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The Ritman Library

Startpagina
Nederland
Amsterdam
The Ritman Library

www.embassyofthefreemind.com The library was founded in 1957 by Amsterdam businessman Joost R. Ritman.
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The Ritman Library or Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH) is the largest library in the world in the fields of Hermeticism, Alchemy, Mysticism, Rosicrucians, Gnosis & Western Esotericism and Comparative Religion studies. Ritman began collecting rare early books at a young age, after having been presented by his mother with a copy of a 17th-century edition of Aurora, a work by the German mysti

c Jacob Böhme. Decades of assiduous collecting resulted in an unparalleled collection of 27,000 works in the field of Christian-Hermetic gnosis. In 1984 Ritman decided to turn his private collection into a library that would be ‘hermetically open’ to all. His aim was also to acquaint a wide public, both scholars and non-scholars, with Hermetic, alchemical, mystical and gnostic works. Together, these works represent a challenging component of the European cultural and spiritual heritage. Over the past 25 years, the research carried out by the Ritman Institute has been made available by means of exhibitions, in the library and abroad, and through publications brought out by the library's own publishing house In de Pelikaan. Following its motto ‘Ad Fontes, Ex Fontibus’ - to the sources, from the sources - The Ritman Library envisages to co-create an active offline and online community and offers an open educative platform for lively exchange of knowledge and debate in the fields of its expertise.

28/05/2026

BPH Highlight: Rays from the Rose Cross, June 1981 - The Children of Gemini 👯‍♀️

Max Heindel’s (1865–1919) Rosicrucian magazine Rays from the Rose Cross ran from 1913 to 2004, always featuring an astrology section. For decades, the magazine retained the same beautifully engraved header artwork.

This June 1981 edition - pictured with the roses in our garden! - highlights the sign of Gemini, symbolized by the twins and positioned between its fellow air signs, Libra and Aquarius. Belonging to the element of air, those born under the sign of Gemini are believed to be free-spirited, social, and fond of mental stimulation, just like Aquarians and Libras.

Ruled by Mercury, Geminis are thought to be “wonderfully mentally alert and bright”, quick learners who thrive on gathering and sharing interesting facts, ideas, and observations. Friendly and open-minded, they are a friend of the world with very few enemies, often drawn toward travel, writing, journalism, media, and conversation of all kinds.

One thing this sign should watch out for, the author notes, is a tendency toward anxiousness or irritability; active minds can easily become overstimulated, eventually expressing themselves through nervous tension or physical unease. To maintain wellbeing, it is good to remember to come back to earth and seek some grounding once in a while.

Gemini season calls for curiosity, conversation, writing, learning, and exploration, a wonderful time for following interesting ideas wherever they lead.

Enjoy, wander, and let your mind roam freely 🌹

21/05/2026

BPH Highlight: Chymica Vannus (1666) 🌞

Happy Jupiter Day! ♃

As explored by in this month’s Codex Hermeticus newsletter, the 1666 Chymica Vannus presents a beautiful sequence of seven classical planetary deities, each corresponding to a day of the week.

The week begins with Sunday, which belongs to Solis, the Sun - embodied by Apollo, god of harmony, music, rationality, and consciousness. Monday follows with Luna, the Moon: Diana/Artemis, huntress and sister of Apollo, associated with the shifting powers of the mind.

Tuesday derives from Mars, “god of war and governor of the ‘martial’ arts.” Wednesday belongs to thieving Mercury, the winged trickster and patron of merchants, communication, and cunning.

Thursday is Jove’s day: Jupiter/Zeus, ruler of the heavens, rendered in the north as Thor’s Day and preserved in Dutch as Donderdag (“Thunder Day”). Friday is Venus day, everbody’s favorite: embodied by the goddess of love, beauty, and desire, the English name for this day derives from Freya, a Nordic counterpart to the Roman Venus.

Finally comes Saturday: Saturn, or Kronos, embodiment of time itself, who is often depicted eating his children, as a reminder that “tempus fugit”, meaning “time flies” - and consumes all things ⏳

14/05/2026

Codex Hermeticus: May 2026 Edition🌳

The May 2026 BPH library newsletter drops tomorrow!

Explore mystical readings of the opening words of Genesis and ancient Jewish rebel coins, read about a mysterious alchemical painting and the imagery of the ‘Triumph of Alchemy’, and discover the planetary symbolism of the remarkable 1666 alchemical work titled ‘Chymica Vannus’.

📩Curious? Sign up through the link in our bio to receive the Codex arriving tomorrow afternoon.

Cover image: Francesco Pesellino, The Triumphs of Fame, Time, and Eternity (detail), c. 1450–55.

07/05/2026

BPH Highlight: Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions🌀

If you read last month’s Codex Hermeticus library newsletter, you’ll know that researcher Corey Andrews of the BPH recently rediscovered a near-complete run of these journals within the collection.

Edited by Jay Kinney and published from 1985 to 1999, Gnosis followed a largely quarterly rhythm, with each issue dedicated to a specific theme, ranging from Gnosticism and magic to secret societies and Western mystical traditions. Across 51 issues, it became a notable meeting point between accessible scholarship and esoteric visual culture.

See four covers here!

Want us to dive deeper into a specific issue next time?📖

30/04/2026

Rays from the Rose Cross, May 1981 - The Children of Ta**us ♉

We’re back with another 80s edition of mystic and occultist Max Heindel’s (1865–1919) Rosicrucian magazine, this time highlighting the sign of Ta**us - the first of the “earthly triplicity”.

In this May edition, we find Ta**us, symbolized by the bull, at the centre of the recurring header engraving, flanked by its earthly companions, Virgo and Capricorn. Like its fellow earth signs, Ta**us is deeply connected to the physical world, embodying a natural groundedness and an underlying sensuality. Ruled by Venus, it carries an added appreciation for beauty, comfort, and harmony.

What other words describe these Venusian natives? Patience, thoroughness, and persistence are some of them, - possessiveness and defensiveness are others, according to the author of this piece. This is a fixed earth sign, after all: stubborn and steady like the bull!

Ta**us season calls for indulging in earthly pleasures and luxuries, a time for prioritizing comfort, harmony and health - and embracing all good fortune that comes your way.

Enjoy, indulge, and take pleasure in what sustains you 🪷

17/04/2026

BPH Highlight: The Perfect Way or The Finding of Christ (1882) by Dr. Anna Kingsford (1846-1888)

Dr. Anna Kingsford (1846-1888) is one of the most important female voices in Theosophy. Besides being one of the first English women to receive a medical degree, she was a Theosophist and a fierce activist for women’s rights and animal rights. As the first medical student of the time to graduate without experimenting on a single live animal, her medical thesis advocated for the benefits of vegetarianism, published in English as ‘The Perfect Way in Diet’ (1881).

The books seen here, a first edition (blue) and second edition (yellow) of ‘The Perfect Way or The Finding of Christ’, were originally a series of lectures delivered “for a private audience” in May, June, and July of 1881. Her long-time collaborator, English writer Edward Maitland (1824-1897), assisted Kingsford in writing and publishing them (the second edition posthumously).

The book begins with a preface retelling the classic legend of Medusa, Perseus, and Andromeda as an allegory of humanity’s crisis: the conflict between established, rigid religion and emerging scientific reason. Calling for a reconciliation of intellect with spiritual intuition to restore a fuller truth, this harmony is not only philosophical but ethical as well in its insistence that the “feminine” principle of intuition and spiritual wisdom is essential, not secondary, to humanity’s renewal.

First published in 1882, The Perfect Way presents a theosophical philosophy that treats religious traditions as expressions of a shared underlying truth. Here, “Christ” is not to be understood as a single (historical) figure, but as a spiritual condition that any individual may attain - through inner transformation and alignment with the divine...🪽

We’re very proud to have these two treasures in our collection!

15/04/2026

Codex Hermeticus: April Edition 🌷

Spring is in full bloom and this month’s Codex is one of our most creatively inventive yet, bringing together four stories of esoteric discovery and history.

José gives an account of a 17th-century forbidden Amsterdam publication, and Corey takes us through a year-long pursuit that led to the rediscovery of the Gnosis journal collection in our archives. Alongside this, new contributor Zico Jackson writes on the “Faust Manuscript,” and Charlotte puts us in the shoes of a 16th-century student of mathematics and astronomy.

📩Curious? Sign up through the link in our bio to receive the Codex Hermeticus April 2026 edition, arriving tonight!

02/04/2026

Women in the BPH Collection: Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678) 📝

Anna Maria van Schurman is one of the faces of our current exhibition, ‘The House with the Heads: A Monument to Free Thinking’, and is known for being the first female university student in Europe.

In 1634, she was invited by Utrecht University to write a poem in Latin for the institution’s opening day due to her distinction in the language. In it, she challenged the exclusion of women from higher education with the line: “But why is your heart so sad? Well, women are not admitted!” Following this, she was granted permission to attend lectures, although she was required to sit hidden behind a curtain so as not to distract the male students.

While studying at university, her artistic talent and intellect soon led to her reputation as the “Star of Utrecht”. With time, Schurman also achieved international fame with her bestselling work Opuscula Hebraea, Graeca, Latina, Gallica, Prosaica et Metrica (1648), a remarkable linguistic achievement demonstrating her mastery of multiple classical and modern languages. The Opuscula includes, among other things, a treatise on women’s right to study. Our collection holds several editions of it (1646, 1650, 1652, and 1749), including a beautiful first edition, which is currently on view in our exhibition.

A polyglot mastering no less than 14 languages, it is no wonder that Schurman had a way with words; she is said to have been a woman possessing extraordinary charisma and powers of persuasion, which came in handy as the “Leidsvrouwe” (front woman) of the Labadist movement in Amsterdam. As a devoted follower of Jean de Labadie (1610-1674), she embraced beliefs that set her apart from her contemporaries, prompting fellow intellectuals to denounce her mind as “darkened, heretical”; a reputation which persisted long after her death.

There is far more to discover about this woman and the barriers she broke. For those who wish to delve deeper, Pieta van Beek has written an in-depth article, available in our new publication, The House with the Heads.

26/03/2026

Rays from the Rose Cross, April 1981 - The Children of Aries♈

The annual cosmic drama that is the Spring Equinox is behind us, and we find ourselves now in fiery Aries season. Max Heindel’s (1865-1919) Rosicrucian magazine of April 1981 centers fully on this beautiful season of transition, a rebirth moment in many ways - from Easter to the astrological new year and the beginning of spring, when life blooms back again. Light has indeed returned!

In this issue, of course, the astrological header engraving highlights the sign of Aries, symbolized by the ram. It opens with a poem:

“Is it the tender star of love,
The star of love and dreams?
Oh no! From that blue tent above,
A hero’s armour gleams.”
—Longfellow

As the first Zodiac sign in the Astrological cycle, Aries natives possess a “great vital force,” a nature described by the author as active, aggressive, and intense. As the return of light, they are full of life, “as manifest in the sprouting of seeds which break through the Earth’s crust at Springtime.” These natives are both lovers and fighters, never doing anything half-heartedly and bringing a “heroic spirit” to humanity.

Aries season lays ahead of us, calling on us to break out of our winter slumber and act - wholeheartedly and fearlessly❤️‍🔥

15/03/2026

Codex Hermeticus: March Edition🖌️

The Spring Equinox is just around the corner and this month’s Codex is short and sweet, following a red thread of design. We explore the beauty and symbolism of letters, prints, and bindings, from Renaissance theories of the “ideal letter form” to the artistry of early printed books.

Leading the issue, José introduces us to the world of Renaissance letter design through the work of Geoffroy Tory and his remarkable book Champ fleury (1529). The edition continues with a look at the beautifully bound mystical poetry of Arthur Edward Waite, and concludes with the emergence of Hebrew letter printing in the circle of one of its most influential pioneers.

📩 Sign up through the link in our story to receive the Codex Hermeticus March 2026 edition, arriving tonight!

27/02/2026

Women in the BPH Collection: Pamela “Pixie” Colman Smith (1878 - 1951)🔮

If you’re even slightly familiar with tarot, you’ve likely encountered the iconic Rider–Waite–Smith deck, illustrated by Pamela “Pixie” Colman Smith.

Born in London to American parents and raised partly in Jamaica, Smith studied intermittently at the Pratt Institute in New York as a teenager, where she became influenced by the visionary Symbolism and Romanticism of the Arts and Crafts movement. Returning to England at 21 after the death of her parents, she quickly became part of London’s bohemian artistic circles. She worked with the Lyceum Theatre company, creating costumes and set design, and illustrated for figures such as W. B. Yeats and Bram Stoker. Her voice was also loudly heard fighting for women’s rights: she contributed artwork through the Suffrage Atelier (1909), an artists’ collective campaigning for women’s suffrage in England, and founded a press dedicated to women writers, The Green Sheaf (1903).

In 1901, she joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where she had a fated encounter with Arthur Edward Waite, who later commissioned her to illustrate a new tarot deck that would speak to the art world. The result was the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck.

Smith died in 1951 in relative obscurity and was buried in an unmarked grave, but her legacy lives on: the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck is still the most widely used 78-card deck, with its fully illustrated scenes continuing to speak vividly and clearly to readers more than a century later. We’re proud to hold two first editions of the deck in our collection.💫

Slides
1. Portrait of Pamela Colman Smith, October 1912 issue of The Craftsman magazine
2. The High Priestess, Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck
3. Suffrage Atelier postcard, c.1909–1914
4. Illustration for “Untitled [Once in a Dream]” by Pamela Colman Smith. The Green Sheaf, No. 2, 1903
5. Sea Creatures by Pamela Colman Smith, 1907

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