Exploring the practice of living resurrection in ancient Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Persian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Celtic, and Native American traditions, Freddy Silva explains how resurrection was never meant for the dead, but for the living--a fact supported by the suppressed Gnostic Gospel of Philip: “Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing.� He reveals how these practices were not only common in the ancient world but also shared similar facets in each tradition: initiates were led through a series of challenging ordeals, retreated for a three-day period into a cave or restricted room, often called a “bridal chamber,� and while out-of-body, became fully conscious of travels in the Otherworld. Upon returning to the body, they were led by priests or priestesses to witness the rising of Sirius or the Equinox sunrise. Silva describes some of the secret chambers around the world where the ritual was performed, including the so-called tomb of Thutmosis III in Egypt, which featured an empty sarcophagus and detailed instructions for the living on how to enter the Otherworld and return alive. He reveals why esoteric and Gnostic sects claimed that the literal resurrection of Jesus promoted by the Church was a fraud and how the Church branded all living resurrection practices as a heresy, relentlessly persecuting the Gnostics to suppress knowledge of this self-empowering experience. He shows how the Knights Templar revived these concepts and how they survive to this day within Freemasonry.

Olaf the Unlucky Olaf Stenson wasn't exactly sure when his luck went bad. Most said it started the day he fell and twisted his leg out of shape, but that was only the final straw on his unhappy slide from favor. With the death of his parents at a young age, his grandfather killed, and his uncle exiled, the cards had been stacked against him from the beginning. Olaf had accepted his fate until his long-lost uncle turned up with a kingdom. To change his luck, he must travel to his uncle's new domain at the farthest reach of the Seven Kingdoms, learn how to survive cut-throat politics - especially those of his own family, and help his uncle regain control of their vast financial empire. To make matters worse, he doesn't have much time to do it. The Empire of Jewel is stirring in the east, threatening everything he hopes to gain. Olaf is determined to earn a new nickname, but does he have the strength of will to overcome his own physical limitations and a lifetime habit of capitulation. Upon his success rides not just his own future, but that of his new-found uncle and the fate of the Seven Kingdoms.

What's in a name? In the Order of the Wolf your name is everything. It describes you and defines you. It is your reality. Imagine a life of clashing swords - a life of death, and blood, and strife. In such a setting a name is like an anchor, holding you steady to your own reality. But what if your reality is death, and blood, and strife, and nothing more? That's when you are given a name like Death. Death used to have a different name. His Order mates once called him Brain, because he was always curious and asking questions, but that seems like a lifetime ago to Death. Those mates are all gone and now Death wants nothing more than to join them in the Halls of the Dead. Death once had a normal name too. Back in his youth, before he became a mercenary. That name he refuses to speak and buries deep in an effort to forget his past. A man with so many names is bound to get confused. Which one defines him, and in which reality does he live? Death must sort through his names, and his life, to determine who he really is. Along the way he will try to die in battle, fight old foes and new, meet the love of his life, and come face-to-face with the man he most fears. In the end he will finally accept his destiny and recognize his true name. Who says a mid-life crisis has to be about fast cars?

Overturns the long-established historical narrative about the origins and purpose of the Knights Templar * Explains how and why the Templars created Europe's first nation-state, Portugal, with one of their own as king * Reveals the Portuguese roots of key founding members, their relationship with the Order of Sion, the Templars' devotion to Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, and the meaning and exact location of the Grail Conventional history claims that nine men formed a brotherhood called the Knights Templar in Jerusalem in 1118 to provide protection for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Overturning this long-established historical narrative, Freddy Silva shows that the Order of the Temple existed a decade earlier on the opposite side of Europe, that the protection of pilgrims was entrusted to a seperate organization, and that, in league with the Cistercian monks and the equally mysterious Order of Sion, the Templars executed one of history's most daring and covert plans: the creation of Europe's first nation-state, Portugal, with one of their own as king. Including over 700 references, many from new and rare sources, Silva reveals Portugal, not Jerusalem, as the first Templar stronghold. The author explains the Templars' motivation to create a country far from the grasp of Rome, where they could conduct their living resurrection initiation--whose candidates were declared "risen from the dead"--a secret for which the Church silenced millions and which the Templars protected to the death. Placing the intrepid Knights in a previously unknown time and place, Silva's historical narrative reveals the Portuguese roots of key founding members, their relationship with the Order of Sion, the Templars' unshakeable devotion to Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, and how they protected a holy bloodline in Portugal. The author also reappraises the meaning of the Grail and reveals its exact location, hidden in plain sight to this very day.