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In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth. This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.
The King's Curriculum is an idea, a philosophy and a cosmology built upon the ancient tradition of Sacred Kingship. It connects man with his True Will and leads him on a divine path, securing his own Crown, Throne, and Kingdom in the process. The mythic journey described in this book might be thought of as a metaphor for personal transformation, a sacred ritual of bringing order to one's consciousness as both a spiritual practice and practical approach for cultivating a fulfilling life.How many men, when staring into the abyss of death, will regret a life wasted on trivialities? It is the rare Individual, indeed, who escapes this common fate. Few will be able to say they've commanded the course of their life, that they've crafted it into a WILLED shape. You could be among those few.Ancient cultures developed a method for addressing this fundamental human dilemma, cultivating a long tradition of forging unconquerable men through initiatory rites. These sacred rites, often modeled on the hero's journey, were ordeals structured to test and transform the Initiate. Those who triumphed over these archetypal challenges became the heroes, prophets, and kings of legend. You are the descendants of these immortals and the inheritors of this great tradition. Who amongst the living is now prepared to take up this torch and carry it into the future?This book will help you:* Initiate your True Will* Transform your life into a Ritual with meaning* Cultivate the immortal legacy of your "I AM""Here is a brilliant and original synthesis of many traditions of self-discovery and redemption by a young man who has experienced it all and come through with a tale to tell. Johnny Mannaz has taken the hero's journey and offers a guidebook for the adventurous souls who will be the new beings of a new age. This is a book for explorers." -John Harrod (writer, teacher, musician and fellow explorer)
Audrey Richards (1899-1984) was a leading British anthropologist of the twentieth century and the first woman president of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Based on fieldwork conducted at a time when the discipline was dominated by male anthropologists, Chisungu: A Girl’s Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia is widely hailed as a classic of anthropology and African and gender studies. Underpinned by painstaking research carried out by Richards among the Bemba people in northern Zambia in the 1930s, Chisungu focuses on the initiation ceremonies for young Bemba girls. Pioneering the study of women’s rituals and challenging the prevailing theory that rites of passage served merely to transfer individuals from one status to another, Richards writes about the incredibly rich and diverse aspects of ritual that characterised Chisungu: its concern with matriliny; deference to elders; sex and reproduction; the birth of children; ideas about the continuity between past, present and future; and the centrality of emotional conflict. On a deeper level, Chisungu is a crucial work for the role it accords to the meaning of symbolism in explaining the structure of society, paving the way for much subsequent understanding of the role of symbolic meaning and kinship. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Jessica Johnson and an introduction by Jean La Fontaine.
The present volume, first published at the close of World War II, and based on a series of articles on initiation originally written between 1932 and 1938 for Le Voile d'Isis (later renamed Études Traditionnelles), is unique in giving a comprehensive account both of the conditions of initiation and of the characteristics of organizations qualified to transmit it. Guénon's distinction between the initiatic and the mystical paths-the first requiring a formal relationship with a master, a set of specific contemplative techniques, and a chain-of-transmission stretching back to the origin of the tradition in question, the second generally lacking these elements-led to some controversy between those who accept this distinction and others who believe that initiatory and mystical spirituality are one and the same. The book presents such central principles as the dangers and barrenness of syncretism, the often dire consequences of fostering 'psychic powers', and the superiority of sacerdotal initiation (into the Greater Mysteries) over 'royal' initiation (into the Lesser Mysteries), though both are necessary parts of the initiatic path. This last point precisely defines the rift between Guénon and Julius Evola, whose elevation of royal initiation over sacerdotal must be seen, according to Guénon's criteria, as a modern-day echo of the ancient revolt of the warrior caste against the priestly one. Whoever follows Guénon's argument will realize that a romantic warrior mysticism held no fascination for him, and is in fact explicitly contrary to his principles. But pre-eminently, Perspectives on Initiation provides indispensable points of reference for anyone attempting to distinguish between 'initiatic', 'pseudo-initiatic', and 'countert-initiatic' spiritualities in these profoundly uncertain times.
Preliminary Material /C. J. Bleeker -- L'initiation et le monde moderne /M. Eliade -- Some Introductory Remarks on the Significance of Initiation /C. J. Bleeker -- Terminologie bambara concernant l'initiation /D. Zahan -- Die Sprache von Zuyua als Initiationsmittel /Günter Lanczkowski -- The Significance of Time in some Ancient Initiatory Rituals /S. G. F. Brandon -- Initiation in Ancient Egypt /C. J. Bleeker -- Voraussetzungen der Einweihung in Eleusis /K. Kerényi -- "Le Secret Central de l'initiation aux mysteres d'Eleusis” /Maurice Mehauden -- Initiation in later Hinduism according to Tantric Texts /D. J. Hoens -- Dīkṣā /A. Basu -- Informal Initiation Among Hindus and Moslems /Henry H. Presler -- Initiation in the Shugendo: the Passage through the Ten States of Existence /Carmen Blacker -- L'initiation mazdéenne /J. Duchesne-Guillemin -- Pour une Etude de l'initiation dans l'ancien Israel /André Caquot -- Qumran und die Zwölf /David Flusser -- Initiation et mystère dans Joseph et Aséneth /Marc Philonenko -- Initiation, Mystères, gnose /U. Bianchi -- New Testament Baptism. An External or Internal Rite? /R. A. Barclay -- John the Baptist in Christianized Gnosticism /Leander E. Keck -- Conditions of Membership of the Islamic Community /W. Montgomery Watt -- The Initiation Ceremony of the Bektashis /Helmer Ringgren -- La signification psychologique de l'ésotérisme /Edmond Rochedieu -- Initiation and the Paradox of Power: a Sociological Approach /E. M. Mendelson -- Initiation et histoire /A. Brelich -- Religion als Einweihung /Anton Antweiler -- Einweihung und spirituelle Nachfolge /Matthias Vereno -- Das Fasten als Initiationsritus /Peter Gerlitz -- Some Reflections on the Rites of Initiation /Geo Widengren.
This reissue of Affecting Performance makes available a major work in performance studies, linguistic anthropology, ritual and symbolic studies, and African studies. A classic study widely used in the classroom, the book examines how ceremonial performance works and the contradictory dynamics of gender and ethnicity in Okiek initiation ceremonies in Kenya. Combining discourse analysis, semiotics, history, political economy, symbolic interpretation, and gender studies, Corinne Kratz examines the power of ritual to produce social transformation and explores how children are made into adults through initiation rites. Taking girls' passage into womanhood as her topic, Kratz considers dramatic structure, costume, song, ritual space, and the discourse, rhetoric, and poetics of ceremonial performance. Based on decades of research with the Okiek of Kenya, Affecting Performance demonstrates how representations of the central themes of initiation--gender relations and cultural identity--probe the tensions and contradictions that characterize relations between women and men, young and old, and the Okiek and their neighbors. Long-term fieldwork and extensive interviews with Okiek women and men of several generations enable Kratz to situate Okiek ceremonies culturally and historically. She provides a rich description of changes in Okiek life and ceremonies from 1900 to 1990. Kratz's sensitive and detailed analysis of ritual language and ritual action provides an important synthesis and critical perspective for understanding ceremonial structure and performance and for interpreting the efficacy of ritual performance both from actors' and observers' viewpoints. About the Author Corinne A. Kratz is a professor of anthropology and African studies at Emory University. She authored the award-winning book, The Ones That Are Wanted: Communication and the Politics of Representation in a Photographic Exhibition, and recently co-edited Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/Global Transformations. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1. The Origin of the Mysteries. The last incarnation of one of seven “Lords of the Flame” was Baladeva, Krishna’s brother. Hercules is none other than Baladeva in Greek dress. In the Golden Age, Esoteric Knowledge was common property. Initiation arose later on from the necessity to limit the number of those who knew. The Initiate’s maxim was “All for the people and with the people.” The old Initiates were real philosophers, priests, and healers. They commemorated the secrets of their Mysteries in hieroglyphics. Only those, whose purity allowed them to look at the great Isis unveiled, were admitted to the secrets of Nature and Man. But what Gods and Angels had revealed, Moses reveiled and hid from the sight of the world. 2. The Trial of the Sun-Initiate. Vishvakarman (Hierophant or Logos Demiourgos) cut off seven locks of the neophyte’s long hair (Second Sun’s rays) and replaced them with a crown of brambles — thus making him Vikartana, “shorn of his rays.” The neophyte who can overcome the dreadful trials of Initiation (on the cross of his worldly passions) dies in the Chrestos condition (freed from the clutches of matter) before his second and triumphant birth in Spirit as Christos. The Masonic rite of Initiation is based upon the construction of the Temple of Solomon, a narrative modelled upon Egyptian and still earlier symbolisms. Yet, there never was an Occult Society, however open and sincere, that has not felt the hand of the Jesuit trying to pull it down by every secret means. The Jesuits infected mankind with passivity, ignorance, and superstition in order to impose their Universal Despotism unopposed. 3. The Mystery of the “Sun of Initiation.” In the days of Aristotle, few were the true Adepts left in Europe and even in Egypt. Solus-Sol-Sun is “The One” and the Greek name for Helios, the Most High. But there is a great difference between our Sun and its prototype, the Central Spiritual Sun. 4. The Objects of the Mysteries. Whether lesser or greater, Mysteries have always been graded. Theophany is the appearance of God to man; Theopathy, man’s assimilation of his divine nature; Theopneusty, inspiration or rather the power to hear the Voice of God. The last two are experienced when the neophyte passes through the crucifixion of flesh or matter. The Grecian Mysteries were identical with the Initiations of Buddhist and Hindu Adepts. In India, the candidate of the third degree of Initiation has two Gurus. But whether Eastern or Western, the Initiate dares all and keeps silent. Masonic Initiation was modelled on that of the Lesser Mysteries and remains an authority upon the three fundamental degrees. The triple duty of a Mason is to study whence he comes, what he is, and whither he goes. 5. Traces of the Mysteries. The Round Towers in Ireland and Asia were connected with the Vishvakarman and Vikartana rites. In later ages, the Initiates of the Left Path and the anthropomorphists turned them into phallic monuments. The key to the mystery of Initiation (and to the real Christ, not the blasphemous caricature of the Churches) lies on the difference between the terms Chrestos and Christos. There were two Messiahs, Chrest and Christ. Jesus was an Initiate of the Egyptian Mysteries, where the rite of the suffering Chrestos on his trial, and second birth as Christos (by regeneration), were enacted. It was on the seventh day, the third of his ultimate trial, that the Eastern neophyte arose as a regenerated man and returned to earth as triumphant conqueror of death, a Hierophant. Initiates are said to have “crushed the serpent’s head,” i.e., conquered their sensual nature. The Egyptian Initiates held the Rose as symbol of Nature, the mother and nourisher of man, represented as a virgin woman. The Brothers of the Rosy Cross, as a symbol of sexual procreation. The old Indian Mysteries of Initiation were brought to Greece by Orpheus, nine millennia before Homer and Hesiod. 6. The Last of the Mysteries in Europe. Alesia, Arles, and Bibractis, the last bastions of the Ancient Mysteries in Europe, are no more. Occult Wisdom is now replaced by absolute theocracy that displays its crowned priests to the ignorant masses. Whatever else Cheops might have done, he has not built the pyramid bearing his name. Neither Solomon his temple, nor Noah his arc, for that matter. The strict silence of the Initiates and the total loss of all written memorials of secret knowledge may explain why so little is known of the Ancient Mysteries. Yet, there is spiritual Alchemy and physical transmutation: their cradle is to be sought in the most distant times. 7. The Post-Christian Successors to the Mysteries. The Neo-Platonic School of Ammonius Saccas became the successor of the Eleusinian Mysteries and herald of the Eastern Secret Teachings — unveiling the long and laborious descent and re-ascent of the Divine Monad or Soul. Each of us have to pass through the “Valley of Thorns” before he emerges into the plains of divine light and rest. The Eclectic doctrines are strongly reflected in the Epistles of Paul and John the Evangelist. For it is not Judaism and Christianity that remodelled the ancient Pagan Wisdom, but rather the latter that put its heathen curb on the new “faith” and was further influenced by the Eclectic Theosophical system, the direct emanation of the Wisdom-Religion. Ammonius, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, were prominent Theosophists though they never claimed the title. All that is grand and noble in Christian theology comes from Neo-Platonism. Ammonius was a true Philaletheian, one of us. His Eclectic Theosophical School, a precursor and prototype of the modern Theosophical Movement, was made of the crumbs permitted to be gathered from the antediluvian lore. Woe to those who mock Divine Knowledge and betray her secrets. But those who are pure in thought and deed, and have trust and confidence in their immortal spirit, have nothing to fear.
Initiation into the Mysteries of the Secret Doctrine is an extensive consideration of Occult Science that delves into the historical record to trace the role of this secret knowledge through ancient cultures and into the present. Presenting the Zodiac as the concept central to the understanding of the life cycle, Aceka reveals the keys to understanding ancient esoteric philosophy. By revealing the teachings of the Constellations, Initiation into the Mysteries of the Secret Doctrine encourages readers to pursue a full and joyful life.
In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth. This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.