The first full-length biography of William Dudley Pelley, an important figure in the development of right-wing extremism in the United States called by detractors the ""Star-Spangled Fascist."" William Dudley Pelley was one of the most important figures of the anti-Semitic radical right in the twentieth century. Best remembered as the leader of the paramilitary ""Silver Shirts,"" Pelley was also an award-winning short story writer, Hollywood screenwriter, and religious leader. During the Depression Pelley was a notorious presence in American politics; he ran for president on a platform calling for the ghettoization of American Jews and was a defendant in a headline-grabbing sedition trial thanks to his unwavering support for Nazi Germany. Scott Beekman offers not only a political but also an intellectual and literary biography of Pelley, greatly advancing our understanding of a figure often dismissed as a madman or charlatan. His belief system, composed of anti-Semitism, economic nostrums, racialism, neo-Theosophical channeling, and millenarian Christianity, anticipates the eclecticism of later cult personalities such as Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo, and the British conspiracy theorist David Icke. By charting the course of Pelley's career, Beekman does an admirable job of placing Pelley within the history of both the anti-Semitic right and American occult movements. This exhaustively researched book is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship on American extremism and esoteric religions.

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.

When strange signs appeared in the sky over Quebec during the autumn of 1660, people began to worry about evil forces in their midst. They feared that witches and magicians had arrived in the colony, and a teenaged servant named Barbe Hallay started to act as if she were possessed. The community tried to make sense of what was happening, and why. Priests and nuns performed rituals to drive the demons away, while the bishop and the governor argued about how to investigate their suspicions of witchcraft. A local miller named Daniel Vuil, accused of using his knowledge of the dark arts to torment Hallay, was imprisoned and then executed. Stories of the demonic infestation circulated through the small settlement on the St Lawrence River for several years. In The Possession of Barbe Hallay Mairi Cowan revisits these stories to understand the everyday experiences and deep anxieties of people in New France. Her findings offer insight into beliefs about demonology and witchcraft, the limits of acceptable adolescent behaviour, the dissonance between a Catholic colony in theory and the church's wavering influence in practice, the contested authority accorded to women as healers, and the insecurities of the colonial project. As the people living through the events knew at the time, and as this study reveals, New France was in a precarious position. The Possession of Barbe Hallay is both a fascinating account of a case of demonic possession and an accessible introduction to social and religious history in early modern North America.

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.

Women Who Live Evil Lives documents the lives and practices of mixed-race, Black, Spanish, and Maya women sorcerers, spell-casters, magical healers, and midwives in the social relations of power in Santiago de Guatemala, the capital of colonial Central America. Men and women from all sectors of society consulted them to intervene in sexual and familial relations and disputes between neighbors and rival shop owners; to counter abusive colonial officials, employers, or husbands; and in cases of inexplicable illness.

Applying historical, anthropological, and gender studies analysis, Martha Few argues that women's local practices of magic, curing, and religion revealed opportunities for women's cultural authority and power in colonial Guatemala. Few draws on archival research conducted in Guatemala, Mexico, and Spain to shed new light on women's critical public roles in Santiago, the cultural and social connections between the capital city and the countryside, and the gender dynamics of power in the ethnic and cultural contestation of Spanish colonial rule in daily life.

Through an examination of Benedictine abbot Trithemius (1462-1516), this book explores the intersection of the early modern debate over occult studies with a number of contemporaneous developments: late medieval mysticism, the revival of ancient letters, the Catholic and Protestant reform movements, the witch hunts, and the scientific revolution.

Contents: Practical Occultism; Occultism Versus the Occult Arts; The Blessings of Publicity; Hypnotism; Black Magic in Science; Signs of the Times; Psychic and Noetic Action.

John Gardner has worked in anthroposophy and Waldorf education for close to sixty years. The present volume collects some of his most striking thoughts on various aspects of education and adolescence viewed from the perspective of spiritual science. "It is a characteristic of youth, " he writes, "that what will later be accomplishment appears first as longing." This longing, which appears in manifold guises, is above all a longing for true forms of knowing. At the deepest levels, young people's thinking seeks to become imagination, their life of feeling to become inspiration, while in their sexuality, they experience the burgeoning seed of intuition. The leading question of education is how these longings are to be nurtured and cultivated so thai they fulfill their promise, and we grow up as free, responsible human beings able to care for each other and the greater life that sustains us. Such are the issues that John Gardner considers in this wise collection, which also includes reflections on such topics as discipline and the importance of play.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Contents: Mysteries of the East and of Barbarous Nations; The Grecian Mysteries and the Roman Bacchanalia; The Pythagorean League and other Secret Associations; Son of Man, Son of God; A Pseudo-Messiah; A Lying Prophet; The Knights Templar; The Femgerichte; Stonemasons' Lodges of the Middle Age; Astrologers and Alchemists; Rise and Constitution of Freemasonry; Secret Societies of the Eighteenth Century; The Illuminati; Secret Societies of Various Kinds.

Sawai Jai Singh, the statesman astronomer of 18th century India, designed astronomical instruments of masonry and stone, built observatories, prepared by Zij or a text for astronomical calculations. He opted for the naked eye masonary instruments when telescope had become quiet common with European astronomers.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

A Verbatim Reprint of His First Four treatises; Anthroposophia Theomagica; Anima Magica Abscondita; Magia Adamica; and the True Coelum Terrae. The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan constitute an explanatory prolegomena not only to the general history of practical transcendentalism, and to the philosophy of transcendental art, from the standpoint of a Christian initiate, but they are special directed to the interpretation of alchemical symbolism; they claim to provide the intelligent reader with a substantially fresh revelation of that mysterious First Matter of the Magnum Opus. Thomas Vaughan enlarges the theoretical scope of alchemical processes, and delineates the spiritual evolution of humanity.

Of all of his works, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity is the one that Steiner himself believed would have the longest life and the greatest spiritual and cultural consequences. It was written as a phenomenological account of the "results of observing the human soul according to the methods of natural science. This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity - understood as the human ability to think and act independently of physical nature - is the suitable path for human beings today to gain true knowledge of themselves and of the universe. This is not merely a philosophical volume, but rather a warm, heart-oriented guide to the practice and experience of living thinking. Readers will not find abstract philosophy here, but a step-by-step account of how a person may come to experience living, intuitive thinking - "the conscious experience of a purely spiritual content." During the past hundred years since it was written, many have tried to discover this "new thinking" that could help us understand the various spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues facing us. But only Rudolf Steiner laid out a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity - intuitive thinking - in which we become co-creators and co-redeemers of the world. "When, with the help of Steiner's book, we recognize that thinking is an essentially spiritual activity, we discover that it can school us. In that sense - Steiner's sense - thinking is a spiritual path" (Gertrude Reif Hughes).

"Occasionally a truly remarkable book appears-one that takes a topic in need of discussion, thoroughly researches it, and presents credible results in a fascinating and extremely well manner. Witchcraft in the Southwest is such a volume, and as such, is a must for all readers, be they scholars, students, or others. . . . The volume devotes equal time to Spanish and Indian supernaturalism along the Rio Grande. Opening with a succinct review of the meaning and evolution of witchcraft in Europe and Spain, Simmons establishes the existence of many similar beliefs among native inhabitants of the New World. Moving chronologically to Spanish colonization, the author vividly conveys Spanish reactions to Pueblo life and religion, the fears of witches and other supernatural forces that plagued Spanish colonists. . . . Emphasizing the beliefs and nature of witchcraft rather than the actual mechanics (which are secret), he follows Hispanic communities into the late 19th century. . . . Readers learn how witchcraft fits into the Pueblo world view and how it compares and contrasts with European and Spanish varieties in such areas as motivation, types, powers, beliefs and means of acquisition. . . . Simmons' study provides a needed overview and one that is carefully based on available ethnohistorical documents and credible anthropological data."-American Indian Quarterly A professional historian, author, editor, and translator, Marc Simmons has published numerous books and monographs on the Southwest as well as articles in more than twenty scholarly and popular journals.

Among the most important sources for understanding the cultures and systems of thought of ancient Mesopotamia is a large body of magical and medical texts written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. An especially significant branch of this literature centres upon witchcraft. Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft rituals and incantations attribute ill-health and misfortune to the magic machinations of witches and prescribe ceremonies, devices, and treatments for dispelling witchcraft, destroying the witch, and protecting and curing the patient. The Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals aims to present a reconstruction of this body of texts; it provides critical editions of the relevant rituals and prescriptions based on the study of the cuneiform tablets and fragments recovered from the libraries of ancient Mesopotamia.

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.

The Kybalion is a study of basic hermetic teachings that outline an ageless wisdom. In ancient times these teachings were not understood by the lay person, but were readily understood by students, after the axioms and principles had been explained and exemplified by the Hermetic Initiates and Masters to their Neophytes.

Sir Hermann Gollancz (1852-1930) was an English rabbi, scholar and public figure whose distinguished career led to his becoming the first rabbi to receive a knighthood. Gollancz was Professor of Hebrew at University College London from 1902 to 1924 and published extensively on Jewish history as well as translating many Hebrew and Aramaic texts. This 1912 volume contains editions, with translations and notes, of three Syriac manuscripts (two from Gollancz' personal library and a third from Cambridge University Library) containing a collection of Eastern Christian charms and incantations. They range from antidotes to headaches, colic and 'teeth chattering' to prayers for controlling mad dogs, unruly cows and 'the gun of warriors', as well as for warding off the evil eye. They begin with the Trinitarian formula and often invoke specific biblical stories to add force. Illustrations from Codex A (dated to 1802 and from Turkish Kurdistan) are also included.

A comprehensive guide to the ancient beliefs and spiritual power of subterranean spaces * Examines in depth the myths, symbology, deities, and beliefs connected to the underworld from many different cultures and mystery traditions * Investigates the role of the underworld in initiatory rites and mystical practices, such as the Orphic Mysteries, the chambers of reflections in Freemasonry, the cult of the Black Madonna, and the cult of Isis * Discusses the telluric currents that run through ley lines, the significance of underground waterways, Hollow Earth theory, and the denizens of the subterranean realms, such as dragons, gnomes, and dwarfs Ancient cultures around the world understood the spiritual powers of the underworld. For millennia, natural caves and caverns were turned into sacred underground temples and, from holy mountains and cliffs, churches were beautifully carved into solid rock. Offering a guide to the spiritual energies that flourish beneath the surface of the Earth, Jean-Pierre Bayard explores the esoteric mysteries of the underworld, including the symbolic significance of caves, caverns, and underground temples. He examines in depth the myths, symbology, deities, and beliefs connected to the underworld from many different cultures and mystery traditions, from ancient Egypt to Scandinavia and Europe to the Middle East and India. He investigates the role of the underworld in initiatory rites, such as the Orphic Mysteries and Christ's descent into hell, revealing that at the heart of these teachings is the transformative power of a hero's descent into and return from the underworld. The author connects the esoteric attributes of the world below with the cult of the Black Madonna and the earlier cult of Isis. He discusses the telluric currents that run through ley lines, the significance of underground waterways, the esoteric properties of gems and stones, and the "mineral blood" of the alchemists. He also looks at Hollow Earth theory and the denizens of the subterranean realms, such as dragons, gnomes, and dwarfs. Explaining how the Earth is the womb of the world, Bayard shows how initiatic descent into the sacred subterranean realms reflects the descent of spirit into matter and its slow crystallization. By entering the body of the Earth Mother we are transformed, initiated into primordial wisdom and reborn as spiritual beings.

A fifteen-year-old girl who claimed regular communications with the spirits of her dead friends and relatives was the subject of the very first published work by the now legendary psychoanalyst C.G. Jung. Collected here, alongside many of his later writings on such subjects as life after death, telepathy and ghosts, it was to mark just the start of a professional and personal interest—even obsession—that was to last throughout Jung’s lifetime. Written by one of the greatest and most controversial thinkers of the twentieth century, Psychology and the Occult represents a fascinating trawl through both the dark, unknown world of the occult and the equally murky depths of the human psyche.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961). Founded the analytical school of psychology and developed a radical new theory of the unconscious that has made him one of the most familiar names in twentieth-century thought.

Table of Contents

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). Founded the analytical school of psychology and developed a radical new theory of the unconscious that has made him one of the most familiar names in 20th Century thought.