Intended to train and stimulate the mind, this book aims to open readers up to unfamiliar ways of thinking through various new techniques and challenges, such as discursive meditation, awareness exercises and affirmation.
This thought-provoking book was not written simply to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting: it is instead a stimulating and well-crafted raw material for occult studies and readers are encouraged to read the 52 lessons across an entire year.
Throughout the book, students will be taught through four in-depth and engaging modules: 'The Planes of Being', 'Spiritual Evolution' 'Cycles of Life and Death' and 'The Way of Occultism' and will exit the year with a solid foundation in occultism, preparing them for more advanced future study.
The Occult Philosophy Workbookis a must-have introduction to the concepts and teachings of contemporary Western occultism and can be read as an accompaniment to Greer's previous book,The Way of the Golden Section.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
UNIT ONE: The planes of being
Lesson 1: What is occultism?
Lesson 2: Spirit and matter
Lesson 3: The inner life
Lesson 4: The planes of being
Lesson 5: The etheric plane
Lesson 6: More about the etheric plane
Lesson 7: The astral plane
Lesson 8: More about the astral plane
Lesson 9: The mental plane
Lesson 10: The spiritual, causal, and divine planes
Lesson 11: The path of evolution
Lesson 12: The goals of occultism
UNIT TWO: Spiritual evolution
Lesson 13: The cosmic planes
Lesson14: The solar logos
Lesson 15: The lords of flame, form, and mind
Lesson 16: The elementals
Lesson 17: The mineral kingdom
Lesson 18: The plant kingdom
Lesson 19: The animal kingdom
Lesson 20: The human kingdom
Lesson 21: The mental sheath
Lesson 22: The two paths
Lesson 23: Beyond humanity
Lesson 24: The lords of freedom
UNIT THREE: Cycles of life and death
Lesson 25: The cycle of reincarnation
Lesson 26: The soul and the personality
Lesson 27: The first death
Lesson 28: The second death
Lesson 29: Heaven and hell
Lesson 30: The vision of the ideal
Lesson 31: Fate, will, and destiny
Lesson 32: Toward a new incarnation
Lesson 33: Reincarnation and the nonhuman
Lesson 34: The life and death of nations
Lesson 35: Ages of the world
Lesson 36: The cycles of time
UNIT FOUR: The way of occultism
Lesson 37: The sources of occultism
Lesson 38: Subjective and objective minds
Lesson 39: The process of occult training
Lesson 40: Seven spiritual laws
Lesson 41: The law of wholeness
Lesson 42: The law of flow
Lesson 43: The law of balance
Lesson 44: The law of limits
Lesson 45: The law of cause and effect
ADDITIONAL LESSONS: The four gates of the year
Additional Lesson 1: The spring equinox
Additional Lesson 2: The summer solstice
Additional Lesson 3: The autumn equinox
Additional Lesson 4: The winter solstice
APPENDIX: Instructions for practice
Discursive meditation
Awareness exercises
Affirmations
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
About the Author :
John Michael Greer is the award-winning author of more than fifty books, including 'The New Encyclopedia of the Occult', 'The Druidry Handbook', 'The Celtic Golden Dawn', and 'Circles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic'. An initiate in Freemasonry, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, Greer served as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) for twelve years. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife Sara. Greer is also the author of eleven fantasy and science fiction novels and ten nonfiction books on peak oil and the future of industrial society, and also blogs weekly on politics, magic, and the future at www.ecosophia.net.
