"Only the shadow of death can grant you the spirit and the will to fight for your life...and the lives of others." And such is the life of a Shadaal. Traveling through the Dark Ages in search of monsters to hunt and challenges worthy of their mettle, the phenomenal skills of the Shadaal are surpassed only by their bonds of friendship. Lead by Artrex, a warrior whose face and life are both cursed by a dark secret, their journey soon takes them to a foreboding mountain range from where few have returned. After many a ponderous victory, Artrex is bestowed with a magical sword of unspeakable power. But more important than the mysteries surrounding this strange weapon are the mysteries of love that plague Artrex in his most heartfelt thoughts. For who could love a monster? Journey with Artrex through a world of dragons and sorcery as this tormented soul of conflicting passion, amidst violent combat and dangerous enigma, learns the true definition of what makes a man into a hero.

Providing the first book-length analysis of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), this volume asks how can it be ensured that the AfCFTA is effectively implemented to deliver inclusive trade in Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will cover an African market of 1.2 billion people and GDP of over $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union. Yet, trade policy increasingly appreciates that free trade is not enough; trade must also be inclusive to deliver developmental benefits. With contributions from leading trade policy authors across Africa and beyond, this book offers insights into the development and implementation of the AfCFTA and serves as a reference for stakeholders interested in trade in Africa more broadly. The contributors assess what important lessons can be drawn from the experiences of regional integration in and beyond Africa, including from success stories like ASEAN as well as from failures like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. An important new work for researchers and policymakers focusing on African trade and economic policy, and trade policy more generally.

A comprehensive exploration of chemically mediated extra ordinary human experiences. Scientist and psychonaut David Luke weaves personal experience and scientific research to create Otherworlds - Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience. “Emphasizing parapsychological aspects of the psychedelic experience, Luke’s new book fills in a fascinating and previously neglected lacuna in the burgeoning field of human studies with these compounds. � – Rick Strassman, PhD  “A psychedelic Indiana Jones. � – Matt Colborn, PhD “David Luke’s delightful one-liner about his book is that it’s ‘about weird people in weird places taking weird substances doing weird things and, importantly, having weird experiences’ . . . On reflection, it’s much more profound than that . . . So weird reader, forge ahead without fear. � – Dean Radin, PhD  “In his fascinating book David plunges into this controversial topic and gives the backstory, the front story, and possible ways forward to bring paranormal and psychedelic research together, and further our understanding of both. � – Dennis J. McKenna, PhD  “A remarkable collection and a necessary one. This body of research illuminates aspects of psychedelic experiences usually obscured or denied in the medical and clinical research and sensationalized in the popular press. � – James Fadiman, PhD “A real Dr Gonzo. � – Will Self

Providing the first book-length analysis of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), this volume asks how can it be ensured that the AfCFTA is effectively implemented to deliver inclusive trade in Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will cover an African market of 1.2 billion people and GDP of over $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union. Yet, trade policy increasingly appreciates that free trade is not enough; trade must also be inclusive to deliver developmental benefits. With contributions from leading trade policy authors across Africa and beyond, this book offers insights into the development and implementation of the AfCFTA and serves as a reference for stakeholders interested in trade in Africa more broadly. The contributors assess what important lessons can be drawn from the experiences of regional integration in and beyond Africa, including from success stories like ASEAN as well as from failures like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. An important new work for researchers and policymakers focusing on African trade and economic policy, and trade policy more generally.

Loosely connected with Part One and the German legend of Faust, Part Two is a dramatic epic rather than a strictly constructed drama. It is conceived as an act of homage to classical Greek culture and inspired above all by the world of story-telling and myth at the heart of the Greek tradition, as well as owing some of its material to the Arabian Nights tales. The restless and ruthless hero, advised by his cynical demon-companion Mephistopheles, visits classical Greece i search of the beautiful Helen of Troy. Returning to modern times, he seeks to crown his career by gaining control of the elements, and at his death is carried up into the unkown regions, still in pursuit of the `Eternal Feminine'. David Luke's translation of Part One won the European Poetry Translation Prize. Here he again imitates the varied verse-forms of the original, and provides a highly readable - and actable - translation, supported by an introduction, full notes, and an index of classical mythology. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

From the ancient world to the present day, anomalous experiences - such as apparitions, premonitions, out-of-body and near-death experiences - provide stories that continue to mystify and intrigue. In this lively introduction, the authors investigate what these stories signify, and why some people turn to the paranormal for explanation. From defining anomalous experiences to examining the psychological models and methods that have been used to explain them, this text will help open up these strange tales to analysis. Whatever your level of study, this introduction will guide you through the key areas of this fascinating subject.

Cutting-edge explorations and discussions of DMT experiences and plant sentience from leading luminaries in the field of psychedelic research. Encounters with apparently sentient beings are reported by half of all first time users of the naturally occurring psychedelic DMT, yet the question of DMT beings and plant sentience, interspecies communication, discarnate consciousness, and perhaps even dialoguing with the divine has never been systematically explored. Offering cutting-edge insights into this visionary domain, this book distills the potent exchange of ideas that occurred at Tyringham Hall, including presentations and discussions on DMT entities, the pineal gland, the possibility of DMT as a chemical messenger from an extraterrestrial civilization, the Amazonian shamanic perspective on Invisible Entities, morphic resonance, and the science behind hallucinations. Contributors to the talks and discussions include many leading thinkers in this field, including Rupert Sheldrake, Rick Strassman, Dennis McKenna, Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, Erik Davis, Ede Frecska, Luis Eduardo Luna, Peter Meyer, Jill Purce, David Luke, and Cosmo Feilding Mellen, among many others.

The legend of Faust grew up in the sixteenth century, a time of transition between medieval and modern culture in Germany. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) adopted the story of the wandering conjuror who accepts Mephistopheles's offer of a pact, selling his soul for the devil's greater knowledge; over a period of 60 years he produced one of the greatest dramatic and poetic masterpieces of European literature. David Luke's recent translation, specially commissioned for The World's Classics series, has all the virtues of previous classic translations of Faust, and none of their shortcomings. Cast in rhymed verse, following the original, it preserves the essence of Goethe's meaning without sacrifice to archaism or over-modern idiom. It is as near an `equivalent' rendering of the German as has been achieved. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

`a world without love would be no world' Elegy II This bilingual edition of Goethe's erotic poems contains the Roman Elegies (1789), The Diary (1810), and a selection from the Venetian Epigrams of 1790. Editorial censorship has long obscured the true form and content of the Elegies, which were inspired by Goethe's sexual liberation in Italy and his love for the woman he took as his unofficial wife on his return to Germany.They are here presented as Goethe boldly conceived them together with the long-surpressed narrative poem known as The Diary. Superficially the story of a failed sexual adventure by a man of 60, at another level this is a profound study of the psychology of desire and the nature of fidelity, as well as being one of the most beautiful and good-humoured poems in the German language. Completing the edition is a selection from Goethe's more light-hearted and much censored cycle of erotica, the Venetian Epigrams. David Luke's translations do full justice to Goethe's aim of liberating German poetry and restoring sexual love to its central position in human life. Hans Vaget's fine introduction provides the background to these poems, as well as showing some of the profound and little-known connections between them. Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in 1749, the son of a well-to-do citizen of Frankfurt. In the early 1770's he was the dominating figure of the German literary revival, his tragic novel Werther bringing him international fame. In 1755 he became a minister of state and director of the court theatre and in the 1790's he and his younger contemporary Schiller were the joint architects of Weimar Classicism, the central phase of German literary culture. Faust, written at various stages of his life and in a variety of styles, became a constantly enlarged repository of his personal wisdom and his creative energies never ceased to take new forms. In 1806 he married Christiane Vulpious, having lived with her for eighteen years. He died in 1832. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Death in Venice is a story of obsession. Gustave von Aschenbach is a successful but ageing writer who travels to Venice for a holiday. One day, he notices an exceptionally beautiful young boy who is staying with his family in the same hotel. Soon Aschenbach's days begin to revolve around seeing this boy and he is too distracted to pay attention to the ominous rumours of disease spreading through the city.
This volume includes six additional stories: Little Herr Friedemann; The Joker; The Road to the Churchyard; Gladius Dei; Tristan; and Tonio Kroger.

Written for those who are experiencing mental illness, or whose loved ones are going through such episodes, or who are mental wellbeing practitioners, this is a guide to the potentially transformational experience of that which we label mental illness. It explores the ancient concept of the "shamanic sickness", whereby the prospective shaman underwent many years of mental distress as part of their initiation, and looks at what this can teach us about mental health. It argues that, in some cases, what we seek to medicate could actually be a calling to a path of service and healing. The book also explores our cultural biases around mental illness. What we define as pathological, many cultures see as a sign of being inspired and in touch with greater powers. It looks at our uneasy relationship with altered states of consciousness and how these might hold the key to healing many symptoms of mental illness. Finally it looks at how we, as species, have come out of balance in our relationship to nature and the devastating affect this is having on our mental health. By learning from ancient indigenous cultures who have remained in balance with the natural world, this book looks at solutions to heal this modern imbalance and find a way forward for the Earth and ourselves.

Sixty-five newly translated selections from Kinder- und Hausmärchen provide a representative sample of the folktale motifs that have fascinated children and adults around the world for centuries.

Talking With the Spirits is a cross-cultural survey of contemporary spirit mediumship. The diverse contributions to this volume cover a wide-range of ethnographic contexts, from Spiritualist seances in the United Kingdom to self-mortification rituals in Singapore and Taiwan, from psychedelic spirit incorporation in the Amazonian rainforest, to psychic readings in online social spaces, and more. By taking a broad perspective the book highlights both the variety of culturally specific manifestations of spirit communication, and key cross-cultural features suggestive of underlying core-processes and experiences. Rather than attempting to reduce or dismiss such experiences, the authors featured in this collection take the experiences of their informants seriously and explore their effects at personal, social and cultural levels.

"Only the shadow of death can grant you the spirit and the will to fight for your life...and the lives of others." And such is the life of a Shadaal. Traveling through the Dark Ages in search of monsters to hunt and challenges worthy of their mettle, the phenomenal skills of the Shadaal are surpassed only by their bonds of friendship. Lead by Artrex, a warrior whose face and life are both cursed by a dark secret, their journey soon takes them to a foreboding mountain range from where few have returned. After many a ponderous victory, Artrex is bestowed with a magical sword of unspeakable power. But more important than the mysteries surrounding this strange weapon are the mysteries of love that plague Artrex in his most heartfelt thoughts. For who could love a monster? Journey with Artrex through a world of dragons and sorcery as this tormented soul of conflicting passion, amidst violent combat and dangerous enigma, learns the true definition of what makes a man into a hero.

Thomas Carlyle commented over 150 years ago that the name Goethe conjured up something vague and monstrous to English ears - a reaction still recognisable today. As a contribution towards redressing this situation this volume, published on the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth, contains the largest selection ever published of his poetry in English verse translation. The poems (alongside their German originals) are arranged chronologically and - among much else - include his most famous lyrical verse, longer poems in their entirety, passages from his poetic drama "Faust" and from his popular but in English little-known romantic idyll "Hermann and Dorothea", and the whole of his long-suppressed masterpiece "The Diary", sometimes referred to as the most moral erotic poem ever written. The whole sequence gives a picture of Goethe's extraordinarily rich and unusual poetic development. A substantial introduction sets the poetic work in the context of Goethe's often surprisingly unsettled life. Much in Goethe has been censured or rejected by puritanical moralists over the years, particularly in England where he incurred the disapproval of Wordsworth, among others. This comprehensive selection and its new translations offer English-speaking readers the chance to enjoy Goethe's prodigious gifts and huge variety of subject matter and mood, and to appreciate why his name is so often set alongside those of Dante and Shakespeare.

* Includes contributions from the late Ralph Metzner, Chris Bache, Whitley Strieber, Jeffrey Kripal, Angela Voss, Bill Richards, Chris Timmermann, Michael Winkelman, Luis Eduardo Luna, Anton Bilton, Bernard Carr, Daniel Pinchbeck, Dennis McKenna, Ede Frecska, and David Luke * Explores DMT beings, alien abduction, plant sentience, neuroscientific DMT research, the connections between LSD and DMT entities, and the nature of mind and reality Found throughout the plant and animal kingdom, DMT (dimethyltryptamine) is also naturally occurring in humans, and may be released during near-death and actual death experiences, earning it the title "the spirit molecule." When taken as a psychedelic, either via ayahuasca or in pure form, DMT is experientially considered to be one of the strongest and strangest of all entheogens. The majority of high-dose users report visions of unknown yet curiously familiar alien worlds and encounters with sentient nonhuman presences. At a four-day symposium at Tyringham Hall in England in 2017, twenty of the world's psychedelic luminaries gathered to discuss entheogenic entity encounters, consciousness expansion, visionary experiences, and the future of research in this field. Contributors to the talks and discussions include many leading thinkers, including the late Ralph Metzner, Chris Bache, Whitley Strieber, Je rey Kripal, Angela Voss, Bill Richards, Chris Timmermann, Michael Winkelman, Luis Eduardo Luna, Anton Bilton, Bernard Carr, Daniel Pinchbeck, Dennis McKenna, Ede Frecska, and David Luke. This book distills the potent exchange of ideas that occurred at Tyringham Hall, including discussions about DMT beings, encounter experiences, alien abduction, plant sentience, the shamanic use of ayahuasca, neuroscientifi c DMT research, the connections between LSD and DMT entities, and the nature of mind and reality.

Goethe viewed the writing of poetry as essentially autobiographical, and the works selected in this volume represent more than sixty years in the life of the poet. In early poems such as "Prometheus," he rails against religion in an almost ecstatic fervor, while "To the Moon" is an enigmatic meditation on the end of a love affair. The Roman Elegies show Goethe's use of Classical meters in an homage to ancient Rome and its poets, and "The Diary," suppressed for more than a century, is a narrative poem whose eroticism is combined with its morality. In selections from Faust, arguably his greatest and most personal work, Goethe creates an exhilarating depiction of humankind's eternal search for truth.Dual-language editionDavid Luke's exquisite verse translations are arranged chronologicallyIncludes an introduction and notes that place the poems in the context of the poet's life and times, as well as indexes of German and English titles and first lines

An exploration of the connections between feminine consciousness and altered states from ancient times to present day Women have been shamans since time immemorial, not only because women have innate intuitive gifts, but also because the female body is wired to more easily experience altered states, such as during the process of birth. Whether female or male, the altered states produced by psychedelics and ecstatic trance expand our minds to tap into and enhance our feminine states of consciousness as well as reconnect us to the web of life. In this book, we discover the transformative powers of feminine consciousness and altered states as revealed by contributors both female and male, including revered scholars, visionary artists, anthropologists, modern shamans, witches, psychotherapists, and policy makers. The book begins with a deep look at the archetypal dimensions of the feminine principle and how entheogens give us open access to these ancient archetypes, including goddess consciousness and the dark feminine. The contributors examine the female roots of shamanism, including the role of women in the ancient rites of Dionysus, the Eleusinian Sacrament, and Norse witchcraft. They explore psychedelic and embodied paths to ecstasy, such as trance dance, holotropic breathwork, and the similarities of giving birth and taking mind-altering drugs. Looking at the healing potential of the feminine and altered states, they discuss the power of plant medicines, including ayahuasca, and the recasting of the medicine-woman archetype for the modern world. They explore the feminine in the creative process and discuss feminist psychedelic activism, sounding the call for more female voices in the psychedelic research community. Sharing the power of "femtheogenic" wisdom to help us move beyond a patriarchal society, this book reveals how feminine consciousness, when intermingled with psychedelic knowledge, carries and imparts the essence of inclusivity, interconnectedness, and balance our world needs to heal and consciously evolve.