About the book
The Hidden Way Across the Threshold is J. C. Street’s 1887 compilation of late-nineteenth-century spiritualist and occult thought. Across eighteen chapters, it considers divine love, sacred symbols, the soul, astral body, mediumship, spiritual gifts, evolution and involution, the temple within, death and the threshold. It draws on Pythagorean, Hermetic, Christian, Theosophical and spiritualist traditions.
Street’s writing is an historical document of its era, full of spiritual claims, symbolic correspondences and speculative science. The reader’s edition preserves that voice while making its structure easier to follow. It does not present the book’s historical, medical, scientific or religious assertions as current professional advice or settled scholarship.
Every chapter is followed by a clearly marked Editorial Reader’s Guide with a summary, key ideas, historical vocabulary, a critical-reading lens and reflection questions. These new additions help readers assess unusual claims with care while following the book’s continuing concerns with love, moral discipline, discernment and inner transformation.
What this edition includes
Includes the historical front matter and all nine listed illustrations, linked contents and illustration list, eighteen chapter-level Editorial Reader’s Guides, a glossary and clearly separated modern editorial material.
Source and edition note
The historical text was checked against the supplied scan and an independently digitised 1888 third edition to correct visible OCR failures, confirm chapter boundaries and restore front matter and illustrations. The edition’s source note identifies the 1887 text as public domain; rights status should always be considered for the relevant jurisdiction.