Where to start learning. Esoteric literature for beginners

Literature.

I am increasingly asked where to start studying esotericism? And although I do not consider myself an authority, I will try to offer everyone who is interested a list of literature on esotericism, which I would definitely recommend reading.

So, esotericism for beginners and more.

The books that I list below are the best that I have come across in many years. Some of them are very unusual... Perhaps not all of them will “go”…. Some you just need to grow into. But it's definitely worth a try.

Don't be intimidated by titles, phrases, and terms that appear in book contents, prefaces, and chapter lists. The books on the list are written in a simple and in clear language, but nevertheless, many of them are very complex and “Multi-layered” things, the meaning of many of them comes only after some time. Tested on my own skin....

I will give a list of the best books in the main areas. Only together they will give a very good and “balanced” understanding of many things that are worth knowing and understanding for a person who is attracted to esotericism.

There is definitely no “Garbage” here, which was written solely to make money from gullible suckers and superstitious hysterics. Only the best books on esotericism that I have ever read.

I’ll say right away that this list of books on esotericism probably included no more than 3% of what I read. This, as they say, is the “Candidate Minimum”.

Thus, if you think that esotericism for beginners is no longer interesting to you, you can simply consider this my personal rating of books read. When choosing books, the emphasis is on the practical value of literature for esotericists.

Carlos Castaneda (from 3 to 11, only then read books 1 and 2. development of consciousness through the practices of Toltec magicians. Very powerful books! Everything described really works. A bunch effective techniques for the development of consciousness and abilities. A must read!

Florinda Donner - “Shadow of the Witch” is a very strong and “living” book, don’t be put off by the title. There is simply nothing to compare it with. Indian magic South America, spiritualist practices. A fellow student of Castaneda describes training in the practices of healers and spiritualists (communication with disembodied spirits. The book contains many stories that are from the category “You can’t imagine such things.” Each story contains an “Abstract Core.” This book will definitely not leave you indifferent.
Reutov "Hackers of Dreams". Practical techniques development of abilities, described in the form of light fiction, which is too similar to reality to be complete fiction. Based on information from the books of Carlos Castaneda, a group of practitioners from Russia developed their own methods of stalking and lucid dreaming. Read and have no doubt, the book is very interesting and definitely worth your time.
Mikhail Nekrasov "Ensemble of Universal Worlds" - the structure of human energy shells, chakras, the effect of working with them.
Sergey Lazarev (everything you find. Karma. The author describes his experience of healing and how he came to understand the basic mechanisms of karma. Best Author on topic!
Vadim Zeland "Reality Transurfing" - I highly recommend it to those who want to understand what an egregor is and how it works. Comments will come later.
“Hatha Yoga Pradipika” with commentaries by Swami Muktibodhananda Saraswati is, in my opinion, the best book on yoga in general. In fact, there is not only about hatha yoga, there is information about other areas as well. Lots of useful information and practical things in simple language without unctuous speeches and “Prelest”, into which all sorts of “enlightened” gurus often fall.
Paramhans swami maheswarananda. "Chakras and kundalini. Hidden powers of man." Topic: human energy structure. Best book according to the chakras, again without any sophisticated speeches from the pseudo-guru. Excellent information on the topic, with a description of the structure, mechanisms of the chakras and the effects of practices.
Swami Sivananda (whatever comes along) yoga - simple, logical, accessible, again without any mysticism and “Cockroaches” characteristic of Eastern authors. All the books I have read by this author are excellent.
Sakharov "Opening of the Third Eye". Clairvoyance, clairaudience. Step by step practical guide on development of abilities extrasensory perception. Simple, consistent and clear.
Mantak chia - wrote a lot great books in qigong, which cannot be said about the filmed video. Read everything you find, but I especially recommend the books “The Iron Shirt”, “A Treatise on Changing Muscles and Tendons” and “The Tao of Light” (I’m not sure of the exact name here.
Alberto Villado (everything you find. Development of consciousness, ancient magical practices of the Indians of South America.
Taisha Abelar (everything you find. Toltec magic. Fellow student of Carlos Castaneda (see Beginning of the list.
Elena's world Guided dreams". Lucid dreaming, I highly recommend the author to all practitioners. There is practically no theory, but there are many stories from personal experience, which can be very useful if you are not a fan of the esoteric practice of stepping on a rake.
Robert Monroe (everything you find. Astral exit, lucid dreaming, OBE. Classics of the topic. The most famous author. Mikhail rainbow (everything you find. Astral exit, OBE. Conducts trainings on OBE. “Simoron.

Esotericism and esotericism are two different concepts. The first is broader, and is used to characterize ancient teaching. The second is used within narrower limits, describing only modern trends. Esotericism can be defined as a set of special secret knowledge, psychospiritual ways of perceiving reality.

Esotericism includes:

Esotericism can be represented by a certain teaching that contains the quintessence of knowledge about the world and man. Moreover, this knowledge was always secret, and only adherents of one school or another possessed it. If you decide to study esotericism on your own and are wondering where to start, then remember: within each movement there is its own esotericism. The ideas of astrologers and alchemists, magicians, masons and others about many world processes may differ to one degree or another. Of course, there are some general points, but there is no complete identity in these teachings.

Over many millennia, so much knowledge about the world around us has accumulated that it would be impossible to master it in one human life simply unrealistic. When deciding where to start studying esotericism, remember the limitations of your capabilities, do not try to cover everything at once. In addition, in lately Many pseudo-teachings have appeared that literally flooded the Internet. Therefore, when choosing the path you intend to take, be careful and careful.

With the help of esotericism, people learn the hidden, mystical essence of a person and the objects around him. Esoterics studies processes occurring throughout the Universe, and not just on our planet. And, according to teaching, every human soul synchronously reflects all these processes. Practitioners consider esoteric applied science, it is preserved to this day in many mystical traditions. But it is not recommended for beginner esotericists to use such knowledge; only experienced masters can do this.

If we talk about semantic meaning the words “esotericism”, then this is any hidden spiritual practice.

Every esoteric teaching says that in order to fulfill his desires, a person first of all needs to learn to concentrate on achieving a goal. This will set the surrounding forces in motion and direct them to the materialization of well-constructed thoughts.

Many of you have probably heard, and perhaps even wondered, what does the word “esotericism” mean? If we talk in simple words, which will be understandable to everyone, then these are some forgotten knowledge and techniques that allow, using the hidden capabilities of a person, to influence the world around us, one’s own body and worldview.

With the help of esotericism, people get the opportunity to understand themselves and the reality around them not only from the point of view of three-dimensional reality, as we are used to doing, but in a completely new way.

Reality is not three-dimensional. It is limitless, and is by no means all subject to the eyes. Just like a person is not only a physical body, but also complex system energy nodes and channels, cocoon, etheric body and other things.

Such knowledge was accumulated over thousands of years by many peoples of antiquity, and only small grains of it have reached us. However, even they have sufficient importance and many possibilities.

Nevertheless, most people in at the moment they simply ignore the existence of such techniques, due to the fact that now minds are occupied only with the material component of life. And this is a mistake.

As already written above, the universe consists not only of the material, but also of the subtle plane. I wrote a separate article about in a subtle way, you can read it here. Existing in harmony, they complement each other, and one cannot exist without the other. Only by achieving a balance between physics and metaphysics can one achieve peace of mind and realize your true purpose in this world.

Very often people ask the question: “Where to start studying esotericism?” The answer lies on the surface - from books.
Many will say, what about a teacher or self-development? And there is an answer to this question. On initial stage You don't need any teacher. You're gaining basic knowledge(basics), which will be useful to you in the future through trial and error. If at the very beginning you have a teacher, then you will not experience these fundamentals for yourself, because everything will come easy and you will not gain the experience that is needed for further development. Besides high probability become a hostage of the teacher himself and his opinion, since at this stage you cannot have a full-fledged opinion.
Self-development is a utopia; the rejection of knowledge carriers forces you to develop at a low speed and with great effort, both psychologically and physically.
Below I will give a list of books for beginners on where to start studying esotericism, which will be replenished over time, in my opinion worthy of attention. At this stage, you need to understand one regularity - the more information you have, the more complete your opinion. Also try to read “opposite” authors and primary sources.
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

What books will you find - OSHO

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Wonderland without brakes and the end of the world - Haruki Murakami

What books will you find - Jose Silva

What books will you find - Dmitry Nevsky

The Teachings of Don Juan - Carlos Castaneda

Basics of esotericism

1. Knowing yourself. This process has always interested people. There are no limits to perfection, and esotericism once again confirms this. Those who decide to take the path of enlightenment must first learn to free themselves from the framework that has been created by the mind and various cultural prejudices. For this purpose, various breathing exercises, meditation techniques, etc. Of course, no one will be able to break out of their usual boundaries the first time. But with training you can learn a lot.
2. Knowing your abilities. In this direction, esotericism as a practice presupposes awareness of the skills that every person possesses from birth. For example, this includes techniques of levitation, telepathy, telekinesis, psychic abilities and healing. A separate esoteric teaching is responsible for each of these skills.
3. Knowledge of the surrounding world. The third direction studies the techniques and ways of influencing a person on everything that is around him. For example, with the help of esotericism you can learn to achieve success in business and in own feelings. This also includes parapsychology, magic, various studies origin of energy, astral plane, etc. Bright representatives of the third direction are today's popular magicians, sorcerers and psychics, who almost daily prove the existence of parallel worlds and their intersection with our world.

What associations do you have when you mention esotericism? Surely something mystical, unusual, and sometimes even fictitious. However, you still visited our resource and are reading this material, which means that esotericism is really interesting to you. Let's try to figure out what it is, what is the correct name for esotericism, and whether it is possible to master it on your own.

Defining the concepts of esotericism

What is esotericism? IN scientific world It is customary to say that this is a doctrine that studies those phenomena that have not been recognized by traditional science. But if you dig deeper, this definition seems somewhat ridiculous and absurd. Why? Take, for example, an expression about traditional science: can previously recognized methods of treatment with opium or mercury, or the assertion that the Sun revolves around the earth, be considered traditional? Of course not.

On the other hand, the postulates of esotericism do not change not only over the years - they are static over the centuries. Scientific schools and leaders change, new laws of physics are discovered, which nip the old ones in the bud, and esotericism continues to stand on the same “eternal” truths. Esotericism is, of course, a science that studies those areas that “material” (and not traditional) science has not yet reached.

While scientists paid tribute to fashion by joining some scientific school, defending one point of view or another, discoveries were made in esotericism, which subsequently became the basis for quantum physics or string theory. It’s strange, in “mystical teachings” they spoke about the versatility of the Universe several centuries ago, but modern physicists They only recently started talking about it. As you can see, esotericism is simply those laws that science cannot prove experimentally traditional methods. Without a doubt, esotericism is a very powerful science that has gone far ahead.

What esotericism conceals: where to start

Now let's talk about what esotericists do. Their practice for ordinary person– something incredible and beyond the realm of fantasy. Within the framework of esoteric teachings, people learn to change the state of consciousness, work with energy, learn to control their consciousness, direct the energy of the Universe the way they need it, work with information channels to determine the future. By the way, psychology to some extent also belongs to esotericism - social direction science of human consciousness.

The benefits of esotericism

“Why do I need this?” - Maybe, similar question has already flashed through your head. Esotericism, at least her basic principles and beginnings will be useful to everyone without exception. After mastering basic concepts, a person learns not just to absorb information and go with the flow, he will learn to think, recognize the signals that the Universe gives him, and will be able to manage not only his own physical body, but also consciousness.

By comprehending the truths of esotericism, absolutely all the principles of life change. A person who understands how the Universe works, how the energy of the people around him interacts with his consciousness, looks at the world completely differently, he creates his own environment. Studying esotericism does not mean at all that you will be cut off from outside world. On the contrary, you will learn to interact with him much better.

Starting to study esotericism on your own is not easy. Initially, you need to understand that you will have to really work hard: it is difficult in one fell swoop to abandon the foundations of society in which the character of almost each of us was formed. Therefore, for the best results from learning esoteric art, we recommend you a whole range of educational lectures, courses and programs under the guidance of masters, those who have already achieved certain success in one or another branch of esotericism.

You can start by studying magical traditions. Magical science is the most fast way spiritual development. We offer convenient distance learning. Program distance learning is compiled in such a way that you can even learn the basic tenets of esotericism remotely. Additionally, you can always get advice from experts who can help you solve your current problems in a completely different way and with minimal effort.

There is a lot to talk about. You can deny it, you can be skeptical. But you just have to try it once – and your opinion about esotericism will change once and for all. Learn to create the world around you today!

Video Esoterics for beginners - how to develop abilities

The harm of esotericism

A person who studies esotericism is a thinking person. This is the one who knows how to analyze, the one who gets to the truth. Of course, these people are harmful to the government, the system, and society. We are in a certain society, within strict limits, everyone plays a certain role. And if a person begins to think, this can take him beyond the bounds. His actions will be meaningful, and this is not at all desirable for those who control us. Always remember, if you stray from the herd, they will try to drive you back.

A book at the intersection of esoteric knowledge and deep psychological experience. The author seeks to encourage the reader to change reality through rather unusual techniques.

There's not much in the piece practical advice, but there are a lot of questions that can become a starting point for working on yourself. Moreover, at the center of the story is communication with a real northern shaman, whose experience and powers are incredibly great, because he has access to secret knowledge many local peoples.

In many ways this fiction, based on real story the author who met the main character and had many conversations with him most interesting conversations about life and death.

Carlos Castaneda can safely be considered one of the the greatest mysteries XX century. All that is known for certain about him is that he is the author of ten best-selling books and the founder of the Cleargreen company, which now owns the rights to creative heritage Castaneda. Everything else is nothing more than assumptions, if not speculation.

Castaneda carefully maintained his “secret identity”, practically did not give interviews and categorically refused to be photographed (however, by coincidence, several photographs of Castaneda still exist). He even denied that he had ever been married, although Margaret Runyan, the author of a book of memoirs about this man, claims that Castaneda was her husband. In other words, true biography Carlos Castaneda was known only to himself; the lot of everyone else is to try to reconstruct it.

Carlos Cesar Arana Castaneda (presumably that's his name) full name) was born on December 25, 1925 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1951, he emigrated to the United States, and in 1960 an event occurred that radically changed the life of Carlos Castaneda himself and thousands of his followers - Castaneda, then a student at the University of California, came to Mexico for “field materials” for his thesis, met don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian. Don Juan became Castaneda's spiritual teacher and for twelve years passed on the secret knowledge of his tribe to his ward.

With don Juan's permission, Castaneda began to write down his words; This is how the first of Carlos Castaneda’s world-famous books was born - “The Teachings of Don Juan. The Way of the Yaqui Indians,” published in 1968. This book instantly became a bestseller, as did the nine that followed. All of them are recordings of don Juan’s conversations with Castaneda, and the chain of events in them ends in 1973, when don Juan mysteriously disappeared - “melted like fog.”

Legend says that Castaneda himself left our world in a similar way- seemed to disappear into thin air. A less poetic version of the obituary reports that he died on April 27, 1998 from liver cancer and that after cremation, Castaneda's ashes were sent to Mexico, according to his will.

Considering information about what esotericism is and what it studies, we often come across such a concept as occultism. Occult sciences are a system of secret knowledge about the spiritual and material world, giving the initiate enormous opportunities. They are indeed somewhat similar to esoteric teachings, but there is one fundamental difference. Esoterics is spiritual development and self-knowledge, awareness of one’s Divine essence and complete renunciation from the material world. Occultism is the development of one’s abilities to gain strength and power in the material world; such knowledge helps to achieve high status and material goods. Currently, occult sciences, such as numerology, palmistry, healing, astrology, fortune telling, etc. are called esoterics. It's not really true statement, since their main task is to improve life in the material world. While esotericism is the path to God and spiritual perfection.

If you are interested in the secrets of what is happening around us, then you need esotericism for beginners. Why for beginners?

The point is that this direction includes many different currents, it is almost impossible to know all of them at once. Those who have decided to seriously devote themselves to esotericism should prepare for a very long period her study. It may take years to learn all its secrets.

Esotericism, the definition of which was given many centuries ago, is the subjective knowledge of the surrounding world. Moreover, this is not accessible to everyone. It is very important not only a great desire to study esotericism, but also the presence in a person of a certain chosenness and involvement in the mystery of occurring phenomena, which can be explained scientific language is not yet possible.

Esotericism for beginners, as a rule, comes down to understanding its essence as a whole. You should not think that having mastered some of the methods of fortune-telling that currently exist, you were able to understand its full depth. Fortune telling in itself is not the main reason. IN in this context the processes occurring in the information field that surrounds any person are considered. Esotericism for beginners comes down to learning to read this information. And fortune telling appears as practical help at this process. And here all the tools that are used for fortune telling will be good.

But again, don't try to learn everything at once. Give your preference to one direction. Let it be, for example, cards. Because, having learned one subject and becoming a professional in this area, you can easily master other methods of fortune telling. After all, the main thing here is the ability to read information, and not masterly use of available tools. This is important to remember.

Inexplicable phenomena have always caused humanity. People tried to find a certain relationship between events in their lives and the dreams they had the day before. Some showed the ability to see what had not yet happened, or what happened to other people. Until now, such a phenomenon as clairvoyance remains not fully studied. However, the fact of its existence is difficult to deny.

Of course, esotericism for beginners, if a person has paranormal abilities, will help him understand the essence of what is happening not only to himself, but also to help the people around him.

It is interesting that many religions welcome esotericism, which cannot be said about Christianity. Esotericism and Orthodoxy are those two directions that cannot exist together. The fact is that the Christian movement itself initially calls on a person to admit all the wrongness of his life.

Esotericism explains a number of events that are incomprehensible to the human mind. As you can see, there are contradictions. Hence negative attitude Orthodox Church to all occult sciences.

However, whatever one may say, esoteric practice has long ago confirmed itself in practice. Someone rejects it, but no matter how a person tries to drive himself into the framework of the usual, a large number of phenomena can be explained from the point of view physical processes It's simply impossible. And then esotericism comes to the rescue.

You shouldn’t think that studying this science - I’m not afraid of this word - is so simple. You will encounter something new every day. And it is necessary to find not only an explanation for these processes, but to understand the essence of their origin as much as possible. And only after this can you gradually move on to the next stage. If you feel this mysterious power within yourself and want to devote yourself to esotericism, get ready for a long journey that can continue indefinitely!

Simultaneously with the emergence of human spirituality, the need arose to establish connections between what is happening in the vast and unknown World and how the manifestations of this World are reflected in each of us. Absolutely all philosophical, mystical, religious quests, starting from the most ancient times, were built around the question: “How do Macrocosm and Microcosm interact?” The most significant answers gradually formed the field of esoteric knowledge. Esotericism for beginners is the first method of their ascent to the deep secrets of the Universe. But what do we know about him?

Basics of esotericism

Esotericism is the quintessence of knowledge about the World and about man, provided by one or another teaching. This is a special, secret knowledge that was transmitted only to selected adherents of a certain school. Each movement has its own esotericism. Thus, astrologers, magicians, alchemists, yogis, masons and others - they all provide a unique understanding of the processes occurring in the Universe, which may sometimes be somewhat similar, but never identical.

Over the course of many millennia, huge layers of information have accumulated, which it would not take a lifetime to master. Therefore, a person trying to understand where to start studying esotericism must first of all be aware of some limitations of his resources and not be scattered about mastering pseudo-teachings. The latter, unfortunately, have been widely distributed on the Internet along with truly valuable materials. Remember: when you choose your knowledge, you choose yourself, so allow yourself to be selective.

How to become an esotericist at home? To whom is knowledge available?

Esotericism for beginners is always a delicate and demanding question individual approach. Directly esoteric teachings, methods, practices differ, and a method that is thoroughly suitable for one may be completely unacceptable for others. Agree, what an astrologer does and how he tries to influence environment magician - completely different things, although their essence is the same - knowledge of oneself and everything that is outside this “self”.

However, there are things that are mandatory and basic for anyone who wants to come into contact with secret knowledge. This is a kind of set of rules that allow you to use the information received as safely as possible and for your own benefit. Here are the most basic of them:

1. Accept yourself as an entity consisting of more than just a material, tangible body. We are always something more than we are used to seeing and feeling.
2. Live consciously. Some people work on this all their lives to achieve even the slightest significant result. Mindfulness is about understanding, recognizing, identifying your thoughts, intentions, goals, words, actions and all their consequences.
3. Take responsibility. Moreover, it already lies on you, but not everyone feels it (remember the awareness just mentioned). By absorbing secret knowledge, we take responsibility for its storage and use.
4. Feel like a creator. All your spiritual and practical, tangible activities are a product of your command and creativity. Find out how much you can really do!
5. And most importantly. Create and live for good. The vast majority of esoteric teachings say that the energy panel of the Universe is created in some special way.

The peculiarity lies in maintaining a homeostatic balance between good and evil. According to this, only by acting for good will you receive good in return. Be wise!

In any case, some cardinal problems should not arise with self-determination. Our age of accessibility information technology offers a selection of books, audio recordings, video lectures and even documentaries for any, even the most sophisticated taste!

Esoterics for beginners: books

There are now a great many books on esotericism. As already mentioned, the main principle here is to find your own, separating the wheat from the chaff. We bring to your attention a list of the most popular, classic authors and their works, which will certainly inspire valuable thoughts!

• Carlos Castaneda

  The author shares knowledge about magic and shamanism, approaching this with the professionalism of an anthropologist. Shares many ways on how to learn to develop the abilities of consciousness to change the world around us. In total, he published 13 books, including “The Teachings of Don Juan: The Way of Knowledge of the Yaqui Indians”, “A Separate Reality”, “Tales of Power”, “The Art of Dreaming”. We recommend reading all of his works.

• Vadim Zeland

  A man whose life is so secretive that it has long been overgrown with a mass of myths and guesses. He offers the reader a teaching called “Transurfing of Reality”, revealing it in a series of his books. There are also audio and video versions of his work - for those who like not to waste time in between.

  Transurfing is, in essence, a volitional movement from one option existing space to another, with more attractive life “scenery”. How to achieve this - read!

• Robert Monroe

  He is considered a kind of guru of esoteric literature and will talk about such a thing as out-of-body experience. The titles of his books “Journeys Out of the Body”, “Far Journey”, “The Ultimate Journey” speak for themselves and do not require unnecessary comments.

• "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" with commentaries by Swami Muktibodhananda Saraswati

  Classic literary work, who raised more than one generation of yogis with his wisdom. Eastern practices are revealed in simple, understandable language, accessible to Western thinking.

Esotericism for beginners requires attention, time and effort. The main thing is to choose the necessary guideline and patiently follow it, then everything will definitely work out!