Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called "superstitious" by educated elites.
For centuries religious believers used "superstition" as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow-believers for practising their faith "wrongly." From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, scholars argued over what 'superstition' was, how to identify it, and how to persuade people to avoid it. Learned believers in demons and witchcraft, in their treatises and sermons, tried to make 'rational' sense of popular superstitions by blaming them on the deceptive tricks of seductive demons.
Every major movement in Christian thought, from rival schools of medieval theology through to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, added new twists to the debates over superstition. Protestants saw Catholics as superstitious, and vice versa. Enlightened philosophers mocked traditional cults as superstitions. Eventually, the learned lost their worry about popular belief, and turned instead to chronicling and preserving 'superstitious' customs as folklore and ethnic heritage.
Enchanted Europe offers the first comprehensive, integrated account of western Europe's long, complex dialogue with its own folklore and popular beliefs. Drawing on many little-known and rarely used texts, Euan Cameron constructs a compelling narrative of the rise, diversification, and decline of popular 'superstition' in the European mind.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.

On December 23, 2007, a small private plane carrying author Kim Klein's thirteen-year-old daughter, Talia, Talia's father and her best friend crashed into the side of a volcano in Panama, killing all on board except the friend. A month after Talia's death, she started to speak from the afterlife.

The book developed from my gradual realization that spirituality was a normal characteristic in the human race, but that in recent millennia it had regressed in the everyday awareness of most people, especially those belonging to what they regarded as a cultural society. Only so-called primitive peoples retained a spiritual outlook. My book describes how this has come about, especially the negative influence of organized religions on individual spirituality, and the resulting deterioration in most human societies. Finally I suggest how mankind can become again spiritual during their Earth lives. Michael Higgins

It was a warm, sunny, Tuesday afternoon. I was waiting at the red light at a busy interchange when another motorcycle pulled up next to me, in the same lane, also now waiting to go home, or to a friend's house, or maybe shopping. The very next thing he did was watch me fly like a circus aerial act, bouncing off car roof tops, and sailing all the way across the huge intersection.

With no prior intention, I was on my way to meet my maker and face up to the life that I had been living until then-all initiated by a drunk in an old, four-door sedan who had no plans on even slowing down.

Resuscitated over and over on the asphalt, I was eventually rushed to the hospital, where my wife was repeatedly told that I would not be alive much longer. Not being a believer of that kind of talk, she took peace in her heart that I would survive to be with her and our two little boys.

Now, having been comatose for two weeks, I awoke frightened and was told that I had little hope of much of a recovery. I was then confronted with Jesus himself, right there in that hospital room.

What He asked me over and over at that point clarified my beliefs and gave me the confidence to continue on. I call that encounter a pure miracle and thank God that I was The DOA Who Made It

Helena Blavatsky's translations of three fragments of ancient Buddhist wisdom, sourced from texts such as The Book of Golden Precepts, are contained in this thought-provoking volume. A valiantly sought collection of sage advice and spiritual instruction, The Voice of the Silence offers readers advice on inner growth. Principally the text echoes the principles of Buddhism, advising readers to put aside personal desires and focus upon fostering the inner wealth of the soul to achieve a life of contentment. Blavatsky's book was published as part of her personal investigations into ancient wisdom pertaining to the human soul and reality. Her hunt turned up the formerly obscure fragments which she painstakingly translated. Although existing scholars generally poured cold water upon her efforts, which they considered a haphazard grouping of ancient precepts and mysticism, the reception was warmer among readers discovering the theosophist principles of spiritualism for the first time.

The Book on Mediums, also known as The Mediums Book, was written by Allan Kardec and originally published in 1861. It is the widely respected follow up to The Spirits Book which was published in 1857 and is the second in a series of five books that Kardec wrote that are collectively known as the 'Spiritist Codification'. In the 1850's, whilst investigating the afterlife, Kardec communicated in seances with a collection of spirits named 'The Spirit of Truth' who discussed many important topics such as life after death, good and evil, the nature of the universe, the origin of spirits, and many other subjects. The Spirit of Truth' allegedly counted many of history's great thinkers amongst its number such as Thomas Aquinas, Voltaire and Augustine of Hippo. Over time and after several sessions with the group Kardec had gathered enough information to convince him of life after death and he was compelled to spread the teachings of 'The Spirit of Truth'. He 'codified' their comments and listed them as answers to questions and this forms the content of his teaching. The Books on Mediums is intended to be an essential guide to mediumship for mediums and those interested in the spirit world. The book covers the different types of mediumship including, table-turning, incorporation of spirits, haunted houses, transfiguration, apparitions, psychography and telekinesis. It explains how to deal with manifestations and how to guard against frauds, charlatans, and skeptics alike. The book warns against the perils of un-guided mediumship, possession, and obsession that often go hand in hand with the beautiful revelation that spiritual communication can reveal. Some of Kardec's advice found in the book include; "Do not believe the spirit to be who he purports to be unless there is evidence supporting his claim, but even then, wait till others confirm what one has said." "Do not judge the spirits by their purported names, but by the quality of the morals and the philosophy found in their communications." "Do not let yourself be too entertained with the evocation or incorporation of spirits enough to disregard what is more important, like living your own life and helping your neighbour." "Do not live by the spirits' advice: the communications from the spirits are to be studied and revered - but they should not be taken as the word-by-word expression of the ultimate truth." "Do not judge the quality of the communication by the culture or the social status of the medium by which it was brought." As the New Testament states; Test the Spirits dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1