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.
Cheetham's "Mysteries Pagan and Christian" is one of the most insightful volumes on mystic tradition and the mystery schools which I have encountered. It contains a very large section of notes explaining some of the texts' content, and dwells mainly on the concordance between the ancient Greek and Roman mystery tradition (the Orphic, Eleusinian, Bacchic, and other mysteries) and their progress through the early Christian period, and absorption into various religious rites. It derives heavily from ancient sources.
94 pages.
This fine work tells, briefly, the basic stories of both Krishna and Orpheus, analyzing them predominantly from the backdrop of the savior trope and the concept of the rise of solar religions in place of what were often older lunar styles of veneration and mystic practice. The stories themselves are intriguing, and the work briefly mentions (only in passing) a few of the many other figures which followed the same basic mythological trajectory.
108 pages.
Most of the pagan mysteries are poorly described in literature. The Eleusinian Mysteries are perhaps the most well comprehended of the ancient traditions of the pagans, and this work describes both the greater and lesser mysteries, describing the usage of the ancient gods in literal but not immortal form, and some of the rituals surrounding initiation. The work has been fully illustrated as well, by Raven Feather Illustrations.
83 pages.
This volume is an extensive treatment of the ancient Egyptian religion; its deities, its rituals, and especially the treatment of the dead and form of the afterlife. As with Egyptology in general, all of these subjects were malleable, changing in form and practice over the course of many centuries, something which is repeatedly noted especially in the spells and enchantments and rituals involving mortality and the judgment of the spirits of the departed. A number of interesting tales about the interaction of their deities with one another are provided.
168 pages.
This is a full length academic treatment of the basic life, rituals, and political meanderings of ancient Babylon and, later, Assyria. Of course, it additionally alludes to the Sumerian origins of what became the Babylonian system. Of especial note for the occultist, here, is the wide difference between the purported godly nature of Babylonian royalty supplanted by the militaristic Assyrians, and the related difference between archaeological remains. A description of the basic pantheons (and evolution of their worship) is notable as well, and some intriguing healing and protective rituals and practices are detailed.
208 pages.
This ninth compilation was created partially due to public demand; it is artificially constrained to a few variants of European paganism (Greek, Roman, Norse, and British/Irish) because of the expansive nature of the subject. Much of the work is academic and historical in tone, although "Valhalla" is mostly a poetic epic. These seven works are, in my opinion, a decent springboard into the subject. As with all of my compiled volumes, it contains a lengthy list of works in a bibliography for further reading on the subject matter, and an expansive foreword detailing each work and the premise of the compiled volume.
Included works:
-Valhalla: The Myths of Norseland
-Pagan Ideas of Immortality
-Pagan Mythology: Wisdom of the Ancients
-A Compendium of Heathen Mythology
-The Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland
-Dionysos and Immortality
-The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia
375 pages.
This little volume is a compilation of (as the title suggests!) ghostly tales from ancient Greece and Rome. Some of them are from historians, others are from plays and fictional material- and it is interesting to note the major similarity of tales in both. In one extremely interesting passage, Nero himself ends up doing manual labor to try and calm terrified workers who swore they heard the dead around them and that the ground was welling up with the blood of the deceased.
60 pages.
This short text by Reville is basically a condensed summation of the life and times of Apollonius, especially with an eye to the pagan revivalism associated with his teachings. Apollonius is often considered either a paganistic copy of Jesus or potentially the basis upon which the Jesus myth was crafted to begin with. A fairly large portion of this work deals with Roman intrigue and of course a majority of it is based on Philostratus' work on the subject.
53 pages.
