|
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies
The title of this book refers to the classic time and place for
magic, witchcraft, and divination in Russia. The Bathhouse at
Midnight, by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject,
surveys all forms of magic, both learned and popular, in Russia
from the fifth to the eighteenth century. While no book on the
subject could be exhaustive, The Bathhouse at Midnight does
describe and assess all the literary sources of magic, witchcraft,
astrology, alchemy, and divination from Kiev Rus and Imperial
Russia, and to some extent Ukraine and Belorussia. Where possible,
Ryan identifies the sources of the texts (usually Greek, Arabic, or
West European) and makes parallels to other cultures, ranging from
classical antiquity to Finnic. He finds that Russia shares most of
its magic and divination with the rest of Europe.
Subjects covered include the Evil Eye, the Number of the Beast,
omens, dreams, talismans and amulets, plants, gemstones, and other
materials thought to possess magic properties. The first chapter
gives a historical overview, and the final chapter summarizes the
political, religious, and legal aspects of the history of magic in
Russia. The author also provides translations of some key
texts.
The Bathhouse at Midnight will be invaluable for
anyone--student, teacher, or general reader--with an interest in
Russia, magic, or the occult. It is unique in its field and is set
to become the definitive study of Russian magic.
A collection of more than fifty stories about witches from around
the world. There are tales of banshees, crones and beauties in
disguise from China, Siberia, the Caribbean, Armenia, Portugal and
Australia. The characters featured include Italy's Witch Bea-Witch,
Lilith, Kali, and Twitti Glyn Hec. Alluring women, enchantresses,
wise old ladies and bewitching women: they are all here and ready
to haunt, entice, possess, transform, challenge - and sometimes
even to help.
What do the occult sciences, seances with the souls of the dead,
and appeals to saintly powers have to do with rationality? Since
the late nineteenth century, modernizing intellectuals, religious
leaders, and statesmen in Iran have attempted to curtail many such
practices as "superstitious," instead encouraging the development
of rational religious sensibilities and dispositions. However, far
from diminishing the diverse methods through which Iranians engage
with the immaterial realm, these rationalizing processes have
multiplied the possibilities for metaphysical experimentation. The
Iranian Metaphysicals examines these experiments and their
transformations over the past century. Drawing on years of
ethnographic and archival research, Alireza Doostdar shows that
metaphysical experimentation lies at the center of some of the most
influential intellectual and religious movements in modern Iran.
These forms of exploration have not only produced a plurality of
rational orientations toward metaphysical phenomena but have also
fundamentally shaped what is understood as orthodox Shi'i Islam,
including the forms of Islamic rationality at the heart of projects
for building and sustaining an Islamic Republic. Delving into
frequently neglected aspects of Iranian spirituality, politics, and
intellectual inquiry, The Iranian Metaphysicals challenges widely
held assumptions about Islam, rationality, and the relationship
between science and religion.
In this major new book, Wolfgang Behringer surveys the phenomenon
of witchcraft past and present. Drawing on the latest historical
and anthropological findings, Behringer sheds new light on the
history of European witchcraft, while demonstrating that
witch-hunts are not simply part of the European past. Although
witch-hunts have long since been outlawed in Europe, other
societies have struggled with the idea that witchcraft does not
exist. As Behringer shows, witch-hunts continue to pose a major
problem in Africa and among tribal people in America, Asia and
Australia. The belief that certain people are able to cause harm by
supernatural powers endures throughout the world today.
Wolfgang Behringer explores the idea of witchcraft as an
anthropological phenomenon with a historical dimension, aiming to
outline and to understand the meaning of large-scale witchcraft
persecutions in early modern Europe and in present-day Africa. He
deals systematically with the belief in witchcraft and the
persecution of witches, as well as with the process of outlawing
witch-hunts. He examines the impact of anti-witch-hunt legislation
in Europe, and discusses the problems caused in societies where
European law was imposed in colonial times. In conclusion, the
relationship between witches old and new is assessed.
This book will make essential reading for all those interested
in the history and anthropology of witchcraft and magic.
Most of the women and men who practiced magic in Tudor England were
not hanged or burned as witches, despite being active members of
their communities. These everyday magicians responded to common
human problems such as the vagaries of money, love, property, and
influence, and they were essential to the smooth functioning of
English society. This illuminating book tells their stories through
the legal texts in which they are named and the magic books that
record their practices. In legal terms, their magic fell into the
category of sin or petty crime, the sort that appeared in the lower
courts and most often in church courts. Despite their relatively
lowly status, scripts for the sorts of magic they practiced were
recorded in contemporary manuscripts. Juxtaposing and
contextualizing the legal and magic manuscript records creates an
unusually rich field to explore the social aspects of magic
practice. Expertly constructed for both classroom use and
independent study, this book presents in modern English the legal
documents and magic texts relevant to ordinary forms of magic
practiced in Tudor England. These are accompanied by scholarly
introductions with original perspectives on the subjects. Topics
covered include: the London cunning man Robert Allen; magic to
identify thieves; love magic; magic for hunting, fishing and
gambling, and magic for healing and protection.
The Zohar is the great medieval compendium of Jewish esoteric and
mystical teaching, and the basis of the kabbalistic faith. It is,
however, a notoriously difficult text, full of hidden codes,
concealed meanings, obscure symbols, and ecstatic expression. This
illuminating study, based upon the last several decades of modern
Zohar scholarship, unravels the historical and intellectual origins
of this rich text and provides an excellent introduction to its
themes, complex symbolism, narrative structure, and language. A
Guide to the Zohar is thus an invaluable companion to the Zohar
itself, as well as a useful resource for scholars and students
interested in mystical literature, particularly that of the west,
from the Middle Ages to the present.
Now available with an updated cover, The Truth About Witchcraft
provides a wonderful introduction to Witchcraft and Wicca for those
new to the craft. Exploring the history of folk magic and the
contemporary practices of Witchcraft and Wicca, this highly
accessible book shares simple rituals for love, prosperity, raising
energy, and more. You will also discover helpful tips and
techniques for utilizing crystals, herbs, candles, cauldrons, and
wands. Dispelling the many myths and misunderstandings that
surround Witchcraft, this convenient guide shows how to work with
timeless rituals and natural energies in order to create positive
changes in your life. Whether you want to learn about the Goddess
and the God or the special holidays known as sabbats and esbats,
you will discover the answers you seek.
Suppose you could ask God the most puzzling questions about existence--questions about love and faith, life and death, good and evil. Supose God provided clear, understandable answers. It happened to Neale Donald Walsch. It can happen to you. You are about to have a conversation. Walsch's fascinating three-year conversation with God about every aspect of life and living began in 1992, Walsch says, when he was struggling financially and his health and relationships were suffering. Out of frustration, he composed an angry, passionate letter to God demanding to know why his life was in such turmoil. To his amazement, when he was finished, he was moved to continue writing as God answered back. The book that grew from that first experience addresses the real life issues we all face at work, at home, and out in the world, as well as the larger questions of the nature of God and his relationship to man. How does Walsch know that God was actually talking to him? "The book contains concepts and information beyond anything I've ever thought of," says Walsch. "But more importantly, I've found out through other readers that there are hundreds of people that have had this same experience. This book has allowed them to speak out." Walsch claims that God speaks to everyone all the time, that we're just not listening. "Have you ever been struck by a song lyric or the cover story of a magazine you suddenly pass on a newsstand that seems to answer a question you've had? Have you ever met someone for the first time and had that person mention something out of the blue that's been on your mind? Have you ever gone to church and thought the minister must have read your mail, because he seems to be talking directly to you? We often write things off to coincidence that we should give God credit for."
This is the first ethnography of the Uganda Martyrs Guild [UMG], a
lay movement of the Catholic Church, and its organized witch-hunts
in the kingdom of Tooro, Western Uganda. This book explores
cannibalism, food, eating and being eaten in its many variations.
It deals with people who feel threatened by cannibals, churches who
combat cannibals and anthropologists who find themselves suspected
of being cannibals. It describes how different African and European
images of the cannibal intersected and influenced each other in
Tooro, Western Uganda, where the figure of the resurrecting
cannibal draws on both pre-Christian ideas andchurch dogma of the
bodily resurrection and the ritual of Holy Communion. In Tooro
cannibals are witches: they bewitch people so that they die only to
be resurrected and eaten. This is how they were perceived in the
1990s when a lay movement of the Catholic Church, the Uganda
Martyrs Guild [UMG] organized witch-hunts to cleanse the country.
The UMG was responding to an extended crisis: growing poverty, the
retreat and corruption of the local government, a guerrilla war, a
high death rate through AIDS, accompanied by an upsurge of occult
forces in the form of cannibal witches. By trying to deal, explain
and "heal" the situation of "internal terror", the UMG reinforced
the perception of the reality of witches and cannibals while at the
same time containing violence and regaining power for the Catholic
Church in competition for "lost souls" with other Pentecostal
churches and movements. This volumeincludes the DVD of a video film
by Armin Linke and Heike Behrend showing a "crusade" to identify
and cleanse witches and cannibals organized by the UMG in the rural
area of Kyamiaga in 2002. With a heightened awareness and
reflective use of the medium, UMG members created a domesticated
version of their crusade for Western (and local) consumption as
part of a "shared ethnography". Heike Behrend is Professor of
Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Cologne,
Germany, the author of Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits [James
Currey, 1999], and co-editor of Spirit Possession, Modernity and
Power in Africa[James Currey, 1999]
|
You may like...
The Valkyries
Paulo Coelho
Paperback
R414
R340
Discovery Miles 3 400
The Burnings
Naomi Kelsey
Hardcover
R354
Discovery Miles 3 540
|