• Explores the significance of light in spiritual life—drawing on the esoteric tradition of alchemy—to transcend materialism and seed new cultures rooted in perennial wisdom• Examines ideas from Western mysticism, Tibetan Buddhism, and other traditions to show how spiritual alchemy is a path to transformation and regeneration• By working with spiritual images, shows how to advance spiritual evolution and heal from artificial culture by learning to separate illusion from rea...

The only book of its kind, The New Inquisitions is an exhilarating investigation into the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Arthur Versluis unveils the connections between heretic hunting in early and medieval Christianity, and the emergence of totalitarianism in the twentieth century. He shows how secular political thinkers in the nineteenth century inaugurated a tradition of defending the Inquisition, and how Inquisition-style heretic-hunting later manifested across the spectrum o...

The Greek word "gnosis," defined as direct spiritual knowledge or insight, has its origins in historical offshoots of Christianity in late antiquity. But the terms “Gnosticism” and “gnosis” have become widespread in many other contexts. They are common in contemporary scholarship on religion and in popular usage among magical, religious, and spiritual practitioners. And they have entered popular usage in contemporary society, with applications in numerous political, religious, and cultural...

The first book to reveal the history of Western sexual mysticism• Reveals the secret sexual practices that have been used since ancient Greece to achieve mystical union with God• Details the sects and individuals who transmitted the radical sexual practices that orthodox Christianity never completely silenced• Distinguishes between sexual magic and sexual mysticismBeginning with the ancient Greek Mystery traditions, Gnosticism, and the practices in early Chr...

Restores the Platonic history and context of mysticism and shows how mysticism helps us understand more deeply the humanities as a whole, from philosophy and literature to art.In Platonic Mysticism, Arthur Versluis clearly and tautly argues that mysticism must be properly understood as belonging to the great tradition of Platonism. He demonstrates how mysticism was historically understood in Western philosophical and religious traditions and emphatically r...

The term "Western esotericism" refers to a wide range of spiritual currents including alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, and Christian theosophy, as well as several practical forms of esotericism like cartomancy, geomancy, necromancy, alchemy, astrology, herbalism, and magic. The early presence of esotericism in North America has not been much studied, and even less so the indebtedness to esotericism of some major American literary figures. In this book, Arthur Versluis breaks ...

This is a book of secrets. In unique journeys around the world, from Ireland and England to Taiwan and Hawaii, Arthur Versluis explores the archaic myths and traditional lore of sacred islands and their ancient cultures written in stone. Megaliths, standing stones, stone spheres, cairns, all are ancient markers for understanding sacred landscape in new and profound ways. More than a book, this is a series of portals into new ways of understanding who we are in relation to the sacred earth ...

Across the ancient world it was known, a mysterious island at the center of a Mystery tradition so secret that even today, we have only clues about it. Ancient Greek myths, myths older than Greece, a mountain whose peak is often shrouded in clouds, and a pagan sanctuary so archaic it probably dates to when the island was part of a mainland. Join Arthur Versluis on a journey to Samothrace and beyond as he investigates archaic European symbolism, myth, and mysteries, and uncovers clues to th...

Step into the Elizabethan world of the extraordinary Giordano Bruno: a philosopher, a magician, a professor, a spy, an initiate in a pan-European secret society. In this vivid novel, meet kings and queens, court alchemists, great playwrights, scoundrels, and come to know the greatest minds of the Western European Renaissance. Engage with the esoteric spiritual practices of the art of memory, visualization, and mysticism. Enter into the secret societies that sought to bring about a new cult...

This is a book of secrets. In unique journeys around the world, from Ireland and England to Taiwan and Hawaii, Arthur Versluis explores the archaic myths and traditional lore of sacred islands and their ancient cultures written in stone. Megaliths, standing stones, stone spheres, cairns, all are ancient markers for understanding sacred landscape in new and profound ways. More than a book, this is a series of portals into new ways of understanding who we are in relation to the sacred earth ...

Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions is a concise overview, from antiquity to the present, of all the major Western religious esoteric movements. Topics covered include alchemy, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and many more. Magic and Mysticism is ideal for students of Mysticism and New Religious Movements, as well as for general readers of Metaphysics and Esoterica.

• Explores the significance of light in spiritual life—drawing on the esoteric tradition of alchemy—to transcend materialism and seed new cultures rooted in perennial wisdom• Examines ideas from Western mysticism, Tibetan Buddhism, and other traditions to show how spiritual alchemy is a path to transformation and regeneration• By working with spiritual images, shows how to advance spiritual evolution and heal from artificial culture by learning to separate illusion from rea...