The author made two trips through the Middle East in the period after World War I when the British and the French were present, and even the United States was being asked to assume some sort of control over the Ottoman grant. Both these political happenings and the people the author encountered create a dramatic backdrop for the journeys. In Istanbul, Ankara, Lebanon and Syria, he meets Sufi mystics, Druse believers, sheiks who can help or hinder the traveler, dope smugglers (all over), historical figures like Kemal Atatürk (the great general and founder of the modern Turkish state), and caravan guides who make the desert their home. Written 50 years after the events took place, this is a vivid picture of a lost era. MET

Publisher: Octagon
Hardback: 198 pages

To Evola, hermeticism and alchemy are the same. Alchemy is not a concern about metals but rather a physical and metaphysical system embracing cosmology and anthropology, nature and supernature. The reader should abandon the analytical mindframe so that comprehension of this art can occur. Translated for the first time, this survey of alchemical symbols (the names of the Zodiac, the metals that make up the universe, the combinations of spiritual powers, the emanations that the practitioner produces, etc.) and teachings (the practitioner looks for more than turning lead into gold) reveals the mysterious world of the Royal Art. MET

Publisher: Inner Traditions
Paperback: 220 pages

Ideas and beliefs about immortality were crucial points upon which Egyptian religious and social life turned. Renowned Egyptologist Budge presents a synopsis of these ideas of the afterlife: belief in an almighty God; Osiris, the god of resurrection; the Egyptian gods of death; judgment at death; amulets, rites, charms and other items Egyptians regarded as essential for salvation; and more. MET

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 198 pages

According to the surprising and compelling research in this work, Moses was none other than the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton; Jesus is a direct descendant of King David (and as such, fated to become the national leader in the Jewish anti-Roman revolt); Jesus had other brothers and sisters; Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two sons; Mary Magdalene and their sons fled to Europe after the failed Jewish Wars; Jesus himself fled toward Asia Minor (and is presumed to have traveled on to Kashmir where he supposedly died). This knowledge was kept alive by initiates who originated such religious movements and kingly dynasties the Merovingians, the Celtic Church and the Arthurian romances. The book goes beyond genealogy to show that the Holy Grail, more than a physical object, is an ideal of service and guidance to others instituted by the leader of national liberation and social harmony in ancient Palestine, Jesus. MET

Publisher: Element
Hardback: 489 pages
Illustrated

“The Bible… contains numberless obscure and mysterious passages which are utterly unintelligible without some key wherewith to unlock their meaning. That key is given in the Kabbalah.” Medieval alchemists and mystics searched for clues in every letter of the Bible and produced an abundance of Kabbalistic interpretations. The present translation is particularly useful for those interested in the occult and the metaphysical because three Kabbalistic works of paramount importance are included: the Zohar, the Greater Holy Assembly, and the Lesser Holy Assembly, all leading to the proof: “Each effect has a cause and everything which has order and design has a governor.” MET

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 388 pages

Newly translated from Yoruba, this work presents the basis underlying such African-derived New World religions as Santería, Candomble, Macumba and Vodun. The Ifa Oracle presents a window on a universe that resembles the Chinese I Ching system and holds the answers for the practitioner. The Ifa practitioner believes that the future can be known if the nonquantifiable world of spiritual energy is used to comprehend the quantifiable world of matter. MET

Publisher: HarperCollins
Paperback: 549 pages

Written by an anthropologist, this is an account of field work and explorations into nonmainstream religions in Brazil and their exorcisms, psychic surgery, spirit mediums, poltergeists, spiritual healings, succubi and incubi. The author considers the relationship between spiritism and other popular religions in Brazil and how Spiritists re-create science and nature. MET

Publisher: Columbia University
Hardback: 214 pages

The slave trade in the Arab world antedated Mohammed and still exists in parts of Arab Africa today. This work presents the ideological underpinnings and the historical treatment of the slave in the Arab world. It also shows contrasts between slavery in the Arab world and in the Old South, and examines the factors that determined the status of slaves in the Islamic world. Sometimes these factors led to insurrections like the Baghdad Slave War (A.D. 880-894) and to the rise and fall of many Muslim kingdoms in Africa. That the relationship between the European powers and Muslim slave brokers led to an expansion of the slave trade is well-documented in this book. MET

Publisher: New Amsterdam
Paperback: 265 pages