One night, while sitting around the campfire with friends, Sinclair Browning shared the story of her actress mother, who used to warm up with breathing exercises before going on stage.

The thrilling new novel, inspired by the events at Jonestown in the 1970s.

It’s the summer of 1968, and Evelyn Lynden is a woman at war with herself. Minister’s daughter. Atheist. Independent woman. Frustrated wife. Bitch with a bleeding heart.

Following her conscientious-objector husband Lenny to the rural Eden of Evergreen Valley, California, Evelyn wants to be happy with their new life. Yet she finds herself disillusioned with Lenny’s passive ways ― and anxious for a saviour. Enter the Reverend Jim Jones, the dynamic leader of a new revolutionary church …

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Beautiful Revolutionary explores the allure of the real-life charismatic leader who would destroy so many. It follows Evelyn as she is pulled into Jones’s orbit ― an orbit it would prove impossible for her to leave.

YOU CAN LEARN TO PERFECT ANCIENT ARTS

NOT A PARLOR TRICK

A former military intelligence operative and author of over a dozen best sellers says not only has the intelligence community beenable to perfect invisibility through projects such as the Philadelphia Experiment and the use of Stealth technology, but that such techniques were actually derived from psychic abilities that are a part of psychic, occult and religious lore.

"There are many accounts of Popes, Saints and Monks -- as well as ordinary individuals -- vanishing into thin air and appearing elsewhere almost instantly,"says Commander X. "Nor is the science of Levitation to be taken lightly, for didn't even Jesus 'walk' upon the water? Cases of human levitation aren't that rare," the author reveals. "The power of levitation is dormant in us all and needs but the proper catalyst to be set into motion."

Members of various Secret Societies have long been practicing both invisibility and levitation as a matter of daily routine.

This book offers various techniques that really WORK, providing the reader with dozens of examples of How-To Training Course which takes the subject out of its mystical surroundings and places it in a scientific -- and most -- practical framework.

PLEASE USE FOR POSITIVE PURPOSES ONLY

Philip Jenkins looks at how the image of the cult evolved and why panics about such groups occur at certain times. He examines the deep roots of cult scares in American history, offering the first-ever history and analysis of cults and their critics fromthe 19th century to the present day. Contrary to popular belief, Jenkins shows, cults and anti-cult movements were not an invention of the 1960's, but in fact are traceable to the mid-19th century, when Catholics, Mormons and Freemasons were equally denounced for violence, fraud and licentiousness. He finds that, although there are genuine instances of aberrant behavior, a foundation of truth about fringe religious movements is all but obscured by a vast edifice of myth, distortion and hype.

Thurschwell examines the intersection of literary culture, the occult and new technology at the fin-de-siècle. She argues that as new technologies, such as the telegraph and the telephone, began suffusing the public imagination from the mid-nineteenth century on, they seemed to support the claims of spiritualist mediums. Making unexpected connections between, for instance, speaking on the telephone and speaking to the dead, she examines how psychical research is reflected in the work of Henry James, George DuMaurier and Oscar Wilde among others.

The first critical treatment of Scientology that seeks to identify and correct what is wrong with it rather than to merely expose or advocate against the subject. A handbook for former, current and prospective members. The book can help to heal any damage done by misuse while rehabilitating any positives derived from Scientology. The book also serves to proof up an individual against being harmed by misapplication of Scientology in the future. As the first simple, accurate description of the philosophy from its introductory to its most advanced levels, the book will inform those interested in Scientology as no other available work has.

Philip Jenkins looks at how the image of the cult evolved and why panics about such groups occur at certain times. He examines the deep roots of cult scares in American history, offering the first-ever history and analysis of cults and their critics from the 19th century to the present day. Contrary to popular belief, Jenkins shows, cults and anti-cult movements were not an invention of the 1960's, but in fact are traceable to the mid- 19th century, when Catholics, Mormons and Freemasons were equally denounced for violence, fraud and licentiousness. He finds that, although there are genuine instances of aberrant behaviour, a foundation of truth about fringe religious movements is all but obscured by a vast edifice of myth, distortion and hype.

This peer-reviewed study represents a culmination of years of research into the history of the Theosophical Society. In this unique project which combines biographies with source analyses, Jeffrey D. Lavoie records a detailed history of the early Theosophical Society and examines its relationship with the modern Spiritualist movement between the years 1875-1891. Special attention has been paid to some of the neglected figures associated with these organizations including Arthur Lillie- the Gnostic-occultist and early critic of the Theosophical Society; the Davenport Brothers- the Spiritualist mediums who developed many of the standard elements which became associated with modern Spiritualism; Alfred Wallace- the prominent scientist, Spiritualist, and supposed member of the Theosophical Society and many others. This work will appeal to a wide array of readers including those interested in modern religious movements, Western Esotericism, South Asian history, and Victorian studies.

Each of us is made of the same "stuff," yet we continuously see each other and the world around us as dissimilar and separate. It's important to see ourselves as part of a greater entity. In "Wholarian Vision, " author Katrina Mayer presents a new way of seeing the world and bringing it together. With prose, stories, and poems interspersed, Mayer introduces the Wholarian vision-a process of being connected to all things and to all people in order to see others without prejudice or bias. "Wholarian Vision" introduces and explains this new concept and describes how it affects the mind, body, and spirit. It discusses both the Wholarian world and the relationships within it. With the goal of bringing the world together through a global perspective, "Wholarian Vision" shows how we all originate from one and we will always be part of one. Our actions, our choices, our lives, and our voices are the message of one heart, one world, and one love.

Taking "self-help" to new heights and learning to cultivate your divine spiritual self in any environment, The Urban Ritualist uncovers the divine purpose of all beings, to strengthen the divine spirit within and use its power to uplift human consciousness. The term "self-help" is indicative of humankind's desire to elevate themselves - their physical, social, and economic conditions. This desire to change has been linked to the universal changes that are taking place in terms of the earth, and universal energy. Although many believe that our thoughts have the capacity to manifest the changes we desire, and in many ways it does, there is another part to the equation. It's not all about what you think, it's also about who you are. To "Know Thyself" is the most recognized edict given to humankind by the ancient Kemetians. It is the foundation of transformation work and the lifeblood of magic. In The Urban Ritualist, the path to know oneself and cultivate spiritual growth and development is laid out. Spirituality and ritual are examined from an ancient African and African American worldview as researched and expressed by African and African American scholars and practitioners over the last 60 years. It examines the importance of culture and the role it plays in one's practice of ritual. The book brings into question the values a culture holds, and encourages its readers to examine their personal values, attitudes, and beliefs. Finally, the book examines the various energies, inherent in the elements and environment that, when activated en mass, will elevate the magic that will hold this universe together. The Urban Ritualist is for persons of all ages, cultures, religious affiliations and backgrounds to synthesize ritual into their own lives and value systems. Readers are encouraged to uplift their ethnicity with positive conscious intent and to respect the spirit, energy and power in all people. In the book, you will learn to use common tools imbued with your positive conscious intent to manifest success and abundance for yourself, your family and your community. The book also encourages readers to expand their frame of reference to the positive transformation of the world community for the benefit of all. Infuse every day, every occasion and your life with ritual to live in the true power of peace and love with no limitations. Author Bio: Queen Afi Andaiye Najuma Reynolds is a certified Kemetic Yoga instructor and student of internal qi gong for energy cultivation and movement to aid the healing process. She specializes in breathwork, meditation techniques, ritual creation, and spiritual/intuitive ancestral readings. She produces a line of natural body care products under the brand "Queen Afi's Natural Body Care Products," creates ritual tools under the brand "Ritual Works ," and provides nutritional and healthy lifestyle guidance under the auspices of the Universal Temple of Peace and Love.. Queen Afi holds a Master of Education degree in Instructional Technology and has over 15 years in government, business, and community program/course development experience. She has also worked in supported employment, organizational development and human performance technology. Queen Afi is Senior Consultant for R.A.W. (Ready, Able, and Willing) to Work, Inc.; a work-readiness, new technologies training program. She is leading the effort to identify and develop work opportunities in the community for program participants, to provide services to small businesses, seniors and young families.

Franz-Valery-Marie Cumont (Aalst, Belgium, 3 January 1868 - Brussels, 25 August 1947) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. Cumont was a graduate of the University of Ghent (PhD, 1887). After receiving royal travelling fellowships, he undertook archaeology in Pontus and Armenia (published in 1906) and in Syria, but he is best known for his studies on the impact of Eastern mystery religions, particularly Mithraism, on the Roman Empire. Cumont's international credentials were brilliant, but his public circumspection was not enough. In 1910, Baron Edouard Descamps, the Catholic Minister of Sciences and Arts at the University of Ghent, refused to approve the faculty's unanimous recommendation of Cumont for the chair in Roman History, Cumont having been a professor there since 1906. There was a vigorous press campaign and student agitation in Cumont's favor, because the refusal was seen as blatant religious interference in the University's life. When another candidate was named, in 1912, Cumont resigned his positions at the University and at the Royal Museum in Brussels, left Belgium and henceforth divided his time between Paris and Rome. He contributed to many standard encyclopedias, published voluminously and in 1922, under stressful political conditions, conducted digs on the shore of the Euphrates at the previously unknown site of Dura-Europos; he published his research there in 1926. He was a member of most of the European academies. In 1936 Franz Cumont was awarded the Francqui Prize on Human Sciences. In 1947, Franz Cumont donated his library and papers to the Academia Belgica in Rome, where they are accessible to researchers. His works include * Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra (1894-1900, with an English translation in 1903) is the study that made his international reputation, by its originality and massive documentation. * Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain (1906, widely translated) * After-Life in Roman Paganism, lectures delivered at Yale University, published in 1922, was cautiously expressed, but it corrected many false impressions of pagan rite that Christian apologists had made. * Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans After his death, critics of his interpretation of Mithras as the descendant of the Iranian deity Mithra began to be heard, and surfaced at the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies in Manchester England, 1971. Modern interpretation of Mithras as the astronomical bull-slayer have continued to move away from Cumont's interpretations, though his documentation remains valuable. In 1997 the Royal Library, Brussels, observed the fiftieth anniversary of Cumont's death appropriately, with a colloquium on syncretism in the Mediterranean world of Antiquity.

In this wonderful selection from the Christ Mind Teachings, Paul Ferrini shares the message of Jesus as he received it over a seven-year period. Here at last is a gospel devoted solely to Jesus' teachings of love, healing and forgiveness. The teacher we meet here is the compassionate, open-minded teacher we know in our hearts. He rejects the dogmatic, narrow-minded concepts of fundamentalist Christianity that reinforce our shame, intolerance and spiritual pride and instead empowers all of us to awaken the Christ potential within.

Why am I here? What should I be doing? What happens when we pass away? Have you ever felt an invisible presence around you? These are some of the questions addressed in this book. In the Beginning...A Spiritualist's Bible presents the philosophy of Spiritualism through the wisdom and insightful awareness of the patriarch of the Chapel of Awareness Spiritual Church, Reverend Eugene C. Larr. Rev. Larr was a Renaissance Man. Following his naval service in WW II, he began the practice of Buddhism in Hawaii. In college, he majored in the sciences and began his study of spiritualism under the guidance of Rev. Jean Bradley, a master clairvoyant, clairaudient and trance medium. Rev. Bradley was an African-American woman with a passion to teach others. These experiences led Rev. Larr to see clearly the golden thread of truth running through all religions. Rev. Larr's enlightened blending of Eastern and Western traditions into the golden thread is captured in this monograph. Teachings taken from his lectures and writings shared with students for more than thirty-five years are presented for the benefit and personal growth of all. Rev. Larr gifted these teachings to his long-time friend, Reverend Donald R. Schwartz, a talented healer and world-renowned artist. Rev. Schwartz compiled the many sources of these teachings and now shares Rev. Larr's teachings with the world through, In the Beginning...A Spiritualist's Bible. Publisher's website: http: //www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/InTheBeginning-ASpiritualistsBible.html

The Book on Mediums, also known as The Mediums Book, was written by Allan Kardec and originally published in 1861. It is the widely respected follow up to The Spirits Book which was published in 1857 and is the second in a series of five books that Kardec wrote that are collectively known as the 'Spiritist Codification'. 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 nature of the universe, the origin of spirits, and many other subjects. The Spirit of Truth' allegedly counted many of history's great thinkers amongst its number such as Thomas Aquinas, 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 forms the content of his teaching. The Books on Mediums is intended to be an essential guide to mediumship for mediums and those interested in the spirit world. The book covers the different types of mediumship including, table-turning, incorporation of spirits, haunted houses, transfiguration, apparitions, psychography and telekinesis. It explains how to deal with manifestations and how to guard against frauds, charlatans, and skeptics alike. The book warns against the perils of un-guided mediumship, possession, and obsession that often go hand in hand with the beautiful revelation that spiritual communication can reveal. Some of Kardec's advice found in the book include; "Do not believe the spirit to be who he purports to be unless there is evidence supporting his claim, but even then, wait till others confirm what one has said." "Do not judge the spirits by their purported names, but by the quality of the morals and the philosophy found in their communications." "Do not let yourself be too entertained with the evocation or incorporation of spirits enough to disregard what is more important, like living your own life and helping your neighbour." "Do not live by the spirits' advice: the communications from the spirits are to be studied and revered - but they should not be taken as the word-by-word expression of the ultimate truth." "Do not judge the quality of the communication by the culture or the social status of the medium by which it was brought." As the New Testament states; Test the Spirits dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

Laura Johnston Kohl was a teen activist working to integrate public facilities in the Washington, D.C., area. She actively fought for civil rights and free speech, and against the Vietnam War throughout the 1960s. After trying to effect change single-handedly, she found she needed more hands. She joined Peoples Temple in 1970, living and working in the progressive religious movement in both California and Guyana. A fluke saved her from the mass murders and suicides on November 18, 1978, when 913 of her beloved friends died in Jonestown.

Soon after this, Synanon, a residential community, helped her gradually affirm life. In 1991, she got to work, finished her studies, and became a public school teacher. On the 20th anniversary of the deaths in Jonestown, she looked up fellow survivors of the Jonestown tragedy and they have worked to put the jigsaw puzzle together that was Peoples Temple. Her perspective has evolved as new facts have cleared up mysteries and she has had time to reflect. Her mission continues to be to acknowledge, write about, and speak about why the members joined Peoples Temple, why they went to Guyana, and who they were. She lives with her family in San Diego.

The third book in The Trilogy by the world famous metaphysical author and educator known as Seth as channeled by Mark Allen Frost. This is a self-help manual from a reincarnational perspective. Seth teaches the reader how to study their Personal Reality and identify Soul Family members including Soul Mates. Exercises for contacting Past Lives and Future Lives are provided.

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.

James Van Praagh is a spiritual medium--someone who is able to bridge the physical and spiritual worlds. Unaware of his spiritual gifts until he was in his twenties, he slowly came to terms with his unique abilities. In addition, many of his sessions with grieving people who came to him looking to contact the spirits of deceased loved ones are explored. From a devastated mother recieving a message of hope from her deceased little girl to communicating with a young man, killed in Vietnam, who doesn't realize he's dead, the theme of hope and peace in the afterlife is affirmed. Van Praagh also helps the reader recognize and positively deal with the pain of grief in a healthy, honest manner. Part spiritual memoir, part case study, part instrumental guide, Talking to Heaven will change the way you perceive death...and life.

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.

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.

This is the book Ellen G. White has been accused of copying. H.L. Hastings' "The Great Controversy between God and Man" was published in January, 1858, and was reviewed by James White just months before he published his wife's own version of "The Great Controversy." Included is Ellen White's original 1858 version - much different than the oft-revised edition promoted today. Both books in this one volume By comparing these two Great Controversies of 1858, you can determine for yourself the extent of E.G. White's inspiration from visions, and inspiration from one of the most popular Second Advent Movement writers of her time - Horace L. Hastings.

The first readable and accurate translation of twenty of the most authoritative Hindu documents pertaining to ascetic ideals and the ascetic way of life, this text opens to students a major source for the study of the Hindu ascetical institutions and of the historical changes they underwent during a period of a thousand years or more. Beginning with an analysis of the historical context that gave rise to Indian ascetical institutions and ideologies, Patrick Olivelle moves on to elucidate the meaning of renunciation-the central institution of holiness in most Hindu traditions-and the function and significance of the various elements that constitute the rite of renunciation. The Samnyasa Upanisads will be an unparalleled source of information and insight for students of Hinduism and Indian asceticism, mysticism, and holiness.