Examining the theme of child sacrifice as a psychological challenge, this book applies a unique approach to religious ideas by looking at beliefs and practices that are considered deviant, but also make up part of mainstream religious discourse in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Ancient religious mythology, which survives through living traditions and transmitted narratives, rituals, and writings, is filled with violent stories, often involving the targeting of children as ritual victims. Christianity offers Abraham's sacrifice and assures us that the "only begotten son" has died, and then been resurrected. This version of the sacrifice myth has dominated the West. It is celebrated in an act of fantasy cannibalism, in which the believers share the divine son's flesh and blood. This book makes the connection between Satanism stories in the 1980s, the Blood Libel in Europe, The Eucharist, and Eastern Mediterranean narratives of child sacrifice.

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.

A Magical Tale About Forgiving Our Past and Believing in Our Future

The enchanting, true story of The Valkyries begins in Rio de Janeiro when author Paulo Coelho gives his mysterious master, J., the only manuscript for his book The Alchemist. Haunted by a devastating curse, Coelho confesses to J., "I've seen my dreams fall apart just when I seemed about to achieve them." In response, J. gives Coelho a daunting task: He must find and speak with his guardian angel. "The curse can be broken," he replies, "if you complete the task."

Rising to the challenge, Paulo and his wife, Cristina, drop everything, pack their bags, and take off on a forty day adventure into the starkly beautiful and sometimes dangerous Mojave Desert--where they encounter more than they bargained for. A masterful blend of the exotic locales, dramatic adventure, and magical storytelling for which Coelho's fictional works are renowned, this true-life account is at once a modern-day adventure and a metaphysical odyssey.

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.

WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2021 'Riveting, appalling, addictive' Megan Nolan England, 1643. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation. In Manningtree, depleted of men since the Civil War began, the women are left to their own devices and Rebecca West chafes against the drudgery of her days. But when Matthew Hopkins arrives, asking bladed questions and casting damning accusations, mistrust and unease seep into the lives of the women. Caught between betrayal and persecution, what must Rebecca West do to survive? 'Deft and witty... dazzling and precise' New Statesman