Welcome to ORAEDES
► Firstly, if you are seeking an encyclopedia that permits research in the broad field of religious anthropology and esoterology, spirituality and religion in general and, more particularly, in the field of mysticism and Western esotericism፧.
● The encyclopedia is divided into two parts: Society and Signs, which are further subdivided into three sections each. Additionally, it also includes a dictionary in which offers a lexicon in its first section.
► Secondly, should you be interested in accessing supplementary works and educational tools from our organization thereby providing you with maps, guidelines, and a compass in this incredibly rich field.
● Firstly, we present mementos with a synthetic and practical aim ; which can be found in the second section of the dictionary.
● Subsequently, we provide you with several lists related to the materials that we have utilised in compilation of the encyclopedia or that have been referenced : besides a list of websites that have proven to be of value, we also offer an exhaustive list of organizations and various references that have been useful to us. Furthermore, an index is also available for your use.
● Finally, if you are seeking a database that indexes research articles from publications that cover topics discussed in the encyclopedia.
► We are committed to maintaining a professional approach and strive to verify, classify, synthesize, interpret and relay the various information that reaches us during our work and our research.
● We will endeavour to regularly offer you new content by enriching our projects or by producing new ones.
● Although Western spirituality constitutes the main subject of our project, we will widen our scope to foreign spiritualities in the humble proportions that it will be possible for us to devote to this domain.
► We provide a variety of tools to assit you in understanding our approach and navigating the site.
● For an overview of the organization’s general objectives, please refer to the introduction in the general notice.
● You will also consult the details of our methodology through documentation dedicated to the technical, archival and documentary aspects of the encyclopedia.
● Alternatively, should you wish to be guided through a reasoned reading of the encyclopedia, we would recommend consulting the mementos and in particular the thematic guide and the chronological guide which constitute the spine of the project.
● A panoramic view of the site is available on the right of this page : the "chronology" tab will allow you to review the history of the site while the "cartography" tab will provide an overview of its architecture.
● A media library is also at your disposal: it contains all the encyclopaedia's unallocated resources.
● Finally, a Frequently Asked Questions section is available, in which comments on the purpose and the nature of this project can be found.
► Please be aware that the site is still under construction and is therefore subject to change. We invite visitors to participate in the encyclopedia, the database or our projects by proposing files, works, or documentation.
● Quick contribution forms are first available in the side panel of each page of the encyclopedia. For those wishing to engage in more elaborate or regular participation, which may entail the submission of files, we invite you to contact us, as we have a platform for work on the encyclopedia.
● Please also consider completing the Oraedes Questionnaire which allows you to share your thoughts with us.
● For those who would like to support us financially, donations are also possible.
► We would like to take this opportunity to thank all contributors, internal or external to the organization. Those who gave us material, sources, reported misprints, errors, and advice are also gratefully acknowledged. Many have helped us without knowing it: authors, academics, journalists, forum participants and bloggers; they all have our eternal gratitude. We would like to express our gratitude to the museums and libraries around the world who, through their meticulous and patient work in archiving and digitising their collections, have made a significant contribution to the creation of this encyclopaedia by making the fruits of their labour available free of charge.