The Uncaused Being: Now Available!

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This little work is one part philosophy, one part logic, and one part theology, creating propositions and arguments regarding the existence of, and nature of, an uncaused being or beings which crafted the universe. It oddly winds up proposing that polytheism is more sane than strict monotheism. A few of the arguments here involve scientific principles which have been displaced, such as the notion of an ether, and the electron within the atom as the smallest and undivided particle.

87 pages.

Metempsychosis: Now Available!

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This little essay regards the concept of the afterlife, reincarnation, and the continued existence of the soul after death in some form. While it primarily speaks about such concepts in the European pagan, and later Christian, sense, it also speaks about Hinduism. Plotinus and Empedocles are, of course, frequently mentioned under the premise.

43 pages.

The Gates of Knowledge: Now Available!

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This short work is a transcribed lecture by Rudolf Steiner, mostly about self awareness and mindfulness and their usage, but also contains a (strangely unrelated) short lecture on the nature of philosophy, especially related to Aristotle. It should be noted that this work comes from a time when Steiner was still a Theosophist, before leaving the movement to form what became Anthoposophy.

79 pages.

Apollonius of Tyana: Now Available!

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This fine book is a great look at the life and teachings of Apollonius- it is partly a critical work, sometimes querying the veracity of Philostratus and other ancient writers and figures, often using secondary works within its analysis- it also contains a full bibliography, although most of the listed texts are in German or French.

112 pages.

Apollonius of Tyana: Now Available!

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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.

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.

Atheism in Pagan Antiquity: Now Available!

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This nice little read is an academic work that deals with the concept of atheism (a variable one) among the philosophers and societies of ancient Greece, including after its subjugation by Rome. Various concepts such as irreligion and heresy were all lumped in under the concept, along with worship which was merely civically improper. Philosophers often levied such charges against one another, usually in a defamatory manner. It traces the conceptualization up into early Christianity and explores the Henotheistic concept of Judaism.

118 pages.

Early Greek Philosophy: Now Available!

 

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This work is a broad overview of a couple centuries of Greek philosophy from the era of Thales and similar figures, up through the age of Socrates. It importantly contains a section explaining the sophists, and the non-pejorative origin of that term, as well as some of the various theories and intellectual meanderings of the philosophers, like the concept of Atomism. Most Greek philosophy was at least overlapped somewhat with their religion and so the spiritual significance of the topic is key here.

77 pages.

Alchemy Collection: Now Available!

 

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This full length work is the alchemical companion to my prior compilation of demonological lore. It contains fourteen separate full length works ranging from philosophical tracts to chemical experiments, with a full preface, short bibliography and list of terms, and an appendix with a few snippets from other alchemy texts I have edited.

It is meant largely for those interested in the historical impact and development of this field, which is at once early science and superstition, at once literal chemistry and heavily religious veiled metaphor. Alchemy, as the reader will see, is hardly the monolithic and dated entity it is sometimes regarded as.

366 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.

A Primer of Theosophy: Now Available!

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This book is a compilation of multiple sub-subjects ranging from the psychic arts to ethics, to the afterlife. It is a strictly theosophical introductory guide with a fairly long bibliographic inclusion and a half dozen entries regarding major figures of theosophy at that time.

The mystic lore itself is mostly beginner material but it would be hard to find a work better suited to those interested in, but not yet part of, theosophical lore.

123 pages.

Epicurus: Now Available!

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This intermediate work is presumably the final creation series title I will edit; it is a combination of basic Epicurean philosophy, basic life story of the philosopher himself, and criticisms by him of his critics as well as theirs of him. It's well written, and at times humorous, Epicurus calling one of his rivals a "mollusk" comes to mind as being particularly funny against the backdrop of antiquity.

The philosophy is of course fleshed out somewhat here, being described for that critical and analytical purpose; the basic premise of living a simple life and avoiding fear of mortality is the basic twofold point of the path of Epicurus.

94 pages.

The Heart of Things: Now Available!

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The second volume of lore in Edward Farnsworths' three part series, "Heart of Things" is much like "The Deeper Mysteries." the content is a bit less variable and more focused on astrological, zodiacal, categorical materials. It speaks at some length on dreams, spirits, the meaning of life, the dimensions, and many other subjects, usually in three or four pages apiece.

197 pages.

Gleanings of a Mystic: Now Available!

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This book is a fairly comprehensive guide to the philosophical views of Heindel, of Rosicrucian renown. More a compiling of short essays than a single work, it was collected together posthumously, with subject material ranging from reincarnation and mortality, to initiation and enlightenment, as well as plenty of asides into the history of mankind and existence, Atlantis, and various post-Blavatsky lore involving the human race and its various cultural separations over time.

It's fairly easy to understand, not at all as dense as some contemporary works of the same basic subject material, and is therefore highly recommended for those intrigued by the Rosicrucians (or mysticism in general) but not yet fully versed in the same. It should be noted that the initial edition is far longer; I redacted about twenty pages of ads and blurbs about other works by the initial publisher as well as a (meaningless) index.

131 pages.

The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Mankind: Now Available!

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Rudolf Steiner needs little introduction due to his enormous number of lectures and literary works (hundreds of volumes)- suffice it to say this work comes from the period in which he was still a theosophist and had not yet schismed from the post-Blavatsky order to form his own vaguely separate anthroposophy.

It speaks at length on human evolution from a mystic perspective, the manner of reality, and the concept of Christlike-ness; it is mostly notable for its statements on the development of human culture along occult lines.

68 pages.

Clairvoyance: Now Available!

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This little book is the result of the efforts of JCF Grumbine, who for his life led a Rosicrucian offshoot called the Order of the White Rose. It is partially philosophical in nature and dwells on the form of natural law and deific forces and things of that kind, but is essentially split into lessons each with a short sort of how-to "experiment" involving mindfulness and similar things.

It is, overall, dense but well written and contains material related to the spiritual side of electricity and magnetism, as well as telepathy.

90 pages.

Mystics of the Renaissance: Now Available!

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This book is one of those works Rudolf Steiner wrote which primarily compiles and analyzes and draws from secondary sources; namely, as the title suggests, some of the mystic minds of the Renaissance, although it includes, also, Medieval minds and some contemporary work by Eckhart and others. It goes from Paracelsus and Agrippa through Boehme and many others.

The statements made here vary both from those sources and Steiner; it speaks of the nature of being, the nature of divinity, the relationship between man and the deity or deities he worships, and meanders from those into sub-topics as well. It is quite well written and interesting as Steiners' works tend to be. As a pointless but meaningless aside the initial source file was around 300 pages in length, which goes to show you the odd format and line spacing used in the early 20th century.

120 pages.

The Supernatural: Now Available!

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This is a frightfully short but very interesting work which, as with a few others I have edited, is primarily a speech (an oratory) meant to be delivered to an audience, as opposed to a booklet in and of itself. Penned by the well known Congregationalist Lyman Abbott. Here he expounds a bit on his evolving conception of his god and the presence of spiritual forces and states that he conceives of his deity as inter-penetrating all things while also refuting polytheism.

The title is slightly misleading since it is more about the form of divinity than the supernatural in a more general sense but it is still an interesting opinion piece.

28 pages.

The Ideals of Theosophy: Now Available!

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This work is quite a notable one, being written by Besant- one of the foremost theosophists of the movement, and once-adoptive mother of Krishnamurti himself. It contains a series of four lectures, two of which are basically about socio-political issues- these two are quite interesting because the criminal and societal reforms spoken of were indeed largely adopted by western nations after this era- for example not trying children as adults in the same legal framework for any but the most significant crimes, and preventative justice of several sorts.

While Besant was initially a political activist and socialist she later became interested more solely in spiritual matters; this work represents the step in between the two and shows her interest (waning as it was) in civic matters seeping into her religious philosophy. Works of this type helped to shape modernity in all its forms.

74 pages.