How do you predict eclipses at Stonehenge? Why do the Carnac alignments follow geological fault lines? Was Avebury intentionally sited precisely one seventh of a circle down from the north pole? Why are so many stone circles egg-shaped or flattened? What is the meaning of the designs in ancient rock art? Do you really have to wait nineteen years to visit the remote site of Callanish? What were the ancients up to? These are our oldest buildings, our first messages, our earliest visual art. With eight authors, and packed with detailed information and exquisite rare illustrations, Megalith is a timeless and valuable sourcebook for anyone interested in prehistory.

One of the most successful and respected homebrewers in America and highest ranking judges in the BJCP, there are few candidates better placed than Gordon Strong to give advice on how to take your homebrew to the next level. In Brewing Better Beer, the author sets out his own philosophy and strategy for brewing, examining the tools and techniques available in an even-handed manner. The result is a well-balanced mix of technical, practical, and creative advice aimed at experienced homebrewers who want to advance to the next level. The book is also a story of personal development and repeatedly mastering new systems and processes. Strong emphasizes that brewing is a creative endeavor underpinned by a firm grasp on technical essentials, but stresses that there are many ways to brew good beer. After mastering techniques, equipment, ingredients, recipe formulation, and the ability to evaluate their own beers, the advanced homebrewer will know how to think smart and work less, adjust only what is necessary, and brew with economy of effort. The author also pays special attention to brewing for competitions and other special occasions, distilling his own experiences of failure and (frequent) triumphs into a concise, pragmatic, and relaxed account of how judging works and how to increase your chances of success. The author's insights are laid out in a clear, engaging manner, deftly weaving discussions of technical matters with his own guiding principles to brewing. Learn to identify process control points in mashing, lautering, sparging, boiling, chilling, fermenting, conditioning, clarifying, and packaging. What are the best ways to control mash pH, which mash regimen suits your process, how can you effectively control your process through judicious equipment selection? Other tips on optimizing your brewing include ingredient and yeast selection, envisioning a recipe and bringing it to fruition, planning your brewing calendar, and identifying the critical path to ensure a successful brew day. There is also a detailed discussion of troubleshooting to address technical and stylistic problems advanced homebrewers often face. Through it all, Strong highlights you are the ultimate arbiter, giving advice on how to judge your own beers and understanding how balance takes many forms depending on style.

In the sleepy Avon village of Stanton Drew stand the forgotten remains of the third major neolithic temple complex of Southern Britain after Stonehenge and Avebury. In this guidebook to the site, packed with rare images, Stanton Drew boffin Gordon Strong explores some of the deeper questions raised by sites such as this.

Three-time Ninkasi Award winner, Gordon Strong has been a towering presence in the homebrewing community for many years. Now this Grandmaster Beer Judge invites you on a guided tour through over 100 of his own as-brewed recipes. While discussing the fundamentals of homebrewing, the author also invites you to develop your own style, with tips on recipe formulation and ingredients substitutions. In the initial chapters, Strong cover the basics of brewing, summarizing a variety of processes relating to water adjustment, mashing, and hopping. The author concisely and clearly lays out techniques like infusion mashing, step infusion, decoction, cereal mashes, and hybrid mash schedules. Get the rundown on adding hops in the boil, first wort hopping, hop bursting, whirlpool and steeping, hopbacks, and dry hopping. Learn the basics of recipe design and how to think about style recipe profiles; know the intensity of your ingredients and what contributes to a balanced recipe and how that might differ between styles—do you know what makes a balanced IPA versus a lambic? Make intelligent substitutions with ingredients you have and become comfortable scaling recipes, accounting for volume losses, mash efficiencies, and differences in hop utilization. The recipes themselves are tried and tested, provided by the author as he has brewed them, including specific advice and sensory profiles, plus insights into the creative process behind each recipe. There are myriad IPAs and everyday styles for easy drinking, such as pale ale, blonde ale, wheat beer, altbier, Kolsch, and brown and amber ales. Classic and modern lager recipes include Vienna, dunkel, Maibock, Oktoberfest, bock, and schwarzbier. Dark beers are plentiful, with dark milds, porters, and stouts, making a nod to both American and classic English versions. Stronger fare is on offer with barleywine, strong ales, and winter warmers; lovers of Belgian beer will also find an eclectic selection of traditional recipes, as well as some saisons and biere de garde. For when the creative juices are really flowing, the author includes a collection of experimental and historical recipes that may not find a place in any set style—pale mild or dubbel American brown ale, anyone?—but are delicious nonetheless.

Dick Symes leads a cast of Dickensian characters in this rollicking magic-tinged tale. After cavorting with strange beings from the 27th Dimension and inheriting an empowering object, the hero leads a campy caper to the town of Windleroot and its various peculiar environs such as the Nob, the Isle of Teflon, and the Crumpled Horn. Gordon Strong, a multifarious author, delivers a sumptuous modern phantasmagoria full of dithering magi, musty grimoires, chortling gods and dodgy magic - sprinkled evenly with wit, irony, allegory and pastiche.

The Esoteric Order of The Golden Dawn was a school of magic, founded during the late nineteenth century, one vowing to reveal all manner of occult knowledge to its members. Celebrated among these were Florence Farr, W.B Yeats, Charles Williams, A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman-Smith. Its figurehead, the autocratic Samuel MacGregor Mathers, inaugurated ceremonies that melded Christian Mysticism, the Qabalah and Hermeticism. Such a potent brew would eventually ensure that the Golden Dawn would burst asunder in an esoteric apocalypse.

By evoking Earth Spirits beneath an ancient stone circle, demonic powers are bestowed upon the evil Lord Folds who enslaves the soul of England. Mr. Tonks, Mandy the barmaid, and Martin, a student, join forces to defeat the tyrant. Our hero must journey into the darkness and chaos of the Otherworld to save his love. Will Barstowe University be forever corrupted and destroyed by the corporate menace? You will weep at this tale of thrilling magic, multiple dimensions and romance-mostly with laughter.

The multiple strands which make up the Western Mystery Tradition can present a bewildering tangle of paths for the seeker to negotiate - and this book provides the roadmap by exploring them with clarity and insight. Gordon Strong, who has written various books on the Arthurian legends, Tarot, the goddess and sacred stone circles, is uniquely placed to offer this journeyman's guide to magic. Meditation and contacts, Tarot, Qabalah, shamanism and polarity magic are covered, as are the British and Egyptian mysteries. The Way of Magic explores the path of ancient secrets as well as more modern adaptations of them, winding through the enigmatic codices of Egypt and the early shamen through to the modern use of Qabalah and practical magic today. Strong follows an established path with the fervour of a pioneer, making new connections and bringing fresh insights to age-old teachings. He contends that "wisdom does not automatically follow in the wake of a great deal of information, no matter how comprehensive" and proceeds to offer a practitioner's manual for ritual magic that emphasises commitment and self-discipline. This book will be an invaluable guide to any student of the mysteries looking to find some clarity in making their way forward. It will also appeal to those interested in the history of various mystery schools and their impact upon philosophical thought.

The Qabalah has long been a system of mysticism and magic that few could truly understand, thanks to the difficult and obtuse language and symbolism employed. Many texts have appeared, offering to explain this mysterious subject, but few do so as succintly as this book. The Qabalah: Beyond the Veil aims to lift the lid on this extraordinary tradition, utilised by Jews, Christians and Hermeticists. It provides a brief look at the primary aspects of the system, from the Sephiroth and Paths on the Tree of Life to the Lightning Flash and those most impenetrable of all veils: those of Negative Existence itself.

The village of Stanton Drew in north Somerset is host to a remarkable group of ancient monuments which together comprise the third largest collection of standing stones in England. Its Great Circle, the largest of three stone circles, exceeds the dimensions of Stonehenge. Recent archaeology has revealed that a substantial woodhenge once occupied the site, underlining its importance as a major ritual centre of the Neolithic age. Gordon Strong, a regular lecturer on the subject, has spent many years exploring this fascinating site on multiple levels. In this well illustrated book he presents archaeological detail, local folklore and the views of various commentators from 18th century antiquarians to dowsers, discussing mythology, mediumship and earth energies. His insights are gleaned from his long love-affair with the site, and offer the visitor some clues for making their own inner connection to this unique monument which still retains its ancient magic.

There are 78 cards in the Tarot, 22 of which are known as the Major Arcana, containing a breadth of wisdom and magical philosophy. Yet it is within the first five of these cards that the main principles of the Tarot can be found. The Tarot is a tangible demonstration of High Magic, and nowhere is that more evident than in the extraordinary power of The Magician and The High Priestess. Combined with The Fool, The Empress and The Emperor, the keys to the Tarot are ready to be unlocked.

The Purple Haze will bring doom to Camelot unless The Holy Grail is discovered. Sir Norbert and Sir Gadroon of The Round Table embark upon The Quest. Sir Edmund Wooslak-Bascombe goes out hunting, while Lady Malinda attempts to seduce Sir Norbert. Gadroon challenges the dragon Ufeltan, and all the while evil King Brime and Morgan le Fay plot the end of King Arthur. Merlin, Guinevere and Lancelot, with Lapin the Jester, Hendrique the Minstrel and the virgin maid Willowpetal all feature in this tale of Medieval Malarkey. So loosely based upon Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is it any wonder that minds and chain mail become unravelled?

The Age of Kings is over. The Goddess has decreed that a queen will rise and rule the Six Great Kingdoms. Before this age of joy and peace may come about, one great and final battle must be won. Can Paldarch the Wizard restore the Sword of Pengyron to its rightful heir? Only with this enchanted weapon can the young monarch Huan Brynan be victorious over the forces of darkness. But Brynan must know enlightenment, experience love and sadness and realise the eternal power of magic, before he is worthy of leading the knights of his realm to a great victory. A veteran chronicler of myth and legend, Gordon Strong creates a vivid world of the imagination. This gripping tale transcends all limits of time and space to become a reflection of the spiritual world in our own era.

The Tarot is a philosophical document, a wisdom tradition and a gateway to the unseen. Being beyond time, it has the power to reveal the ebb and flow of existence - the divine rhythm. An invaluable guide for the beginner and the professional reader alike, Gordon Strong perceptively explains all the cards of the Major and the Minor Arcana. A brief history of the Tarot, an intimate guide to Divination, Tarot Correspondences, numerology and Tarot meditation exercises are also included.

Madame Blavatsky was a pioneering woman, and not only as a traveller, writer and spiritual teacher. She was an inspiration to men and women around the world in Victorian times who desired to follow an independent path. In our own times, the New Age owes most of its spiritual knowledge to her. Blavatsky's travels in Russia, India and Tibet; her absorbing of many different cultures and her personal magnetism, are the stuff of celebrated legend. Her personal struggles against prejudice and ignorance are a record of one woman's determination to usher in the Aquarian Age. By her own efforts she established 'spirituality' as an ethos. She also taught that the soul - the 'Inner World' - of any individual is mysterious and precious. It is a sacred possession, one not to be feared, but cherished. Many myths and exotic tales surround Madame Blavatsky. This phenomenal individual saw herself as having a mission - to inform and enlighten the world. Her beliefs and her vision are even more relevant now than when she first voiced them.