The Great Secret And Its Unfoldment In Occultism

Published in 1912, this esoteric work by Charles Maurice Davies explores the hidden knowledge of the occult and the spiritual dimensions of reality. Drawing on ancient wisdom traditions from around the world, Davies offers insights into the mysteries of consciousness, energy, and the nature of the universe. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Great Secret and Its Unfoldment in Occultism: A Record of Forty Years' Experience in the Modern Mystery Without at all disparaging the value of such evidence, or resolving to forego its occasional aid, I felt very strongly that the narrative must be in the first place essentially personal. I know from long experience how difficult it is to persuade outsiders that you have really witnessed what you set down for their acceptance, and how enormously that diffieulty is increased by every step which removes you from the original experience. The ideal at which I aim is this - to be able to say to my readers: I have witnessed such and such phenomena - not that some body else told me they had witnessed them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Great Secret completes a trilogy of books by Eliphas Levi published in his "Studies in Hermetic Tradition" series, the two previous volumes being The Book of Splendours and The Mysteries of the Qabalah. Taken together these writings represent a fitting memorial to one who "has been both the keeper of the hermetic tradition and the absolute renovator of esoteric thinking in Europe in the 19th century". "You will be as gods, knowing good and evil". So concludes what Eliphas Levi considered to be his last testament, his most important and final treatise, and a summation of his esoteric philosophy. This volume is the conclusion of the work he started with Book One, The Hieratic Mystery or the Traditional Documents of High Initiation, published as The Book of Splendours (Weiser, 1984). The Great Secret contains his final two works: Book Two, The Royal Mystery or Art of Subduing the Powers, in which Levi discusses such topics as Evil, the Outer Darkness, the Great Secret, Magical Sacrifice, Evocations, the Arcana of Solomon's Ring, and the Terrible Secret. Book Three, The Sacerdotal Mystery or the Art of Being Served by Spirits, covers Aberrant Forces, the Chaining of the Devil, Sacred and Accursed Rites, Divination, Dark Intelligence, and the Great Arcanum.

CONTENTS: Prologue--India--Egypt--Persia--Chaldea--Greece Before Socrates--The Gnostics and the Neoplatonists--The Cabala--The Alchemists--The Modern Occultists--The Metapsychists--Conclusions. From the Author's PROLOGUE: Do not look to find in this volume a history of occultism, or a methodical monograph on the subject. To such a work one would need to devote whole volumes, which would of necessity be filled with a great measure of that very rubbish which I wish above all to spare the reader. I have no other aim than to tell as simply as possible what I have learned in the course of some years that were spent in these rather discredited and unfrequented regions. Reproduction of 1922 Edition.