Showing posts with label occultism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occultism. Show all posts

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A Poison Tree

A Poison Tree Cover I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

by William Blake

Books in PDF format to read:

Reeves Hall - Asatru In Brief
Dom Antoine Joseph Pernety - A Treatis On The Great Art
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Street
Read more »

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Book

The Book Cover By Raven Lemay

Across from darkened hall, behind closed door,
a small lamp flickers faithfully.
I sit with feet upon the cold stone floor
Worn smooth by those who've journeyed before me.

The light of candle falls upon my pen
And illuminates the Word and Way for me.
The Shadows they rise up and fall again
But the colors they are bright enough to see.

The twisting Vine around the Word does grow
with gilt-gold leaves and fruits so ripe and rare
and becomes a candle - with red flame all aglow
and the flame becomes the Lion's golden hair.

I turn the page, and there before my eyes
The Word illumines brighter than before
The stars and universe enfold It round
as cherubim and seraphim adore.

With silver moon and stars around her feet
The Universe enfolds her with Its Grace.
For she bears the Cosmic Child of Light so sweet
The Undying Sun who holds the world in His embrace.

I wrap a woolen cloak around my frame
to ward off the chill and drafty winds of night
That shake and try to squelch the Candle flame
and make dark - the Word before my sight.

For I myself am drawn into the scene
In colors bright - alive and many hued.
I see in myself the Vine so evergreen
Myself with candle flame imbued.

I know not yet the Writing on this page
for the Author of it alone directs the pen
But when the time is ripe for the Word Unknown
I will pick up this book and write and read again.

Books in PDF format to read:

Michael Ford - The Book Of Cain
Meshafi Resh - The Black Book
Rabbi Michael Laitman - The Open Book
Read more »

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Shepherd

The Shepherd Cover "How sweet is the shepherd’s sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he strays;
He shall follow his sheep all the day,
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

For he hears the lambs’ innocent call,
And he hears the ewes’ tender reply;
He is watchful while they are in peace,
For they know when their shepherd is nigh."

by William Blake

Keywords: odin volsunga saga  corrections reprint  portable magic tool  witchcraft south  anthology oral histories  devil feminine soul  asgard tales northern  recommended heathen  
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Gypsy Hand

Gypsy Hand Cover Too brite days
midnights that refuse to
abide dark and secret
as empty phrases chant
to fairytale Moons
I tell myself
This is no ordinary room
This is no fleeting flittering life
This is a magical passageway
sparkling like mica, like miracles

Quiet traces
luminous impression
a trailing kite tail binds
silent whimpers, sojourning whispers,
tears shining behind mime smiles

Crone's gnarled fingers, playing
to spite agony
simulate touch
beyond ache
Too brite cell,
crouched scarred shadow
I cast silhouette of metamagic gypsy
hand offering

Also try this free pdf e-books:

Aleister Crowley - Rights Of Man
Matthew Ikonen - Warlocks Handbook
Donald Mackenzie - Egyptian Myth And Legend
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Saturday, July 10, 2010

Linear Light From The Ivory Tower A Posthumous Poetry Collection

Linear Light From The Ivory Tower A Posthumous Poetry Collection Cover

Book: Linear Light From The Ivory Tower A Posthumous Poetry Collection by Sheryl Mathis

Linear Light from the Ivory Tower is a posthumous poetry Anthology of Sheryl Williams Mathis. Sheryl, an African-American Wiccan in Georgia, was a lover of all things metaphysical and natural. She often expressed her deepest feelings through her poetry. After her death in 2001, her daughter, DaKarai Noshell Yuko, made it her mission to collect and compile her poems into two books, in honor of her mother's loving memory. Linear Light from the Ivory Tower is the first book.

Sheryl, an African-American Wiccan from Georgia, was a lover of all things metaphysical and natural. She often expressed her deepest feelings through her poetry. Some of Sheryl's poems have been featured in:

* IMAGE OF MYSTIC TRUTH by NEW WORLDS UNLIMITED 1980
* YEARBOOK OF MODERN POETRY by YOUNG PUBLICATIONS 1980
* OUR Twentieth Century'S Greatest POEMS by WORLD OF POETRY PRESS 1981
* THE FAMILY TREASURY OF GREAT POEMS by WORLD OF POETRY PRESS 1981
* EARTHSHINE by POETRY PRESS 1982
* AMERICAN POETRY ANTHOLOGY by AMERICAN POETRY ASSOCIATION 1982
* POETRY OF LOVE-PAST AND PRESENT by FINE ARTS PRESS 1982
* POEMS OF THE HEARTLAND by FAIRLANE HOUSE 1990's
* HONEY CREEK ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY POETRY by FAIRLANE HOUSE 1990's Sheryl's many awards include:
* THE GOLDEN POET AWARD by WORLD OF POETRY PRESS 1989 * AWARD OF MERIT by WORLD OF POETRY PRESS 1989

Buy Sheryl Mathis's book: Linear Light From The Ivory Tower A Posthumous Poetry Collection

Books in PDF format to read:

Christopher Bache - Dark Night Early Dawn Steps To A Deep Ecology Of Mind
Order Of The Golden Dawn - High Lights Of The Fifth Knowledge Lecture
George Robert Stowe Mead - Echoes From The Gnosis Vol Vii The Gnostic Crucifixion
Read more »

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Witches Creed

The Witches Creed Cover Hear Now the words of the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night,
When dark was our destiny's pathway,
That now we bring forth into light.

Mysterious water and fire,
The earth and the wide-ranging air,
By hidden quintessence we know them,
And will and keep silent and dare.

The birth and rebirth of all nature,
The passing of winter and spring,
We share with the life universal,
Rejoice in the magical ring.

Four times in the year the Great Sabbat
Returns, and the witches are seen
At Lammas and Candlemas dancing,
On May Eve and old Hallowe'en.

When day-time and night-time are equal,
When sun is at greatest and least,
The four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,
And Witches gather in feast.

Thirteen silver moons in a year are,
Thirteen is the coven's array.
Thirteen times at Esbat make merry,
For each golden year and a day.

The power that was passed down the age,
Each time between woman and man,
Each century unto the other,
Ere time and the ages began.

When drawn is the magical circle,
By sword or athame of power,
Its compass between two worlds lies,
In land of the shades for that hour.

This world has no right then to know it,
And world of beyond will tell naught.
The oldest of Gods are invoked there,
The Great Work of magic is wrought.

For the two are mystical pillars,
That stand at the gate of the shrine,
And two are the powers of nature,
The forms and the forces divine.

The dark and the light in succession,
The opposites each unto each,
Shown forth as a God and a Goddess:
Of this our ancestors teach.

By night he's the wild wind's rider,
The Horned One, the Lord of the Shades.
By day he's the King of the Woodland,
The dweller in green forest glades.

She is youthful or old as she pleases,
She sails the torn clouds in her barque,
The bright silver lady of midnight,
The crone who weaves spells in the dark.

The master and mistress of magic,
That dwell in the deeps of the mind,
Immortal and ever-renewing,
With power to free or to bind.

So drink the good wine to the Old Gods,
And Dance and make love in their praise,
Till Elphame's fair land shall receive us
In peace at the end of our days.

And Do What You Will be the challenge,
So be it Love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment.
By Magic of old, be it done!

Doreen Valiente, "Witchcraft For Tomorrow" pp.172-173

Also try this free pdf e-books:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Street
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Tree
Tarostar - The Witchs Spellcraft Revised
Read more »

Friday, March 19, 2010

The Speech Of The High One

The Speech Of The High One Cover I know I hung on that windswept tree,
Swung there for nine long nights,
Wounded by my own blade,
Bloodied for Odinn,
Myself and offering to myself:
Bound to the tree
That no man knows
Wither the roots of it run.

None gave me bread,
None gave me drink.
Down to the deepest depths I peered
Until I spied the Runes.
With a roaring cry I seized them up,
Then dizzy and fainting, I fell.

Well-being I won
And wisdom too.
I grew and took joy in my Growth:
From a word to a word
I was led to a word, From a deed to another deed.

The Poetic Edda (ca A.D. 1200)

Books in PDF format to read:

Carroll Runyon - The Secret Of The Dark Mirror
Dion Fortune - The Machinery Of The Mind
Stephen Flowers - The Secret Of The Gothick God Of Darkness
Graham Hancock - The Message Of The Sphinx
Read more »

Thursday, February 18, 2010

A Woman Answer To Man Question By Lena Lathrop

A Woman Answer To Man Question By Lena Lathrop Cover Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the hand above —
A woman's heart, and a woman's life
And a woman's wonderful love?

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy,
Demanding what others have died to win,
With the reckless dash of a boy?

You have written my lesson of duty out,
Man-like you have questioned me;
Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul
Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart to be true as God's stars,
And as pure as heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef;
I require a far better thing.
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts;
I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called home,
And a man that the maker, God,
Shall look upon as he did the first
And say, "It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose will fade
From my soft, young cheek one day,
Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,
As you did 'mid the bloom of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
If you give all this, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot do this — a laundress and cook
You can hire, with little to pay,
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way.

Books in PDF format to read:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Horror At Martins Beach
Matthew Hopkins - The Discovery Of Witches In Answer To Severall Queries Lately Ver 1
Isaac Bonewits - An Open Letter To Selena Fox
Read more »

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Minstrel

The Minstrel Cover (Holly Solt)

What music shall I Play
what song shall I now sing
the minstrel took a bow
and asked the royal king...

Play a song of merriment
sing a song of joy
for we have had some troubles
and this night we shall enjoy...

He plucked the merry lute strings
and he danced upon the floor
and the court heard such sweet music
as it never heard before...

The weary knights with broken bones
picked up their heavy heads
and twas well past the midnight hour
when they laid upon their beds

Even in the deepened sleep
they heard the joyous song
and forgot the wartime nightmares
and the day that had been long

What music shall you play for Him?
what song shall you now sing?
become the magic minstrel
and play before your King

Make weary Knights with broken bones
lift up their heavy heads
sing the words of truth and love
and go to those in beds

And dance a dance to celebrate
the wonder of it all
so others too may dance with you
in Heaven's wondrous Hall.

Books in PDF format to read:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Tree
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Street

Keywords: practice divinity life  hidden meaning numbers  master encyclopedia magical  history  
Read more »

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Forest

Forest Cover Deep in the dark, silent forest
The Lord and the Lady and me
Walk in reverent wonder
At the mystery of beauty we see.
Misty clouds and moonbeams
Play a silent symphony,
Filled with awe and peace
they They should walk with me.

Deep in the dark, silent forest
Where first they came to me,
The Lord of the Woods, the
Green Man,
And the Lady in majesty.
There 'neath the moon I adore them
With the beauty of nature around.
The Athame in blue-white splendor,
then draws the circle round.

Deep in the dark, silent forest
The Lord and the Lady and me
Create a space of wonder
Just large enough for three.
Earth and Air, Fire and Water
Thrice the circle drawn
Enchanted space of ritual
until the morning dawn.

Deep in the dark, silent forest
The Lord and the Lady and me.
At the end of a long nights ritual
Are content and happy we three.
We watch the glow of the embers
As the heat of the fire dies low.
A few moments of Meditation
And then its time to go.

Deep in the dark, silent forest
Here by the wide open sea
The Lord and the Lady go Walking
The Lord and the Lady and me.
Here in the dark, silent forest
I've learned a great mystery,
They are each a part of the other,
And each a great part of me.

Books in PDF format to read:

Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - You Forever
Aristotle - On Dreams
Aleister Crowley - Poems
Mama San Ra Ab Rampa - Flor Silvestre
Aleister Crowley - Oracles
Read more »

Sunday, October 25, 2009

An Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greek And Roman Mythology

An Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greek And Roman Mythology Cover

Book: An Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greek And Roman Mythology by James Hampton Belton

E. M. Berens orginally wrote “Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome” to provide an interesting work on Greek and Roman mythology, suitable for advanced schools. He (or she, I haven't been able to find out) wanted to give the student a clear and succinct idea of the Religious beliefs of the ancients, and to render the subject at once interesting and instructive. He hoped to awaken in the minds of young students a desire to become more intimately acquainted with the noble productions of classical antiquity.

I decided to create this Encyclopedia because I like the ease of use of a single browsable document in alphabetical order, and did not find a free encyclopedia that I liked. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource, but it is not an easy read. I liked the consistant, easy style of the E. M. Berens book, and because it was available from Project Gutenberg for free and without restrictions, I could take it and turn it into this reference work at only the cost of my time.
A very brief note on the conventions for the entry headings: the name of the entry is usually followed by the pronounciation in parentheses. In the case of figures who have equivalents in Greek and Roman mythology, the equivalent figure's name then follows in brackets. I hope you enjoy this book. Regards, James Hampton Belton

Download James Hampton Belton's eBook: An Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greek And Roman Mythology

Books in PDF format to read:

Robert Ellwood - The Encyclopedia Of World Religions
Scott Cunningham - Cunninghams Encyclopedia Of Crystal Gem And Metal Magic
James Hampton Belton - An Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greek And Roman Mythology
Read more »

Monday, August 31, 2009

Egyptian Myth And Legend

Egyptian Myth And Legend Cover

Book: Egyptian Myth And Legend by Donald Mackenzie

In this volume the myths and legends of ancient Egypt are embraced in a historical narrative which begins with the rise of the great Nilotic civilization and ends with the Greco-Roman Age. The principal deities are dealt with chiefly at the various periods in which they came into prominence, while the legends are so arranged as to throw light on the beliefs and manners and customs of the ancient people. Metrical renderings are given of such of the representative folk songs and poems as can be appreciated at the present day.

In our historical narrative the reader is kept in touch with the great civilizations of the Cretans, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, which influenced and were influenced. by Egypt. Special attention is also devoted to Palestine and the great figures in Biblical narrative Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nahum, and the notable kings of Israel and Judah. There are numerous quotations from the Old Testament, and especially from the prophets who dealt with the political as well as the religious problems of their times. To students of the Bible this part of the volume should make special appeal. It is impossible to appreciate to the full the power and sagacity of Isaiah's sublime utterances without some knowledge of the history of ancient Egypt.

Download Donald Mackenzie's eBook: Egyptian Myth And Legend

Also try this free pdf e-books:

Samuel Sharpe - Egyptian Mythology And Egyptian Christianity
Donald Mackenzie - Egyptian Myth And Legend
Read more »

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Aloha A Full Moon Blessing

Aloha A Full Moon Blessing Cover Serge King -- a Full Moon blessing

The only Temple of Peace worth building
Is in your heart, Serge
Is in the human heart
In your students hearts

Peace can not be won with money, Serge
Peace can not be bought
Nor can peace be sold
But peace must be earned

In loving, selfless service to us all
Giving, regiving
Just for the Joy of It
THAT is Aloha

Aloha is never prosperity, Serge
Bought with the money
Tinkling in your pocket
Aloha is free

Giving, regiving in poverty
Sings an ancient song
Full of Joy, Bliss and Love
The true coin of Peace

A so is giving, regiving in wealth
A thing of beauty
Filled with ancient glory
Unsurpassable

With Blessings and thanks, I give you this gift
May it touch your heart
And open your heart
May it touch all hearts

ALOHA, Serge King! Date: 01-22-89

Books in PDF format to read:

Rabbi Michael Laitman - Kabbalah For Beginners
Anonymous - Full Moon Ritual Group
Anonymous - Full Moon Rite
Read more »

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Pandemonium

Pandemonium Cover Hi, ho, it's Spring again,
Out of my eye's corner
I Thought I saw the Horned Man, the Green Man
Charging down the glen,

It was not Pan,
I did not get that freezing in the bone,
Half fear, half ecstacy.
Perhaps I was mistook,
And only wished I saw,

And maybe Pan is playing in a rock band,
Traveling in a wave of liquorous riot,
George 'Something' and the Destroyers

Sonia Brock

Books in PDF format to read:

Miac - Asatru And Odinism
Roger Whitaker - Antinomianism
Edward Bulwer Lytton - Zanoni
Read more »

Monday, May 4, 2009

Ariadia Or A Gospel Of The Witches

Ariadia Or A Gospel Of The Witches Cover

Book: Ariadia Or A Gospel Of The Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches is an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland. The book is an attempt to portray the beliefs and rituals of an underground religious witchcraft tradition in Tuscany that, Leland claimed, had survived for centuries until his discovery of its existence in the 1890s. Scholars have disputed the veracity of this claim. Still, the book has become one of the foundational texts of the Neopagan witchcraft movements Wicca and Stregheria.

The text is a composite. Some of it is Leland's translation into English of an original Italian manuscript, the Vangelo (gospel). Leland reported receiving the manuscript from his primary informant on Italian witchcraft beliefs, a woman Leland referred to as "Maddalena" and whom he called his "witch informant" in Italy. The rest of the material comes from Leland's research on Italian folklore and traditions, including other related material from Maddalena. Leland had been informed of the Vangelo's existence in 1886, but it took Maddalena eleven years to provide him with a copy. After translating and editing the material, it took another two years for the book to be published. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Catholic Church.

Leland's work remained obscure until the 1950s, when other theories about, and claims of, "pagan witchcraft" survivals began to be widely discussed. Aradia began to be examined within the wider context of such claims. Scholars are divided, with some dismissing Leland's assertion regarding the origins of the manuscript, and others arguing for its authenticity as a unique documentation of folk beliefs. Along with increased scholarly attention, Aradia came to play a special role in the history of Gardnerian Wicca and its offshoots, being used as evidence that pagan witchcraft survivals existed in Europe, and because a passage from the book's first chapter was used as a part of the religion's liturgy. After the increase in interest in the text, it became widely available through numerous reprints from a variety of publishers, including a 1999 critical edition with a new translation by Mario and Dina Pazzaglini.

Download Charles Godfrey Leland's eBook: Ariadia Or A Gospel Of The Witches

Books in PDF format to read:

Michael Ford - The Book Of The Witch Moon
Thomas Potts - Discovery Of Witches
Michael Magee - Robin Hood And The Witches
Margaret Alice Murray - The God Of The Witches
Charles Godfrey Leland - Ariadia Or A Gospel Of The Witches
Read more »

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Aois Dana Rhianon

Aois Dana Rhianon Cover Written by Anne Cross (Braiding-the-Wind) in March of 1996.

My imagination is a horse
a white horse
a grey horse
a black horse

She gallops the plains of Heaven
tossing snow from her hoofs,
Across a sky full of sunlight and angels.

She weaves the woods of Faerie
with the mist thick around her hocks
Through a forest full of shadows and Sidhe

She stamps the depths of Hell
where the mire sucks at her knees
Past a valley full of Darkness and demons

She is my horse and I can guide her,
I can ride her,
But she is a hors and she can fight me,
She can throw me.

In the plains of Heaven, the woods of Faerie, the depths of Hell,
She can leave me to find my way home.

White horse child,
Grey horse child,
Black horse child.

To ride her takes courage,
To catch her takes words
Neither is easy -- especially if she's thrown you.

But I am the teller of tales,
speaker to the wind,
Listener to the sky,

And I will ride where my horse may take me.

Books in PDF format to read:

Stephen Mcnallen - What Is Asatru
Sepharial - Astrology And Marriage
Lil Bow Wow - What Is A Warlock
Confucius - Confucian Canon
Read more »

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Myths And Myth Makers Old Tales And Superstitions

Myths And Myth Makers Old Tales And Superstitions Cover

Book: Myths And Myth Makers Old Tales And Superstitions by John Fiske

IN publishing this somewhat rambling and unsystematic series of papers, in which I have endeavoured to touch briefly upon a great many of the most important points in the study of mythology, I think it right to observe that, in order to avoid confusing the reader with intricate discussions, I have sometimes cut the matter short, expressing myself with dogmatic definiteness where a sceptical vagueness might perhaps have seemed more becoming. In treating of popular
legends and Superstitions, the paths of inquiry are circuitous enough, and seldom can we reach a satisfactory conclusion until we have travelled all the way around Robin Hood's barn and back again. I am sure that the reader would not have thanked me for obstructing these crooked lanes with the thorns and brambles of philological and antiquarian discussion, to such an extent as perhaps to make him despair of ever reaching the high road.

I have not attempted to review, otherwise than incidentally, the works of Grimm, Muller, Kuhn, Breal, Dasent, and Tylor; nor can I pretend to have added anything of consequence, save now and then some bit of explanatory comment, to the results obtained by the labour of these scholars; but it has rather been my aim to present these results in such a way as to awaken general interest in them. And accordingly, in dealing with a subject which depends upon philology almost as much as astronomy depends upon mathematics, I have omitted philological considerations wherever it has been possible to do so. Nevertheless, I believe that nothing has been advanced as established which is not now generally admitted by scholars, and that nothing has been advanced as probable for which due evidence cannot be produced. Yet among many points which are proved, and many others which are probable, there must always remain many other facts of which we cannot feel sure that our own Explanation is the true one; and the student who endeavours to fathom the primitive thoughts of mankind, as enshrined in mythology, will do well to bear in mind the modest words of Jacob Grimm, - himself the greatest scholar and thinker who has ever dealt with this class of subjects,--"I shall indeed interpret all that I can, but I cannot interpret all that I should like." PETERSHAM, September 6, 1872.

Download John Fiske's eBook: Myths And Myth Makers Old Tales And Superstitions

Books in PDF format to read:

Nathan Elkana - The Master Grimoire Of Magickal Rites And Ceremonies
Talismagick - Love Spells And Rituals For Love And Relationships
Peter Henry Emerson - Welsh Fairy Tales And Other Stories
Gabor Klaniczay - Witchcraft Mythologies And Persecutions
John Fiske - Myths And Myth Makers Old Tales And Superstitions
Read more »

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Fields Of Gold

Fields Of Gold Cover my Pagan Heart brings me back
to another Time & days of old
when i once danced in fields of gold

wheat & barley skyward reached
as i danced in my bare feet
mother Earth & i are one
the seasons pass & all is done

i hear the call from deep within
to another time & days of old
when i once danced in fields of gold

Books in PDF format to read:

John Dee - The Calls Of Enoch
Asatru Free Assembly - The Lessons Of Asgard
John Earle - The Deeds Of Beowulf
Basil Crouch - Fairy Gold
Ea Wallis Budge - Legends Of The Gods
Read more »

Monday, November 10, 2008

Introduction To The Elder Edda

Introduction To The Elder Edda Cover

Book: Introduction To The Elder Edda by John Ronald Tolkien

The Elder Edda is not a single continuous narrative, but a collection of poems, most of which are preserved in the Konungsbok, or Codex Regius (King's Book), copied in Iceland about A.D. 1270. The poems are the work of many poets. Their language suggests that they were composed between 800 and 1100 A.D. and first written down between 1150 and 1250 A.D. The poems are a rich source of Information for culture and belief among the Vikings. They are not, however, purely Scandinavian. Christian Irish influence is likely, while the Sigurd story draws on actual events among the tribes that invaded the Roman Empire between 350-600 A.D.

The Elder Edda first came to scholarly attention in the seventeenth century as antiquarian interest in the non-classical past was growing in Europe. It was published in its entirety just as intense romantic and nationalistic interest in the perceived tribal ancestors of the European nation states emerged towards the end of the eighteenth century. This interest, combined with the new science of philology, ensured popular and scholarly interest in texts like the Elder Edda. Some of the lays were available in bowdlerized versions even for children by the later nineteenth century. In the hands of Richard Wagner, the Elder Edda became the foundation of one of the century's masterpieces. While northern legends and the Scholarship based on it were misused by the Nazis to develop and further their ideas of race, they are seriously misrepresented by such ideas. In the 1960s, the poet W. H. Auden in collaboration with an Old Norse scholar, Paul B. Taylor, produced a Translation of sixteen of the poems.

Download John Ronald Tolkien's eBook: Introduction To The Elder Edda

Books in PDF format to read:

Aleister Crowley - Brief Introduction To The Religion Of Thelema
Anonymous - Introduction To The Old Religion Lesson 8
Anonymous - Introduction To The Old Religion Lesson 7a
John Ronald Tolkien - Introduction To The Elder Edda
Read more »

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Equinox

The Equinox Cover

Book: The Equinox by Aleister Crowley

The Equinox (subtitle: The Review of Scientific Illuminism) is a series of publications in book form that serves as the official organ of the A.·.A.·., the mystical order of aleister crowley (although material is often of import to its sister organization, Ordo Templi Orientis). Begun in 1909, it remains one of the definitive works on occultism and magick, while several issues also contain poetry, fiction, plays, artwork, and biographies. The last issue was published in 1998, although two new editions are currently being prepared for publication.

WITH the publication of this REVIEW begins a completely new adventure in the history of mankind. Whatever knowledge may previously have been imputed to men, it has always been fenced in with conditions and restrictions. The time has come to speak plainly, and so far as may be in the language of the multitude.

Thus, the Brothers of the A. A. announce themselves without miracle or mystery. It is easy for every charlatan to perform wonders, to bewilder and even to deceive not only fools but all persons, however shrewd, untrained in observation; nor does the trained observed always succeed instantly in detecting the fraud. Again, what the A. A. propose to do is to enable such men as are capable of advancement to a higher Interpretation of manhood to do so; and the proof of their ability lies in their success, and not in any other irrelevant phenomenon. The argument from miracles is a non sequitur.

Nor is there anything mysterious in the A. A.; one must not confuse the mysterious with the unknown. Some of the contents of this REVIEW may be difficult or impossible to understand at first, but only in the sense that Homer is unintelligible to a person ignorant of Greek.


Buy Aleister Crowley's book: The Equinox

Books in PDF format to read:

Aleister Crowley - The Equinox Vol I No Vii
Aleister Crowley - The Equinox Vol I No Vi
Aleister Crowley - The Equinox Vol I No X
Read more »