The prophecy of the Mastay foretells the coming of an age of light and harmony, a day that will be illuminated by a new sun. This day will begin with the reunion of the 'people of the four directions'. The aim of this book is to facilitate the union and explore what could happen afterwards. The book describes the lives of four characters, each of which represent an element, a direction and a civilisation.

Are you looking to turn your life around 180 degrees in 180 days or for inspiration on how to build upon the blessings already in your life? Take an inspired spiritual journey and get clarity for life. Significantly influenced by wisdom and insights from amazing spiritual teachers such as Ernest Holmes, Rumi, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mahatma Gandhi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Michael Beckwith, Eckhart Tolle, Amit Goswami, and Louise Hay, Know the Flow offers spiritual teaching applied to real-world experiences. Know the Flow captures the story of a seeker discovering his purpose in life and so much more. Open your heart to this original approach to practical mysticism, and discover your purpose through real-world spirituality. Turn your life around 180 degrees through 180 short spiritual stories "What a delightful book Carmien Owen has created. His ability to relate full life lessons in interesting and meaningful ways is both fulfilling and enjoyable. I, for one, intend to use many of his stories and ideas in future talks." --Dr. Kenn Gordon, Spiritual Leader, Centres for Spiritual Living

"An insightful and refreshing look at the presence of the Divine in everyday life and how our perception of it is transformative." --Rev Dr Patrick Cameron, Spiritual Director, Centre for Spiritual Living Edmonton

It is the tail end of the sixties in Los Angeles, in that seemingly split second of time when all hell broke loose and the conformity of the "Leave it to Beaver" fifties would forever be shed. That's when Maureen Tadlock hit the streets, her mother divorced for the forth time, with no rules or constraints, twelve years old saying she was fifteen, cruising the boulevards, dropping acid, in an endless carnival of parties and characters that were both innocent and outrageous. But as "the Fates" would have it the law would soon intervene and reset her course on an odyssey of greater meaning and further adventure while continuing to ride the wave of a cultural revolution. In her search for home, family and love in a world that from the beginning felt alien, Maureen Tadlock explores the borderlands of inner experience, creative expression and the transcendent, mythical meaning of her life as a young woman.

""The Weakness of Gravity" is a magic carpet ride of imagination and adventure, bikers, barrio boys, hippie houses and harrowing cross-country trips. Securely moored in the unwavering and addictive voice of Maureen Tadlock, the memoir tells a tale of fearlessness and uncompromising creative expression during a time when the country flared with hope and revolution. A must read that may very well change your life."

Suzanne Kingsbury, author of The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me and The Gospel According to Gracey.

"A superbly written memoir, "The Weakness of Gravity" is a moving, haunting account of Maureen Tadlock's coming of age and emerging consciousness of self in relation to place, home, love, community and creative expression in her life. It is told with genuine humor and an evenly hovering attention that recreates scenes, places, and moments in history with spare but telling details. She recounts experiences of non-ordinary states of consciousness in such a way that they are compelling, intriguing, and just part of the story so that they are not jarring to the reader, but linger as vivid and beautiful images in the reader's mind."

James Sparrell Ph.D.

"There is a magical quality to Maureen's writing that allows the personal and temporal incidences of her life that she invokes to become transparent and reveal something larger and timeless."

Francis X. Charet Ph.D.

Religious organizations face a real crisis. Our culture has changed and change will accelerate. In times of stability organizations grow to a size that challenges their ability to sustain themselves. We have begun a time of cultural instability. In times of stability large organizations thrive. In times of instability small organizations thrive. The hope for religious organizations in this culture is found in small, autonomous, connected organizations which each carry our hopes and dreams into the future. Making that kind of transition is difficult. This book gives you a road map to make it happen. The future of your organization requires that you let go of your past structure. This book is something to hold on to as you grasp for the future. There is a future. We invite you to be part of it.

Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called "superstitious" by educated elites.
For centuries religious believers used "superstition" as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow-believers for practising their faith "wrongly." From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, scholars argued over what 'superstition' was, how to identify it, and how to persuade people to avoid it. Learned believers in demons and witchcraft, in their treatises and sermons, tried to make 'rational' sense of popular superstitions by blaming them on the deceptive tricks of seductive demons.
Every major movement in Christian thought, from rival schools of medieval theology through to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, added new twists to the debates over superstition. Protestants saw Catholics as superstitious, and vice versa. Enlightened philosophers mocked traditional cults as superstitions. Eventually, the learned lost their worry about popular belief, and turned instead to chronicling and preserving 'superstitious' customs as folklore and ethnic heritage.
Enchanted Europe offers the first comprehensive, integrated account of western Europe's long, complex dialogue with its own folklore and popular beliefs. Drawing on many little-known and rarely used texts, Euan Cameron constructs a compelling narrative of the rise, diversification, and decline of popular 'superstition' in the European mind.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.