An absorbing account of an anthropologist's fieldwork and explorations into alternative religions in Brazil, "Samba in the Night" invites the reader into the mysterious world of spirit mediums, poltergeists, psychic surgery, exorcism and spiritual healing. The author focuses on spiritism, a vital religious movement with millions of followers. He provides descriptions of rituals and at the same time weaves in a detective story about the complex relations between Spiritist rituals and the rest of their world. Through a patchwork of anecdotes about spirit mediums, doctors, engineers, lawmakers, Jesuits, and past-life therapists, the book offers an introduction to Brazilian religion and society as well as to the art of anthropological fieldwork.

Fifty years ago Soka Gakkai was an organization of a few hundred people, all of them in Japan. Today it is one of the world's most rapidly expanding religious movements with members in virtually every country in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia, in most of Asia, and in several parts of Africa. Increasingly well publicized, the movement sponsors a variety of cultural and educational causes, is conspicuous in its work for world peace and the preservation of the environment, and has established for itself a high profile in world affairs. Soka Gakkai is also a significant social phenomenon in its own right, yet it has received surprisingly little attention from Western academics, despite considerable public controversy surrounding its development in Japan. Bryan Wilson and Karel Dobbelaere have undertaken a thorough survey of the UK membership to try to trace the source of the movement's appeal to its socially diverse constituency. The results of their questionnaire survey were augmented by interviews in which members were encouraged to tell their own story in their own way. Their responses are liberally quoted throughout the book and add illuminating detail to its sociological analysis. The decline in belief in an anthropomorphic deity; the sense that traditional religious institutions have become hollow; the emphasis on the private nature of belief and on personal autonomy are all characteristic features of contemporary Western society. The authors suggest that Soka Gakkai has found a ready resonance with these changing currents of modern thought, and conclude that Soka Gakkai's appeal to young people in particular makes it a faith well in tune with the times.

'The Spirits Book' (1857), written by Allan Kardec, is widely regarded as the most important piece of writing in the 'Spiritist' canon. It is the first in a series of five books that Kardec wrote that are collectively known as the 'Spiritist Codification'. Although the other four books; 'The Medium's Book', 'The Gospel According to Spiritism', 'Heaven and Hell' and 'The Genesis According to Spiritism' are of great importance to the Spiritist movement it is 'The Spirits Book' that lays out the doctrine of the belief system. The Spiritist movement was founded by Allen Kardec and although its roots lay in Spiritualism there are differences in belief. The most important of these differences is the Spiritist belief in reincarnation. Although some Spiritualists believe in reincarnation and some do not, all Spiritists consider it as a basic truth of their ideology. In the 1850's, whilst investigating the afterlife, Kardec communicated in seances with a collection of spirits named 'The Spirit of Truth' who discussed many important topics such as life after death, good and evil, the universe and the origin of spirits, amongst others. 'The Spirit of Truth' counted many of history's great thinkers amongst its number such as Thomas of Aquino, Voltaire and Augustine of Hippo. Over time and after several sessions with the group Kardec had gathered enough information to convince him of life after death and he was compelled to spread the teachings of 'The Spirit of Truth'. He 'codified' their comments and listed them as answers to questions and this is the content of 'The Spirits Book'. The subjects that Kardec discusses, via 'The Spirit of Truth', laid down the foundations for the Spiritist philosophy and all of the concepts that would become, and still are, key to the movement's thinking have their genesis in the book. The belief that there is one Supreme Being, God, who created everything in the universe, is postulated. According to the text the Devil does not exist and Jesus is a messenger of God. Although the book does not refer to Jesus as the son of God and no mention is made of the 'immaculate conception' he is considered God's perfect messenger and his teachings are to be adhered to. Reincarnation and the survival of the soul after death are vital beliefs and it is stated that it is through reincarnation that lessons are learnt that can be taken into the next life and that every life moves the soul closer to perfection. According to the book man is made up of three separate elements; the body, the spirit and the spiritual body. One's spirit also predates the matter of the universe and will outlast it. After the publication of 'The Spirits Book' Kardec's Spiritist doctrine began to take root, firstly in France from where it spread throughout Europe and found its way to North America. Most significant, however, was the reaction to Spiritism in South America. In Brazil the Spiritist movement swept across the nation and it is still one of the country's main religions to this day with millions of Kardec's followers from Brazil visiting his tombstone in Paris every year.

This wide-ranging collection explores the complex relationships between religious sects and contemporary Western society and examines the controversial social, political, and religious issues that arise as sects seek to pursue a way of life at variance with that of other people. Wilson argues that sects, often subject to negative theological and moral judgements, can be understood only as social entities and as such require a scientifically neutral and unbiased approach to explore their emergence and persistence. He traces the growth and expansion of various movements--including the Unification Church, the Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Exclusive Brethren--relating them to their social context, and indicates the sections of society from which their support is likely to come.

Scientology: A New Slant on Life

The materials of Scientology comprise the greatest
accumulation of knowledge ever assembled on the
mind, spirit and life. Through more than a hundred
books and publications, thousands more articles and
essays, and over 3,000 recorded lectures, the works
of L. Ron Hubbard embrace virtually every aspect of living.

Here, then, is Scientology: A New Slant on Life, containing
a timeless selection of Ron's discoveries drawn from the full
wealth of his writings and each one presenting a broad, yet
comprehensive overview of Scientology applied to a specific
aspect of existence -- and, in combination, providing the panoramic
overview of life itself.

Here are the answers to questions Man has sought through
the ages; here are practical answers you hoped could be found
somewhere; here are answers that work.

- Is It Possible to Be Happy?

- Personal Integrity

- Man's Search for His Soul

- On Our Efforts for Immortality

- The Eight Dynamics that comprise life itself

- The Affinity, Reality and Communication Triangle
providing the components for interpersonal relationships

- Marriage

- How to Live with Children

- What Is Greatness?

- The Two Rules for Happy Living

- Anti-Social and Social Personalities

- The Third Party Law revealing the cause of conflict

- Honesty and Ethics

- My Philosophy, Ron's personal statement on what
motivated his life's work and the quest for Scientology

Here, then, are essentials for living, real solutions that work in
the here and now, truths to consult again and again.

Aware of it or not, you create your reality. Understanding this can transform your life. 'The Gregory Continuum' T, channeled through Bobbie G, says: "The Choice is yours. The possibilities are infinite. To understand this, read our book."

Handbook for Preclears follows L. Ron Hubbard's book "Self Analysis". Both books contain easy to do methods of discovering your own mind, and increasing a person's ability to utilize considerably more of his mental potential. Discover why behavior patterns become so solidly fixed; why habits seemingly can't be broken; how decisions long ago have more power over a person than his decisions today; and why a person keeps past negative experiences in the present.

The book is written around the "Chart of Human Evaluation" - a chart that makes it possible to predict how reliable or trustworthy a person will be. This is essential knowledge for anyone, be it to chose his personal friends and relationships, or be to select personnel for a job. The book further covers methods of improving a person's IQ, emotional tone and abilities through further developments from Dianetics.

An examination of the public fascination with spiritualism and psychical research in Britain from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The book explores the variety of social background, education, and professional expertise that characterized the men and women who attended seances and investigated psychic phenomena, and places them in the context of their times without ridiculing their beliefs.

By breaking free of your own self-limiting beliefs, you'll discover the unlimited potential of who you really are. It's time to get over your self! There is an insidious, global identity theft occurring that has robbed people of their very recognition of their true selves. The culprit-indeed the mastermind of this crisis-has committed the inside job of creating and promoting the idea that we are all a separate self, which is the chief source of our daily distress and dissatisfaction. No more than a narrative of personhood pieced together from disparate neural activations, the self we believe ourselves to be in our own minds-although quite capable of being affirming, inspiring, and constructive-often spews forth a distressing flow of worry and second-guessing, blaming and shaming, regret and guilt. This book offers an antidote to this epidemic of stolen identity, isolation, and self-deprecation: no-self (a concept known in Buddhist philosophy as anatta or anatman). The No-Self Help Book turns the idea of self-improvement on its head, arguing that the key to well-being lies not in the relentless pursuit of bettering one's self but in the recognition of the self as a false identity born in the mind. Rather than identifying with a small, relative sense of self, this book encourages you to embrace a liberating alternative-an expansive awareness that is flexible and open to experiencing life as an ongoing and ever-changing process, without attachment to personal outcomes or storylines. To help you make this leap from self to no-self, the book provides forty bite-sized chapters full of clever and inspiring insights based in positive psychology and non-duality-a philosophy that asserts there is no real separation between any of us. So, if you're tired of "self-help" and you're ready to explore who you are beyond the self, let The No-Self Help Book be your guide.

Hubbard offers solutions to readers having trouble with irrational behavior and getting along with others. "Dianetics" has been used in over 150 nations around the world by over 20 million people.

Social media, television, video games, drugs, pornography – there is so much noise distracting us from what is important in life that it is nearly impossible to hear God’s truth that He will take you as you are. When we finally kill the noise of the world, we’ll discover in the silence a loving Savior who is waiting to forgive us and offer us a purpose for our lives.

Ryan Ries is living proof of this truth. Growing up in Los Angeles as the son of a mega-church pastor but surrounded by the music, skate, and snowboard industries, Ryan felt a tug-of-war between the church and the world. It was in the skate and music culture that he found his passion and his identity. As a result, he walked away from God and dove head first into the world, losing his way in alcohol, drugs, and sex, which led to anxiety, brokenness, and emptiness.

Kill the Noise tells Ryan’s story about finding God in the messiness of life, and lets you know how you too can find peace, joy, and purpose in Jesus Christ. This book will be a tool to help you kill the noise of the world so you can hear God’s voice telling you that He loves you and that you belong to Him.

If you are seeking union with your Sacred Self, this book is the Lamplight that will wipe the cobwebs of time from your mind and the darkness of fear from your vision. Passion and sincerity are key to initiating anything in life. When you begin to do what you love continuously, a conscious connection to the Soul happens. In the development and expansion of your life, you will begin to feel a Presence. What is this Presence? The Divine, or is it Love of Self? So now the question becomes, what is this Love? Is it God? It is challenging to put this level of Consciousness into words. Bliss, joy and effortlessness abound while the worries of life no longer exist. In such unity, the universe awaits your beckoning call with fruits you only dreamed could fall from the tree of life. This place, this space, is the bridge to the Soul and your return to the Garden of Eternal Playfulness. Welcome home.

Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. For those who have wondered in what specific ways Mormonism differs from the Christian faith, Mormonism 101 provides definitive answers, examining the major tenets of Mormon theology and comparing them with orthodox Christian beliefs. Perfect for students of religion and anyone who wants to have answers when Mormons come calling.

In this book the author brings to light man's deep inner need for spiritual wisdom in life and helps the reader develop a new sense of reality that is based on love, power and compassion. He describes our relationship with the natural world in detail and discusses how we can harness its tremendous powers for our personal and mankind's benefit. It's Time to Come Alive challenges some of our most commonly held beliefs and offers a way out of the emotional restrictions and physical limitations we have created in our lives. Topics include: What shapes our Destiny; using the power of intention; secrets of defying the aging process; doubting - the cause of failure; opening the heart; material wealth and spiritual wealth; fatigue - the major cause of stress; methods of emotional transformation; techniques of primordial healing; how to increase health of the five senses; developing spiritual wisdom; the major causes of today's earth changes; entry into the new world; twelve gateways to heaven on earth; and many more. Andreas Moritz is a Medical Intuitive and practitioner of Ayurveda, Iridology, Shiatsu and Vibrational Medicine. Author of The Amazing Liver & Gallbladder Flush, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation, and Time to Wake Up. Founder of the innovative healing systems, Ener-Chi Art and Sacred Santmony - Divine Chanting for Every Occasion.

While modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as an attempt to draw on a hidden history of ideas, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses have at their heart a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. As Wilson demonstrates, the courses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated, from powerless to powerful. Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications of this relationship in the work of those writers, artists and filmmakers who were most self-consciously experimental, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein.

Organized in chronological order of the founding of each movement, this documentary reader brings to life new religious movements from the 18th century to the present. It provides students with the tools to understand questions of race, religion, and American religious history. Movements covered include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism), the Native American Church, the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and more. The voices included come from both men and women. Each chapter focuses on a different new religious movement and features: - an introduction to the movement, including the context of its founding - two to four primary source documents about or from the movement - suggestions for further reading.

Teresa Moorehouse's "narrative sculptures" tell deep, often timeless stories in cold cast bronze, with patinas of copper, silver, or gold. Some draw on traditional myths or legends. Others discover new voices for contemporary experience of spiritual mysteries. Her images weave a language of symbols that surpasses logic and speaks directly to intuition and spirit. Soul Stories elegantly displays thirty-nine of the artist's favourite works in cold cast bronze. Her own brief narratives companion the photographs, to lead us by the hand into each sculpture's magical world.

White Eagle's loving teaching always sets the heart response above the intellect. This book, however, takes the reader into a world of the higher mind. Behind many religious systems there is a hidden, esoteric tradition. "Spiritual Unfoldment 3" takes the reader into the workings of a Mystery School and explains how esoteric understanding is to be arrived at. This is, in short, not by the reasoning mind which analyses and dissects but by a development of the heart, which brings all wisdom together.

An omnibus of two of Doris Stokes' extremely successful books, JOYFUL VOICES and VOICES OF LOVE, bestsellers in the early 1980s. Doris Stokes was a celebrated medium who confounded sceptics by the uncanny accuracy of her readings. In Australia she filled the Sydney Opera House and was mobbed in the streets. In America 'Charlie's Angels' was moved from its primetime slot to make way for her. In Britain she filled the Albert Hall, and radio phone-ins caused blocked lines and an avalanche of mail. Doris Stokes possessed an amazing gift - exceptional psychic powers that over the years of her extraordinary life brought joy and comfort to thousands of people...