A marvelous book, at once comprehensive and highly readable, a fascinating analysis of doomsday cults and apocalyptic anxiety. --Michael Owen Jones, University of California, Los Angeles The End of the World As We Know It makes accessible to both scholars and general readers the amazing panorama of millenarian scenarios abounding in America at the end of the millennium. --Robert S. Ellwood, University of Southern California Will stand for some time as the best survey and analysis of the meaning and place of apocalypticism and millennialism in American culture. --Religion and Literature Fascinating and] intelligent . . . should be required reading. --Psychotronic From religious tomes to current folk prophesies, recorded history reveals a plethora of narratives predicting or showcasing the end of the world. The incident at Waco, the subway bombing by the Japanese cult Aum Supreme Truth, and the tragedy at Jonestown are just a few examples of such apocalyptic scenarios. And these are not isolated incidents; millions of Americans today believe the end of the world is inevitable, either by a divinely ordained plan, nuclear catastrophe, extraterrestrial invasion, or gradual environmental decay, Examining the doomsday scenarios and apocalyptic predictions of visionaries, televangelists, survivalists, and various other endtimes enthusiasts, as well as popular culture, film, music, fashion, and humor, Daniel Wojcik sheds new light on America's fascination with worldly destruction and transformation. He explores the origins of contemporary apocalyptic beliefs and compares religious and secular apocalyptic speculation, showing us the routes our belief systems have traveled over the centuries to arrive at the dawn of a new millennium. Included in his sweeping examination are premillennial prophecy traditions, prophecies associated with visions of the Virgin Mary, secular ideas about nuclear apocalypse, the transformation of apocalyptic prophecy in the post-Cold War era, and emerging apocalyptic ideas associated with UFOs and extraterrestrials. Timely, yet of lasting importance, The End of the World as We Know It is a comprehensive cultural and historical portrait of an age-old phenomenon and a fascinating guide to contemporary apocalyptic fever. Daniel Wojcik is Associate Professor of English and Folklore at the University of Oregon and author of Punk and Neo-Tribal Body Art. He received his Ph.D. in Folklore and Mythology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Guided by leading Black herbalistKaren Rose, discover how to harness the magic of plants and diasporic ancestral practices in remedies and ritual. Master Herbalist Karen Rose is a first-generation immigrant from Guyana with ancestors from Ghana, the Congo, China, and India who continues her grandmother's legacy as a healer and herbalist. In The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism, she shares her wisdom on how to partner plants and rituals to guide the process of self-healing. As you alleviate physical symptoms and heal emotional and spiritual imbalances, you will see how plants can help you stand in your power, strengthen your intuition, and provide protection. This guide to harnessing the power of plants is a practical tool for working through the symptoms of body disease and the underlying emotional and spiritual issues. Organized by major body systems-circulatory, respiratory, digestive, liver, sexual, skin, nervous systems, and immune health-The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism gives a brief overview of the physical mechanisms of the system, the spiritual correspondences associated with that system, and the plants, remedies, and rituals that can be used to bring oneself back to healing and balance. Accompanied by beautiful color illustrations of the plants, the organs they affect, and their related spirits, or orishas, each plant profile includes: Botanical and pharmacological information Planetary correspondences Ethnobotanical and historical use Healing properties and indications Methods of preparation and dosage Applying this herbal wisdom, the recipes include: 4th Chakra Heart Oil for healing a broken heart, also helpful for healing generational trauma Inspired Sleep and Dreams Tea to inspire dreams Breathe Easy Steam to improve respiratory health Immunity Chai Tea to fight off cold and flu viruses Laying Hands Stomach and Womb Oil for indigestion and menstrual discomfort A Castor Oil Pack for Liver Health to remove pain and swelling from sprains and bruises Filled with stories, ancestral recipes, and accessible practices that anyone can use, The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism shows you how to use the power of plants for spiritual and physical healing.

Also known as "The Witch Hammer," The Malleus Maleficarum was a handbook for hunting and punishing witches-written by Inquisitors HEINRICH KRAMER (c. 1430-1505), an Alsatian clergyman, and JAMES SPRENGER (c. 1436-1494), a Swiss monk-to assist the Inquisition and Church in exterminating undesirables. Mostly a compilation of superstition and folklore, the book was taken very seriously at the time it was written in the 15th century and became a kind of spiritual law book used by judges to determine the guilt of the accused. While some of the articles covered in "The Witch Hammer" are humorous to modern audiences, they were a matter of life and death in the mid-1400's. Anyone interested in religion, the Inquisition, or the witch hunts that ravaged Europe will find this 1928 translation, by MONTAGUE SUMMERS (1880-1948), an unbelievable and enlightening read.

In this book, John George Hohman catalogues a lengthy list of folk and herbal remedies, created to treat all manner of illnesses in humans and pets. In the early 19th century, John George Hohman worked as a book printer while also selling a variety of herbal remedies. Uniting his dual professions by releasing a book about the many remedies he'd encountered and sold, Hohman first released the text in his native German, with an English edition following later. The term 'Pow-Wows' was appended to a later edition, when public interest in Native American medicines surfaced. After its introduction and a variety of testimonials, Pow-Wows proceeds to list more than two-hundred distinct folk remedies. Each entry describes the maladies appropriate for the treatment, before describing how to prepare and administer the remedy. Powdered and fresh plant matter, oils, tinctures, and other items constitute these remedies, which purport to work wonders on ailments both acute and chronic.

Can a murdered person come back from the grave to tell her autobiography through the voice of a psychic medium? During the summer of 1980, a young Canadian beauty, Dorothy Stratten, and her husband, Paul Snider, were murdered in Los Angeles under mysterious circumstances and a shroud of cover-up. Many lives would change drastically as people abandoned the Playboy ship en masse in the aftermath. This book offers theological insight into sexual abuse, hedonism, PTSD trauma, stress-related illness, human trafficking, codependence and forgiveness.

Shamanism has always been of great interest to anthropologists. More recently it has been "discovered" by westerners, especially New Age followers. This book breaks new ground byexamining pristine shamanism in Greenland, among people contacted late by Western missionaries and settlers. On the basis of material only available in Danish, and presented herein English for the first time, the author questions Mircea Eliade's well-known definition of the shaman as the master of ecstasy and suggests that his role has to be seen as that of a master of spirits. The ambivalent nature of the shaman and the spirit world in the tough Arctic environment is then contrasted with the more benign attitude to shamanism in the New Age movement. After presenting descriptions of their organizations and accounts by participants, the author critically analyses the role of neo-shamanic courses and concludes that it is doubtful to consider what isoffered as shamanism.

What are we doing on planet earth? Why are we here? Did we evolve? Or, are we created? Many of us, as we age, don't so easily accept many philosophies and teachings about life. We come to realize the degree to which truth is bent and shaped by special interests in social, political, and religious affairs. After 40 years in the making, In Search of Destiny brings to you a gripping scientific and spiritual search for human destiny. Are we here to just be born, grow old, and die on planet earth? Or, is there evidence beyond this? In Search of Destiny draws a decisive conclusion.