to note that Jennings (or whoever the author of this lengthy series was) believed that solar and phallic worship spawned all religion.

130 pages.

The Laws of the Higher Life: Now Available!

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This short work is one of the many writings of the rather famous (or infamous!) Annie Besant; a Theosophist and one of the main figures thereof. This work lays out three particular laws (or sets of laws) governing a higher existence, ascendant and enlightened. They are, respectively, consciousness, duty, and sacrifice, and form a deeply Hinduism-tainted variant of Theosophy in part derived from her continuingly deep involvement in the Indian liberation movement. It alludes to and quotes the Bhagavad Gita and speaks at some length of aspects of Hindu mythology.

47 pages.

Letters From An Occult Student: Now Available!

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This is a fairly short work that is nonetheless interesting for two types of content; first, its fusion of apparently religious Christian material with Hinduism (often an element of theosophy although I could not find any information on the author being involved with the same) and second, its allusions to telegraphy, atoms, magnetism, and the like, in regards to the occult. These topics were widely popular in magical and philosophical movements until the roaring twenties came crashing down and more technologies were developed.

It contains multiple how-to passages actually teaching some occult practices, of whatever style or order the author belonged to.

60 pages.