An exploration into why and how Jamaicans become Rastafari in spite of increasing incrimination of the religion So much has been written about the Rastafari, yet we know so little about why and how people join the Rastafari movement. Although popular understandings evoke images of dreadlocks, reggae, and marijuana, Rastafarians were persecuted in their country, becoming a people seeking social justice. Yet new adherents continued to convert to Rastafari despite facing adverse reactions from their fellow citizens and from their British rulers. Charles Price draws on in-depth interviews to reveal the personal experiences of those who adopted the religion in the 1950s to 1970s, one generation past the movement's emergence. By talking with these Rastafari elders, he seeks to understand why and how Jamaicans became Rastafari in spite of rampant discrimination, and what sustains them in their faith and identity. Utilizing new conceptual frameworks, Price explores the identity development of Rastafari, demonstrating how shifts in the movement's identity-from social pariah to exemplar of Blackness-have led some of the elder Rastafari to adopt, embrace, and internalize Rastafari and blackness as central to their concept of self.

***** PERFECT FOR FANS OF 'THE COMING STORM' ONE OF THE TELEGRAPH'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A chilling overview of a movement that should arguably have no place in any healthy, well-educated society.' - The Telegraph 'A compelling book.' - The Guardian 'The Storm Is Upon Us is an impressive piece of research and a gripping read. Rothschild's book reads like a thriller, with cliffhangers that leave you eager for the next episode. The trouble, of course, is that it's not fiction.' - The Times 'For anyone who fears that the world really has 'gone mad', this book might be essential reading' - The Telegraph 'An ideal tour guide for your journey into the depths of the rabbit hole that is QAnon, and even shows you a glimmer of light at the exit.' - Cullen Hoback, director of HBO's Q: Into the Storm In 2017, President Trump made a cryptic remark at a gathering of military officials, describing it as 'the calm before the storm'-then refused to explain himself to puzzled journalists. But on internet message boards, a mysterious poster called 'Q Clearance Patriot' began an elaboration all of their own. Q's wild yarn hinted at a vast conspiracy that satisfied the deepest desires of MAGA-America. None of Q's predictions came to pass. But did that stop people from clinging to every word, expanding Q's mythology, and promoting it ever more widely? No. Conspiracy culture expert Mike Rothschild is uniquely equipped to explain QAnon, from the cults that first fed into it, to its embrace by Trump and the right-wing media. With families torn apart and with the Capitol under attack, he argues that mocking the madness of QAnon will get us nowhere. Instead, he argues that QAnon tells us everything we need to know about global fear after Trump-and that we need to understand it now, because it's not going away.

WITCHCRAFT / SHAMANISM"Witchcraft Medicine is a work of brilliant and passionate scholarship, fabulously illustrated, that recovers the lost knowledge of the European shamanic tradition. It is both a guide and an enthusiastic ode to the visionary edge of the botanical realm."Daniel Pinchbeck, author of Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism"This is a fascinating work of great importance that is incredibly well researched and documented. And brave. From the first impassioned paragraph to the last words, I was spellbound. Anyone interested in medicine, herbalism, the healing arts, and spiritual phenomena will find this book thought provoking and empowering."Rosemary Gladstar, president of United Plant Savers and author of Herbal Healing for WomenWitch medicine is wild medicine. It does more than make one healthy; it encourages knowledge and engenders ecstasy and mythological insight. In Witchcraft Medicine the authors take the reader on a journey that examines the women from centuries past who mixed the potions and became the healers. As humans left the "thorny brush" and settled into agrarian societies, elements of nature (including human nature) became identified as wild and destructive, and the culture of the witch was born. Through study of ancient and medieval texts and the artwork of the early Renaissance, the authors explore the demonization of nature's healing powers and sensuousness, the legacy of Hecate, the sorceress as shaman, and the plants associated with witches. They describe important seasonal festivals and the plants used in these celebrations and rituals. They also look at the history of forbidden medicine from theInquisition to current drug laws, with an eye toward how sacred plants of witchcraft can be used once again.CLAUDIA MULLER-EBELING, PH.D., art historian and anthropologist, is the coauthor of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas and was editor in chief of Dao, a magazine about the health and longevity practices of the Far East. She lives in Hamburg, Germany. CHRISTIAN RATSCH, PH.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. The author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods, he lives in Hamburg, Germany. WOLF-DIETER STORL, PH.D., is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist who has taught at Kent State University, as well as in Vienna, Berne, and Benares. He lives in Allgau, Germany, and is the author of Culture and Horticulture: A Philosophy of Gardening.

Bare-Faced Messiah tells the extraordinary story of L. Ron Hubbard, a penniless science-fi ction writer who founded the Church of Scientology, became a millionaire prophet and convinced his adoring followers that he alone could save the world. According to his 'official' biography, Hubbard was an explorer, engineer, scientist, war hero and philosopher. But in the words of a Californian judge, he was schizophrenic, paranoid and a pathological liar. What is not in dispute is that Hubbard was one of the most bizarre characters of the twentieth century. Bare-Faced Messiah exposes the myths surrounding the fascinating and mysterious founder of the Church of Scientology - a man of hypnotic charm and limitless imagination - and provides the defi nitive account of how the notorious organisation was created.

California, long a Mecca for eccentric cults, has also hosted more than its share of unusual and unorthodox Christian evangelists and sects. From pre-Gold Rush days to the 21st Century, visionaries seeking to revive or transform the Faith have flocked to California's shores, or have emerged from its environs as native sons and daughters. Their often-idiosyncratic crusades have influenced not only Golden State history and culture, but Christianity as a whole. California Jesus tells the little-known yet fascinating stories behind the people and groups that populate Californian Christendom, including: * The Children of God -- Born on the Huntington Beach boardwalk, this "Jesus People" hippie-ministry turned to prostituting its members and molesting its children in the name of Christ * Bebe and C. Thomas Patten -- married evangelists, these Oakland-based Pentecostal preachers scammed penniless Okie immigrants and major banks alike for millions * Joe Jeffers -- a renegade Baptist minister who started a murderous religious war between his followers and a rival's, made headlines in lurid L.A. sex scandals, and claimed that "Yahweh" had stashed several billion dollars for him in the constellation Orion * The Metropolitan Community Church -- Gay L. A. evangelist Troy Perry challenges homophobia with a hugely controversial, and much-attacked sect that ministers Christ's love to sexual "outsiders" * Church of the Holy Family -- film-star Mel Gibson's schismatic, secretive Malibu parish, which claims to be literally more Catholic than the Pope * Holy Mountain -- a huge, bizarre, ever-growing folk-art monument in the Imperial Valley desert built by an aging drifter to glorify God's love, that's now become an international tourist destination * And many, many more! Filled with captivating anecdotes about the state's most colorful and controversial Christian pastors and sects, and accompanied by many rare photos and illustrations, California Jesus illuminates this absorbing yet little-discussed aspect of both state history and culture, and the Christian experience. Believers and doubters alike, as well as anyone interested in the Golden State's unique spiritual heritage, will find this work hard to put down.

The thrilling new novel, inspired by the events at Jonestown in the 1970s.

It’s the summer of 1968, and Evelyn Lynden is a woman at war with herself. Minister’s daughter. Atheist. Independent woman. Frustrated wife. Bitch with a bleeding heart.

Following her conscientious-objector husband Lenny to the rural Eden of Evergreen Valley, California, Evelyn wants to be happy with their new life. Yet she finds herself disillusioned with Lenny’s passive ways ― and anxious for a saviour. Enter the Reverend Jim Jones, the dynamic leader of a new revolutionary church …

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Beautiful Revolutionary explores the allure of the real-life charismatic leader who would destroy so many. It follows Evelyn as she is pulled into Jones’s orbit ― an orbit it would prove impossible for her to leave.

"The is one of the most illuminating updates on the current state of Mormonism that I have ever seen. It brings Mormonism's unstable, changeable truth clearly into view, and provides a convincing warning against the most polytheistic religion ever offered to the modern world." - Dr. Gleason Archer, Professor of Old Testament and Semitics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

A comprehensive collection of the pioneering work of Leonard Norman Primiano, one of the preeminent scholars in religious studies In 1995, Leonard Norman Primiano introduced the idea of "vernacular religion." He coined this term to overcome the denigration implied in the concept of "folk religion" or "popular religion," which was juxtaposed to "elite religion." This two-tiered model suggested that religion existed somewhere in a pure form and that the folk version transforms it. Instead, Primiano urged scholars to adopt an inductive approach to the study of religion and to pay attention to experiential aspects of belief systems, ultimately redressing a heritage of scholarly misinterpretation. Here for the first time, Leonard Norman Primiano's pioneering works have been collected into one volume, providing a foundational look at one of the preeminent scholars of twentieth-century religious studies. Vernacular Religion makes visible the dimensions of vernacular religion in North America, exemplifying the richness of its ability to explain key facets of American society, including especially thorny issues around race and sexuality. The volume also demonstrates a method of abiding engagement, the creation of ongoing relationships with those who are studied, and how the relationship between scholars and the communities they study inform an ethics of critical commitment-what Primiano calls an "ethnography of collaboration and reciprocity." This posthumous collection, edited by Deborah Dash Moore, brings together key studies in vernacular religion that explore its expression among such varied groups as Catholics, LGBTQ Christians, and the followers of Father Divine. Vernacular Religion models empathetic ethnographic engagement that embraces American religion in all its rich diversity, illuminating Primiano's enduring legacy.

The Scientology Handbook offers tools to overcome problems and achieve a more fulfilling and happier life. For no matter the situation, something "can" be done about it. Life's everyday difficulties and challenges can be overwhelming. Whether it's a failed marriage, trouble raising a child, problems on the job or simply the desire to achieve your goals, where do you turn for help? Scientology has answers. What's more, it provides an exact technology with step-by-step procedures anyone can apply to handle life's difficulties and to better conditions for yourself and those around you.This book offers an introduction to basic Scientology principles -- tools you can use to improve any aspect of life.

Stories of witchcraft and demonic possession from early modern England through the last official trials in colonial New England Those possessed by the devil in early modern England usually exhibited a common set of symptoms: fits, vomiting, visions, contortions, speaking in tongues, and an antipathy to prayer. However, it was a matter of interpretation, and sometimes public opinion, if these symptoms were visited upon the victim, or if they came from within. Both early modern England and colonial New England had cases that blurred the line between witchcraft and demonic possession, most famously, the Salem witch trials. While historians acknowledge some similarities in witch trials between the two regions, such as the fact that an overwhelming majority of witches were women, the histories of these cases primarily focus on local contexts and specifics. In so doing, they overlook the ways in which manhood factored into possession and witchcraft cases. Vexed with Devils is a cultural history of witchcraft-possession phenomena that centers on the role of men and patriarchal power. Erika Gasser reveals that witchcraft trials had as much to do with who had power in the community, to impose judgement or to subvert order, as they did with religious belief. She argues that the gendered dynamics of possession and witchcraft demonstrated that contested meanings of manhood played a critical role in the struggle to maintain authority. While all men were not capable of accessing power in the same ways, many of the people involved-those who acted as if they were possessed, men accused of being witches, and men who wrote possession propaganda-invoked manhood as they struggled to advocate for themselves during these perilous times. Gasser ultimately concludes that the decline of possession and witchcraft cases was not merely a product of change over time, but rather an indication of the ways in which patriarchal power endured throughout and beyond the colonial period. Vexed with Devils reexamines an unnerving time and offers a surprising new perspective on our own, using stories and voices which emerge from the records in ways that continue to fascinate and unsettle us.

Advocating nuclear war, attempting communication with dolphins and taking an interest in the paranormal and UFOs, there is perhaps no greater (or stranger) cautionary tale for the Left than that of Posadism. Named after the Argentine Trotskyist J. Posadas, the movement's journey through the fractious and sectarian world of mid-20th century revolutionary socialism was unique. Although at times significant, Posadas' movement was ultimately a failure. As it disintegrated, it increasingly grew to resemble a bizarre cult, detached from the working class it sought to liberate. The renewed interest in Posadism today - especially for its more outlandish fixations - speaks to both a cynicism towards the past and nostalgia for the earnest belief that a better world is possible. Drawing on considerable archival research, and numerous interviews with ex- and current Posadists, I Want to Believe tells the fascinating story of this most unusual socialist movement and considers why it continues to capture the imaginations of leftists today.

After seven years of faithfully following her spiritual teacher, Renee Linnell finally realized she was in a cult and had been severely brainwashed. But how did that happen to someone like her? She had graduated magna cum laude with a double degree. She had traveled to nearly fifty countries alone before she turned thirty-five. She was a surf model and a professional Argentine tango dancer. She had started five different companies and had an MBA from NYU. How could someone like her end up brainwashed and in a cult? The Burn Zone is an exploration of how we give up our power―how what started out as a need to heal from the loss of her parents and to understand the big questions in life could leave a young woman fighting for her sanity and her sense of self. In the years following her departure from the cult, Linnell struggled to reclaim herself, to stand in her truth, and to rebuild her life. And eventually, after battling depression and isolation, she found a way to come out the other side stronger than ever. Part inspirational story, part cautionary tale, this is a memoir for spiritual seekers and those who feel lost in a world that makes them feel less than perfect.

Handbook for Preclears follows L. Ron Hubbard's book "Self Analysis". Both books contain easy to do methods of discovering your own mind, and increasing a person's ability to utilize considerably more of his mental potential. Discover why behavior patterns become so solidly fixed; why habits seemingly can't be broken; how decisions long ago have more power over a person than his decisions today; and why a person keeps past negative experiences in the present.

The inside story of the world's most notorious cults. The strange and sinister world of cults is a source of endless fascination. Their secrets, rituals and shadowy hierarchies make for some of the most disturbing and shocking revelations in history. Most chilling of all is the fact that many of their followers forfeit all independence in order to carry out the often sadistic bidding of a mysterious master manipulator - and continue to defend their leader to this day. From Charles Manson, who instructed his followers to murder seven people, including a heavily pregnant Sharon Tate, to Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese doomsday cult that carried out deadly terror attacks, and the People's Temple, these cults and their leaders transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity in the name of a self-appointed higher power. Many shocking and international cults are brought to life, including: - The Manson Family - People's Temple - Colonia Dignidad - Thuggees - Aum Shinrikyo - Skopsty - Raelism - Heaven's Gate

When it became evident that the People's Republic of China (PRC) was on the verge of banning the Falun Gong movement, Li Hongzhi, the movement's founder, and his family escaped China, relocating permanently in the United States. Subsequently, the dramatic crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999 made international headlines. From the safety of his new home, Master Li encouraged his followers left behind in the PRC to vigorously demonstrate against the Chinese government, even if it meant imprisonment or even death. Further, Master Li actively discourages his followers from telling outsiders about his esoteric teachings; rather, he explicitly directs them to say that Falun Gong is just a peaceful spiritual exercise group being persecuted by the PRC. Not only has Falun Gong succeeded in propagating their side of the story in the media but the group will vigorously protest any news story that disagrees with their point of view. In more recent years, Falun Gong has attempted to silence critical scholars, including two of the contributors to the present volume. Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong provides a comprehensive overview of Falun Gong: the movement's background, history, beliefs and practices. But whereas prior treatments have generally tended to downplay Falun Gong's 'dark side, ' in Enlightened Martyrdom, we have made an effort to include treatments of the less palatable aspects of this movement.