The Many Sacred Veils: Language, Text and Esotericism in Initiation

Abstract: In the following paper I intend to illustrate the inherent importance of Plato’s 'Allegory of the Cave' in the Western Esoteric Tradition. Plato's Allegory has for centuries been read as representing the idea of a process in increased hermeneutical understanding; as a turn towards to the Sun, to the alchemical 'unus mundus', as it were - in other words, …

Nietzsche Wept: Stiftung Weltethos (The Global Ethic Foundation) of Tübingen

It was with great pleasure that we found ourselves spending the week on the top floor of a beautiful old sixteenth-century house in the heart of Tübingen. Situated in the footsteps of Hohentubingen Castle (Schloss), our apartment looked out over the old school house of Hegel and Joseph Schelling. Known as the Tübinger Stift, the …

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: De coelesti hierarchia (c.500)

Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown God’. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Acts 17. 22-34 Unknown: God …

Renaissance Syncretism: Plato, Christ, Hermes & Aristotle

The habit of describing the Renaissance in terms of Platonic progression and the Middle-Ages as Aristotelian status quo should be avoided. The eminent scholar James Hankins illustrated that there is no doubt Plato’s contribution is both seminal and evident, even more so with Marsilio Ficino's (1433-1499) efforts, but Aristotelian thinking was ever present throughout the …