An examination of the beliefs and history of the secretive Yezidi sect * Explains how the Yezidis worship Melek Ta'us, the Peacock Angel, an enigmatic figure often identified as "the devil" or Satan, yet who has been redeemed by God to rule a world of beauty and spiritual realization * Examines Yezidi antinomian doctrines of opposition, their cosmogony, their magical lore and taboos, the role of angels, ritual, and symbology, and how the Yezidi faith relates to other occult traditions such as alchemy * Presents the first English translation of the poetry of Caliph Yazid ibn Muawiya, venerated by the Yezidis as Sultan Ezi The Yezidis are an ancient people who live in the mountainous regions on the borders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. This secretive culture worships Melek Ta'us, the Peacock Angel, an enigmatic figure often identified as "the devil" or Satan, hence the sect is known as devil-worshippers and has long been persecuted. Presenting a study of the interior, esoteric dimensions of Yezidism, Peter Lamborn Wilson examines the sect's antinomian doctrines of opposition, its magical lore and taboos, and its relation to other occult traditions such as alchemy. He explains how the historical founder of this sect was a Sufi of Ummayad descent, Sheik Adi ibn Musafir, who settled in this remote region around 1111 AD and found a pre-Islamic sect already settled there. Sheik Adi was so influenced by the original sect that he departed from orthodox Islam, and by the 15th century the sect was known to worship the Peacock Angel, Melek Ta'us, with all its "Satanic" connotations. Revealing the spiritual flowering that occurs in an oral culture, the author examines Yezidi cosmogony, how they are descended from the androgynous Adam--before Eve was created--as well as the role of angels, ritual, alchemy, symbology, and color in Yezidi religion. He also presents the first English translation of the poetry of Caliph Yazid ibn Muawiya, venerated by the Yezidis as Sultan Ezi. Showing the Yezidi sect to be a syncretic faith of pre-Islamic, Zoroastrian, Christian, Pagan, Sufi, and other influences, Wilson reveals how these worshippers of the Peacock Angel do indeed worship "the Devil"--but the devil is not "evil." God has redeemed him, and he rules a world of beauty and spiritual realization.

An extraordinary vision of unity among the world's historic faiths and a classic of New Age spirituality.
Here is a hugely influential interpretation of the "lost years" of Jesus Christ-from roughly the ages of twelve to thirty that are not covered in Scripture- in which the Son of Man is seen to travel through the religious cultures of the East, learning and preaching the unifying spiritual ethic behind all religions.
"The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ" is a stirring and deeply involving vision that profoundly impacted the development of alternative spirituality in the early twentieth century, and continues to touch readers today.
Now, the unabridged narrative of this powerful work- drawn from one of its earliest volumes-is redesigned for ease of reading in a handsome signature edition.

Based on personal knowledge and intimate interviews with his subject, as well as access to W.J. Stein's archive of letters and documents, Tautz's biography is a thoroughly-researched and lovingly-detailed study of an exceptional life. Walter Johannes Stein (1891-1957) was one of the original pioneers of anthroposophy. A student of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, Stein met his spiritual teacher whilst studying at Vienna University. After serving in the First World War, Stein was invited by Rudolf Steiner to teach History and Literature at the fledgling Waldorf school in Stuttgart, despite the fact that Stein's doctorate was in Philosophy and his training in Mathematics and Physics. Through his efforts to master the new disciplines, and with the aid of unconventional methods of research, Stein developed groundbreaking new insights into the story of Parzival and the mystery of the Holy Grail, which led to his seminal book The Ninth Century and the Holy Grail. Tautz describes Stein's close friendship with Eugen Kolisko, his struggles to help establish the threefold social order, his work as a Goetheanum lecturer, and his eventual estrangement from the Anthroposophical Society following Rudolf Steiner's death. After journeys of discovery across Europe, Stein landed in London in 1933 - a refugee from the Nazi aggression in Central Europe - where he met his mentor D.N. Dunlop. Dunlop employed him to help establish the first World Power Conference. Based in England for the last 24 years of his life, Stein became a prolific and popular lecturer and the editor of the important anthroposophical journal The Present Age. Long out-of-print, the new edition of this important work is a welcome addition to the growing number of biographies on the founders of anthroposophy.

Based upon the old tale of "The Marriage of Sir Gawain", "Kissing the Hag" brings us face to face with the nauseating horror of the hag - the raw side, the dark side, the inside of a woman's essential nature. Here we find the untamed soul, the wild, angry, selfish, lustful, manipulative and incomprehensible elements of woman: all that makes us unacceptable and badly behaved. Too often we have been guided to point a finger of blame, accusing our parents, society, our partners of being dysfunctional. Here Emma Restall Orr doesn't allow us that option. As a Druid and animist, she takes the negative stereotypes of the irrational, emotional woman - feisty bitch to shameless whore, smothering mother to grumpy old bag - and finds the archetypes behind them, the faces and forms of the dark goddess.Instead of dismissing these as unacceptable, she encourages us to ride their wild emotional currents, surfing the awesome tides that threaten to overwhelm us. In "Kissing the Hag", we come to accept the fullness of our nature, celebrating the deep mystery, the magic and power of all we are. "Kissing the Hag" is a book written for women who long to loose the chains of insecurity, convention, guilt and self-negation, and rediscover the freedom and creativity of their true nature. It is also a book written for men fascinated but infuriated by the women they love.

Food, Festival and Religion explores how communities in northern Italy find a restorative sense of place through foodways, costuming and other forms of materiality. Festivals examined by the author vary geographically from the northern rural corners of Italy to the fashionable heart of urban Milan. The origins of these lived religious events range from Christian to vernacular Italian witchcraft and contemporary Paganism, which is rapidly growing in Italy. Francesca Ciancimino Howell demonstrates that during ritualized occasions the sacred is located within the mundane. She argues that communal feasting, pilgrimage, rituals and costumed events can represent forms of lived religious materiality. Building on the work of scholars including Foucault, Grimes and Ingold, Howell offers a theoretical "Scale of Engagement" which further tests the interfaces between and among the materialities of place, food, ritual and festivals and provides a widely-applicable model for analyzing grassroots events and community initiatives. Through extensive ethnographic research and fieldwork data, this book demonstrates that popular Italian festivals can be ritualized, liminal spaces, contributing greatly to the fields of religious, performance and ritual studies.

Although Western humanity has conquered the outer world with the aid of technology and science, death remains an unsolved and largely unexplored mystery. Rudolf Steiner, as an exceptional seer, was able to research spiritually the question of what happens to human consciousness after the physical body passes away. In these remarkably matter-of-fact lectures, he affirms that life continues beyond death. Far from being dissipated, the individual's consciousness awakens to a new reality, beginning a great journey to the farthest expanses of the cosmos. One's consciousness embarks on a journey and process of purification and preparation. Steiner indicates that one of the most important tasks for our present civilization is to reestablish living connections with those who have died. He gives suggestions as to how this can be done safely and describes how the dead can be of help to those on Earth. Life Beyond Death is an ideal introduction to the spiritual scientific views of our continuing journey.

Born in Holland in 1893, Zeylmans van Emmichoven was one of the original pioneers of anthroposophy, the science of spirit established by Rudolf Steiner. As General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in the Netherlands, he worked closely with Steiner. A medical doctor and founder of the Rudolf Steiner Clinic in Scheveningen, he also conducted important research into the influence of colours, the psychology of peoples and nations, and individual human psychology. Emanuel Zeylmans' biography of his father draws on some beautifully written and moving autobiographical extracts as well as numerous other first-hand source materials. He traces Zeylmans' remarkable life from his upbringing in Holland and his first contact with Rudolf Steiner to his later attendance at the momentous Christmas Foundation Meeting and his many travels around the world to further anthroposophy. He examines the spiritual conflicts in which Zeylmans became embroiled, his life during the war years, and his innovative work in many fields. The author also catalogues Zeylmans' written works, and gives a full chronology of his life. Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven is a compelling documentation of a leading figure connected with Rudolf Steiner. It brings to life the context of his biography - an exciting and yet difficult time in the development of new spiritual ideas - and the vibrant individuals around him. Zeylmans is portrayed as a warm, dynamic and fascinating individual, with enormous interest in people from widely differing cultures and backgrounds. A real 'world citizen', he recognized that every nation has its own particular task and importance.

"Anthroposophy can become fruitful in the world when a community of people is actively working with the Foundation Stone Meditation. When Zeylmans van Emmichoven revived this Meditation around the whole world, a process began though which the Anthroposophical Society itself, which has been through many conflicts and battles, could be healed again" (Joop van Dam). During the Christmas Conference of 1923-24 when the Anthroposophical Society was refounded, Rudolf Steiner presented to its members for the first time the Foundation Stone Meditation. On consecutive days during that week, Steiner showed how elements of the Meditation could be rebuilt into new meditations (sometimes referred to as "rhythms"), which could be inwardly practiced. Zeylmans van Emmichoven was present at that formative meeting and lived intensively with these "rhythms" for more than thirty years. Initially in the Netherlands, and later during his many journeys around the world, Zeylmans began to make people aware of the germinating forces contained within the Meditation. This volume remains a seminal book that has inspired generations of students of Anthroposophy. C O N T E N T S Translator's Note The Foundation Stone Meditation (Jan. 13, 1924) Introduction The 1913 Foundation Stone The Goetheanum as Revelation of the Cosmic World The Fire The Laying of the Foundation Stone, 1923 From the Philosophers' Stone to the Stone of Love The Seven Rhythms The Lord's Prayer Concerning the Nature of the Foundation Stone Man and Humanity The Pentagram and the Sun of Christ The New Isis The Foundation Stone Meditation (Jan. 1, 1924)

‘Development in the science of the spirit will always … involve what we may call developing the inner meaning and inner configuration of our language.’ – Rudolf Steiner Our present-day language cannot easily convey spiritual concepts. Rudolf Steiner’s search for the words and style to bring to expression a contemporary spiritual worldview epitomises this. In seven organically developing chapters, this little book presents Martina Maria Sam’s long-standing research into this subject. As a writer, editor and lecturer she observed the increasing difficulty that many people – particularly those with an academic training – have with Steiner’s style. However, this style was something that Rudolf Steiner developed very deliberately. As she states: ‘What was most important for me in this was to point out Rudolf Steiner’s intentions in his specific and often original linguistic forms and, consequently, to create the introductory basis for a deeper understanding.’ Gaining such understanding, she says, can in turn enable us to develop insight into the spirit. Sam begins by quoting some of Steiner’s contemporaries, who criticized his ‘grating’ style. She describes why he had to create new forms of expression and examines the specific character of his lectures. She considers two comprehensive stylistic principles that permeate Steiner’s entire body of work, and his special handling of the pictorial element in language. Close attention is paid to Rudolf Steiner’s construction of meditative verses and mantras, and the development of an artistic, linguistically-creative element that will only be possible in the future.

`[The student] should look at the world with keen, healthy senses and quickened power of observation, and then give himself up to the feeling that arises within him... This feeling penetrates the superficial aspect of things and in so doing touches their secrets.' - Rudolf Steiner How can one progress from the ordinary, everyday vision of the senses to a perception of the subtle life- and spiritual forces around us - the very forces that shape nature? Basing his work on the research of both J. W. Goethe and Rudolf Steiner, Roger Druitt begins with the fundamental question, `What can you see?' He presents a series of practical exercises for observing nature which, through diligent practise, allow for the maturation of subtle capacities of perception. Considering multiple species of leaves, for example, leads to the concept of `leaf' itself. After this basic groundwork is established, steps can be taken towards a comprehension of further aspects, such as metamorphosis, gesture and type. Druitt demonstrates how this method - what he calls `anthroposophical phenomenology' - can be applied in other fields of nature observation, opening the way for its use in all areas of life. In each case, whether working with bees, rocks, stars or colour, he shows how one can access the `individuality' manifested in what is studied. Through a thorough step-by-step process we are led to the ultimate task: that of redeeming the beings of nature and of the earth itself.

Religion and religious diversity now occupy a central place in several prominent debates in contemporary political theory, such as those concerning the meaning(s) and relevance of secularism, the place of religious reasons in political deliberation, and whether religious beliefs and practices deserve special treatment by laws and public institutions. That religion has once again become a divisive topic amongst political theorists is perhaps surprising, given the widespread consensus about such staples of liberal political morality as the separation of church and state and the principle of religious freedom. Featuring the work of both established and up-and-coming scholars, this collection will take stock of the recent turn towards religion in political theory, identify some of the major unresolved challenges and issues, and suggest new avenues for theoretical inquiry. Taken as a whole, the collection showcases some cutting-edge work by leading scholars of religion and political theory and demonstrates the vitality of religion and political theory as a research agenda.

Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara titled the "Guerrillero Heroico" has been reproduced, modified and remixed countless times since it was taken on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba. This book looks again at this well-known mass-produced image to explore how an image can take on cultural force in diverse parts of the globe and legitimate varying positions and mass action in unexpected global political contexts. Analytically, the book develops a comparative analysis of how images become attached to a range of meanings that are absolutely inseparable from their contexts of use. Addressing the need for a fluid and responsive approach to the study of visual meaning-making, this book relies on multiple methodologies such as semiotics, research-creation, multimodal discourse analysis, ethnography and phenomenology. Each method has something to offer toward the understanding of the social and cultural work of images in our global cultures.

In this controversial New York Times bestseller, Vincent Bugliosi, the fearless attorney who prosecuted Charles Manson, turns his critical eye on both religious believers and the atheists, indicting both camps for the intellectual shortcuts each takes to arrive at their conclusions. He argues lucidly and persuasively why agnosticism-and a healthy skepticism toward certainty of all kinds-is the most responsible position to take with regard to the existence of God. Divinity of Doubt sets a new course amid the explosion of bestselling books on religion, urging us to recognize the limits of what we know, and what we cannot know, about the ineffable mysteries of existence.

Pandeism: An Anthology presents the work of sixteen authors, new and old, examining the implications of the revolutionary evolutionary theological theory of Pandeism - the proposition that the Creator of our Universe created by becoming our Universe, and that this proposition can be demonstrated through the exercise of logic and reason. These authors present a wide range of views originating from their varied experiences, from professional theologians and religious educators to lay philosophers with PhDs in the hard sciences. Collectively, these authors have assembled the most extensive examination of Pandeism put to print in over a hundred years.

2008 Christian Bookseller's Covention Book of the Year Award winner World-renowned scientist Richard Dawkins writes in The God Delusion: "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down." The volume has received wide coverage, fueled much passionate debate and caused not a little confusion. Alister McGrath, along with his wife, Joanna, are ideal to evaluate Dawkins's ideas. Once an atheist himself, he gained a doctorate in molecular biophysics before going on to become a leading Christian theologian. He wonders how two people, who have reflected at length on substantially the same world, could possibly have come to such different conclusions about God. McGrath subjects Dawkins's critique of faith to rigorous scrutiny. His exhilarating, meticulously argued response deals with questions such as Is faith intellectual nonsense? Are science and religion locked in a battle to the death? Can the roots of Christianity be explained away scientifically? Is Christianity simply a force for evil? This book will be warmly received by those looking for a reliable assessment ofThe God Delusion and the many questions it raises--including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.

The perfect antidote to the fiery rhetoric that dominates our current national debate over religion, "The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality" is the ideal companion to such bestsellers as "The God Delusion" and "God Is Not Great." I n this inspiring book, bestselling author and philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville offers a new perspective on the question of God's existence, acknowledging the good that has come of religion while advocating tolerance from both believers and non-believers. Through clear, concise, and often humorous prose, Comte-Sponville offers a convincing appeal for a new form of spiritual life?one that at its heart celebrates the human need to connect to one another and the universe.