I'm looking for some good books on esoteric religion and mysticism, particularly on Christian mysticism

I'm looking for some good books on esoteric religion and mysticism, particularly on Christian mysticism.

Anyone have any recommendations?

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Catholic esotericist here. Here are a few of my favorites.

Orthodox:
>Tomas A. Kempis - Imitation of Christ
>Francis de Sales - Introduction to the Devout Life
>John of the Cross - Dark Night of the Soul
>John Climacus - Ladder of Divine Ascent
>Various - Philokalia

Unorthodox:
>Wouter J Hanegraaff - Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed
>Anonymous - Meditations on the Tarot
>Michael Martin - The Heavenly Country

Could you explain the premise or thesis for perhaps one of the books, your favourite perhaps

Most of my orthodox recommendations are quite popular and can easily be googled. Imitation on the Christ is a series of contemplations on overcoming selfish desires and being Christ-like. Introduction to the Devout Life is a manual on practicing the faith. Dark Night of the Soul describes some of the perils along the path. Ladder of Divine Ascent is like an advanced Devout Life. More advanced and difficult. The Philokaia is most advanced of all, essentially instructions for Eastern Church monastics.

As far as my unorthodox recommendations go, the Hanegraaff is pretty much essential if you'd like to understand the uneasy relationship between Christianity and mysticism. It's more or a less a historical survey that argues that what we call occultism and esotericism and magic is essentially a polemical category for suppressed religions/philosophies.

Meditations on the Tarot is a gentle and uplifting series of letters on the universal spiritual mysteries of Christianity albeit somewhat polemical toward the superiority of the faith which were integral to my conversion from a postmodern new ager to a relatively traditional Catholic.

The Heavenly Country is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's about Sophiology. Kinda like a folkish feminist spiritualism formed within Christianity which moved from Protestantism to Orthodoxy to Catholicism. Some people think it's a touch heretical and/or gnostic.

The Hanegraaff has a lot of good recommendations for further reading as well. But a lot of it is more about blatantly heretical / non-Christian mysticisms.

If you wanna shell out some big books, Hanegraaf also has a Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism which is pretty extensive and good for research (though once again focused on the heretical), you might also wanna pick up The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism as well. Traces movements in orthodox and unorthodox mysticism/esotericism.

Oh, almost forgot, Cloud of Unknowing is really good. It's about apophatic theology and contemplative prayer. There's also a modern "centering prayer" movement based on it.

As far as other feminine mystice works, The Mirror of Simple Souls is another apophatic work on the same subject though unfortunately the author was unjustly persecuted.

She (author of Mirror of Simple Souls) was a friend of Meister Eckhart who is the greatest of (orthodox) Christian platonists according to some. Has some incredible sermons. Very non-dual.

Of course, there's a treasure trove of other medieval and modern and ancient writers on the subject. I like the females. Catherine, Terese, Hildegaard, Julia of Norwich. As far as men go, Bonaventure is beautiful. The soul's journey to God (idk the precisetitle) is quite illuminating if you enjoy medieval theology/philosophy.

There's probably a good historical survey out there but I haven't encountered it yet.

Oh, and you can't forget Ignatius Loyolla's Spiritual Exercises!

Best of luck, my fellow brother seeker. Hope I have been of help.

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This has everything you're looking for

A little infopic, it might help.

Dark Night of the Soul is quite good. A dense text but it gets better as you acclimate to the style. I would recommend the Peers translation, too.

The Red Book by Yung is precisely what you have described in your post OP, I'm only at liber novus in the book, but I have been very surprised at how deeply religious and mythical the book is