Primary Sources
The AKASHA Library
The world's wisdom traditions in their own words: the surviving sources and their dates, the texts in named public-domain translations, the native terms, and what later traditions made of them — with our interpretation kept separate and labelled.
Series
Series One: Creation Accounts
How the world begins, told tradition by tradition from each one's own primary sources.
In order of each tradition's earliest attestation — the earliest datable evidence that its account existed — with the basis of each date stated (manuscript, inscription, external reference or linguistic estimate). Not in order of the age a tradition claims for itself.
- 01MesopotamianRead the entry →
- 02EgyptianIn preparation
- 03VedicIn preparation
- 04Hebrew BibleIn preparation
- 05GreekIn preparation
- 06IranianIn preparation
- 07ChineseIn preparation
- 08HermeticIn preparation
- 09GnosticIn preparation
- 10NeoplatonicIn preparation
- 11Jewish mysticalIn preparation
- 12NorseIn preparation
- 13MayaIn preparation
- 14HawaiianIn preparation
- 15Indigenous North AmericanIn preparation
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Subjects
Cosmogony
1 entryHow the world begins, in the words of the traditions that told it.
Cosmology
2 itemsThe structure of the cosmos — heavens, underworlds, world-ages and cosmic cycles.
Theology & the Divine
2 itemsGods, the One, emanation and the names of the divine.
The Soul & Consciousness
In preparationSoul, spirit, mind and subtle body — the metaphysics of consciousness as the traditions describe it.
Death & the Afterlife
In preparationJudgment, rebirth and the end of the world.
Liberation & Awakening
In preparationGnosis, mokṣa, nirvāṇa, theōsis and salvation — what the traditions say the goal is.
Cosmic Order & Ethics
In preparationMaat, ṛta, dharma, dao and aša — order in the cosmos and in a human life.
Contemplative Practice, Ritual & Initiation
In preparationPractices described, never prescribed; closed practices respected and left closed.
Sacred Language, Number & Geometry
1 itemDivine names, letters, numbers and forms, with the arithmetic kept honest.
Western Esoteric Currents
1 itemHermetism, Kabbalah, alchemy, astrology, Rosicrucianism and Theosophy as a historical field.
Corrections
3 itemsPopular claims checked against the sources — myth against text.
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Kinds of Material
Entries
1 entryReference articles on a tradition's treatment of a subject, written from its primary sources.
The Codex
1 textPrimary texts in named public-domain translations, line by line, each line linked to its printed page.
Glossary
6 termsNative terms with their language, transliteration, meaning and sources.
Corrections
3 correctionsPopular claims checked against the sources: what is said, where it comes from, what the evidence shows.
Figures
In preparationPeople and deities, with the sources that name them.
Themes
In preparationComparative essays across traditions, written only once the entries they compare are verified.
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By Earliest Evidence
Ordered by the oldest surviving evidence for each entry and text, not by the age a tradition claims for itself.