/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 (Weeks) [Boehmeian Theosophy]
-The Rosicrucian Manifestos (Godwin) [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]

This shit is not funny, my dog died to corona

Is there a chart or infographic detailing how this all fits together and so on? I'm having a hard time getting a grip on it all, what's useful and not and where to even begin.

>>14996311
I missed you king

>>14996312
>Enneads (Gerson) [Neoplatonism]
Elements of Theology by Proclus is more than enough to understand Neoplatonism. It's much more comprehensible and systematic.

>>14997495
Plotinus is significantly more influential than Proclus and, while Elements might be easier to read, it is unlikely Proclus could have written Elements of Theology in a world without the Enneads.

>>14997793
>269. "But does he have his own ideas?" — My "own" ideas. This is how the subhuman sees ideas. But ideas are not like cars or houses. Ideas do not belong to anyone — they belong to EVERYONE who has understood them. Indeed, inasmuch as ideas preexist and outlive a person, it would be far more accurate to say that HE belongs to THEM.
A bit of embarrassing platonism in the above quote, but it gets the job done, I guess.

>>14996311
Any oldfag here? Does the search for the truth ever finish?

These threads are retarded and filled with occultists and other w*stern cucks distorting tradition. Start with Śaṅkarācārya (pbuh).

https://estudantedavedanta.net/Eight-Upanisads-Vol-1.pdf
https://estudantedavedanta.net/Eight-Upanisads-vol2.pdf

>>14998210
Based. Spread the good word brother.

>>14998210
sooooo based

>>14998188
You do get closer but never quite there.

I ask some polite person to tell me how to get a discount on Aristotle, I already read most of Plato and want to start reading Neoplatonists, but if I'd wanted to read Aristotle properly it'd take me ages. I'll probably try to get away with encyclopedias and a couple lectures on yt.

Also, which of Plato's works are most important to Neoplatonism? I've seen Philebus and Parmenides mentioned many times.

>>14998284
phaedrus, timaeus & symposium as well

>>14998188
Yes with advaita vedanta , you need spiritual insight that comes from meditation and detachment
I tried ceremonial magick but its not as potent in long run as meditation and you cant just read your way to a spiritual insight.

>>14998444
You want her McNuggies?

>Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to stay at his home.[2] Proclus died aged 73, and was buried near Mount Lycabettus in a tomb. It is reported that he was writing 700 lines each day.

>>14998836
Capital is fixed investment, like machines and buildings. Humans are the opposite of capital.

>>14998481
Based.

I was just reminded of this time I was in a bar in Tokyo talking to this old Japanese dude in broken English. He was a doctor and a published author, so we started talking about Japanese literature. He was very impressed that I knew Soseki, and Dazai and Endo. Then I mentioned Mishima and the conversation turned sour....

I still regret bringing him up lol, I think it ruined this old guy's opinion of me. Oh well...

>>14996312
>Zohar
No Bahir or Sepher Yetzirah? Those are foundational texts on Kabbalah and precede the Zohar.

>>14998481
I snort 700 lines a day, does that mean I'm going to make it too?

>>14999166
if you're only going to read one then the zohar is undoubtedly the one text you should read.

>>14999197
You refuted yourself here >>14998032. You said the Elements of Theology wouldn't have been written if it weren't for the Enneads, but that is exactly the case for the Zohar with the Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah. Which is it, faggot?

>>14999762
reading the Enneads on its own and understanding it will mean that a) you understand neoplatonism to a good extent and b) you have read the most influential neoplatonic text and c) you have read the founding text of neoplatonism

reading the Zohar (for which I have recommended a heavily annotated translation which will give you much of the context gained from Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir) will equally mean you have a good understanding of Kabbalah and have read the most influential text in the tradition.

both of them are undoubtedly considered to be the most important and influential texts in their traditions. why not recommend the fucking kybalion or something if we're just going to reduce our interest in esotericism to whatever articulates key concepts in the simplest possible manner?

>>14997281
Plato comes first
then the Corpus Hermeticum is a Greek bundle of texts compiled after Plato's work was already around but (probably) somewhat based on Egyptian traditions that predate Plato and Socrates.
then Neoplatonism begins with Plotinus (Greek) 500 years after Plato's death. The Enneads are in a sense commentaries on Plato that took on their own life and became a big series of letters and essays on mystical experience and its relation to the work of Plato.
There are also (probably) Jewish oral traditions that haven't really been written down yet that later form the basis for the Zohar which was (probably) first publically available in 13th century Spain.

Then the Renaissance happens in Italy, a load of people are taking interest in ancient knowledge. Some of these people (Ficino, Mirandola, e.t.c.) realize that the Corpus Hermeticum, some Neoplatonic texts and the Zohar have a lot in common. Ficino in particular also thinks that Christianity is also open to these kind of ideas and perhaps contains some of the same undertones. The works they write are categorized as 'syncretic' because they draw on potentially disparate traditions and treat them as if they are all parts of the same system ('syncretism').

Because these thinkers are all early and highly influential humanists (and in many ways humanism has been the dominant ideology ever since the Renaissance in the Western World) a lot of this type of thinking ends up quite intertwined with Western Culture as a whole. So from the Renaissance onwards essentially anyone with the right predispositions or access to the right texts can tap into these ideas. Some later thinkers will build on each other, some won't. Blavatsky & co. were very very interested in 'reading the canon' whereas someone like Boehme is generally a bit of a crazy loner.

>>14997808
>Drop the I
No thanks, I'll have CHIM please.

HEHEH. HEY GUYZ. What's going on here. Heh.

Question for all occultists here

If you are a practicing occultist , and you’re following a system without a clear initiatic lineage, what do you hope to get out of your practice?

I’m unconvinced that any western esoteric systems other than those in the mystical traditions of the abrahamic religions have unbroken lineages. The issue is that I don’t believe it’s possible for a broken line to be restarted, as I don’t think any modern people can receive divine revelation in that way. I would love for there to be a way to rediscover the the truth held by Norse pagans or Egyptian death rite priests but I think there’s no real way in those areas to reach and contact the divine.

What are your thoughts on this?

>>14999979
Fisting?

>>14999965
The way I see it is that the way of drawing together a tradition other than the Abrahamic religions that aren't new age schlock (read: the Hermetic body of works, and perhaps, if you really wanted to dig deep enough, some stuff by way of Crowley/The Golden Dawn) comes from the personal act of synthesis.
It is taking varying texts that acted within the same field (while Abrahamic, the Zohar, the Enneads, the Hermetica, etc) and starting with the process of taking down notes on their common themes (the biggest one that comes to mind is the assignment of Male symbolism to the sun, fire, active principles, and, in many cases, raw power or understanding (I.E. The Magician) that, though incredible, cannot be furthered without the Female principles, the moon, water, and contemplative meditation (The High Priestess) that draws together the Male principles into something which can be thought on rather than merely experienced) into the bedwork of Western tradition. (Some of the modern day books that give comment on things like the history, theoria, and praxis of Hermeticsm like Hermetic Magic by Flowers, or Meditations on The Tarot are incredible guide stones for this).
From there, it is a process of almost working backwards to piece together the ideological/occult lineage of the western tradition. From my experience, a good metaphor is like a root system so large it's sprouts seem to be different trees from the ground surface.
Though, it is worth noting that I don't really perform any rituals besides the occasional evocative prayer of the Monad by way of the Christian Trinity for blessings, meditative prayer, and the application of Hermetic ideas (particularly the 'develop your innate talents' part) to daily life, so I may be a biased source beyond the scholastic side of things.

>>14996311
discord gg/Ye72mjy

>>14998210
Cringe

>>14998284
Basic works of aristotle is a good reader.

>>14998188
I am in my thirties and feeling quite good myself. Ama

>>14999965
I consider myself an autoinitiate. Reading can be a jnana yoga and a dead guru as good as a living. Combine that with raja yoga and you are set

>Hermeticism:
Corpus Hermetica -- Copenhaver
Hermetica II -- Litwa
The Egyptian Hermes -- Fowden
The Eternal Hermes -- Faivre
>Neoplatonism and Ancient Greek Religion:
The Shape of Ancient Thought -- McEvilley
Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic -- Kingsley
The First Philosophers -- Waterfield
The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library -- Guthrie
Complete Works -- Plato
Complete Works -- Aristotle
Enneads -- Plotinus
Elements of Theology -- Proclus
De mysteriis -- Iamblichus
Commentary on the Dream of Scipio -- Macrobius
Chaldean Oracles - Majercik
The Orphic Hymns -- Athanassakis
Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns -- Hine
Theurgy and the Soul -- Shaw
Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity -- Uzdavinys
Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth -- Uzdavinys
Orpheus and the Roots of Platonism -- Uzdavinys
>Occult Philosophy:
Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed -- Hanegraaf
Three Books of Occult Philosophy -- Agrippa
Cause, Principle, and Unity: and Essays on Magic -- Bruno
Transcendental Magic: Doctrine and Ritual -- Levi
Introduction(s) to Magic -- Evola
Occult Traditions -- Cheak
>Gnosticism:
Seven Sermons to the Dead -- Jung
The Gnostic Bible
The Bible
The Gnostic World
>Kabbalah:
Inner Space -- Kaplan
Jewish Meditation -- Kaplan
Meditation and Kabbalah -- Kaplan
Sefer Yetzirah
Bahir
Zohar
Etz Chayim
>Cabala:
Platonic Theology -- Ficino
Oration on the Dignity of Man -- Mirandola
>Angel Magic:
Five Books of Magic -- John Dee
>Grimoire tradition:
Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian(/Solomonic) Magic -- Skinner
Encyclopedia Goetica -- Stratton-Kent
Greek Magical Papyri -- Betz
Picatrix
>Alchemy:
Alchemy and Mysticism -- Taschen
Psychology and Alchemy -- Jung
Alchemy -- von Franz
The Hermetic Tradition -- Evola
The Forge and the Crucible -- Eliade
Alchemical Traditions -- Cheak
Mysteries of the Cathedrals -- Fulcanelli
Dwellings of the Philosophers -- Fulcanelli
>Astrology:
Tetrabiblos -- Ptolemy
>Tarot:
Way of the Tarot -- Jodorowski
Meditations on the Tarot -- Tomberg
>Paracelsianism:
The Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus
>Boehmeian Theosophy:
Aurora -- Boehme
>Rosicrucianism:
The Rosicrucian Enlightenment -- Yates
Rosicrucian Trilogy -- Godwin
>Freemasonry:
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry -- Pike
>Illuminism:
The Secret School of Wisdom -- Wages
>Swedenborgianism:
Heaven and Hell -- Swedenborg
>Blavatskian Theosophy:
Isis Unveiled -- Blavatsky
The Secret Doctrine -- Blavatsky
The Mystic Qabalah -- Fortune
>Golden Dawn:
The Golden Dawn -- Regardie
>Thelema:
Magick: Book 4, Liber ABA -- Crowley
>Typhonian:
The Magickal Revival -- Grant
The Nightside of Eden -- Grant
>Traditionalism:
The Crisis of the Modern World -- Guenon
The Reign of Quantity and Sign of Times -- Guenon
>New "Thought":
Kybalion -- "Three Initiates"
"Initiation Into Hermetics" -- Bardon
>Shamanism:
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy -- Eliade

>>15000069
Is the study and practice of the esoteric philosophy a way to endure and accept the way the things are or is a valid way to bathe yourself in knowledge to guide yourself to the life you dream to achieve?

>>15000226
It's actually a remarkably poor approach to either goal.

>>15000226
A lot of people compare magic to yoga and a lot of it is the same sort of meditation stuff about stoicism but goetia and even theurgy involve a more tantric element that is lacking in the sanitized modern new age. The latter view you express is alchemical and evolan and very much occult. Just be careful what you wish for I suppose.

>>14998210
Based, thank you brother this is amazing

>>15000092
Thank you sir

>>14999292
nigger taste

>>14999965
You can initiate yourself like the old times. Set inciences, dim the lights, put some drum music background, get high as a kite and meditate on all the things you read.
You'll get at least a grasp of wisdom

>>14999385
based

>>14999498
delusional cope. women are attracted to status, which is entirely relative as a measurement based on your social surroundings and what is held up as high status. that can be money, power, attractiveness, etc. or a mix of traits. your made-up good girl was just raised seeing that as desirable and as a status boost.

>>14998210
this

>>14998210
Based

>>14998210
>>14998251
>>14998258
>>15000307
>>15000359
Wow. So many pooinloo faggots (or worse yet hippie whiteboys in denial [i'm not a new ager, I'm a advaita vedantist {nevermind that that was a theosophical society neovedanta shilling that made advaita famous}])

>>15000447
>I'm a advaita vedantist
holy based! me too!

>>14996311
can magic grow my peanus?

>>15000474
Basederino brotato
>>15000514
Only Rene Guenon (pbuh) can!

Where do I start with Guenon bros?

>>15000373
He was definitely holed up in Hong Kong for a while, he was trying to pass it off as being in Vietnam or something but he posted 2 or 3 pics that are pretty obviously HK if you live here (expat here).

Figured he was here on business or something but maybe he was just travelling to Vietnam and stopped over. At the time he seemed to be implying that he was moving to Asia but then he left again

>>15000537
>I would lick all of their assholes but marry none of them

>>15000523
bumping my question

>>15000539
First you must learn French and convert to Masonry. Then you must repudiate this and become a Mudslime.

>>15000556
Cringe buddhist retard, still mad because you have been refuted

>>15000628
Try as they might, Guenonfags will never silence truth and true philosophy (western).

>>15000040
So if I’m understanding correctly, you are attempting to “rediscover “ ancient wisdom traditions by distilling common themes from major modern schools that were influenced by those traditions into generalizations and universals to understand a primordial tradition?

I think this could work in theory, but I see two practical issues
1.) What happens when you come across a theme that is viewed one way by one tradition and the opposite by another? How do you discern the correct view?
2.) What happens if some of the important spiritual themes are not written down or present in modern schools? How can one expect to understand things that were passed down from master to student in an oral or experimental tradition?

>>15000078
>>15000334
I think this is rather haughty, to think yourself able to self initiate, when so few autoinitiates even exist throughout time. I don’t think even Crowley was able to self initiate, which is why the his system is so fucked, and why Thelema won’t last a length of time like tantra or Kabbalah or even orthodox mysticism has

>>15000839
Not the first guy or the third guy but the second guy. For me, it's not about larping as some ur-fascist traditionalist idyllic past religion. It is about using the philosophical method to distill the truths of ancient and modern theologies alternative and mainstream east and west and enter the current of living religion. I have experience with teachers in a wide variety of areas but ultimately I trust my own holy guardian angel as my guide in the last instance. I have consulted a Buddhist friend regarding some of my phenomenological experiences and he said they sounded rather like stream entry. I made the yoga comparison earlier cause siddhis rather resemble occult powers.

In the case of your two questions: 1) what does one do if not syncretic? Simply assume both are true but only in context? 2) Couldn't this be the case with mainstream religions too?

Crowley's books are practically bestsellers these days. I'd say some are worthwhile.

Bump. I love shit like this. I wish my bookstore had more things on this subject.

>>14998210
desu all the vedantics are no better than Swedenborgianism or blavatskians or mormons or scientologists. Full of innovations and mental gymnastics which make man full of pride and ego, they don't humble him or give him a clear vision of where he stands in creation.

Man is an idol making machine until he finds the true, living God.

>>15001606
Check out jdholmes if you live in USA

>>15001626
cringe. You have no idea what you're talking about you seething retard. Guénon literally wrote the book debunking these movements and then proved in several books that the Advaita school of Vedanta is the most logically consistent one. It is literally the opposite of "idol making" you fucking coping christcucks. Refuted. Have a nice day.

>>15002613
Guenon didn't debunk anything. All his arguments are apologetics that go back to circular logic from the vedas like christfags saying jesus is god cause the bible says so.

This thread is for esotericism. Go back to one of the countless other guenonfaggotry threads.

>/lit/ taking the moore pill

Stop shaving.

>>15002667
>tfw moon and serpent bumper book of magic will never be released
I feel cucked

>>15000447
'' muh everything is newage conspiracy'' retards
Advaita is last stop for spiritual travelers , i dont need to be indian to recognize truth that my spiritual experiences- insights confirm advaita philosophy.
You are but a retarded goyim that cannot grasp outside the box he was born in.


>>15000839
Everyone is able to self initiate as absolute Brahman is part of everyone tho i was lucky in this regard as accumulation of suffering+ deep meditation had glimpses of oceanic bliss of brahman and after stream entry is just following your intuition ,spontanius liberation.

>>14998210
this desu, reading Shankara is more worthwhile thak 95% of 'esoteric' literature of the sort that gets discussed here, although it's still a good idea to study both especially Hermeticism and Neoplatonism.

>>15002681
>advaita is the last stop
I disagree. It was one of my first stops actually. Maybe my brain is too western but advaita does not satisfy my skepticism the same way as the variety of theories in the west do. I am a traveler on the mystic path but feel more agnostic not gnostic with every further step. Maybe advaita is correct, and I simply detest its simplicity, but my own experiences make me believe the real situation is more complicated. To each their own though. I have read Eliade and Evola and Guenon and Schuon and Culianu and Uzdavinys and enjoyed most of them. Maybe I just fear commitment to a tradition or something.

based advaita bros destroying the hylics

where do i start with shankara?

>>15002763
>more guenonfaggotry
>poster count remains the same
Hmmm

>>15002763
start with his shorter Upanishad commentaries, in particular the 8-volume compendium of them, you can read them here, start with volume 1, it's recommended to have read at least 1 or 2 books on Hindu philosophy or Vedanta first before reading him

https://estudantedavedanta.net/Eight-Upanisads-Vol-1.pdf
https://estudantedavedanta.net/Eight-Upanisads-vol2.pdf

>>15002770
>muh conspiracy
>muh schizo
>muh cringe

cope

>>15002779
There are two threads on nonduality on the front page. The guenonspam makes me feel like advaita posters are less enlightened due to their inability to discuss other texts desu.

>>15002763
Shankara had prelest.
The whole system is circular, and gets confirmation bias by prelest.

Consider the Gospel of Christ instead.

>>15002785
>There are two threads on nonduality on the front page
Based

>>15002786
>Consider the Gospel of Christ instead.
Yea I'll go right ahead and consider your christcuck fairy tales over rigorous metaphysics and direct insight into nonduality. Refuted.

Advaita and esotericism can be friends (pic related).


Try this essay as well, guenonfriends:

https://www.parareligion.ch/dplanet/staley/staley5.htm

>>15002749
>Maybe advaita is correct, and I simply detest its simplicity
Did you ever actually read through Shankara's commentaries though or just read Ramana Maharshi and similar modern people (no disrespect to them) who present it in simplified form? I ask because Shankara's commentaries and the metaphysics he writes about can get kind of complex
>>15002785
there are twice or three times as many threads about Plotinus or Spinoza every week, the increasing threads about non-dualism reflects that more people are taking an interest in it

>>15002749
Complications are only in the root of false self ego unclear mind
Absolute reality is simplicity
Reading can only get you so far , self inquiry and meditation is more important .
Im not committed to 1 tradition but only to my path beyond the many appearances

>>15002804
Your ego is insatiable? Come on.... The gospel of Christ requires humility above all...it is not here to impress people with vain metaphysical speculations and fancy verbiage, no wonder that the proud, inflated with the wind of a perverse self-confidence, cannot see the light with which the Lord favours only those who are humble as a child (Matt. 11:25).

>>15002840
I've read a bit of both.
>>15002860
Perhaps that is my issue. My ego is too big. Even if reincarnation is real, I wanna stick around a few more incarnations.

>>15002878
> Even if reincarnation is real, I wanna stick around a few more incarnations.
According to Vedanta that will happen regardless unless you give up all your possessions and become initiated as a monastic

>>15002667
>WE HEAR YOU’RE NOT THAT KEEN ON TECHNOLOGY...
>I don’t have an internet connection, or a mobile phone, or a TV signal. I can play [digital] music on the television, or on the computer I suppose, but I don’t. I am pretty much cut off from the 21st century. It’s like culturally I’m trying to establish a kind of sensory deprivation tank for myself, whereby I am receiving no modern signals whatsoever, because I’ve heard that after a while in a sensory deprivation tank you start to hallucinate and have all sorts of strange experiences, so I’m waiting for that to happen.
>HOW DO YOU MANAGE WITHOUT THE INTERNET?
>It seems to work. I am pretty much cut off from the majority of the 21st century, but not much escapes me. You hear about everything, because you’re talking to people, you’re absorbing a lot of this information as if by osmosis, just through the pores of your skin. I have said that by embracing the internet in the way that it has done, which was kind of inevitable, society has embarked on a massive experiment without having any idea of the various ways in which those technologies will impact upon us socially, politically and psychologically. So I so think if there’s this huge experiment going on, it’s best that I remain outside the petri dish, as a kind of control, so that we’ll be able to see how badly the rest of you have mutated, by comparing you with me as a kind of baseline.

>>15002889
I'd rather reweave the tapestry of illusion into something more beautiful than escape it entirely. Always found the boddhisattva vow beautiful for that reason. And tantra has been influential on me.

>>15000839
This is the first guy:
Kind've. It's not so much a rediscovery as a reconstruction that will help you going into the study of one of the major modern schools, both as a means of giving what amounts to esoteric context and an idea of what a chosen tradition has arisen from. It's like having a code book to a cipher.
To answer your first question: like any kind of philosophical truth, it is inherently dependent on what you and your internal forum decide towards and find able to synthesize.
For example, if you were to read the Hermetica you would find conflicting passages on how the material world is either a vile thing that is inherently evil and to be totally rejected (the Gnostic influence) and how the material world is only Evil in so far as it detracts from the internal work of achieving Gnosis, and that while the material world isn't good, it is only a completely material life which is found to be evil (The Neo-Platonic/Pythagorean-Kabbalic influence). The way I've found a way through this contradiction is the drawing out of themes: that for those to whom the occult calls the material world is not something to be indulged in, but it is to the individual whether negative (self flagellation, denial of earthly needs, etc) or positive (the development of everything your physical self holds to it's best potential while denying any excess) asceticism is the right way while taking into account intuitive gravitation and the context of the original tradition. In short, your question is marked by the discernment of the subtle over the gross or the esoteric (internal) over the exoteric (internal).
For the other one: this is why a large net must be cast in terms of esoteric study; a tradition or school of thought can preserve a few truths but miss others, whereas another tradition can fill the gaps but lack the knowledge of another. This is why synthesis is not rediscover by reconstruction.
Besides, the synthesis period isn't intended to act as the be-all-end-all, but rather a body of gnosis to work from in terms of praxis.
It's also worth mentioning the paradigm of active/passive that exists between the Western and Eastern traditions, but I'm not well versed enough in the Eastern tradition to give a large body of comment beyond the basic macrocosm.
I hope these answers were sufficient, anon.

Advaita recommendations?

>>15004249
Apparently advaitist are illiterate.

>>15004270
Cringe, didn't ask you hylic

>>14996312
>Aurora
What do I need to read to understand this?

>>15004298
Can you not use ctrl+f or read the thread or view one of the many other guenon or nonduality or sankara or advaita threads?

>>15004316
Maybe some familiarity with the Bible? And try reading an article about his life and times. Although I suppose an introduction to a work might suffice.

>>15004316
The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus and The Bible

>>15004249
Adi Shankara's works (around 5000-6000 pages depending on which editions and whether you include works of unclear authenticity), The Yoga Vasistha, Tripura Rahasya, Ashtavakra Gita, Avadhuta Gita, Advaita Bodha Deepika, a google search will take you to a PDF of most of these

>>15000880
>>15003341
Thank you these answers were helpful

>>15004427
Where do I start with Shankara?

>>14998210
With his shorter Upanishad commentaries, which can be purchased on Amazon or read online as PDFs at the links provided here in this post >>14998210

If you are struggling to understand certain terminology or anything else in his works you can download on libgen 'The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy" and use it as a resource to consult

>>15005745
meant to reply to you in this post here>>15005772

Fourth Way literature (Gurdjieff and students) is tremendously interesting to read if you have a grounding in mystical philosophy and esotericism. I find Gurdjieff doesn’t get mentioned or studied as much by modern people interested in esotericism the way Blavatsky and Crowley and their offshoots do.

>>15005789
>I find Gurdjieff doesn’t get mentioned or studied as much by modern people interested in esotericism the way Blavatsky and Crowley and their offshoots do.
I would assume because his actual writings are kind of dense and cryptic, such that many people into him don't even read him just read Oupenskys book

>>15005806
Fair enough, but I was including Ouspensky (who admittedly wrote the most accessible intros to Gurdjieff’s system), and even Ouspensky’s works I don’t see much mention of here. In fact, I’ve probably shilled Ouspensky/Gurdjieff the most over /lit/ for years

>>15005789
I thought Beelzebub was belabored and meh but he had an interesting life.

>>15002835
Interesting essay. Thank you for sharing.

>>14998188
you get as close as you can and then you die.

>>15006523
Did you read it three times?

Beelzebub actually is a book that gets deeper and deeper the more you read it, in my opinion. John G. Bennett, one of Gurdjieff’s closest students, claimed at some point that he had read it 20+ times and that a lot of things which seem like jokes or meaningless fairy tales on first readings reveal deeper and deeper meanings the more you ponder them. I myself can attest to this, too, with interpretations which go way deeper than just being coincidental.

>>15006685
Cringe. Read Guenon.

>>15006711
>>15006711
I’ve read some Guenon but personally find Gurdjieff more powerful and transformative. Guenon is good for erudition and learning about different traditions and how they intersect, Gurdjieff is great for helping you personally experience the transformation various esoteric traditions speak of. In fact, Gurdjieff and Guenon read in conjunction are great, especially since they both were influenced by Sufism (Gurdjieff was taught by Naqshbandi Sufis, and he was initiated into some order of Tibetan Buddhism as a young man, too). Gurdjieff would say that Guenon focuses more on philosophy and Gurdjieff himself more on practice, although there doesn’t have to be a conflict between both. In fact, let me dig up a relevant quote for you.

>>15006711
>>15006740
https://traditionalistblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/gunon-and-jeanne-de-salzmann.html?m=1

Guenon is supposed to have changed his mind on Gurdjieff later in his life, if you scroll down to the first comment and trust a third/fourth-hand source from someone vaguely connected with the Gurdjieff Foundation

https://traditionalistblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/guenon-and-salzmanns.html?m=1

Guenon was friendly with Jeanne de Salzmann and Alexander de Salzmann, two of Gurdjieff’s closest pupils, and read a manuscript of Ouspensky’s “In Search of the Miraculous” (an account by another close student of the teachings of Gurdjieff) before it was even widely known or published.

Pic related, from Ouspensky’s “In Search of the Miraculous.”

(1/2)

>>15006875
(2/2)

>>15006685
No. It did not offend me but it did bore me so I gave it to a friend who seemed more eager than I for the teachings -- they reported great enlightenment but they are crazier than I.

>>15006909
Hahahahah. Yeah, Gurdjieff people can be a bit nuts (I myself am).

>>15006875
in 'Against the Modern World' by Sedgewick he writes that later in life Guenon said that there was something more to Gurdjieff than the average psuedospiritual charlatan

>>15006941
Lol. No worries. Me too. Just meant she is more into spiritual stuff really. Has a certain level of free belief I find enviable.

If you want to read Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, make sure you read the 1950 edition and not the 1992 and later versions. One of his students made several edits to the book that diminishes the meaning of the text.

Are there any geometric-style occult works similar to Spinoza's Ethics that begin with a small set of basic logical premises and then slowly proceed onto somewhat unexpected or strange-seeming conclusions?

>>15007009
Proclus

Thoughts on the Picatrix?
Thoughts on this specific translation? Is it better or worse (or a sidegrade) of the Greer one?

>>15006993
>over 1000 pages
fucking hell, is it really worth it?

>>15007279
What's your experience level? You probably also want some secondary work to make sense of it. Grimoires are crazy. I have read Greer in ages past. Really made me realize I needed to learn more astrology. Working on that now. Among other things.

>>15007705
Worth it if you really want to dig into it, not just rush through it to get it over with.

>>14996311
Tons of books on Islamic esotericism here:
https://archive.org/details/@ejaz92

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