
They used blackmail, social shame, threats, and torture. If someone looked like he might challenge the Communist Party’s legitimacy or control, the Stasi systematically destroyed his life. Police collected medical, school, and police records, interviews with neighbors and relatives, and any other evidence they could get and would then customize a direct hit on an individual’s mental health. The aim of Zersetzung (a repurposed military term meaning disintegration or corrosion) was to “switch off” any activist individuals and groups who might threaten the Party. Early in the 1970s, eager to be accepted on the international stage, the East German Secret Police had to get more subtle. In the 1950s, repression was brutal, physical torture. 1) They Were Gaslighting before It Was a Thing Their sole function was to keep the Communist Party in power. Better known as the Stasi (the German acronym), these secret police were the " Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of the Party). But outright street violence and assassinations weren’t good for the Party image, so the Ministry for State Security got creative. Augustus Knapp illuminate this vast and indispensable encyclopedia of the occult.To maintain power for 40 years while their people starved and plotted to escape, the Communist Party had to get very good at controlling people and undermining anti-state activists. Sixteen pages of color plates and 100 black-and-white images by the celebrated illustrator J. Fascinating surveys cover topics as diverse as Kabbalah, alchemy, cryptology, and Tarot, along with Masonry, gemology, and the identity of William Shakespeare. Hall examines the secrets of Isis along with arcane aspects of mystic Christianity and other religions. Compelling themes range from the riddle of the Sphinx and the tenets of Pythagorean astronomy to the symbolism of the pentagram, the significance of the Ark of the Covenant, and the design of the American flag.Īcclaimed by Publishers Weekly as "a classic reference, dizzying in its breadth," this remarkable resource was compiled by the founder of the Philosophical Research Society. Unrivaled in its beauty and completeness, it distills ancient and modern teachings of nearly 600 experts. This key to the world's esoteric traditions unlocks some of the most fascinating and closely held secrets of myth, religion, and philosophy.
