praxis
Fasting And Prayer
Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification.
92 passages · 15 traditions
greek_mystery28
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 8)
“43 these unnatural habits." As, therefore, it is not wonderful that the greatest part of those who inhabit a pestiferous region, should languish and decline, but that a very few should preserve their natural strength; so we ought not to won…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 11)
“As the husbandman, therefore, performs sacred rites, by presenting handfuls of pulse and fruits, so ought we to sacrifice our purest thoughts, and other goods of the soul, thanking the divinities for the sublime contemplations they afford u…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 12)
“But to the other Gods, to the world, and to the erratic and fixed stars, composed from body and soul, and to the visible divinities, testimonials of gratitude are to be offered by sacrificing with inanimate substances.
After these there re…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XII. SATURN
“XII. TO SATURN. The FUMIGATION from STORAX. ETHERIAL father, mighty Titan, hear, 1 Great fire of Gods and men, whom all revere: Endu'd with various council, pure and strong, To whom perfection and decrease belong. Consum'd by thee all forms…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 1)
“p.
1 THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS 1.
First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2.
Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3.
Honour likewise the Terrestrial Dæmon…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 2)
“Wherein have I done amiss?
What have I done?
What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43.
If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; 44.
And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 5 (part 3)
“"Thou shalt not hope what thou ought'st not to hope," knowing the nature of all things, and what is possible.
55.
The Gods near at hand are virtue and truth.
p.
17 59, 60.
The fatal strife is caused by our inclination "madly to run cou…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 2)
“It is not proper to despise those things of which we shall be in want after the dissolution of the body.
36.
You should not ask of divinity that which, when you have obtained, you will not perpetually possess.
37.
Accustom your soul aft…”
Show all 28 →western_esoteric15
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Wonders of Antiquityf
“She bathed in the Castalian well, abstained from all food, drank only from the fountain of Cassotis, which was brought into the temple through concealed pipes, and just before mounting the tripod, she chewed a few leaves of the sacred bay t…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Mystic Christianitye
“During the centuries just prior to the Christian Era, the secrets of the pagan Mysteries had gradually fallen into the hands of the profane.
To the student of comparative religion it is evident that these secrets, gathered by a small group…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Faith of Islamb
“Palmer's translation of the Qur'an .) In his youth Mohammed traveled with the Meccan caravans, on one occasion acted as armor-bearer for his uncle, and spent a considerable time among the Bedouins, from whom he learned many of the religious…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | American Indian Symbolismc
“The Indian does not worship the sun; he rather regards this shining orb as an appropriate symbol of the Great and Good Spirit who forever radiates life to his red children.
In Indian symbolism the serpent--especially the Great Serpent--cor…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 7)
“In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity.
But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration.
It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 11)
“Let not thy Left Eye deceive thee, by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy Right Eye command back this Left .
.
.
And only bringing the Eye of…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 19)
“The Sufi poets frequently lived the strange lives of hermits, anchorites and wanderers, at the same time singing of love, the beauty of women, the aroma of roses and wine.
Jêlal eddîn describes as follows the communion of the soul with God…”
◆Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 1. The Candidated
“One who neglects his moral dignity in order to obey blindly the instincts of Nature.
As a fact, in the presence of danger it is natural to be afraid and seek flight: why, then, is it shameful?
Because honour has erected it into a law that…”
Show all 15 →christian_mysticism8
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 4)
“will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of My Father in heaven." It would seem self-evident that no being inferior to the Father in heaven can possibly do the will of the Father, because no one can do the will of God unl…”
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 14)
“It would then be easy for us to grant our own desires, if in that divine state there could be room for personal desires of any kind.
268:1 True prayer is the bringing of will, thought, and word into one Δ by the power of the Spirit of God.…”
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 7)
“This light moderates the action of the fiery will still active in them, the blessings of their good deeds surround them, the hope for still greater glorification is their life, and from the trouble and persecution which they have suffered t…”
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 11)
“309 As a matter of course, no dead soul can be made alive by prayer, neither can mere lip-prayer or any empty ceremony aid the soul in freeing herself from the bonds of matter, but the living may aid the "dead," and especially the dying, by…”
◇Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VIe
“Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”
◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 4)
“There was then no earthly food or drink, and the soul of Christ knew very well that she was in God, and that she could make terrestrial bread out of stones, as there was no other bread there.
But she did not desire to eat with her celestia…”
◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 3)
“To accomplish this he must rise by the aid of the divine Spirit within himself above the inferior elements within his own nature, and thus surrender his whole self-will to God, an act which is expressed in the original meaning of the word "…”
◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 9)
“279 free will already in the beginning (of a desire) destroys the desire, so that it does not become substantial, then is the physician (for the cure of that disease) already born, and there will not be needed such great earnestness as will…”
egyptian8
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 19 (part 10)
“As concerning [the words] "that night of the reckoning of destruction," it is the night of the burning of the damned, and of the overthrow of the wicked at [the sacred] block, and of the slaughter of souls.
Who then is this?
It is Nemu, t…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 24 (part 1)
“PLATE XVI.
Vignette: Ani standing, with both hands raised in prayer, before four gods who are seated on a pedestal in the form of Maat; before him is his heart set upon a pedestal.
Text [CHAPTER XXVII.]: (I) THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 28 (part 1)
“PLATE XX.
Vignette: Osiris and Isis in a sepulchral shrine.
Text [CHAPTER XV.]: (I) A HYMN OF PRAISE To RA WHEN HE RISETH IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE HEAVEN.
They who are in (2) his train rejoice, and lo!
Osiris Ani in triumph saith "Hai…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 29 (part 1)
“PLATE XXI.
"Thou dost place thy disk in the west, and my two hands are [raised] in adoration [of thee] when thou settest (30) as a living being.
Behold, thou art the maker of eternity, and thou art adored [when] thou settest in the heaven…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 98)
“It has been urged that the Egyptians never advanced to pure monotheism because they never succeeded in freeing themselves from the belief in the existence of other gods, but when they say that a god has "no second," even though they mention…”
◆The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 6 (part 3)
“69 children, and his beloved ones, and his foster-parents, and his kinsfolk, and his [grown-up] sons and daughters, and his concubines, whom it is his heart's desire [to meet], and his friends, and those who have worked for him upon earth;…”
◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 19 (part 3)
“The god Tmu, seated within the Sun-disk in the boat of the setting sun, facing a table of offerings.
6.
The god Rehu, in the form of a lion (to illustrate line 133).
7.
The serpent Uatchit, the lady of flame, a symbol of the eye of Ra,…”
◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 66)
“141.
2.
Ibid.
, p.
149.
3 Ibid.
, p.
172.] {p.
lxxxix} God and the gods.
The passages from the pyramid of Pepi show at once the difference between neter as God, and the "gods" neteru ; the other passages, which might be multiplied…”
gnosticism6
◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRST
“Now therefore, O Light of the Lights, let them not take away my light from me, and let them not say within them, Our power was satisfied with her light, and let them not say, (We) swallowed (down) her power, but let darkness rather come upo…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRST
“This is the work of those who slander with the Lord and those who say contrary to lawful (things) against my soul.
But thou, O Lord, do mercy with me because of thy name.
Save me because I am poor and I am miserable: my heart was disturbe…”
◇Gospel of Thomas | Logion 14
“Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they r…”
◇Gospel of Thomas | Logion 27
“<Jesus said,> "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father."…”
◇Gospel of Thomas | Logion 73
“Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."…”
◇Gospel of Thomas | Logion 104
“They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today and let us fast." Jesus said, "What is the sin that I have committed, or wherein have I been defeated? But when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray."…”
celtic5
◆The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWCb
““Go forward,” said Peredur, “for I saw such an one as thou inquirest for, and I will follow thee.” Then Peredur returned to his mother and her company, and he said to her, “Mother, those were not angels, but honourable knights.” Then his mo…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale GERAINT THE SON OF ERBINz
“But the third turned upon him, and struck him with his club, so that he split his shield, and crushed his shoulder, and opened his wounds anew, and all his blood began to flow from him.
But Geraint drew his sword, and attacked the giant, a…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE DREAM OF RHONABWYc
“And three nights before the end of the battle of Camlan I left them, and went to the Llech Las in North Britain to do penance.
And there I remained doing penance seven years, and after that I gained pardon.” Then lo!
they heard a mighty s…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINh
“I have been with my Lord in the manger of the ass: I strengthened Moses through the water of Jordan; I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene; I have obtained the muse from the cauldron of Caridwen; I have been bard of the harp to L…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINl
“And then said Taliesin, “Elphin, behold a payment and reward unto thee, for having taken me out of the weir, and for having reared me from that time until now.” And on this spot stands a pool of water, which is to this time called Pwllbair.…”
neoplatonism5
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIa
“Another species of divine divination which is much celebrated, most manifest and manifold, is that of oracles, about which you say as follows: “ There are some who drink water, as the priest of Clarius, in Colophon; [59] but others are seat…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIb
“But when she places herself on the seat of the God, she becomes coadapted to his stable prophetic power: and from both these preparatory operations she becomes wholly possessed by the God.
And then, indeed, he is present with and illuminat…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“65, when he says, “The cathartic prayer is that which is offered for the purpose of averting diseases originating from pestilence, and other contagious distempers, such as we have written in our temples .” Καθαρτικαι δε (ευχαἰ, επι αποτροπα…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 362
“Section 42 42. It follows that, for the purposes which have induced this discussion, the stars have no need of memory or of any sense of petitions addressed to them; they give no such voluntary attention to prayers as some have thought: it…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 365 (part 1)
“Section 45 45.
From this discussion it becomes perfectly clear that the individual member of the All contributes to that All in the degree of its kind and condition; thus it acts and is acted upon.
In any particular animal each of the lim…”
sufism5
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IIIa
“The Jewish King, his Vazir, and the Christians.
A certain Jewish king used to persecute the Christians, desiring to exterminate their faith.
His Vazir persuaded him to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and expel him…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIIa
“The Merchant and his Clever Parrot.
There was a certain merchant who kept a parrot in a cage.
Being about to travel to Hindustan on business, he asked the parrot if he had any message to send to his kinsmen in that country, and the parrot…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXb
“Woman is a ray of God, not a mere mistress, The Creator's self, as it were, not a mere creature!
Moses and Pharaoh, alike doers of God's will, as Light and Darkness.
Poison and Antidote.
Verily, both Moses and Pharaoh walked in the right…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXd
“I knew of myself what ye thought, But I desired that ye should speak it; As this boasting of yours is very improper, So shall my mercy be shown to prevail over my wrath: O angels, in order to show forth that prevailing, I inspired that pret…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY XIV
“The Chinese and the Greek Artists. The Chinese and the Greeks disputed before the Sultan which of them were the better painters; and, in order to settle the dispute, the Sultan allotted to each a house to be painted by them. The Chinese pro…”
buddhism2
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter V, Section 1a
“p.
20 CHAPTER V.
THE FOOL.
60.
Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.
61.
If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his eq…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XIV, Section 1a
“p.
49 CHAPTER XIV.
THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED).
179.
He whose conquest is not conquered again, into whose conquest no one in this world enters, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?
180.
He whom no…”
hermeticism2
◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1e
“And for this cause is water poured around earth, to be a guard and wall, to keep the blazing of the fire away.
But mind, the swiftest thing of all divine outthinkings, and swifter than all elements, hath for its body fire.
For mind being…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1d
“<lacuna in text>, though this Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, on which I did not comment - in order that we may not be calumniators of the All unto the multitude, to whom indeed God Himself doth will we should not.
14.
Tat: Tell me, O father:…”
jewish_mysticism2
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter CVIII
“CVIII. AN APPENDIX TO THE BOOK OF ENOCH. CHAPTER CVIII. 1. Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days. 2. Ye who have done good shall wait for those days ti…”
◇The Lesser Holy Assembly (Idra Zuta Qadisha) | Idra Zuta, Chapter 1 (part 1)
“CHAPTER VIII.
CONCERNING THE FOREHEAD OF MACROPROSOPUS.
87.
THE forehead of His skull is the acceptation of acceptations, whereunto is opposed the acceptation of Microprosopus, like as it is written, Exod.
xxviii.
38: "And it shall be…”
platonism2
◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1|
“This, my dear Socrates," said the stranger of Mantineia, "is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, an…”
◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1
“Yet at a festival he was the only person who had any real powers of enjoyment; though not willing to drink, he could if compelled beat us all at that,-wonderful to relate!
no human being had ever seen Socrates drunk; and his powers, if I a…”
renaissance_hermeticism2
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LVIII — Of the Reviving of the Dead, and of Sleeping or Hibernating (Wanting Victuals) Many Years Together | Chapter LVIII, Section 1c
“But Marcus Damascenus proves it, by many reasons, to be possible and natural, neither doth he think it irrational that some should, without meat and drink, avoiding excitements, and without consuming or corruption, sleep many months.
And t…”
◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec
“Therefore in this present time it is proper that noble spirits equipped with truth and enlightened with the Divine intelligence, should arm themselves against dense ignorance by climbing up to the high rock and tower of contemplation.[L] [L…”
norse1
◆The Poetic Edda: Hovamol | Section 1m
“I ween that I hung | on the windy tree, Hung there for nights full nine; With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was To Othin, myself to myself, On the tree that none | may ever know What root beneath it runs.
[138.
In the manuscrip…”
taoism1
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 126 (part 3)
“Doing what other men do, they would have no occasion to blame me.
This p.
208 is what is called being a fellow-worker with other men.
'Fully declaring my sentiments and substantiating them by appealing to antiquity, I shall be a co-worke…”