Showing results by narrator "Matthew Schmitz" in All Categories

For long I have been spending much of my time in a world of great beauty of thought and purity of feeling, created by the devotion and intelligence of one of the many theosophical fraternities of the ancient world. They called themselves disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes, and sometimes spoke of their faith as the Religion of the Mind. They were prior to and contemporary with the origins and earliest centuries of Christianity, and they lived in Egypt.

Mazes and Labyrinths is a look into the origin and mystery of mazes. From ancient stone carvings, Minoan palaces to today's hedge-maze, Matthews chronicles the history of the maze. With devoted scholarship to "the lure of the labyrinth," W. H. Matthews has composed an exhaustive history of mazes and labyrinths from antiquity to the present.

The unabridged and enhanced 2nd edition of Zetetic Astronomy, formulated in the 19th century by Samuel Rowbotham, presents a flat-earth cosmology grounded in direct sensory observation rather than theoretical abstraction. Rejecting Newtonian and Copernican astronomy, Rowbotham argued that the Earth is a flat, stationary plane with the Sun, Moon, and stars moving in circular paths above it, asserting that empirical evidence—such as the apparent flatness of horizons and the behavior of water surfaces—supports this model.

Neville Goddard’s *The Creative Use of Imagination* presents imagination as the central creative principle in life, emphasizing that every external condition originates in the unseen images held within the mind. He argues that imagination is not fantasy or idle daydreaming, but a disciplined act of inner vision that shapes destiny. The book positions imagination as the very power of God working through the individual, making one’s inner world the blueprint for all external experience.

Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows is a tale of creeping dread set along the shifting banks of the Danube, where two travelers find themselves stranded on a remote island overwhelmed by sinister willow trees. As the river swells and the land erodes beneath them, they become aware of an unseen, inhuman presence pressing against the fragile boundaries of their world. The natural landscape itself seems animated with hostile intent, its whispering branches and ceaseless currents hinting at cosmic forces beyond comprehension.

In the hush between monsoon thunder and moonlit stillness, the hills of Assam have always whispered secrets. From the dense forests of Dima Hasao to the stilted villages along the Brahmaputra, ancient names still crawl across the memory of the land—Khoba-Khubi, Baak, Puwali Bhoot, Dainee, Jokhini. These are not merely ghosts, but living testaments to the cosmology of fear, justice, transgression, and survival among the people who have long dwelled in this region. Assamese demonology is not a closed system, but a breathing map of emotion, ethics, and ecology.

Few works in human history have shaped the course of warfare, strategy, and leadership as profoundly as The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Written over 2,500 years ago during China’s Warring States period, this timeless treatise transcends its origins as a military manual, offering wisdom that applies not only to warfare but to politics, business, diplomacy, and personal growth.

"The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine is a widely reproduced alchemical book attributed to Basil Valentine. It was first published in 1599 by Johann Thölde who is likely the book's true author. It is presented as a sequence of alchemical operations encoded allegorically in words, to which images have been added. The first Basil Valentine book to discuss the keys is Ein kurtz summarischer Tractat, von dem grossen Stein der Uralten ("A Short Summary Tract: Of the great stone of the ancients"), 1599.

Herbert Silberer’s Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts (1917) explores the deeper meanings behind alchemical texts, Rosicrucian allegories, and mystical traditions, arguing that these works are not simply about chemical experiments but are symbolic accounts of inner transformation. Using both Freudian psychoanalysis and spiritual interpretation, Silberer demonstrates how myths, dreams, and esoteric emblems express unconscious drives as well as higher religious aspirations.

In an age where stories flicker across screens in dazzling speed, there is a special kind of magic in returning to the deep, quiet enchantments of old. The Red Fairy Book, first compiled by Andrew Lang in 1890, offers us not merely fairy tales but a tapestry of cultural memory—woven from the folklore of Norse skalds, French peasants, Russian woodsmen, and the fireside storytellers of Iceland and Japan. These are not the softened tales of modern retellings; they shimmer with peril and wonder, cruelty and kindness, cunning and grace.

“The Garden of Fear” explores reincarnation, anthropology, theology, and evolution, through the quest of James Allison as Hunwulf, living a life that was once his own. It’s a riveting tale of primordial love and cosmic memory, set in a landscape both surreal and dangerous. The story begins with James Allison, who possesses a unique ability to recall his past lives. As he lies on his deathbed, he vividly remembers being Hunwulf, a member of the Æsir tribe.

"The Crawling Chaos" is a short story by American writers H. P. Lovecraft and Winifred V. Jackson, first published April 1921 in the United Cooperative. As in their other collaboration, "The Green Meadow", the tale was credited to "Elizabeth Berkeley" (Jackson) and "Lewis Theobald, Jun" (Lovecraft). Lovecraft wrote the entire text, but Jackson is also credited since the story was based on a dream she experienced.

This early work by Robert E. Howard was originally published in 1934. 'The Valley of the Worm' is a story in the James Allison series and tells the tale of a Texan who recalls his past lives as ancient heroes. Robert Ervin Howard was born in Peaster, Texas in 1906. During his youth, his family moved between a variety of Texan boomtowns, and Howard - a bookish and somewhat introverted child - was steeped in the violent myths and legends of the Old South.

"The golden tractate" (Aureus) by Hermes Trismegistus is a classic text of Hermetic and ancient Philosophy about natural and divine magic; it will strongly influence the later Alchemic literature. The Golden Tractate of Hermes, first created in the Renaissance and rendered into English in 1850, is one of a number of texts from its era attempting to explain alchemy, along with the works of Pontanus and Artephius.

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories is the third book by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others. It was first published in hardcover by George Allen & Sons in October 1908, and has been reprinted a number of times since. Issued by the Modern Library in a combined edition with A Dreamer's Tales as A Dreamer's Tales and Other Stories in 1917.

Symbology Of The Christ Blood - Frederick K. Davis - Full Esoteric Occult essay. Originally published in Azoth Magazine in 1920, Davis writes about the modern profaned nature of blood symbolism and how we might redeem that symbolism through the recognition of the divine Father/Mother, resulting in becoming 'whole' through the divine Son (or Principal). This audiobook contains elements of Gnosticism, Alchemy, and Christian Occultism.

The Turba Philosophorum, also known as Assembly of the Philosophers, is one of the oldest European alchemy texts, translated from the Arabic, like the Picatrix. It is considered to have been written c. 900 A.D.

One of the greatest thinkers on the origins of Christianity and a renowned expert on Gnostic and Hermetic literature presents, in this snug volume first published in 1907, the lost teachings of Jesus. Not found in the canonical Gospels and, indeed, frequently dismissed as blasphemous or heretical or "reworked" by later editors to comply with perceived tradition, this beautiful hymn is not just of interest to Christian mystics but to anyone who values wise words well spoken. For those interested in mysticism, Gnosticism, and esoteric traditions.

This is an ancient alchemy manuscript. Artephius (Artefius) (c. 1150) is a writer and alchemist to whom a number of alchemical texts are ascribed. Alchemical pseudepigraphy makes it difficult to identify who the historical Artephius may have been. His identity remains an open question. As The Secret Book of Artephius was respected and mentioned by Roger Bacon many times, Artephius' writing and alchemy is dated to around 1150.

Northcote Thomas provides an lengthy study of the history and practice of crystal gazing. He covers techniques for scrying utilizing a crystal sphere as an aid in clairvoyance and obtaining visions. A chapter on the incantation or "call" is included. In additional to practical techniques, the work covers the crystal ball's history. Thomas spends two chapters in an in depth discussion of Egyptian scrying. An early work on the subject, originally published in 1905.