Jeddah, 1925..

Tessel M. Bauduin, Surrealism and the Occult

Hegel’s Dialectics

Dialectics drives to the “Absolute”,… which is the last, final, and completely all-encompassing or unconditioned concept or form in the relevant subject matter under discussion (logic, phenomenology, ethics/politics and so on). The “Absolute” concept or form is unconditioned because its definition or determination contains all the other concepts or forms that were developed earlier in the dialectical process for that subject matter…We can picture the Absolute Idea, for instance—which is the “Absolute” for logic—as an oval that is filled up with and surrounds numerous, embedded rings of smaller ovals and circles, which represent all of the earlier and less universal determinations from the logical development. [Fig. 1].

Since the “Absolute” concepts for each subject matter lead into one another, when they are taken together, they constitute Hegel’s entire philosophical system, which, as Hegel says, “presents itself therefore as a circle of circles”. We can picture the entire system like this [Fig. 2].

Book of Magical Charms (17th cent.)

This work, penned in England by an unknown author, is a distinctive collection of selected passages from works on magic and various occult arts that describe everything from speaking with spirits, to cheating at dice, to curing a toothache. The book also includes a section of Latin prayers, litanies, and other magical charms that seem to stick more closely to mainstream religious practices.

The Arbatel De Magia Veterum (Arbatel: On the Magic of the Ancients) is a grimoire of ceremonial magic that was published in 1575 in Switzerland. It was likely edited by Theodor Zwinger, and published by Pietro Perna. The actual author of the text remains unknown, but scholars suggest Jacques Gohory as a possible candidate.

The Arbatel mainly focuses on the relationship between humanity, celestial hierarchies, and the positive relationship between the two. The Olympian spirits featured in it are entirely unique to this grimoire. Unlike other grimoires, the Arbatel exhorts the magus to remain active in their community (instead of isolating themselves), favoring kindness, charity, and honesty over remote and obscure rituals. The teachings of Swiss alchemist Paracelsus greatly influenced the writing of this work, though it is also deeply rooted in classical culture, Ancient Greek philosophy, the Sibylline oracles and the philosophy of Plotinus.

Originally written in Latin, these selected ten pages come from a later German translation of the work, dated to 1686.

Roberto Assagioli’s Consciousness Egg

The Self is a transpersonal center, a source of essential being, an inner counsellor guiding us to truth, meaning, and purpose. The Self is represented as a star, and appears at the top and bottom at the top of the diagram.

In Gurdjieff’s cosmology, The Universe is represented by the symbol of the Enneagram. The Enneagram itself is composed of three symbols

Russell A. Smith, Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets

Rudy Rucker, Geometry, Relativity, and the Fourth Dimension

The continuum of dissociation

Christian Scharfetter, Ego‐Fragmentation in Schizophrenia: A Severe Dissociation of Self‐Experience