Great Work Great Work The term Great Work (magnum opus) is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema. The Great Work signifies the spiritual path towards self-transcendence in its entirety. This is the process of bringing unconscious complexes into the conscious awareness, in order to integrate them back into oneself. Accomplishing the Great Work, symbolized as the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, represents the culmination of the spiritual path, the attainment of enlightenment, or the rescue of the human soul from the unconscious forces which bind it. Eliphas Levi (1810–1875), one of the first
Alms Alms Alms (, ) or almsgiving involves giving to others as an act of virtue, either materially or in the sense of providing capabilities (e.g. education) free. It exists in a number of religions and regions. The word, in the modern English language, comes from the Old English "ælmesse", "ælmes", from Late Latin "eleemosyna", from Greek ἐλεημοσύνη "eleēmosynē" ("pity, alms"), from ἐλεήμων, "eleēmōn" ("merciful"), from ἔλεος, "eleos" ("pity"). In Judaism, "tzedakah" - a Hebrew term literally meaning righteousness but commonly used to signify "charity" - refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just. Contemporary tzedakah is