Religious History

The historical, doctrinal, ritual, and folk aspects of Lamaism are surveyed extensively in this source book, originally published in 1895. Waddell was an almost unique authority on hidden Tibet. Stationed for years with the Indian Army at Darjeeling, just over the border from Tibet (which Europeans were forbidden to enter), he systematically studied the language and culture of Tibet with the most authoritative lamaistic scholars. Several times he risked his life by entering Tibet in disguise.

A totem is a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation. The name is derived from an Ojibway Chippeway word totem, the correct spelling of which is somewhat uncertain.

The resident official, travelling from place to place, spends a great deal of time seated in railway stations or on the banks of the Nile, waiting for his train or his boat to arrive; and he has, therefore, a great deal of time for thinking. I often try to fill in these dreary periods by jotting down a few notes on some matter which has recently been discussed, or registering and elaborating arguments which have chanced lately to come into the thoughts. These notes are shaped and "written up" when next there is a spare hour, and a few books to refer to; and ultimately they take the form of articles or papers, some of which find their way into print.

In childhood we need playthings, and the more fantastic and bizarre they are, the better we are pleased with them. We dream, for instance, of castles in the air--gorgeous and clothed with the azure hue of the skies. We fill the space about and over us with spirits, fairies, gods, and other invisible and airy beings. We covet the rainbow. We reach out for the moon. Our feet do not really begin to touch the firm ground until we have reached the years of discretion.

In the preface, gentle Reader, and zealous Student of this Art, I promised to communicate to you a knowledge of our Corner Stone, or Rock, of the process by which it is prepared, and of the substance from which it was already derived by those ancient Sages, to whom the secret of our Art was first revealed by God for the health and happiness of earthly life.

The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife : With sixty-one woodcut illustrations from Nineveh, Babylon, Egypt, Pompeii, etc. Objects of Worship; Festivals; Doctrine and Discipline; Rites and Ceremonies; Religious Orders; The Two Developments Historically and Prophetically Considered. This famous book exposing Christianity's Pagan origins.

It matters not whether the Passover and the Exodus are stories of a vivid imagination, folk lore of old, mythology, or actual historical fact. Regardless of its origin, nothing defines Judaism, or the Jew more than the tradition of Pesach (Passover) and the Seder Celebrations.