2013 Reprint of 1937 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The first chapter of this essay provides a soundly skeptical, mythicist take on Christian origins, while simultaneously asserting Lemurian and Atlantean sources for esoteric traditions. The next three chapters are organized according to the book's pattern: brain/spirit, heart/emotions, and generative organs/physical sensation. In the chapter on "The Spinal Column" corresponding to the heart, there is also a discussion of clairvoyance and mediumship, and in the chapter on "The Infernal Worlds" Hall additionally provides an exposition of color symbolism. The final chapter of Occult Anatomy is on "embryology," which offers readings of religious texts as perinatal allegories. It then continues with a thumbnail description of the seven-year cyclical climacteric pattern of individual human development.

2012 Reprint of 1949 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Steiner gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher. At the beginning of the 20th century, he founded a spiritual movement, Anthroposophy, as an esoteric philosophy growing out of idealist philosophy and with links to Theosophy. Steiner's work argues that body, spirit, and soul are bound together and determine the capacity of cognition. Exploring and developing ideas of occult science, the world, human nature, and similarly large, difficult concepts, this work asserts the existence and importance of the 'supersensible' world. Chapters: The Characters of the Occult Science; The Nature of Man; Sleep and Death; The Evolution of the World and Man; Perception of Higher Worlds; Concerning Initiation; The Present and Future Evolution of the World and of Humanity; Details from the Domain of Occult Science; Man's Ether Body; The Astral World; The Course of Human Life; The Principles of Man; The Dream State; Super Physical Knowledge; Beings in the Spiritual World.

2012 Reprint of 1945 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "A Treatise on White Magic" is considered to be one of her most important writings, as it is less abstract than most, and deals with many important subjects of her works in an introductory, even programmatic fashion. It was first published in 1934 with the subtitle 'The Way of the Disciple'. She promulgated White Magic as a discipline to serve humanity. Bailey said the work was dictated telepathically by the Tibetan Master, Djwal Khul. It is offered as a "basic textbook" for the Western aspirant to initiation, and is divided into fifteen rules of magic, each one taking the reader further into the mysteries of spirituality. Topics discussed include: how an aspirant can best prepare himself for service, the various ray types of their influences, the relationship between the macrocosm and microcosm, the spiritual, causal, astral and physical realms and their interactions, the spiritual psychology of man (although this is dealt with much more fully in the Esoteric Psychology volumes), The Hierarchy of Masters, esoteric groups and schools, the spiritual centers (or chakras), the occult concept of the Seven Rays, meditation work and much more. One of the main themes is that of soul control. Students of the works of Alice A. Bailey and Theosophy believe that the ultimate purpose of White Magic is furtherance of the spiritual and material evolution of humanity. Specifically, this evolution is conceived in terms of the increased benevolent manifestation of seven spiritual energies or Seven Rays. It is further believed that adept practitioners of White Magic, wielding the power of the Seven Rays, can contribute to this evolution.

Fast, informed answers to the challenges of false religions -- This is an age when countless groups and movements, new and old, mark the religious landscape in our culture. As a result, many people are confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportunity to research these movements fully, the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements series provides essential information and insights for their spiritual journeys. The second wave of books in this series addresses a broad range of spiritual beliefs, from non-Trinitarian Christian sects to witchcraft and neo-paganism to classic non-Christian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. All books but the summary volume, Truth and Error, contain five sections: -A concise introduction to the group being surveyed -An overview of the group s theology --- in its own words -Tips for witnessing effectively to members of the group -A bibliography with sources for further study -A comparison chart that shows the essential differences between biblical Christianity and the group -- Truth and Error, the last book in the series, consists of parallel doctrinal charts compiled from all the other volumes. Three distinctives make this series especially useful to readers: -Information is carefully distilled to bring out truly essential points, rather than requiring readers to sift their way through a sea of secondary details. -Information is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow outline form with menu bar running heads. This format greatly assists the reader in quickly locating topics and details of interest. -Each book meets the needs and skill levels of both nontechnical and technical readers, providing an elementary level of refutation and progressing to a more advanced level using arguments based on the biblical text. The writers of these volumes are well qualified to present clear and reliable information and help readers to discern truth from falsehood."

2012 Reprint of Original Three Volume s First Published from 1905-1907. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is a collection of Crowley's early esoteric writings and poetry and comprise the first collected edition of his writings. Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, mystic, ceremonial magician, poet and mountaineer, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon of Horus in the early 20th century. Born into a wealthy upper class family, as a young man he became an influential member of the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after befriending the order's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Subsequently believing that he was being contacted by his Holy Guardian Angel, an entity known as Aiwass, while staying in Egypt in 1904, he "received" a text known as 'The Book of the Law' from what he believed was a divine source, and around which he would come to develop his new philosophy of Thelema. He would go on to found his own occult society and eventually rose to become a leader of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), before founding a religious commune in Cefalu known as the Abbey of Thelema, which he led from 1920 through till 1923. After abandoning the Abbey amid widespread opposition, Crowley returned to Britain, where he continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time. Includes: Volume 1. Aceldama. The tale of Archais. Songs of the spirit. The poem. Jephithah. Mysteries. Jezebel, and other tragic poems. An appeal to the American republic. The fatal force. The mother's tragedy. The temple of the holy ghost. Carmen Saeculare. Tannhauser. Epilogue. Appendix. -- Volume 2. Oracles. Alice: An adultery. The Argonauts. Ahab and other poems. The God-eater. The sword of song. Ambrosii magi hortus rosarum. The three characteristics. An essay on ontology. Science and Buddhism. The excluede middle; or, the sceptic refuted. Time. Epilogue. Volume 3. The star and the garter. Rosa mundi, and other love-songs. The Sire de Maletroit's door. Gargoyles. Rodin in rime. Orpheus. Epilogue and dedication. Appendix A. Bibliographical note. Appendix B. Index of first lines.

This collection of essays brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last 25 years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. The study suggests that witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles over gender and ideology, as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. It recalls that witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

This is a major, groundbreaking study by a leading scholar of continental witchcraft studies, now made available to an English-speaking audience for the first time. The author has compiled a thorough overview of all known prosecutions for witchcraft in the period 1300-1800, and shows conclusively that witch hunting was not a constant or uniform phenomenon: three-quarters of all known executions for witchcraft were concentrated in the years 1586-1630. The book also investigates the social and political implications of witchcraft, and the complex religious debates between believers and skeptics.

In this initiatic novel, bestselling author and acclaimed spiritual teacher Barbara Hand Clow weaves an erotically charged story of romance, deep earth forces, psychic powers, the aristocracy, and Vatican world control revealed by an ancient ruby that inspires mystical visions. Set in Rome in 2012, the story follows Sarah Adamson, a beautiful young Catholic graduate student from Boston studying at the Vatican Library for her thesis on the first Christian heretic, Marcion of Pontus. She is being courted by two utterly different men: Simon Appel, a descendent of the kabbalist Isaac Luria who covers Vatican affairs for the New York Times, and Armando Pierleoni, the scion of an ancient Italian aristocratic family with strong ties to the Vatican. After a terrible encounter with the dark side at a castle in Tuscany, Sarah is given a ring set with a ruby crystal, a powerful stone that was once the third eye of an ancient Buddha statue in Nepal. With the mystic ring on her finger, Sarah’s visionary abilities are ignited. She remembers her past life as the Sibyl of Cumae, a Roman oracle whose powers are now being channeled by the Vatican to maintain world control. As Sarah’s research and visions reveal the cause of evil in the Church and Simon’s reporting exposes the depth of the sexual abuse scandals surrounding the Vatican, the two form an alliance with an ex-lover of both Simon and Armando, Claudia, who describes secret priestly power rituals going on in Vatican City. As the heightened energies of the winter solstice of 2012 arrive and 2013 dawns, will Simon and Sarah be able to harness their divine powers for transformation? Will the Vatican seek new direction as it elects a new pope? Revealing the very nature of how evil gets into the world, this novel of romance, mystery, heresy, and spirituality uncovers the esoteric foundations for the emergence of a golden new age.

One day, Christopher Hyatt and his friend Rick were enjoying the day and "tossing back a few", as Rick would say. So, naturally, they broke out the video camera to conduct an "interview". The result is this fun-filled, straight-from-the-shoulder and definitely gossipy DVD. Hyatt discusses his lineage from Aleister Crowley; S. Jason Black as galley slave; his relationship with Israel Regardie; his rather "unfulfilling" history with the OTO, sailing for AIDS research; the direction of his current work; his favorite cognac; the future of Magick, and a whole bunch more.

Nasr argues that the current ecological crisis has been exacerbated by the reductionist view of nature that has been advanced by modern secular science. What is needed, he believes, if the recovery of the truth to which the great enduring religions all attest: that nature is sacred.

This collection of essays brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last 25 years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. The study suggests that witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles over gender and ideology, as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. It recalls that witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

The Rosicrucian Brotherhood traces its origin to the 14th century, and claims to be heir to occult and recondite secrets that date back much, much further. The anonymous author of 'The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians' reveals - perhaps for the first time - the basic tenets of their philosophy, the Nature of the visible and invisible universe, and the techniques by which the Rosicrucian adept may attain to powers inconceivable to ordinary humans who remain fettered by the restricting bonds of dogmatic religion and modern science.

Early New Englanders used magical techniques to divine the future, to heal the sick, to protect against harm and to inflict harm. Protestant ministers of the time claimed that religious faith and magical practice were incompatible, and yet, as Richard Godbeer shows, there were significant affinities between the two that enabled layfolk to switch from one to the other without any immediate sense of wrongdoing. Godbeer argues that the different perspectives on witchcraft engendered by magical tradition and Puritan doctrine often caused confusion and disagreement when New Englanders sought legal punishment of witches.

Le Livre d'Or (The Book of Gold) is a unique 17th century French magical work comprising numerous amulets, charms, prayers, spells and sigils for working with the Biblical Book of the Psalms of King David. Written in a simple style akin to a medieval Book of Secrets combined with magical practices from the ancient world, Le Livre d'Or brings together practices which have their roots in major works from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Cairo Genizah, to the Greek Magical Papyri and Sepher Shimmush Tehillim (Magical Use of the Psalms). Now translated into English for the first time, this exceptional text demonstrates the significance of the Psalms as a unifying and vital thread throughout the development of Western magic. From Sweden to Syria, Britain to the Baltic, the use of appropriate Psalms has spread as a significant part of popular folk and religious magic, and Le Livre d'Or is an inimitable example of the transmission of divine power through the written and spoken word. Le Livre d'Or was originally bound as part of Lansdowne MS 1202 with a 17th century French copy of the most important of grimoires, the Key of Solomon. The extensive commentary by David Rankine and Paul Harry Barron emphasises the place of the Psalms within the Grimoire tradition, detailing their extensive apotropaic, amuletic and coercive uses in works such as the Book of Abramelin, the Key of Solomon and the Goetia. The editors also illustrate how the magic of the Psalms has underlain and cross-fertilised numerous traditions over the last two thousand years, from Hellenic magicians, early Christians and Jews of the ancient world to practitioners of the medieval Grimoires and Renaissance Cunning-folk. Whether it was for benevolent or malefic results, Le Livre d'Or provided the appropriate Psalm verses and relevant techniques. This previously ignored work is an outstanding example of eminently practical magic which not only draws on such major works as the Heptameron and the Steganographia, but also many of the divine names found in the Kabbalah. From Saints to spirits, characters to Creeds, Le Livre d'Or shines forth as a significant and reclaimed chapter in the Western Esoteric Traditions.

2009 reprint of 1956 First edition. When Prophecy Fails [1956] is a classic text in social psychology authored by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter. It chronicles the experience of a UFO cult that believed the end of the world was at hand. In effect, it is a social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world, and the adjustments made when the prediction failed to materialize. "The authors have done something as laudable as it is unusual for social psychologists. They espied a fleeting social movement important to a line of research they were interested in and took after it. They recruited a team of observers, joined the movement, and watched it from within under great difficulties until its crisis came and went. Their report is of interest as much for the method as for the substance."-Everett C. Hughes, The American Journal of Sociology.

The untold account of the countless Americans who believe in, or personally experience, paranormal phenomena such as ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs and psychics Given the popularity of television shows such as Finding Bigfoot, Ghost Hunters, Supernatural, and American Horror Story, there seems to be an insatiable public hunger for mystical happenings. But who believes in the paranormal? Based on extensive research and their own unique personal experiences, Christopher Bader, Joseph Baker and Carson Mencken reveal that a significant number of Americans hold these beliefs, and that for better or worse, we undoubtedly live in a paranormal America. Readers will join the authors as they participate in psychic and palm readings, and have their auras photographed, join a Bigfoot hunt, follow a group of celebrity ghost hunters as they investigate claims of a haunted classroom, and visit a support group for alien abductees. The second edition includes new and updated research based on findings from the Baylor Religion survey regarding America's relationship with the paranormal. Drawing on these diverse and compelling sources of data, the book offers an engaging account of the social, personal, and statistical stories of American paranormal beliefs and experiences. It examines topics such as the popularity of paranormal beliefs in the United States, the ways in which these beliefs relate to each other, whether paranormal beliefs will give rise to a new religion, and how believers in the paranormal differ from "average" Americans. Brimming with fascinating anecdotes and provocative new findings, Paranormal America offers an entertaining yet authoritative examination of a growing segment of American religious culture.

While modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as an attempt to draw on a hidden history of ideas, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses have at their heart a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. As Wilson demonstrates, the courses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated, from powerless to powerful. Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications of this relationship in the work of those writers, artists and filmmakers who were most self-consciously experimental, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein.

The visionary tradition of spirits, gods, and demons continues to subvert our rational universe, erupting from the shadows in times of intense religious and philosophical transition. In this dazzling history, Patrick Harpur links together fields as far apart as Greek philosophy and depth psychology, Renaissance magic and tribal ritual, Romantic poetry and the ecstasy of the shaman, to trace how societies have used myths to make sense of the world.

An exploration of our extraordinary shift away from materialism toward renewal of the numinous, mysterious, and uncertain * Examines topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, out-of-body experience, and the contemporary war on witches * Looks at the influence of the founding lights of modern occultism, including mystic Neville Goddard, occult scholar Manly P. Hall, and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, and debunks famous pseudo-skeptics such as the Amazing Randi * Explores magickal practices, including Anarchic Magick, mind metaphysics, the Law of Attraction, and Ouija boards, and upends hallowed spiritual concepts like forgiveness All of us today dwell in uncertain places--realities in which thoughts make things happen, ESP is provable by the scientific methods once used to debunk it, UFOs are mainstream, and magick no longer requires rite and ritual but is as near as your own mind. Today's leading voice of esotericism and the occult, Mitch Horowitz explores topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, the relevance of Gnosticism, and the slender but authentic connection between today's spiritual culture and antiquity, including in areas of Hermeticism, deity worship, out-of-body experience, and magick. He demonstrates the occult roots of wide-ranging facets of modern culture, including politics, abstract art, mind-body healing, self-help, and breakthrough scientific fields such as quantum physics and neuroplasticity. He looks at the influence of the founding lights of modern occultism, including mystic Neville Goddard, occult scholar Manly P. Hall, and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, and provides a magnificent take-down of famous debunkers and pseudo-skeptics such as the Amazing Randi. He explores magickal practices, including Anarchic Magick, mind metaphysics, the Law of Attraction, and the history of Ouija boards and questions time-honored spiritual values like forgiveness. Mitch also examines the contemporary war on witches around the world and what it is like to be blacklisted. Offering a thought-provoking investigation of the spiritual, the occult, the magickal, and the extra-physical, Mitch lays the groundwork for readers to continue their own journeys into these esoteric streams of consciousness.

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.

A useful manual for any magician or curious spectator who wonders why the tricks seem so real, this guide examines the psychological aspects of a magician's work. Exploring the ways in which human psychology plays into the methods of conjuring rather than focusing on the individual tricks alone, this explanation of the general principles of magic includes chapters on the use of misdirection, sleight of hand, and reconstruction, provides a better understanding of this ancient art, and offers a section on psychics that warns of their deceptive magic skills.