A highly original study that examines the central role played by women as mediums, healers, and believers during the golden age of spiritualism in the late Victorian era, "The Darkened Room" is more than a meditation on women mediums--it's an exploration of the era's gender relations.
The hugely popular spiritualist movement, which maintained that women were uniquely qualified to commune with spirits of the dead, offered female mediums a new independence, authority, and potential to undermine conventional class and gender relations in the home and in society.
Using previously unexamined sources and an innovative approach, Alex Owen invokes the Victorian world of darkened seance rooms, theatrical apparitions, and moving episodes of happiness lost and regained. She charts the struggles between spiritualists and the medical and legal establishments over the issue of female mediumship, and provides new insights into the gendered dynamics of Victorian society.

Activate the energy of your crystal collection and create beautiful, personalised homeware, jewellery and gifts with 25 easy, step-by-step projects. Discover the different meanings and energies behind your crystals, and learn how to choose and connect with the right one for each piece. Turn your favourite crystals into wearable items to carry with you every day or infuse your home with energy, or create deeply personal and meaningful gifts for friends and family. From easy, no-tools-required beginner projects to more advanced crafts that include macrame and making jewellery, this collection of crystal craft ideas has something for every crystal lover. Projects include: - Hand-poured crystal candle - Wire-wrapped crystal pendant - Crystal earrings - Crystal gift bag - Macrame crystal plant hanger - Crystal talisman - Crystal-infused essential oils - Crystal aura wand

In the midst of a nineteenth-century boom in spiritual experimentation, the Cercle Harmonique, a remarkable group of African-descended men, practiced Spiritualism in heavily Catholic New Orleans from just before the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction. In this first comprehensive history of the Cercle, Emily Suzanne Clark illuminates how highly diverse religious practices wind in significant ways through American life, culture, and history. Clark shows that the beliefs and practices of Spiritualism helped Afro-Creoles mediate the political and social changes in New Orleans, as free blacks suffered increasingly restrictive laws and then met with violent resistance to suffrage and racial equality. Drawing on fascinating records of actual seance practices, the lives of the mediums, and larger citywide and national contexts, Clark reveals how the messages that the Cercle received from the spirit world offered its members rich religious experiences as well as a forum for political activism inspired by republican ideals. Messages from departed souls including Francois Rabelais, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Robert E. Lee, Emanuel Swedenborg, and even Confucius discussed government structures, the moral progress of humanity, and equality. The Afro-Creole Spiritualists were encouraged to continue struggling for justice in a new world where ""bright"" spirits would replace raced bodies.

A step-by-step guide to getting past childhood abuse without letting anyone off the hook. Every spiritual teacher agrees that forgiveness is essential and beneficial, but few explain exactly how to go about it. Reverend Wild does. She is a survivor of childhood abuse herself, and it is clear she understands the subtleties and specifics of this kind of trauma. But the system she teaches could be used by anyone wanting to forgive any wrongdoing. You may have done a lot of soul-searching and years of therapy, as well as spent hours in prayer, yet you're still haunted by the echoes of abuse. Or you may just be starting to face what happened. No matter what stage you are at, The Art of Forgiveness will help you make peace with the past and take ownership of your own happiness.