|
|
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies
In a long-overlooked diary entry, Franz Kafka admitted to suffering
from ''bouts of clairvoyance.'' These bouts of clairvoyance can be
seen in his writing, in moments when the solid basis of human
cognition totters, the dissolution of matter seems imminent, and
objects are jarringly severed from physical referents. June O.
Leavitt offers a fascinating examination of the mystical in Kafka's
life and writings, showing that Kafka's understanding of the occult
was not only a product of his own clairvoyant experiences but of
the age in which he lived.
Kafka lived during the modern Spiritual Revival, a powerful
movement which resisted materialism, rejected the adulation of
science and Darwin, and idealized clairvoyant modes of
consciousness. Kafka's contemporaries - such theosophical
ideologues as Madame H.P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, and Dr. Rudolph
Steiner - encouraged the counterculture to seek the true, spiritual
essence of reality by inducing out-of-body experiences and
producing visions of higher disembodied beings through meditative
techniques. Leaders of the Spiritual Revival also called for the
adoption of certain lifestyles, such as vegetarianism, in order to
help transform consciousness and return humanity to its divine
nature.
Interweaving the occult discourse on clairvoyance, the divine
nature of animal life, vegetarianism, the spiritual sources of
dreams, and the eternal nature of the soul with Kafka's
dream-chronicles, animal narratives, diaries, letters, and stories,
Leavitt takes the reader on a journey through the texts of a great
psychic writer and the fascinating epoch of the Spiritual Revival.
Daughters of Hecate unites for the first time research on the
problem of gender and magic in three ancient Mediterranean
societies: early Judaism, Christianity, and Graeco-Roman culture.
The book illuminates the gendering of ancient magic by approaching
the topic from three distinct disciplinary perspectives: literary
stereotyping, the social application of magic discourse, and
material culture.
The volume challenges presumed associations of women and magic by
probing the foundations of, processes, and motivations behind
gendered stereotypes, beginning with Western culture's earliest
associations of women and magic in the Bible and Homer's Odyssey.
Daughters of Hecate provides a nuanced exploration of the topic
while avoiding reductive approaches. In fact, the essays in this
volume uncover complexities and counter-discourses that challenge,
rather than reaffirm, many gendered stereotypes taken for granted
and reified by most modern scholarship.
By combining critical theoretical methods with research into
literary and material evidence, Daughters of Hecate interrogates
gendered stereotypes that are as relevant now as for understanding
antiquity or the early modern witch hunts.
This is Laurence Gardner's final book, written shortly before his
death in 2010 and is the accompanying book to his Origin of God
(published 2011 by dash house publishing). Together with Origin of
God, this book outlines an irrefutable and searing indictment of
conventional belief and exposes the evils and absurdities
perpetuated over the millenia in the name of Christianity. In
Revelation of the Devil, Laurence Gardner traces the history of the
Devil, from its roots in Mesopotamia and the Old Testament all the
way up to the modern world of today. Travelling through the New
Testament, as well as the Koran, and then passing in turn through
the Inquisitions, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, he unmasks
what he has called "the myth of evil and the conspiracy of Satan."
For nearly 2,000 years a supernatural entity known as the Devil has
been held responsible by Church authorities for bringing sin and
wickedness into the world. Throughout this period, the Devil has
been portrayed as a constant protagonist of evil, although his
origin remains a mystery and his personality has undergone many
interpretive changes, prompting questions such as: If God is all
good and all powerful, then why does evil exist? How can it exist?
If God created everything, then where did the Devil come from? If
the Devil exists, then why does he not feature in any pre-Christian
document? Revelation of the Devil follows the Devil's sinister
history, in the manner of a biography, from his scriptural
introduction to the dark satanic cults of the present day. In a
strict chronological progression, we experience the mood of each
successive era as the Devil's image was constantly manipulated to
suit the changing motives of his creators in their bid for
threat-driven clerical control.
The Kingdom of the Occult takes Dr. Walter Martin's comprehensive
knowledge and his dynamic teaching style and forges a strong weapon
against the world of the Occult-a weapon of the same scope and power as
his phenomenal thirty-five-year bestseller, The Kingdom of the Cults
Chapters include: Witchcraft and Wicca, Satanism, Pagan Religions,
Tools of the Occult, Demon Possession and Exorcism, Spiritual Warfare,
etc.
Features include:
• Each chapter contains: Quick Facts; History; Case Studies; Theology;
Resources
Crop circles are the finest, most beautiful and original art forms
of modem times, and they are totally mysterious. Behind the crop
circle phenomenon is an evident purpose. Some intelligence, human,
alien or spiritual, is in the process of communication. It is
exposing us to a course of re-education, beginning with the symbols
of sacred knowledge and wisdom. The most striking evidence for this
view is the amazing formation that appeared at Crooked Soley in
Wiltshire on the 27th August 2002. Clearly expressed in its design
are certain numerical symbols that are known esoterically as the
'Keys to Creation'. They are also keys to that universal science
associated with the Holy Grail. From time to time it is revealed
again, and when that happens, culture and the human spirit are
renewed and life on earth is restored to its natural state as a
reflection of paradise.
The book provides an overview and analysis of the witch trials in
the Scottish Borders in the 17th century. The 17th century was a
time of upheaval in Scottish and British history, with a civil war,
the abolition of the monarchy, the plague and the reformation all
influencing the social context at the time. This book explores the
social, political, geographical, religious and legal structures
that led to the increased amount of witch trials and executions in
the Scottish Borders. As well as looking at specific trials the
book also explores the role of women, both as accuser and as
accused.
A powerfully poignant tale of one of the most turbulent moments in
Scotland's history: the North Berwick Witch Trials. IT'S THE 4TH OF
DECEMBER 1591. On this, the last night of her life, in a prison
cell several floors below Edinburgh's High Street, convicted witch
Geillis Duncan receives a mysterious visitor - Iris, who says she
comes from a future where women are still persecuted for who they
are and what they believe. As the hours pass and dawn approaches,
Geillis recounts the circumstances of her arrest, brutal torture,
confession and trial, while Iris offers support, solace - and the
tantalising prospect of escape. Hex is a visceral depiction of what
happens when a society is consumed by fear and superstition,
exploring how the terrible force of a king's violent crusade
against ordinary women can still be felt, right up to the present
day. 'This series has already produced two works of note and
distinction. It raises the question - if a country cannot re-tell
its history, will it be stuck forever in aspic and condemned to be
nothing more than a shortbread tin illustration? Hex and Rizzio are
showing the way towards a reckoning, and about time too' - Stuart
Kelly, Scotland on Sunday
The Ancient and Accepted Rite for England and Wales covers the
4th-33rd degrees, including the 18th 'Rose Croix' degree. The
author explores the historic background to this important part of
Freemasonry with the original being published in 1980. A second
edition appeared in 1987 which was a completely revised work after
much new documented evidence was discovered, and this third edition
is another reprint of this authoritative study.
The end of the eighteenth century saw the end of the witch trials
everywhere. This volume charts the processes and reasons for the
decriminalisation of witchcraft but also challenges the widespread
assumption that Europe has been 'disenchanted'. For the first time
surveys are given of the social role of witchcraft in European
communities down to the end of the nineteenth century and of the
continued importance of witchcraft and magic as topics of debate
among intellectuals and other writers
Between the age of St. Augustine and the sixteenth century
reformations magic continued to be both a matter of popular
practice and of learned inquiry. This volume deals with its use in
such contexts as healing and divination and as an aspect of the
knowledge of nature's occult virtues and secrets.
There is a growing hunger for God in America. Every day, more and
more Christians are experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in
the light of God's Word. For a Church thirsting for renewal, Gospel
Light introduces a new line of books called Renew. Serving the
fastest growing segment of the Church worldwide -- those
experiencing awakening and renewal with an expectancy for revival
-- Renew brings you biblically sound resources from a publisher you
trust. Take part in the renewal God is bringing to His Church with
Renew Books from Gospel Light.
After teaching and ministering deliverance within the Body of
Christ for many years, the authors have produced this direct and
thoroughly researched book on every Christian's privilege to walk
in deliverance and freedom.
|
|