Showing results by narrator "Matthew Schmitz" in All Categories

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media (altrusiangrace. com) and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. A collection of all three of G. R. S. Mead's comprehensive surveys of the literature attributed to the legendary Egyptian sage, Hermes Trismegistus. The Hermetic writings have been known to Christian writers for many centuries. The early church Fathers quote them in defense of Christianity. Stobaeus collected fragments of them. The Humanists knew and valued them.

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.

There are words spoken in the world, and then there are those whispered beyond it—words that do not merely inform but awaken. The Voice of the Silence is such a text, a sacred transmission from realms unseen, a guide for the soul that dares to walk the razor's edge of enlightenment. It is not merely a book, but a portal—an esoteric key unlocking the path to self-transcendence.

Along with Aleister Crowley, Madame Blavatsky, and George Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky (1878-1947) was one of the most important and influential figures in the occult movement of the 20th century. His book on the tarot has remained practically unknown since its initial publication in Russia in 1913. Yet, it is an important work presenting a general introduction and Ouspensky’s insights on the 22 cards of the Greater Arcana.

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. In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their sovereign, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the legendary Simorgh. The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault which prevents human kind from attaining enlightenment.

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. Tales from Three Hemispheres by Lord Dunsany is a collection of brief, dreamlike fantasy tales that move between myth, satire, exotic imagined lands, and strange philosophical visions. The stories often feel like fragments of ancient legend or half-remembered dreams, where gods, kings, travelers, prophets, cities, and impossible landscapes appear in a style that is elegant, ironic, and otherworldly.

La Très Sainte Trinosophie, The Most Holy Trinosophia, or The Most Holy Threefold Wisdom, is a French esoteric book, allegedly authored by Alessandro Cagliostro or the Count of St. Germain.

Nostradamus’s The Prophecies presents hundreds of tightly compressed quatrains that fracture time and history into symbolic glimpses of upheaval, power, and ruin. The work avoids narrative order; instead it disperses images of kings, empires, celestial disturbances, plagues, and wars across a fog of allegory, where each vision feels suspended between history and imagination. The language is deliberately opaque—layered with astrological references, classical allusions, and oblique metaphors—forcing the reader to navigate a shifting terrain of potential meanings rather than fixed predictions.

In the same way, to reach one's khudi or rooh, one needs to go through multiple stages which Iqbal himself went through, a spiritual path which he encourages others to travel. He notes that not all seeds reach the level of fragrance. Many die along the way, incomplete. In the same way, few people could climb this Mount Everest of spirituality—most get consumed along the way by materialism.

The Rig Veda stands as one of the oldest surviving testaments to human thought—a luminous tapestry of hymns composed over three millennia ago in the fertile lands of ancient India. More than a sacred text, it is a record of revelation, ritual, and the riddle of existence, set to the rhythms of fire and sky. This collection of over one thousand hymns—composed in Vedic Sanskrit (presented here in English) and attributed to visionary seers known as rishis—offers praise to a vast pantheon of gods and forces.

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.

The Ten Principal Upanishads is a version of the Upanishads translated by Irish-poet W. B. Yeats and the Indian-born mendicant-teacher Shri Purohit Swami. The translation process occurred between the two authors throughout the 1930's and the book was published in 1938; it is one of the final works of W. B. Yeats.

This book contains the record of a magical experiment relating to the invocation of an elemental, the thereafter of the Goddess or Force called Babalon, and the results thereof. An appendix contains some details of the method, published for the first time. The contents should be clear enough to those who are prepared for understanding, and a little study and effort should make it so for those who desire understanding. For the rest, each will no doubt interpret it in accord with his own predilections.

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media (altrusiangrace.com) and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. The Cloud of Unknowing (an anonymous 14th-century Christian mystical text often presented in modern editions with Evelyn Underhill’s introduction/editorial work) is a practical guide to contemplative prayer that teaches the seeker to move beyond discursive thinking and images in order to “know” God by love rather than intellect.

THE KYBALION—A Study Guide For Hermetic Philosophy—Full esoteric Text. The Kybalion is a book originally published in 1908 by "Three Initiates" that purports to convey the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. A modern Hermetic tract, it has been widely influential in New Age circles since the twentieth century. A central concept in the book is that there are "seven Hermetic principles, upon which the entire Hermetic philosophy is based". The ALL is ALL, the Universe is MENTAL.

The Meaning of the Glorious Quran by Marmaduke Pickthall is a revered English rendering of the Qur’an that presents the central message of Islam: the oneness, majesty, and mercy of God; the call to faith, prayer, moral discipline, and compassion; and the repeated reminder that human life is a test whose final meaning is fulfilled in divine judgment and the hereafter.

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. Important examples include the Great Labyrinth of Egypt with its 3,000 rooms, the labyrinth of Daedalus, the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire hedge mazes, and the Stone Labyrinths of Finland.

Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self-Defense is a seminal work on the hidden dimensions of psychic and spiritual vulnerability, exploring how unseen forces—whether psychological projections, unconscious influences, or genuine occult phenomena—can affect human well-being. Drawing from her own experiences as a psychotherapist and occultist, Fortune examines cases of psychic attack, obsession, and energy vampirism, offering practical methods of protection through mental discipline, moral clarity, and spiritual hygiene.

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media (altrusiangrace.com) and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. THE DEFINITIVE FLAT EARTH DOCUMENT! The unabridged and enhanced 2nd edition of Zetetic Astronomy, formulated in the 19th century by Samuel Rowbotham, presents a flat-earth cosmology grounded in direct sensory observation rather than theoretical abstraction.

When Dion Fortune wrote Aspects of Occultism, "occultism" was an umbrella word used to describe hidden lore, secret traditions, and arcane knowledge. Today, when the word "occult" is often confused for "cult," and all its negative aspects, Fortune's essays would be better referred to as "esoteric studies."