/lit/ - Literature

>Essential Texts (Roughly chronological)
-Corpus Hermeticum (Copenhaver) [Hermetism]
-Enneads (Gerson) [Neoplatonism]
-Zohar (Pritzker) [Kabbalah]
-Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae / Platonic Theology (Allen) [Renaissance Neoplatonism]
-Oratio de hominis dignitate / Oration on the Dignity of Man (Gaponigri?) [Cabala]
-De Occulta Philosophia / Three Books of Occult Philosophy (Tyson?) [Occult / Magic]
-The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus (Waite) [Naturphilosophie / Alchemy]
-Aurora (Sparrow?) [Boehmeian Theosophy]
-The Rosicrucian Manifestos (???) [Rosicrucianism]
-De Caelo et Eius Mirabilibus et de inferno, ex Auditis et Visis. / Heaven and Hell (Dole?) [Illuminism]
-Mémoire sur la découverte du magnetisme animal (Meyers?) [Mesmerism]

>>14198213
thanks

>>14198207
More diagrams like this? I'll post mine when I get home

I've simplified the essential texts down to just those books so that it provides a quicker overview. I took out anything post-mesmer because its all quite contentious. The idea is that you can read that manageable amount of literature and come away with a basic and historically grounded understanding of what esotericism is. We can make a pastebin for the more expansive recommendations and secondary literature, but having a monster list at the beginning of each thread filled with a lot of quite questionable books is unhelpful. I have tried to indicate the best english translations, though for most I am unsure. If there are any books not present that you think are egregious oversights please suggest the correction.

All ancient Myths and Poets.
Presocratics.
Plato.
Aristotle.
The book called "The Golden Chain" by Algis and Finamore.
Secondary works about the inbetween Plato (skeptics, birth of stoics, epicurean, etc) and Cicero.
Cicero.
Seneca and Epictetus.
Book of Wisdom/Wisdom of Solomon.
Plutarch.
Numenius Apamea.
Chaldean Oracles.
Alcinous.
"The Way of Hermes"
Plotinus.
Porphyry
Iamblichus.
Macrobius.
Calcidious.
Longinus.
Julian.
Themistius.
Proclus.
Sallustius.
Pseudo-Dionysius.
Damascius.
Simplicius.
Olympodorus.
All the other ancient Commentators of Aristotle.
Eriugena.
>Everything else is derivative
Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkley, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Peirce, Hegel, Emerson, James, Husserl, whatever
Might be interesting but they'll only have you realize that German Idealism was completed 1500 years ago.

Is the idea that the esoteric ideas of Europe came from the Indians who in turn got it from the Egyptians have any merit?

>>14198470
IF (and its quite a big if) the ideas are a result of straightforward transmission of ideas then it is mostly Egypt -> Greece -> Rome -> Europe. Plato and Plotinus supposedly spent time with Egyptian sages and of course the Corpus is in Greek but attributed to the Egyptian Hermes.

>>14198442
I'm not sure how this list is relevant. Longinus? The Longinus with no extant works or the pseudo-Longinus who wrote one book on aesthetics and poetry.

>>14198470
Not sure about India there, but definitely Egypt. You could even argue hermeticism is a corruption of Egyptian "philosophy"

http://www.sofiatopia.org/maat/ten_keys.htm

>>14198230
As promised

sorry, this is the only the /x/ tier one but I think you'll like it

>>14198470
No, unfortunately modern esotericists aren't very read often confusing Neoplatonism with Hermeticism; which actually has surprisingly little influence on western occultism until the 20th century.

Western esoteric ideas were uniformly Catholic.

>>14198634
Nice, nice, been looking for this.

>>14198714
>Hermeticism; which actually has surprisingly little influence on western occultism until the 20th century.
bizarre statement. Ficino was heavily influenced and even published his own translation, to give one example.

>>14198573
What am I to make of this? Is it suggesting that there is one secret cult that has been ruling all humanity since time immemorial? Can you elaborate for me please?

What would those more learned on the subject say the purpose of these esoteric teachings is? Is it just a more obscure form of "yoking with the divine" that was kept hidden by the church- whatever form it took?

>>14198803
I'm pretty sure your the same person I had a argument with about Mirandola last time, please stop getting your information from Wikipedia; Ficino wasn't very influential and practically unknown outside of Florence and the western tradition was already well established beforehand.

>>14198573
>hitler (rothschild)
seriously?

>>14198717
No problem, let it flow around. I will post more.

This stuff doesn't bring you closer to God or to enlightenment. It just gives you the ability to use the philosophers stone. Seriously be careful. This is not for the untrained mind, or the simple thinker. This is seriously dangerous stuff and it will change you.

>>14198812
>Is it suggesting that there is one secret cult that has been ruling all humanity since time immemorial?
It's very obviously just a "who descended from who" chart, no clue how you didn't realize that then you saw Judea and Roman empire connecting to the Vatican.

>>14198717
If you have anything more interesting dont mind if I also ask you to share

>>14198576
Can I get a little more information on this one?

>>14199042
>nigger
post chart or gtfo

>>14199091
Nah I'm done with that phase of my life. I do hope you enjoy it tho, it is very scary!
You will be playing with actual spiritual entities if you practice this stuff. I don't really have a need for this after my battle through the last psychosis.

You do know what this stuff is right? Like this is actual magic

>>14199004
If only there was a lineage of alchemists influenced by hermeticism

>>14199112
H-how to battle psychosis sucessfully?

>>14199112
>scary of death
>still did not repent
post magic charts you've been shilled about

>>14199119
It's a crawl man. You gotta constantly affirm what is actually reality until you no longer live in a false dimension.
>>14199163
Same shit as these pictures dude, I studied it on /x/, all off this stuff just funnels you to obey a system of thought.
It's sick shit.

>>14198213
Really appreciate including a rec for translations

>>14199187
Can you share more of your experience? I'm curious

>>14199187
Thanks man it's what I'm doing. It's really slow but it's getting better.
It's like pulling meat hook out of your body

>>14199209
Well bro, I got pretty far into a belief of this stuff being real. I got to a level my mind would read codes of reality so abstractly that 'synchronicities' where a day to day occurrence. I also felt like was deeply betraying my Lord as I was doing this. So you can see how my dichotomy was cracking, my mental prowess was going crazy and I was constantly in the spiritual realm.
My dreams where absolutely insane, and I was constantly having dreams of 'God' which were probably false, created by demonic spirits.

>>14199235
>it's another weak-minded schizo shills xtianity cuz they kant handle the true gnosis of occultism episode
*yawn*

What is the actual purpose of magic? I've never seen this explained.

>>14199235
It was just your father hugging to hard

>>14199229
It really is. Because it feels so good. I started to see it as the forbidden fruit.

>>14199247
I'm not even "Christian" in the sense you use it. I believe in God and I don't need a system of man to practice the art of my God.
Go fuck your self you weak minded npc

>>14199271
>n-n-n-no ur weak-minded
Laughably pathetic retort. Go off and enjoy the antipsychotics addling your brain and let the adults speak of serious matter.

>>14199271
Mine felt utterly terrible.
The worst pain imaginable.
No forbidden fruit here only error and delusion.
Actual study of God brought me out of it. Dedicating myself to actual teachings (vedanta) and not picking and choosing myself into schizophrenia also was huge.

>>14199235
What are your thoughts on synchronicity? I noticed them for a period, weird coincidences or I would even think something and then it would happen.

>>14198207
Was Origen rightfully excommunicated or was he right ?

>>14199260
Psychodramatic self-help

>>14198207
I seek the last writings of Donald Crowhurst
How do I obtain them?

>>14199282
I'm starting to think it means nothing and it's just your brain starting to reach into realms where things actually have meaning.
Because fuck if I can figure out what it means. It generally just jumps onto my latest anxiety to find meaning

>>14199279
Okay, yes my friend keep assaulting people with your words, you are very mature and very adult!
Go dialate.

>>14199280
Yeah amen brother, it is really good to know another person faced the same struggles as I did. Would you like to open up about it? When did you realize it was the wrong way?

Yeah I lost a woman I wanted to love due to it.
>>14199282
Meh I think they're real things that show that something is building up correctly in our life. Watching the strings of synchronicity come together tighter and tighter to form a web honestly is very beautiful and life affirming.

>>14199292
This seems very comfy :) . Would you mind defining psychodramatic? Also is this limited to a certain kind of magic? I see some other anons in thread talking about how esoteric practices can get quite disconcerting.

>>14199299
There is no connection between mysticism and madness except mad people claiming that they discovered the secret to mysticism. I am not assaulting anyone with words, I merely urge you to consider that your neurodivergent experience of esotericism may be highly divergent from that of a neurotypical...

PS: it's spelled dilate

>>14199333
The only secret to mysticism is that you must have faith in the system you practice.

>>14199341
Hermes Trismegistus ?

>>14199340
But what part of it makes it deserving of automatic faith?

>>14199340
There is no faith and unfaith, only knowledge and unknowledge.

>>14199358
Do you mean knowledge in the sense that these experiences are empirically observable and possible to rationally categorize? That seems to be the definition of knowledge in western philosophy.

>>14199042
What would you recommend for bringing oneself closer to G-d (and or enlightenment- I'm less concerned with this though)?

>>14199356
There is no 'part' it is up to you wholly to decide if it is or isn't.
>>14199358
Yeah but that's literally what faith is. Knowing.

>>14199374
>Yeah but that's literally what faith is. Knowing.
No.

>>14199372
Living a life full of Love and forgiveness. Honestly it's that simple, but good luck pulling it off. Even the saints that the Catholics worship struggled. The Indians will bring you to G-d just as much as Christians, Jews, Catholics, or even Muslims.
You just gotta please the G-d my man, and part of that is aligning your inner G-d to the outer G-d.

>>14199382
Good argument buddy, almost on par with my two year old nephews when I tell him to eat his carrots.

>>14199390
>>14199372

What's this G-d meme?

>>14199396
I'm just copying his vocab

>>14199323
>Would you mind defining psychodramatic?
Expressing and exploring emotions through action to achieve catharsis.

>Also is this limited to a certain kind of magic?
I'm of the personal opinion that yes, certain practises within the community are quite self-harming. This isn't limited to /esog/; many people practise Buddhist techniques despite the Buddha explicitly warning lay people not to.

>>14199395
How about you stop making up definitions and read a book.

>>14199351
yup, colored version from Michael Maier's Symbola aurea mensae, Frankfurt, 1617

>>14199396
Jews trying to get around commandments

>>14199413
Your an idiot buddy, stop posting

>>14199247
Criticism is easy. Why don't you drop some actual wisdom instead of being a post-ironic poser?
>>14199279
Except your clearly just a bitchy child who likes reddit tier gatekeeping.
>>14199282
I think it depends. If you sync with G-d your laughing all the way to paradise, if you sync with matter and the flesh you gonna have a bad time. In my experience the more I remember G-d the better everything goes.
>>14199340
I'll second this. Part of my path was practicing kabbalistic meditation, the day i started it i had a dream (nightmare) about Azrael. That was all the warning I needed.
>>14199356
Faith shouldn't be automatic imo, it should be a matter of conviction as I see it.

>>14199390
As I suspected. Could i take this alignment you speak of as a remembrance of divine immanence, omniscience, omnibenevolence etc? Or perhaps like unleashing sparks of divinity wherever possible?
>>14199396
Exodus 20:7. Just remembrance and respect.
>>14199425
I don't reckon there would be many jews on 4chan. At least not the G-d fearing ones.

>>14199407
>many people practise Buddhist techniques despite the Buddha explicitly warning lay people not to.
To build on this, culture is really important, often westerners don't have the mental vocabulary to deal with religious experiences caused by a unfamiliar culture, without a proper foundation it's very easy to crumble.

>>14199494

>>14198207
Good to see so many Esoteric threads on /Lit/. Theres probably enough Gnostics on the board to rival the Orthodoxtards

>>14199260
To find the one

>>14199490
Is God a name of God?
I thought God was a title?

Has anyone heard of this guy before? He is a bit of a Neo Occultist, but there is some Good Gnostic content in his books

>>14199395
Hes actually right here, faith is ignorance of knowledge

>>14199562
Most sages would say one needs faith in their system to lead to knowledge of it

>>14199374
>Faith is Gnosis

>>14199566
Possibly but I would rather build an argument on truth than faith.

Take for instance an argument for a creator.
>fractals/laws of the universe(thermodynamics, electromagnetism, atc)/ math including harmony and geometry
Vs
>I have faith in a being above me

The first argument is much harder to attack because it is based on true things that cant be disproved not just a faithful feeling

Please dont mistake me in trying to bash faith, I believe it Is very powerful
My argument is faith is not knowledge and considering it so will stunt your spiritual growth

>>14199187
God is just a noun so there's no reason to write it G-d. Not taking God's name in vane means not saying the true pronunciation of Tetragrammaton, YHVH, which only the high priests knew

>>14199711
True, god can literally be described as anybody with a consciousness higher than ourselves

>>14199711
*vain

>>14199548
It is just a title. Its just a reminder. Theres nothing commanded about it, its just out of respect.
>>14199636
Not the other anon but I think people will squabble about facts and truth forever- as humans we just don't have access to truth. Also what the majority of people consider to be truth changes. Whereas faith doesn't change, its literally beyond attack.

I agree that its not knowledge. I think its above knowledge. Knowledge < understanding < wisdom (faith). Not that theres anything wrong with knowledge. The theres only one way up and you need to transform information into knowledge into understanding into wisdom otherwise you'll just sink down.
>>14199711
The more broadly we understand the command, the more widely we try to apply it, the more we are following what the L-rd wants imo.
>>14199727
Interesting claim. I'm not so sure about it. Could you elaborate? I would think that its wrong to bring the concept down like that. Humans can only have a certain level of knowledge/understanding/wisdom on certain topics. G-d has total and complete understanding though as I see it.
>>14199711
I think you could argue even printing the tetragrammaton in english characters is not on. It might lead to conjecture about how its pronounced and people trying to say it, formulating their own opinions. Better to leave it a mystery imo.

>>14199949
14199636 here, that may be true but what if we ask the question what is truth, maybe the answer differs on how we define it but the bottom line is truth should be consistent at all times no matter the circumstances.
>stand on the edge of a cliff(on earth), and take a step off. You will fall no if and or bust about it, it doesnt matter if you have faith that you or that some good will keep you from falling. That is objective truth. You cannot change that, therefore truth can be defined as something that cannot change, faith can has and will change

>>14200040
Faith doesn't change, the perspective of ones faith how ever may change.

Faith is like Love, as virtue that does not change.

>>14200226
Perspective on truth can not change, perspective is faith and truth is greater than perspective. The premise made was that truth in knowledge, I am attempting to argue against that, just to clarify. Truth does not change only the amount of understanding that comes with it, ie falling off the cliff.
>the truth-you will fall
>there are varying degrees of knowledge that allows you to understand why you will fall
>faith in falling or faith in not falling do not change the outcome of what will happen, it does not matter what perspective you have. The truth is you will always fall

>>14200280
Fine fine. I agree

>>14200280
Not convinced. Im still an epistemological nihilist. Any truth that man thinks he knows is only apparent and relevant to the world of phenomenon. Only G-d knows noumenal truth. Just my feeling on the matter. This is how far we've fallen, how arrogant we've become, that we think we can know (comprehend truth) what only G-d can.

>>14200994
Does the spiritual realm and the physical realm exist within the same universe?

>>14201198
Yup

>>14201198
Is god a spiritual being?

>>14201277
Or creator of the physical and spiritual realm

>>14202466
why is the lizard biting himself? xD

>>14202534
a way of life, it seems

>>14202547
doesn't it hurt? :P

>>14202564
it's a tiresome process

>>14199533
Esoteric does not mean gnostic you absolute moron

>>14203003
I don’t think he meant that esotericism is Gnosticism, just that esotericism includes Gnosticism. This assumption was made by the OP, which states that “This thread is for the discussion of texts related to Hermetism, Neoplatonism (in its mystic manifestations), Gnosticism, etc.”

>>14198207
I would recommend Thomas Kempis' Imitation of Christ. Kempis is a 16th Century German theologian. The work is brief and compossed of the best wisdom. Anyone who enjoys simple wisdom literature will find that this book is a complete treasure.

>>14198442
Hegel was occultist

'...and rend the books, lest your hearts be rent asunder.'

>>14198442
Why did you add a whole bunch of profane philosophers to this list? Are you a shill?

Mt 3:11

'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.'

>>14198207
Re: Kabbalah, can anyone help organize charts representative to the sephirot? I can't understand the shapes or colors in relation to them, they don't seem causually founded. Please help.

'I behold him in the midst of the floods, him who once appeared as dew in the fire in the midst of the three youths, now a fire shining in the Jordan.'