Through in-depth interviews with 22 New Agers and Neo-Pagans, this study proposes a new model of religious identity from a sociological standpoint. The analysis demonstrates that in spite of their great diversity of beliefs and lack of strong organizational ties, a discernible community of alternative spiritualists does exist. This volume will appeal not only to scholars of the sociology of religion, but also to sociologists interested in community building, social movements, and self-identity.

Silver Threads shows consciousness studies in the context of scholarly investigation and liberal thinking. It was written to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Parapsychology Research Group. However, the subject matter is not confined to parapsychology; the volume is, more generally, a collection of essays on and experiments in consciousness. It includes theoretical material on the philosophy of science and experimental reports. Many of the contributors are recognized as outstanding original researchers in the field of parapsychology, such as Targ, Honorton, Tart, Harman, Krippner, and Grof. The contributors conclude that: (1) psychic phenomena are genuine and can be subject to scientific investigation; (2) science is changing to adapt to new categories of phenomena, including those which are considered paranormal; and (3) paranormal function is an innate human ability that everyone possesses and uses.

About the Book The Diagram Star is explaining the whole mystery of religious belief. The book is revealing a reconstruction of the world history based on the formula used by the Masters of the past. The main character in this historical and highly political novel, Oskar Karlsen, is in his real life an invalid. He is creating a role play on Internet were he gives him self the title Master and states that his aim is to flood the whole world with knowledge and drown the religious belief. Flooding the world with knowledge will be done by the use of Internet. Oskar conclude that when the formula is used on all the gospel stories in the Bible, they become a total different story. The formula can be used on all the dominating religions and sects in the world. His message to the world is that all the gospel stories are a camouflage over knowledge, and they were the work of the Masters of the past. Oskar Karlsens role play on Internet is threatening the way of life for the richest of the rich people in the world. They depend on the religions, the national borders and the dictating economy to get even richer, while an increasing number of humans dies daily of causes caused by poverty. In order to make the world a better place for all humans, knowledge of the Diagram Star have to return to all people. Then the religious belief will vanish into thin air. Some rich sponsors are giving the invalid Oskar an expensive operation that most likely can cure his disability. Even if he is warned that the sponsors will use the operation to kill him, he is determent to do it and use the interest of the world press to advertise his role play all over the world. Will he succeed? With the use of Internet and your help, he certainly will succeed.

This book contains the proceedings from the Codex Judas Congress, the first international conference held to discuss the newly-restored Tchacos Codex. Given that the Tchacos Codex is a newly-conserved ancient book of Christian manuscripts which had yet to be discussed collaboratively by a body of scholars, the research conducted and published within this book by the members of the Codex Judas Congress is nothing less than a landmark in Gnostic studies. Scholars address issues of identity and community, portraits of Judas, astrological lore, salvation and praxis, text and intertext, and manuscript matters. Although the contributions show a variety of interpretations of the Tchacos texts, several points of agreement emerge, including the assessment that the Codex belonged to early Christians in conflict with other Christians who belonged to the apostolic or conventional church. Contributors include: Grant Adamson, Johanna Brankaer, Fernando Bermejo Rubio, Serge Cazelais, April D. DeConick, Ismo Dunderberg, Niclas Foerster, Wolf-Peter Funk, Simon Gathercole, Matteo Grosso, Lance Jenott, Karen King, Nicola Denzey Lewis, Alastair Logan, Antti Marjanen, Marvin Meyer, Elaine Pagels, Birger A. Pearson, Pierluigi Piovanelli, James M. Robinson, Gesine Schenke Robinson, Kevin Sullivan, Franklin Trammel, Johannes van Oort, Bas van Os, Louis Painchaud, Tage Petersen, John D. Turner, and Gregor Wurst.

Forgotten somewhere between Bar Harbor, Maine, and New Brunswick, Canada, lies the most remote and mysterious section of the Eastern Seaboard. It is a region rich in stark beauty--and supernatural lore. The harsh landscape, with its rocky seaside cliffs and thundering surf and miles of dark, mysterious forest farther inland, lends itself to the ghost story. Overlaying the ghost tales gathered in this book is a sense of unspeakable horror and malice.

Despite the prevalence of religious belief in the United States (nearly 200 million Americans belong to 350,000 congregations), a growing minority (14 percent) of U.S. adults identify with no religion whatsoever. Journalist James A. Haught addresses the secular segment of American society in this interesting collection of incisive essays that give voice to honest doubts about religious beliefs. Taken together, Haught's essays endorse the idea that freedom of religion must include freedom to doubt as well as to believe. Individually, the articles present many different reasons to doubt: * Intellectual integrity demands that we express doubts about beliefs for which there is no scientific evidence. * The historical record, past and present, shows that religion is often the cause of evils, from the Inquisition and the burning of witches to current terrorist violence committed in the name of religion. * Natural evils, such as the 2004 Asian tsunami and devastating diseases, should make any thoughtful person question whether an all-powerful and all-merciful God governs the universe. * The sheer number and diversity of often-conflicting belief systems raise serious doubts about the philosophical coherence of religion as an approach to finding the truth. * Scandals among the clergy undermine the credibility of religion as a sound basis for morality. Written in a straightforward conversational style that makes clear the many scientific, philosophical, and ethical difficulties that plague religion, Haught's thought-provoking essays will appeal to atheists, agnostics, and anyone with questions about religion.

Surveys over the last twenty years have seen an ever-growing number of Americans disclaim religious affiliations and instead check the "none" box. In the first sociological exploration of organized secularism in America, Richard Cimino and Christopher Smith show how one segment of these "nones" have created a new, cohesive atheist identity through activism and the creation of communities.
According to Cimino and Smith, the new upsurge of atheists is a reaction to the revival of religious fervor in American politics since 1980. Feeling overlooked and underrepresented in the public sphere, atheists have employed a wide variety of strategies-some evangelical, some based on identity politics-to defend and assert themselves against their ideological opponents. These strategies include building and maintaining communities, despite the absence of the kinds of shared rituals, texts, and laws that help to sustain organized religions.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with self-identified atheist, secularist, and humanist leaders and activists, as well as extensive observations and analysis of secular gatherings and media, Cimino and Smith illustrate how atheists organize and align themselves toward common goals, and how media-particularly web-based media-have proven invaluable in connecting atheists to one another and in creating a powerful virtual community. Cimino and Smith suggest that secularists rely not only on the Internet for community-building, but on their own new forms of ritual.
This groundbreaking study will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the growing atheist movement in America.

This book is a collection of essays on Scottish witchcraft. Unlike most such works, it concentrates on witchcraft beliefs rather than witch-hunting. It ranges widely across areas of popular belief, culture, and ritual practice, as well as dealing with intellectual life and incorporating regional and comparative elements. The editors were members of the team responsible for the recently-completed Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, and the book incorporates a number of pioneering findings from this rich online resource.

Le Livre d'Or (The Book of Gold) is a unique 17th century French magical work comprising numerous amulets, charms, prayers, spells and sigils for working with the Biblical Book of the Psalms of King David. Written in a simple style akin to a medieval Book of Secrets combined with magical practices from the ancient world, Le Livre d'Or brings together practices which have their roots in major works from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Cairo Genizah, to the Greek Magical Papyri and Sepher Shimmush Tehillim (Magical Use of the Psalms). Now translated into English for the first time, this exceptional text demonstrates the significance of the Psalms as a unifying and vital thread throughout the development of Western magic. From Sweden to Syria, Britain to the Baltic, the use of appropriate Psalms has spread as a significant part of popular folk and religious magic, and Le Livre d'Or is an inimitable example of the transmission of divine power through the written and spoken word. Le Livre d'Or was originally bound as part of Lansdowne MS 1202 with a 17th century French copy of the most important of grimoires, the Key of Solomon. The extensive commentary by David Rankine and Paul Harry Barron emphasises the place of the Psalms within the Grimoire tradition, detailing their extensive apotropaic, amuletic and coercive uses in works such as the Book of Abramelin, the Key of Solomon and the Goetia. The editors also illustrate how the magic of the Psalms has underlain and cross-fertilised numerous traditions over the last two thousand years, from Hellenic magicians, early Christians and Jews of the ancient world to practitioners of the medieval Grimoires and Renaissance Cunning-folk. Whether it was for benevolent or malefic results, Le Livre d'Or provided the appropriate Psalm verses and relevant techniques. This previously ignored work is an outstanding example of eminently practical magic which not only draws on such major works as the Heptameron and the Steganographia, but also many of the divine names found in the Kabbalah. From Saints to spirits, characters to Creeds, Le Livre d'Or shines forth as a significant and reclaimed chapter in the Western Esoteric Traditions. There is also a paperback edition available of this book.

"Charms, Charmers, and Charming" brings together the work of many of today's key scholars in the field of verbal charming. The essays it contains cover vernacular magical texts and practice from Malaysia to Madagascar, and from England to Estonia. As the most comprehensive collection of research on charms, charmers, and charming available in the English language, it forms an essential reader on the topic.