Bücher der Reihe Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology

Gnosticism, together with alchemy, was for C G Jung the chief prefiguration of his analytical psychology. Jung did not simply interpret Gnostic texts psychologically but also cited them as confirmation of his psychology. The author has searched the Jungian corpus to bring together Jung's main discussions of this ancient form of spirituality.

The gods of Olympus died with the advent of Christianity--or so we have been taught to believe. But how are we to account for their tremendous popularity during the Renaissance? This illustrated book, now reprinted in a new, larger paperback format, offers the general reader first a discussion of mythology in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, and then a multifaceted look at the far-reaching role played by mythology in Renaissance intellectual and emotional life.

One of the three great gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred and most ancient book of India, "The Rig Veda", evokes his presence in its hymns. This title details the metaphysics, ontology, and myths of Siva from the Vedas and the Puranas. It aims to reveal the paradoxes in Siva's nature and in the nature of consciousness.

Presents a picture of the historical development of beliefs regarding the soul in ancient Greece. In exploring Greek ideas of human souls as well as those of plants and animals, this title illuminates an important stage in the genesis of the Greek mind.

An anthology of nearly two hundred "hieroglyphics," or allegorical emblems, said to have been used by the Pharaonic scribes in describing natural and moral aspects of the world. This work tells how various types of natural phenomena, emotions, virtues, philosophical concepts, and human character-types were symbolized.

An anthology which includes the central texts from the acclaimed two-volume compilation "Selected Works of Ramon Llull". This volume contains three prefaces on Llull's life, thought, and reputation. Of Llull's works, it offers "Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men"; "The Book of the Lover and the Beloved"; and "Book of the Beasts".

Examines the saga of the Grail. Exploring the legend's Gnostic roots, this book considers how the legend of the Grail related to fertility rites with the lance and the cup serving as sexual symbols. It traces its origins to a Gnostic text that served as a link between ancient vegetation cults and the Celts and Christians who embellished the story.

Dream interpretation was a prominent feature of the intellectual and imaginative world of late antiquity, for martyrs and magicians, philosophers, polytheists and monotheists alike. This book draws on pagan, Jewish, and Christian sources and modern semiotic theory to demonstrate the integral importance of dreams in late-antique thought and life.

Traces the images of spiritual initiation in religious rituals and myths of resurrection, poems and epics, cycles of nature, and art and dreaming. This book dramatizes the metamorphosis from a common experience of death's inevitability into a transcendent freedom beyond individual limitations.

No other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and nature of Greece and Italy, in the tradition of antiquity, as Dionysos. This work presents a historical account of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan culture to its transition to a cosmic and cosmopolitan religion of late antiquity under the Roman Empire.

The Sanctuary of Eleusis, near Athens, was the center of a religious cult that endured for nearly two thousand years and whose initiates came from all parts of the civilized world. Looking at the tendency to "see visions," C. The author examines the Mysteries of Eleusis from the standpoint not only of Greek myth but also of human nature.

Examines the complex fate of classical Egyptian religion during the centuries from the period when Christianity first made its appearance in Egypt to when it became the region's dominant religion. This book describes how an ancient culture maintained itself while also being transformed through influences such as Hellenism, and Roman government.

Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus' release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. The author examines the story of Prometheus.

Brings to a wide audience one of the most innovative and meaningful models of God for this post-Auschwitz era. In a return to the original Hebrew conception of God, which questions accepted conceptions of divine omnipotence, this title defines God's authorship of the world as a consequence of his victory in his struggle with evil.

This volume presents the most important portions of Erwin Goodenough's classic thirteen-volume work, a magisterial attempt to encompass human spiritual history in general through the study of Jewish symbols in particular. Revealing that the Jewish religion of the period was much more varied and complex than the extant Talmudic literature would lead us to believe, Goodenough offered evidence for the existence of a Hellenistic-Jewish mystic mythology far closer to the Qabbalah than to rabbinical Judaism.Originally published in 1989.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The medieval legend of the Grail, a tale about the search for supreme mystical experience, has never ceased to intrigue writers and scholars by its wildly variegated forms. This title shows how the Grail, once a Celtic vessel of plenty, evolved into the Christian Grail with miraculous powers.

The tales told of Orpheus are legion. He is said to have been an Argonaut - and to have saved Jason's life. Did Orpheus, in fact, exist? His influence on Greek thought is undeniable, but his disciples left little of substance behind them. This work attempts to uncover and define Orphism by following its circuitous path through ancient history.

In this in-depth exploration of the symbols found in Navaho legend and ritual, Gladys Reichard discusses the attitude of the tribe members toward their place in the universe, their obligation toward humankind and their gods, and their conception of the supernatural, as well as how the Navaho achieve a harmony within their world through symbolic ceremonial practice.Originally published in 1963.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Swiss thinker JJ Bachofen is most often connected with his theory of matriarchy, or 'mother right,'. This book includes an autobiographical essay and selections from "An Essay on Ancient Mortuary Symbolism", "Mother Right", and "The Myth of Tanaquil".

Drawing on both Eastern and Western literature, this is an anthology of stories linked by the theme of conflict with the forces of evil. Beginning with a tale from the "Arabian Nights", this theme unfolds in stories from early Hinduism, Irish paganism, the Arthurian cycle and other legends.

A collection of magical texts from ancient Egypt. It shows the exotic rituals, esoteric healing practices, and incantatory and supernatural dimensions that flowered in early Christianity. It explores the place of healing, prayer, miracles, and magic in the early Christian experience.

Zohar, or 'brilliant light,' is the central text of Kabbalah. In Jewish mystical tradition, it is the meeting of midrash (storytelling that expands on events in the Bible) and myth. This selection offers translations of eight of the well developed narratives in the Zohar along with notes and detailed commentary.

The Medicine Rite is performed by medicine men upon the initiation of a member to their cult. Presenting a transcription of the Medicine Rite, the most sacred ritual of the Winnebago Indians, this work captures a poetic source of profound importance to the understanding of mystical experience.

Sage, scientist, and sorcerer, Hermes Trismegistus was the culture-hero of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. This book argues that the technical and philosophical Hermetica, apparently so different, might be seen as aspects of a single "way of Hermes."

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) was a wide-ranging thinker whose ideas affected almost every branch of the social sciences. And nowhere is this impact more evident or more persistent than on the study of myth, ritual, and religion. He articulated as never before or since a program of seeing myths as part of the functional, pragmatic, or performed

Includes a poem that tells how Hades, lord of the underworld, abducted the goddess Persephone and how her grieving mother, Demeter, the goddess of grain, forced the gods to allow Persephone to return to her for part of each year.

In this work a distinguished scholar of Islamic religion examines the mysticism and psychological thought of the great eleventh-century Persian philosopher and physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina), author of over a hundred works on theology, logic, medicine, and mathematics. Henry Corbin's discovery in an Istanbul library of the manuscript of a Persian translation of and commentary on Avicenna's Hayy ibn Yaqzan, written in Arabic, led him to an analysis of three of Avicenna's mystical "e;recitals."e; These form an initiatory cycle leading the adept along the path of spiritual progress. In Part I Corbin summarizes the great themes that show the philosophical situation of Avicennan man in the cosmos and presents translations of these three great Avicennan recitals. Part II is a complete translation, with notes, of the Persian commentary.Originally published in 1960.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.