Some of the topics discussed in these issues include: Art of Absent Healing; Asceticism; Atomic Power; Auras; Between Good and Evil; Birthmarks; Buddhism; Can Happiness be Universal; Characteristics of a Mystic; Confucius; Leonardo da Vinci; Dark Forces; Did the Aztecs Fly?; Does Luck Exist?; Hades; Eidetic Images; Imhotep; Henry James; Karma; Optical illusions; Polynesian god; Proper Posture for Mystical Exercises; Pythagoras; Satan; Shall We Disturb Old Things?; Mark Twain; Value of Prayer; Whence Came the Dark Forces?; Zoroastrianism; and many more.

Some of the articles featured in this year's Digest include: Spatial Exploration; The Evils and Karma of Society; The Anatomy of Mirth; Know your Illusions; Raphael's Great Secret; The Chemistry of Life; The Architect of the New Age; Physical Weakness No Aid to Spirituality; Dietetics for the Body and Mind; Cosmic Rays; Symbolism of the Foursquare; The Influence of the Moon; Legalized Murder; The Vibrating Universe; Illusions of the Senses; The Life of a Mystic; Swedenborg, the Mystic; What is Psychic Power; When Psychic Evolution Fails; Star of the Magi; The Mystic Path of Alchemy; The Unknown Philosopher; On the Nature of Beauty; Mysticism in Business; and many more.

Some of the articles featured in this year's Digest include: Some Practical and Theoretical Features of Numerology; Seven Metaphysical Laws; Success-A Mental Conception; The Evolutionary Force; Must We Suffer to Grow? Concentration and Attunement; An Indisputable Cosmic Law; Cagliostro the Mystery Mystic; Helping You to Help Yourself; Man-A Creator!; The Miracle of Mental Healing-An Explanation of How the Law Operates; Is Knowledge Power?; Marie Corelli, the Illuminated Mystic; Self-Healing; Cosmic Compensation and Karma; Developing Psychic Centers; The Healing Art; Whence Comes This Power?; The Christ Spirit; Attracting Cosmic Help; Creating Opportunities; Attracting the Blessings of Life; The Lost Tribes of Mystics; and many more.

Some of the articles featured in this year's Digest include: Francis Bacon Today; Cosmic Unity and Science; Evolution's First Hundred Years; The Fire of Prometheus; Prisoner of the White Dwarf; Why Art?; Bird Migration; Horace Mann, A True Disciple; The Lost Art of Getting Lost; Apollonius, Man or Myth?; The Forsaken Temple; Supermen and Superwomen; Inner Space Travel; In the Babylonian Beginning; The Escape of Marshal Ney; The Esthetic Emotion; Dollmaking Today in Japan; Dr. Kinnerman: Digger for Facts; Our World of Color; The Day Washington Cried; Sunrise at Abu Simbel; The Island Nobody Knows; Columbus Liked Gallego Names; Salute to Ottawa; The Bible in Modern Dress; The Ghost of Albert Ryder On Art; A Man on the Moon; Demosthenes Was Right; Akhnaton and the Space Age; The Rays of Luna; George Copeland Recalls Debussy; Space Travel and Earthbound Man; Manna Is Not a Myth; and many more.

In Living Spirit, Living Practice, the well-known cultural studies scholar Ruth Frankenberg turns her attention to the remarkably diverse nature of religious practice within the United States today. Frankenberg provides a nuanced consideration of the making and living of religious lives as well as the mystery and poetry of spiritual practice. She undertakes a subtle sociocultural analysis of compelling in-depth interviews with fifty women and men, diverse in race, ethnicity, national origin, class, age, and sexuality. Tracing the complex interweaving of sacred and secular languages in the way interviewees make sense of the everyday and the extraordinary, Frankenberg explores modes of communication with the Divine, the role of the body, the importance of geography, work for progressive social change, and the relation of sex to spirituality.Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and other practitioners come together here, speaking in terms both familiar and surprising. Whether discussing an Episcopalian deacon, a former Zen Buddhist who is now a rabbi, a Chicano monastic, an immigrant Muslim woman, a Japanese American Tibetan Buddhist, or a gay African American practicing in the Hindu tradition, Frankenberg illuminates the most intimate, local, and singular aspects of individual lives while situating them within the broad, dynamic canvas of the U.S. religious landscape.

Known only to each other, they have walked among us, invisible and undetected for years. But now, the secret is out Atheists exist in the African American community. In the African American community there is an unspoken rule to never air dirty laundry in public, and for years the inner workings of the black community stayed hidden beneath a veil of dark silence, but with integration came a mingling of the races and now few secrets remain. Now, there is one less. Not only do black nonbelievers exist, they walk unnoticed among the "true-believers" along with a host of other religious skeptics and freethinkers.

Until now, any hints of atheism or freethought in the African American community have remained virtually invisible, camouflaged by indignant denial and indistinct expressions, such as secularist, nontheist, skeptic or humanist among others which help conceal clear atheistic, agnostic or freethought connections which are certainly not conventional and clearly go against black mainstream thinking. Despite more than 90% of African Americans claiming Christianity, "Black and Not Baptist" explores how there is a significant chasm between belief and behavior with a searing look at the statistics for adultery, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, gambling and other social problems in both the white and black communities. In the manner of "Norm Allen's African American Humanism: An Anthology," "Black and Not Baptist" exposes another side of the black religious experience with the individual stories of black atheists and agnostics, including a historical and current listing of black freethinkers and nonbelievers similar to Warren Allen Smith's Who's Who in Hell.

Foreword by Mary Ann Meyers

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the doctrine of panentheism -- the belief that the world is contained within the Divine, although God is also more than the world. Here for the first time leading scientists and theologians meet to debate the merits of this compelling new understanding of the God-world relation.

Atheist and theist, Eastern and Western, conservative and liberal, modern and postmodern, physicist and biologist, Orthodox and Protestant -- the authors explore the tensions between traditional views of God and contemporary science and ask whether panentheism provides a more credible account of divine action for our age. Their responses, which vary from deeply appreciative to sharply critical, are preceded by an overview of the history and key tenets of panentheism and followed by a concluding evaluation and synthesis.

Contributors: Joseph A. Bracken
Michael W. Brierley
Philip Clayton
Paul Davies
Celia E. Deane-Drummond
Denis Edwards
Niels Henrik Gregersen
David Ray Griffin
Robert L. Herrmann
Christopher C. Knight
Andrew Louth
Harold J. Morowitz
Alexei V. Nesteruk
Ruth Page
Arthur Peacocke
Russell Stannard
Keith Ward
Kallistos Ware

Jewels, gems, stones, superstitions and astrological lore are all so interwoven in history that to treat of either of them alone would mean to break the chain of association linking them one with the other. Contents: magic stones and electric gems; on meteorites or celestial stones; stones of healing; on the virtues of fabulous stones, concretions and fossils; snake stones and bezoars; angels and ministers of grace; on the religious use of various stones; amulets, ancient, medieval, Oriental; amulets of primitive peoples and of modern times; facts and fancies about precious stones. Extensively illustrated.

This is the third volume of Luzac's Oriental Religions Series. The theories discussed in this book are based on a study of that intricate demonology which has gradually developed throughout the lands of Western Asia. The study of tabu from the Assyrian side had been comparatively neglected and the evidence gleaned from the cuneiform writings shows that it existed in practically the same form in Mesopotamia as in other countries. The material the author could gather was imperfect and the relative scientific value of what was actually known on the subject is proportionate to the amount of evidence which may be afforded at some later date by documents in the British Museum that were not released for this book.

Ren Gunon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. Many readers of Gunon's doctrinal works have hoped for translations of his detailed exposs of Theosophy and Spiritism. Sophia Perennis is pleased now to make available both these important titles as part of the Collected Works of Ren Gunon. Whereas Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion centers primarily on historical details, The Spiritist Fallacy, though also packed with arcane facts, is unique in revealing how one of the greatest metaphysicians of our age interprets the phenomena, real or alleged, of Spiritism. The doctrinal expositions that accompany his astonishing account of Spiritism offer extraordinarily prescient insight into many deviations and 'psychological' afflictions of the modern mind, and should be as valuable to psychiatrists and spiritual counselors as to historians of esoteric history. And it also offers a profound corrective to the many brands of New Age 'therapy' that all too unwittingly invoke many of the same elements whose nefarious origins Gunon so clearly pointed out many years ago.

With letters written from December 1910 to January 1919, inclusive. Being the authorized messenger for the Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order and consequently in close touch with them, Mr. Heindel was continuously receiving and giving out occult information to his students relative to the past, present and future evolution of life and form, which on account of his tutelage under the Brothers of the Order, he was able to verify for himself and to which he was able to add many details. The letters in this book give many side lights on the Rosicrucian philosophy and many practical, helpful hints for living the life of the Christian mystic.

This work is a collection of intriguing short stories by Temple Thurston. Found in this volume are the following stories: The Rosicrucian; Back to Burmah; The Archbishop; Dance, Little Lady; The Bigamist; Mr. Simmonds' Bit O Business; Virgin; Dementia; The Cherry Tree; Elizabeth; Skeleton in the Cupboard; Grey Quakers.

Ren Gunon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. Miscellanea gathers together for Anglophone readers various articles by Ren Gunon and by 'Palingenius', his pseudonym during the time of La Gnose, a journal he founded in 1909. These articles have been divided into three categories: 'Metaphysics and Cosmology', 'Traditional Arts and Sciences', and 'Some Modern Errors'. A sampling of chapters: 'Monotheism and Angelology'; 'Spirit and Intellect'; 'Silence and Solitude'; 'The Empiricism of the Ancients'; 'Gnosis and the Spiritist Schools'; 'The Origins of Mormonism', 'On the Production of Numbers', 'On Mathematical Notation'; 'Initiation and the Crafts'; and 'The Arts & their Traditional Conception'. In the latter two chapters the author explains why initiation became necessary in the measure that humanity receded from the 'primordial state', explaining the reasons for the degeneration of the arts and crafts due to the 'fall' or descending trajectory of the present cycle. He nonetheless points out the possibility of an initiation into the 'lesser mysteries' based upon the craft of building which still exists validly in the West.

With chapters on apparitions and phantasms. The author presents his belief that spiritual beings can and do communicate with us and produce material effects in the world around us. Those who believe as he does must see in the steady advance of inquiry and of interest in questions of this nature, the assurance that those beliefs will not be accepted by all truth seeking inquirers. The author includes a section as an answer to the arguments of Hume, Lecky and others against miracles.

Volume 9 of 14. The 16th Century: Intellectual Conditions and Characteristics of the 16th Century through Thomas Erastus. The aim of this set is to treat the history of magic and experimental science and their relations to Christian thought during the first thirteen centuries of our era, with special emphasis upon the 12th and 13th centuries. Magic is understood under the broadest sense of the work, as including all occult arts and sciences, superstitions and folklore. The author believes that magic and experimental science have been connected in their development, and within these pages will attempt to prove the same.

Rene Guenon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles is a wide-ranging collection of articles that could just as well have been called Fragments of an Unknown History. Although they must remain fragments, as Guenon did not return to many of these themes again, it would have been regrettable to leave such fascinating articles buried in old journals, and so this posthumous collection is now offered to Anglophone readers for the first time. by two pieces on Atlantis and Hyperborea. Two sections follow, concerned respectively with the Hebrew Tradition and the Egyptian Tradition. The former comprises five articles concerned primarily with the Kabbalah and the Science of Numbers, and the latter includes three articles on Hermes and the Hermetic Tradition. Book reviews are inserted at relevant points. To lend the collection coherence, no other spiritual Traditions are here represented. A list of the Collected Writings of Rene Guenon has been provided for those who wish to investigate Guenon's metaphysical expositions on such topics as Christianity, Islam, the Greco-Latin Traditions, Celtism, etc.

Many readers of Guenon's later doctrinal works have longed to hear the tale of his earlier entanglement, and disentanglement, from the luxuriant undergrowth of so-called esoteric societies in late nineteenth-century Paris and elsewhere. The present work documents in excoriating detail Guenon's findings on what did, and did not, lie behind the Theosophical Society founded by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in 1875. Much further information has of course come to light during the 80 years since this book was written, but it has never been superseded as a fascinating record of the path of a master metaphysician through this maze. A sampling of chapter titles will convey a sense of the depth of this remarkable work: 'Madame Blavatsky's Antecedents', 'The Theosophical Society and Rosicrucianism', 'The Question of the Mahatmas', 'The Society for Psychical Research', 'Esoteric Buddhism', 'Esoteric Christianity', 'The Future Messiah', 'The Trials of Alcyone', 'The Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner', 'The Order of the Star of the East', 'Theosophy and Freemasonry', 'The Political Role of the Theosophical Society'. Brotherhood of Luxor, which has recently attracted the attention of scholars of the occult. The Collected Works of Rene Guenon brings together the writings of one of the greatest prophets of our time, whose voice is even more important today than when he was alive. Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, etc.

A new edition covering the latest scientific research on how the brain makes us believers or skeptics

Recent polls report that 96 percent of Americans believe in God, and 73 percent believe that angels regularly visit Earth. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science, technology, and secular education, are people turning to religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do people believe in God at all?

These provocative questions lie at the heart of How We Believe , an illuminating study of God, faith, and religion. Bestselling author Michael Shermer offers fresh and often startling insights into age-old questions, including how and why humans put their faith in a higher power, even in the face of scientific skepticism. Shermer has updated the book to explore the latest research and theories of psychiatrists, neuroscientists, epidemiologists, and philosophers, as well as the role of faith in our increasingly diverse modern world.

Whether believers or nonbelievers, we are all driven by the need to understand the universe and our place in it. How We Believe is a brilliant scientific tour of this ancient and mysterious desire.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Our author lays before the reader a summary of all the historic evidence available, together with a detailed record of his own experiments with this medium, conducted in Naples in November and December 1908. A complete resume of every theory that has been advanced to date, with a provisional hypothesis of his own. He then discusses at some length the biological and psychological peculiarities of the case, from the point of view of one who assumes, on the strength of the existing testimony, that the facts are established.

Satanic channels of today are represented in anarchism, communism, socialism, nazism, atheism, fascism, occultism and modernism. As occultism seems to be a subject which the average reader has avoided for some reason, the author presents this edition to set at rest confused and troubled minds.

Volume 1: The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. Authentic and spurious organizations as considered and dealt with in treatises originally published and issued in monograph form.

This work presents the Rosicrucians and their teachings; how they are misunderstood, misquoted, their writings grossly misrepresented and they themselves defamed; imitated by pretenders, frauds and pseudo- initiates, they, the true Rosicrucians remain as ever the Masters of the Ages. It is based on facts such as may be readily verified by anyone sufficiently interested to search through copyrighted books and magazines in the Library of Congress.

This volume contains four smaller works by various authors. Rosicrucian Thoughts by W. Wynn Westcott presents thoughts on the ever-burning lamps of the ancients. Harold Bayley pens The Hidden Symbols of the Rosicrucians wherein facts are presented as to the variety of hidden symbols used by the Rosicrucians. De Mysteriis Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, wherein under the form of an admonition to an Adeptus Minor of the R.R. et A.C. is disclosed the true symbolism of the Rosy Cross for the enlightenment of those who are worthy of the same is written by Frater Achad. The final essay is Rosicrucian Symbols by Franz Hartmann.