The Gospel of Thomas by Richard Valantasis (trans)
This volume offers the first full commentary on the Gospel of Thomas, a work which has previously been accessible only to theologians and scholars. Valantasis provides fresh translations of the Coptic and Greek text, with an illuminating commentary, examining the text line by line. He includes a general introduction outlining the debates of previous scholars and situating the Gospel in its historical and theological contexts.
The Gospel of Thomas provides an insight into a previously inaccessible text and presents Thomas' gospel as an integral part of the canon of Biblical writings, which can inform us further about the literature of the Judeo-Christian tradition and early Christianity.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
£69.99
Semesilam: The Eternal Sun by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal
In the new prologue to Semesilam, Sabogal offers personal insight into the diverse circumstances that played a role in producing this corpus, including the motifs, symbols, and ideas behind them, and further interpretations of various images and themes – Gnostic Symbolism, Angelic Iconography, and Symbols of the Unconscious among others – which have been crucial to his artistic process.
Within this myriad of symbology and meaning, the Sun is at the forefront, a recurring symbol and inspiration for the book’s title, Semesilam – here identified as an inscription often found on the so-called Abrasax Gnostic gemstones, pointing to the everlasting nature of the solar orb.
The material from Handbook of Sacred Anatomy constitutes a Mutus Liber that explores mystical interpretations of human remains, while A Second Nature was significantly inspired by Jungian analyses, delving also into the mysterious Akephalos, the headless figure – symbolically suggestive of both the dragon and contemplation of death – used by surrealist author Georges Bataille, who, in an uncompromising non-rational way, sought to create its own visual associative language.
A new preface by Frater Acher (author of the Holy Daimon trilogy [Scarlet Imprint, 2018; 2020; 2022], Clavis Goêtica [Hadean Press, 2021], and Ingenium [Tadehent Books, 2022]), and an epilogue by Gabriel McCaughry (founder and owner of Anathema Publishing Ltd., and author of (h)Aurorae, [Anathema Publishing, 2018] also illustrated by José), both give testimony to Sabogal’s long-standing personal, literary, and artistic relationships – the fruits of which have taken the form of several publications and have inspired the artwork compiled here.
Semesilam features a new and carefully designed layout by artist and typographer Joseph Uccello, which enhances the presentation of this collection, thereby making it available as a fine edition, showcasing material that has been otherwise out of print for a considerable while. Certainly, a worthy addition for those who are interested in José Gabriel’s body of work.
Publisher: Anathema Publishing
£35.00
William Blake's Universe
A beautifully illustrated book that explores William Blake's relationship with Europe against a backdrop of political turmoil. Responding to revolution and war in Europe, enslavement and exploitation in European colonies, and repression and reaction at home in Britain, William Blake (1757–1827) produced an astonishing body of work that combined criticism of the contemporary world with a vision for universal redemption. Blake has always been seen as a distinctly English figure but, in reality, his art at all periods of his career is profoundly involved with Europe, as a source of his images and as a vision of the past, present and future of humanity.
This richly illustrated book, published alongside an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, explores the vital ingredients of Blake’s work and draws parallels with the ambitions of his artist contemporaries in Europe, most notably the German artist Philipp Otto Runge. In doing so the editors and contributors show that Blake was not alone in looking to art to build the world anew in the face of shattering political crises.
Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers
£17.99
Seven mysteries for an embodied experience of transcendence
• Draws on Gnosticism and Hermeticism to explore seven esoteric mysteries of feminine wisdom that are supported by practices
• Offers a wisdom teaching on integral spirituality and pansentience, encounters with spiritual entities, dreams, and reincarnation
• Explores the masculine principle of logos and how to integrate it with feminine eros in sacred marriage—Hieros Gamos—to achieve wholeness and mystical insight
Since the dawn of Christianity, the Sophia tradition has been suppressed and shrouded in secrecy. Drawing on Gnosticism and Hermeticism, this book presents divine feminine principles and teachings that are at the heart of the Sophia tradition and how they can be applied to enrich spiritual knowledge and practice.
Author Lee Irwin writes from a masculine perspective that honors and celebrates feminine insights, relations, and shared attitudes toward the sacred. The mysteries he shares are grouped in two sections: the lesser mysteries of body, mind, and soul and the greater mysteries of salvation, sacred union, the world soul, and reincarnation.
The lesser mysteries encourage greater personal awareness through the healing of old wounds and empowerment through responsibility. Irwin explores sacred sexuality and incarnation as a praxis that emphasizes the celebration of the body as temple. Through the greater mysteries readers learn how to develop transpersonal awareness, raise consciousness, and become receptive to gnosis through dreams and encounters with spiritual entities. Irwin then describes the masculine principle of logos and how to integrate it with feminine eros through alchemical union—Hieros Gamos—to achieve wholeness and mystical insight.
Feminine wisdom is a process—a way and not a destination. Divine Feminine Gnosis offers readers on any spiritual path an approach to living that is aimed toward heart-centered wisdom and an embodied experience of the transcendent.
Paperback.