Gnosis 04: Heresies and Heretics. A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions (New)

by Gnosis

Publisher: Gnosis

Binding: Magazine

Book ID: GNO04, GNO04

Price: $9.00

Description

"The penetration into the darkness surrounding God - the gulf between one's self and the All - involves the willingness to relinquish the comforting certainties of one's religion and risk heresy, if that is where the path leads."
- Jay Kinney, from Heresies 101

Contents -- Spring-Summer 1987

1
Editorial

2
Letters to the Editor

4
Forum: "The Feminine in Western Spirituality"
Our readers and contributors open a new topic for discussion.

7
Introduction: Heresies and Heretics
by Jay Kinney

8
Heresies 101
by Jay Kinney
Why a little heresy may be good for your soul.

9
A Personal Top Ten Heretics List
by David Fideler

11
A Necessary Heresy: Jung's Gnosticism and Contemporary Gnosis
by June Singer
Encountering gnosticism in history and in the present.

20
The GNOSIS Interview: J. Gordon Melton
by Jay Kinney
The noted scholar of contemporary religious sects and cults shares his thoughts on theology, heresy, and his own life.

23
The Spiritual Dance
by A Traveling Jewish Theatre
Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Deena Metzger, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, in dialogue about Jewish spiritual roots and tasks, and their individual paths.

28
The Legend of the Cathars
by Judith Mann
An introduction to the medieval heretics of southern France who incurred the wrath of the Inquisition.

30
The Anti-Caliph: A Study in Islamic Heresy
by Peter Lamborn Wilson
A proposal for reviving ancient mystical heresy derived from Ibn 'Arabi and the Ismaili Assassins.

38
The Solitary Quest
by Dixie Tracy-Kinney
A look at the fascinating history of hermits in the West.

43
Book Reviews

Two Non-Dualist Plays. Part 1: Simon Magus and the Gnostics by Milton Ward
Female Fault and Fulfillment in Gnosticism by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley
Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition by Whitall N. Perry
The Noble Traveler: The Life and Writings of O.V.de L. Miloszedited and selected by Christopher Bamford
Secret of Secrets: Unwritten Mysteries of Esoteric Qabbalah by Michael-Albion Macdonald
Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland
The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
Sufi Vision and Initiation: Meetings with Remarkable Beings by Samuel L. Lewis, edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias translated by Bruce Hozeski, forewords by Matthew Fox and Adelgondis Fuhrkotter
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen by Hildegard of Bingen, commentary by Matthew Fox
Meister Eckhart: Thought and Language by Frank Tobin
The Meaning of Love by Vladimir Solovyov, translated by Thomas R. Beyer
Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love by Marsilio Ficino, translated and introduced by Sears Jayne

Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality
Harner, Michael
North Atlantic Books

In 1980, Michael Harner blazed the trail for the worldwide revival of shamanism with his seminal classic The Way of the Shaman. In this long-awaited sequel, he provides new evidence of the reality of heavens.

Drawing from a lifetime of personal shamanic experiences and more than 2,500 reports of Westerners' experiences during shamanic ascension, Harner highlights the striking similarities between their discoveries, indicating that the heavens and spirits they've encountered do indeed exist. He also provides instructions on his innovative core-shamanism techniques, so that readers too can ascend to heavenly realms, seek spirit teachers, and return later at will for additional healing and advice.

Written by the leading authority on shamanism, Cave and Cosmos is a must-read not only for those interested in shamanism, but also for those interested in spirituality, comparative religion, near-death experiences, healing, consciousness, anthropology, and the nature of reality.

Price: $19.95

The Chaldean Oracles: Translation, Text, and Commentary
Majercik, Ruth
Prometheus Trust

The Chaldean Oracles hold a special place in the development of the Platonic tradition - they gave a new impetus and inspiration to a number of philosophers now known as neoplatonists. The extant fragments of the Oracles have been the subject of several studies in the modern era: since its publication in 1989 this presentation of the Chaldean Oracles in parallel text and translation with Ruth Majercik's detailed notes and analysis has established itself as the modern baseline for scholarly work upon the Oracles. This is a facsimile edition of that publication. 272pp

Price: $34.00

The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
Watts, Alan W
New World Library

In describing the effects of mescaline, Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception literally opened a door. Watts walked through it with this classic account of the levels of insight consciousness-changing drugs can facilitate "when accompanied with sustained philosophical reflection by a person who is in search, not of kicks, but of understanding." Watts and peers including foreword authors Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (then Harvard professors) anticipated physicists recognizing the individuals "inseparability from the rest of the world," the work of New Age thinkers who combine scientific findings and spiritual experiences, and federally funded clinical trials utilizing psilocybin to treat a variety of conditions. More than an artifact, The Joyous Cosmology is both a riveting memoir of Watts’ personal experiments and a profound meditation on our perennial questions about the nature of existence and the existence of the sacred.

Includes Watts's article "Psychedelics and Religious Experience"

Price: $14.00

Arcanum Bestiarum: Of The Subtil And Occult Virtues Of Divers Beasts
Fitzgerald, Robert
Three Hands Press

Written in the great tradition of the medieval bestiaries, Robert Fitzgerald's long-awaited new work Arcanum Bestiarum re-imagines the animal menagerie in the context of bestial mystery and atavistic power. Written for the modern magical practitioner and zoophile, the 272-page volume examines the occult virtues and totemic majesties of fifty animals, theriomorphs, and their kindred. Correspondences with deific powers, atavistic wisdom, and mythopoetic emanation are examined, especially in light of the tutelary powers all animals possess.

The Tetramorph -- essentially an animalic ‘crown of creation’ -- is here transformed into the far broader and innovative concept of the ‘Theriomorph’, or, the Zodiak Entire of Creation as an apotheosis of the animal form and zoötype… One of the greatest of virtues possessed by the Human is its bestial heritage, both spiritually and genetically. These attributes are often seen as primitive, chaotic and dangerous to civilized culture by the custodians of moralism and religion today, but the fact remains that it is our animal heritage that makes us what we are, or, more accurately, what we should and can be.

Special attention is given to the zoomorphic aspects of alchemy, which historically used the bestial emblemata as veils of the stages of the Great Work, as well as shamanism and witchcraft, bodies of knowledge particularly rich in the lore of animals as spirit-helpers. The work is an emergent strand of magical investigation long part of the author’s private life, where he has worked in the ecological field of wildlife rehabilitation, especially raptors.

The text is graced with fifty-five original woodcut illustrations by artist Liv Rainey-Smith, prepared especially for this title in close collaboration with the author. Amongst the more ambitious renderings in the work are the occult cryptofauna Homunculus, Manticore, Ouroboros, and Basilisk, as well as animals prominent in the ancient dawn of magick: the Bear, Goat, Viper, Peacock, and more. Completing the design elements is an original typeface designed for the work by calligrapher Gail Coppock, serving to illuminate this grimoire of the Magician’s Primal Eden.

The book is 272 pages, printed in two colour ink on heavy stock, and illustrated throughout.

Standard Edition: 1400 copies, in hardcover with dust jacket.

Price: $75.00