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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies
Ranging from the pre-Christian era to Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton at the end of the seventeenth century, this Reader covers a broad range of alchemical authors and works. Organized chronologically, it includes around thirty selections in authoritative but lightly-modernized versions. The selections will provide the reader with a basic introduction to the field and its interdisciplinary links with science and medicine, philosophy, religion, and literature and the arts.
New collection of essays promising to re-energize the debate on
Nazism's occult roots and legacies and thus our understanding of
German cultural and intellectual history over the past century.
Scholars have debated the role of the occult in Nazism since it
first appeared on the German political landscape in the 1920s.
After 1945, a consensus held that occultism - an ostensibly
anti-modern, irrational blend of pseudo-religious and -scientific
practices and ideas - had directly facilitated Nazism's rise. More
recently, scholarly debate has denied the occult a role in shaping
the Third Reich, emphasizing the Nazis' hostility to esoteric
religion and alternative forms of knowledge. Bringing together
cutting-edge scholarship on the topic, this volume calls for a
fundamental reappraisal of these positions. The book is divided
into three chronological sections. The first,on the period 1890 to
1933, looks at the esoteric philosophies and occult movements that
influenced both the leaders of the Nazi movement and ordinary
Germans who became its adherents. The second, on the Third Reich in
power, explores how the occult and alternative religious belief
informed Nazism as an ideological, political, and cultural system.
The third looks at Nazism's occult legacies. In emphasizing both
continuities and disjunctures, this book promises to re-open and
re-energize debate on the occult roots and legacies of Nazism, and
with it our understanding of German cultural and intellectual
history over the past century. Contributors: Monica Black; Jeff
Hayton; Oded Heilbronner; Eric Kurlander; Fabian Link and J.
Laurence Hare; Anna Lux; Perry Myers; John Ondrovcik; Michael E.
O'Sullivan; Jared Poley; Uwe Schellinger, Andreas Anton, and
Michael T. Schetsche; Peter Staudenmaier. Monica Black is Associate
Professor and Associate Head of the Department of History at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eric Kurlander is J. Ollie
Edmunds Chair and Professor of Modern European History at Stetson
University.
This richly illustrated history provides a readable and fresh
approach to the extensive and complex story of witchcraft and
magic. Telling the story from the dawn of writing in the ancient
world to the globally successful Harry Potter films, the authors
explore a wide range of magical beliefs and practices, the rise of
the witch trials, and the depiction of the Devil-worshipping witch.
The book also focuses on the more recent history of witchcraft and
magic, from the Enlightenment to the present, exploring the rise of
modern magic, the anthropology of magic around the globe, and
finally the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The
Wizard of Oz to Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The book provides a comprehensive exploration of witchcraft beliefs
and practices in the rural region of Eastern Slovenia. Based on
field research conducted at the beginning of the twenty-first
century, it examines witchcraft in the region from folkloristic,
anthropological, as well as historical, perspectives. Witchcraft is
presented as part of social reality, strongly related to misfortune
and involved in social relationships. The reality of the ascribed
bewitching deeds, psychological mechanisms that may help
bewitchment to work, circumstances in which bewitchment narratives
can be mobilised, reasons for a person to acquire a reputation of
the witch in the entire community, and the role that unwitchers
fulfilled in the community, are but a few of the many topics
discussed. In addition, the intertwinement of social witchcraft
with narratives of supernatural experiences, closely associated
with supernatural beings of European folklore, forming part of the
overall witchcraft discourse in the area, is explored.
In recent years the subject of satanic ritual abuse (SRA) has
incited widespread controversy focused primarily on whether or not
such abuse actually occurs. Much like child sexual abuse, SRA was
initially dismissed as an isolated or even imaginary phenomenon.
Although there is increasing evidence that ritual abuse does take
place, clinicians working with individual patients cannot be sure
whether they are dealing with fact or fantasy. Dr Colin Ross, an
expert in the treatment of dissociative disorders, has encountered
more than three hundred patients with memories of alleged satanic
ritual abuse. In this book, he provides a well-documented
discussion of the psychological, social, and historical aspects of
SRA and presents principles and techniques for its clinical
treatment.
Although Dr Ross has found no evidence of a widespread Satanic
network he is open to the possibility that a certain percentage of
his patients' memories may be entirely or partially historically
accurate. In treatment, he recommends that the therapist adopt an
attitude hovering between disbelief and credulous entrapment.
Dr Ross has encountered memories of SRA primarily among people
who suffer from multiple personality disorders, and the principles
of treatment he outlines here focus on such individuals. Treatment
is described in terms of both general principles and specific
techniques, with case examples. Ross's recommendation that the same
interventions be used regardless of the percentage of memories that
are historically accurate bridges the gap between those who adopt a
believer' stance and those who take a false-memory stance.
This is the most detailed and comprehensive account of SRA from
a clinical perspective available to date. As reports of SRA
continue to escalate, it will be a valuable resource for all
practicing therapists and psychiatrists.
Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials through an analysis of the surviving primary documentation and juxtaposes that against the way in which our culture has mythologized the events of 1692. Salem Story examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch hunt. The book also examines subsequent mythologies that emerged from the events of 1692. Of the many assumptions about the Salem Witch Trials, the most persistent one remains that they were precipitated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened, through reading the primary material, the emerging story shows a different picture, one where "hysteria" inappropriately describes the events and where accusing males as well as females participated in strategies of accusation and confession that followed a logical, rational pattern.
Full of dark humor, how-to advice, and self-proclaimed hard-won
wisdom, the essays in this new collection present more of the
opinions and ideas from famed satanist Anton LaVey. Photos.
Explorers of occult mysteries and the edges of consciousness change
the way we view not only the nature of reality, but also our
deepest sense of self. Insightful author Gary Lachman presents
punchy, enlightening, and intriguing biographies of some of the
most influential esoteric luminaries in recent history. His 16
subjects include Swedish mystical scientist Emanuel Swedenborg; H.
P. Blavatsky, Russian cofounder of the Theosophical Society;
Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who inspired the Waldorf
School of education; Swiss visionary C. G. Jung, founder of depth
psychology; notorious English ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley;
Russian esotericist P. D. Ouspensky, explicator of Gurdjieff's
early works; and British psychic artist Dion Fortune, who was
influential in the modern revival of magical arts.
Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts
witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in
early America. Villagers-mainly young women-suffered from unseen
torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their
bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being
haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by
an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those
responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials,
culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of
the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history.
Historians have speculated on a web of possible causes for the
witchcraft that stated in Salem and spread across the
region-religious crisis, ergot poisoning, an encephalitis outbreak,
frontier war hysteria-but most agree that there was no single
factor. Rather, as Emerson Baker illustrates in this seminal new
work, Salem was "a perfect storm": a unique convergence of
conditions and events that produced something extraordinary
throughout New England in 1692 and the following years, and which
has haunted us ever since. Baker shows how a range of factors in
the Bay colony in the 1690s, including a new charter and
government, a lethal frontier war, and religious and political
conflicts, set the stage for the dramatic events in Salem. Engaging
a range of perspectives, he looks at the key players in the
outbreak-the accused witches and the people they allegedly
bewitched, as well as the judges and government officials who
prosecuted them-and wrestles with questions about why the Salem
tragedy unfolded as it did, and why it has become an enduring
legacy. Salem in 1692 was a critical moment for the fading Puritan
government of Massachusetts Bay, whose attempts to suppress the
story of the trials and erase them from memory only fueled the
popular imagination. Baker argues that the trials marked a turning
point in colonial history from Puritan communalism to Yankee
independence, from faith in collective conscience to skepticism
toward moral governance. A brilliantly told tale, A Storm of
Witchcraft also puts Salem's storm into its broader context as a
part of the ongoing narrative of American history and the history
of the Atlantic World.
After identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed by a shaman or wizard, this text traces the development of the Magus through pre-Christian religious and mystic philosophers, medieval sorcerers and alchemists and the 18th and 19th century occult revival.
A bold exploration of the reintegration of rationality and
intuition, science and soul, to foster individual and planetary
healing During the scientific revolution, science and soul were
drastically separated, propelling humanity into four centuries of
scientific exploration based solely on empiricism and rationality.
But, as scientist and ecologist Stephan Harding, Ph.D.,
demonstrates in detail, by reintegrating science with profound
personal experiences of psyche and soul, we can reclaim our lost
sacred wholeness and help heal ourselves and our planet. The book
begins with compelling introductions to depth psychology, alchemy,
and Gaia theory--the science of seeing the Earth as an intelligent,
self-regulating system, a theory pioneered by the author's mentor
James Lovelock. Harding then explores how alchemy, as understood
through the depth psychology of C. G. Jung, offers us powerful
methods of reuniting rationality and intuition, science and soul.
He examines the integration of important alchemical engravings,
including those from L'Azoth des Philosophes and the Rosarium
Philosophorum, with Gaian science. He shows how the seven key
alchemical operations in the Azoth image can help us develop deeply
transformative experiences and insights into our interconnectedness
with Gaia. He then looks at how the four components of the living
Earth--biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere--mesh
not only with the four elements of alchemical theory but also with
the four functions of consciousness from depth psychology. Woven
throughout with the author's own experiences of Gaia alchemy, the
book also offers guided meditations and contemplative exercises to
open your receptivity to messages from the biosphere and help you
develop your own Gaian alchemical way of life, full of wonder and
healing.
We no longer believe in witches as our ancestors once did. However,
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, any unforeseen or
unexplained events were likely to be attributed to witchcraft. The
stories of the individuals within this book show how superstition
and prejudice played an important and powerful part in the lives of
the populace of Yorkshire from the Middle Ages right through to the
nineteenth century
Almost two decades after writing his famous The Occult, Colin
Wilson re-examined the whole spectrum of the mystical and
paranormal, producing a general occult theory that remains as
compelling as the evidence of atomic particles. Originally
published in 1988, Beyond the Occult contains a huge amount of new
material and evidence, which came to light following publication of
The Occult. It combines scientific thinking on the nature of
physical reality with a wide range of fascinating case studies,
from the Swiss dowser who located the body of a missing woman to
the lucky American whose dreams foretold the winning horses in
multiple races to scores of accounts of mystical experiences of the
Divine, of spirit possession and of poltergeists. Part One covers
the amazing hidden powers of the human mind: ESP, clairvoyance,
psychometry, precognition, psychokinesis, and dowsing. Part Two
considers the more mysterious forces for good or evil -
poltergeists, spirit possession, and reincarnation - that convinced
Colin Wilson of the reality of disembodied spirits. In Beyond the
Occult, Colin Wilson puts forward a convincing case that our
so-called 'normal' experience may, in fact, be subnormal, and that
evolution may have brought us near the edge of a quantum leap into
a hugely expanded human consciousness. This new edition includes a
foreword by Colin Wilson's biographer, Colin Stanley.
Thomas Potts' famous account of the Pendle witch trials of 1612 is
the only original source of information about the events, and in
this excellent new version historian Robert Poole makes the text
accessible and usable for twenty-first century readers for the
first time. Accompanied by an extremely helpful introduction that
summarises the affair in a clear and chronological way, this book
is a must for everyone interested in the Pendle witches, and in the
history of witchcraft, Lancashire and England.
A general introduction to medieval magic, containing a little-known
handbook from the late Middle Ages.
Preserved in the Bavarian State Library in Munich is a
manuscript that few scholars have noticed and that no one in modern
times has treated with the seriousness it deserves. Forbidden Rites
consists of an edition of this medieval Latin text with a full
commentary, including detailed analysis of the text and its
contents, discussion of the historical context, translation of
representative sections of the text, and comparison with other
necromantic texts of the late Middle Ages. The result is the most
vivid and readable introduction to medieval magic now
available.
Like many medieval texts for the use of magicians, this handbook
is a miscellany rather than a systematic treatise. It is
exceptional, however, in the scope and variety of its contents --
prayers and conjurations, rituals of sympathetic magic, procedures
involving astral magic, a catalogue of spirits, lengthy ceremonies
for consecrating a book of magic, and other materials.
With more detail on particular experiments than the famous
thirteenth-century Picatrix and more variety than the Thesaurus
Necromatiae ascribed to Roger Bacon, the manual is one of the most
interesting and important manuscripts of medieval magic that has
yet come to light.
When over 900 followers of the Peoples Temple religious group
committed suicide in 1978, they left a legacy of suspicion and
fear. Most accounts of this mass suicide describe the members as
brainwashed dupes and overlook the Christian and socialist ideals
that originally inspired Peoples Temple members. Hearing the Voices
of Jonestown restores the individual voices that have been erased
so that we can better understand what was created - and destroyed -
at Jonestown, and why. Piecing together information from interviews
with former group members, archival research, and diaries and
letters of those who died there, Maaga describes the women leaders
as educated political activists who were passionately committed to
achieving social justice through communal life. The book analyzes
the historical and sociological factors that, Maaga finds,
contributed to the mass suicide, such as growing criticism from the
larger community and the influx of an upper-class, educated
leadership that eventually became more concerned with the symbolic
effects of the organization than with the daily lives of its
members. Hearing the Voices of Jonestown puts human faces on the
events at Jonestown, confronting theoretical religious questions,
such as how worthy utopian ideals come to meet such tragic and
misguided ends.
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