Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsycho, Vol. 1 Book

This is a great book about initiation and realization from the Perennialist perspective written by Rene Guenon, the original expounder of the Traditionalist movement. The author clarifies the meaning and application of initiation, defining initiation primarily as the transmission of spiritual influence. He also spends a lot of time to purify and separate it from false conceptions and connotations commonly attached to it as a result of a modern scholarship devoid of traditional commitment and metaphysical insight. The content is invaluable in its rigorous and objective treatment of initiation and spiritual realization as is common in all authentic spiritual traditions. The author himself being a spiritual master approaches the topic both with rigorous scholarship and with a deep and intuitive understanding of the traditional and spiritual significance of initiation, for he himself traversed the initiatic path and its hierarchical degrees. I do recommend this book along with Guenon's "Perspectives on Initiation" for anyone seriously interested in spiritual realization.