Henotheism

Translated from Mullā Ṣ adrā, Majmūʽa-yi rasā 'il-i falsafī-i Ṣ adr al-muta'allihīn, ed. Hamed Naji Isfahani (Tehran: Hikmat, 1375 Sh), 265-6.] On the thirtieth night of the month of God, the month of fasting, in the year 1028 of the hijra of the Master of mankind-May blessings and peace be upon him and his family!-after I had lethargically performed some of the recommended prayers, I dreamed that I was going up to a high place through a narrow route between two rectangular mountains or hills [stretched] along the way to the north and south, sometimes riding and sometimes walking.

In the 1690s, a series of enthusiastic episodes rocked Pietist circles. Scholars have often pointed to Pietism's "heart religion" to explain these events. This essay demonstrates, however, that such experiences belonged to an older, firmly established cultural pattern in an Early Modern Europe in which a magical world view prevailed. Martin draws on dozens of texts, most previously overlooked by historians of Pietism, that document the continuity of this tradition from the sixteenth century into the Pietist era . She traces the integration of ecstatic events into Pietist conventicles and shows how Pietists adapted and transformed these older patterns to fit the new context of Pietism.

Il presente articolo vuole essere un contributo alla comprensione del discorso dottrinale di Jane Roberts (1929Roberts ( -1984, e ad una valutazione della sua originalità da un punto di vista storico. Sebbene l'influenza della Roberts sia ampiamente riconosciuta, in particolare su quella pleiade di personalità, gruppi, movimenti e networks che vanno sotto il nome di "New Age" (ma tale influenza si estende sino alle manifestazioni dette "Next Age" 1 ) 2 , gli studi storico-critici dedicati a questo autore sono relativamente pochi 3 . La ragione di ciò è probabilmente triplice: da un lato il carattere relativamente recente del fenomeno; da un altro la carenza di studiosi metodologicamente attrezzati per studiarlo (per analizzare un simile corpus, infatti, occorrono conoscenze della storia dei nuovi movimenti religiosi, delle correnti esoteriche moderne e contemporanee, della parapsicologia); e infine, la natura stessa del discorso dottrinale della Roberts che, prodotto in stato di trance, sembra opporre alla metodologia ordinaria dell'indagine storica -basata, come si sa, sullo studio delle fonti e sulla contestualizzazione storico-culturale -difficoltà interne non trascurabili.

This article explores the socio-linguistic innovations of eighteenth-century German Pietists, a register that they themselves referred to as the "Language of Canaan." This unique sociolect (group language) was but one of many esoteric models of knowledge taken up by Pietists, who styled themselves as "true" Christians and thus adepts who – in contrast to "worldly" contemporaries – could understand the deeper (esoteric) significance of Scriptures and indeed, the semiology of the world itself. The article outlines the cultural and social functions that language fulfilled for the group before tracing Pietists' esoteric views on language back to the literature of Johann Arndt, a Lutheran pastor who was a follower of Paracelsus. Finally, the article presents one case study of Pietists' use of the Language of Canaan to argue for radical social and theological positions.

The Old Testament researcher Thomas Römer (Uivesity of Lausanne and Collège de France, Paris) leads the readers competently and fascinatingly through the history of Israel from its dark beginnings to the Hellenistic period. In the environment of desert and cultivated land - in the Levant and Mesopotamia - presents itself powerfully a multiplicity of gods and goddesses. In the face of political upheavals collateral gods appear in Cannan at the turn of the first millennium B.C. There are among others. El in different expressions and Jhwh. They first show themselves henotheistic and only later is Jhwh worshiped monotheistically. In the centuries that followed, these changes in Israel (the northern kingdom) and in Judah (the southern kingdom) received further intensification and differentiation from the other gods. This tendency is further intensified by military defeats and expulsions of the autochthonous population. Key events of faithful coping are the case of Samaria in 722 BC. through the Assyrians and then especially in 587 BC. the conquest of Jerusalem by the New Babylonians. Salvation-historical theological responses to these historic upheavals finally lead in the Hellenistic period (4th / 3rd century BC) to the only universal God, who no longer needs a name for Judaism, but as monotheistic kyriós and théos throughout the Mediterranean and finally worldwide until today veneration finds.

See note to chapter 1.

This is a chapter in the book On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art (New York: Routledge, 2004), available on Amazon.

Chapter 2 was originally published with two "verys":  "From Bird-Goddesses to Jesus 2000: A Very, Very Brief History of Religion and Art," Thresholds [MIT] 25 (2002): 76–83, including a discussion with Caroline Jones. Later it was reprinted in Faith, exh. cat., edited by James Hyde (Hartford CT: Real Art Ways, 2005-2006), 79-90.

This is about as brief as a history can get: the idea is to show that in Western practice before the Renaissance, the concepts of "religion" and "art" did not exist in their current forms, so it does not make sense to talk about "religious art" in all centuries and cultures. The chapter also points to developments from the 16th to the 19th centuries, in which "art" became increasingly detached from "religion." Without these very abstract, very sweeping observations, it can sometimes be difficult to know what is being claimed in conversations on religion and art.

"Le principe selon lequel un réseau d'analogies occultes relierait le monde d'en bas avec le monde d'en haut constitue, selon l'historien A. Faivre, le premier élément fondamental de la pensée ésotérique occidentale. Selon les textes platoniciens, gnostiques et hermético-alexandrins, abondamment glosés au Moyen Âge par les Pères et les docteurs de l'Église, puis repris inlassablement à la Renaissance par les érudits hermétisants et par les kabbalistes chrétiens, l'homme et l'univers, microcosme et macrocosme, ne peuvent être lus ni compris qu'en regard, car ils se contiennent – et s'illustrent – mutuellement.

Dans l'histoire de l'ésotérisme occidental, on sait que cette idée n'est pas demeurée stérile. Pendant des siècles, elle a servi de modèle théorique sous-jacent aux pratiques de l'alchimie et de l'astrologie ainsi que, dans la culture juive, à celles de la kabbale. Après avoir joui d'un nouvel essor à la Renaissance, elle a ensuite inspiré la médecine holistique de Paracelse, la théosophie mystique de Böhme, les fresques visionnaires de l'au-delà de Swedenborg. Si, à partir de la fin du XVIIe siècle, les sciences de la Nature l'ont jugée non pertinente pour l'explication des phénomènes physiques, elle n'en était pas moins, désormais, profondément enracinée dans l'imaginaire philosophique, artistique et littéraire de l'Occident.

S'interroger, dans une perspective interdisciplinaire, sur la présence – ou sur la résurgence – de ce modèle de pensée au sein de différents domaines de la littérature et de la pensée occidentale depuis le Moyen Âge, cela revient, selon nous, à relever deux genres de défis. D'un côté, il s'agit de comprendre quelles sont les formes esthétiques et sémiotiques qu'a pu revêtir le principe d'analogie micro-macrocosmique, une fois qu'on l'a dégagé de son contexte naturel, de type spéculatif, pour l'appliquer à des contextes différents, littéraires, artistiques ou autres. La diversité virtuelle de ces formes tient, nous semble-t-il, à la nature même du principe en question, qui s'avère être d'une souplesse et d'une générativité remarquables.

À un deuxième niveau, l'étude de ce genre d'emprunts favorise le retour de la réflexion sur le modèle de pensée en question. D'où provient, en effet, l'idée de l'analogie micro-macrocosmique, pivot conceptuel autour duquel se sont organisés, au sein de notre culture, quelques millénaires de spéculations anthropologiques et cosmologiques, mais qui est répandue également dans les traditions religieuses d'Orient? Qu'est-ce qui l'a rendue aux yeux de l'homme occidental, des siècles durant, un instrument apte à penser le réel? Et enfin: à notre époque, l'époque du « désenchantement du monde », quelle est la fonction d'un modèle de pensée célébrant la cohésion ontologique de toutes choses, assurée par d'invisibles signatures, et réaffirmant, par là même, l'unité ultime de l'univers?

Nous suivrons l'évolution de ce motif au fil des siècles et au fil des textes au cours de deux journées d'étude qui se tiendront à l'ENS-Ulm les 12 et 13 décembre, en salle Dussane."

""A work long anticipated offers the Early and Later Golden Dawn letters (letters from both the early and later Orders pertinent to these studies), the Sprengel-Westcott Letters, early Golden Dawn Historical Lectures, the Warrant of the Isis-Urania Temple; much other historical material. Articles by Gerald Suster, R.T. Prinke, Ellic Howe, and many others plus a special historical essay prepared especially for this volume by Richard Kaczynski entitled, Daybreak: Early History and Origins of the British Golden Dawn. The first comprehensive Cross Index of the Golden Dawn members and mottoes. With a translation of the Golden Dawn mottoes including the heretofore unknown American members. 223 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1558183310.""

İslamiyet insanların gerek yaratıcılarıyla gerekse diğer insanlarla ve tabiatla olan dünyevi ilişkilerini düzenleyen ilahi ilkeler bütününe sahip olduğunu belirten son şeriattır.Dini/ilahi ilkelerin pratiğe aktarımıyla teşekkül eden bu şeriat, sosyo-ekonomik adalete ve insan hakları eşitliğine dayalı ahlaklı bir toplum kurmayı hedeflemektedir. 1 Bunu sağlayan pratik ilahi ilkelerin Hz. Adem'den Hz. Muhammed'e (s.a.v) kadar bütün peygamberlere, Tevhid-Nübüvvet ve Mead şeklinde özetleyebileceğimiz aynı teorik boyutla farklı zaman ve mekanlarda farklı toplumlara gönderildiği de bilinen bir husustur. Aynı teorik boyutun en son ve kapsayıcı pratiğe aktarımı olması hasebiyle Muhammedi Şeriat, doğası gereği özelde Müslümanların; genelde bütün insanların sorunlarına çözüm üretebilecek ilkelere sahiptır. 2 Nitekim bu pratiğin tebliğcisi olan Hz. Muhammed bütün insanlığa gönderilmiş son Peygamberdir; görevi ise bütün insanları uyarmak ve müjdelemektir. 3 Bu ifadelerden çıkan tabii sonuç, nuzul olduğu andan itibaren bu ilkelerin kıyamete kadar yeni sorunlar ve durumlar karşısında yeni yorumlamalara açık olmasının gerektiğidir. İşte bu yazının hedefini kısa bir sürede Arabistan bölgesinden üç kıtaya yayılan İslamiyet'in ilahi ilkelerinin "modern" durumlar karşısında ürettiği çözümleri 4 ve ilkeleri yeniden yorumlama çabaları üzerinde düşünmek oluşturmaktadır.

There is fundamentally more to Baul spirituality and scripture than merely the music and lyrics that one comes by, and conceivably nobody can ‘delve deep’ into the music form without having some basic understanding and concepts about its tottyo. This book
is an attempt to understand and explain the intricacies of the Baul scriptures. The esoteric couplets, sentences and arguments that usually have moral or historical over tone, the pointed reminders, the signature lines, and the over all thrust of arguments within a very short periphery of time, the alankar (embellishments), all mesh in and combine to create a completed aura of ethereal munificence. Baul music with exceptions follows different traditions and Guru’s in every district of Bangladesh, and sometimes each has its own unique Guru Shishya parampara (student/teachers discourses), leading on to birth of newer, progressive and more challenging schools of thoughts.

While Fakir Lalon Shah is the most celebrated of sages of Bangladesh, the schools of Baul thought encapsulates perhaps several hundred more sages and men of great wisdom, whose writings and philosophies continue to inspire and whose graves
more often than not, take on the shape of shrines, usually devoid of any religious or sectarian symbolism. Being an oral tradition Baul music ironically is also one of our near extinct heritages as most of the works have either disappeared or have been claimed by
unscrupulous people over time. Studies on authorship of many Baul songs (including those of Lalon) and their relevance to original scores and or manuscripts remains a very complicated process and is mired by many unfortunate controversies. To top it off, it is believed that while there were over 300 different types of Baul melodies or tunes; today we are left with scarcely 35. While researching the Bauliana album, I could identify only 20 authentic tunes.

The essays ‘Bauliana: Worshipping the Great God in Man’ in 2003 were written through a feeling of guilt and remorse. While I did receive praise for my work for the musical album of 1996, troubling me intently was a feeling of not been able to share the many
words of wisdom that were imparted to me by the Baul’s over the years to a wider audience, teachings I was sure would benefit a lot of later day enthusiasts. I had made scores of notes at the time, as also consigned most of the teachings to memory but there was always a deep apprehension, that unless my writings were passed on hand to
hand; all the hard work that went into it, will fail my original intention i.e. opening newer dimensions into reading on Baul music, lyrics, philosophy and way of life.

Recorrido crítico por la figura de Necepso-Petosiris, nombre ficticio (legendario) bajo el cual se oculta el autor (quizá uno solo mejor que varios) greco-egipcio de un manual célebre de astrología, probablemente compuesto en el curso del s. II a.C., pero basado sin duda en una tradición más antigua. Dicho manual, del que sólo conservamos fragmentos dispersos, representa uno de los testimonios más antiguos de la tradición hermética. Esquema del capítulo: Testimonios y fragmentos, Ediciones. Estudios. Autor(es) y cronología. Título. Contenido de la gran enciclopedia astrológica hermética. Influencia.

Aleister Crowley's diary for the period of his travel to Portugal and his meeting with Fernando Pessoa has long been considered lost or inaccessible. However, a copy has been finally found and is here presented and published for the first time. The analysis of the diary allows us to have a fuller knowledge of Crowley's movements and activities while in Portugal and especially of his meetings with Fernando Pessoa. It also clarifies some aspects of the famous Boca do Inferno suicide stunt in which Pessoa was directly involved and brings some new clues concerning a possible initiation of Pessoa in one of Crowley's magical orders.

Man kann verteidigen, dass das Konzept der Magie als Antithese zur westlichen Kultur auf vier polemischen Diskursen basiert. Zunächst gibt es die Annahme, dass Magie eine Form von 'primitivem' abergläubischem (oder nicht-rationalem) Denken ist. Zweitens gibt es die Ansicht, dass Magie etwas aus anderen Teilen der Welt und daher ein fremdes Element in der westlichen Kultur ist. Drittens gibt es den Diskurs über Magie als etwas, das im Gegensatz zum christlichen Glauben steht. Der vierte und letzte Diskurs ist die bezüglich der inhärent böse Natur der Magie. Die Dialektik zwischen polemischen und apologetischen Diskursen über Magie und die bedeutende Rolle der wissenschaftlichen Literatur in dieser dialektischen Beziehung sind wichtig, um Konstruktionen der modernen westlichen Magie zu verstehen.

The life and work of the Alsatian hermeticist and Egyptosophist, René-Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961) attests to the continued presence of a distinctly nondual current of alchemical precept and practice in which material transmutation and spiritual transmutation are not separate nor merely coincidental endeavours but two indispensably linked sides of the same coin. The link, for Schwaller, was perceived as a juncture of meta-physical and proto-physical forces, a process conceived in terms of an alchemical “salt” (a neutralisation reaction between an “acid” and a “base”). This thesis demonstrates that Lubiczian alchemy, by centring on the esoteric formation of all “bodies”, to include the hidden “nucleus” of continuity between metallurgical, biological and spiritual corporeality, speaks directly to the perception of alchemy as a nondual, operative-spiritual process.

Before examining Schwaller’s work proper, part one of this thesis deals with methodological and historiographical considerations at some length. I begin by detailing the “hermetic problem of salt” through cultural-historical, mythographical, chemical and alchemical lenses in order to introduce the phenomenon of salt as an “abstract concretion” resulting from polarised opposites (acid and base, fire and water, sun and sea, sulphur and mercury, etc.) The juncture of opposing principles perceived in the “hermetic problem” of salt anticipates the methodological discussion, which examines the dichotomy between history and phenomenology, along with the materialist and metaphysical sympathies of these methodologies. Form mirroring content, the method employed in this thesis seeks to establish a “neutralisation reaction” between such extremes, encompassing both empirical-historical and eidetic-phenomenological approaches. The guiding model for this synthesis is the Heraclitean palintonos harmoniē (counter-stretched harmony), in which inherently opposed tensions are viewed as integral rather than antithetical to the deeper vitality of the whole. Following from this, the broader argument of this thesis is based upon the perception that the modern academic caricature of alchemy as either operative (reducible to chemical explanations) or spiritual (reducible to psychological explanations) is in many respects a false dichotomy. In support of a more integrative premise, detailed examples are adduced from both eastern and western branches of alchemy (i) to argue for the revision of rigidly dualistic biases within the historiography of alchemy and (ii) to lend support to the adoption of a more nuanced critical apparatus that is able to come to terms with nondualistic currents within the plurality of alchemies. Upon these premises, the life and work of Schwaller de Lubicz is turned to as a modern exemplar of this nondual current in alchemy.

Part two of this thesis focuses on Schwaller de Lubicz’s life and work, his colour theory, and his alchemy. Through a detailed bio-bibliographical survey, the keys to Schwaller’s intellectual development are presented and situated within their relevant contexts. I examine his artistic, Theosophical, socio-political, initiatic, alchemical and Egyptological milieus. As a student of Matisse, Schwaller had a life-long interest in colour and light. For this reason, the colour phenomenon is presented as a guiding thread for the dynamics of Lubiczian alchemy in general and the “manipulation of salt” in particular. The colour theory is examined with reference to Newton’s Opticks, Goethe’s Farbenlehre and ultimately to the operative work on stained glass that Schwaller undertook with Jean-Julien Champagne (alias Fulcanelli).

The work on colour, metals and stained glass is for Schwaller a propadeutic for understanding the process by which spirit (light, colour) transforms the bodies in which it is incarnated (matter, substance). Ultimately, the “hermetic problem of salt” is seen to centre directly upon the mineral register of an entity’s consciousness (palingenetic memory); because this imperishable register of consciousness is also the determiner of an entity’s form, salt is consequently regarded as the mechanism of evolution, resurrection and palingenesis. The deeper dynamics of Lubiczian alchemy thus concerns the role of this “fixed nucleus” in the formation of bodies, from mineral to human. In particular, I examine the principles of Schwaller’s metallurgical alchemy in order to understand how the “spirit of metals” acts as a fiery metallic seed (sulphur) that “coagulates” a nutritive substance (mercury) into a bodily form (salt). This understanding is applied to the stained-glass work. I then look at his meta-biological alchemy, in which it is not the genetic seed but the palingenetic mineral salt that forms the determining principle in the biological entity’s evolution. In essence, Schwaller’s “hermetic problem of salt” is understood as the fulcrum not only of individual immortality, but also of the qualitative mutations (leaps) between kingdoms and species. More specifically, the kingdoms of nature are seen to emerge alchemically through "qualitative exaltations" induced by the divine seed-ferment (sulphur) upon the primordial materia (mercury) giving rise to a neutral centre of gravity: the saline magnetic nucleus or ‘styptic coagulating force’, the spiritual locus of physical form.

In the final analysis, Schwaller’s alchemy is quintessentially nondual in the sense that it encompasses both operative and spiritual processes. These are not separate but deeply interrelated realities. Through the idea of salt, Schwaller offers a holarchical explanation for the continuities between mineralogical, biological and spiritual bodies, and thus a theory for the material mechanism by which consciousness transforms phenomenal form. To approach this kind of alchemy as exclusively chemical or psychological is thus completely inadequate and reinforces the necessity for a nondual critical apparatus in the study of alchemy.

The Ruby Tablet is a periodical featuring reprints of articles from esoteric magazines and journals from the past. The subjects covered in each issue are drawn from the esoteric genre such as Alchemy, Hermetic, Enochian, Kabbalah, Tarot, Martinism, Masonry, Rosicrucian, etc.

The Ruby Tablet: Vol. I, No. 1. January – February 2012:
Contents: Hermetic Notes by W. Wynn Westcott; Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Books; Kerubim Press; Martinism: A Profile of Martinez Pasquales by Sendivogus; Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn; Salamander and Sons; Ritual of the Fratres Lucis; Golden Dawn Research Trust; Golden Hoard; & Golden Dawn MS: Azoth Lecture.

A novel published in 1933, describes the isolation of a hallucinogenic drug from an ergot-type fungus. It remarkably predates the discovery the hallucinogenic properties of the ergot-derived alkaloid lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) by ten years. It also identifies ergot as the secret psychoactive sacrament of the ancient mysteries forty years before this hypothesis became a matter of academic and scientific investigation. In the novel, a central character plans to use an ergot derived drug as an agent of popular religious renewal, prefiguring the New Age religious revival initiated by the popular use of LSD. The story involves the mass testing of a hallucinogenic drug on the unsuspecting inhabitants of an isolated village almost twenty years before the Pont St Esprit incident of 1951, which has been ascribed to the CIA's plans for experimental dosing of unsuspecting civilians with psychoactive drugs. This article investigates how the author could have managed to foresee these future events in such prophetic detail and reveals the sources that were available. In this article the history of psychoactive drugs is set in the context of the political, scientific, literary, and philosophical culture of the interwar period and shows that the cultural history of psychoactive drugs is enhanced by such context.

Le sujet que nous nous proposons d’aborder dans notre communication est la dimension eschatologique présente dans l’œuvre d’un ésotériste chrétien italien du XXème siècle, Tommaso Palamidessi (1915-1983). Le terme « eschatologie » renvoie ici à toute réflexion globale portant sur le salut, individuel et collectif, et en particulier sur le sort de l’âme dans les mondes suprasensibles. Afin de développer notre réflexion, nous nous appuierons sur la lecture du Livre chrétien des morts (Libro cristiano dei morti), ouvrage auquel Palamidessi travailla de 1968 jusqu’à sa mort, sans parvenir à l’achever. Le volume fut publié à titre posthume en 1985.

Nous examinerons tout d’abord les grands axes thématiques du Livre chrétien des morts, puis ses sources principales. Enfin, nous formulerons quelques remarques d’ordre plus théorique, en essayant de mettre en évidence certaines tendances générales des courants ésotériques chrétiens modernes et contemporains, envisagés dans leurs rapports avec les modèles du christianisme traditionnel.

This is an article in two parts. The first part discusses current research in psychoactive preparations of ergot in various religious systems with a particular emphasis on Persian, Greek, Jewish and Islamic sources. Certain poems, hadith, and scriptural writings suggest an entheogenic heritage to various ancient sects that exerted and received philosophical and ritual influences over large distances and over time. Particularly, some esoteric Shia and Sufi writings are highly suggestive of a "celestial botany" that employed psychoactive plants for initiatory and ritual purposes. The second part will address current research methods that render ergot alkaloids nontoxic and entheogenic, a most crucial part of the discussion in the absence of a modern bioassay. This is essential, as without a chemical reality to support that such a preparation of entheogenic ergot is possible, all ergot theories concerning mystery traditions would remain largely speculative.

La sentencia del Oráculo de Delfos, "conócete a ti mismo", coloca al hombre ante tres preguntas: ¿de dónde vienes? ¿Quién eres? y ¿Adónde vas? El triple misterio del origen, realidad y misión del ser humano en el mundo. Para poder contestar a estas tres preguntas, es preciso conocer al hombre, pero también hay que conocer al mundo, el cosmos.

In medieval Sufism, one’s rank as a spiritual master was often measured by the success of one’s pupils.  For that reason among others, Abū al-Jannāb Aḥmad b. ‘Umar, known as Najm al-Dīn Kubrā (d. 618/1221), was one of the most highly regarded masters in the medieval Sufi tradition, so much so that he was called “the saint-manufacturer.”  Why was this figure so effective? One reason might lie in his ability to communicate the most effective, and indeed quickest, path to ethical and spiritual success. That path appears in one of his treatises as the path of volitional death, the virtue that underlies all other virtues. This article explores the meaning and implications of volition death in the thought of Najm al-Dīn Kubrā and its implications for Islamic ethics and eschatology.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the existence of a previously unknown scheme underlying the foundations of Hellenistic astrology. I will demonstrate how this scheme ties together a number of early astrological concepts, ultimately appearing to act as the motivation for some of the significations of the houses, as well as the rationale for the assignment of the four elements to the signs of the zodiac.

This essay deals with the phenomenon of Galactic Center activity (ie. Superwaves), and some of the ancient accounts of this phenomenon among various cultures around the world. The intention is to show how ancient cultures were not only aware of Galactic Center, but how they also portrayed its activity in ancient times through various myths, signaling the great power that our Galaxy's Nucleus has when it is "awakened".

The theme of initiation is one that has been found in Hermetism since the earliest times. From the millennia pre-dating the composition of the Hermetic texts, rites of initiation went hand-in-hand with ancient religious traditions such as the temple rites of the Egyptians and the Eleusinian Mysteries of the Greeks. As Hermetic thought came into the mainstream in the first two centuries of our era, it was only natural that initiatory rites would develop their own distinct Hermetic flavour. This essay examines the theme of initiation in the Hermetic Tradition, beginning with a brief overview of the Hermetic texts, and an examination of whether the term “Hermetic Tradition” is in fact a valid one. The teachings and characteristics of Hermetism with relation to the theme of initiation are then covered, with attention given to Hermetic teachings, the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, the idea of a hierarchal progression of steps or stages in the initiation process, and the question of whether or not something did in fact exist which could be described as a “Hermetic community.” Finally, these topics are related to the core theme of Hermetic initiation itself – it’s characteristic nature, the initiator figure, the stages of initiation, and the ultimate goal of passing through death to rebirth and transcendent unity with the Divine.

L’histoire des courants ésotériques italiens du XXème siècle est, dans l’ensemble, assez mal connue, faute d’études de synthèse. Notre thèse, qui prend pour objet la vie et l’œuvre de l’ésotériste Tommaso Palamidessi (1915-1983), ne saurait combler une telle lacune, mais elle sonde le terrain et pose des problématiques préliminaires, en apportant des éléments d’information nouveaux.
Astrologue, médium, Théosophe, directeur d'une école de yoga et fondateur d'un ordre initiatique à Turin pendant les années 1940, Palamidessi crée à Rome, en 1968, l’« Archéosophie », doctrine ésotérique soutenue par une forte inspiration chrétienne, à laquelle fait pendant l’école initiatique Archeosofica.
Si le discours du Palamidessi occultiste montre à l’historien les premières traces de la diffusion, dans l’Italie du XXème siècle, de tout un faisceau d'intérêts encore assez exotiques à l'époque en question, l’Archéosophie, elle, se fonde sur une réélaboration originale de la notion d'« ésotérisme chrétien », issue des milieux ésotériques européens du début du siècle, et qui n’avait trouvé en Italie qu'un écho très discret. En arrière-plan de cette réécriture on lit le besoin, typique de bien des nouveaux mouvements religieux, de légitimer son existence par le recours à une « tradition inventée ».
L’étude de la vie de Palamidessi est donc un prélude à l’analyse de son œuvre et à la contextualisation historico-culturelle de celle-ci. Axé sur ces trois perspectives majeures (biographique, historico-descriptive et analytique), notre travail inclut en outre des questionnements d’ordre méthodologique portant sur le champ disciplinaire dont il émane, sur sa définition et ses prérogatives.

Mots clés : ésotérisme, occultisme, astrologie, christianisme, New Age, yoga, réincarnation, tradition.

This paper discusses the influence of Western Esotericist G.I. Gurdjieff on the music of noted jazz and classical pianist Keith Jarrett, hopefully illuminating how religious ideas and methods can have a profound effect on contemporary music.