Tobias Churton's Books

The Mysteries of John the Baptist

His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry

By: Tobias Churton

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The Mysteries of John the Baptist

His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry

By: Tobias Churton

The search for the real historical person known as John the Baptist and the traditions that began with him • Explores why John the Baptist is so crucially important to the Freemasons, who were originally known as “St. John’s Men” • Reveals how John and Jesus were equal partners and shared a common spiritual vision to rebuild Israel and overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem • Explains the connections between John as lord of the summer solstice, his mysterious severed head, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals Few Freemasons today understand why the most significant date in the Masonic calendar is June 24th--the Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist and the traditional date for appointing Grand Masters. Nor do many of them know that Masons used to be known as “St. John’s Men” or that John the Baptist was fundamental to the original Masonic philosophy of personal transformation. Starting with the mystery of John in Freemasonry, Tobias Churton searches out the historical Baptist through the gospels and ancient histories, unearthing the real story behind the figure lauded by Jesus’s words “no greater man was ever born of woman.” He investigates John’s links with the Essenes and the Gnostics, links that flourish to this day. Exposing how the apostle Paul challenged John’s following, twisting his message and creating the image of John as “merely” a herald of Jesus, the author shows how Paul may have been behind the executions of both John and Jesus and reveals a precise date for the crucifixion and the astonishing meaning of the phrase “the third day.” He examines the significance of John’s severed head to holy knights, such as the Knights Templar, and of Leonardo’s famous painting of John. Churton also explains connections between John, the summer solstice, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals. Revealing John as a courageous, revolutionary figure as vital to the origins of Christianity as his cousin Jesus himself, Churton shows how John and Jesus, as equal partners, launched a covert spiritual operation to overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem, re-initiate Israel, and resurrect Creation.

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231

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1594775052

ISBN 13

9781594775055

Aleister Crowley

The Biography: Spiritual Revolutionary, Romantic Explorer, Occult Master and Spy

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley

The Biography: Spiritual Revolutionary, Romantic Explorer, Occult Master and Spy

By: Tobias Churton

At last, the unexpurgated, true story of the amazing Aleister Crowley—philosopher, poet, artists, writer, magus, explorer, parapsychology—and spy. Packed with fresh research and previously unpublished ‘Crowleyana.’ For 100 years, Aleister Crowley’s true achievements have been suppressed and his true character defaced in a campaign of vilification unparalleled in British history. Until now, Crowley’s life has not been written—it has been written over. Tobias Churton is a world authority on Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Gnosticism. In writing Aleister Crowley, he enjoyed complete access to all Crowley’s restricted papers, unpublished letters and personal diaries kept in a trust at London’s Warburg Institute and in the Ordo Templi Orientis archives. Ninety percent of the authentic material here has never before been published.

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497

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Watkins Media Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780283849

ISBN 13

9781780283845

The Lost Pillars of Enoch

When Science and Religion Were One

By: Tobias Churton

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The Lost Pillars of Enoch

When Science and Religion Were One

By: Tobias Churton

Explores the unified science-religion of early humanity and the impact of Hermetic philosophy on religion and spirituality • Investigates the Jewish and Egyptian origins of Josephus’s famous story that Seth’s descendants inscribed knowledge on two pillars to save it from global catastrophe • Reveals how this original knowledge has influenced civilization through Hermetic, Gnostic, Kabbalistic, Masonic, Hindu, and Islamic mystical knowledge • Examines how “Enoch’s Pillars” relate to the origins of Hermeticism, Freemasonry, Newtonian science, William Blake, and Theosophy Esoteric tradition has long maintained that at the dawn of human civilization there existed a unified science-religion, a spiritual grasp of the universe and our place in it. The biblical Enoch--also known as Hermes Trismegistus, Thoth, or Idris--was seen as the guardian of this sacred knowledge, which was inscribed on pillars known as Enoch’s or Seth’s pillars. Examining the idea of the lost pillars of pure knowledge, the sacred science behind Hermetic philosophy, Tobias Churton investigates the controversial Jewish and Egyptian origins of Josephus’s famous story that Seth’s descendants inscribed knowledge on two pillars to save it from global catastrophe. He traces the fragments of this sacred knowledge as it descended through the ages into initiated circles, influencing civilization through Hermetic, Gnostic, Kabbalistic, Masonic, Hindu, and Islamic mystical knowledge. He follows the path of the pillars’ fragments through Egyptian alchemy and the Gnostic Sethites, the Kabbalah, and medieval mystic Ramon Llull. He explores the arrival of the Hermetic manuscripts in Renaissance Florence, the philosophy of Copernicus, Pico della Mirandola, Giordano Bruno, and the origins of Freemasonry, including the “revival” of Enoch in Masonry’s Scottish Rite. He reveals the centrality of primal knowledge to Isaac Newton, William Stukeley, John Dee, and William Blake, resurfacing as the tradition of Martinism, Theosophy, and Thelema. Churton also unravels what Josephus meant when he asserted one Sethite pillar still stood in the “Seiriadic” land: land of Sirius worshippers. Showing how the lost pillars stand as a twenty-first century symbol for reattaining our heritage, Churton ultimately reveals how the esoteric strands of all religions unite in a gnosis that could offer a basis for reuniting religion and science.

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336

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

164411044X

ISBN 13

9781644110447

The Kiss of Death

The True History of The Gospel of Judas

By: Tobias Churton

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The Kiss of Death

The True History of The Gospel of Judas

By: Tobias Churton

The story begins with the exciting story of the discovery of the Gospel in Egypt in 1978, and its subsequent movements from one antiquities dealer to another. We discover how this precious document eventually finds a home in a New York safety deposit box, where is languishes for years with a $3 million price tag, before it is finally published to huge public attention and fanfare. More than just the story of The Gospel of Judas since it had been found, Churton also discusses how it relates to the historical place of the Judas: how he has been maligned and misrepresented across the centuries. This fascinating book sheds new light on the real nature of Jesus, and presents a daring speculation on the endeavours he planned with his disciples in Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee. "The Kiss of Death" is an explosive book that explains the text of The Gospel of Judas, its context in modern Christianity, as well as the importance of its discovery and subsequent publication.

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322

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Watkins Media Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780282567

ISBN 13

9781780282565

The Missing Family of Jesus

An Inconvenient Truth - How the Church Erased Jesus's Brothers and Sisters from History

By: Tobias Churton

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The Missing Family of Jesus

An Inconvenient Truth - How the Church Erased Jesus's Brothers and Sisters from History

By: Tobias Churton

The Holy Family of Jesus as commonly depicted in religious art is a myth fabricated by the early Christian church. Explaining this assertion, Tobias Churton leads the reader on a fascinating and highly readable quest to discover all that is to be found in the historical sources about Jesus' family background, parentage and siblings and the possibility of his having descendants. When Romanized Christianity decided to bend the historical facts about true early Christianity, Jesus was required to be the only son of God and to have been the product of a virgin birth, so that he could avoid the taint of original sin. Any inconvenient siblings had to be written out of history to prevent them from muddying the theological waters. Even today, in Catholic encyclopedias of the saints, St James the Just (the 'Zadokite'), while regarded as Jesus' brother by the majority of Church Fathers, is instead called the 'son of Alphaeus', deliberately obscuring any theologically compromising family relationship. This investigation is based on a thorough examination of a broad range of sources: the canonical evidence (Gospels and Epistles); apocryphal evidence including the Gnostic gospels and rejected works of early Christianity (including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the works of Josephus, Hegesippus and Eusebius); and myths and legends about 'heirs', known as the Desposynoi, who either travelled to France or remained in Palestine centuries after Jesus. 'It must be the case that behind both the historical and the legendary evidence there exists a missing, truthful picture of the family of Jesus. The task of the book is to establish as much of that truth as is historically possible within the bounds of reasonable probability.' (Churton)

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303

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Watkins Media Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780282575

ISBN 13

9781780282572

The Golden Builders

Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons

By: Tobias Churton

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The Golden Builders

Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons

By: Tobias Churton

A leading scholar of esoteric spirituality uncovers the history of Gnostic alchemy from Hellenistic Alexandria to the Renaissance. In The Golden Builders, Tobias Churton eschews myth and pseudohistory to trace 1,600 years of Hermetic spiritual and philosophical development. In a breathtaking span of detailed research, he sheds light on the origins of Gnostic alchemy, pre-Grand Lodge Freemasonry, and the mysterious Fraternity of the Rosy Cross (the Rosicrucians). He introduces readers to great men of magic and spiritual wisdom such as Paracelsus, Caspar Schwenckfeld, Johann Valentin Andrae, and others. This sweeping work is divided into three parts: Part 1 presents a broad survey of the Hermetic current and its transmissions from Hellenistic Alexandria to the time of Paracelsus. Part 2 focuses on the Rosicrucian movement as a vehicle of the Hermetic current, drawing on the research of scholars such as Carlos Gilly. Part 3 concentrates on Elias Ashmole, the English polymath, alchemist, astrologer, and early Freemason who carried the Hermetic current forward during the Renaissance. Debunking myths while revealing genuine mysteries, The Golden Builders combines authoritative scholarship with deep spiritual wisdom.

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424

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Weiser Books

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ISBN 10

1609251776

ISBN 13

9781609251772

The First Alchemists

The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

By: Tobias Churton

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The First Alchemists

The Spiritual and Practical Origins of the Noble and Holy Art

By: Tobias Churton

Explores the origins and practices of early alchemy • Examines the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists, showing how women dominated early alchemy • Looks at the historical setting for the first alchemists, with detailed accounts of their apparatus, recipes, chemical processes, and the ingredients they used • Reveals how changing the color of materials was more important in early alchemy than transmuting base metals into gold Investigating the origins of alchemy and the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone, Tobias Churton explores the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists themselves. He reveals the theories and philosophies behind the art and how early apparatus and methods were employed by alchemists through the ages. Showing how women dominated early alchemy, Churton looks at the first known alchemist, the Jewess Maria the Prophetess, inventor of the bain marie, still in use worldwide today. He also looks at early alchemist Cleopatra (not the well-known Egyptian queen) and 3rd–4th century Egyptian female artisan Theosebeia, who had a guild of adepts working under her. He examines in depth the work of Zosimos of Panopolis and shows how Zosimos’s historic work inspired the medieval view of alchemy as an initiatory path whose stages follow the transmutation of base metals into gold. Exploring the latest research on early practices in Upper Egypt, the author discusses the political and industrial realities facing the first alchemists. He examines the late antique “Stockholm” and “Leiden” papyri, which offer detailed knowledge of the first known Greco-Egyptian chemical recipes for gold and silver dyes for metal and stone, and purple dyes for wool. He emphasizes how changing color in early alchemy was misinterpreted to imply transmutation of one metal into another. He reveals how the alchemical secrets for working with the “living statues” of the Egyptian temples was jealously guarded by the priesthood and how secrecy helped to reinforce beliefs that alchemical knowledge came from forbidden, celestial sources. He also investigates the mysterious relation between alchemy, spiritual gnosis, Hermeticism, and the Book of Enoch. Revealing the hidden legacy of the early alchemists, Churton shows how their secret workings provided a transmission line for ancient heretical doctrines to survive into the Renaissance and beyond.

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395

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1644116847

ISBN 13

9781644116845

Gnostic Philosophy

From Ancient Persia to Modern Times

By: Tobias Churton

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Gnostic Philosophy

From Ancient Persia to Modern Times

By: Tobias Churton

An extensive examination of the history of gnosticism and how its philosophy has influenced the Western esoteric tradition • Explains how the Gnostic understanding of self-realization is embodied in the esoteric traditions of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons • Explores how gnosticism continues to influence contemporary spirituality • Shows gnosticism to be a philosophical key that helps spiritual seekers "remember" their higher selves Gnosticism was a contemporary of early Christianity, and its demise can be traced to Christianity's efforts to silence its teachings. The Gnostic message, however, was not destroyed but simply went underground. Starting with the first emergence of Gnosticism, the author shows how its influence extended from the teachings of neo-Platonists and the magical traditions of the Middle Ages to the beliefs and ideas of the Sufis, Jacob Böhme, Carl Jung, Rudolf Steiner, and the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. In the language of spiritual freemasonry, gnosis is the rejected stone necessary for the completion of the Temple, a Temple of a new cosmic understanding that today's heirs to Gnosticism continue to strive to create. The Gnostics believed that the universe embodies a ceaseless contest between opposing principles. Terrestrial life exhibits the struggle between good and evil, life and death, beauty and ugliness, and enlightenment and ignorance: gnosis and agnosis. The very nature of physical space and time are obstacles to humanity's ability to remember its divine origins and recover its original unity with God. Thus the preeminent gnostic secret is that we are God in potential and the purpose of bona fide gnostic teaching is to return us to our godlike nature. Tobias Churton is a filmmaker and the founding editor of the magazine Freemasonry Today. He studied theology at Oxford University and created the award-winning documentary series and accompanying book The Gnostics, as well as several other films on Christian doctrine, mysticism, and magical folklore. He lives in England.

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574

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1594777675

ISBN 13

9781594777677

Occult Paris

The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque

By: Tobias Churton

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Occult Paris

The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque

By: Tobias Churton

How fin-de-siècle Paris became the locus for the most intense revival of magical practices and doctrines since the Renaissance • Examines the remarkable lives of occult practitioners Joséphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Jules Doinel, and others • Reveals how occult activity deeply influenced many well-known cultural movements, such as Symbolism, the Decadents, modern music, and the “psychedelic 60s” During Paris’s Belle Époque (1871-1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished--Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents--all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time. Exploring the magical, artistic, and intellectual world of the Belle Époque, Tobias Churton shows how a wide variety of Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Martinists, Freemasons, Gnostics, and neo-Cathars called fin-de-siècle Paris home. He examines the precise interplay of occultists Joséphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, and founder of the modern Gnostic Church Jules Doinel, along with lesser known figures such as Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Paul Sédir, Charles Barlet, Edmond Bailly, Albert Jounet, Abbé Lacuria, and Lady Caithness. He reveals how the work of many masters of modern culture such as composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, writers Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire, and painters Georges Seurat and Alphonse Osbert bear signs of immersion in the esoteric circles that were thriving in Paris at the time. The author demonstrates how the creative hermetic ferment that animated the City of Light in the decades leading up to World War I remains an enduring presence and powerful influence today. Where, he asks, would Aleister Crowley and all the magicians of today be without the Parisian source of so much creativity in this field? Conveying the living energy of Paris in this richly artistic period of history, Churton brings into full perspective the characters, personalities, and forces that made Paris a global magnet and which allowed later cultural movements, such as the “psychedelic 60s,” to rise from the ashes of post-war Europe.

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758

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1620555468

ISBN 13

9781620555460

Deconstructing Gurdjieff

Biography of a Spiritual Magician

By: Tobias Churton

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Deconstructing Gurdjieff

Biography of a Spiritual Magician

By: Tobias Churton

Beyond Meetings with Remarkable Men into the truth behind the self-crafted mythology of Gurdjieff’s life • Reveals evidence that Gurdjieff was a secret Freemason, relying on hypnotism, psychic research and spiritualism • Explores the profound influence of the Yezidis, esoteric Christianity, and the “gnostics” of Islam, the Sufis, on Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way teachings and the “Work” • Uncovers the truth behind Gurdjieff’s relations with Aleister Crowley • Accurately dates Gurdjieff’s real activities, particularly his enigmatic early life In November 1949, architect Frank Lloyd Wright announced the death of “the greatest man in the world,” yet few knew who he was talking about. Enigmatic, misunderstood, declared a charlatan, and recently dubbed “the Rasputin who inspired Mary Poppins,” Gurdjieff’s life has become a legend. But who really was George Ivanovich Gurdjieff? Employing the latest research and discoveries, including previously unpublished reminiscences of the real man, Tobias Churton investigates the truth beneath the self-crafted mythology of Gurdjieff’s life recounted in Meetings with Remarkable Men. He examines his controversial birthdate, his father’s background, and his relationship with his private tutor Dean Borshch, revealing a perilous childhood in a Pontic Greek family, persecuted by Turks, forced to migrate to Georgia and Armenia, only to grow up amid more war, persecution, genocide, and revolt. Placing Gurdjieff in the true context of his times, Churton explores Gurdjieff’s roles in esoteric movements taking root in the Russian Empire and in epic imperial construction projects in the Kars Oblast, Transcaucasia, and central Asia. He reveals Gurdjieff’s sources for his transformative philosophy, his early interest in hypnosis, magic, Theosophy, and spiritualism, and the profound influence of the Yezidis and the Sufis, the “gnostics” of Islam, on Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way teachings and the “Work.” Churton also explores Gurdjieff’s ties to Freemasonry and his relationships with other spiritual teachers and philosophers of the age, such as Madame Blavatsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Aleister Crowley, dispelling the myth that Gurdjieff forcibly expelled the “Great Beast” from his Institute. Showing how Gurdjieff deliberately re-shaped elements of his life as parables of his system, Churton explains how he didn’t want people to follow his footsteps but to find their own, to wake up from the hypnosis that drives us blindly through life. Offering a vital understanding of the man who asked “How many of you are really alive?” the author reveals the continuing importance of Gurdjieff’s philosophy for the awakening of man.

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467

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620556391

ISBN 13

9781620556399

Aleister Crowley in England

The Return of the Great Beast

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley in England

The Return of the Great Beast

By: Tobias Churton

• Reveals Crowley’s sex magick relations in London and his contacts with important figures, including Dion Fortune, Gerald Gardner, Jack Parsons, Dylan Thomas, and black equality activist Nancy Cunard • Explores Crowley’s nick-of-time escape from the Nazi takeover in Germany and offers extensive confirmation of Crowley’s work for British intelligence • Examines the development of Crowley’s later publications and his articles in reaction to the Nazi Gestapo actively persecuting his followers in Germany After an extraordinary life of magical workings, occult fame, and artistic pursuits around the globe, Aleister Crowley was forced to spend the last fifteen years of his life in his native England, nearly penniless. Much less examined than his early years, this final period of the Beast’s life was just as filled with sex magick, espionage, romance, transatlantic conflict, and extreme behavior. Drawing on previously unpublished diaries and letters, Tobias Churton provides the first detailed treatment of the final years of Crowley’s life, from 1932 to 1947. He opens with Crowley’s nick-of-time escape from the Nazi takeover in Germany and his return home to England, flat broke. Churton offers extensive confirmation of Crowley’s work as a secret operative for MI5 and explores how Crowley saw World War II as the turning point for the “New Aeon.” He examines Crowley’s notorious 1934 London trial, which resulted in his bankruptcy, and shares inside stories of Crowley’s relations with Californian O.T.O. followers, including rocket-fuel specialist Jack Parsons, and his attempt to take over H. Spencer Lewis’s Rosicrucian Order. The author reveals Crowley’s sex magick relations in London and his contacts with spiritual leaders of the time, including Dion Fortune and Wicca founder Gerald Gardner. He examines Crowley’s dealings with artists such as Dylan Thomas, Alfred Hitchcock, Augustus John, Peter Warlock, and Peter Brooks and dispels the accusations that Crowley was racist, exploring his work with lifelong friend, black equality activist Nancy Cunard. Churton also examines the development of Crowley’s later publications such as Magick without Tears as well as his articles in reaction to the Nazi Gestapo who was actively persecuting his remaining followers in Germany. Presenting an intimate and compelling study of Crowley in middle and old age, Churton shows how the Beast still wields a wand-like power to delight and astonish.

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384

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1644112329

ISBN 13

9781644112328

Jerusalem!

The Real Life of William Blake

By: Tobias Churton

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Jerusalem!

The Real Life of William Blake

By: Tobias Churton

‘Truly astonishing in its detail … this must be one of the most illuminating and enlightening biographies to date.’ Michael Eavis cbe, Founder of the Glastonbury Festival A brilliant new biography of the mystic poet and artist William Blake – and the first to explore his startlingly original quest for spiritual truth, as well as the profound lessons he has for us all today. The hymn ‘Jerusalem’, with its famous words by William Blake, stirs our hearts with its evocation of a new holy city built in ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. However, until now, the spiritual essence of William Blake has been buried under myriad inadequate biographies, college dissertations and arts commentaries, written by people who have missed the luminescent keys to Blake’s symbolism and liberating spirit. Any attempt to uncover the ‘real’ Blake is thwarted by his status as a legend or ‘national treasure’. In Jerusalem! Tobias Churton expertly takes you beyond this superficial façade, showing you Blake the esoteric genius – a myth-maker, brilliantly using symbols and theology to express his unique insights into the nature of body, mind and spirit. Churton is not only deeply knowledgeable about Blake’s life and times, but also uses his shared values with Blake to enter into his labyrinth of thought and feeling. Challenging the conventional views of Blake as either a ‘romantic poet’ or a rebel with ideas about free sex, Tobias Churton’s startling new biography reveals, at last, the real William Blake in all his glory, so that anyone who sings ‘Jerusalem’ in future will see its beauty with renewed understanding. With access to a large body of never-before-published records – letters, diaries, pamphlets and books – Tobias Churton casts unprecedented light and perspective on William Blake’s life and times. Blake’s writing – heartfelt, vivid and profound – accounts for his status as one of the best-loved poets writing in English. Americans need no reminding that Blake inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson and American visionary Walt Whitman. Yet he spent the larger part of his creative career being ridiculed and suppressed. In Jerusalem! Churton conjures a superb portrait of Blake’s London, and in particular the rivalries of the cultural community in which the poet-artist was often misunderstood. He argues that Blake believed Man does not ‘belong’ to society; rather,we are all members of the Divine Body, co-existent with God. He was concerned with a total spiritual revival – what had gone wrong with Man, and how to put it right. Blake’s message has proved to be as challenging to today’s readers as it was to his contemporaries. Blake perceived, so far ahead of his time, that the philosophy of materialism would dominate the world – a culture from which we now yearn to break free. Jerusalem! is unashamedly ambitious in its scope and objective. Churton ends once and for all the persistent notion of Blake as a startling peculiarity, whilst emancipating him from the labels of ‘Romantic poet’ or ‘national treasure’. Even if it means sacrificing some cherished illusions or uncovering a few painful surprises, this compelling biography reveals, for the first time, the true spirit of William Blake.

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403

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Watkins Media Limited

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ISBN 10

1780287887

ISBN 13

9781780287881

The Golden Builders

Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons

By: Tobias Churton

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The Golden Builders

Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons

By: Tobias Churton

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424

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Weiser Books

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1609251776

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9781609251772

The Spiritual Meaning of the Sixties

The Magic, Myth, and Music of the Decade That Changed the World

By: Tobias Churton

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The Spiritual Meaning of the Sixties

The Magic, Myth, and Music of the Decade That Changed the World

By: Tobias Churton

Unveils the spiritual meaning that fueled the artistic, political, and social revolutions of the 1960s • Investigates the spiritual principles that informed everything from the civil rights and anti-war movements, to the hippies’ rejection of materialist culture, to the rise of feminism, gay rights, and environmentalism • Reveals how medieval troubadours, Gnosticism, Renaissance hermetic magic, and the occult doctrines of Aleister Crowley helped shape the psychedelic Sixties • Offers in-depth analysis of many of the era’s most famous books, films, and music No decade in modern history has generated more controversy and divisiveness than the tumultuous 1960s. For some, the ‘60s were an era of free love, drugs, and social revolution. For others, the Sixties were an ungodly rejection of all that was good and holy. Embarking on a profound search for the spiritual meaning behind the massive social upheavals of the 1960s, Tobias Churton turns a kaleidoscopic lens on religious and esoteric history, industry, science, philosophy, art, and social revolution to identify the meaning behind all these diverse movements. Engaging with views of mainstream historians, some of whom write off this pivotal decade as heralding an overall decline in moral values and respect for tradition, Churton examines the intricate network of spiritual forces at play in the era. He reveals spiritual principles that united the free love movement, the civil rights and anti-war movements, the hippies’ rejection of materialist culture, and the eventual rise of feminism, gay rights, and environmentalism. He traces influences from medieval troubadours, Gnosticism, Hindu philosophy, Renaissance hermetic magic, and the occult doctrines of Aleister Crowley. He also examines the psychedelic revolution, the genesis of popular interest in UFOs, and the psychological consequences of the Bomb and the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King. In addition, Churton investigates the huge shifts in consciousness reflected in the movies, music, art, and literature of the era--from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles, from I Love Lucy to Star Trek, from John Wayne to Midnight Cowboy--much of which still resonates with the youth of today. Taking the reader on a long strange trip from crew-cuts and Bermuda shorts to Hair and Woodstock, from liquor to psychedelics, from uncool to cool, and from matter to Soul, Churton shows how the spiritual values of the Sixties are now reemerging, with an astonishing influx of spiritual light, to once again awaken us.

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920

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1620557126

ISBN 13

9781620557129

Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin

Art, Sex, and Magick in the Weimar Republic

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin

Art, Sex, and Magick in the Weimar Republic

By: Tobias Churton

A biographical history of Aleister Crowley’s activities in Berlin from 1930 to 1932 as Hitler was rising to power • Examines Crowley’s focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his contacts with magical orders • Explores Crowley’s relationships with Berlin’s artists, filmmakers, writers, and performers such as Christopher Isherwood, Jean Ross, and Aldous Huxley • Recounts the fates of Crowley’s friends and colleagues under the Nazis as well as what happened to Crowley’s lost art exhibition Gnostic poet, painter, writer, and magician Aleister Crowley arrived in Berlin on April 18, 1930. As prophet of his syncretic religion “Thelema,” he wanted to be among the leaders of art and thought, and Berlin, the liberated future-gazing metropolis, wanted him. There he would live, until his hurried departure on June 22, 1932, as Hitler was rapidly rising to power and the black curtain of intolerance came down upon the city. Known to his friends affectionately as “The Beast,” Crowley saw the closing lights of Berlin’s artistic renaissance of the Weimar period when Berlin played host to many of the world’s most outstanding artists, writers, filmmakers, performers, composers, architects, philosophers, and scientists, including Albert Einstein, Bertolt Brecht, Ethel Mannin, Otto Dix, Aldous Huxley, Jean Ross, Christopher Isherwood, and many other luminaries of a glittering world soon to be trampled into the mud by the global bloodbath of World War II. Drawing on previously unpublished letters and diary material by Crowley, Tobias Churton examines Crowley’s years in Berlin and his intense focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his contacts with German Theosophy, Freemasonry, and magical orders. He recounts the fates of Crowley’s colleagues under the Nazis as well as what happened to Crowley’s lost art exhibition--six crates of paintings left behind in Germany as the Gestapo was closing in. Revealing the real Crowley long hidden from the historical record, Churton presents “the Beast” anew in all his ambiguous and, for some, terrifying glory, at a blazing, seminal moment in the history of the world.

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425

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1620552574

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9781620552575

Aleister Crowley in America

Art, Espionage, and Sex Magick in the New World

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley in America

Art, Espionage, and Sex Magick in the New World

By: Tobias Churton

An exploration of Crowley’s relationship with the United States • Details Crowley’s travels, passions, literary and artistic endeavors, sex magick, and psychedelic experimentation • Investigates Crowley’s undercover intelligence adventures that actively promoted U.S. involvement in WWI • Includes an abundance of previously unpublished letters and diaries Occultist, magician, poet, painter, and writer Aleister Crowley’s three sojourns in America sealed both his notoriety and his lasting influence. Using previously unpublished diaries and letters, Tobias Churton traces Crowley’s extensive travels through America and his quest to implant a new magical and spiritual consciousness in the United States, while working to undermine Germany’s propaganda campaign to keep the United States out of World War I. Masterfully recreating turn-of-the-century America in all its startling strangeness, Churton explains how Crowley arrived in New York amid dramatic circumstances in 1900. After other travels, in 1914 Crowley returned to the U.S. and stayed for five years: turbulent years that changed him, the world, and the face of occultism forever. Diving deeply into Crowley’s 5-year stay, we meet artists, writers, spies, and government agents as we uncover Crowley’s complex work for British and U.S. intelligence agencies. Exploring Crowley’s involvement with the birth of the Greenwich Village radical art scene, we discover his relations with writers Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser and artists John Butler Yeats, Leon Engers Kennedy, and Robert Winthrop Chanler while living and lecturing on now-vanished “Genius Row.” We experience his love affairs and share Crowley’s hard times in New Orleans and his return to health, magical dynamism, and the most colorful sex life in America. We examine his controversial political stunts, his role in the sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania, his making of the “Elixir of Life” in 1915, his psychedelic experimentation, his prolific literary achievements, and his run-in with Detroit Freemasonry. We also witness Crowley’s influence on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and rocket fuel genius Jack Parsons. We learn why J. Edgar Hoover wouldn’t let Crowley back in the country and why the FBI raided Crowley’s organization in LA. Offering a 20th-century history of the occult movement in the United States, Churton shows how Crowley’s U.S. visits laid the groundwork for the establishment of his syncretic “religion” of Thelema and the now flourishing OTO, as well as how Crowley’s final wish was to have his ashes scattered in the Hamptons.

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1116

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Simon and Schuster

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1620556316

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9781620556313

Aleister Crowley

The Biography: Spiritual Revolutionary, Romantic Explorer, Occult Master and Spy

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley

The Biography: Spiritual Revolutionary, Romantic Explorer, Occult Master and Spy

By: Tobias Churton

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497

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Watkins Media Limited

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1780283849

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9781780283845

The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians

The World's Most Mysterious Secret Society

By: Tobias Churton

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The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians

The World's Most Mysterious Secret Society

By: Tobias Churton

The first complete historical and philosophical investigation into the “invisible fraternity” of the Rosicrucians • Contains the latest research on the origins of the Rosicrucian movement • Presents the ties between Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the Templars • Written by a “perfected” Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite) For nearly 400 years, incredible myths and stories have been woven around the “invisible” Brothers of the Rose Cross, the Rosicrucians. It is said that they possessed the secret of man and God, that they could turn lead into gold, that they governed Europe in secret, that theirs was the true philosophy of Freemasonry, and that they could save--or destroy--the world. In The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, Tobias Churton, a “perfected” Knight of the Rose Croix and the Pelican (18th degree, Ancient and Accepted Rite), presents the first definitive historical and philosophical view of this mysterious brotherhood. Starting at its beginnings in Germany in 1603, Churton unveils the truth behind the complex story that underlies the Rosicrucian movement. He explains its purpose, the motives of its earliest creators, and the manifestos “accidentally” published in the 17th century that emerged at precisely the time when modern science was emerging. He details the people who influenced its development--including Johannes Kepler, Robert Fludd, and Sir Francis Bacon--and the ties between the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and Templars. He also shows how Rosicrucianism shaped the mythology and spiritual consciousness of both North and South America and reveals that there are many Rosicrucian fraternities still active throughout the world today.

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525

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1594779317

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9781594779312

Jerusalem!

The Real Life of William Blake

By: Tobias Churton

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Jerusalem!

The Real Life of William Blake

By: Tobias Churton

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403

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Watkins Media Limited

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1780287887

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9781780287881

The Spiritual Meaning of the Sixties

The Magic, Myth, and Music of the Decade That Changed the World

By: Tobias Churton

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The Spiritual Meaning of the Sixties

The Magic, Myth, and Music of the Decade That Changed the World

By: Tobias Churton

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920

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1620557126

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9781620557129

The Gnostics

By: Tobias Churton

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The Gnostics

By: Tobias Churton

The Greek word 'gnosis' means knowledge; the Gnostics themselves used it to refer to the spiritual knowledge they believed would redeem them from what they regarded as the inherent evil of the material universe. As a mystical alternative tradition within Christianity, Gnosticism suffered the hostility of the official church and, as a result, remains largely unknown or misunderstood to this day.

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216

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Barnes & Noble Publishing

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0760704783

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9780760704783

Deconstructing Gurdjieff

Biography of a Spiritual Magician

By: Tobias Churton

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Deconstructing Gurdjieff

Biography of a Spiritual Magician

By: Tobias Churton

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467

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Simon and Schuster

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1620556391

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9781620556399

The Sacramental Vision of Edward Bouverie Pusey

By: Tobias A. Karlowicz

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The Sacramental Vision of Edward Bouverie Pusey

By: Tobias A. Karlowicz

Offering a decisive challenge to the older reception of Pusey as a paragon of backwards scholarship, Tobias A. Karlowicz argues that Pusey is properly understood as a penetrating and original theologian whose work anticipated contemporary conversations about the nature of theology, and a pivotal figure in the history of Anglican theology. Karlowicz locates the heart of Pusey's project in a theological perception which looks through the physicality and concreteness of language, to discern Christ at the centre of both Scripture and the physical creation. This 'sacramental vision,' which grew from Pusey's critique of Christianity's decay and his formative engagement with patristic hermeneutics and ontology, forms his teaching on the sacraments as vehicles for a Christian life of eucharistic self-oblation in union with Christ, and demonstrates the relevance of his thought to contemporary theology.

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229

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Bloomsbury Publishing

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0567701670

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9780567701671

The Mysteries of John the Baptist

His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry

By: Tobias Churton

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The Mysteries of John the Baptist

His Legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry

By: Tobias Churton

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231

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Simon and Schuster

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1594775052

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9781594775055

Aleister Crowley in India

The Secret Influence of Eastern Mysticism on Magic and the Occult

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley in India

The Secret Influence of Eastern Mysticism on Magic and the Occult

By: Tobias Churton

Follow Aleister Crowley through his mystical travels in India, which profoundly influenced his magical system as well as the larger occult world • Shares excerpts from Crowley’s unpublished diaries and details his travels in India, Burma, and Sri Lanka from 1901 to 1906 • Reveals how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India--jnana yoga, Vedantist, Tantric, and Buddhist philosophy--into his own school of Magick • Explores the world of Theosophy, yogis, Hindu traditions, and the first Buddhist sangha to the West as well as the first pioneering expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga in 1901 and 1905 Early in life, Aleister Crowley’s dissociation from fundamentalist Christianity led him toward esoteric and magical spirituality. In 1901, he made the first of three voyages to the Indian subcontinent, searching for deeper knowledge and experience. His religious and magical system, Thelema, shows clear influence of his thorough experimental absorption in Indian mystical practices. Sharing excerpts from Crowley’s unpublished diaries, Tobias Churton tells the true story of Crowley’s adventures in India from 1901 to 1906, culminating in his first experience of the supreme trance of jnana (“gnostic”) yoga, Samadhi: divine union. Churton shows how Vedantist and Advaitist philosophies, Hindu religious practices, yoga, and Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism informed Crowley’s spiritual system and reveals how he built on Madame Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott’s prior work in India. Churton illuminates links between these beliefs and ancient Gnostic systems and shows how they informed the O.T.O. system through Franz Hartmann and Theodor Reuss. Churton explores Crowley’s early breakthrough in consciousness research with a Dhyana trance in Sri Lanka, becoming a devotee of Shiva and Bhavani, fierce avatar of the goddess Parvati. Recounting Crowley’s travels to the temples of Madurai, Anuradhapura, and Benares, Churton looks at the gurus of yoga and astrology Crowley met, while revealing his adventures with British architect, Edward Thornton. Churton also details Crowley’s mountaineering feats in India, including the record-breaking attempt on Chogo Ri (K2) in 1902 and the Kangchenjunga disaster of 1905. Revealing how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India into his own school of Magick, including an extensive look at his theory of correspondences, the symbology of 777, and the Thelemic synthesis, Churton sheds light on one of the most profoundly mystical periods in Crowley’s life as well as how it influenced the larger occult world.

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747

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Simon and Schuster

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1620557975

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9781620557976

Aleister Crowley in England

The Return of the Great Beast

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley in England

The Return of the Great Beast

By: Tobias Churton

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384

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1644112329

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9781644112328

The Lost Pillars of Enoch

When Science and Religion Were One

By: Tobias Churton

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The Lost Pillars of Enoch

When Science and Religion Were One

By: Tobias Churton

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336

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Simon and Schuster

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164411044X

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9781644110447

The Magus of Freemasonry

The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole--Scientist, Alchemist, and Founder of the Royal Society

By: Tobias Churton

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The Magus of Freemasonry

The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole--Scientist, Alchemist, and Founder of the Royal Society

By: Tobias Churton

A comprehensive look at the life of Elias Ashmole, who represents the historic missing link between operative and symbolic Freemasonry • Explores the true role of occult and magical studies in the genesis of modern science • Explains the full meaning of the term magus, which Ashmole exemplified Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) was the first to record a personal account of initiation into Accepted Freemasonry. His writings help solve the debate between operative and “speculative” origins of Accepted Freemasonry, demonstrating that symbolic Freemasonry existed within the Masonic trade bodies. Ashmole was one of the leading intellectual luminaries of his time: a founding member of the Royal Society, a fellowship and later academy of natural philosophers and scientists; alchemist; astrological advisor to the king; and the creator of the world’s first public museum. While Isaac Newton regarded him as an inspiration, Ashmole has been ignored by many conventional historians. Tobias Churton’s compelling portrait of Ashmole offers a perfect illustration of the true Renaissance figure--the magus. As opposed to the alienated position of his post-Cartesian successors, the magus occupied a place at the heart of Renaissance spiritual, intellectual, and scientific life. Churton shows Ashmole to be part of the ferment of the birth of modern science, a missing link between operative and symbolic Freemasonry, and a vital transmitter of esoteric thought when the laws of science were first taking hold. He was a man who moved with facility between the powers of earth and the active symbols of heaven.

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457

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Simon and Schuster

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1594776504

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9781594776502

Aleister Crowley in Paris

Sex, Art, and Magick in the City of Light

By: Tobias Churton

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Aleister Crowley in Paris

Sex, Art, and Magick in the City of Light

By: Tobias Churton

Examines Aleister Crowley’s 30-year-long intimate association with Paris • Investigates the tales of Crowley “raising Pan,” going mad, and working gay sex magick in Paris • Uncovers Crowley’s involvement in the Belle Époque with sculptor Auguste Rodin and other artists and in the 1920s with Berenice Abbott, Nancy Cunard, Man Ray, André Gide, and Aimée Crocker • Reveals Crowley’s “expulsion” from Paris in 1929 as a high-level conspiracy against Crowley Exploring occultist, magician, poet, painter, and writer Aleister Crowley’s longstanding and intimate association with Paris, Tobias Churton provides the first detailed account of Crowley’s activities in the City of Light. Using previously unpublished letters and diaries, Churton explores how Crowley was initiated into the Golden Dawn’s Inner Order in Paris in 1900 and how, in 1902, he relocated to Montparnasse. Soon engaged to Anglo-Irish artist Eileen Gray, Crowley pontificates and parties with English, American, and French artists gathered around sculptor Auguste Rodin: all keen to exhibit at Paris’s famed Salon d’Automne. In 1904—still dressed as “Prince Chioa Khan” and recently returned from his Book of the Law experience in Cairo—Crowleydines with novelist Arnold Bennett at Paillard’s. In 1908 Crowley is back in Paris to prove it’s possible to attain Samadhi (or “knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”) while living a modern life in a busy metropolis. In 1913 he organizes a demonstration for artistic and sexual freedom at Oscar Wilde’s tomb. Until war spoils all in 1914, Paris is Crowley’s playground. The author details how, after returning from America in 1920, and though based at his “Abbey of Thelema” in Sicily, Crowley can’t leave Paris alone. When Mussolini expels him from Italy, Paris becomes his home from 1924 until 1929. Churton reveals Crowley’s part in the jazz-age explosion of modernism, as the lover of photographer Berenice Abbott and many others, and how he enjoyed camaraderie with Man Ray, Nancy Cunard, André Gide, and Aimée Crocker. The author explores Crowley’s adventures in Tunisia, Algeria, the Riviera,his battle with heroin addiction, his relationship with daughter Astarte Lulu—raised at Cefalù—and finally, a high-level ministerial conspiracy to get him out of Paris. Reconstructing Crowley’s heyday in the last decade and a half of France’s Belle Époque and the “roaring Twenties,” this book illuminates Crowley’s place within the artistic, literary, and spiritual ferment of the great City of Light.

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