A tale of initiation, adventure, and romance set within the medieval Crusades• Shares in novel form the mystical rituals and techniques of the Nizari Ismailis (the legendary Assassins) communicated to selected Knights Templar during the Crusades• Shows how the Gnostic traditions of the Cathars and Nizaris were blended to become the core of the “heretical” doctrines for which the Templars were later condemned• Sheds light on the contemporary conflict between Islam an...

• An examination of the interactions of the Christian Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins, and of the profound changes in Western society that resulted.• Restores the reputation of the secret Muslim order of the Assassins, disparaged as the world's first terrorist group.• Dispels many myths about the Knights Templar and provides the most incisive portrait of them to date.A thousand years ago Christian battled Muslim for possession of a strip...

This publication includes the first English translation of the 1310 biography of Hasan-i-Sabah by Rashid al-Din: The Biography of Our Master (Sar-Guzasht-i-Sayyidna)Hasan-i-Sabah was born in northern Persia around 1050 and died in 1124. He was an Ismaili missionary (or dai) who founded the Nizari Ismailis after the usurpation of the Fatimid Imamate by the military dictator of Egypt. It may be said that Hasan founded and operated the world...

A fully illustrated history of the Temple of Solomon• Examines the Temple of Solomon in the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, and Apocryphal writings• Explores its role in the founding of Freemasonry, the legends of the Knights Templar, the doctrines of the Kabbalah, and the teachings of Islam• Explains the sacred nature of the Temple Mount--the site of the Temple of Solomon--and the secrets that may still be hidden there• Richly illustrated, including m...

Thelemic magician James Wasserman offers an immensely useful instructional guide for journaling the inward journey that comes from magical workings.This important collection includes Aleister Crowley's two most important instructional writings on the design and purpose of the magical diary, John St. John and A Master of the Temple. These were the only two works regarding the magical diary published in Crowley's lifetime. Both were first published ...

In this daring expose by a survivor of a unique era in the New York occult scene, James Wasserman, a longtime proponent of the teachings of Aleister Crowley, brings us into a world of candlelit temples, burning incenser, and sonorous invocations. The author also shares an intimate look at the New York Underground if the 1970s and introduces us to the company of such avant-garde luminaries as Alejandro Jodorowsky, Harry Smith and Angus MacLise. A stone's throw away form the Velvet Undergrou...

A fully illustrated guide to the Masonic origins and present-day Masonic sites of Washington, D.C.• Provides a walking tour of the Masonic sites and symbols of the city• Explores the critical role of Freemasonry in the founding of the United States• By the author of The Templars and AssassinsIn this guide to the Masonic underpinnings of America’s capital, James Wasserman reveals the esoteric symbols and the spiritual and visionary ideas that lie hidden in th...

Aleister Crowley wrote the Gnostic Mass in 1913. He described it as the central ritual, public and private, of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). It is a mythic hymn to the wedding of scientific truth and religious aspiration; the celebrant is encouraged to leave superstition and dogma at the door and join in an ecstatic tribute to the glorious nature of reality. The Gnostic Mass offers a truly modern spirituality and it is being performed on a regular basis throughout the civilized w...

Sketching out a fascinating network of historic figures, cults, and Christendom, this book by an occult-studies expert and respected authority on magic and sorcery takes Western spiritual traditions seriously—but examines them with common sense and self-effacing humor. Working backward from the Freemasons to one of their original orders, the 14th-century Knights Templar, the account considers sorcery, heresy, and intrigues; explores the legend that the Knights possessed a powerful secret d...

A concise guide to the history, theory, and practice of alchemy (the “great work”)—the art of working with the energies of nature for spiritual development, healing, and transformation.Alchemy is a means of understanding and working in concert with the energies of nature for spiritual development, healing, and transformation. In this book, Brian Cotnoir offers a step-by-step introduction that explores alchemy’s mysteries while illustrating its use as a modern spiri...

The ultimate herbalist's bible.Herbalism is one of the cornerstones of magical work, and The Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick presents this vast subject in an accessible, practical manner. While it includes those plants classically associated with magick, such as mugwort, mandrake, and nightshade, it also provides lore and usage of more common plants, such as olive, coconut, tiger lily, orchids, and palms. Other herbs include heliotrope, lotus, mallow, nettle, oak, yew, and willow.Thi...

Secret Societies of the Middle Ages explores the foundations of modern secret societies, examining the history and known facts of three very different organizations.The Assassins of the Middle East-how they evolved from an Islamic religious sect into one of the most feared groups in all the world and how the very name of this ancient order became the word used for political killings of this nature.The Templars of Europe-from a...