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We have recently received a collection of Manly P. Hall titles. Here is a little history on this interesting esoteric writer, philosopher and lecturer:
Manly P. Hall was born 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario, to William S. Hall, a dentist, and Louise Palmer Hall, a chiropractor and member of Rosicrucian Fellowship. In 1919 Hall, who never knew his father, moved from Canada to Los Angeles, California, with his maternal grandmother to reunite with his birth mother, who was living in Santa Monica, and was almost immediately drawn to the arcane world of mysticism, esoteric philosophies, and their underlying principles. His nascent interest was solidified by meeting—and becoming a student of—Sydney J. Brownson, “a diminutive horse-and-buggy doctor and Civil War veteran in his early 70s” who had set up business as a practitioner of phrenology, “the pseudo-science popular at the turn of the century that divided the brain into areas responsible for noble traits such as heroism and despised ones such as cruelty, and mapped them out in patterns on the surface of the brain. Hall delved deeply into “teachings of lost and hidden traditions, the golden verses of Hindu gods, Greek philosophers and Christian mystics, and the spiritual treasures waiting to be found within one’s own soul.” Less than a year later, Hall booked his first lecture, and the topic was reincarnation.
A tall (6′, 4″), imposing, confident and charismatic speaker who soon took over as preacher of the Church of the People in 1919, he read voraciously on “comparative religion, philosophy, sociology and psychology,” and “seemingly overnight . . . became a one-stop source of an astonishing range of eclectic spiritual material that resonates with the intellect, and the subconscious.” Hall was ordained a minister in the Church of the People on May 17, 1923, and “a few days later, he was elected permanent pastor of the church.”
His first publications consisted of two small pamphlets, “The Breastplate of the High Priest” (1920), and “Wands and Serpents.” Between 1921 and 1923 he wrote three books, The Initiates of the Flame published in October 1922, The Ways of the Lonely Ones published in 1922, and The Lost Keys of Freemasonry published in March 1923.
During the early 1920s, Carolyn Lloyd and her daughter Estelle—members of a family that controlled a valuable oil field in Ventura County, California—began “sending a sizeable portion of their oil income to Hall,” who used the money to travel and acquire a substantial personal library of ancient literature. Hall’s “first trip around the world to study the lives, customs and religions of countries in Asia and Europe,” which commenced December 5, 1923, was paid for by donations from Carolyn Lloyd and his congregation.
Later in 1928, at the age of 27 years, he published An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy: Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of all Ages, which is more commonly referred to as The Secret Teachings of All Ages. The major books which followed include The Dionysian Artificers (1936), Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians (1937), and Masonic Orders of Fraternity (1950).
VERY UNUSUAL -THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DR. NAKAMURA by MANLY P. HALL (First Edition Hardcover)
A book of choice for the lover of mystical tales and mysteries, this series of related short stories is a work in which fiction and fact combine to give insights to spiritual paths and fantastical events. Mr. K. Nakamura is a fictionalized dealer in artwork and antiquities in Kyoto, well-schooled in the legendary and lore of his country. He has the shrewdness of a successful businessman combined with a magical air. Each story presents a situation in which there is no clear demarcation between the commonplace and the supernatural, where strange happenings and powers appear to be taken for granted.
Contents:
Preface
A Philosopher of Good Parts
The Soul Detective
The Connoisseurs
A Matter of Some Importance
Chairman of the Committee
Mr. Nakamura Wears His Best Suit
St. Nicholas Nakamura
The Master of the Jade Pavilion
The Chamber of the Unhappy Spirits
Dragon Tales
In the Interest of Science
A Ghost Story
The Green Twig
A Matter of Reflection
The National Treasure
Mr. Netsuke
The Venerable Founder
To Rest in Peace
The Reading of the Will
The Virtuosi
House of the Tengu
To Ourselves Alone
Gate of the Foxes
Masters of Invisibility
A Valued Customer Returns
Guardians of the Threshold
The Portrait
The Dog Men
The Shopping Tour
The Cave of the Grim-Faced Saints
The Haunted Gong
The Sign of the Cross
The Expertisers
Honorable Son
The Hour of the Ox
An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy by Manly P. Hall (Oversized Hardcover Edition)
An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy by Manly P. Hall, Manly Palmer Hall (1969, Book, Illustrated) by Manly P. Hall, published by the Philosophical Research Society, IN, Los Angeles, CA, 1969, in very good condition, previous owners stamp on front endpapers, light shelfwear to edges and some very light dulling due to age. measures 13″ by 9″
There are 45 chapters:
The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism; Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity; the Life and Writings of Toth Hermes Trismegistus; the Initiation of the Pyramid; Isis, the Virgin of the World; the Sun, a Universal Deity; the Zodiac and its Signs; the Bembine Table of Isis; Wonders of Antiquity; the Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras; Pythagorean Mathematics; the Human Body in Symbolism; the Hiramic Legend; the Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color; Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles, and Birds; Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Trees; Stones, Metals, and Gems; Ceremonial Magic and Sorcery; the Elements and Their Inhabitants; Hermetic Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Therapeutics; the Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel; Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogony; the Tree of the Sephiroth; Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man; an Analysis of the Tarot Cards; the Tabernacle in the Wilderness; the Fraternity of the Rose Cross; Rosicrucian Doctrines and Tenents; Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagrams; Alchemy and its Exponents; the Theory and Practice of Alchemy; the Chemical Marriage; Bacon, Shakespere (sic), and the Rosicrucians; the Cryptogram as a Factor in Symbolic Philosophy; Freemasonic Symbolism; Mystic Christianity; the Cross and the Crucifixion; the Mystery of the Apocalypse; the Faith of Islam; American Indian Symbolism; the Mysteries and Their Emissaries.
DIONYSIAN ARTIFICERS by Hippolyto Joseph Da Costa With Interpretation from Manly P. Hall (Trade Hardcover Edition)
With an Interpretation of the Myth of Dionysius by Manly P. Hall
In this illustrated reprint of the rare Masonic monograph, Da Costa expresses his belief that modern Freemasonry derives its origin from the Dionysian architects and gives a valuable and comprehensive outline of the opinion of ancient authors on this subject. As the laws of nature and moral rules deduced from them were explained in fables, they were impressed on the memory by symbolical ceremonies which were termed Mysteries. Mr. Hall interprets the central myth of the Dionysian Mysteries and explains the secret metaphysical doctrines of this cult.
From the Publisher
The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 for the purpose of assisting thoughtful persons to live more graciously and constructively in a confused and troubled world. The Society is entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control. Dedicated to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems, the Society’s program stresses the need for the integration of religion, philosophy, and the science of psychology into one system of instruction. The goal of this instruction is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, to recognize his proper responsibilities and opportunities, and to understand and appreciate his place in the unfolding universal pattern.
Meditation Disciplines and Personal Integration by Manly P. Hall (Chapbook)
The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 for the purpose of assisting thoughtful persons to live more graciously and constructively in a confused and troubled world. The Society is entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control. Dedicated to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems, the Society’s program stresses the need for the integration of religion, philosophy, and the science of psychology into one system of instruction. The goal of this instruction is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, to recognize his proper responsibilities and opportunities, and to understand and appreciate his place in the unfolding universal pattern.
RETURN OF THE SORCERERS: Black Magic in the Modern World by Manly P. Hall (Chapbook)
Ancient man lived in a world of mystery, which resulted in a number of curious beliefs. The origins of magic (black, white and gray) are discussed, as well as the modern misinterpretations of ancient beliefs. ‘In the beginning human beings were isolated in an environment which they did not understand. They lived in a world of mystery and the combination of mysteries and imagination resulted in the rise of a number of curious beliefs. We also realize that these remote people, in trying to explain the nature of Deity, were only able to imagine God as a powerful chieftain — a cult hero, a venerable elder and to a great degree patterned after the living human heroes of the group under consideration. The gods of the Greeks and Romans were mighty kings and we have always had a tendency to create deities in our own image. We have assumed that all intelligence must be embodied and intelligence that impinges upon our experience must be embodied in a being of our kind. The moment we create such an embodiment, we bestow upon it not only our most noble ideals, but our most human and often delinquent tendencies. The deity of antiquity was an autocrat and ruled by the divine right of his own divinity, appointing his earthly representatives and bestowing upon them a divine right of kings. In these times also, strange fetish beliefs and mysterious factors in our social structure — taboos of all kinds — rose in primitive consciousness. It took many thousands of years for rulers to recognize that it was neither wise nor noble to bury their living followers with their own physical remains. Many a great ruler has been responsible for the killing of his entire court at the time or his own demise. These practices gradually faded away but only after thousands of years of what we might call mismanagement, cruelty, and savagery. Most of it in some way related to primitive religions, and we recognize in our background, and therefore to a large measure in our own subconscious life, that there are a number of moral dishonesties which have been deified or made to appear sacred. We have felt it perfectly right to persecute followers of other faiths, and in so doing were merely supporting our own deities and offering proper worship and homage. Even today in an entirely different environment, we find religious tolerance very difficult to maintain. We have made virtues out of many practices which have no essential merit, some of which are comparatively harmless, while others continue to be more or less menacing.’ (Manly P. Hall)
OCELLUS LUCANUS ON THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE with Thomas Taylor & Manley P. Hall (Hardcover Limited Edition)
Ocellus Lucanus On The Nature Of The Universe – Taurus, The Platonic Philosopher, On The Eternity Of The World – Julius Firmicus Maternus Of The Thema Mundi – Selected Theorums On The Perpetuity Of Time, By Proclus – translated from the originals by Thomas Taylor (with Introductory Preface by Manly P. Hall).
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Filed under: Miskatonic Books Tagged: Freemasonry, Manly P. Hall, Occult, Philosophical Research Society, Rosicrucian, Scottish Rite