Soon after Ismail’s Safavid Dynasty came to an end in the eighteenth century, Twelver Shi‘ism, though remaining the “state religion” in Iran, reverted to its former political quietism, prompting the ayatollahs to cultivate once more the ideology of taqiyyah and to refrain from directly interfering in the administrations of the Qajar Dynasty, which

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Manichaeism was founded by the Persian prophet Mani (216–275), who was brought up in Babylon as an Elchasaite, a Jewish-Christian sect which was, interestingly, also known as katharoi. After a series of revelations, Mani attempted to reform the Elchasaites, but was denounced and thrown out. Undeterred, he began a vigorous missionary campaign with t

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This particular kind of extended ritual practice is taught as part of the curriculum of the magical training organization IMBOLC. This organization was founded in 1992 by Roland Gabler in Kempten, Germany, as an independent study institute, and it offers an in-depth magical training for the solitary practitioner in all aspects of Western hermeticis

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