Thanks to the efforts of four very dedicated and wonderfully generous volunteer translators, I'm pleased to post new translations in Italian (Ervé Aimaro), Spanish (Carlos Palacios and Jorge Levia), and Romanian (Marius Nica)!  :)   

Thanks to Alexander Rannak, a digital (pdf) version of Mary Anne Atwood's  A Suggestive Inquiry into Hermetic Mystery (1850) is now available.  Alexander has volunteered to create digital files of all (or at least all that he can find copies of) the books listed in my Bibliography whose copyrights have expired.  These will be downloadable through links on the Bibliography page.  Thanks, Alex!  :)

Thanks to all of the generous donations received last November and December, I have been able to purchase 5 years of web hosting and domain registration in advance!  :)  :)  :)   ABC.com's web hosting company (WBWS.net) also generously tripled the available disk space (at no charge) in order to accommodate future growth!  So, ABC.com is now set through January, 2012!!!   :)

In Hermetics, like any other system of philosophy, we use a variety of terms which may or may not be used commonly, without really defining the specific meaning we wish to convey with their use.  Most often, we intend to communicate something more with them than their common, every day definitions would imply and it is assumed that you either already know what distinguishes their use from the ordinary meaning or, will figure it out.  One such term is "self" and although it is true that if you are seriously pursuing the work of Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics, you will eventually be led to an understanding of its Hermetic use, it is nonetheless very advantageous if you have prior knowledge and can recognize the essential Self from the outset.  Clarifying what is truly meant to be communicated by this seemingly simple word in the Hermetic context, will be the subject of all that follows and, as usual, this will be an experiential journey, not just an intellectual one.