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This complete history of witchcraft from Ancient Greece to the
present day charts the rise and development of witchcraft and the
modern witchcraft religion of Wicca. Today witchcraft is on
everyone's lips, on television, in film and in literature, but few
know, or are even able to guess at, its shadowy history. This
in-depth investigation discovers how the ideas we have about
witchcraft took shape thousands of years ago in the myths and
religions of the ancient world. It also looks at why these ideas
were expressed so violently during the era of the witch trials.
Finally, it reveals how witchcraft has been transformed into one of
the most radical and fastest growing religions of our age - a
religion of equality and compassion that still has the power to
unsettle even the bravest amongst us. With new analyses, fresh
insights and groundbreaking material drawn from the author's
doctoral research into the mysticism, magic and social meaning of
Wicca, this is the first book to bring witchcraft fully out of the
shadows.
There has been an upsurge in books, television programmes, films
and websites exploring the reality or otherwise of the spirit
world. Not since the founding of The Ghost Club in 1862 and the
Society for Psychical Research in 1882 has ghost hunting been so
popular. Television and the internet, in particular, have fueled
this new level of interest, creating a modern media phenomenon that
spans the globe. But while the demand for information is high, good
information remains scarce. A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting leads us
through the process of ghost hunting, from initially weighing the
first report, to choosing equipment, and investigating and
identifying the phenomena, with an analysis of the best places to
go looking, methods of contacting the spirit world, how to explain
paranormal activity and, crucially, how to survive the encounter.
However, it is also a book about ghost hunting itself, drawing on
130 years of research in the cavernous archives of the Society for
Psychical Research and even older history to find the earliest
ghost stories. A Ghost Hunting Survey makes use of interviews with
those billing themselves as ghost hunters to find out their views,
motivations and experiences. New and original research makes use of
statistics to map the nebulous world of apparitions while a
Preliminary Survey of Hauntings offers an analysis of 923 reported
phenomena from 263 locations across the UK. This is, as far as
possible, an objective presentation of ghosts and ghost hunting. It
is no wonder that mainstream science largely refuses to deal with
the subject: it is too complicated. Without trying to convince you
of any viewpoint, this book is intended to help you understand
more.
HERE BE DRAGONS! Here you will find the things that once made the
woods wild and the nights to be feared; that made ancient
map-makers write, 'Here be Dragons'. The Impossible Zoo is a
biology of the supernatural - a study of the life of things that
never lived. This world of mermaids and unicorns, now confined to
fantasy, but once believed to exist, is a world of the imagination
that still affects us today. Wonderfully illustrated throughout, it
also provides sources as a guide to further study and exploration.
'For anyone who has ever wished that dragons and unicorns were
real, this magical, mystical and truly memorable book is definitely
for you - and for me!' Dr Karl Shuker, author of A Manifestation of
Monsters 'Ruickbie's level of scholarship is impressive and he
presents his conclusions with great literary skill in readable and
attractive prose. The results are truly fascinating. Very highly
recommended.' Revd Lionel Fanthorpe, FRSA, author and President of
the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
After a miraculous escape from the German military juggernaut in
the small Belgian town of Mons in 1914, the first major battle that
the British Expeditionary Force would face in the First World War,
the British really believed that they were on the side of the
angels. Indeed, after 1916, the number of spiritualist societies in
the United Kingdom almost doubled, from 158 to 309. As Arthur Conan
Doyle explained, 'The deaths occurring in almost every family in
the land brought a sudden and concentrated interest in the life
after death. People not only asked the question, If a man die,
shall he live again? but they eagerly sought to know if
communication was possible with the dear ones they had lost.' From
the Angel of Mons to the popular boom in spiritualism as the
horrors of industrialised warfare reaped their terrible harvest,
the paranormal - and its use in propaganda - was one of the key
aspects of the First World War. Angels in the Trenches takes us
from defining moments, such as the Angel of Mons on the Front Line,
to spirit communication on the Home Front, often involving the
great and the good of the period, such as aristocrat Dame Edith
Lyttelton, founder of the War Refugees Committee, and the physicist
Sir Oliver Lodge, Principal of Birmingham University. We see here
people at every level of society struggling to come to terms with
the ferocity and terror of the war, and their own losses: soldiers
looking for miracles on the battlefield; parents searching for lost
sons in the seance room. It is a human story of people forced to
look beyond the apparent certainties of the everyday - and this
book follows them on that journey.
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