For most of its history, contemporary Paganism has been a religion of converts. Yet as it enters its fifth decade, it is incorporating growing numbers of second-generation Pagans for whom Paganism is a family tradition, not a religious worldview arrived at via a spiritual quest. In Pagan Family Values, S. Zohreh Kermani explores the ways in which North American Pagan families pass on their beliefs to their children, and how the effort to socialize children influences this new religious movement. The first ethnographic study of the everyday lives of contemporary Pagan families, this volume brings their experiences into conversation with contemporary issues in American religion. Through formal interviews with Pagan families, participant observation at various pagan events, and data collected via online surveys, Kermani traces the ways in which Pagan parents transmit their religious values to their children. Rather than seeking to pass along specific religious beliefs, Pagan parents tend to seek to instill values, such as religious tolerance and spiritual independence, that will remain with their children throughout their lives, regardless of these children's ultimate religious identifications. Pagan parents tend to construct an idealized, magical childhood for their children that mirrors their ideal childhoods. The socialization of children thus becomes a means by which adults construct and make meaningful their own identities as Pagans. Kermani's meticulous fieldwork and clear, engaging writing provide an illuminating look at parenting and religious expression in Pagan households and at how new religions pass on their beliefs to a new generation.

Book Five of The Law of One is comprised of the 56 fragments of personal material that were originally omitted from the first four books of this series. Both Jim, the scribe, and Carla, the instrument for the Ra contact, have added their comments to these fragments to give the reader an idea of what it was like to be part of this contact and to show how every persons experience can be used for personal growth and service to others. A wide variety of topics is covered, from Eisenhowers meeting with extraterrestrials in 1954 to UFO/government conspiracies, Wanderers, sexual energy transfers, anger, balancing, Aleister Crowley, the Tunguska crater in Russia, pre-incarnative choices, psychic greetings, alternate and orthodox healing modalities, the ball lightning phenomenon, and the many facets of the spiritual journey in general.

Becoming a master in a particular area is not tied solely to innate ability or talent, nor to years of rote practice. As martial arts master and consciousness explorer Peter Ralston explains, the secret to mastery lies in accurate perceptive awareness and effective interaction. In this detailed guide to what it takes to master something, Ralston examines the powerful dynamics behind the art of mastery. He explores in depth the foundational skills and operating principles that empower mastery, including the principle of effective interaction, the mind-body alignment principle, and creative intelligence. Examining “reaction” versus “response,” he looks at how to control your mind and transform your perceptive awareness so what you are experiencing aligns with what’s actually occurring, the first step toward reaching your objectives and taking the appropriate actions to produce your desired results. Sharing methods to overcome the major obstacles to mastery, he presents a step-by-step breakdown of the principle of effective interaction and explains how to adapt when the people or objects you’re interacting with are not aligned with your objectives or when they are working contrary to your goals, including in sports, business, warfare, politics, or any arena in which you’ve committed to pursuing mastery. Revealing the elements that lead to masterful interactive skills, this guide shows how to do the work of personal transformation necessary to access mastery as a real, functional experience, as well as providing an opportunity for deeper insights into yourself and life.

As with her previous work What the Angels Need to Tell Us Now, More Messages from the Angels is divided into two parts. In the first section, Irene Johanson gives valuable advice about the inner preparations necessary to receive angel messages in the proper way. She explains how to distinguish between the different kinds of spirits, and how to deal with information received from metaphysical entities--in particular knowing whether such information is genuine or not. She also gives advice about transforming our life of soul and the forces of thinking, feeling and will. In the second part, Johanson presents more messages and information received from angels through her friend Agnes, an individual who represents a new kind of clairvoyance. Unlike mediumism or channeling, Agnes's method does not entail a dimming of consciousness, but has the character of clarity and wakefulness. The messages received contain critical advice, guidance and insight from the angels to humanity. This time they speak on many contemporary issues, including organ transplants, genetic modification, cloning, "mad cow disease," nuclear energy, evil, catastrophes and disasters (including 9 / 11), abortion, population growth, sudden death, cyanide, AIDS, sexuality, difficult children, fear, psychological warfare, ecumenism, democracy, and human and angelic cooperation.

Examining the recent radical re-invention of monastic tradition in the everyday life of New Monastic Communities, Exploring New Monastic Communities considers how, growing up in the wake of Vatican II, new Catholic communities are renewing monastic life by emphasizing the most innovative and disruptive theological aspects which they identify in the Council. Despite freely adopting and adapting their Rule of Life, the new communities do not belong to pre-existing orders or congregations: they are gender-mixed with monks and nuns living under the same roof; they accept lay members whether single, married or as families; they reject enclosure; they often limit collective prayer time in order to increase time for labour, evangelization and voluntary social work; and are actively involved in oecumenical and interreligious dialogue, harbouring thinly-veiled sympathy with oriental religions, from which they sometimes adopt beliefs and practices. Offering unique sociological insights into New Monastic Communities, and shedding light on questions surrounding New Religious Movements more generally, the book asks what 'monastic' means today and whether these communities can still be described as 'monastic'.

The relationship between new religious movements (NRMs) and violence has long been a topic of intense public interest--an interest heavily fueled by multiple incidents of mass violence involving certain groups. Some of these incidents have made international headlines. When New Religious Movements make the news, it's usually because of some violent episode. Some of the most famous NRMs are known much more for the violent way they came to an end than for anything else. Violence and New Religious Movements offers a comprehensive examination of violence by-and against-new religious movements. The book begins with theoretical essays on the relationship between violence and NRMs and then moves on to examine particular groups. There are essays on the "Big Five"--the most well-known cases of violent incidents involving NRMs: Jonestown, Waco, Solar Temple, the Aum Shunrikyo subway attack, and the Heaven's Gate suicides. But the book also provides a richer survey by examining a host of lesser-known groups. This volume is the culmination of decades of research by scholars of New Religious Movements.

Spiritualism emerged in western New York in 1848 and soon achieved a wide following due to its claim that the living could commune with the dead. In "Haunted Visions: Spiritualism and American Art," Charles Colbert focuses on the ways Spiritualism imbued the making and viewing of art with religious meaning and, in doing so, draws fascinating connections between art and faith in the Victorian age.Examining the work of such well-known American artists as James Abbott McNeill Whistler, William Sydney Mount, and Robert Henri, Colbert demonstrates that Spiritualism played a critical role in the evolution of modern attitudes toward creativity. He argues that Spiritualism made a singular contribution to the sanctification of art that occurred in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The faith maintained that spiritual energies could reside in objects, and thus works of art could be appreciated not only for what they illustrated but also as vessels of the psychic vibrations their creators impressed into them. Such beliefs sanctified both the making and collecting of art in an era when Darwinism and Positivism were increasingly disenchanting the world and the efforts to represent it. In this context, Spiritualism endowed the artist's profession with the prestige of a religious calling; in doing so, it sought not to replace religion with art, but to make art a site where religion happened.

The Little Book of Spiritualism is your spiritual guide. This mini manual provides the perfect introduction to spiritualism and the spirit world, full of techniques, thoughts, terminology and quotes to guide you in your own spiritual journey. From spirit guides to mediums and angels to affirmations, this little book is a fascinating insight into spirituality and how it can transform your life. The Ranks of the Angels In total, there are said to be nine levels of angels, and this is a brief summary and hierarchy of the angels, from highest to lowest. Seraphim Seraphim are the highest order of the hierarchy of angels. These angelic beings spend their time worshipping and praising God. Cherubim Cherubim are the second highest order. They are depicted on the Ark of the Covenant as its guardians. God sent them to guard Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve.

This title was first published in 2002. This book builds on contemporary discussion of 'mysticism' and religious experience by examining the process and content of 'religious knowing' in classical and modern Advaita. Drawing from the work of William Alston and Alvin Plantinga, Thomas Forsthoefel examines key streams of Advaita with special reference to the conditions, contexts, and scope of epistemic merit in religious experience. Forsthoefel uniquely employs specific analytical categories of contemporary Western epistemologies as heuristics to examine the cognitive dimension of religious experience in Indian Vedanta. Showing the developing nuances in the analysis of religious experience in the thought of Shankara and his immediate disciples (Suresvara and Padmapada) as well as in the teaching of Ramana Maharshi, an understudied but important South Indian saint of the 20th century, this book offers a substantial contribution to studies of Indian philosophy as well as to contemporary philosophy of religion. Using the tools of exegesis and comparative philosophy, Forsthoefel argues for a careful justification of claims following religious experience, even if such claims involve, as they do in the Advaita, a paradoxical 'knowing beyond knowledge'.

In this comprehensive guide to empathing and energetic protection, energy worker and psychic empath Suzanne Worthley explores all of the ways one can feel and perceive energies from human energy fields, places, paranormal situations, and across dimensions as well as how to energetically protect yourself and your loved ones. She looks at the different types of empaths and empathing, including sensitive empaths, psychic empaths, quantum empathing, and multidimensional empathing. Explaining how multidimensional energy works, Suzanne reveals how it affects each of us, including through our chakras and the auric field. She discusses how learned and programmed beliefs trigger empathic behavior and explores how to identify and release different types of limiting beliefs to evolve from fear-based empathing to love-based empathy. She examines the differences between empathy and sympathy--and why one is truly helpful and the other, limiting. She shows how to identify energy fields that may be risky alongside advanced strategies for protecting yourself, including how to prevent unwanted energy transference. She also details the Four Discernment Practices, techniques that demonstrate how our empathic behaviors are connected to the health of our energy field. Sharing extraordinary client case studies from her professional energy healing and psychic empath work, Suzanne explores the practices of quantum empathing, paranormal empathing, and empathing places and the natural world. She also looks at soul contracts, the Akashic Records, the energetic stages of dying, and healing people, places, and objects in the present, the past, and the subtle energetic dimensions. Teaching empathic readers how to understand their abilities and energetically protect themselves, this guide shows how empaths can live an empowered life and contribute in a responsible and meaningful way to creating a more positive, life-affirming reality.

Labyrinths of Love is an interdisciplinary examination of the self, psyche, and soul, providing a comparative analysis from religious, paranormal research and transpersonal theory perspectives. The book addresses ontological questions regarding the nature of the self in relationship to both psyche and soul, each differentiated to reveal attributes that are transphysical and commonly recognized in most religious traditions. The role of dreams, imagination, and paranormal perceptions, as well, contribute to a more fully realized sense of identity. A constructive use of pansentient ontology illuminates how human identity can incorporate transphysical aspects of self into a meaningful theory of self-development and evolutionary becoming.The work creates a unique synthesis that unfolds what it means to be human and demonstrates a visionary epistemology of the self.

An introduction to modern Paganism and its roots and history The Pagan tradition celebrates the physical nature of life on earth, blending science with spiritual folklore. Considering the everyday world of food, health, sex, work, and leisure to be sacred, Pagans oppose that which threatens life such as deforestation, overdevelopment, and nuclear power and invoke ancient deities in this struggle for the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants. Contemporary Paganism presents a broad-based introduction to the main trends of contemporary Paganism, revealing the origins and practical aspects of Druidry, Witchcraft, Goddess Spirituality and Magic, Shamanism, and Geomancy, among others. Making use of both traditional history and the movement's more imaginative sources, Harvey reveals how Paganism and its central focus on individual and social lives is evolving and how this "new religion" perceives and relates to more traditional ones. This updated and expanded new edition addresses recent developments among Pagans and includes a new chapter assessing continuing scholarly research about the religion.

Este libro consta de diferentes Decretos y Meditaciones en audio y escritas de tal forma que cuando se lee u oye, la energ a se integra en el cuerpo f sico.Conforme se van integrando las energ as se va elevando la vibraci n celular.Al elevar la vibraci n celular el cuerpo f sico se va sanando y regenerando.Este sistema 40 D as, est dise ado para poder detener, una vez finalizado, el proceso de envejecimiento y activar el Manantial de la Eterna Juventud.Cada d a hay m?'s personas en todo el mundo que lo est n experimentado en su propia piel, recobrando la vitalidad y la salud.Esto es ya, hoy en d a, una realidad Innegable. El que la experimente por s mismo depende solo y exclusivamente de usted. El sistema para poder lograrlo lo tiene ahora mismo en sus manos.40 D AS, primera parte del m todo Pempenides especial nominativo El Libro de la Vida, recoge el sistema completo de los 7 Chacras con sus 49 puertas, m?'s 46 meditaciones del rbol de la Vida de 10 s firas, y el Decreto para la erradicaci n del rbol de la Ciencia del Bien y del Mal (hormona de la muerte), am n de otros diversos Decretos.El M todo Pempenides especial nominativo El Libro de la Vida, consta de varias partes y ha sido escrito en esta poca por el actual Regente Planetario siguiendo las instrucciones del Logos Planetario.Este m todo ha sido transmitido directamente por Sanat Kumara "el iniciador nico planetario" como gu a precisa para alcanzar r pidamente la ascensi n.El M todo Pempenides al completo contiene la transmisi n de energ as de las 256 puertas del sistema de chacras de la QUINTA DIMENSI N, y las transmisiones del YO SOY EL ALPHA Y LA OMEGA: el primero y el ltimo, el que hab a de venir, El Todopoderoso.

The Order of Christ Sophia (OCS) is a small New Religion which, in the short span of eight years, has evoked intense controversy. An unusual synthesis of traditional Catholicism, esoteric cosmology, and psychotherapy, the OCS already has centers in a dozen major cities in the United States. Thus far, however, it has eluded the attention of scholars of alternative religions. A schismatic offshoot of an earlier group, the Holy Order of Man, the OCS developed a distinctive set of beliefs and practices that set it apart from the mother faith. It has cultivated some curious and provocative features for a Christian-based religion, including the elevation of women to full participation and status within the evolving sacred order. Its treatment of gender is refreshingly egalitarian; women can be priests, and Mary is deified and given equal status with Jesus. Another unusual feature of the group is its emphasis on psychology and prescription of intensive psychotherapy for all members. Beyond surveying the history, doctrines and practices of this unusual group, Lewis brings data from his study of the OCS to bear on many items of conventional wisdom in the New Religions field. He shows, for example, that far from joining the Order in response to a 'youth crisis,' the average age of new OCS members is 37. This and a number of other characteristics of the OCS membership challenge generally accepted conclusions about recruits to New Religions. Lewis also examines how various theoretical models, such as Rodney Stark's influential model of religious 'success,' pan out when applied to the OCS. Lewis shows that although some of Stark's postulates are insightful, other aspects of the model are severely deficient. In addition to the six core chapters of the book authored by Lewis, three other experts contribute chapters on: the results of personality and I.Q. tests administered to member; membership attitudes; comparison of OCS with mainstream denominations; and sex roles in the OCS.

An exploration into why and how Jamaicans become Rastafari in spite of increasing incrimination of the religion So much has been written about the Rastafari, yet we know so little about why and how people join the Rastafari movement. Although popular understandings evoke images of dreadlocks, reggae, and marijuana, Rastafarians were persecuted in their country, becoming a people seeking social justice. Yet new adherents continued to convert to Rastafari despite facing adverse reactions from their fellow citizens and from their British rulers. Charles Price draws on in-depth interviews to reveal the personal experiences of those who adopted the religion in the 1950s to 1970s, one generation past the movement's emergence. By talking with these Rastafari elders, he seeks to understand why and how Jamaicans became Rastafari in spite of rampant discrimination, and what sustains them in their faith and identity. Utilizing new conceptual frameworks, Price explores the identity development of Rastafari, demonstrating how shifts in the movement's identity-from social pariah to exemplar of Blackness-have led some of the elder Rastafari to adopt, embrace, and internalize Rastafari and blackness as central to their concept of self.

An inspiring and compelling collection of questions and answers are posed to Omni, a non-physcial group entity channeled through John Payne. Omni is primarily concerned with communicating the four principals of creation which form the core of his teachings, all centering around the idea that the creative aspect of the universe is a natural part of our being. The Omni material offers candid, uplifting and inspiring answers to questions about abortion, sexuality, suicide, money, health, personal development and decision-making. The all encompassing message that Omni relates is that all is okay with humanity--we are evolving without encountering the prophesied disasters--and will continue to be okay as we gently unfold our potential. John Payne is a gifted and internationally known trance channel and metaphysical teacher who studied Light Body with Sanaya Roman some years ago. He now travels the globe offering workshops and lecturing in Germany, the U.S., South Africa, Scandinavia, Croatia and the Netherlands. Payne is well-known on the internet, having a prominent position on Spiritweb, the web's largest new age site. He has also written articles for several U.S. based metaphysical journals, such as the Sedona Journal of Emergence, Horizons, and the Auroran, and is a regular contributor to Namaste Magazine in South Africa.

Inusual obra que plantea al hombre comun y corriente, los principios generales de "la maxja negra pura" (nerometamaxja), desde sus fundamentos mas primarios.

Dirigido especialmente a quienes husmean este proverbial arte, ya sea con el afan de dedicarse a ello, o al menos, concebir cual es el aparato que yace detras de sus misterios, pese no obstante, haber chocado siempre con los mismos enchiridiones que jamas entienden.

En consecuencia, por el bien de ellos y la cultura; este tratado -propio del campo de la hechiceria-, se reinscribe esnobistamente, proyectado a difuminar sus mas sordidos enigmas, como nadie antes lo hizo. En 7 capitulos, 488 paginas, 102.143 palabras, estan cifradas las claves del conocimiento promedio de la nerometamaxja (nombre tecnico de la maxja negra revisada), cuyos secretos esenciales se ponen al alcance de quien lo quiera...

Aparece, hoy mismo, cuando las aprehensiones moralizantes son aplastadas por la racionalidad gnoseologica de los tiempos, y cuando las persecuciones y la hoguera son vistas como prejuicios del pasado.

Se espera que la ancestral semilla de este disidente oficio, retalle ahora sin acodos, despejando tal vez alguna necesidad espiritual y por el bien del discernimiento humano.

A mystical experience, no matter what else, is a subjective occurrence in the psyche. However, when it appears in the psychoanalytic consulting room, its origin, content, and meaning are unknowable. Yet it is there in the room, and it must be addressed. It is not a minor illusion but rather one that requires attention as its occurrence may lead to a profound alteration of consciousness and, as Carl Jung suggests, a cure for neurosis. Leslie Stein interviewed twenty-nine mystics in order to understand the origin, progression, phasing, emotions, and individual variations of a mystical experience in order to make sense of how it should be addressed, the appropriate analytic attitude in the face of a mystery, the way to work with its content, and its psychological meaning. In doing so, he uncovered that there may be specific development markers that create a proclivity to be receptive to such an experience that has clinical significance for psychoanalysis.

A mystical experience, no matter what else, is a subjective occurrence in the psyche. However, when it appears in the psychoanalytic consulting room, its origin, content, and meaning are unknowable. Yet it is there in the room, and it must be addressed. It is not a minor illusion but rather one that requires attention as its occurrence may lead to a profound alteration of consciousness and, as Carl Jung suggests, a cure for neurosis. Leslie Stein interviewed twenty-nine mystics in order to understand the origin, progression, phasing, emotions, and individual variations of a mystical experience in order to make sense of how it should be addressed, the appropriate analytic attitude in the face of a mystery, the way to work with its content, and its psychological meaning. In doing so, he uncovered that there may be specific development markers that create a proclivity to be receptive to such an experience that has clinical significance for psychoanalysis.