|
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > General
The emergence of the fantastic tale in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries reflects a growing fascination with the
supernatural, the marvelous, and the occult as the site for
literary innovation. Taking Jacques Cazotte's prototypical "The
Devil in Love" as a starting point, this book examines the genre's
early development in the fantastic tales of the German romantics
Ludwig Tieck, Achim von Arnim, and E. T. A. Hoffmann; the
subsequent French rediscovery of the genre in works by Theophile
Gautier and Prosper Merimee; and Edgar Allan Poe's contributions to
the new literary form.
The literary innovation of the fantastic tale contributed to the
production of a mode of subjectivity intrinsic to the history of
sexuality. It arose at a moment in the history of communication
when similarity and perfect openness were no longer considered the
unquestioned basis of friendship or love, when the other's
potentially dark secrets became seductive and fascinating.
'A major work ... an extraordinary tour de force, [this book] will
materially help to bring both sides (science and paranormal
studies) together in a way which could lead to real and important
advances in our view of the universe' - New Scientist First
published in 1978, Mysteries is the powerful and enlightening
sequel to The Occult, continuing Colin Wilson's investigations into
the paranormal, the occult and the supernatural. The experience of
his own panic attacks gave Wilson his insight into the concept of
the ladder or hierarchy of selves with which we are all associated.
In this book he fully explores this idea of multiple selves,
explaining how our lower, childish selves are linked to depression
and anxiety. The book offers an optimistic message to counteract
our contemporary tendency towards pessimism and nihilism:
purposeful activity will always allow us to call on our higher
selves and bring concentration, control and a sense of meaning into
life. Wilson uses the concept of the multi-personality to explain a
wide range of paranormal phenomenon, from dowsing and demonic
possession to precognition and spoon-bending, and he analyses the
work of all the big names in 20th-century supra-rational research
(from T C Lethbridge to Margaret Murray to Carl Jung) from this
perspective. The story ranges widely, from the stone circles to
1960s LSD adventures, and Wilson's analysis is woven with hundreds
of entertaining paranormal anecdotes and case studies taken from
throughout history, including his own experiences of dowsing at the
Merry Maidens stone circle and of visions and lucid dreaming.
A collection of pronouncements, edicts, and scriptures predicting
the apocalypse The approach of the year 2000 has made the study of
apocalyptic movements trendy. But groups anticipating the end of
the world will continue to predict Armageddon even after the
calendar clicks to triple 0s. A Doomsday Reader brings together
pronouncements, edicts, and scriptures written by prominent
apocalyptic movements from a wide range of traditions and
ideologies to offer an exceptional look into their belief systems.
Focused on attaining paradise, millenarianism often anticipates
great, cosmic change. While most think of religious belief as
motivating such fervor, Daniels' comparative approach encompasses
secular movements such as environmentalism and the Montana Freemen,
and argues that such groups are often more political than religious
in nature. The book includes documents from groups such as the
Branch Davidians, the Order of the Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate, and
white supremacists. Each document is preceded by a substantive
introduction placing the movement and its beliefs in context. This
important overview of contemporary politics of the End will remain
a valuable resource long after the year 2000 has come and gone.
"A pioneer work in . . . the sexual structuring of society. This is not just another book about witchcraft."--Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University
Confessing to "Familiarity with the Devils," Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens, was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. In 1662, Ann Cole was "taken with very strange Fits" and fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events in Salem took place.
More than three hundred years later the question still haunts us: Why were these and other women likely witches? Why were they vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft? In this work Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society.
"A remarkable achievement. The 'witches' come alive in this book, not as stereotypes, but as real women living in a society that suspected and feared their independence and combativeness."--Mary Beth Norton, Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History, Cornell University
Universities And The Occult Rituals Of The Corporate World explores the metaphorical parallels between corporatised, market-oriented universities and aspects of the occult. In the process, the book shows that the forms of mystery, mythmaking and ritual now common in restructured institutions of higher education stem from their new power structures and procedures, and the economic and sociopolitical factors that have generated them.
Wood argues that universities have acquired occult aspects, as the beliefs and practices underpinning present-day market-driven academic discourse and practice weave spells of corporate potency, invoking the bewildering magic of the market and the arcane mysteries of capitalism, thriving on equivocation and evasion. Making particular reference to South African universities, the book demonstrates the ways in which apparently rational features of contemporary Western and westernised societies have acquired occult aspects. It also includes discussion of higher education institutions in other countries where neoliberal economic agendas are influential, such as the UK, the USA, the Eurozone states and Australia.
Providing a unique and thought-provoking look at the impact of the marketisation of Higher Education, this book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students engaged in the study of higher education, educational policy and neoliberalism. It should also be of great interest to academics in the fields of anthropology, folklore and cultural studies, as well as business, economics and management.
This book is an analysis of witchcraft and witch hunting as they
appeared in southwestern Germany in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Starting from a short analysis of some basic problems in
the interpretation of European witchcraft, it proceeds to a study
of the shifting denominational views regarding witches and the
growth of Catholic orthodoxy. That theoretical vantage yields
insight into the patterns in time, space, and confession that
characterized all witch hunts in the German Southwest. There
follows a narrative analysis of the largest witch hunts and the
general crisis of confidence they produced. Analysis is
complemented by a summary of what is known about the people accused
of witchcraft, as well as an examination of the popular suspicion
directed toward old women at the start of most panics and the
breakdown of this stereotype as the panics progressed.
2013 Reprint of 1946 Fifth Edition. Full facsimile of the original
edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Mr.
Hall, himself an honorary 33x Mason, reveals the profounder aspects
of this ancient Fraternity which has been a source of inspiration
to so many individuals through the centuries. The basic symbolism
of the three degrees of the Blue Lodge is explained. The text can
be read with profit by both new and old Masons, for within its
pages lies an interpretation of Masonic symbolism which supplements
the monitorial instruction usually given in the lodges. The leading
Masonic scholars of all times have agreed that the symbols of the
Fraternity are susceptible of the most profound interpretation and
thus reveal to the truly initiated certain secrets concerning the
spiritual realities of life. Freemasonry is therefore more than a
mere social organization a few centuries old, and can be regarded
as a perpetuation of the philosophical mysteries and initiations of
the ancients. This is in keeping with the inner tradition of the
Craft, a heritage from pre-Revival days. The present volume will
appeal to the thoughtful Mason as an inspiring work, for it
satisfies the yearning for further light and leads the initiate to
that Sanctum Sanctorum where the mysteries are revealed. The book
is a contribution to Masonic idealism, revealing the profounder
aspects of our ancient and gentle Fraternity - those unique and
distinctive features which have proved a constant inspiration
through the centuries. Chapters Include: Chapter I - The Eternal
Quest Chapter II - The Candidate Chapter III - The Entered
Apprentice Chapter IV - The Fellow Craft Chapter V - The Master
Mason Chapter VI - The Qualifications of a True Mason Epilogue
This book explores historical and contemporary ideas of witchcraft
through the perspective of the Clan of Tubal Cain - a closed
Initiatory group aligned to the Shadow Mysteries within the
Luciferian stream. As students of art we mediate the ancestral
stream, teaching through practice with the sacred tenets of Truth,
Love and Beauty. The Word is thus manifest in deed and vision.
"What is here presented is a work of darkness." Yet it is no other
than what with great tenderness and circumspection was tendered to
men of the highest dignity in Europe, kings and princes, and by all
listened unto for a while with good respect. By some gladly
embraced and entertained for a long time, the fame whereof being
carried unto Rome, it made the Pope to better himself, no knowing
what the event of it might be, and how much it might concern him.
And indeed, filled all men, learned and unlearned in most places
with great wonder and astonishment: all which things will be showed
and made good in the contents of this book, by unquestionable
records and evidences. And therefore I make no question but there
will be men enough found in the world whose curiosity will lead
them to read what I think is not to be paralleled in that kind by
any book that has been set out in any age to read (from the
preface). This occult classic, rare and long unavailable, is a
reprint from the 1659 edition, once again in print in a handsome
new format from Golem Media.
At 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky, just across the river from
Cincinnati, Ohio...lies, what has been called "the most haunted
place in America." Bobby Mackey's Music World, a country/western
bar and nightclub, is well known for its mechanical bull. It is
better known for more violent encounters with spirits than anywhere
else in the US. Visitors and staff members report everything from
poltergeist-like phenomena, to disembodied voices and laughter, to
actual physical attacks by unseen forces. There are, on record, 29
sworn affidavits of sightings, several from police and clergy.
Paranormal Investigator Doug Hensley was called in to determine the
causes for the strange occurrences. Mr. Hensley made some startling
discoveries. This book has been the subject of National TV Shows
such as Geraldo, Sightings, Encounters, Sally Jessee Rapheal, A
Current Affair, Real Ghosts, The Other Side and many more. Read
America's Most Documented Haunting, Hell's Gate.
"Avery Gordon's stunningly original and provocatively imaginative
book explores the connections linking horror, history, and
haunting." --George Lipsitz
"The text is of great value to anyone working on issues pertaining
to the fantastic and the uncanny." --American Studies
International"
"Ghostly Matters" immediately establishes Avery Gordon as a leader
among her generation of social and cultural theorists in all
fields. The sheer beauty of her language enhances an intellectual
brilliance so daunting that some readers will mark the day they
first read this book. One must go back many more years than most of
us can remember to find a more important book." --Charles Lemert
Drawing on a range of sources, including the fiction of Toni
Morrison and Luisa Valenzuela (He Who Searches"), Avery Gordon
demonstrates that past or haunting social forces control present
life in different and more complicated ways than most social
analysts presume. Written with a power to match its subject,
Ghostly Matters" has advanced the way we look at the complex
intersections of race, gender, and class as they traverse our lives
in sharp relief and shadowy manifestations.
Avery F. Gordon is professor of sociology at the University of
California, Santa Barbara.
Janice Radway is professor of literature at Duke University.
The Orphic hymns are fascinating historical artifacts 87 devotions,
invocations, and entreaties to the Greek gods that are as powerful
today as they were when they were originally developed thousands of
years ago. Designed to be used in contemporary spiritual practice
and spellcrafting, this premium hardcover edition features
spectacular new English translations by Patrick Dunn along with the
original Greek on facing pages. These translations are complete,
accurate, and poetic perfect for integrating into rituals and
magical workings for every conceivable purpose, from protection to
prosperity and everything in between. Written by a poet and
occultist specifically for contemporary practitioners of magic,
this must-have book also includes detailed notes to help you
understand esoteric passages as well as suggestions for incense
selection and the practical use of the hymns.
One of the most enigmatic figures in history, Nostradamus -
apothecary, astrologer and soothsayer - is a continual source of
fascination. Indeed, his predictions are so much the stock-in-trade
of the wildest merchants of imminent Doom that one could be
forgiven for ignoring the fact that Michel de Nostredame,
1503-1566, was a figure firmly rooted in the society of the French
Renaissance. In this bold new account of the life and work of
Nostradamus, Denis Crouzet shows that any attempt to interpret his
Prophecies at face value is misguided. Nostradamus was not trying
to predict the future. He saw himself, rather, as prophesying ,
i.e. bringing the Word of God to humankind. In a century marked by
the extreme violence of the Wars of Religion, Nostradamus profound
Christian faith placed him among the evangelicals of his
generation. Rejecting the confessional tensions tearing Europe
apart, he sought to coax his readers towards an interiorised piety,
based on the essential presence of Christ. Like Rabelais, for whom
laughter was a therapy to help one cope with the misery of the
times, Nostradamus saw himself as a physician of the soul as much
as of the body. His unveiling of the menacing and horrendous events
which await us in the future was a way of frightening his readers
into the realisation that inner hatred was truly the greatest peril
of all, to which the sole remedy was to live in the love and peace
of Christ. This inspired interpretation penetrates the imaginative
world of Nostradamus, a man whose life is as mysterious as his
writings. It shows him in a completely new dimension, securing for
him a significant place among the major thinkers of the
Renaissance.
A new history that overturns the received wisdom that science
displaced magic in Enlightenment Britain-named a Best Book of 2020
by the Financial Times In early modern Britain, belief in
prophecies, omens, ghosts, apparitions and fairies was commonplace.
Among both educated and ordinary people the absolute existence of a
spiritual world was taken for granted. Yet in the eighteenth
century such certainties were swept away. Credit for this great
change is usually given to science - and in particular to the
scientists of the Royal Society. But is this justified? Michael
Hunter argues that those pioneering the change in attitude were not
scientists but freethinkers. While some scientists defended the
reality of supernatural phenomena, these sceptical humanists drew
on ancient authors to mount a critique both of orthodox religion
and, by extension, of magic and other forms of superstition. Even
if the religious heterodoxy of such men tarnished their reputation
and postponed the general acceptance of anti-magical views, slowly
change did come about. When it did, this owed less to the testing
of magic than to the growth of confidence in a stable world in
which magic no longer had a place.
'Spiritual knowledge is not given to us as in ancient times. By
spiritual means it must be struggled and striven for against a host
of demons...We must therefore get to know the powers that would
cover up and obscure all spiritual knowledge.' - from the Preface
'The world seems to be standing within a demonic storm that
threatens to overwhelm it', states T.H. Meyer at the outset of this
rousing call for a wide-ranging, spiritual-scientific knowledge of
the world. Appeals to traditional religious belief will no longer
pacify this storm, and neither will 'good will' suffice. Building
on Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy, In the Sign of Five tackles the
central task of our epoch: the epistemological struggle with evil,
and presents the five most important spiritual events since the
beginning of the Age of Michael: 1879 - the rise of Michael to the
rank of Time Spirit; 1899 - the end of Kali Yuga; 1933 - the
appearance of Christ in the Etheric; 1998 - the assault of Sorath,
'one of the greatest ahrimanic demons'; The present - the
incarnation of Ahriman. These events are linked to the five main
tasks of the Age of Michael, the great challenge of inner knowledge
and spiritual consciousness posed by the epoch as a whole. In the
light of world history, and within the context of 'the sign of
five', we stand today at the fifth place - at the point of the
incarnation of Ahriman. Is humanity prepared for this decisive
event? Have we recognised the phenomena of evil that surround us on
a daily basis? Have the tasks corresponding to the five events been
identified, and to what extent have they been carried out? How is
evil related to 'the good' that guides the world, and specifically
to the Christ impulse? Meyer provides a vital, pithy, aphoristic
handbook for our apocalyptic times.
|
|