Sacred Sites: The Library of Esoterica

Library of Esoterica #5

by Jessica Hundley

Taking us on a journey through the history of sacred art and architecture, Sacred Sites explores the myriads of ways in which we imbue our environments with profound and enduring meaning. From our early designation of nature and the body as temple to our futuristic embrace of imaginary realms, we travel the vast and mystical landscapes of myth, religion, and imagination.

Through gathering, we ignite our spaces with spirit, we circle the bonfire, bow down at the forest altar, give praise at the temple to our chosen divinities. Through pilgrimage, we carve indelible pathways, making our meditative way across continents, generations of footsteps treading, again and again, upon sacred grounds. And through our creative offerings to spirit - we envision new worlds, wildly imaginative odes to what we deem as holy; golden temples hewn of rock, enormous spirals sculpted from sand and soil, silent sanctuaries hidden among wooded groves. We paint the ancient cave walls, carve petroglyphs to mark the way, place roses in veneration at the candlelit shrine.

Slowly, stone-by-stone, we build monuments to our gods, a cosmic geometry held within our sacred architecture of worship. These hidden patterns can be found in the mysterious, towering pyramids found across the globe and throughout an astounding diversity of cultures, in the marble sanctuaries built to house the Greek and Roman goddesses, and in the windblown mountain monasteries of ancient Asia and the indigenous cliff-dwellings of the American Southwest.

Nature, art, beauty, these are the common elements found both within the places made sacred by our ancestors and in the multitude of environments where we strive to connect to source, and to ourselves. Tracing a hallowed route from rugged stone temples to transcendent works of modern architecture, the fifth volume in The Library of Esoterica celebrates the collective history of spaces made sacrosanct through human worship.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Occult

520 pages, Hardcover

Published July 4, 2024

Reviews

[Ugnė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kaip ir ankstesnės šios serijos knygos, labai gražiai apipavidalinta. Tekstas kiek smulkokas ir truputį apie nieką, tačiau ne dėl teksto šią knygą verta pavartyti - iliustracijos gražios ir labai įvairios.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The selection of images is bordering on superb. The accompanying “essays” decline in quality as the book progresses. I just don’t understand why they keep going for redundant descriptions like “X is believed / considered / said / thought / [ insert vagueness verb] to be”. Like eg “the Temple of Heaven is thought to have played an important role in official ceremonies during the Ming and Qing dynasties.” What do you mean is thought to be?! We know, there is a historical record… These books could improve so much more if they at least tried to get some expert essays in mixed with the surface descriptions that make up the bulk of it now. I also don’t get why certain ideas mentioned in the essays don’t show up in the accompanying illustrations but are rather dispersed throughout the book. Isn’t that unity an editor’s job? Despite these issues I keep finding myself arrested to the great selection of inspiring imagery so at least there’s that.

[Don Reuker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did not feel as well thought out. Lots of vague descriptions about the same places we know about. I didn’t feel like I learned anything or that it said anything new about magic and spirit as the other books in the collection.

If only it touched on feng shui and creation of an altar or sacred space.

[Jim Castine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. This describes multiple sites all over the planet, but in very vague terms.
However, the art and photography are breaking and almost make up for the lack of information I was expecting

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The accompanying short essays were always the weak part of this nonetheless beautiful series on art and spirituality. However, this time, the quality of the writing deteriorates together with the choice of content and editing overall. There would have been an abundance of art pertaining to actual religious and spiritual sites, but progressively, the book incorporates non-related matters, as if all (phantastic) art would fit the descriptors "spiritual", "esoteric" etc. - which is not the case. Of course, the last part is purposefully named "the Temple within". Nonetheless, film stills from Game of Thrones or The Hobbit have no business being here, especially in light of the omissions in terms of architecture, sculpture and paintings which are not shown. But then, such superficiality goes hand in hand with the vague and amateurish prose commenting on the chosen images - or at times, images which aren't displayed for whatever reason.

Still, three stars, since the collection here is, again, oftentimes truly beautiful and breathtaking.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly beautiful book - lovely images with good-quality captions, excellent typography and layout, all on lovely paper. Shame that the text in every single section starts as useful factual content but then descends into woo-woo dribble. Rather too many spelling mistakes than I would expect from a Taschen book too.

[M.T. Ceres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessica Hundley has once again produced a work that takes a global, as well as metaphysical and occult approach to Sacred Sites.
This work isn't an historical overview on the architecture of sacred sites, but is an holistic and highly artistic exploration of the nature of, and conscious practice of sacredness.
I'm particularly enjoying Chapter IV - 'The Alter Within'.