• 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Powerful lumber interests stood in the way of the first campaigns to save the redwood trees of Humboldt County, California, but they were boldly opposed and pushed back. This history of the early 1900s recalls the Progressive Era crusades of women and men who prevailed against great odds, protecting the best of California’s northern redwood forests.This book tells the forgotten, dramatic story of early 20th-century Californians and other Americans who were the first group to preser...

Yoga today connotes many images and ideas -- from holy men on a high mountaintop to throngs of young women toting designer mats. Yoga, meaning 'union,' is actually a many-layered discipline designed to help an individual attain health, serenity, focus, and ultimately, union with the Divine. Aleister Crowley was one of the first Europeans to practice yoga and believed the practice was essential to spiritual growth, stating that 'Magick is a Pyramid built layer by layer. The work of the Body...

Shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding, Aleister Crowley is one of the 20th century’s most revered occult figures. With The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley, readers are given a careful, comprehensive overview of Crowley’s life from poet to practicing magician as well as his life’s work, including the basic principles and rituals of his magical practices. Set aside your preconceptions and dismiss the rumors. Crowley was certainly a complex, controversial, and colorful ma...

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...

The Unsung HeroinesHave you ever stood in a redwood grove and wondered how it was saved from the loggers' saws? The answer isn't as simple as a few famous names or a single act of government.Who Saved the Redwoods? tells the gripping, untold story of the women who formed the front line of the forest conservation movement in the 1920s. This was an era of intense, industrial-scale logging, when it was seen as inevitable that the ancient forests would...