Mystery Initiations

Martinists orders - Pasqually - Saint-Martin - Willermoz - Papus -  Encausse - Elect-coen - RER - Birth and rebirth of Martinism - Elements for understanding martinism, Saint-Martin's doctrine - three points of the work: emanation, fall, reintegration - the return - implantation -

Life about a Saint as historical two places after his Martyrdom, Mystical event of around 1584 C.E / 1004 A.H, the explanation of file in mix of language Urdu, Arabic and English as written, more than this i can not remap in official, because i have tiered as my personal and in alone based on my self investment innovatory work, revealed in 2013 C.E / 1434 A.H, this file created as on 2017, in alone, old age Man, a site was created by name http://www.nawraskings.life/. Nick Name (Wazeer_OS}.

This article is the first of two articles, in a greater series, that will look at evidence indicating a connection to the spiritual stream of Rosicrucianism. In our previous two articles we have addressed, in the first, the moral questions that have arisen regarding Harry Potter’s connection to “witchcraft and wizardry” and in the second, the path of initiation as it is presented in the stories. In these previous studies we have established a basis to begin to understand the spiritual sources from which J. K. Rowling has drawn in creating the Harry Potter series. In the present article we will seek to place Rosicrucianism in a proper context to historical Christianity (and to the evolution of consciousness in general) before we attempt to show the extent to which Rosicrucianism figures into the Potter series primarily through an examination of the similarities between it and The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz —one of the original manifestos of the Rosicrucians. To accomplish this we will be focusing mainly on similar outer characteristics such as story line, plot and setting while also providing some insights into their esoteric underpinnings. This is intended to provide a foundation for a subsequent article (PART IV, Harry Potter and the Rosicrucian Stream No. 2), in which we will attempt to show how the Rosicrucian spirit suffuses the books as well as the character of Harry Potter and his two closest companions Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who together, as mentioned earlier in this series, might well represent the members of the tri-partite human soul: thinking, feeling and willing.

The paper focuses on embodied mystery experiences of initiates in ancient Greek mystery cults. Four main questions are addressed: what kind of experience was considered the core of Greek mystery initiations, how was this experience attained, in what way did it influence the life of the initiates, and what real-life experience could prompt the idea of mystery initiations.
Mystery initiation may be defined as ersatz-death, a rehearsal of the real one.  Modelled as it seems on near-death experiences, these rites comprised alterations of the initiate’s state of consciousness. For trivial events to be remembered by the mystai as revelations, they were brought to a state of heightened sensitivity and perhaps also suggestibility. The knowledge of life and death thus acquired was a holistic and ineffable sensation, rather than a learnt doctrine: in Aristotle’s words, the initiates were “not to learn anything, but rather to experience and to be inclined”.

One of the primary goals of spiritual science is to prepare humanity for what is popularly called the second coming of Christ, which students of spiritual science generally refer to as the return of Christ in the etheric. It is the goal of this lecture to clarify, expand and deepen our understanding and awareness of this event so that people of good will who encounter this message can further participate in the Mystery of Christ’s second coming and the much-needed impulse for renewal that it will bring to humanity.

Spiritual science takes St. Paul’s conversion/initiation experience on the road to Damascus as a template for what occurs when one encounters Christ in the Etheric—which itself may be regarded as an initiation. This would not be true if this experience did not echo initiation as it was practiced in earlier times in mystery centers. This study seeks to show the connection between ancient practices of initiation and their modern counterparts in the teaching of St. Paul in the New Testament from the standpoint of modern spiritual science. In the process we will also seek to clarify popular misunderstandings about the Second Coming of Christ and critique questionable modern evangelical methods used to induce "experiences of salvation," with the goal of making true initiation into the Christ Mystery of our time accessible to those who seek such an experience.

This article examines the link between C.G. Jung's experiences recorded in The Red Book to that of an initi-atory process found in the study of Western esotericism, and the serious confrontation that the opus brings up for the initiate. It is a sincere attempt at bringing a new perspective on what Jung struggled to illuminate in his observations. One of Jung's grandsons, Ulrich Hoerni, acknowledges in the preface of The Red Book, that this work provoked much reflection to what kind of audience it is actually directed towards. It is the contention of this writer that The Red Book is a visually rich and sharp yet clear to understand first-hand account that essentially illustrates an esoteric process alchemists have spoken of as initiation.

The 1939 family classic film, The Wizard of Oz, based on the beloved children’s tale by L. Frank Baum, represents a modern example of mythologist Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero quest myth.  This two-part study begins with a theoretical overview contextualizing The Wizard of Oz, as mythopoeic literature, and Campbell’s hero quest paradigm, informed by Carl G. Jung’s theories and methods as well as other key sources.  The second part of the study applies Campbell’s model to the text of Baum’s Oz narrative in both its cinematic and literary forms, examining Baum’s tale for archetypal features described in Campbell’s model of the initial stage of the “leitmotif of the monomyth.”  This comparative analysis emphasizes the myth-motif of the threshold passage accompanied by sequentially interconnected, recurring myth-motifs identified by Campbell and associated with the initial stage of Dorothy Gale’s transformational journey, i.e., separation from ordinary reality.  This narrative interpretation demonstrates key symbolic features of mythico-ritual (initiatory) structure in the initial stage of Baum’s modern fairy tale.  Screenshots from the movie visually illustrate that Dorothy’s journey in the other world of Oz closely follows the archetypal, symbolic structure of Campbell’s classic quest myth of the hero. 

Keywords: archetype, Arnold van Gennep, Carl G. Jung, hero quest, initiation, Jean Houston, Joseph Campbell, J. R. R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Mircea Eliade, monomyth, myth-motif, mythic orphan, mythology, mythopoeic, narrative, night sea journey, primordial image, rites of passage, ritual, shaman, threshold passage, Wizard of Oz

An argument for developing systems of self-initiation and self-development in the Yoruba origin Ifa system of knowledge, spiritual development and divination in order to make Ifa more accessible to enthusiasts beyond the current limitations, controversial practices and abuses emerging within the growing globalization of the traditional model of Ifa initiation and learning. The main text is complemented by pictures and accompanying text projecting Ifa as a spirituality centred in the intersection between the transcendent and the terrestrial, dramatized by the power of the beauty and mystery of nature.

The faculty of memory, comprising memorization and remembrance, is often viewed as entirely rational. This paper focuses on three phenomena, poetry, mystery initiations, and Plato’s philosophy, in order to demonstrate that in some spheres, mania and mnêmê intertwined. The poet’s memory is only partially his own: he recalls and commemorates in the grip of divine inspiration, when he is out of his mind. Creation of the eternal memory of the life-changing ecstatic experience was the aim of mystery rites, whereas the mnêmê of the ceremony was enhanced by means of mania. Finally, in Plato, the philosopher’s recollection of his soul’s true knowledge is pictured as a seizure of mania.  Magic memory and inspired knowledge are present in all these phenomena. The ancient mingling of thinking, alteration of consciousness and remembering, expressed by means of the words deriving from the Indo-European root men-, denoting ‘active mental force,’ did not disappear in Greece.

Rudolf Steiner and the sculptor Edith Marion worked together to create a 9.5 meter (approx. 31 ft.) tall wooden sculpture of Christ positioned between Lucifer and Ahriman, which is known as The Representative of Humanity. It is an intriguing, monumental, world-historic sculpture that stands in the building called the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, at the hub of the Anthroposophical Society, and has been the object of no little astonishment, contemplation and study since its completion  in 1922. To add to the intrigue created by this work of art, Rudolf Steiner said that a spiritual being could be perceived “behind” the sculptural group; he said that with spiritual vision one could see the being Isis/Sophia there. In this paper I will put forth the idea that behind the Foundation Stone Meditation, “sculpted” in words by Rudolf Steiner, also stands the being of Isis/Sophia.

Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind analyses techniques of searching for ultimate wisdom in ancient Greece. The Greeks perceived mental experiences of exceptional intensity as resulting from divine intervention. They believed that to share in the immortals' knowledge, one had to liberate the soul from the burden of the mortal body by attaining an altered state of consciousness, that is, by merging with a superhuman being or through possession by a deity. These states were often attained by inspired mediums, `impresarios of the gods' - prophets, poets, and sages - who descended into caves or underground chambers. Yulia Ustinova juxtaposes ancient testimonies with the results of modern neuropsychological research. This novel approach enables an examination of religious phenomena not only from the outside, but also from the inside: it penetrates the consciousness of people who were engaged in the vision quest, and demonstrates that the darkness of the caves provided conditions vital for their activities.

This is a more elaboret and developped version of the first paper published in Polish : M.T. Olszewski, Uwagi na temat mosaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr), Menander XLII, 9-10, 1987, pp. 421-438 (translated to English : The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory (In Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus), see on academia.edu

The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographical and iconological programme of five panels mosaic from the House of Aion at Nea Pahos in Cyprus. He proposes reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; ; 3. Apollo and Marsyas; 4. The Dionysian thiasos; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception (Leda and a Swan)  and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis (the apotheosis of Cassiopeia).
The author rejects the interpretation of W.A. Daszewski, (Dionysos der Erlöser, Mainz am Rheim 1985) proposed in 1985 and his order of interpetation the five mythological pictures (1. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 2. Leda and Zeus; 3. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia; 4. Apollo and Marsyas 5. The Dionysian thiasos). Daszewski would like see in Dionysos - a newly born supreme god, the universal savior.
see also a new article: M.T.Olszewski, The iconographic programme of the Cyprus mosaic from the House of Aion reinterpreted as an anti-Christian polemic, in: Et in Arcadia Ego. Studia memoriae professoris Thomae Mikocki dicata, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw 2013, pp. 207-239, Pls 74-86.

If you fail to act now, history will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." (King 1959) "Future planners assume that today's human behavior is normative, explaining it as adaptive to current conditions and part of a line of progress from prior Western or Euro-centric existence. There is a lack of awareness of how "worldview" has influenced the state of affairs in the world today." (Four Arrows and Narvaez 2016, p. 2) have on one's descendants. Interconnectedness fosters harmony by promoting responsibility and reciprocity, and harmony is considered the most powerful energy in the universe." (Methot 2012) "In Indigenous sciences, the world is often understood in terms of flows of energies (and sometimes entities) across a permeable boundary between manifest and unmanifest realities. Working relationships with forces deemed "superstitious" or "irrational" in modern science are significant aspects of social processes and healing practices. Maintaining these worldviews and practices is an uphill battle against the hegemony of modern scientific thought and the legacy of missionaries and educators who tried so hard to dismantle Indigenous knowledge systems. Even among scientists today, those who try to work outside the mechanistic paradigm in ways that approach Indigenous science are denounced as crackpots." (Herman 2008, p. 75) Returning to our discussion of , accepting that being 'realistic' means accepting the status quo is just fine if accepting the status quo is tenable for you in your seat of privilege, but it is not tenable if accepting the status quo means accepting the suffering and death of your homeland, nonhuman kin, family, friends, communities, etc. By not telling students how things fit together in the political, social, economic, etc. systems of Colonial Modernity or how we should think and feel about the oppressive ways that things fit together in colonial modernity teachers simply allow the exploitative, dominant culture of Colonial Modernity and its many and varied mythological rationalizations for oppression (which have been inscribed upon all those people who are socialized within Colonial Modernity) to go unproblematized (which is to say to retain their 'commonsensical', banal invisibility). By approaching education in a non-didactic manner authors like Cook implicitly support the hegemonic status quo and the many and varied forms of oppression therein. Obviously students will retain their ability to accept or reject didactic narrations, but the key is that didactic narrations which counter the dominant culture serve to problematize the banal invisibility of the dominant culture and its associated myths, ideas, logics, ontological assumptions, etc. (i.e. Worldview) that produce and legitimate the oppressive, hierarchical relations between things that typify Colonial Modernity.

This third article in the series Towards Building a Community of Grail Knights, which will be supplemented by two more articles on the subject of the Ancient Priestly Wisdom, will focus further, from a different perspective, on balancing the Male and Female wisdom we have addressed in the first two articles in this series. In the present article we will begin to examine the origin of our present culture's orientation toward masculine forms of government in what has been called the Ancient Priestly Wisdom. We identify independence, hierarchy and secrecy as the operative principles of that wisdom, which principles continue into our time. Taking up, in this paper, an examination of the first principle: independence, we seek for a remedy in collaboration, employing the esoteric implements of the Grail Cup and the Spear of Destiny in the manner of the New Grail Mysteries.

features, tricks, and ideas for pretended miracles and rituals passed from a religious stream to another and obtained new forms and meanings. The case of the miracle of knowing languages passed from Christianity to some “gnostic” thinkers and alto to pagan milieus.

Spirit, Power and Axis of everything, in our mortal eyes there is Emptiness: for the truly complete in these empty ones is empty. The Moon, the Axis of everything in our world, is therefore empty for them, and SHOULD BE empty. // Дух, Сила и Ось всего, в смертных очах — Пустота: ибо истинно полное в них, пустых, пусто. Луна, Ось всего в нашем мире, для них посему и пуста, и ДОЛЖНА БЫТЬ пустой.

Frequently, most of the literature that is studied in schools or universities analyses classic texts by authors such as Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, or Robinson Crusoe.

In the academic field, apart from theological studies, not much importance is given to literary and poetic works that derive from metaphysical concepts. And it is usually assumed that this is a way of praising God, or it is only classified as 'metaphysical-religious' literature since the message of these works, being too abstract or religious or occult, is not taken really into account to the right extent. Hence, metaphysical literature then has only a secondary or almost non-existent role in school curricula.

In my opinion, metaphysical concepts behind a literary text are - indirectly and sometimes even directly - the fundamental part of the text. But the reader does not grasp the real meaning, or he stops only at the external, literal expression, without trying to change the reading perspective. One stops only at what is exposed without thinking about what might lie behind each written word. And no other interpretative key is offered.

This leads to the following questions: What does the metaphysical concept or theme mean in poetry? Who are the English metaphysical poets and what does their metaphysical poetry represent and how do they represent it? Which forms or symbols are used to express their thoughts directly or indirectly? And above all, what are the origins, symbols, and concepts hidden behind metaphysical poetry?


We will see some authors such as the Vaughan brothers, and several metaphysical English poets in relation to religious concepts and characters such as Jesus, Gustavo Adolfo Rol, and especially the divine comedy.


More Info: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQDjC5lUcE7qRUns4g8uumA/featured

Абстракт: Овој труд има за цел да даде увид во фаталистичките верувањата во мистериите и древните форми на претскажувања кај античките Македонци. Тие, како и останатите древни цивилизации, освен што секојдневно им се молеле на божествата и им принесувале жртви, поради незадоволството од животот или несигурноста во сопствените сили, прибегнувале кон мистерии и пророштва, сè со цел да се прочистат од сторените гревови и да дознаат каква судбина им претстои за сегашноста и за иднината. Преку анализа на бројните извори кои говорат за животот на Александар Македонски, намерата е да се прикажат религиозните верувања и суеверија на Македонците кои живееле во тој период.

Le but de cet article n’est pas de formuler une exégèse complète de l’univers végétal de l'Hymne homérique à Hermès, univers éminemment complexe, mais en grande partie inexploré. Je me propose de relire les différentes étapes de l'expédition nocturne d'Hermès à la lumière de la mythologie des plantes qui jalonnent son parcours et de montrer qu'elles ont, sans exception, des liens avec la mort et l'au-delà, indiquant par là la nature du paysage que le dieu traverse et la nature catabasique de son voyage.

The purpose of this article is not to constitute a comprehensive exegesis of the vegetal universe of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, a highly complex, but largely unexplored world. I propose to read the various stages of Hermes' nocturnal expedition in the light of the mythology of the plants marking his route and to show that they have, without exception, links to death and the Underworld. Thus, the plants indicate the liminal nature of the landscape crossed by Hermes and the catabatic nature of his journey.

ENG SUMMARY (text práce v slovenčine)

The substantial/transcendent transformation, the main focus of our research, represents a universal anthropologically and narratively fixed phenomenon, emerging from the oldest times of human development and culture. It is primarily connected with the magical-mythological thinking of man: it takes place in supernatural (sacred, magical) circumstances both in the current world and in the fictional world of arch-narratives. It follows the ontogenetic/phylogenetic transformations of human body reciprocally conditioned by the so-called needs (Maslow).
In the contemporary world, the biological-physical and psychological-cognitive development of man has long been marked by the rituals of transition, especially the ritual of initiation (Gennep, Turner, Eliade, Campbell, Propp), or the process of individualization (Jung). The thematic algorithm of substantial/transcendent transformation depicted in arch-narratives (original state → act of transformation → new state) strikingly copies the scheme of the socially and individually significant initiation ceremony (separation from the old way of existence → the phase of liminarity → acceptance/entry into a new way of existence). In the religious-magical and mythological-folktale contexts, the rituals of initiation overlap significantly with the notions of death and afterlife. The phase of liminarity (of the boundary), which represents an essential and irreplaceable part of the initiation ceremony, is likened to the state of death, the stay in the underworld or the mother’s womb (metaphorically, the mother’s womb as the “grave of mother earth”). The initiate’s undergoing of painful, often life-threatening trials in the liminary phase of the ceremony is closely connected with the symbolic killing of his previous existence and identity and the subsequent transition to a new state of being, i.e. the re-birth. The very act of transformation, iconized in arch-narratives as a mystery, can be similarly grasped in the semiotic manner: the magical transformation of the protagonist’s physical or spiritual identity is a symbolic, but often literal depiction of the act of protagonist’s death and the subsequent rebirth, i.e. the revival which is often marked by the final wedding of the hero. The ideologeme of death and rebirth thus represents the thematic core, establishing the motif of the arch-narrative thematizing the substantial/transcendent transformation.
In the presented monograph, we have focused specifically on two models of protagonist transformation, which can be part or the result of the protagonist’s reward or a deserved and undeserved punishment. Based on selected models of transformations, the opposition good vs. evil is strongly present, conditioned by the (religious) tradition, and represents the constitutive antithesis of the intra-textual and extra-textual construction of the fictional worlds of the arch-narratives. The function of transformation, and the closely related newly acquired form (identity) of the character, derives from its previous action in the relevant story of the selected narrative. The protagonists’ progress and regression, i.e. the transition (transformation) from one state of existence to another, is a form of explicit or implicit expression (in the metaphorical code of the arch-narratives) of the natural need of man to satisfactorily fulfil his/her needs. It also iconizes the feelings of stress, fear and anxiety from their non-fulfilment or threat - these are most clearly manifested in the theme of an undeserved/unjust transformation.
The motif of the rewarding transformation can be described as a motivic complex tightly bound by intra-textual and extra-textual relations. From the point of view of the logical-causal sequence of narration, the motif of the protagonist’s rewarding transformation consists of the following plot, which presupposes the existence of schematically recurring functions of acting characters - the antagonist, the hero and the executor. In the exposition, the narrator introduces the recipient to the story and clearly defines good characters (the hero) and bad characters (the antagonist). There is a collision - the antagonist, through his actions, causes harm to the hero, or creates a deficiency that afflicts the hero. Imbalance occurs in the narrative world. The hero undergoes life-threatening trials, suffers the adversity of fate, etc., until he finally defeats the antagonist and eliminates the initial shortcoming. At the end of the story, an executor enters the story and rewards the hero and punishes the malicious action of the antagonist. The essence of the rewarding transformation always resides in a certain form of existential physical or spiritual progress (e.g. deification of a human being, lifting of the curse, gaining respect of the community). On the contrary, the essence of punishing transformation is always a form of existential regression. The punishing transformation iconizes the decline of a man into an ontologically worse or a lower level of being (a person changes into an animal, loses his life in prosperity and falls into poverty, fall into the disfavour of the community, etc.).
In arch-narratives, just punishment reflects the religious, moral, and judicial system of the society. It is a motivic complex in which the characters schematically hold four functions: the legislator, the culprit, the harmed character, the executor. The motive of the deserved punishment/transformation has the following invariant storyline in terms of its content and logic: in the introduction, the legislator frames the relevant narrative universe with ethical and religious prohibitions/orders (i.e. sets the standard for what we can consider “good” and “bad”), the culprit violates the set premises and thus harms one of the acting characters (the harmed character). In order to restore the validity of the established laws/orders, the executor enters the action in the end, and justly punishes the culprit by taking away his human form and transforming him into the deserved form of an animal, plant, mineral, etc.
The motive of undeserved punishment/transformation is not interconnected by such strong intra-textual links at the structural level as the motive of just punishment/transformation. The basic intra-textual logical laws often do not apply in it (for example, the recipient does not know why the hero was undeservedly transformed into an inhuman, usually animal form). Despite the weakened intra-textual structure, we noted a schematic relational interaction between the functions of the aggressor, victim and the rescuer in the motive of undeserved punishment/transformation. The motive of unjust punishment develops the following invariant storyline: the aggressor undeservedly punishes his victim by transforming him into an inhuman (most often animal) form. The rescuer frees the victim from the curse and gives him back the human appearance. The motive of unjust punishment/transformation is closely connected with the invariant plotlines of individual stories indexed in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) Index of folktale types. In the presented monograph, we chose two motifs for an interpretative analysis: ATU 403 The White Bride and the Black One and ATU 425B The Disenchanted Husband: the Witchʼs Tasks, which iconizes the motive of undeserved punishment in a different way.

For decades, Arthur D. Nock’s famous definition of conversion and his distinction between conversion and adhesion have greatly influenced our understanding of individual religious transformation in the ancient world. The articles in this volume – originally presented as papers at the conference Conversion and Initiation in Antiquity (2012) – aim to nuance this understanding. They do so by exploring different facets of these two phenomena in a wide range of religions in their own context and from new theoretical and empirical perspectives. The result is a compilation of many new insights into ancient initiation and conversion as well as their definitions and characteristics. The introduction contains abstracts of each contribution. The book will be published in January 2015. .

Initiation into the Bektashi Sufi order is formalized as the initiate is led through a complex ritual form replete with symbols of death and rebirth, sacrifice, and integration that are enacted as the ritual is performed and in various ways experienced by the initiate. Once having entered and become a part of the order, then, the initiate encounters other cultural forms that reflect back upon the initiation ritual, such as poems that recount and provide commentary on it, contributing to his or her understanding of the experience of initiation as they too are performed in a communal context, and showing that integration into the order is an ongoing process. This paper analyzes the initiation ritual form with respect to the relationship between the cultural symbols presented in it and the experience it is intended to have on the initiate as he or she interacts with them. It further analyzes a particular poem that recounts the initiation ritual while adding impressions of the experiences evoked in it-experiences which meld with the initiate's own remembered experiences. Finally, it shows how these experiences are reinforced through the communal interaction that transpires as such poems are sung to music in a ritual context.

David created, formed, and steeled the power of an independent self, the messianic power of redemption of humanity, in the depths of individuation and in his heart's blood. His entire being is a realization of a crucial, positive, redeeming descent for the purpose of ascent, which is why fate appointed him to be the spiritual father of the Messiah, who would be called` Son of David' and `Scion of the House of Jesse'.

(Back cover)
Platonic Religiosity is a hermeneutical attempt to read Platonic works from the perspective of their religiosity. The aspects examined in the book are limited for the moment to the most basic, perhaps even the simplest, dimensions of religious feeling, those involving the representation of a relationship between man and divinity, Earth and Heaven, "low" and "high". Low and high are spatial metaphors constitutive of our thinking. Although, in this case, they indicate the link between man and the super-sensible world, they also presuppose, at all times, the devout feeling (and the risk) of an insurmountable distance and remoteness that divides men from the numen. The need to affirm the relationship partly overcomes the presence of this feeling of distance, but never manages to neutralise it completely.

Religious feeling as such always oscillates between two terms: the need to establish a relationship with the divinity, and thus to guarantee its proximity to man, and the affirmation of its transcendence, namely the distance that divides us from the numen, up to the point, eventually, where the danger becomes the greatest: the denial of the god by man (atheism) or the human feeling of being abandoned by the god. The presence of these oscillations in the Platonic texts is analysed in several chapters of the book, devoted to different themes, such as the representations of reciprocity (do ut des), the images of the friendly god and the hostile god, the feeling of the threshold, prayers and invocations, verecundia and nostalgia, the feeling of dependence, the notion of prescience, assimilation to the god, the different types of ineffability, the role of atheism and unbelief, and lastly the notion of conversion, which substantiates Platonic religiosity by characterising it in the sense of a redemption-belief.

The creation of the concept of the martyr by ancient Christianity was undoubtedly one of the reasons why this young religion could endure through times of persecution and also attract new believers. But what exactly made this concept so effective? Among the many mutually non-exclusive answers, one more may be provided: the person of the martyr simultaneously fulfilled, on a previously unknown level of intensity and scale, two soteriological ideals of the ancient world, i.e., that of the dying philosopher whose attitude toward death showed that death had no power over him and that of the mystes intimately united with the dying and resurrecting divinity.

Jos Velhurst's recent paper (https://www.academia.edu/11734939/The_esoteric_content_of_The_Descent_from_the_Cross_P.P.Rubens_1612_our_ladys_cathedral_Antwerp_._Part_II_relationships_with_Johns_gospel) revealed insights to beholding Chapter 20 that are picked up and expanded to help reveal a secret of Christianity in Chapter 21.

Eight days of meditations for Easter are explored in this paper, examining St. Paul’s conversion/initiation experience on the road to Damascus within the context of the Easter thought: in the spirit of the season of Sacrifice, Death, and Resurrection. In approaching this subject we concur with Rudolf Steiner who referred to this event in the life of St. Paul as the archetypal meeting with Christ in the etheric, as a template for our own experience.

In examining this event we can realize that what Saul (who was later called Paul) experienced was an initiation that contained within it the form and substance of the Mystery of Golgotha itself. It was a microcosmic passion, crucifixion, and resurrection. In this article the passion aspect will not be marked out by the happenings of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ that tradition commemorates but will concentrate on the actual passion (suffering) from the Garden of Gethsemane to the hill of Golgotha and will continue through to the Entombment and Resurrection.

What we are seeking to explore in this article is the significance of the Harry Potter series showing how the path of initiation unfolds in the life of Harry Potter. What is significant is what helps humanity to grasp the predicament of our time and to know what to do about it. Initiation is the vehicle for unfolding the potential within humanity to come to terms with good and evil in any particular era. The paper seeks to show how the path of initiation as it unfolds in the Harry Potter series therefore makes a significant contribution to world culture, a contribution that will last well beyond our own generation.

To join our assembly and to live with a glorified body in the pure flames of the heaven of fire, say the members of this Fraternity, it is needful that thou shouldst behold this Light, for without this it is impossible to see, save only when we ourselves do will it." (Thomas Vaughan) "This is the Crystal that raises our philosopher through the atmosphere to the empire of the sun, where the real Rosycross receive their legendary longevity and ubiquity." (Eugene Canseliet)

In this article, I propose a close analysis of Plato’s Ion to focus on comic procedures. My main goal is provide a conceptual framework that enables contemporary readers to connect text and comic tradition. This approach is based on an approximation between Classical and Performance Studies.

In this paper I propose to undertake a brief comparative analysis between current
cosmology of the Argentine Chaco Toba people and Eastern religious traditions such as the  Yoga of India. My analysis includes native drawings about the "Cosmic Tree", and the  notions of force, energy, consciousness, health and illness. In this regard, the work of  Mircea Eliade bridges the gap, and allows a dialogue between these two disparate cultural  horizons. Both seem to share common "structural" features as well as remote historical  connections. The religious and cosmological imaginery of Yoga appears as useful in  providing new images and metaphors to assess Toba shamanism and world view vis-a-vis  the classic ethnographic literature of the area. To sum up, this intercultural exploration aims  at finding structural and ontological analogies that can enrich the theoretical and empirical background of phenomena little known in the Argentine religious geography.

Hi, i'm a student of Archaeology and I'm hardly searching some examples about rituals (possibly with spearation-transition-reintegration -Van Gennep-) where the community imposes on young people/adolescents (preferebly girls) a limitation of their "wildness", of their natural personality, to be accepted by the community and live in armony with society. They could be ancient and mythical rituals or modern rituals. Have you any suggestion for me? Thank you very much and sorry for my bad english