Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called "superstitious" by educated elites.
For centuries religious believers used "superstition" as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow-believers for practising their faith "wrongly." From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, scholars argued over what 'superstition' was, how to identify it, and how to persuade people to avoid it. Learned believers in demons and witchcraft, in their treatises and sermons, tried to make 'rational' sense of popular superstitions by blaming them on the deceptive tricks of seductive demons.
Every major movement in Christian thought, from rival schools of medieval theology through to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, added new twists to the debates over superstition. Protestants saw Catholics as superstitious, and vice versa. Enlightened philosophers mocked traditional cults as superstitions. Eventually, the learned lost their worry about popular belief, and turned instead to chronicling and preserving 'superstitious' customs as folklore and ethnic heritage.
Enchanted Europe offers the first comprehensive, integrated account of western Europe's long, complex dialogue with its own folklore and popular beliefs. Drawing on many little-known and rarely used texts, Euan Cameron constructs a compelling narrative of the rise, diversification, and decline of popular 'superstition' in the European mind.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.

The book developed from my gradual realization that spirituality was a normal characteristic in the human race, but that in recent millennia it had regressed in the everyday awareness of most people, especially those belonging to what they regarded as a cultural society. Only so-called primitive peoples retained a spiritual outlook. My book describes how this has come about, especially the negative influence of organized religions on individual spirituality, and the resulting deterioration in most human societies. Finally I suggest how mankind can become again spiritual during their Earth lives. Michael Higgins

"PARADISE? IT'S VERY GOOD is a very appropriate and practical book for our challenging times. Not only does it reveal the root of mankind's problems, but offers the solution for escaping God's wrath during the great tribulation. Even though this thrilling and adventurous story of two boys who became astronauts is fiction, the valuable lessons learned from perfect immortal humans living in peace and happiness on a planet called Very Good can serve as practical guidelines for people on earth. In fact the story even suggests steps necessary to recapture a portion of paradise lost after Adam and Eve's first sin.This interesting and unusual story may be the only book ever written that begins with the birth of two boys and extends past the millennium and reaches far into eternity. Along this vast expanse of time one will find adventure, suspense, humor, romance and inspiration. In addition to this fascinating book having something for everyone its main accomplishment is to lead its readers along the only path that leads to eternal life. ABOUT THE AUTHOR; Harold Weiser, who now resides in Ocoee, Florida with his wife and two sons, formerly lived in Texas, where he began his education in his home-town of Cisco, and then, received a B.S. degree in Floriculture from Texas A&M University. After college, Harold fulfilled his military obligations in the navy, and then began his career in the nursery industry. After employment in Dallas and Corpus Christi, he started his own nursery near San Marcos. In addition to his love of plants Mr. Weiser became an avid Bible reader at an early age and has read the entire Bible over fifteen times. As a member of the Lutheran church, he has served as Sunday School teacher, and has had one other book (THE VICTORIOUS DECISION) published.

Helena Blavatsky's translations of three fragments of ancient Buddhist wisdom, sourced from texts such as The Book of Golden Precepts, are contained in this thought-provoking volume. A valiantly sought collection of sage advice and spiritual instruction, The Voice of the Silence offers readers advice on inner growth. Principally the text echoes the principles of Buddhism, advising readers to put aside personal desires and focus upon fostering the inner wealth of the soul to achieve a life of contentment. Blavatsky's book was published as part of her personal investigations into ancient wisdom pertaining to the human soul and reality. Her hunt turned up the formerly obscure fragments which she painstakingly translated. Although existing scholars generally poured cold water upon her efforts, which they considered a haphazard grouping of ancient precepts and mysticism, the reception was warmer among readers discovering the theosophist principles of spiritualism for the first time.

This book answers the question to the most concealed practice in the Bardo Todol, commonly known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. What is the true intent of the Secret of the Four Wisdoms Gathered into the Clear Hollow Mysterious Passage of Vajrasatva? After eliminating all other possibilities you will discover that Trekcho and Togal are the one answer to this mystery. The encounter with the Vajrasatva Mystery is an Imbedded Clue to Trekcho and Togal which reveal Clear Light Evenness, not only in the after death state, but equally in the living state. Trekcho, Letting Go and Togal, the Four Stages of Soaring On or Skull Crossing are the deepest secrets of Dzogchen, the Natural Great Completion. In Nyingma these are restricted secret practices kept from the public eye. Whereas, in the Kagyu school and Bonpo tradition these same methods are open to one and all. You are the decider on these two attitudes. Let your thought be lighted by the words of the Lion of the Sakyas, "Ananda? I have set forth the Dharma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist." I hope you will find the freedom of your own experience in the detailed observations and in depth examinations of these secret methods of Dzogchen. The text is in no way, nor tries to be a teaching text, a manual, nor a guidebook on Trekcho and Togal or Bardo, for I am in no way at all, a teacher, an expert nor a guide in these practices. Nor do I ever wish to be one. This essay is an answer to a life long question I have had since reading the Bardo Thodol as a young person. "What is the true meaning of Vajrasattva, the Mysterious Passageway and the Union of the Four Wisdoms?" It just so happens that after one goes through all possibilities of what this means one finally comes to the sacred secret teachings of Dzogchen's Trekcho, Togal and Bardo. So I have had to explain what little that I know about these special secret practices to answer the primary question this text attempts to answer. Why wade through the torrent of concepts on this when we can go directly to the clear, most reasonable and satisfactory answers that leave no shadow of hesitation? Vajrasattva stands for the Primordial Clear Light Void as Love and Compassion. The secret Mysterious Way of the pure Clear Passage of Vajrasatva is the Kati, running from the Heart to the Eyes. Within this Kati are the Four Lamps. From Clear Light, through the Open Kati these Lamps give forth an arising to the Four Togal Appearances. Since it is found in the highest wisdom texts from Dzogchen on Trekcho, Togal and Bardo and Tibetan's favorite book on guidance in the afterlife, it is worthy of taking a serious look.

A precious treasure of lost Lemurian wisdom is found in the forest. It is a book, clad in worn white deerskin, and within on pages of bark is inscribed a mysterious and glowing script. It is written in the language of the Elven Ones, who so long ago vanished from our world. SILVER WHEEL is an exquisite mandala of wisdom teachings from the Elven realms of Lemuria, that declares the Golden Dawn of a New Earth. It announces the return of the Shining Ones, and guides us into their ancient knowledge, their harmony with the earth and stars. ELEN ELENNA received these teachings during her years of shamanic training in the forests of Wales. These beautiful teachings offer navigational tools for the New Earth. They activate our own otherworldly gifts and memories, and our intuitive grace of connection to the elemental and star realms.

An unabridged edition to include: Wherein I Bow to the Reader - A Prelude to the Quest - A Magician Out of Egypt - I Meet A Messiah - The Anchorite of the Adyar River - The Yoga Which Conquers Death - The Sage Who Never Speaks - With The Spiritual Head of South India - The Hill of the Holy Beacon - Among The Magicians And Holy Men - The Wonder-Worker of Benares - Written in the Stars - The Garden of the Lord - At the Parsee Messiah's Headquarters - A Strange Encounter - In a Jungle Hermitage - Tablets of Forgotten Truth

Discover powerful rites, magick, and practices that honor Satan and the Demons. Learn how and why the Enns, Demonolatry Sigils, ascension and many other Demonolatry methods are becoming standard practice among many Theistic Satanists. This unmatched work of Demonolatry guides students from pre-initiate to adept. It even delves into the depths of Demonolatry sex magick, necromancy, blood rites, and blood sacrifice. This text, used by the traditional Demonolatry Priesthood to train members of their covens, is part workbook, part textbook, and part reference book. It includes thorough chapters on demonology, history, Demonic Holy Days, offerings, prayers, Enns, sigils, religious rites, and an introduction to Demonolatry Magick. It is, irrefutably, the most complete book of Demonolatry ever written.

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.