If you have wanted to have an out-of-body experience, but were intimidated by books on the subject, Out-of-Body Exploring is for you This is an entry-level-to-expert book--everything from what OBEs are, to how you can have your own anytime you want.

Preston Dennett began his explorations beyond the physical body nearly twenty years ago in an attempt to contact his deceased mother. Thousands of OBEs later (OBEs lasting anywhere from a few seconds to several hours) he turns his attention from mastering the art to helping others.

Out-of-Body Exploring includes Dennett's initial forays into expanded consciousness, sharing the techniques he experimented with, and discussing the people and sights--both strange and familiar--that he encountered along the way.

Plus, he offers tips on how to go reliably out-of-body, and how to control and maintain this enhanced level of awareness for extended periods.

This is a guidebook to a whole new world. Why wait any longer to explore it?

A survey of ancient spirituality and Self-realization for the embodied soul in the modern day. With increasing levels of polarization, humanity is moving in the wrong direction. We need to recognize our most innate intentions and act on achieving them. Spirituality, in its broadest sense, calls for personal betterment. By becoming aware of one's own sense of spirituality--their belief system--the individual will set forth on the trajectory of improvement and enlightenment. The human, in its individuality, represents larger scale systems that define our existence. By consciously efforting towards a better personal ideal, the same changes will reflect in the external world around us. As a call for Self-realization in the modern world, Spirituality Will Save The World surveys spirituality through a contemporary lens backed by ancient insight and the author's personal experience. It is for anyone with an open-mind and an expanding perspective--written for the beginner by a beginner. This is not a text to be taken seriously. Have fun with the material as you begin to uncover or expand your belief system.

In Enchanted Ground, Sharon Hatfield brings to life the true story of a nineteenth-century farmer-turned-medium, Jonathan Koons, one of thousands of mediums throughout the antebellum United States. In the hills outside Athens, Ohio, Koons built a house where it was said the dead spoke to the living, and where ancient spirits communicated the wisdom of the ages. Curious believers, in homespun and in city attire, traveled from as far as New Orleans to a remote Appalachian cabin whose marvels would rival any of P. T. Barnum's attractions. Yet Koons's story is much more than showmanship and sleight of hand. His enterprise, not written about in full until now, embodied the excitement and optimism of citizens breaking free from societal norms. Reform-minded dreamers were drawn to Koons's seances as his progressive brand of religion displaced the gloomy Calvinism of previous generations. As heirs to the Second Great Awakening, which stretched from New York State to the far reaches of the Northwest Territory, the curious, the faithful, and Koons himself were part of a larger, uniquely American moment that still marks the cultural landscape today.

The Vijayanagara Empire flourished in South India between 1336 and 1565. Conveying the depth and creativity of Hindu religious and literary expression during that time, Vijayanagara Voices explores some of the contributions made by poets, singer-saints, and philosophers. Through translations and discussions of their lives and times, Jackson presents the voices of these cultural figures and reflects on the concerns of their era, looking especially into the vivid images in their works and their legends. He examines how these images convey both spiritual insights and physical experiences with memorable candour. The studies also raise intriguing questions about the empire's origins and its response to Muslim invaders, its 'Hinduness', and reasons for its ultimate decline. Vijayanagara Voices is a book about patterns in history, literature and life in South India. By examining the culture's archetypal displays, by understanding the culture in its own terms, and by comparing associated images and ideas from other cultures, this book offers unique insights into a rich and influential period in Indian history.

With an endless supply of "Mermaid Hair" tutorials to surf through on the internet, and fancy fins being sold for several thousand sand dollars, it is no secret that women everywhere are going to great depths to embody these legendary goddesses. But take it from a professional, mermaid life requires a lot more work than watching a couple of YouTube videos and swimming around like a pro in a high-priced silicone tail. It goes far beyond how fabulous your hair is or how big your seashells are because being a Mermaid isn't about how you look; it's about how you live! In her debut book, Certified Wellness Coach and Professional Mermaid, Gennah Nicole teaches women all the tricks of her mermaid trade. With the wit and wisdom found inside of these pages, eager souls will learn how to master their mindset, care for their body, and unleash their true spirit. Not only does Gennah guide women through their own personal transformation, she also shares endless motivation, honest advice and intimate stories that inspire women to take action and begin experiencing their own happily ever after. So, if you believe you could have been a mermaid in a past life or yearn to be a mermaid in your next life, then take a deep breath and get ready to dive in deep sea sister because it is time to become the mermaid you were born to be in this life!

Group spirituality is an increasingly popular area of focus, and working in groups raises some very different and valuable consequences which wouldn't necessarily arise in a one-to-one encounter. In Group Spirituality, Roger Grainger, an author already established as an authority on Drama therapy, provides a functional guide to group spirituality and workshops. Derived from the authors' experiences of working with groups of people interested in exploring their own and other people's spirituality, Group Spirituality turns an abstract idea into a practical and recognizable experience. The nature of group work, the embodiment of ideas and feelings, and circumstances aiding personal encounter are discussed. Workshop examples aimed at establishing group identity and the introduction of the idea of the 'safe place' are explained. The symbolism of spiritual awareness is approached, and a firm distinction between spirituality and religion is made.

Group Spirituality's approach to spirituality from a workshop focus, successfully attempts to embody spirituality and provide a framework for consciously examining and integrating spirituality within the rest of our life.

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This title was first published in 2001: Engaging contemporary discussion concerning the validity of mystical experiences of God, Jerome Gellman presents the best evidential case in favor of validity and its implications for belief in God. Gellman vigorously defends the coherence of the concept of a mystical experience of God against philosophical objections, and evaluates attempts to provide alternative explanations from sociology and neuropsychology. He then carefully examines feminist objections to male philosophers' treatments of mystical experience of God and to the traditional hierarchal concept of God. Gellman finds none of the objections decisive, and concludes that while the initial evidential case is not rationally compelling for some, it can be rationally compelling for others. Offering important new perspectives on the evidential value of experiences of God, and the concept of God more broadly, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers including those with an interest in philosophy of religion, religious studies, mysticism and epistemology.

In a remote corner of the Arctic in 1941, a meteor shower flashed across the sky for an unusually long time. Taking this to be a sign, one of the local Inuit proclaimed himself Jesus Christ. Another proclaimed himself God. Anyone who didn’t believe in them was Satan. Violence ensued. At the End of the World isn’t just the remarkable story of a series of murders that occurred on the Belcher Islands, a group of wind-blasted rocks in Canada’s Hudson Bay. It’s also a starting place for a deeper cultural exploration. Against the backdrop of the murders, which highlight the fact that senseless violence in the name of religion is not a contemporary phenomenon and that a even people as seemingly peaceful as the Inuit can turn to chaos at the hands of one person’s delusion, Millman addresses the burgeoning dawn of the digital era, following the murders’ trail to show how our obsession with screens is not unlike a cult and offering a warning cry against the erosion of humanity and the destruction of the environment. The story becomes a confluence of the consequences of generational trauma, outside religious evangelism, systemic racism against indigenous people, the perilous passage from the natural to the digital world, and what it means to be human in a time of technological dominance and climate disasters. At the End of the World, available for the first time in paperback, is not a straightforward tale of true crime but an examination of many of the issues that have become dominant in the global conversation. In snippets of reflection, Millman asks us to look north for answers to many of the questions we all hold, literally, in our hands.

This title was first published in 2003. Can a text be used either to validate or to invalidate contemporary understandings? Texts may be deemed 'sacred', but sacred to whom? Do conflicting understandings matter? Is it appropriate to try to offer a resolution? For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic RA mA yaAa. Yet for a vocal community of dalits (once called 'untouchables'), within and outside India, Valmiki is God. How then does one explain the popular story that he started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal? This situation came to a head with controversial demonstrations by the Valmiki community in Britain in 2000, giving rise to some searching questions which Julia Leslie now seeks to address. Exploring the relationship between sacred text and religious meaning, Leslie presents a critical, text-historical study of the figure of Valmiki drawing on the sacred texts traditionally attributed to him: the VA lmAGBPki RA mA yaAa and the YogavA siA(1)A+/-ha RA mA yaAa, both in Sanskrit. While identifying and examining the various strands of popular stories concerning Valmiki, Leslie disentangles the earliest evidence for him from the narrative threads of passing centuries, and considers the implications of that process. This ground-breaking analysis, illustrated with paintings of Valmiki, makes a unique contribution both to our understanding of the interlocking beliefs of many religious communities and to a greater awareness of the problematic relationship between sacred text and contemporary religious meaning. Invaluable to students of both the study of religions and South Asian studies, this book will also be of interest to Indian communities in the diaspora seeking to understand their roots, including (but not exclusively) the Valmikis.

Originally published in 1982, The Shaman and the Magician draws on the author's wide experience of occultism, western magic and anthropological knowledge of shamanism, to explore the interesting parallels between traditional shamanism and the more visionary aspects of magic in modern western society. In both cases, as the author shows, the magician encounters profound god-energies of the spirit, and it is up to the individual to interpret these experiences in psychological or mythological terms. The book demonstrates that both shamanism and magic offer techniques of approaching the visionary sources of our culture.

Originally published in 1978, The Occult Sourcebook has been compiled primarily for the many people who are for the first time becoming engrossed by the numerous and often confusing possibilities underlying the occult sciences. It consists of a series of articles on key areas, providing the reader with easy access to basic facts, together with a carefully planned guide to further reading. Critical comments on the recommended books allow the reader to select those which best suit their interests. The authors have also included a 'Who's Who of the occult' to provide short biographies of some of the more amazing figures who have already travelled down the mystic path. The book offers a programmed system of exploration into the realms of the unknown. It will be invaluable to the increasing number of people who are concerned with the exploration of enlarging human consciousness.

"Precisely the dimension of our heritage that most needs to be recovered...I cannot imagine a more timely publishing venture." Huston Smith Thomas J. Watson Professor Religion & Adjunct Professor of Philosophy Syracuse University Jacob Boehme: The Way to Christ translation, introduction and notes by Peter Erb, preface by Winifred Zeller "For the source in light and the source in darkness is but a single source. Nevertheless they are one nature just as fire and light are one nature." Jacob Boehme, 1575-1624 Evelyn Underhill called the German Lutheran Mystic Jacob Boehme "one of the most astonishing cases in history of a natural genius for the transcendent," Nicolas Beryaev described Boehme as "Beyond a doubt...one of the greatest of Christian gnostics. I am using the word not in the sense of heresies...but to indicate a wisdom grounded in revelation and employing myths and symbols rather than concepts-a wisdom much more contemplative than discursive." Boehme was the son of a farmer who lived the first part of his life as a shepherd and later became a shoemaker. He claimed that his writings reflect only what he was taught through the direct experience of God. A truly giant figure in the spiritual tradition, he has greatly influenced Angelus Silesius, William Blake, John Milton, Isaac Newton, William Law and many others. As the editor of this volume, Peter Erb, says, "The Way to Christ provides the best introduction to his thought and spirituality. A collection of nine separate treatises, its parts were written late in his career and reflect his final theological position, a position established not aside from his earlier work, but on it...The book was intended to serve as a meditation guide. Boehme believed that his writing had come from the Spirit. It was intended to direct his fellow-believers back to the Spirit as he had been directed."

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The eight key titles re-published in this set make important texts accessible once again, and provide a comprehensive overview of this influential Victorian phenomenon. Available as an eight-volume set or as individual volumes.

The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities?

Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed.

Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.