Stairway to Heaven: Chinese Alchemists, Jeswish Kabbalists and th

In an incredibly broad ranging study, Peter Levenda has discovered an important technology of consciousness that has been employed all over the world. It is reflected in the Hermetic axiom: As Above, So Below. Stairway to Heaven is an incredibly broad ranging new study that stretches from ancient Egypt and Babylon to Jewish and Christian Kabbalists, Chinese Daoists, Hindu Tantra and Haitian Vodun and finally to 19th and 20th century European occult societies, uncovering a hitherto unrecognized common myth that has been employed the world over in roughly the same form since the earliest recorded texts.Beginning with the oldest form of Jewish mysticism and extending this search through the dead sea scrolls, Levenda reveals a consistent emphasis on the number seven and its association with heavenly themes, including those of a chariot, a Throne, a Temple and a divine Being. The author then examines the myths and rituals of Egypt, Sumer and Babylon to locate the origin of this myth and comes up with some surprising results in the ascent rituals of the middle east. Stairway to Heaven casts a fascinating new multidisciplinary perspective on the mystical practices of heavenly ascent.