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Resources - Joseph's Reading List
With gratitude, here's a rich reference list of sacred and psycho-spiritual texts from scholar, and e-dialogue friend, Joe Taitano, D.D.
Dear Ronda,
Here is the list of sacred texts which have been key to my psychospiritual
evolution. I've also included a list of non-sacred books which have been of
immense help to me in my "Weg nach Innen" (inward journey).
Ancient Esoteric Texts
1. The I Ching, or Chinese Book of Changes. The ancient Chinese book
of wisdom and divination.
*I recommend the transl. by Richard Wilhelm, the Taoist Master Alfred
Huang, and John Blofeld. The Illustrated I Ching (trans. by R.L. Wing)
is also excellent, for it uses beautiful Chinese art to enhance the
understanding of the esoteric text
2. The Tao Te Ching ("The Classic of the Way and its Power or Virtue").
The book which became the basis for the philosophy of Taoism.
3. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Eg. per em hru/pert em hru, lit.
"manifested in the light" or "coming forth by day," which refers to the
sacred Egyptian art of the coming forth from this life into another
life). A voluminous collection of texts in the form of spells and
incantations, hymns and litanies, magical formulae and names,
words of power (hekau) and prayers, which the ancient Egyptian
priests and priestesses used to guide the soul-complex through the
Tuat, or Underworld.
*I recommend the transl. by Sir E.A. Wallis Budge and Raymond
O. Faulkner
4. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thodol ("Liberation by
Hearing on the After-Death Plane"). Like the Egyptian Book of the
Dead, it's used as a guide for the deceased during their Bardo existence,
symbolically described as an intermediate state of 49 days' duration
between death and rebirth.
* I recommend the trans. by W.Y. Evans-Wentz & Lama Kazi
Dawa-Samdup, which contains a brilliant psychological commentary
by C.G. Jung
5. The Bhagavad Gita ("Celestial Song"). The epic poem of Indian
culture and religion.
6. The Upanishads ("Approaches"). Collections of texts developing
the ritual or cosmogonic data of the Vedas (Hindu scriptures).
7. The Tantras ("Treatises on the Doctrine"). Texts which deal
with the mystical rites and mythical episodes connected with
the cult of Shakti ("Energy"), who is conceived as the wife of
Shiva ("the Supreme Spirit").
8. The Puranas ("Antiquities"). Treatises dealing with the creation
of the world, the genealogy of the gods, human prehistory, and
royal dynasties.
9. The Popol Vuh ("Council Book"). The Quiche Mayan book of
creation. The most important text in the native languages of the
Americas.
*I recommend the trans. by Dennis Tedlock
10. The Gnostic scriptures, of which the following texts have
been of particular interest to me:
*The Gospel of Mary
*The Gospel of the Egyptians
*The Gospel of Thomas
* Pistis Sophia
* Eugnostos the Blessed & the Sophia of Jesus Christ
* The Exegesis on the Soul
* The Hypostasis of the Archons
* The Thunder, Perfect Mind
* On the Origin of the World
*Zostrianos
*Asclepius
*The Three Steles of Seth
*The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
*The Tripartite Tractate
I recommend the trans. of the above texts (which, incidentally,
doesn't include Pistis Sophia) in The Nag Hammadi Library
(James M. Robinson, General Editor), which is the definitive
new trans. of the gnostic scriptures complete in one volume.
___________________________________
Further Reading
*The World of Tibetan Buddhism; Ethics for the
New Millennium; How To Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
Life- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
*Good Life, Good Death - Rimpoche Nawang Gehlek
*Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism - Chogyam Trungpa
*Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead- Detlef
Ingo Lauf
*Healing Herbs: The Heart of Tibetan Medicine - Peter Badmajew, Jr.,
Vladimir Badmajew, Jr., & Lynn Park
*Tao: The Watercourse Way; The Way of Zen; Nature, Man, &
Woman - Alan Watts
*The Tao of Physics - Fritjof Capra
*Memories, Dreams, Reflections; Symbols of Transformation;
Dreams; Psychological Types; Synchronicity; Septem Sermones ad
Mortuos (The Seven Sermons to the Dead) - C.G. Jung
*C.G. Jung & Hermann Hesse : A Record of Two Friendships -
Miguel Serrano
*Demian; Steppenwolf; Siddhartha; The Journey to the
East - Hermann Hesse
*The Serpent Power - Arthur Avalon (aka Sir John Woodroffe)
*Mantras: Words of Power; Kundalini Yoga for the West - Swami
Sivananda Radha
*The Yoga of the Bhagavat Gita - Sri Krishna Prem
*Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex - John Stevens
*Quantum Healing - Deepak Chopra
*The Secret Doctrine - Madame Blavatsky
*A New Model of the Universe; Tertium Organum; In Search of
the Miraculous - P.D. Ouspensky
*Cosmic Memory - Rudolf Steiner
*Her-Bak: Egyptian Initiate; The Opening of the Way - Isha Schwaller de Lubicz
*The Sign and the Seal; The Message of the Sphinx; Fingerprints
of the Gods - Graham Hancock
* The Gods of the Egyptians; Egyptian Magic - E.A. Wallis Budge
*The Mind of Egypt - Jan Assmann
*Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends - Lewis Spence
*Moses and Monotheism - Sigmund Freud
*The Gnostic Gospels - Elaine Pagels
*Jesus and the Lost Goddess - Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
*The White Goddess - Robert Graves
*The Secret Life of Plants - Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird
*The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology - Jose Arguelles
*Seth Speaks; The Nature of Personal Reality - Jane Roberts
*Reincarnation: The Second Chance - Sybil Leek
*Kabbalah - Gershom Scholem
*Green Eggs & Ham! - Dr. Seuss (just kidding). lol
Namaste,
Joseph
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