Western Esoteric Masters Series

Marsilio Ficino was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. Though an ordained priest, he was also a practicing astrologer and magician whose daunting life’s work was to reconcile religious faith with philosophical reason — which included integrating pagan magical practice with Christianity. In a lengthy introduction, editor Angela Voss puts Ficino’s achievement in context as a complete re-visioning of traditional astrological practice and the beginning of a humanistic and psychological approach that prefigured contemporary holistic approaches to astrology as therapy.

George Robert Stowe Mead (1863-1933) was a major translator, editor, and commentator on Gnostic and hermetic literature and thus a pivotal figure linking the late 19th-century esoteric revival to 20th-century art, literature, and psychology. As a young convert to the new movement of theosophy, he served as private secretary to its co-founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and after founding the European section of the Theosophical Society edited its London journal, Lucifer, for many years. Mead’s initial interest in theosophy and Hinduism soon blossomed into a lifelong and wide-ranging engagement with the texts of Gnosticism, neo-Platonism, and hermeticism. His editions and commentaries on previously inaccessible sources became standard works before the First World War and an important source of inspiration to such figures as Jung, Ezra Pound, Yeats, and Robert Duncan. A new entry in the Western Masters Series of concise biographies noting key figures in the Western esoteric tradition, G.R.S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest introduces Mead’s life, works, and influences, combining a substantial biography with a collection of his most important writings.

A pivotal figure of modern isotericism, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was a clairvoyant and supersensitive with a scientific and philosophical education. He believed that man can gain objective knowledge of higher worlds and apply these insights to all fields of human activity. Anthroposophy, the path of wisdom and knowledge he intiated, plots man’s struggle to attain full spiritual development through the practical application of the forces brought by Christ. Steiner saw the spirit as the creative element in evolution, and his work is increasingly accepted as a practical vitalizing force for today’s world.

At the age of 17, rejecting nineteenth-century materialism, Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) left her native Russia and traveled through India, Tibet, Egypt, Europe, and the Americas seeking out the sources of ancient wisdom as a key to spiritual truth. In 1875 in New York, she co-founded the Theosophical Society for the study of occult traditions. Many popular ideas of rediscovered ancient wisdom, including reincarnation and karma, trace their origin to Helena Blavatsky and Theosophy. This anthology includes material on her life and travels, as well as excerpts from her major works.

Although revered in his own time, John Dee (1527-1608) was until recently regarded as an isolated crank on the margins of Tudor history. This anthology of Dee’s writings illustrates his diverse interests and his central position in the history of Renaissance thought and the development of Western Magic. Dee’s celebrated Preface to Euclid is included along with selections from his Spiritual Diaries and letters to other mystics and royals. In addition to Hermetic and Cabalistic philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and navigation are also covered.

Best known for his focus on the intuitive force within, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) also anticipated major modern discoveries in mineralogy, psychology, and anatomy. In this succinct and readable collection, Stanley expertly brings the most significant writings from Swedenborg’s oeuvre together, showing readers a man who created a hieroglyphic language, reimagined the Genesis story, influenced Blake, Balzac, Strindberg, and Yeats, and authored a number of anonymous works that put the Swedish clergy of his day on high alert. This is the fourth title in the Western Esoteric Masters Series from North Atlantic Books.

Renaissance man, Elizabethan philsopher, and scholar Robert Fludd sought to integrate the whole of human knowledge within a divine and hierarchically ordered cosmology. After completing his education at Oxford University, he journeyed throughout Europe seeking the knowledge of mystics, scientists, musicians, physicians, and alchemists, leading to the publication of many historically influential works on science, medicine, and philosophy.

As a cobbler in Gorlitz, Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) came into contact with many great thinkers who sought refuge from the Roman Church and Reformation groups in post-Luther Germany. Gradually he became one of the most influential mystics of the Reformation era. This anthology provides an introduction to Boehme’s wide-ranging thought and his wisdom grounded in revelation, as well as newly translated Boehme letters.

Regarded today as the father of modern medicine, Paracelsus (1493-1541) was in fact much more besides. Natural scientist, philosopher, alchemist, with a deep distrust of orthodoxy and rational thought, he intermixed Christian theology with the Qabalah, believing that magic reveals the invisible influences behind things, bringing heavenly forces down to earth.