Résultats lu par "Matthew Schmitz" dans Toutes les catégories

Dion Fortune is acknowledged as one of the most knowledgeable and level-headed writers on esoteric matters. In Sane Occultism, she is adamant that magic and occult studies, though often dealing with unseen forces, must still be grounded in reason, and she explains how claims of psychic ability and past lives can, and should, be verified. The book covers a vast swath of topics, from meditation and psychism, through numerology and astrology, to such "black" occult practices as psychic vampirism, blood sacrifice, and other aspects of the Left-Hand Path.

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.

The Way of Initiation, by Rudolf Steiner, is a profound exploration of the spiritual path towards self-knowledge and initiation. In this book, Steiner provides a practical guide to spiritual development, drawing upon various esoteric traditions and offering detailed descriptions of the stages of initiation. He emphasizes the importance of cultivating a deep inner life, developing a strong moral character, and engaging in practical service to others as an integral part of the spiritual path.

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media and AGM Storytime. Narration by Matthew Schmitz. Sound Design by Milan Jeftic (aka The Russian Comic Book Geek). "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is one of the original fantasy short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. The story is set in the fictional history of the Hyborian Age and details Conan pursuing a spectral nymph across the frozen tundra of Nordheim.

“The Garden of Fear” explores reincarnation, anthropology, theology, and evolution, through the quest of James Allison as Hunwulf, living a life that was once his own. It’s a riveting tale of primordial love and cosmic memory, set in a landscape both surreal and dangerous. The story begins with James Allison, who possesses a unique ability to recall his past lives. As he lies on his deathbed, he vividly remembers being Hunwulf, a member of the Æsir tribe.

Deep in the sweltering jungles of South America, two explorers — Falmer and Thone — stumble upon a forgotten ruin, hidden beneath centuries of tangled growth and silence. Within its shadowed chambers lies an ancient tomb, undisturbed, its secrets sealed in stone and time. But something lingers in the sepulchre. Something old. Something alive. Something that does not sleep. As one of the men becomes obsessed with a strange, unidentifiable seed found within the tomb, the boundary between plant and predator, dream and nightmare, begins to rot and dissolve.

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.

Clark Ashton Smith was a poet, sculptor, painter, and author of fantasy, horror, and science fiction short stories. It is for these stories and his literary friendship with H. P. Lovecraft, from 1922 until Lovecraft's death in 1937, that he is mainly remembered today.

This early work by Robert E. Howard was originally published in 1934. 'The Valley of the Worm' is a story in the James Allison series and tells the tale of a Texan who recalls his past lives as ancient heroes. Robert Ervin Howard was born in Peaster, Texas in 1906. During his youth, his family moved between a variety of Texan boomtowns, and Howard - a bookish and somewhat introverted child - was steeped in the violent myths and legends of the Old South.

Focusing on often-forgotten moments in history, Manley P. Hall proposes that there was a Great Plan put forth 1000 years before our nation’s founding. Humanistic and mystical organizations wished for the continent to be the location for an experiment in self-government and religious freedom. As one of the leading esoteric scholars of the 20th century, Hall offers an intriguing view of our past, discussing everything from the symbolism of the Great Seal of the US to the prophecy announced at George Washington’s birth.

Dated to the late 18th century, the book is divided into 12 sections representing the 12 zodiacal signs. The veiled content is said to refer to an allegorical initiation, detailing many Kabbalistic, alchemical, and masonic mysteries.

The subject of my discourses I have called "The Laws of the Higher Life", because so many people in dealing with religion that has to do with the Higher Life seem inclined to remove it from the realm of law, bringing it into some strange region of arbitrary whim and results without endeavor, of failure without weakness.

The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds is a Persian poem by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. The title is taken directly from the Qur'an, 27:16, where Sulayman and Dāwūd are said to have been taught the language, or speech, of the birds.

Five fantastical tales from the mind of H. P. Lovecraft that center around a theme of illicit substances: some used to transcend the veil of reality, some used to keep one's sanity in check. All of the stories are quite psychedelic and unreal, quite mystical, and quite frightening.

One of the best-known Arthurian stories—adapted many times into verse, prose, games, and film. It recounts an adventure undertaken by King Arthur’s famous nephew, Sir Gawain, who is brave and the model of knightly grace. When a mysterious knight in green armor issues a challenge to the Round Table, the gallant Gawain volunteers to do battle for his king, beginning an adventure that explores chivalric tradition, loyalty, and the virtue of forgiveness, as well as alchemical symbolism and the psychological process of individuation.