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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > General
Suppose you could ask God the most puzzling questions about existence--questions about love and faith, life and death, good and evil. Supose God provided clear, understandable answers. It happened to Neale Donald Walsch. It can happen to you. You are about to have a conversation. Walsch's fascinating three-year conversation with God about every aspect of life and living began in 1992, Walsch says, when he was struggling financially and his health and relationships were suffering. Out of frustration, he composed an angry, passionate letter to God demanding to know why his life was in such turmoil. To his amazement, when he was finished, he was moved to continue writing as God answered back. The book that grew from that first experience addresses the real life issues we all face at work, at home, and out in the world, as well as the larger questions of the nature of God and his relationship to man. How does Walsch know that God was actually talking to him? "The book contains concepts and information beyond anything I've ever thought of," says Walsch. "But more importantly, I've found out through other readers that there are hundreds of people that have had this same experience. This book has allowed them to speak out." Walsch claims that God speaks to everyone all the time, that we're just not listening. "Have you ever been struck by a song lyric or the cover story of a magazine you suddenly pass on a newsstand that seems to answer a question you've had? Have you ever met someone for the first time and had that person mention something out of the blue that's been on your mind? Have you ever gone to church and thought the minister must have read your mail, because he seems to be talking directly to you? We often write things off to coincidence that we should give God credit for."
A nineteenth century French priest discovers something in his
mountain village at the foot of The Pyrenees, which enables him to
amass and spend a fortune of millions of pounds. The tale seems to
begin with buried treasure and then turns into an unprecedented
historical detective story - a modern Grail quest leading back
through cryptically coded parchments, secret societies, the Knights
Templar, the Cathar heretics of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries and a dynasty of obscure French kings deposed more than
1,300 years ago. The author's conclusions are persuasive: at the
core is not material riches, but a secret - a secret of explosive
and controversial proportions, which radiates out from the little
Pyrenees village all the way to contemporary politics and the
entire edifice of the Christian faith. It involves nothing less
than...the Holy Grail.
If you want to know how hypnosis really works (and, no, it has
nothing to do with waving of hands or other similar nonsense), you
will want to read this book. If you want to know the "magic" behind
Ericksonian techniques and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, you have
to read this book. From one of the true masters of hypnotherapy,
this is one book that can really change your life!!
It is hard to overestimate the importance of the contribution made by Dame Frances Yates to the serious study of esotericism and the occult sciences. To her work can be attributed the contemporary understanding of the occult origins of much of western scientific thinking, indeed of western civilization itself. The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan Age was her last book, and in it she condensed many aspects of her wide learning to present a clear, penetrating, and, above all, accessible survey of the occult movements of the Renaissance, highlighting the work of John Dee, Giordano Bruno, and other key esoteric figures. The book is invaluable in illuminating the relationship between occultism and Renaissance thought, which in turn had a profound impact on the rise of science in the seventeenth century. Stunningly written and highly engaging, Yates' masterpiece is a must-read for anyone interested in the occult tradition. eBook available with sample pages: 0203167112
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.
'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.
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.
A critical history of the roots of Nazi occultism and its
continuing influence • Explores the occult influences on various
Nazi figures, including Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, Rudolf Hess,
Alfred Rosenberg, and Heinrich Himmler • Examines the foundations
of the movement laid in the 19th century and continuing in the
early 20th century • Explains the rites and runology of National
Socialism, the occult dimensions of Nazi science, and how many of
the sensationalist descriptions of Nazi “Satanic” practices
were initiated by Church propaganda after the war In this
comprehensive examination of Nazi occultism, Stephen E. Flowers,
Ph.D., offers a critical history and analysis of the occult and
esoteric streams of thought active in the Third Reich and the
growth of occult Nazism at work in movements today. Sharing the
culmination of five decades of research into primary and secondary
sources, many in the original German, Flowers looks at the
symbolic, occult, scientific, and magical traditions that became
the foundations from which the Nazi movement would grow. He details
the influences of Theosophy, Volkism, and the work of the Brothers
Grimm as well as the impact of scientific culture of the time.
Looking at the early 20th century, he describes the impact of Guido
von List, Lanz von Liebenfels, Rudolf von Sebottendorf, Friedrich
Hielscher, and others. Examining the period after the Nazi Party
was established in 1919, and more especially after it took power in
1933, Flowers explores the occult influences on key Nazi figures,
including Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, Rudolf Hess, and Heinrich
Himmler. He analyzes Hitler’s usually missed references to
magical techniques in Mein Kampf, revealing his adoption of occult
methods for creating a large body of supporters and shaping the
thoughts of the masses. Flowers also explains the rites and
runology of National Socialism, the occult dimensions of Nazi
science, and the blossoming of Nazi Christianity. Concluding with a
look at the modern mythology of Nazi occultism, Flowers critiques
postwar Nazi-related literature and unveils the presence of
esoteric Nazi myths in modern occult and political circles.
Based on twenty-seven years of original archival research,
including the discovery of previously unknown documents, this
day-by-day narrative of the hysteria that swept through Salem
Village in 1692 and 1693 reveals new connections behind the events,
and shows how rapidly a community can descend into bloodthirsty
madness. Roach opens her work with chapters on the history of the
Puritan colonies of New England, and explains how these people
regarded the metaphysical and the supernatural. The account of the
days from January 1692 to March 1693 keeps in order the large cast
of characters, places events in their correct contexts, and
occasionally contradicts earlier assumptions about the gruesome
events. The last chapter discusses the remarkable impact of the
events, pointing out how the 300th anniversary of the trials made
headlines in Japan and Australia.
Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials through an analysis of the surviving primary documentation and juxtaposes that against the way in which our culture has mythologized the events of 1692. Salem Story examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch hunt. The book also examines subsequent mythologies that emerged from the events of 1692. Of the many assumptions about the Salem Witch Trials, the most persistent one remains that they were precipitated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened, through reading the primary material, the emerging story shows a different picture, one where "hysteria" inappropriately describes the events and where accusing males as well as females participated in strategies of accusation and confession that followed a logical, rational pattern.
After identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed by a shaman or wizard, this text traces the development of the Magus through pre-Christian religious and mystic philosophers, medieval sorcerers and alchemists and the 18th and 19th century occult revival.
John Van Auken combines the collection of Egyptian past lives found
in the Cayce readings with Egyptian legends that appear in
papyruses, on temple walls, and in pyramid texts for a complete
picture that reveals the full story of priestesses, healers, female
pharaohs, and gods among humans. This book includes more than 80
illustrations with Cayce's insights into the pyramids, ancient
flight, the Hall of Records, the Great Initiate, and the seven
stages of soul growth.
When Jean-Francois Champollion rediscovered how to translate the
Egyptian hieroglyphs in the early nineteenth century he described
them as "....a complex system, a writing that is figurative,
symbolic, and phonetic all within the same text, a single sentence,
I would even say a single word." Since then, although his
discoveries have led to the translation of most of the ancient
Egyptian texts, the emphasis in modern scholarship is to regard the
hieroglyphs purely as sounds and to disregard or even deny their
symbolic meaning. This book explores how the hieroglyphs function
as a comprehensive system of magical symbolism, the medw neter or
Words of the Gods by which the sacred truths of the Inner worlds of
creation are conveyed to humanity. Their effect is 'magical'
because when we study them and ponder their meaning they cause
changes in our consciousness, enabling us to reach a deeper
understanding of ourselves, of our surroundings and of the
universal principles that lie behind all creation. They also
incidentally teach us a great deal about the magical beliefs and
practices of the ancient Egyptians and their perception of the
relationship between the earthly and spiritual worlds. Using many
examples and illustrations, this book demonstrates how the
hieroglyphs formed the basis of Egyptian magic and were the means
by which it was taught and practiced. It offers an entirely new
interpretation of Egyptian magic, and shows how the hieroglyphs can
be used as a magical tool that is as transformative today as it was
in ancient times.
The dark side of the dark side ...He has everything he should want
in life. A good job. A nice home. A nice car. A beautiful wife and
family. A retirement plan. An active social life. A prestigious
reputation. Envious neighbours. A pet dog. Yet there remains
emptiness inside. In a search for meaning, he begins a journey from
which he cannot return. Grasping at everything he can, experiments
in ritual magick lead him into the realms of sex, drugs, organised
crime, aliens and angels as his life spirals further and further up
and down the paths of initiation and illumination while grappling
with insanity, annihilation and transformation.
This book is based on the author's ten-year research into the
politics of belief surrounding paranormal ideas. Through a detailed
examination of the participants, issues, strategies and underlying
factors that constitute the contemporary paranormal debate, the
book explores the struggle surrounding the status of paranormal
phenomena. It examines, on the one hand, how the principal arbiters
of religious and scientific truths - the Church and the academic
establishment - reject paranormal ideas as 'occult' and
'pseudo-scientific', and how, on the other hand, paranormal
enthusiasts attempt to resist such labels and instead establish
paranormal ideas as legitimate knowledge. The author contends that
the paranormal debate is the outcome of wider discursive processes
that are concerned with the construction and negotiation of truth
in Western society generally. More specifically, the debate is seen
as an aspect of the "boundary work" that defines the contours of
religious and scientific orthodoxy. The book paves new ground in
understanding the nature of belief relating to a topic that has
long held fascination to academics and lay people alike -
paranormal ideas. It develops a discursive framework for
understanding a contemporary social phenomenon, hence placing the
study at the cutting edge of ethnographic development that seeks to
integrate discursive perspectives with empirical accounts of
sociological phenomena. Most importantly, the study is intended to
contribute to the debate surrounding communicative action, by
outlining a discursive perspective on the negotiation of ideational
differences that goes beyond the incommensurability theories that
have dominated the sociology of communication and knowledge.
The Secret Teachings of All Ages is perhaps the most comprehensive
and complete esoteric encyclopedia ever written. The sheer scope
and ambition of this book are stunning. In this book Manly P. Hall
has successfully distilled the essence of more arcane subjects than
one would think possible. He covers Rosicrucianism and other secret
societies, alchemy, cryptology, Kabbalah, Tarot, pyramids, the
Zodiac, Pythagorean philosophy, Masonry, gemology, Nicholas
Flammel, the identity of William Shakespeare, The Life and
Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, The Qabbalah, The Hiramic
Legend, The Tree of the Sephiroth, Mystic Christianity, and there
are more than 200 illustrations included here. This is essential
reading for anyone wishing to explore esoteric knowledge.
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