Radu Cinamar stunned the world when he released his first book, "Transylvanian Sunrise", which described the greatest archaeological find of all time: a hidden chamber some 50,000 years old with beneath the Romanian Sphinx in the Bucegi Mountains. This chamber includes holographic technology with a visual data bank of infinite DNA permutations in addition to three tunnels: one leading to the inner earth, one to Tibet and one to Egypt. After being allowed to explore some of these artefacts, Radu was befriended by an enigmatic alchemist named Elinor who introduced him to an equally mysterious Tibetan Lama. This book begins with Radu becoming the guardian of Elinor's exotic villa in Bucharest which contains a remarkable alchemical laboratory in the basement. Radu is soon thereafter recruited for Department Zero, Romania's most secret intelligence unit, by his old friend, Cezar Brad, and becomes part of an expedition to explore a mysterious tunnel which leads from the chamber beneath the Romanian Sphinx to a different type of chamber beneath the Giza Plateau which contains ancient artefacts that look more futuristic than they do ancient, one of them being a bioresonant device through which one can visit past and future events. This amazing expedition includes an American from the Pentagon with a top secret laptop computer he is intuitively connected to that not only displays intricate holograms but is also linked to Hilbert (inter-dimensional) Space. Ancient archeology meets future science in this true life adventure that penetrates the secrets of Egypt in a way that has not been previously conceived of in our society.

From the bestselling author of Practical Magic comes an inspiring, illustrated collection of magical celebrations of nature from around the world-with rituals for incorporating them into your own practice. Nature is what gives us life-it is the source of all magic and power in the world. That is something that humans have understood since the beginning of time, and it is a constant among cultures around the world. However, the ways in which we celebrate it can vary wildly. Bulgarian Baba Marta Day welcomes the arrival of Spring with Martenitsas, little talismans of red and white string, while in Southeast Asia, that same yearly event is celebrated during Holi, a joyful, riotous dance of colors. Yalda, Soyal, Saturnalia, Dong Zhi, and St.Lucia's Day (from Iran, Arizona, Ancient Rome, China, and Scandinavia) are all very different-but they all honor the Winter Solstice. Each of these celebrations is a ritual, a form of magic created by community and tradition. And while their differences can help us understand their various cultural identities, their similarities can create a bond that reaches across space and time. In this beautifully illustrated book from bestselling magical author Nikki Van De Car readers will learn the history and meaning behind 40 of these ritual celebrations, organized by season. Each ritual will include suggestions for participating in and appreciating these storied rituals, while honoring their origins and the cultures from which they come.

Historians of the early modern witch-hunt often begin histories of their field with the theories propounded by Margaret Murray and Montague Summers in the 1920s. They overlook the lasting impact of nineteenth-century scholarship, in particular the contributions by two American historians, Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918) and George Lincoln Burr (1857-1938). Study of their work and scholarly personae contributes to our understanding of the deeply embedded popular understanding of the witch-hunt as representing an irrational past in opposition to an enlightened present. Yet the men's relationship with each other, and with witchcraft sceptics - the heroes of their studies - also demonstrates how their writings were part of a larger war against 'unreason'. This Element thus lays bare the ways scholarly masculinity helped shape witchcraft historiography, a field of study often seen as dominated by feminist scholarship. Such meditation on past practice may foster reflection on contemporary models of history writing.

The strix was a persistent feature of the folklore of the Roman world and subsequently that of the Latin West and the Greek East. She was a woman that flew by night, either in an owl-like form or in the form of a projected soul, in order to penetrate homes by surreptitious means and thereby devour, blight or steal the new-born babies within them. The motif-set of the ideal narrative of a strix attack - the 'strix-paradigm' - is reconstructed from Ovid, Petronius, John Damascene and other sources, and the paradigm's impact is traced upon the typically gruesome representation of witches in Latin literature. The concept of the strix is contextualised against the longue-duree notion of the child-killing demon, which is found already in the ancient Near East, and shown to retain a currency still as informing the projection of the vampire in Victorian fiction.

Television, the movies, and computer games fill the minds of their viewers with a daily staple of fantasy, from tales of UFO landings, haunted houses, and communication with the dead to claims of miraculous cures by gifted healers or breakthrough treatments by means of fringe medicine. The paranormal is so ubiquitous in one form of entertainment or another that many people easily lose sight of the distinction between the real and the imaginary, or they never learn to make the distinction in the first place. In this thorough review of pseudoscience and the paranormal in contemporary life, psychologist Terence Hines teaches readers how to carefully evaluate all such claims in terms of scientific evidence.
Hines devotes separate chapters to psychics; life after death; parapsychology; astrology; UFOs; ancient astronauts, cosmic collisions, and the Bermuda Triangle; faith healing; and more. New to this second edition are extended sections on psychoanalysis and pseudopsychologies, especially recovered memory therapy, satanic ritual abuse, facilitated communication, and other questionable psychotherapies. There are also new chapters on alternative medicine, which is now marketed in our drug stores, and on environmental pseudoscience, with special emphasis on the evidence that certain technologies like cell phones or environmental agents like asbestos cause cancer.
Finally, Hines discusses the psychological causes for belief in the paranormal despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This valuable, highly interesting, and completely accessible analysis critiques the whole range of current paranormal claims.

Finalist, 2021 Bram Stoker Awards (Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction) The first collection of essays to address Satan's ubiquitous and popular appearances in film Lucifer and cinema have been intertwined since the origins of the medium. As humankind's greatest antagonist and the incarnation of pure evil, the cinematic devil embodies our own culturally specific anxieties and desires, reflecting moviegoers' collective conceptions of good and evil, right and wrong, sin and salvation. Giving the Devil His Due is the first book of its kind to examine the history and significance of Satan onscreen. This collection explores how the devil is not just one monster among many, nor is he the "prince of darkness" merely because he has repeatedly flickered across cinema screens in darkened rooms since the origins of the medium. Satan is instead a force active in our lives. Films featuring the devil, therefore, are not just flights of fancy but narratives, sometimes reinforcing, sometimes calling into question, a familiar belief system. From the inception of motion pictures in the 1890s and continuing into the twenty-first century, these essays examine what cinematic representations tell us about the art of filmmaking, the desires of the film-going public, what the cultural moments of the films reflect, and the reciprocal influence they exert. Loosely organized chronologically by film, though some chapters address more than one film, this collection studies such classic movies as Faust, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Angel Heart, The Witch, and The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as the appearance of the Devil in Disney animation. Guiding the contributions to this volume is the overarching idea that cinematic representations of Satan reflect not only the hypnotic powers of cinema to explore and depict the fantastic but also shifting social anxieties and desires that concern human morality and our place in the universe. Contributors: Simon Bacon, Katherine A. Fowkes, Regina Hansen, David Hauka, Russ Hunter, Barry C. Knowlton, Eloise R. Knowlton, Murray Leeder, Catherine O'Brien, R. Barton Palmer, Carl H. Sederholm, David Sterritt, J. P. Telotte, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner is a ground-breaking look at the development of devotional work within the body of polytheistic religious traditions ranging from Theodism to Asatru to Norse Paganism, that comprise the greater umbrella of the Northern Tradition. While interest in devotional and experiential work within these traditions has been growing rapidly over the past few years, this is the first book to offer an inclusive look at the diverse scope and breadth of such practices as a living, modern-day religion. It features an in-depth exploration of altar work, prayer, prayer beads, ritual work, sacred images, lore, and a thorough examination of the common core cosmology that forms the foundation of belief for the vast expanse of Northern Tradition communities.

Journey into the world of Ayahuasca and healing. A mysterious and powerful plant medicine with curative powers that is drunk as a tea during a sacred ceremony, Ayahuasca has been known to change people's lives dramatically. But what was once a healing experience practiced only by Indigenous South Americans - and sought out by the adventurous few - has, in the past fifty years, become increasingly popular around the world. Hachumak, a Peruvian medicine man, has been practicing traditional healing arts in his country for more than twenty years. His unique approach is based on ritualistic simplicity and highlights the essence of the Art, which includes the borrowed forces from Nature. In this remarkable book, he shares his knowledge and experiences to broaden our understanding of this powerful medicine and protect it from misuse and exploitation. Whether you are among the uninitiated and curious, or a seasoned journeyer, you will gain a deeper understanding of what shamanism is and how and why it works, as well as its possibilities and limitations. Hachumak reveals his own path to becoming a shaman and explains how a well-crafted Ayahuasca ceremony unfolds when run by an experienced curandero. He describes in detail what to expect - both physically and psychologically - while under the guidance of the sacred plants. With Hachumak as our experienced and trusted guide, Journeying Through the Invisible offers a new and healing way of seeing ourselves and the world around us.

This unique and helpful approach to wellness with crystals contains the author's trademark methods including pain relief prisms, cranial crystals, and mandala stone patterns for increasing vitality. From curing a headache, to helping the heart and other organs, to overcoming arthritis and other skeletal issues, this remarkable book contains essential information for a healthier and happier life.

Join Rachel Patterson on an exciting month-by-month journey of seasonal magic. Going beyond traditional sabbats, this book shows you how to honor the energies of each season. Rachel offers correspondences, spells, rituals, meditations, runes, moon magic, tea blends, and altar decorations that add magic and joy to each month. This book provides a variety of festivities that occur throughout the year, including those with Pagan, Christian, national, and local roots. Build a large bonfire for Beltane, cast a shell into the ocean on Tynwald Day, carve a beet for Punkie Night, and make pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. Featuring celebrations for everything from St. David's Day to Leap Year, this book ensures that you'll have a magical journey around the sun.

Connect to your intuition, expand your mind, and cultivate a heart "as light as a feather" with Everyday Amenti, a beautiful guided journal from the author and illustrator behind the Amenti Oracle.

From author Jennifer Sodini, founder of Evolve and Ascend, and illustrator Natalee Miller, comes Everyday Amenti -- an interactive guide to embodying the ideals of truth and balance. Based on their bestselling Amenti Oracle deck, this beautiful guided journal invites you to discover modern, personalized ways to embody the timeless wisdom of the ancient world.

With 52 prompts -- one for each week of the year -- Everyday Amenti uses the 42 ideals of Ma'at, 7 Hermetic principles, and 3 alchemical principles to craft actionable steps for creating a more intuitive, connected existence. Modern seekers will find stunning images, encouraging and informative sidebars, and soul-nourishing guidance for building a life of purpose and magic.

In this ground-breaking new study, Teren Sevea reveals the economic, environmental and religious significance of Islamic miracle workers (pawangs) in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Malay world. Through close textual analysis of hitherto overlooked manuscripts and personal interaction with modern pawangs readers are introduced to a universe of miracle workers that existed both in the past and in the present, uncovering connections between miracles and material life. Sevea demonstrates how societies in which the production and extraction of natural resources, as well as the uses of technology, were intertwined with the knowledge of charismatic religious figures, and locates the role of the pawangs in the spiritual economy of the Indian Ocean world, across maritime connections and Sufi networks, and on the frontier of the British Empire.

A beautifully illustrated volume designed for the student and practitioner of Natural Magic.

A powerful debut from one of the world's most respected shamanic teachers, following Marcela Lobos's journey in this world and the world of spirit. This book follows the Shamanic journey specifically through the rites of passage and initiation that women experience. Following the thirteen moons of the year and the thirteen stones of the Andean Medicine Wheel, this book guides the reader on a healing journey alongside Marcela's own as they grow in wisdom with each turn of the wheel. From her war-torn childhood to her complicated relationships, her training with the shamans of the Andes and the Machi of Chile to her life today as a teacher and medicine woman, Marcela's story provides the reader with real-life context for each stone, each moon, and each step on this ancient and archetypal journey. Through healing, deepening of understanding, transformation, and embodiment, the reader will learn to walk the Medicine Path to find their power and inner beauty.