Category: Esotericism
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Rhineland Pietists to Mishnaic Period: Medieval and Pre-Medieval Transmission of Jewish Esoteric Traditions
ORAL AND INITIATORY Tannaitic and Amoraic periods to the German Pietists. Consider all the well-known lines in Jewish and Christian sacred literature about knowledge for the public and knowledge restricted to the initiated few. RHINELAND PIETISTS, HASIDEI ASHKENAZ INSPIRES 17TH CENTURY GERMAN PIETIST MOVEMENT ⑇ The German Pietists in the 17th to 18th century owe…
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Nahmanides to Theosophy: Views about the Kabbalah
Traditionally, Kabbalah is the mystical, esoteric tradition within Judaism, and its transmission was restricted to a small few highly learned Jewish sages or advanced scholars under the direct tutelgage of a rabbi or a qualified mekubal (master). Therefore, there are levels as discussed. When you ask about the Kabbalah, you will be given a simple…
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Medieval Kabbalah and the Transmission of Jewish Mysticism
𖣂 Kabbalah is the primary vehicle for the Hebrew sod (or secret wisdom) as written. Representing pre-medieval esoteric traditions, the SeferYetzirah (Book of Formation or Book of Creation) is one of the earliest extant texts in Jewish esotericism and a foundational influence on later Kabbalah. This short, cryptic text describes the universe’s emanative phases through the 32 paths…
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Crusades to Late Renaissance Occultism to Enlightenment Timeline (1075-1680)
HISTORY ABOUT THE TIMELINE This timeline focuses on significant events and personages specifically from the Crusades to the Late Renaissance, which leads into the Enlightenment. It is a record of Europe’s most riveting historical developments in the study of Religion and War in Europe, and the history of the Catholic Church and Occult Philosophy from…
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African Traditional Religion: From Nabta Playa to Dynastic Egyptian Mysteries
ON THEMES OF PRIMORDIAL WISDOM AND DIVINE REVELATION FROM DUNLAP, MACKEY, PIKE AND BLAVATSKY AS A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY MASONIC-CHRISTIAN AND THEOSOPHIST SPECULATION ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES This article presents its case from the modern archaeological and anthropological record, and contemporary studies on the history of African and European religion, spurned…
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The Conflicted Albert Pike, and a Wounded Union: Early Years 1830s to 1880s
INTRODUCTION: ECLECTIC MASONIC PHILOSOPHER IN CONFLICT Albert Pike’s editorial career exhibits a philosopher highly in conflict with himself, and I hope his inner conflicts alongside his philosophical legacy may provide us the chance for reflection about similar men of our day. People fixate on Albert Pike’s pro-slavery stance (and often exaggerate or distort it) for…
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Albert Pike’s Life and Philosophical Legacy in American Esotericism
This article is a combination of transcription and summation of Canadian philosopher Manly P. Hall’s Seminars on the life and ideas of Albert Pike in 1958 tracing the origins of the Wisdom Tradition, which often takes on a form of mythmaking in Masonic lore. A more in-depth factual biography of Albert Pike’s life, views and…
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Roots of the “Divine Spark” in African Religious and Philosophical Traditions
The “divine spark” refers to the inner divine principle that makes a being fully human and capable of ultimate spiritual realization. The claim made by certain European racist occultists (e.g., some 19th-20th century esoteric racists) that Black Africans or people of African descent lack the “divine spark” (the Logos, Atman, Nous, scintilla animae) is philosophically,…
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The “Divine Spark” in White Racist Biopolitics
If you have kept up, this has a relation to Theosophy in its global context, particularly when addressing the teachings of ancestral and ancient Native American and African philosophical religious traditions. In the midst of researching the life and ideas of Scottish-Rite Freemason Albert Pike based on Manly P. Hall’s lecture, because his toppled statue…
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Investigating Jamal al-Din’s influence on Noble Drew Ali and Black American New Religious Movements
INTRODUCTION ON BLACK AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE FROM NEW WORLD TO NEW THOUGHT In a recent article about the concept of “Divine Messengers” in Islam and Theosophy, one of the key points I wanted to guide you into considering there are many influences that underlie modern understandings of religion, esotericism and theological study in the West,…
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Islam and Theosophy: Are Jesus and Buddha “Divine Messengers?”
Are Jesus and Buddha “Divine Messengers?” (Two-Fold Answer): The concept of the lineage of Prophetic Wisdom and Divine (or Spiritual Messengers) is a concept I came to when studying the history of both Manichaeism and Islam. This is not an odd thing to hear among Muslims. Some simply mention to me, that traditionally, there are…
The American Minervan 