This article will present what we know of the life and times of an important alchemist, Ibn Umayl. It is entitled ‘Towards a Context’ because I have not yet consulted a number of his treatises, which are mostly only available as manuscripts. Ibn Umayl’s position in alchemy accords with Hermetic doctrines, and may have developed as a traditionalist reaction to developments in alchemy around the ...

The relationship between the urban and rural world is examined here from the standpoint of the role of local leaders and their retinues of armed men, their impact on the cities and the impact of the cities on them. In periods of state weakness or disintegration, Afghan cities were unable to resist the ‘solidarity groups’ which had coagulated in the countryside under the pressure of constant con...

Kenneth Grahame’s masterpiece, The wind in the willows, contains a classic description of a religious experience as Ratty and Mole come face-to-face with the Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This chapter draws on Happold’s identification of seven characteristics of mystical experience, as amplified by the Francis-Louden Mystical Orientation Scale, to test whether Ratty and Mole’s experience can be p...

Arabis stellari var. japonica is an ornamental plant of the Brassicaceae family, and is widely distributed in South Korea. However, no information is available about its molecular biology and no genomic study has been performed on A. stellari. In this paper, the authors report the complete chloroplast genome sequence of A. stellari. The plastome of A. stellari was 153,683 bp in length with 36.4...

The present article aims to explore Rumi’s ontological approach Being and World which is deeply impressed by mystical doctrines practices of Islamic Sufism the writings his contemporary philosopher Ibn 'Arabi. Rumi finds all components creation as a manifestation unique manifestations God, in God has manifested much talents creators. In Rumi's view, existence mirror constantly manifesting. univ...