Résultats lu par "Matthew Schmitz" dans Toutes les catégories

The Crawling Chaos is a haunting, surreal tale born from the collaboration between H.P. Lovecraft and writer Winifred V. Jackson. First published in 1921, this story combines Lovecraft’s eerie prose with a dream that Jackson herself experienced, which served as the story’s foundation. In an interesting twist, the two writers published under pseudonyms, with Jackson as “Elizabeth Berkeley” and Lovecraft as “Lewis Theobald, Jun.”

H.P. Lovecraft often warned us that there are things not meant to be understood—truths too ancient, too vast, or too alien for the human mind to hold. In The Unnamable, he takes that warning a step further: some things cannot even be described. This story, first published in 1925, is part philosophical debate, part ghost story, and part quiet apocalypse.

"The White Ship" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first published in The United Amateur (Volume 19) #2, November 1919, and later appeared in the March 1927 issue of Weird Tales. Basil Elton, a lighthouse keeper, engages in a peculiar fantasy in which a bearded man in robes is piloting a mystical white ship which appears when the moon is full. Elton walks across the water on a bridge of moonbeams, joins the bearded man on the ship, and together they explore a mystical chain of islands unlike anything that can be found on Earth.

"The Last Incantation" by Clark Ashton Smith tells the story of Malygris, an aging necromancer who has mastered all forms of magic but is plagued by ennui. In a bid to escape his despair, he attempts to summon his long-lost love, Nylissa, from the dead, only to discover that the reality of her presence does not fulfill his nostalgic desires, leading to a poignant lesson about the passage of time and the nature of memory.

There are Lovecraft stories that roar with cosmic terror — ancient gods, unknowable entities, the madness of knowledge. And then there is What the Moon Brings. This short, haunting piece is not a tale in the traditional sense, but a dream — or rather, a descent. It belongs to that strange and shadowy corner of Lovecraft’s imagination where logic erodes, and we are left adrift in a realm shaped by mood, moonlight, and the whisper of things not quite seen. First published in 1923, What the Moon Brings reads like a surreal reverie drenched in symbolism.

There are books that awaken the intellect, books that stir the heart—and then, rarest of all, there are books that shift the fabric of reality, that open quiet doors in the mind through which something older, stranger, and more beautiful begins to seep in. A Dreamer’s Tales is such a book. In this book, Lord Dunsany does not merely tell stories. He conjures realms beneath reason, cities where time is a superstition, and gods born from silence.

Few works in human history have shaped the course of warfare, strategy, and leadership as profoundly as The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Written over 2,500 years ago during China’s Warring States period, this timeless treatise transcends its origins as a military manual, offering wisdom that applies not only to warfare but to politics, business, diplomacy, and personal growth. At its core, The Art of War is a philosophy of strategy—one that emphasizes intelligence, adaptability, and the mastery of conflict through knowledge rather than brute force.

In the hush between monsoon thunder and moonlit stillness, the hills of Assam have always whispered secrets. From the dense forests of Dima Hasao to the stilted villages along the Brahmaputra, ancient names still crawl across the memory of the land—Khoba-Khubi, Baak, Puwali Bhoot, Dainee, Jokhini. These are not merely ghosts, but living testaments to the cosmology of fear, justice, transgression, and survival among the people who have long dwelled in this region. Assamese demonology is not a closed system, but a breathing map of emotion, ethics, and ecology.

This is an ancient alchemy manuscript. Artephius (Artefius) (c. 1150) is a writer and alchemist to whom a number of alchemical texts are ascribed. Alchemical pseudepigraphy makes it difficult to identify who the historical Artephius may have been. His identity remains an open question. As The Secret Book of Artephius was respected and mentioned by Roger Bacon many times, Artephius' writing and alchemy is dated to around 1150.

Northcote Thomas provides an lengthy study of the history and practice of crystal gazing. He covers techniques for scrying utilizing a crystal sphere as an aid in clairvoyance and obtaining visions. A chapter on the incantation or "call" is included. In additional to practical techniques, the work covers the crystal ball's history. Thomas spends two chapters in an in depth discussion of Egyptian scrying. An early work on the subject, originally published in 1905.

For long I have been spending much of my time in a world of great beauty of thought and purity of feeling, created by the devotion and intelligence of one of the many theosophical fraternities of the ancient world. They called themselves disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes, and sometimes spoke of their faith as the Religion of the Mind. They were prior to and contemporary with the origins and earliest centuries of Christianity, and they lived in Egypt.

Mazes and Labyrinths is a look into the origin and mystery of mazes. From ancient stone carvings, Minoan palaces to today's hedge-maze, Matthews chronicles the history of the maze. With devoted scholarship to "the lure of the labyrinth," W. H. Matthews has composed an exhaustive history of mazes and labyrinths from antiquity to the present.

Privately printed at Edinburgh in 1886, this is a translation of a Latin text written by M.J.H. Heucher in the late seventeenth century. This is a short pamphlet recounting the use of numerous botanical applications with regard to ancient medicine and magic and religion. Appended to the title-work is a text entitled "Confessions of Witches under Torture".

There are books that speak plainly, and then there are those that conceal their truths behind veils of symbol and secrecy. An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King belongs to the latter—a text written not for the casual listener, but for the seeker, the alchemist, the one who dares to unlock nature’s deepest mysteries. Attributed to the enigmatic adept Eirenaeus Philalethes, this work stands as a beacon in the vast sea of alchemical wisdom.

Narrated by Matthew Schmitz of Altrusian Grace Media, this English prose version of the Ramayana is told in a story form capturing the true and authentic spirit of the original Sanskrit and which makes it easy and enjoyable to listen to. The Ramayana is one of the greatest epics of ancient literature, a monumental work that has transcended the boundaries of time and culture to become a story cherished across generations and geographies.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most revered spiritual and philosophical texts in Hindu tradition, forming a part of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. It is presented as a dialogue between Lord Krishna and the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, moments before the start of a great war. Arjuna, faced with the dilemma of fighting against his own relatives and teachers, is overcome by doubt and despair. Seeking guidance, he turns to Krishna, who serves as his charioteer and divine teacher.

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180.

TIME AND THE GODS is the second book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others. It is a collection of short stories linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon of deities who dwell in Pegāna. It was preceded by his earlier collection The Gods of Pegāna and followed by some stories in The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories. Dunsany included a brief preface in the original edition and added a new introduction to the 1922 edition.

Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn".

Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne.