Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes

Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes PDF Author: Mark H. Gaffney
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594776156
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Reveals the hidden meaning of the Grail and a secret Christian doctrine for achieving higher consciousness • Shows that Gnosticism is not a derivative of Christianity but the revelation of the true message of Jesus • Describes the ancient relationship between water and spirit • Explains the doctrine of immanence taught by Jesus at the Last Supper • Features the translated source text from The Refutation of All Heresies by Bishop Hippolytus, the only existing record of the Naassene Sermon In the third century C.E., the Catholic Bishop Hippolytus composed A Refutation of All Heresies in which his chief target was the Gnostic sect the Naassenes, whose writings included a recounting of Jesus’ actual teachings at the Last Supper. Contrary to Church attacks, the Naassenes were not a heretical derivative of Christianity but the authentic foundation and purveyor of Christ’s message. In fact, much of what passes as Christianity has nothing to do with the original teachings of its founder. The message recorded in the Naassene Sermon was intended for an inner circle of disciples who were prepared for advanced initiation into Jesus’ wisdom teachings. The Grail discussed therein was not an actual chalice but a symbol of the indwelling of the divine. The teachings involved the awakening of spirit and included practices aimed at restoring the soul’s lost connection with God. Immanence, in the true sense intended by Jesus, thus allows for spiritual attainment in this life by ordinary individuals without the intermediary of Church or priest. This was the real meaning of the Last Supper and why the Naassenes believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Mystery traditions.

Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes

Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes PDF Author: Mark H. Gaffney
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594776156
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Reveals the hidden meaning of the Grail and a secret Christian doctrine for achieving higher consciousness • Shows that Gnosticism is not a derivative of Christianity but the revelation of the true message of Jesus • Describes the ancient relationship between water and spirit • Explains the doctrine of immanence taught by Jesus at the Last Supper • Features the translated source text from The Refutation of All Heresies by Bishop Hippolytus, the only existing record of the Naassene Sermon In the third century C.E., the Catholic Bishop Hippolytus composed A Refutation of All Heresies in which his chief target was the Gnostic sect the Naassenes, whose writings included a recounting of Jesus’ actual teachings at the Last Supper. Contrary to Church attacks, the Naassenes were not a heretical derivative of Christianity but the authentic foundation and purveyor of Christ’s message. In fact, much of what passes as Christianity has nothing to do with the original teachings of its founder. The message recorded in the Naassene Sermon was intended for an inner circle of disciples who were prepared for advanced initiation into Jesus’ wisdom teachings. The Grail discussed therein was not an actual chalice but a symbol of the indwelling of the divine. The teachings involved the awakening of spirit and included practices aimed at restoring the soul’s lost connection with God. Immanence, in the true sense intended by Jesus, thus allows for spiritual attainment in this life by ordinary individuals without the intermediary of Church or priest. This was the real meaning of the Last Supper and why the Naassenes believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Mystery traditions.

The Secret Teachings of Jesus

The Secret Teachings of Jesus PDF Author:
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0394744330
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
In December 1945, two Egyptian fellahin, digging for natural fertilizer in the Nile River valley unearthed a sealed storage jar. The jar proved to hold treasure of an unexpected sort: a collection of some fifty-two ancient manuscripts, most of which reflect the teachings of a mystical religious movement we call Gnosticism (from the Greek word gnosis, "knowledge"). The texts are also, with few exceptions, Christian documents, and thus they provide us with valuable new information about the character of the early church, and about the Gnostic Christians within the church. In this volume, Marvin W. Meyer has produced a new English translation for general readers of four of the most important and revealing of these early Christian texts -- the Secret Book of James, the Gospel of Thomas, the Book of Thomas, and the Secret Book of John.

Thrice-Greatest Hermes

Thrice-Greatest Hermes PDF Author: G. R. S. Mead
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
ISBN: 3849674819
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
This is the edition including all three books. The so-called Hermetic writings have been known to Christian writers for many centuries. The early church Fathers (Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria) quote them in defense of Christianity. Stobaeus collected fragments of them. The Humanists knew and valued them. They were studied in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in modern times have again been diligently examined by many scholars. G. R. S. Mead has issued a translation of the whole body of extant literature, with extended prolegomena, commentary, etc. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the date at which this literature was produced. Mead believes that some of the extant portions of it are at least as early as the earliest Christian writings, while von Christ assigns them to the third Christian century, and thinks that they show the influence of neo-Platonism. To affirm that they influenced New Testament usage would be hazardous, but they perhaps throw some light on the direction in which thought was moving in New Testament times.

The Sophia Secrets

The Sophia Secrets PDF Author: Savitri L. Bess
Publisher: BalboaPress
ISBN: 1452556822
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The Sophia Secrets A magical realism novel Writer Anne Demaree escapes an unhappy life in New Mexico when she moves to a bungalow by the sea in Southwest Harbor, Maine. With a sense of urgency, she escalates her elder years quest, a final search for meaning. Before she settles down in Maine, she and a friend take off on a two-week trip to a Kali Temple in India. Shaken to the core by her experience, Anne is determined to dig into the essence of this controversial Hindu deity. She must align with somebody or something as least as powerful as her uncontrollable anger, so she can heal. Anne neglects to take into account that you do not ask for Kali’s help without accepting the consequences. Kali is, after all, the goddess of transformation. One stormy morning on a trail by the sea, Anne stumbles upon a mysterious old woman who tells Anne she must follow her, because Anne is running out of time. Is the old woman real? Anne asks around, but no one has heard of her. Nevertheless, the old woman keeps showing up in the most unusual places and times, telling poignant stories, delivering exotic experiences, and sometimes with accompanying visions of goddesses. Meanwhile, Anne has found a tender love interest in Adam Waterfield, a retired philosophy professor and Cranberry Island native. A crisis with Adam’s drug-troubled grandson soon finds Anne at dead center of the turmoil. Falling in love and helping a teen boy were not part of Anne’s plan. Will these two throw her completely off track or be somehow vital to her elder journey? “I didn’t want it to end.” — Rosalie Kell, Graphic Artist

ANCIENT SECRETS OF CREATION

ANCIENT SECRETS OF CREATION PDF Author: Dr. Fred Reiss
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595892744
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Sepher Yetzira is a second or third century Hebrew book that is considered to be the seminal work of Kabbalah because it is a mystical interpretation of the Old Testament's creation story, and Kabbalists delve beneath the surface of the Bible to understand the unspoken mysteries of how the world came to be. Ancient Secrets of Creation is a new translation and reinterpretation of Sepher Yetzira that provides the answers to questions about how God created the world, especially how the expression, "And God said" is used. Because of Sepher Yetzira's succinctness and the passage of time, its implicit meanings have been lost. However, this work provides a fresh understanding of Sepher Yetzira by rediscovering and clearly explaining those mathematical, scientific, philosophical, and theological foundations on which it rests. These include pertinent pre-Socratic Greek philosophies; the ideas of Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Neopythagoreanism, and Neoplatonism; as well as the works of Philo of Alexandria, the Old Testament, and rabbinic understandings at the time that Sepher Yetzira was written. This translation and explication unlock the secrets hidden within the Hebrew-language text of Sepher Yetzira, the book that started Kabbalah.

Hidden Religion

Hidden Religion PDF Author: Micah Issitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
Covering secret societies, mysterious ancient traditions, and the often-mistaken history of the world's religious symbols, this book takes readers on a tour through the fascinating world of religious symbolism and reveals the most mysterious and misunderstood facets of religion. Hidden Religion: The Greatest Mysteries and Symbols of the World's Religious Beliefs not only explores the history and origins of widely recognizable symbols, like the Christian cross and the Star of David, but also introduces readers to more obscure symbols from religious traditions around the world—even defunct ones like those of the ancient Aztec and Mayan societies. In addition, the book discusses the "religious secrets" found in the major religions, including secret societies of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. Containing more than 170 entries, the encyclopedia is organized by religious category, such as Abrahamic, East Asian, and African Diasporic religions, then alphabetically within each category. Each entry is prefaced with a short introduction that explains where and when the religious tradition originated and describes the religion today. This information is followed by an analysis of the historical development and use of symbols along with an explanation of connections between symbols used by different religions, such as shared astrological symbolism in the form of moon, sun, or star motifs.

The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics

The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics PDF Author: Jean Doresse
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Gnostic literature
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description


Gnostic Mysteries of Sex

Gnostic Mysteries of Sex PDF Author: Tobias Churton
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620554224
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
An exploration of the sexual practices and doctrinal secrets of Gnosticism • Reconstructs the lost world of Gnostic spiritual-erotic experience through examination of every surviving text written by heresiologists • Investigates the sexual gnosis practices of the Barbelo Gnostics of the 2nd century and their connections to the Gnostic Aeon Sophia, the Wild Lady of Wisdom • Explains the vital significance of “the seed” as a sacrament in Gnostic practice Examining every surviving text written by heresiologists, accounts often ignored in favor of the famous Nag Hammadi Library, Tobias Churton reveals the most secret inner teaching passed down by initiated societies: the tradition of sexual gnosis--higher union with God through the sacrament of sex. Discovering actual sex practices hidden within the writings of the Church’s authorities, he reconstructs the lost world of Gnostic spiritual-erotic experience as taught by initiated masters and mistresses and practiced by Christian couples seeking spiritual freedom from the world. Churton explores the practices of the “first Gnostic,” the historical Simon Magus, and explains the vital significance of “the seed” in Gnostic practice, showing it to be the sacramental substance par excellence. He illuminates the suppressed truth of why the name “Valentine” came to be associated with ennobling erotic love and reveals profound parallels between sexual gnosis and Tantra, suggesting that gnosis lies at the root of the tantric path. Solving a millennia-old riddle regarding the identity and secret symbol of Sophia, the mysterious Gnostic “Aeon,” Churton investigates Sophia’s connections to Barbelo, also known as Pruneikos, the Wild Lady of Wisdom, and the central focus of the Barbelo Gnostics of the 2nd century, whose religious sex practices so shocked orthodox Christian contemporaries that they were condemned, their cults of spiritual gnosis and “redemption by sin” driven underground. Churton exposes the mystery of Sophia in the philosophy of the medieval Troubadours and explores William Blake’s inheritance of secret Renaissance sexual mysticism through the revolutionary English poet Andrew Marvell. Showing how Blake’s sexual and spiritual revolution connects to modern sexual magic, Churton also examines the esoteric meaning of the free-love explosion of the 1960s, revealing how sex can be raised from the realm of guilt into the highest magical sacrament of spiritual transformation.

Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ

Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ PDF Author: Malachi (Tau)
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 9780738705910
Category : Cabala and Christianity
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Stunning revelations about the mysteries of creation, the soul, and God The noble idea of the Christian Kabbalah is not so much the worship of Jesus Christ, but rather a conscious evolution toward a divine or super-humanity. In this regard, Christian Kabbalah is quite different from its Jewish roots, and Gnostic Christianity is very different from orthodox Christianity. Both are about experiencing God and evolving toward God, rather than just studying theology. This groundbreaking work is the first to present the Christian Gnosis of the Kabbalah in a practical and deeply esoteric way. It takes the reader from the basic ideas of the Kabbalah to in-depth explorations of the Tree of Life. Gnostic legends and myths of the Holy Mother, St. Lazarus, St. Mary Magdalene, and Jesus are woven into the study of the Holy Sefirot as well as commentaries on the Ten Commandments and The Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount.

Prayers and Meditations of the Quero Apache

Prayers and Meditations of the Quero Apache PDF Author: Maria Yracébûrû
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1591438675
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Teaches the traditional Quero Apache meditative practice of entering the silence--a combination of prayer, meditation, and breathwork--as a path to spiritual healing and enlightenment • Contains 24 prayer wheels from the Quero Apache tradition • Offers easy-to-follow instructions for how to conduct the practice • Provides rare insights into the spiritual philosophies and rituals of the Quero Apache • Written by a living descendant of Apache prophet Nochaydelklinne The Quero Apache Snake Clan, or Tlish Diyan, center their spiritual practice on the daily ceremony of Doowaa-gon’ch-aada, “entering the silence.” A combination of meditation, breathwork, and prayer, Doowaa-gon’ch-aada offers an experiential connection to All That Is from the Earth-based spiritual traditions of indigenous America. When performed properly, this ritual becomes a path to self-realization and transcendence. Prayers and Meditations of the Quero Apache explains how to establish a personal practice. In addition to 24 prayer wheels, easy-to-follow instructions for the ritual, and accompanying pieces of inspirational artwork, the book includes a rare overview of the spiritual philosophies of the Quero Apache. The author incorporates her own stories and essays into the text in order to share the wisdom she has gained as daughter of the Tlish Diyan, granddaughter and apprentice of Apache holy man Ten Bears, and descendant of the prophet Nochaydelklinne.