Gnosis IV: The New Age
Dr. Hereward Tilton
Winter 2026
This course will explore the relationship between personal and collective individuation with reference to the Red Book (Liber Novus), an esoteric manuscript created by the foremost gnostic of the twentieth century, Carl Gustav Jung.
The Red Book is a window on the inner life of Jung at a time of crisis as well as an embryonic expression of his mature psychological theories; exploring both these aspects of the work, we’ll focus on the significance for Jung’s individuation theory of his apotheosis in the form of the Mithraic leontocephalus.
As we explore the Red Book, we’ll situate Jung’s thought and practice within the history of the Western gnostic traditions, studying its broader relation to millennialist impulses within Paracelsianism and Rosicrucianism, as well as specific influences from German Romantic Naturphilosophie, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and the occultist milieu at the turn of the twentieth century. Particular attention will be paid to Jung’s relationship to the Theosophist G. R. S. Mead, and to the expectation prevailing at the fin-de-siècle of an imminent Aquarian Age marking the return of a pagan reverence for nature and the archetypal feminine.
THIS COURSE PROVIDES:
—The fourth installment in a five-part series on the subject of gnosis
—A deep dive into the crucial symbolic dimensions of esoteric history
—Advanced knowledge for researchers and connoisseurs
—An ability to speak to the foundations of spiritual praxis
—Familiarity with the language of esoteric systems
Nine Saturdays Live on Zoom
2 PM — 3:30 PM PST
January 10 - March 7, 2026
Enrollment opens September 21, 2025
Hereward Tilton (BA Hons 1, Ph.D.,FHEAl is a religious studies scholar who has taught on the history of alchemy, magic, and Rosicrucianism at institutes dedicated to the study of Western esotericism within the University of Exeter and the university of Amsterdam. His interest in psychedelia was first kindled in his early teens, and he was inspired by experiments with LSD and lucid dreaming to study the work of Jung and Eliade as an undergraduate. Since receiving his doctorate he has conducted research on alchemical entheogens in early modern Germany under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and he has translated and introduced an eighteenth-century Austrian black magical manuscript dealing with traditional psychoactive fumigations called Touch Me Not: A Most Rare Compendium of the Whole Magical Art (Fulgur Press, 2019). In his most recent books, The Path of the Serpent, Vol. 1: Psychedelics and the Neuropsychology of Gnosis Rubedo Press, 2020) and its forthcoming sequel, he applies recent discoveries in psychedelic neuroscience to the symbolism and techniques of a European gnostic tradition with historical and phenomenological ties to Indo-Tibetan tantra.