Showing 99 articles
Mithras and the Mithraic Mysteries
Author: Agostino DominiciJanuary 23, 2021
The Mithraic Mysteries have their roots in the remote Vedic culture of India. Already in the Rig Veda, we find the god Mitra as regent and protector of a perfect cosmic order. Subsequently, in the Indo-European tradition of Iran, we find Mithra identified as the tutelary god of the pact (or oath), slowly assuming a [...]
An Esoteric Interpretation of the Arabian Nights
Author: Ania HajostJanuary 7, 2021
When the breeze of a joyful dawn blew free In the silken sail of infancy, The tide of time flow’d back with me, The forward-flowing tide of time; And many a sheeny summer-morn, Adown the Tigris I was borne, By Bagdat’s shrines of fretted gold, High-walled gardens green and old; True Mussulman was I and [...]
The Seven Kings of Rome
Author: Agostino DominiciJanuary 7, 2021
The period known as the Roman Kingdom with its seven kings represents the time when the seeds of an emerging civilisation were firmly planted in the “Italian” soil. There is a growing academic consensus that the seven kings of Rome were all real historical figures, including Rome’s founder Romulus. This doesn’t mean that all the [...]
The Rise and Fall of Mayan Civilization
Author: NA El SalvadorDecember 9, 2020
The people of Mayan society built large cities, sumptuous temples, and towering pyramids. At its peak, around 900 AD, the population was estimated at about 200 people per Sq km in rural areas, and more than 800 people per sq km in cities (comparable to the modern Los Angeles County). This vibrant “Classic Period” of [...]
The Ancient City of Alexandria
Author: Nataliya PetlevychNovember 19, 2020
Once there was a city known as “the greatest emporium in the whole world” (Strabo, Geography). For generation after generation it attracted the finest scholars, philosophers, poets and inventors. It was a truly international centre that brought together Egyptians, Greeks and Jews, as well as Babylonians, Persians, Gauls, Phoenicians and Romans. In a spirit of [...]
Living the Samurai Myth
Author: Shraddha ShettyOctober 14, 2020
The word Samurai originally meant ‘those who serve’, although individuals of this elite warrior class in medieval Japan were also referred to as Bushi, or warrior. And Bushido was the code of morality which the Samurai were meant to follow, not just in battle, but also in day-to-day activity. Speaking of this code in his [...]
Terra Preta, the Black Earth upon which Civilisations were Built
Author: Gareth KinsellaJuly 30, 2020
“Agriculture is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns the earth, and even manure, into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of health.” – Hebrew proverb In 1542, a Spanish conquistador named Francisco de Orellana set sail along the Amazon river with a group of his fellow countrymen, looking high and low [...]
Anne Conway: the Ultimate Unity of Spirit and Matter
Author: Siobhan FarrarJuly 30, 2020
Seventeenth century England was a time of conflict and rapid change, and it is under such conditions that Countess Anne Conway, one of the few female philosophers of her time, developed her clarity of vision and influence. From her home at Ragley Hall and mostly through letters, Anne Conway was in continuous dialogue with the [...]
Paracelsus: the Five Causes of Disease
Author: Julian ScottJuly 30, 2020
As we are at present living in the throes of a worldwide disease, it might be interesting to look at other possible causes than the ones we are familiar with from the news bulletins. This esoteric perspective comes to us from a late medieval/renaissance doctor, alchemist, astrologer and general philanthropist (lover of humanity), known by [...]
The High City of Troy
Author: Nataliya PetlevychJuly 30, 2020
Long ago at the dawn of history, on a distant seashore near the sacred Mount Ida, stood a marvellous city, the walls of which were built by the gods themselves. It was there that Poseidon and Apollo did their penance labouring for king Laomedon on the orders of the great Zeus. The city was Ilium [...]
Post-lockdown Values?
Author: Sabine LeitnerJuly 30, 2020
“There are decades where nothing happens – and there are weeks where decades happen.” This Lenin quote might sum up how many of us feel regarding the events of 2020. Not that nothing happened before – in my view the last few decades contained quite a lot of events on a mega scale – but [...]
The Noble Spirit of Competition
Author: Markus EdinJuly 21, 2020
With the 2020 Olympic Games being cancelled we may seize the opportunity to reconnect with the spirit of this most famous and prestigious sporting event. For it has not always existed in the format we know it today, the ancient Olympics serving a vastly different purpose than the modern day Olympic Games. Just how far [...]