Research Aids
This page contains annotaded bibliographies of books and journals, databases and indexes concerning the world's Ancient Wisdom Traditions.
This page contains annotaded bibliographies of books and journals, databases and indexes concerning the world's Ancient Wisdom Traditions.
The world's Ancient Wisdom Traditions are divided into Eastern and Western Traditions which further find their expressions in specialized currents of thought. This page presents annotated bibliographies of source and secondary works on each current, and includes a listing of journals and indexes to the most important ones.
Alchemy
Alexandria, Egypt
Christian New Thought
Esotericism (Western)
Esotericism Eastern
Hermeticism
Neo-Platonism
Perenialism
Christian Perennialism (New Thought)
Hindu Perennialism
Islamic Perennialism
Transpersonal Psychology
Theosophy
Christian Theosophy
Nineteenth Century Theosophical Movement
Research and Study Aids - Databases/indexes
While alchemy is normally considered a primitive form of chemistry, there is also a tradition of spiritual alchemists, who writings are an extended metaphor for one's transformation from baseness to spirituality.
Ashmole, Elias. Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. London, 1652. Modern reprints are available. A collection of extant alchemical works at that period.
Trismosin, Salomon. Splendor Solis. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1991. Translated by Joscelyn Godwin with an introduction and commentary by Adam McLean.
Burckhardt, Titus. Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. London: Vincent Stuart $ Jon M. Watkins Ltd., 1967. A classic work advocating alchemy as a spiritual tradition.
Redgrove, H. Stanley. Alchemy Ancient and Modern: Being a brief account of the alchemistic doctrines, and their relations, to mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in physical science and the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and teachings of the most noted alchemists. London: William Rider & Son, Ltd., 1922. A classic.
Waite, Arthur Edward. Alchemists Through the Ages. Blauvalt: Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1970. Biographical sketches of famous alchemists.
Where the Western Esoteric Tradition was born. Recent archeology and a resurgence of interest in the great city of learning where once stood the world's most famous library has brought about quite a few new studies on the subject.
Canfora, Luciano. The Vanished Library. An account of the history of the great library of Alexandria. The text is quite engaging, though the author's interpretations have been challenged.
Empereur, Jean-Yves. Alexandria Rediscovered. New York: George Brazilier, 1998. An archeological study of Alexandria through the centuries. Much material on artifacts recently found in the harbour. Richly illustrated with over 200 color plates.
Forster, E.M. Alexandria: A History and a Guide. Garden City: Doubleday, 1961. First published in 1922. This edition is a reprint but with a new introduction by the author. A classical early study of the city from ancient sources and archeology at the time.
Fraser, P.M. Ptomemaic Alexandria. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972. Three volumes with maps. The most comprehensive work on Alexdria during the Ptolemaic period. Fraser covers the topography of the ancient city, its politics, commerce, population, religions, the mouseion, its libraries, sciences, philosophies, and literature.
MacLeod, Roy, Ed. The Library of Alexandria Center of Learning in the Ancient World. A collection of nine scholarly essays on the library.
Parsons, Edward Alexander. The Alexandrian Library Glory of the Hellenic World. New York: The Elsevier Press, 1952. A classic which still remains the most comprehensive work dedicated to the great library.
Steen, Gareth L., Ed. Alexandria the Site & the History. New York: New York University Press, 1993. A collection of essays on the history of Alexandria through the centuries. Richly illustrated with color plates.
A catch word for certain esoteric currents which had their beginnings in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Some of these currents include: Alchemy, Christian Kabbalah, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Rosicrucianism and Theosophy.
Faivre, Antoine. Access to Western Esotericism. New York: State University of New York Press, 1994. A Methodological study which provides definitions for such terms as "gnosis," "Hermeticism," "occultism," and "theosophy."
McLean, Adam. The Alchemical Manadala: A Survey of the Mandala in Western Esoteric Traditions. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1989.
Wolfson, Elliot R.. Ed. Rending the Veil Concealment and Secrecy in the History of Religions. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 1999. A collection of contemporty essays on the idea of concealment in esoteric writings. This is a serious, scholarly and penetrating work which explores this idea in both Western and Eastern religious traditions.
Hermetic philosophy arose out of the blending together of Greek and Egyptian religion during the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt: about 320BCE until the Death of Cleopatra VIII in the first century. It continued its development through the Roman and Islamic periods and was very influential upon Greek and Islam Cultures. Sometimes it is called the Western Esoteric Tradition. The tradition reappeared in modern times through Marcilo Ficino of Florence, who translated some ancient texts known is the Corpus Hermeticum attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
Copenhaver, Brian P. Hermetica The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a new English translation, with notes and introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Translation of the eighteen known books and the Aesclepius.
Philo of Alexandria. The Works of PhiloComplete and Unabridged New Updated Version. C.D. Yonge, Tr. New Jersey: Hendrickson, 1997. An updated reprint of a classic which was first published as a two volume work in 1854-55.
Synesius of Cyrene. Letters; Essays and Hymns of Synesius. A. Fitzgerald,Tr. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1926 and 1930. Two volumes. Synesius of Cyrene (370?-415?) was a neo-Platonist and student of Hypatia of Alexandria. He was also a friend of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and later became Bishop of Ptolemais in Egypt.
Dzielska, Maria. Hypatia of Alexandria. F. Lyra, Tr. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-674-43775-6. A comprehensive work beginning with a survey of popular works on Hypatia, a survey of source works, and the author's conclusions of what we actually know and what is most probable about Hypatia's life, and how she came to be murdered, by whom, and why.
Storvanes, Lucas. Proclus Neo-Platonic Philosophy and Science. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
A belief which has many names: Perennial Philosophy, Primordial Tradition, Traditionalism and Ancient Wisdom. Simply, Perennialism, under what ever name proposes that there is an ancient tradition of ideas which can be discovered in the world's religions, mythology and folklore.
(The source works are listed under their traditions)
Quinn, William W. The Only Tradition. New York: State University of New York Press, 1997. An examination of the principles of the perennial philosophy with a particular emphasis upon the writings of Rene Guenon and Ananda K. Coomeraswamy. Quinn sees the perennial philosophy as informing the world's great religious traditions. Probably the most comprehensive introductory work in print on perennialism.
Sometimes called Christian New Thought, or just New Thought Movement. Other terms associated with Christian New Though are "Mental Science" and "Metaphysical Religion." Its main idea is the power of the mind to heal and find prosperity and happiness. It also has it own branches, including: Unity School of Christianity, Science.
The most popular form of Hindu perennialism is to be found in the writings of Ananda Coormaraswamy, who was born in Hindu tradition yet deeply knowledable of the Western. His writings bridge Eastern and Western Though; Vedanta with Platonism.
Derived from the Greek words, theos (god) and sophia (wisdom), signifying a spiritual wisdom which is derived through special knowledge of the secrets of nature and of the divine. Two movements most associated with the word theosophy are: 1) The German theosophical mysticism begun by Jacob Boehme which continued through the nineteenth century. 2) The nineteenth century Theosophical Movement founded primarily by Helena Blavatsky. These two movement are respectively listed as Christian Theosophy and Nineteenth Century Theosophical Movement It is also sometimes used as general notion applied to any mystical branching of a religion which seeks to commune with God through certain spiritual disciplines. Therefore Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, is sometimes called Jewish theosophy. Sufism is Islamic Theosophy.
Christian Theosophy was a movement which began in the sixteenth century with the mystic, Jacob Boehme, but continued through the nineteenth century. Partly a reaction to the Protestant revolution, it seeks personal experience of God and the secrets of the universe through mysticism.
Boehme, Jacob. The Key of Jacob Boehme with an illustration of the Deep Principles of Jacob Behmen by D.A. Frecher. Translated by William Law with an introduction by Adam McLean. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1991. This is Jacob Boehme's own summary of his main ideas in his system. Freher's Illustrations of the Deep Principles of Jacob Boehme is thirteen diagrams which illustrate Boehme's ideas of the creation.
The nineteenth century Theosophical Movement took a step beyond the Western Esoteric traditions by proposing an Eastern Esotericism and the notion that both the Eastern and Western Traditions are two main branches of a great tree and are joined together by a single universal Perennialism.
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. Isis Unveiled: A Mester-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology. New York: J. W. Boulton, 1877. Two volumes. Blavatsky's first published book.
---. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company, Ltd., 1888. Two volumes. Blavatsky's most important and most influential work. This may be the first work to advocate both an Eastern and Western perennialism.
Alexandria the Journal of the Western Cosmological Traditions. David R. Fidler, Ed. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press. Annual. 1:1991, 2:1993, 3:1995, 4:1997, 5:2000. A combination of notable reprints and original articles concerning Western Traditions.
Theosophical History. A Quarterly Journal of Research. Leslie Price, founding editor. James S. Santucci, Ed. Since 1985. A peer reviewed historical journal dedicated to theosophy in its general term, including Jacob Boehme, Emmanual Swedenborg, to H.P. Blavatsky. Most notable are its original articles on the nineteenth century Theosophical movement.
The most comprehensive online index files for Theosophical journals is the Campbell Theosophical Research Library: http://www.austheos.org.au/campbell.htm
Special Collections
Research Aids
Catalogued Documents
Online Bookstore
Correspondence Courses
Serapeum
About
Altruism in Action
Volunteer