Black Jack Herman

Eva turns 109 as seen on the Today Show 4/9/08.

Quote of the day: "When you've been buried alive, you're not looking forward to the real thing "

The premiere African-American magician of the twentieth century, he was an ardent freedom fighter speaking out against the scourge of Jim Crow-ism and conducting Algonquin style roundtables in his Harlem abode circa 1920's. Intriguingly, he warned people against banks and stocks before the advent of the Great Depression. He continued to entertain and enlighten throughout the crisis that followed. That is, until his mysterious death on stage in April 1934.

Steeped in details of its early twentieth-century setting, the manuscript offers a richly detailed look at the showmanship so popular during that era. In addition, it effectively conveys the mentality of the time, with prohibition, big-name gangsters, and the threat of national economic collapse looming always in the background. Ultimately, "Black Jack: A Drama of Magic, Mystery, and Legerdermain" also serves as a testament to the power of the human spirit, as readers may be struck not only by what Eva endures, but by how she endures it.

Supporting three wives, twelve children, and assorted relatives, Mohan Rai is a thoroughly modern man, convinced he's escaped an outmoded duty to follow his father as shaman to his Bhutanese village. But the gods and spirits, ancient protectors of the tribe, have other ideas.

Dishonored and vengeful, they enter his dreams and haunt his days, destroying his business, his health, his sanity, and finally, his freedom.

Based on Mohan's letters from prison, this true account by his first Western initiate will transform your worldview.

"Ellen's retelling of Mohan Rai's first-hand account of his shamanic apprenticeship in Bhutan is a valuable contribution to the preservation of this ancient knowledge." ―Michael Harner, Ph.D., author, "The Way of the Shaman and Founder, Foundation for Shamanic Studies"

"I was fascinated. Like "Autobiography of a Yogi," Mohan Rai's story shares much wisdom. Portraying his training from childhood in the ancient, mystical traditions of the shaman, this book brings a hopeful vision I will carry into my everyday life forever...a reminder of the mysteries that sustain our lives and how little we know of them. The message runs deep." ―Hal Zina Bennett, Ph.D., author, "Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life: Earth-Centered Practices for Everyday Living"

The subject of destiny has attracted various explanations from diverse schools of thought. While some believe in and espouse the philosophy of predestination, others hold that man is the architect of his own destiny-and still others fail to believe in the concept at all. Even among those who believe in the concept of destiny, there is lack of consensus about its definition and its workings given the critical nature of the subject of destiny. There is a need for man to clearly understand and employ the knowledge in his journey from mortality to immortality.

In Have You Discovered Your Assignment with Destiny? author Anthony Ugochukwu Aliche thoroughly examines the concept of destiny and seeks to guides others to an understanding of how this important aspect of our existence functions.

The journey begins with Aliche's lamentation of man's inability to acknowledge and define his destiny with particular reference to his assignment with himself, his obligation with his environment, and his assignment with the Creator and the entire cosmos. He believes that life lived without discovering one's assignment with destiny is life lived without putting God first-and consequently a life tragically wasted. He opens our eyes to the fact that so many lives could make a quantum leap if only they could turn to God and nature for the discovery and manifestation of our destiny.

The world would be a better place if we all discovered that we have a role to play individually and collectively that we can only achieve if we strive to discover our assignment with destiny.

In the ever-recurring passage of the ages, as life, civilizations, cultures and humanity's awareness have evolved, a message has been eternally whispered in man's ear; a continuum of Divine Revelation has unfolded essential to the next pending chapter in the Book of Life, bearing a profound vision of mankind's spiritual heritage. The message contained in this Ageless Wisdom has been one of hope and promise; of a future fulfillment and the possibility of attaining an ecstatic, Unified State termed Heaven, Nirvana, Mecca or Paradise, awaiting mankind at the end of his spiritual journey. The Divine Knowledge (Gnosis) explored in the trilogy, One Solitary Life embodies the coordinates of the Path of man's evolution toward divinity, leading to the attainment of man's Spiritual Legacy; union with the Divine. This Book One of the trilogy, The Vision the Journey and The Quest, begins the unfolding of an arcane teaching whose origin is lost in antiquity, and yet is profoundly relevant today. It sets the stage for an exploration of the nature of man's soul and its pilgrimage, by addressing the spiritual principles that have been handed down throughout the ages in the form of the world's varied religions and philosophies. It speaks to the "Mysteries" that are at the heart of Creation. It puts into context and bold relief the role Christianity and the rest of the world's religions have played in this unfolding cosmic scenario and explores their contradictions and inequities. One Solitary Life, starting with the pristine arcane teaching that has perennially given birth to diverse religions and philosophies; each competing for man's mind and heart, and each professing an absolute interpretation andstewardship of life's inherent meaning; explores the Universal Verities that are the heart and soul of all true religious discourse. It journeys in Book Two through comprehensive levels of metaphysical reality and arrives, in Book Three, at the ultimate consummation of the mystical Path of Light, as personified by Christ.

A SPIRITUAL FEAST Even as the moth is drawn to self-immolation in the brightness of the candle's flame, so is the spirit of the mystic drawn to self-immolation as it soars to the Sun of its own being. The earth ceases to exist and the heavens grow ever brighter. Words are tattered beyond repair and the spirit becomes one with the living Flame of Love. Such is the ecstasy and the passion as the mystic reaches ever deeper into the mysterious Source of all. Once triumphant in the journey, the realized souls moved by compassion, return to assist others in the upward path. Individually commissioned as the need arises, they come into the prison of this world as ambassadors of Truth. All of us are mystics, but man is an unrealized mystic due to preoccupation with the gifts of this world and his blind ignorance of the Divine Giver. We have become saturated with the world, but the true goal of life is to become saturated with the Divine and return to that home we left so long ago. Royal has been a student at a number of schools of esoteric and mystical teachings in Canada, America, Europe, and the Far East. He states, "Reading these writings of mine are like dipping your toe at the water's edge along the shore of the Ocean of Love for one brief moment; may you be brave enough to dive to the depths." Royal L. Craig

In Whispers of the Goddess, Carole Anzolletti has compiled an amazing account of how the Divine whispers among the plainest parts of our lives. Interested in everything that is born and reborn, unattached, unique, and provoking, she will darken as well as illuminate you with the views and thoughts contained in her poetry and prose. Inspired to reinvent herself and forge a way that worked for her, Whispers of the Goddess became the scaffold she needed to build to continue on her creative writing path. "There are soft, subtle voices that ask us to listen for our own messages and sift through our own feelings and beliefs to see what it is we are faithful to and grateful for. We can cultivate, through writing, this communication with the whole universe in a sacred and centered way. The words will come to save you, to help you " Whispers of the Goddess reveals thoughts sculpted by the love of so much in and of this universe. Carole shares an interesting view of the world around her, spiritually, emotionally, and genuinely. Her work has been described as inspiring, deep and raw with truth. "The muse is always there, waiting to be heard, a voice so silent with power. The words that come through will be universally understood. Inspiration walks hand in hand with the animated leaf that scurries alongside us. The peculiar feeling of sadness on the spray of the sea. The way the full moon lights up the face of the ocean, reminding us how very small we really are. We want to do what we love without the fear of being judged. Everything springs forward from there."