The Star of Azazel - Azazelin Tähti

Finished Menneisyyden varjo earlier this week, made me want to read the Lord of the Rings again. Oh well, maybe later this year The chapters discussing the hobbits in Mordor resonated strongly with me, moving me on multiple occasions. Currently finishing Ervast's Valoa kohti, after which I'll probably revisit fra. Kenazis' Tyhjyys sydämessäni and Musta evankeliumi.

Smaragd wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:42 pm

Asuradūta wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 3:37 pm I do enjoy the stories of The Masque of the Red Death--

or what powers of nature navigate the eye of the storm of my favourite Poe work thus far MS. Found in a Bottle.

I found this short story excellent, a very atmospheric piece. Reading the collection has been a slower process than intended, maybe I haven't had the energy to consistently read a piece or two per night before falling asleep as I might have originally intended.

Currently about halfway through revising the Bhagavad Gita, this time trying to the best of my ability to recite the Sanskrit verses before the translations.

Asuradūta wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 6:52 pm Currently about halfway through revising the Bhagavad Gita, this time trying to the best of my ability to recite the Sanskrit verses before the translations.

Reading about Bhagavad Gita from The Secret Doctrine forces me towards finally reading a version of it. To get more motivated, would you care to share your thoughts on what it might be offering?

Smaragd wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 8:50 am

Asuradūta wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 6:52 pm Currently about halfway through revising the Bhagavad Gita, this time trying to the best of my ability to recite the Sanskrit verses before the translations.

Reading about Bhagavad Gita from The Secret Doctrine forces me towards finally reading a version of it. To get more motivated, would you care to share your thoughts on what it might be offering?

Hmm, a dialogue between the spiritual aspirant (Arjuna) and the higher self (Krishna), in which central principles and ideas of Indian spiritual philosophy are given in a beautiful, symbolic form. There are chapters concerning different types of yoga, ideas which direct the reader's mind towards the understanding of the all-pervasiveness of the Absolute, nondualism, etc.

However, it has been written for the spiritual needs of a different time, so there may be an emphasis on a more "will-centered"/"forceful" verticalist (as termed by Georg Feuerstein) approach to spiritual practices. I feel that this might be emphasized quite strongly in the version which I am reading, which is the one translated and commentated on by Taavi Kassila.

Thank you for abridging it concisely. Such small glimpses in to the unknown eases the mind at such great endeavours as reading one of the big books of world religions. Blavatsky says the Gitas that were brought to the masses, after the revolution of Buddha, and later to the West was largely censored to prevent the greatest secrets from spilling. Interesting to see what the book has, and to think what might have been left out.

Finished the Gita yesterday, now revisiting Fosforos while waiting for Kingsford's The Perfect Way and Scholem's On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead to arrive in the mail.

Ani.Mystic: Encounters with a Living Cosmos by Gordon White.
Mind-changing reading about history, sciences, magic, religion, occult practices, use of language, theories of mind, thinking, existence and well...everything.

Currently reading von Welling's Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum. Also finished the Poe-collection and moved on to the Lovecraft-collection Necronomicon.

Asuradūta wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2023 8:49 pm Also finished the Poe-collection and moved on to the Lovecraft-collection Necronomicon.

Lodge Lucifer had a meeting couple months ago where participants had read novels and we discussed of each one. There was a list of suggestions from which I picked up Blavatsky's A Bewitched Life. Found it from a translated collection of novels written by Blavatsky (Okkulttisia tarinoita). I've continued reading further in to the collection quite eagerly. The quality of the novels vary quite alot, the forementioned one being the best thus far. They work really well as a sort of fantastic and watery element balancing the dry philosophy and theory of her nonfiction. Sometimes the fantastic element manages to ground Theosophical teachings, especially those related to death and the different bodies in the human constitution, in a way that I find it almost a necessity to read some of these novels adjacent to the difficult stuff.