AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Seasonal Rites of Baal and Astarte by Carroll "Poke" Runyon ISBN: 0-9654881-4-4 Publisher: The Church of the Hermetic Sciences Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $24.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Revitalizing an Ancient Magical Religion!
Comment: Seasonal Rites of Baal and Astarte is an amazing book. There is nothing else like it available in occult/magical or esoteric Masonic publications. What we have here are four complete scripts for the reconstructed Solstice and Equinox rites of one of the oldest religions in the world, and the secret tradition behind Melchizedek, King Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre. These pageants of the Phoenician Sacred Year have been carefully reconstructed from ancient tablets discovered in Syria just before W.W.II and translated in the 1950s. Before this time there was no direct knowledge of this ancient magical religion.

The author, an anthropologist, occultist and Masonic scholar, has blended his knowledge of alchemy, Hermetic philosophy and Elizabethan style folk-drama to bring the ancient legend of Baal, the Green Man, to vibrant and even boisterous life. This is the original Holy Grail myth. Baal battles Leviathan to ensure the sun's return in the dead of Winter, weds the Queen of Heaven in Springtime, and is cut down by grim reaper's sickle at High Summer. In Fall Astarte makes her descent down through the Seven Gates of the Tree of Life (the origin of Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils ) bearing the Grail to revive the dead Prince Baal at Autumn Equinox.

These dramas are not a wishful project waiting to be staged. They have all been performed four times yearly since 1974 by the Order of the Temple of Astarte in Southern California. They are the longest-running and best established magical seasonal rituals in the United States.

Along with detailed scripts the author has provided introductory articles on each seasonal drama, along with an in-depth introduction on how the rites were inspired, researched, conceived and written. The book's introduction is by noted academic authority on avant garde religions Professor Robert S. Ellwood, Jr. of U.S.C.

In order to bring ancient Phoenician mythology to life for the reader, author Poke Runyon--calling on his abilities as a published novelist and an anthropologist--has included a modern fictionalized novelette of an ancient pre-Biblical myth called Prince Aqhat and the Magick Bow. If reading scripts is not exciting enough, this story will bring the ancient, magical myth-realm to life for you.

The book has color photos of ceremonies, costumes and regalia, along with a complete portfolio of costume designs.

For those interested in Near Eastern mythology, mystical drama, and occult symbolism Seasonal Rites of Baal and Astarte is essential. There is nothing else like it.