Announcing Sacred Web Volume 54

Greetings to our journal’s valued readers! Before we introduce the contents, a quick word:

Our goal: We aim to make available the rich resource of knowledge in Sacred Web, and to engage our readership with the contents. To that end, we are endeavouring each week to send new posts to our members, and plan to place directly and conveniently into your Inboxes the materials from our rich archive (a trove of some 10,000 pages from the print edition, Vols. 1 to 50), based on our philosophy that knowledge should not be monetized but should, as far as practicable, be accessible freely for the common good.

Our thanks: Our goal is only achievable through the tireless labour of those few volunteers who work behind the scenes, and the people who generously contribute their knowledge for the shared benefit of all. On behalf of our members, we thank them.

Our request: Please continue to support our work by

signing up to be a member of Sacred Web (the signup is free, and it enables us send you our weekly posts)
engaging with the published material through comments in the Comments Box at the end of each article
submitting essays, reviews or poems for publication
volunteering your expertise or donating your time to sustain the worthy goals of the journal.

Finally, we are pleased to inform you that we now offer audio versions of select essays & poems, including those in Volume 54. Click below to listen and follow us on Spotify.

Thank you.

Contents of Volume 54 of Sacred Web

It is our pleasure to bring you this volume’s rich array of essays, reviews, poetry as well as other materials in, textual, audio and visual formats.

The Cover Illustration: Doctor Faustus

Once again, Sacred Web is delighted to offer our readers a specially designed illustration by the accomplished illustrator, Nigel Jackson, to grace the latest volume of the journal. The illustration depicts Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles. The image evokes the theme of human temptation and the choice between pursuing mundane gratifications and knowledge, or instead restraining the wilful soul by governing it to heed its obligations to the Spirit, especially in view of the transient nature of material life. The illustration and story of Doctor Faustus contains sober moral overtones for a modern age like ours, one that is preoccupied with transhumanist, materialistic and individualistic ideals.

Essays

The Infernal Method of Printing: Guild Initiations & The Faust Legend

By Nigel Jackson | Read | Listen

Printing was termed the ‘Black Art’ in medieval times. Nigel Jackson explains why, and writes about the significance of the initiatic rituals within the Germanic printing guilds. The legend of Faust (the cover image for this volume of Sacred Web) and Blake’s mythology from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell are both linked to this esoteric heritage of printing.

The Science of Traditional Metaphysics: An Outline

By Charles Upton | Read | Listen

In this excerpt from the author’s forthcoming book, ‘Metaphysics for Hard Times’, Charles Upton provides a primer on certain aspects of metaphysics and their relationship to the spiritual path.

Deciphering Reality: From Point Comes a Line, and From Line Again a Circle

By Noraini M. Noor and Aziuddin Ahmad | Read | Listen

The authors interpret a verse from the Persian Sufi poet, Mahmud Shabistari, to explain the metaphysical structure of Reality in relation to the soul, and its implications for the purpose of life.

Wholeness & Holiness: Meister Eckhart's Alchemy of Healing

By M. Ali Lakhani | Read | Listen

This is the text of a paper presented by the author at the 2026 Meister Eckhart Conference held in Washington, DC. Taking a phrase used by Jesus, connecting wholeness and healing with faith, the author considers its esoteric import through the lens of the teachings of the medieval Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, and its relevance to our contemporary world.

What is God? Mechthild of Magdeburg on the Sphere and the Flowing Light

By Andrea Nowak-Enshaie | Read | Listen

Mechthild of Magdeburg was a medieval German mystic whose seminal work, ‘Flowing Light of the Godhead’, is a profound teaching about the cosmos and the nature of human reality. This paper provides an overview of Mechthild’s work, and its importance.

Sexism and Buddhism: A Shin Buddhist Apologetic

By Johan Nilsson | Read | Listen

Examining the claims that women are treated in a misogynistic way in Buddhism, the author offers an apologia from the perspective of Jodo Shinshu to debunk the claims.

Special Section on Humanity and Transhumanism

In Defense of Humanity

By Charles Upton | Read | Listen

Human beings are losing sight of what it means to be human. Charles Upton’s essay, excerpted from his forthcoming book, ‘Metaphysics for Hard Times’, takes up the challenge of reminding us of the traditional ideals of humanity in a transhumanist era.

Essay on ‘Pluribus’: Transhumanism and Theosis

By Bruno Amabile Bracco | Read | Listen

Reflecting on the TV series ‘Pluribus’, this essay asks whether history has been a battle between transhumanism and its opponents. Can humans transcend humanity by rejecting it—and thereby God Himself—or should we embrace both God and Man through theosis?

Special Section: Women in Folk Tales

Hasan Aga’s Noble Wife and the Spirit of Her World

By Rusmir Mahmutćehajić | Read | Listen

This essay by the Bosnian Muslim intellectual and former vice-president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who passed away in 2026, examines the symbolic meaning of, ‘Hasanaginica’, a poem from the seventeenth century, and part of the world’s literary heritage, which has been translated by authors ranging from Goethe and Walter Scott to Pushkin and Akhmatova.

Folklore of the Walled-Up Woman: Misogyny or Mythology?

By Fatos A. Kopliku | Read | Listen

Through a lens of metaphysical hermeneutics, the author explores the motif of the walled-up woman in folklore, focusing on an Albanian legend of the immured woman at the Castle of Shkodra/Rozafa, and on the story of Anārkali, concubine of Prince Salim (later Emperor Jahangir) in Mughal India.

Reviews

Book Review: The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women by Shahed Ezaydi

Reviewed by Michael Bradburn-Ruster | Read | Listen

Whose lives “matter” and whose do not? When do stereotypes and propaganda obfuscate both our rich diversity and our common humanity? Whose plight is worthy of mention only when it can be exploited for ideological ends and geopolitical advantage? This important book by Shahed Ezaydi examines how ‘white feminism’ harms Muslim women.

Book Review: The Sacred Dance of Ancient India and Its Relevance to Hindu Iconography by Sarah Vieira Magalhães

Reviewed by Professor Neela Bhattacharya Saxena | Read | Listen

Dancing the Metaphysics of the Karaṇas is a review of a new study by a researcher and dance practitioner of Bharat Natyam, which explores the iconography of the sacred dance tradition in India as a vehicle for self-transformation.