New, startling, and extraordinary revelations in religious history, which disclose the oriental origin of all the doctrines, principles, precepts, and miracles of the Christian New Testament and furnishing a key for unlocking many of its sacred mysteries, besides comprising the history of 16 heathen crucified gods. Partial Contents: Rival claims of the Saviors, Messianic Prophecies; Prophecies by the Figure of a Serpent; Miraculous and immaculate Conception of the Gods; Virgin Mothers and Virgin-born Gods; Stars Point out the Time and the Saviors' Birthplace; Angels, Shepherds, and Magi Visit the Infant Saviors; Twenty-fifth of December the Birthday of the Gods; Saviors of Royal Descent, but Humble Birth; Christ's Genealogy; Saviors Exhibit Early Proofs of Divinity; Saviors' Kingdoms not of the World; Saviors are Real Personages; Sixteen Saviors Crucified; Aphanasia, or Darkness, at the Crucifixion; Descent Into Hell; Resurrection; Reappearance and Ascension; Atonement: Its Oriental or Heathen Origin; Holy Ghost of Oriental Origin; Divine "Word" of Oriental Origin; The Trinity; Absolution; Origin of Baptism by Water, Fire, Blood, and the Holy Ghost; Sacrament or Eucharist of Heathen Origin; Anointing with Oil; How Men, Including Jesus Christ, Came to be Worshiped as Gods; Sacred Cycles Explaining the advent of the Gods; Christianity Derived from Heathen and Oriental Systems; Three Hundred and forty-six Striking Analogies between Christ and Chrishna; Appolonius, Osiris, and Magus as Gods; Three Pillars of the Christian Faith; Philosophical Absurdities of the Doctrine of the Divine Incarnation; A Historical View of the divinity of Jesus Christ; Scriptural View of Christ's Divinity;Precepts and practical Life of Jesus Christ; Christ as a Spiritual Medium; Conversion, Repentance, and "Getting Religion" of Heathen Origin; Moral Lessons of Religious History.

This collection of writings is from authors who are either Indians who have tried to make themselves heard, or whites who have tried to hear Indians. The first part of the book emphasizes the practical and includes Isaac Tens's "Career of the Medicine Man." The second section concentrates on the theoretical and contains Benjamin Lee Whorf's "American Indian Model of the Universe" and chapters on Indian metaphysics, among other things. In addition to an introductory essay on the Indian's stance towards reality, the editors have contributed chapters entitled "The Clown's Way" and "An American Indian View of Death."

The contributors to this investigation of dreaming in a diversity of African cultures and settings have each approached the matter with a respect for an indigenous discourse which does not necessarily subscribe to Western evaluations of the objective and subjective. The matter of dreaming is not so much a psychological constant as ultimately sociological and historical.
Dream discourse as a strategy deploys contingencies in the elaboration of social relationships and the defence, restoration and promotion of identities. Dreaming is therefore prominent in such critical settings as sickness and healing, artistic inspiration and craftwork, election to religious office, conversion to Islam or Christianity.

W. Y. Evans-Wentz, great Buddhist scholar and translator of such now familiar works as the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" and the "Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation," spent his final years in California. There, in the shadow of Cuchama, one of the Earth's holiest mountains, he began to explore the astonishing parallels between the spiritual teaching of America's native peoples and that of the deeply mystical Hindus and Tibetans. "Cuchama and Sacred Mountains," a book completed shortly before his death in 1965, is the fruit of those explorations.
To Cuchama, "Exalted High Place," came the young Cochimi and Yuma boys for initiation into the mystic rites for their people. In solitude they sought and received guidance and wisdom. In this same way, the peoples of ancient Greece, the Hebrews, the early Christians, and the Hindus had found access to inner truth on their own holy mountains: and in this same way must the modern person find the path to inner knowing.
Surveying many of the most Sacred Mountains in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, Evans-Wentz expresses the belief that the secret power of these high places has not passed away but only awaits the coming of a New Age. This new age, in accord with the oldest prophecies of our continent, will be a time of renaissance, the long-waited era of harmony and peace among all peoples.
This renaissance shall be uniquely American, a renewal based on the values so long honored by the Americans before Columbus, and so ruthlessly trampled by the "civilized" Europeans who overran them. No other race of people has been as spiritual in their way of life than the original Americans, notes Evans-Wentz. Perhaps none other has known such martyrdom. Yet the secret greatness of the Indian religion still lives, ancient as the Earth itself, yet ageless in its power to renew.

Individuals of all persuasions have become deeply interested in contemporary Sioux religious practices. These essays by tribal religious leaders, scholars, and other members of the Sioux communities in North and South Dakota deal with the more important questions about Sioux ritual and belief in relation to history, tradition, and the mainstream of American life.

Contents:

(1) "Lakota Belief and Ritual in the Nineteenth Century," by Raymond J. DeMallie;

(2) "Lakota Genesis: The Oral Tradition," by Elaine A. Jahner;

(3) "The Sacred Pipe in Modern Life," by Arval Looking Horse;

(4) "The Lakota Sun Dance: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives," by Arthur Amiotte;

(5) "The Establishment of Christianity Among the Sioux," by Vine V. Deloria, Sr.;

(6) "Catholic Mission and the Sioux: A Crisis in the Early Paradigm," by Harvey Markowitz;

(7) "Contemporary Catholic Mission Work Among the Sioux," by Robert Hilbert, S.}.;

(8) "Christian Life Fellowship Church," by Mercy Poor Man;

(9) "Indian Women and the Renaissance of Traditional Religion," by Beatrice Medicine;

(10) "The Contemporary "Yuwipi," "by Thomas H. Lewis, M.D.;

(11) "The Native American Church of Jesus Christ," by Emerson Spider, Sr.;

(12) "Traditional Lakota Religion in Modern Life," by Robert Stead, with an Introduction by Kenneth Oliver; Suggestions for Further Reading; Bibliography.

"Quite an interesting book... " -- Religious StudiesReview

"It is by far superior to anything else on demons wehave seen in the past few years." -- The AmericanRationalist

..". Goodman is to be commended for a stimulatingand wide-reaching treatment of a compelling and much-debated subject." --Journal of Folklore Research

Rich in detail derived from theauthor's fieldwork and the anthropological literature, this work paints a picture ofpossession as one of the usually positive and most widespread of human religiousexperiences. It also details the ritual of exorcism, which is applied when things gowrong.

Anthropological and psychological analysis by Radin Kereny and Jung of the voraciously uninhibited episodes of the Winnebego Trickster cycle.

A fascinating Castaneda-like spiritual journey into the wilderness of Manitoba, where Lynn Andrews meets Agnes Whistling Elk, the Native American "heyoehkah," or shaman, who will change her life.

"Levi-Strauss is a French savant par excellence, a man of extraordinary sensitivity and human wisdom . . . a deliberate stylist with profound convictions and convincing arguments. . . . ["The Raw and the Cooked"] adds yet another chapter to the tireless quest for a scientifically accurate, esthetically viable, and philosophically relevant cultural anthropology. . . . [It is] indispensable reading."--"Natural History "

Studies the culture and religion of the Chamba, Duru, Gula, and Gbaya of Cameroon. Discusses attempts of expatriates and Africans to ask questions, to learn, and to interpret what is important in the lives and traditions of African societies in the light of the Christian Church.

'Hultkrantz treads where other angels fear to with this audacious and clear overall survey. He leaves the room for specialists to debate and generalists to quicken curiosity.'--Christian Century

This study seeks to explain how one group of Native Americans, the Oglala Sioux, has preserved its social and cultural identity despite formidable attempts by the U.S. government to eliminate tribal societies. Treating continuity and change as two aspects of the same phenomenon, it focuses on the nature of the uniquely Oglala values that persist, their modes of cultural expression, and the processes by which they are replicated.

"David F. Aberle's book on Navajo peyotism is by far the most comprehensive and complete of any on a North American tribe, and the Navajo nation is the largest in the United States. He discusses the specific politico-economic context and the crisis in the longtime struggle, and traces in detail the conflict of the traditional and the new religion." Weston La Barre. "A sound, scholarly work which has joined the ranks of anthropological classics since its original 1966 publication." American Indian Quarterly. "The chapters attending to the rituals of Peyotism and the contrast between it and Navaho religion are particularly good, though none of the materials can be faulted. Of import are the chapters explicating the Native American Church, Navaho style, in the theoretical context of social movements." Choice. "Today peyotism is a political as well as a religious issue to the Navaho people....A large part of [this] scholarly and impressive contribution is devoted to this aspect....Aberle has not been content to present ritual divorced from philosophy, and his discussion of the underlying though of peyotists is valuable to the student of religions in general....[His] study of the economic aspects of peyotism is closely detailed, and indeed, this book is one of the few publications which present such material in compact form for any North American Indian group." Science.

"Searching for Africa in Brazil" is a learned exploration of tradition and change in Afro-Brazilian religions. Focusing on the convergence of anthropologists' and religious leaders' exegeses, Stefania Capone argues that twentieth-century anthropological research contributed to the construction of an ideal Afro-Brazilian religious orthodoxy identified with the Nago (Yoruba) cult in the northeastern state of Bahia. In contrast to other researchers, Capone foregrounds the agency of Candomble leaders. She demonstrates that they successfully imposed their vision of Candomble on anthropologists, reshaping in their own interest narratives of Afro-Brazilian religious practice. The anthropological narratives were then taken as official accounts of religious orthodoxy by many practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions in Brazil. Capone draws on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro as she demonstrates that there is no pure or orthodox Afro-Brazilian religion.

Challenging the usual interpretations of Afro-Brazilian religions as fixed entities, completely independent of one another, Capone reveals these practices as parts of a unique religious continuum. She does so through an analysis of ritual variations as well as discursive practices. To illuminate the continuum of Afro-Brazilian religious practice and the tensions between exegetic discourses and ritual practices, Capone focuses on the figure of Exu, the sacred African trickster who allows communication between gods and men. Following Exu and his avatars, she discloses the centrality of notions of prestige and power--mystical and religious--in Afro-Brazilian religions. To explain how religious identity is constantly negotiated among social actors, Capone emphasizes the agency of practitioners and their political agendas in the "return to roots," or re-Africanization, movement, an attempt to recover the original purity of a mythical and legitimizing Africa.

This book focuses on Akan-speaking Ghanaians in London and explores in detail the experience of African migrants living in Britain, investigating how they construct their British citizenship through their membership of the church. Building on extensive ethnographic research in London and Ghana, the author explores the relationship between religion and citizenship, the emergence of transnational subjectivities, and the making of diaspora aesthetics among African migrants. Starting from the understanding that citizenship is dialogical, a status mediated by a subject's multiple and intersecting identities, the author highlights the limitations of existing conceptualisations of migrant citizenship. Anchored in a case study of the British/Ghanaian Methodist Church as a transnational religious organisation and cultural polity, the book explores diasporic religious subjectivities as both cosmopolitan and transnational, while being configured in emotionally and morally significant ways by the Methodist Church, as well as family, ethnicity, and nation. Interdisciplinary by nature, this book will be of interest to a wide range of researchers and scholars across the social sciences and humanities working in the fields of anthropology, religion, sociology, postcolonial studies, and African studies, and additionally policy makers interested in diaspora and migration studies.

In a study that challenges familiar Western modes of thought, Jacob K. Olupona focuses on one of the most important religious centers in Africa and in the world: the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife in southwest Nigeria. The spread of Yoruba traditions in the African diaspora has come to define the cultural identity of millions of black and white people in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and the United States. Seen through the eyes of a native, this first comprehensive study of the spiritual and cultural center of the Yoruba religion tells how the city went from great prominence to near obliteration and then rose again as a contemporary city of gods. Throughout, Olupona corroborates the indispensable linkages between religion, cosmology, migration, and kinship as espoused in the power of royal lineages, hegemonic state structure, gender, and the Yoruba sense of place, offering the fullest portrait to date of this sacred African city.

*Explains the animal sacrifice ceremony in step-by-step detail*Shares the ancient African sacred stories that reveal the well-thought-out metaphysics and spirituality behind the practice of animal sacrifice*Chronicles the legal fight all the way to its 1993 U.S. Supreme Court victory to establish legal protection for the santeria faith and its practitionersTackling the biggest controversy surrounding his faith, Santeria priest Ocha'ni Lele explains for the first time in print the practice and importance of animal sacrifice as a religious sacrament. Describing the animal sacrifice ceremony in step-by-step detail, including the songs and chants used, he examines the thinking and metaphysics behind the ritual and reveals the deep connections to the odu of the diloggunthe source of all practices in this Afro-Cuban faith. Tracing the legal battle spearheaded by Oba Ernesto Pichardo, head of the Church of the Lukumi of Babaluaiye, over the right to practise animal sacrifice as a religious sacrament, Lele chronicles the fight all the way to its 1993 U.S. Supreme Court victory, which established legal protection for the Santeria faith and its practitioners. Weaving together oral fragments stemming from the ancient Yoruba of West Africa, the author reconstructs their sacred stories or patakis, that demonstrate the well-thought-out metaphysics and spirituality behind the practice of animal sacrifice in the Yoruba and Santeria religion, including explanations about why each animal can be regarded as food for both humans and the orisha as well as how sacrifice is not limited to animals. Shedding light on the extraordinary global growth of this religion over the past 50 years, Lele's guide to the sacrificial ceremonies of Santeria enables initiates to learn proper ceremony protocol as well as gives outsiders a glimpse into this most secretive world of the santeros. this book is an absolute must-read!a You will find here secrets never before revealed to the outside worldyou simply cannot ignore this book.Aaron Leitch, author of Secrets of the Magickal Grimoiresvery useful to students of religion, history, and folklore, as well as general readers eager to know more about this complex religion.a It will be a welcome addition to academic and public libraries.a Cynthia Duncan, Ph.D., professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma and author of Unraveling the Real: The Fantastic in Spanish American Ficciones fully researched, the information is balanced and integrated, and Ochani Lele's writing voice is clear, humble, and humorous. Luisah Teish, author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals,aFounding Mother of Ile Orunmila Oshun

There is one path for all people - the path of sharing, justice and peace. How do we arrive there? Through transformation of self and world. THE LONG JOURNEY HOME will take you there. This is the moment when the heart seeks a solid foundation to build a new home upon. Even though the place we knew as home might still be there, our needs have changed. Now, the source of home must come from within and author George Catlin has provided a simple roadmap to help you understand the factors that shape your perception of home . . . your new home.

The bones of Pierre Toussaint, the first proposed African-American Catholic saint, were disinterred and spread around in the New World. In his introduction, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith suggests the same is true of the religious practices that peoples of African descent and victims of the Atlantic slave trade brought with them. Fragments of Bone examines the evolution of these religions as they have been adapted and re-contextualized in various New World environments. The essays in Fragments of Bone discuss African religions as forms of resistance and survival in the face of Western cultural hegemony and imperialism. The collection is unique in presenting the voices of scholars primarily outside of the Western tradition, speaking on the issues they, as practitioners, regard as important. Bellegarde-Smith, himself a priest in the Haitian Vodou religion, brings together thirteen contributors from different disciplines, genders, and nationalities. The authors address the creolized African religions beginning with their evolution from Nigeria and Benin to New Orleans, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, and Guyana. The more familiar neo-African religions of Vodou and Santeria are also discussed,

Black Elk was one of the greatest religious thinkers produced by native North America, and the Sun Dance the central religious ritual of his Lakota tradition. Beginning with a review of the recent critical work on Black Elk by Paul B. Steinmetz, Julian Rice and Michael K. Steltenkamp, Holler reconstructs the history and development of the Lakota Sun Dance, essential background for understanding Black Elk's thought. His analysis is a comprehsnive study of the dance, which was banned by the government in 1883. Holler shows how Black Elk adapted the dance to the conditions and circumstances of reservation life, reinterpreting it in terms commensurate with Christianity. His firsthand account of the dance associated with Frank Fools Crow at Three Mile Camp near Kyle, South Dakota, shows how the contemporary Sun Dance reflects Black Elk's vision. Holler's book offers a philosophical engagement with native North American religion, carried out in close dialogue with anthropology. Readers who were captivated by John G. Neihardt's gripping portrait of Black Elk in ""Black Elk Speaks"" may be surprised to learn that he was a vital and creative leader until his death in 1950, not the broken, despairing old man made famous by Neihardt. Holler establishes that Black Elk was both a sincere traditionalist and a sincere Christian, seeing the two religious traditions as expressions of the sacred. Students of religion should be stimulated by Holler's interpretation of Black Elk as a creative thinker, rather than a passive informant on his people's past. Those interested in Native Americans, especially the Lakota, should appreciate his authoritative reconstruction of the Sun Dance, which proposes new understandings of this central Lakota religious ritual. The book also includes a glossary of terms.

A ceremonial journey to reconnect with the essence of indigenous spirituality and awaken to its beauty, power and potential in contemporary society. In this book, Apela Colorado, the inspirational authority on indigenous wisdom, shares her lifelong journey of connecting with the essence of indigenous spirituality and culture. From China to Alaska, Benin to France, Apela recounts her passionate work to communicate, conserve, and celebrate sacred indigenous ways, all while reawakening to the wisdom of her Native American and French Gaul ancestors and reclaiming her own truth, healing, and story. With gentle grace and generous insight, this book lovingly teaches us to honor the power, beauty, and potential of indigenous wisdom, and explores how it continues to resonate in modern life. Apela's experiences form a ceremony of remembrance and renewal, a spiritual guide to help you reconnect to the wisdom of your ancestors, apply sacred ways of knowing and being to your life, and reclaim your own Creation Story.