Made with Xara Website by Susan Smily Part 1 - Ancient & Medieval Cultures • Introduction o Belief o Making the Heritage of the Past Real in the PresentArchetypes o Three Types of Symbolism o Archetypes: A Jungian Approach to Understanding Literature • Paleolithic o The Great Mother and Partnership Societies o The Roots of Westerns Languages o Paleolithic Astronomy • Mesopotamia o Mesopotamian Culture o On the Disappearance of the Goddess o Inanna as Goddess of Fertility and as Goddess of Love o The Myths of Inanna* ▪ "The Descent of Inanna" o Inanna and Ego Death o The Zodiac in the Ancient World o Zodiacal Associations with Parts of the Human Body o The Seven Planets of the Ancient World o Inanna’s Trip as Archetypal Confrontation with the Shadow o Inanna’s Body Coverings and the Human Chakra System o Symbolism of the Number 7 o The Vegetation Gods of Antiquity o The Theme of the Epic of Gilgamesh o The Flood of Utnapishtim and other Mesopotamian Influences on the Old Testament • Egypt  o Thoth, Hermes Trismegistus, the Greek Hermes, and the Roman God Mercury o More about Serpents and Rods of Power o The Gods of Egypt ▪ The Myth of Osiris and Isis ▪ Horus and Thoth o As Above, So Below o The Chakra System on the Egyptian Landscape o References for Egypt o A Gentle Warning • Greece o The Gods and Goddesses of Greece ▪ The Greek Creation Saga ▪ The Greek Pantheon ▪ The Four Generations of Greek Gods and Goddesses ▪ Gods of Earth and of the Mysteries ▪ Comparisons of the Mystery Religions ▪ Variations in the Bacchic and Dionysiac Rites ▪ The Orphic Mysteries ▪ Prometheus as Trickster o The Myth of Theseus, the Minotaur, and the Labyrinth o The Illiad and The Trojan War ▪ Relationships of the Children of Zeus and Leda ▪ The Judgment of Paris o Oedipus ▪ Roles of the Hero’s Journey ▪ Oedipus and the Hero’s Journey ▪ Tiresius: The Syzygy o Plato  ▪ Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" o Pythagoras as Magus • Rome o The Aeneid ▪ Part II - Descent into the Underworld o Vergil as Magus o Other Roman Writers of Jesus’s Day • Hebrews o Figures of Prominence in the Old Testament  ▪ Adam and Eve and the Creation Story ▪ Noah and the Flood Story ▪ Abraham ▪ Jacob and Joseph ▪ Joseph ▪ Jacob’s Blessing of His Sons on his Deathbed ▪ The 12 Tribes of Israel and the Signs of the Zodiac ▪ Moses o The Hebrew Alphabet o Kabbala ▪ Kabbala and the Balancing Mechanism of Hebrew Mysticism ▪ The Tree of Life ▪ Notes on Kabbalah by Colin Low (PDF) o Merkavah Mysticism ▪ The Chariot Throne ▪ Angelic Warfare • Christianity o Christianity, the New Testament, and the World of Jesus’ Jerusalem ▪ The Bible ▪ Rome in the Time of Jesus ▪ Jewish Sects in the Time of Jesus ▪ Where was Jesus Educated? ▪ Legends in France and Turkey ▪ Essene Gospel of Peace ▪ The Lord's Prayer o The Gnostic Christians o Reincarnation as a Concept in the Ancient World • Norse and Germanic o Norse Creation Myths o Norse Mythology • Islam o God as Light • The Celts o The Celtic Races, Gods, Heroes, and Symbols o The Gods and Goddesses of the Celts o A Selection of Celtic Deities and Heroes • Europe:The Fall of Rome to the Late Middle Ages o The Arthurian Legends ▪ The Arthurian Legends ▪ Some Influences on Arthurian Legend ▪ Some Influences from Vegetation and Sun Gods of Early Cultures ▪ The Fisher King of Arthurian Legend ▪ The Green Man o The Grail Legends ▪ The Merovingian Dynasty and the Grail Romances: A Medieval Mystery ▪ The Cauldron of Rebirth: The Celtic Grail ▪ Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail o The Templars ▪ Historic and Speculative Highlights of the Templars ▪ Templar Facts and Legends ▪ The Templars and Rosslyn Chapel o The Tarot ▪ Tarot: A System of Spirituality ▪ The Greater Arcana 1 (Cards 0-10) ▪ The Greater Arcana 2 (Cards 11-21) o Virgin Mothers o Astrological Implications of the Idea of “Virgin Birth” o St Luke with the Feet of an Ox Part 2 - The Renaissance to the Present Man as a Microcosm of the Macrocosm Archetypes of the Hero's Journey in Candide o The Waste Land: ▪ Introduction to The Waste Land ▪ Use of Images from the Tarot Deck in The Waste Land ▪ Notes on The Waste Land* • Part I. The Burial of the Dead • Part II. A Game of Chess • Part III. The Fire Sermon • Part IV. Death by Water • Part V. What the Thunder Said . The information on this site was developed by Dr. Honora M. Finkelstein as a series of lecture notes for a World Cultures course. It contains a variety of information about many aspects of world culture throughout the ages There is much in my course notes, especially in Part 1, that fits into the category of Esoteric Wisdom. Below is a complete Table of Contents for Part 1, with links to those areas that specifically fit into this category. Each of the major headings, and the other topics, can be reached through the links in the navigation bar at the top of each page.