Ahiman is a new periodical anthology of Masonic writing, offering a serious exploration of the rich initiatic traditions of Freemasonry. Edited by Masonic scholar Shawn Eyer, Ahiman is dedicated to stimulating scholarship, penetrating interpretation and inspiring creative expressions focused upon the history, rituals, symbolism, iconography and philosophy of Freemasonry. Carefully researched and lavishly produced, each edition of Ahiman offers important material of interest to Freemasons and other students of Western esoteric traditions.This volume features original work by Thomas D. Worrel, David Stafford, Robert G. Davis, Erik Arneson, Adam G. Kendall, Erik O Neal, Greg Maier, Mounir Hanafi and Shawn Eyer, as well as insights from classic authors such as Joseph Fort Newton, Laurence Dermott, Thomas Starr King and W.L. Wilmshurst."I do not say it lightly, but this premiere issue of Ahiman may be the most balanced and philosophically engaging Masonic journal ever published. And it is probably the most handsomely designed as well. I strongly recommend that any Mason, who seeks a deeper understanding of Freemasonry, check out Ahiman immediately."--Jay Kinney, 33, Author of The Masonic Myth and recipient of the Albert G. Mackey Award for Excellence in Masonic Research from the Scottish Rite Research Society"Ahiman fulfils an aching need within the Craft. For many years, there has been a tendency to suggest that Masonic scholarship ought to be exercised in historical argument alone. What has long been lacking is an open discourse that includes scholarship that addresses Freemasonry s spiritual and esoteric elements. To facilitate that wider conversation, Ahiman has now appeared."--Tobias Churton, Author of The Golden Builders and Freemasonry: The Reality, and Course Lecturer in Freemasonry at the University of Exeter s Centre for the Study of Esotericism

A study of how Kazuo Ishiguro's novels respond to and represent the world through characters that are profoundly limited in their understanding of the systems that bind them. How has a writer known principally for his contained domestic novels come to represent the most dynamic elements of world literature? In Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, Chris Holmes expands our understanding of how world literature engages with the most pressing crises of the 20th and 21st centuries by examining Ishiguro's fascination with characters who are profoundly constrained in their ability to understand global systems to which they are subject. Rather than following the established pattern of so-called global novels, which crisscross the planet exhibiting a knowing cosmopolitanism, Ishiguro's fictional engagement with the world comes principally in the form of characters who are cut off from the global systems that abuse them. By examining the ways in which Ishiguro foregrounds the in-process thinking of those who fail to comprehend their place in the flow of politics, culture, and ideas, Holmes positions Ishiguro as the great chronicler of everyday lives, and as such, prepares a mode of reading world literature that questions the assumptions for how we live and think with others when each of us is deeply limited.

To bring physiology and pathology of the human brain into better micro-anatomical and histological context, studies with different methodologies are required. Established techniques such as electron microscopy or histology show limitations in view of invasiveness, labor-intense and artifact-prone sample preparation, as well as an adequate ratio between resolution and volume throughput. For this reason, X-ray phase-contrast tomography (PC-CT) has been proposed as a three-dimensional non-destructive imaging technique, which requires less effort in sample preparation and can assess larger volumes. Furthermore, it offers quantitative electron density based contrast even for unstained tissue. Up to now, however, PC-CT studies fell short in number of samples, so that structural alterations caused by neurodegenerative diseases cannot be distinguished from physiological inter-subject variations. In this thesis, the scalability of PC-CT with respect to the required number of samples and resolution-to-volume-throughput is demonstrated, and the methodology is advanced with respect to data acquisition, processing and segmentation. In addition to the human cerebellum, cortex and hippocampus are studied. Concerning quantification and analysis of PC-CT data, this work introduces optimal transport analysis to obtain quantitative metrics of the cyto-architecture and to identify changes due to neurodegenerative diseases. For the case of Alzheimer’s disease, this workflow reveals a yet undescribed compactification of granular cells in the human hippocampus. This thesis also provides optimized configurations to study neural tissues with laboratory instrumentation, and – finally – provides new correlative imaging approaches, in particular with scanning electron microscopy.

W. L. Wilmshurst's powerful vision of the rites and rituals of Freemasonry as a spiritual philosophy begins with this book. Here, Masonry is presented as "a sacramental system," represented not only by the ceremonies as experienced in the initiations, but also by an internal and mystical side, hidden behind the visible symbolism, "available only to the Mason who has learned to use his spiritual imagination and who can appreciate the reality that lies behind the veil." This new, revised edition features a more readable modern typeface, and is enriched with extensive notes to make many of its points more accessible for both British and American students of Freemasonry. Prominent Masonic author Robert G. Davis calls this book "An easy-to-read and gratifying work which affirms Wilmshurst's interpretation: that the progressive lessons of Craft Masonry are nothing less than the spiritual journey of the psyche toward full realization."

An overview of the mysterious history of the Freemasons and their presence in American society With over four million members worldwide, and two million in the U.S., Freemasonry is the largest fraternal organization in the world. Published in conjunction with the National Heritage Museum, this extravagantly illustrated volume offers an overview of Freemasonry’s origins in seventeenth-century Scotland and England before exploring its evolving role in American history, from the Revolution through the labor and civil rights movements, and into the twenty-first century. American Freemasons explores some of the causes for the rise and fall of membership in the fraternity and why it has attracted men in such large numbers for centuries. American Freemasons is the perfect introduction to understanding a society that, while shrouded in mystery, has played an integral role in the lives and communities of millions of Americans. Copublished with the National Heritage Museum.

Relying upon insights drawn from Jungian psychology as well as from the Western esoteric tradition's essential sources-Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, and Hermetic thought-W. Kirk MacNulty encourages the reader to reflect deeply upon the symbolism and ceremonies of the Masonic experience.

A collection of scholarly studies examining the cultural history of Freemasonry during the decades following the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717.