Showing results by narrator "Matthew Schmitz" in All Categories

Dreams are part of common experience, yet a mystery that is little understood. Psychologists and others who are ignorant of the human being's true constitution, ranging across several subtle levels, are only groping to learn their significance. C.W. Leadbeater, an eminent clairvoyant and author of many books, explains in the manual how human consciousness functions when the body is asleep and how it is affected by the experiences in the physical and subtle worlds. These experiences take shape as dreams of different kinds - true, prophetic, symbolical, confused and so on.

The lectures here presented in book form were first written in twenty lectures and delivered during the month of November, 1908, in Columbus, Ohio, by Max Heindel. He also mimeographed them and distributed copies to all who attended his lectures in that city, and in other cities. After his lectures in Seattle, Washington, a friend, Mr. William M. Patterson, traveled with him to Chicago, Illinois, where he not only financed the publishing, but also assisted Mr. Heindel in proofreading both The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and these Twenty Lectures.

These writings are attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, an ancient Egyptian sage, the founder of all arts and sciences, both mundane and spiritual. Rather than being an actual person, Hermes is the Egyptian personification of the "Gnostic Revealer." Hymns of Hermes examines Hermetic ecstatic hymns, which are songs of a poetic nature used to describe the Gnosis of Hermetic attainment and the ecstatic personal experience of the divine.

“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.

William Lilly (May 11, 1602–June 9, 1681), was a famed English astrologer and occultist during his time. Lilly was particularly adept at interpreting the astrological charts drawn up for horary questions, as this was his specialty. He caused much controversy in 1666 for allegedly predicting the Great Fire of London some 14 years before it happened. For this reason, many people believed that he may have started the fire, but there is no evidence to support these claims.

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 Sibylline Oracles - Prophecies of the Ancient World. The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state. Fourteen books and eight fragments of Sibylline Oracles survive, in an edition of the 6th or 7th century AD.

A weaver by trade and a mystic by nature, the 15-century poet Kabir created timeless works of enlightenment that combine the philosophies of Sufism, Hinduism, and the Kabbala. Expressed in imagery drawn from common life and the universal experience, Kabir's poems possess an appealing simplicity. This collection of 100 songs reflects nearly every aspect of the mystic's thought and emotions: ecstasy and despair, tranquil beatitude and fervid illumination, and moments of intimate love.

Frank Hamel's Human Animals (published in 1915) is an infamous and classic treatise on the mythology and the evidence of hybrid humans. This was one of the first popular works on cryptozoology, and a primer for those interested in the many stories and accounts of lycanthropy and other strange evolutionary paradoxes.

Neville Goddard's *The Creative Use of Imagination* presents imagination as the central creative principle in life, emphasizing that every external condition originates in the unseen images held within the mind. He argues that imagination is not fantasy or idle daydreaming, but a disciplined act of inner vision that shapes destiny. The book positions imagination as the very power of God working through the individual, making one's inner world the blueprint for all external experience.

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.

A Road to Self-Knowledge by Rudolf Steiner is a spiritual-guide structured as eight meditations, each focusing on successive layers of human being—from the physical body and etheric (life-force) body, through the elemental world and the "Guardian of the Threshold," to the astral body, the I- or thought-body, the nature of experience in supersensible realms, and finally the remembrance of one's repeated earthly lives.

"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.

Graves presents a historical and comparative analysis of the concept of Satan in various religious traditions. It explores the origins of the devil figure, tracing its roots in ancient mythologies and religious beliefs. The Biography of Satan challenges conventional religious interpretations and sheds light on the diverse and evolving perceptions of evil and temptation throughout human history.

Translated as Thus Spake Zarathustra, this book is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; it was published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885. The protagonist is nominally the historical Zoroaster.

The Nameless City by H. P. Lovecraft follows a lone traveler who ventures into an ancient, half-buried ruin deep in the Arabian desert, a place older than human history and shunned by legend. Drawn by curiosity, he explores its strange low-built corridors and underground passages, where he discovers carvings and relics revealing a forgotten reptilian civilization that flourished long before mankind.

The Buddhist Catechism by Henry S. Olcott is a concise instructional guide to the core teachings of Buddhism, presented in a question-and-answer format meant to clarify the religion for both beginners and students. First published in the late 19th century, it outlines fundamental Buddhist ideas such as the life and example of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths, karma, rebirth, ethical conduct, meditation, and the goal of nirvana, while emphasizing reason, self-discipline, compassion, and the non-theistic nature of Buddhist thought.

The Hyborian Age is Robert E. Howard’s sweeping essay that serves as the mythological and historical backdrop to his legendary Conan the Barbarian stories. Written in 1932 and first published in The Phantagraph in 1936, this work is a vivid tapestry of fictional prehistory, weaving together epic migrations, fallen civilizations, and heroic struggles into a cohesive narrative that breathes life into Howard’s fantastical world.

Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media and human-narrated by Matthew Schmitz. In A Mithriac Ritual, G.R.S. Mead presents and comments on a text he treats as an unusually revealing witness to the inner religious life of the Mithraic mysteries, moving beyond general history to examine a ritual of ascent, invocation, visionary transformation, and cosmic symbolism.

Twenty Drawings is a brief but evocative art volume first published in 1919 that gathers twenty of Kahlil Gibran’s drawings, presented with an introductory essay by Alice Raphael. Rather than telling a conventional story, the book offers a visual meditation on beauty, the human form, spirituality, longing, and the dreamlike union of Eastern and Western artistic sensibilities that shaped Gibran’s work.