Lux Esoterica (Nifiluz)

The Anonymous Mystical Masterpiece In the late fourteenth century, as Germany was experiencing the social upheavals of the Hundred Years' War and the ecclesiastical divisions of the Western Schism, an anonymous priest of the Teutonic Order in Frankfurt composed a brief mystical treatise. Written in the local German vernacular rather than the academic Latin of the universities, this work would become known to history as the Theologia Germanica (originally titled Der Frankforter —"The Frankfurtian"). The author belonged to the informal, spiritual fellowship known as the Friends of God ( Gottesfreunde ), a network of clergy and laypeople in the Rhineland and Bavaria who sought to cultivate the inner life through silent contemplation, bypassing the growing corruption of the institutional church. The Theologia Germanica is a masterpiece of speculative and practical mysticism. It departs from the complex, scholastic theology of the period, presenting the journey to God as...

The Hermit of the Sonian Forest In the fourteenth century, as northern Europe was reeling from the ravages of the Black Death and the spiritual crisis of the Western Schism, a quiet revolution of the spirit occurred in the low countries. At the center of this movement was a Flemish priest who chose to withdraw from the ecclesiastical politics and bustling streets of Brussels to the quiet solitude of the forest of Groenendaal in the Sonian Forest. Jan van Ruusbroec (or John of Ruysbroeck, 1293 – 1381), also known as the "Admirable Doctor," established a community of Augustinian canons regular that became the spiritual heartbeat of Flemish mysticism. Ruusbroec spent his days in contemplative silence, walking among the trees and recording his sublime visionary experiences on wax tablets, which were later transcribed into some of the most profound mystical treatises of the Middle Ages. Ruusbroec's mysticism stands as a towering achievement of speculative and practical th...