About 30 percent of hospice patients report a "visitation" by someone who is not there, a phenomenon known in end-of-life care as a deathbed vision. These visions can be of dead friends or family members and occur on average three days before death. Strikingly, individuals from wildly diverse geographic regions and religions-from New York to Japan to Moldova to Papua New Guinea-report similar visions. Appearances of our dead during serious illness, crises, or bereavement are as old as the historical record. But in recent years, we have tended to explain them in either the fantastical terms of the supernatural or the reductive terms of neuroscience. This book is about how, when, and why our dead visit us. Allan Kellehear-a medical sociologist and expert on death, dying, and palliative care-has gathered data and conducted studies on these experiences across cultures. He also draws on the long-neglected work of early anthropologists who developed cultural explanations about why the dead visit. Deathbed visions conform to the rituals that underpin basic social relations and expectations-customs of greeting, support, exchange, gift-giving, and vigils-because the dead must communicate with us in a social language that we recognize. Kellehear emphasizes the personal consequences for those who encounter these visions, revealing their significance for how the dying person makes meaning of their experiences. Providing vital understanding of a widespread yet mysterious phenomenon, Visitors at the End of Life offers insights for palliative care professionals, researchers, and the bereaved.

Crystals have been used for millennia to help promote healing and wellbeing, but with so many crystals out there it can be hard to know where to start. My Crystal Journal is your personal guide to incorporating the power of crystals into your everyday life. Taking twenty essential crystals, this book will teach you how to work with their unique qualities and characteristics in order to harness their valuable and life-changing energy. The guided journaling space throughout this book will provide you with the chance to reflect on how each crystal can work for you, helping you to feel their resonance and allowing you to use them to their full potential and change your life. With advice on choosing your crystals, how to take care of them and getting started, this journal is your ultimate guide to working with the healing power of crystals in your everyday life. This beautiful crystal journal will teach you how to work with essential crystals such as: Black obsidian - for added protection, stress reduction and discovery of your soul purpose Amethyst - for a sense of calm, spiritual wisdom and guided decision-making Rose quartz - for friendship, self-love and inner healing Topaz - for joy, generosity and good health

An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings that takes you on a harrowing journey into the realm of monsters and the reality of the impossible. Monsters brings together folklore, Western magical philosophy and field experience. This book is required reading for both active and armchair monster hunters. Between these covers you will find a chilling collection of fiendish facts and folklore such as why true vampires are the least attractive, five different kinds of ghosts, the magical origins of the werewolf legends, hidden connections between faery lore and UFOs, and where dragons are found today. This is an essential field guide to monsters from angels to zombies with advice on monster investigation and magical self-defence. This latest edition not only has a new chapter on tulpas, but the chapters on vampires and chimeras are significantly expanded with new material. Plus, the section on monster investigation has been thoroughly updated with details on new technology and the approach of the media to monster hunting.

"Superb survey of the paranormal ... I cannot recommend it highly enough." - New York Times bestselling author Herbie Brennan This is the most entertaining and broad survey of the paranormal ever made, combining forgotten lore, evidence from parapsychological experiments and the testament of scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists, psychologists, physicists and philosophers, and also quite a few celebrities. Exploring the possibility that paranormal phenomena may be - and that some most likely are - objectively real, this travelogue through the twilight zone of human consciousness is both scientifically rigorous and extremely entertaining. Readers may be surprised to learn that reputable scientists, among them several Nobel laureates, have claimed that telepathy is a reality, that Cleopatra's lost palace and Richard III's burial place were recovered by means of clairvoyance, and that an espionage program using psychics was set up by the US military! The author proposes that all humans (perhaps all living beings) are linked together in a sort of "mental internet" that allows us to exchange "telepathic emails" and make clairvoyant downloads of information. Could it be that what we usually call "supernatural" is a natural but little understood communication via this mental internet? An engaging, entertaining and informative analysis of a controversial subject, in which these phenomena are approached as potential expressions of unexplained powers of the human mind.

Features a crystal directory, organised by colour, covers the properties of over 200 stones, as well as their common and historical uses. Crystal healing is a time-honoured mindfulness technique, harnessing the power of nature to inspire peace and wellness. Crystals are fantastic resources for health, luck, beauty, magic, and healing. The Complete Crystal Sourcebook is a comprehensive reference guide that outlines all the key uses for crystals and techniques for working with them, from choosing your stones, laying a crystal grid, treating ailments of the body and mind, and more. A crystal directory, organized by color, covers the properties of over 200 stones, as well as their common and historical uses. Following this is a directory of ailments, including physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Simply look up your issue (such as a broken heart or a build-up of work stress) and a recommended treatment and suggested stones will be provided. This is the only book of its kind that offers an at-a-glance crystal directory, grids, and a visual breakdown of body layout and ailments. The range and magnitude of crystals included makes this book both stunning and a real powerhouse of information. This beautifully designed sourcebook also includes a comprehensive index and a thorough cross-referencing system, to make it easy to find information quickly. The Crystal Sourcebook is the ultimate guide to crystals and crystal healing.

Harness the power of crystals to heal promote physical wellbeing, balance your emotions and achieve spiritual harmony. Beautiful and mysterious, crystals have been used for thousands of years for decoration, adornment, protection and healing, but they are so much more than beautiful objects. When crystals are formed, tremendous heat and pressure arranges their molecules into a regular pattern and this sacred geometry is what gives crystals their unique ability to absorb, store, generate and transmit energy. Working with crystals can therefore help us amplify, direct and balance the flow of our life-force in our bodies and surroundings. The Crystal Healer is your introduction to everything you need to know to get started with crystals so that you can benefit from the gentle natural healing properties of crystals. Discover 20 practical exercises to use crystals to improve your health, balance your emotions and find peace and harmony. Learn how to: - Choose and care for crystals, from selecting crystals for the colours, shapes and properties that best suit your needs to cleansing your crystals between uses - Connect with your chakras, helping you to balance and heal your chakras and connect with and heal specific parts of your body, - Promote physical wellbeing with exercises that help with pain relief, clearing nasal congestions, soothing sore throats, improving digestion, addressing hormonal imbalances, strengthening immune systems, improving sleep and detoxifying the body - Regulate your emotions with exercises that ease stress, combat anxiety and depression, release fears and phobias, push out anger and draw in forgiveness, clear brain fog and ease heartache - Reach for spiritual harmony by using crystals to enhance your intuition, guide your meditations and improve your ability to recall and decode your dreams