Occult studies / Supernatural studies Books

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Book SynopsisThis two-volume text reviews spirit possession throughout history, analyzes case studies from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, and examines rites for exorcism.From the beginning of civilization to the present day, and across all major religions and cultures, there have been documented cases of people seemingly overtaken by an unseen entity. The invading forcewhether good or badappears to replace the possessor''s soul with the spirit''s own persona, resulting in mystifying symptoms such as levitation or other supernatural feats, speaking in tongues, and even horrific and inexplicably accelerated physical distortion and deterioration.This is a two-volume chronological history and examination of spirit possession that addresses its phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological aspects, and its effects on societies. Volume one reviews spirit possession from the upper Paleolithic era to modern times, while Volume two focuses on case studies and rites of

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Book SynopsisIn 1968 University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan enthralled a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western world view. This is the story of a journey that has left an impression on the life of more than a million readers.Trade Review"Taken together [Castaneda's books] form a work among the best that the science of anthropology has produced." The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary in every sense of the word." The New York Times "An unparalleled breakthrough... Remarkable." Los Angeles Times

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Book SynopsisWhile modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses remakes the relationship between world and representation. Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications in the work of writers who were self-consciously experimental.

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Book SynopsisThis book will interest clinicians who have wondered what professional practice would be like in the corporate setting and want to learn more about the psychological and organizational dynamics that 'drive' executive behavior. Based on the premise that leadership effectiveness is a function of both leader productivity and health, this book reviews the latest information and research data and offers case studies to illustrate specific strategies for maximizing executive health. Len Sperry has been consulting to executives and organizations for 30 years and has written numerous articles and several books on executives and workplace dynamics.Trade Review"Dr. Sperry is a leader in the use of character assessment in the executive selection process. Overall, I think that Effective Leadership is a winner! An especially attractive aspect of Effective Leadership is the focus on female executives and executive character." -- PaulLloyd, Ph.D., President, Lloyd & Associates, and Past President of the APA Society of Consulting Psychology"It is an interesting and intriguing book to read... This author knows his subject and loves it! This is more than just another book on executive coaching; it acknowledges and integrated other practices of promoting and enhancing executive health and performance." -- Maureen E. White, Assistant Director, University of San Francisco, Sacramento Regional CampusTable of ContentsForewordAcknowledgments IntroductionPart I:The Effective Executive Leader1. Profiles of Leadership EffectivenessThree Basic Premises About Leadership EffectivenessThe Nature of Executive LeadershipThe Value-Added Benefits of Executive LeadershipPatterns of Leadership EffectivenessConcluding Note2. Leadership Models and ResearchContributions From Leadership Models and TheoriesContributions From Qualitative ResearchContributions From Quantitative ResearchCompetentcies of Effective Executive LeadershipThe Need for an Integrative Model of Executive LeadershipAn Integrative Model of Leadership EffectivenessConcluding Note3. Leadership Skills and CompetenciesSkills, Knowledge, Talents, and CompetenciesLeadership SkillsLeadership TalentsLeadership CompetenciesLeadership Competencies in the Leader ProfilesConcluding Note 4. Personality and Leadership StylesCharacter and LeadershipPersonality Styles of ExecutivesExecutive Personality Styles by Level of FunctionLeadership Styles of ExecutivesConcluding Note 5. The Context of LeadershpContextual Components Impacting the ExecutiveOrganizational Dynamics: Organizational SubsystemsOrganizational Dynamics: Developmental StagesHighly Effective OrganizationsConcluding NotePart II:Strategies for Maximizing Productivity and Health6. Assessment StrategiesExecutive ProfilingAssessing Leadership Skills and CompetenciesLeader Styles AssessmentAssessing Situation: Organizational and Family DynamicsAssessing Synchronism or "Fit"Pre-Intervention StrategyExecutive Profiling: A Case ReportConcluding Note 7. Intervention StrategiesOrganizational ConsultationLeadership DevelopmentExecutive Policy AdvisementExecutive ConsultationExecutive CoachingExecutive CounselingExecutive Health PromotionConcluding Note8. Executive Coaching StrategiesViewpoints and Definitions of Executive CoachingExecutive Coaching, Consultation, and CounselingEconomic Benefits of Executive CoachingThe Practice of CoachingThree Basic Types of Executive CoachingConcluding Note9. Executive Counseling StrategiesExecutive Counseling, as Distinct from Consultation and CoachingExecutive Counseling with Dual-Career CouplesWork-Focused PsychotherapyConcluding Note10. Executive Consultation StrategiesExecutive Consultation as Distinct from Coaching and CounselingTypes of Executive ConsultationEvaluation in Executive ConsultationPersonal Advisement in Executive ConsultationConcluding Note11. Executive Health StrategiesThe Impact of Executive Health on CorporationsHealth Issues of Executive WomenA Model of Executive HealthPositive Psychology and Executive HealthConsulting on Executive Health NoncernsConcluding NoteAppendix A: Leadership Skills and CompetenciesAppendix B: Personality Styles in Executives by Level of FunctioningIndex

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Book SynopsisThis annual publication features articles on star wisdom (astrosophy) and a guide to the correspondences between stellar configurations during the life of Christ and those of today. The guide includes a complete sidereal ephemeris and aspectarian, geocentric and heliocentric for each day of the year for 2023.According to Rudolf Steiner, each step taken by Christ during his ministry, from the Baptism in the Jordan to his Resurrection, was in harmony with, and an expression of, the cosmos. The Star Wisdom series is concerned with these heavenly correspondences during the life of Christ and is intended to help in building a foundation for cosmic Christianity, the cosmic dimension of Christianity. It is this approach that, until now, has been largely missing from Christianity and its 2,000-year history.Readers can begin this path today by contemplating the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets against the background of the zodiacal constellations (sidereal signs) in relation to corresponding stellar events during the life of Christ. In this way, the possibility is opened for attuning in a living way to the life of Christ, who since the beginning of his Second Coming in 1933 is now spiritually present in the etheric aura of the Earth.This edition of Star Wisdom focuses on the year 2023 as the 100-year commemoration of Rudolf Steiner laying the Foundation Stone Meditation at the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society during the Christmas Conference in 1923 -- a 'turning point of time'.Additionally, this edition looks to the year 2023 in the light of its potential for being a turning point in today's cultural crisis, as indicated by the position of Neptune on the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces. This volume also features articles by Robert Powell, Joel Park, Krisztina Cseri and Natalia Haarahiltunen.This guide to direct interaction between human beings on Earth and angels and other heavenly beings connected with the stars is intended to help the reader develop the capacity to receive the wisdom-filled teachings of the spiritual hierarchies.

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Book SynopsisA useful manual for any magician, or for anyone who wonders why the tricks seem so real, this guide examines the psychological aspects of a magician''s work. Exploring the ways in which human psychology plays into the methods of conjuring, rather than focusing on the individual tricks themselves, the book explains general principles of magic. Chapters on the use of misdirection, sleight of hand, and reconstruction, provide a better understanding of this ancient art and a section on psychics warns of their deceptive magic skills.Trade Review""Magic in Theory" is charmingly clear, admirably erudite and highly readable. The chapters are gently authoritative without being numbingly complex, and sober while avoiding 'academic' sterility. Highly recommended." --"Fortean Times "

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Book SynopsisA work that combines biography and pyschogeography to trace Aleister Crowley''s life in London."I dreamed I was paying a visit to London," Aleister Crowley wrote in Italy, continuing, "It was a vivid, long, coherent, detailed affair of several days, with so much incident that it would make a good-sized volume." Crowley had a love-hate relationship with London, but the city was where he spent much of his adult life, and it was the capital of the culture that created him: Crowley was a post-decadent with deviant Victorian roots in the cultural ferment of the 1890s and the magical revival of the Golden Dawn. Not a walking guide, although many routes could be pieced together from its pages, this is a biography by sites. A fusion of life-writing with psychogeography, steeped in London''s social history from Victoria to the Blitz, it draws extensively on unpublished material and offers an exceptionally intimate picture of the Great Beast. We follow Crowley as he searches for prostitutes in Hyde Park and Pimlico, drinks absinthe and eats Chinese food in Soho, and find himself down on his luck in Paddington Green--and never quite losing sight of the illumination that drove him: "the abiding rapture," he wrote in his diary, "which makes a ''bus in the street sound like an angel choir!"

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Book SynopsisFrom the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms. They were performing mesmerism. Surprisingly central to literature and culture of the period, mesmerism embraced a variety of phenomena, including mind control, spirit travel, and clairvoyance. Although it had been debunked by Benjamin Franklin in late eighteenth-century France, the practice nonetheless enjoyed a decades-long resurgence in the United States. Emily Ogden here offers the first comprehensive account of those boom years. Credulity tells the fascinating story of mesmerism's spread from the plantations of the French Antilles to the textile factory cities of 1830s New England. As it proliferated along the Eastern seaboard, this occult movement attracted attention from Ralph Waldo Emerson's circle and ignited the nineteenth-century equivalent of flame wars in the major newspapers. But mesmerism was not simply the last gasp of magic in modern times. Far from being magicians themselves, mesmerists claimed to provide the first rational means of manipulating the credulous human tendencies that had underwritten past superstitions. Now, rather than propping up the powers of oracles and false gods, these tendencies served modern ends such as labor supervision, education, and mediated communication. Neither an atavistic throwback nor a radical alternative, mesmerism was part and parcel of the modern. Credulity offers us a new way of understanding the place of enchantment in secularizing America.

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Book SynopsisA collection of essays focusing on the relationship between concepts of the holy and the unholy in western European medieval culture. Demonstrates how religion, magic, and science were all modes of engagement with a natural world that was understood to be divinely created and infused with mysterious power.Trade Review“This collection of essays brings together two areas that are still often looked at separately: the history of magic and the history of saints, mystics, and more everyday parishioners. As well as celebrating the work of Richard Kieckhefer, Collins’s volume showcases the original work being done by leading scholars in the field. It should stimulate new work on the relationship between holiness and unholiness in the Middle Ages.”—Catherine Rider,author of Magic and Religion in Medieval England“This fascinating collection explores, as its dedicatee has done throughout his career, the fundamental ambivalence between ‘the holy and the unholy.’ Perfectly capturing Richard Kieckhefer’s eclectic interests, the book includes essays on topics ranging from saints and their hagiographers, to church buildings (and their embodiments of identities and meanings), to heresy, demons, and magic. Kieckhefer once quipped that his scholarship has a right hand and a left hand. Both sides are delightfully represented here.”—Laura Ackerman Smoller,author of The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe“Apart from the introduction, this volume contains ten contributions by Anglophone authors—discipuli, collegae, amici—which, as usual, prove to be of quite diverse subject matter and quality.”—Peter Dinzelbacher Sehepunkte“The collection of essays presented here represents a valuable contribution to recent and ongoing efforts to complicate assumptions about religion, science and magic as operating within distinct environments with distinct ideological underpinnings. This fascinating range of essays is suggestive of the multiplicity of environments and contexts in which the sacred and the sinister became sometimes disturbingly entangled.”—Jennifer Farrell Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Flirting Between Heaven and HellDavid J. Collins, S.J.Part 1: Traditional Holiness1. Extreme Sanctity at the Turn of the Thirteenth Century: The Metamorphosis of Body and Community in the Vitae of Christina Mirabilis and Francis of AssisiClaire Fanger2. The Sources and Significance of Stefania’s New Statement on Margherita Colonna’s Perfection of the VirtuesSean L. FieldPart 2: Conflicts over the Holy3. Materializing Conflict: How Parish Communities RememberTheir Medieval PastsKristi Woodward Bain4. Rape and Rapture: Violence, Ambiguity, and Raptus in Medieval ThoughtElizabeth Casteen5. Syneisaktism : Sacred Partnership and Sinister ScandalMaeve B. CallanPart 3: Identifying and Grappling with the Unholy6. Was Magic a Religious Movement?Michael D. Bailey7. The Jurisdiction of Medieval Inquisitors over Jews and Muslims: Nicholas Eymeric’s Contra infideles demones invocantesKatelyn Mesler8. Magicking Madness: Secret Workings and Public Narratives of Disordered Minds in Late Medieval GermanyAnne M. KoenigPart 4: Magic and the Cosmos9. A Late Medieval Demonic Invasion of the HeavensSophie Page10. Scholastics, Stars, and Magi: Albert the Great on Matthew 2David J. Collins, S.J.Selected BibliographyList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisThe late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are known as the Age of Enlightenment, a time of science and reason. In this book, the author reveals the surprising extent to which Newton, Boyle, Locke, and other giants of rational thought and empiricism also embraced the spiritual, the magical, and the occult.Trade Review"A definitive document of its material."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * Publisher's Weekly *“[A] serious yet lively work, chockablock with facts, anecdotes, and original research.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *“A first-class study of the pursuit of the occult in England from the Restoration through 1815.”—Library Journal * Library Journal *"...[T]he book contains a wealth of information that adds to the ongoing scholarly conversations regarding the dynamics of the shifting fortunes of alchemy, astrology, and magic (both natural and ritual) in the early modern period."—Lawrence Principe, Chicago Journals -- Lawrence Principe * Chicago Journals *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Vinson Sutlive Book Prize, Anthropology Department of William & Mary""Winner of the 2018 Albert Hourani Book Award, Middle East Studies Association""Important and highly original."---Nile Green, Los Angeles Review of Books"Alireza Doostdar’s The Iranian Metaphysicals stands as a rigorous and thoughtful contribution to this scholarship. Drawing on a rich ethnographic archive, Doostdar gives us a superbly argued and highly original exploration of Iran’s ‘metaphysical explorers.’"---Charles Hirschkind, Immanent Frame"The Iranian Metaphysicals provides valuable insights not only to scholars of Iran or Islamic studies, but also to those interested in global and comparative approaches to the politics of religion, cultural studies, and histories of the occult."---Elise K. Burton, International Dialogue

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive account of the influence of occult beliefs and doctrines on intellectual and cultural life in twentieth-century Russia.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction: Giving the Devil His Due Regina M. Hansen and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock | 1 The Sign of the Cross: Georges Méliès and Early Satanic Cinema Russ Hunter | 15 Murnau’s Faust and the Weimar Moment Barry C. Knowlton and Eloise R. Knowlton | 27 Disney’s Devils J. P. Telotte | 42 What’s the Deal with the Devil? The Comedic Devil in Four Films Katherine A. Fowkes | 58 His Father’s Eyes: Rosemary''s Baby David Sterritt | 71 From the Eternal Sea He Rises, Creating Armies on Either Shore: The Antichristology of the Omen Franchise R. Barton Palmer | 86 The Weird Devil: Lovecraftian Horror in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness Carl H. Sederholm | 103 Narration and Damnation in Angel Heart Murray Leeder | 120 The Devil’s in the Details: Devilish Desire and Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock | 136 Agency or Allowance: The Satanic Complications of Female Autonomy in The Witches of Eastwick and The Witch Simon Bacon | 149 “Roaming the Earth”: Satan in The Last Temptation of Christ and The Passion of the Christ Catherine O’Brien | 161 Lucifer, Gabriel, and the Angelic Will in The Prophecy and Constantine Regina M. Hansen | 178 Advocating for Satan: The Parousia-Inspired Horror Genre David Hauka | 191 List of Contributors | 207 Index | 211

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Book SynopsisThis text explains why beliefs in supernatural forces - ghosts, poltergeists, witches, and spirits - are based on universal experience. The author aims to demonstrate that age-old healing rituals such as chanting and rythmic dancing have scientifically verifiable benefits.Trade Review"Provocative and challenging.... Fascinating reading."—Journal of Religion and Society "An important contribution to religious studies, anthropology, and evolutionary psychology... there is nothing like it."—William Irons, Northwestern University "A valuable fresh perspective on the intersection of religious and anomalous experiences, the behavioral sciences, and evolutionary theory."—Transcultural PsychiatryTable of ContentsTable of Contents Introduction: Evolution and Religion 1. The Evolution of Wondrous Healing 2. Fertility, Childbirth, and Suggestion 3. The Anthropology of Wondrous Healing 4. Wondrous Healing, Hypnotizability, and Folklore 5. The Seeds of Religion 6. When the Seeds of Religion Sprout Conclusion: Criticisms and Challenges Appendix Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisPseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker''s Toolkit provides readers with a variety of reality-checking tools to analyze extraordinary claims and to determine their validity. Integrates simple yet powerful evaluative tools used by both paranormal believers and skeptics alike Introduces innovations such as a continuum for ranking paranormal claims and evaluating their implications Includes an innovative Critical Thinker''s Toolkit, a systematic approach for performing reality checks on paranormal claims related to astrology, psychics, spiritualism, parapsychology, dream telepathy, mind-over-matter, prayer, life after death, creationism, and more Explores the five alternative hypotheses to consider when confronting a paranormal claim< Reality Check boxes, integrated into the text, invite students to engage in further discussion and examination of claims Written in Trade Review"One of the greatest strengths of this book is its active engagement of the reader. Every few pages, Smith interrupts the text with a Reality Check box, a set of discussion questions that challenge students to think more deeply about the implications of what they have just read." (PsycCRITIQUES, April 2010) Table of ContentsPART 1: INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: The Continuum Mysteriosum Making Sense out of Mysteries: The Continuum Mysteriosum Extraordinary, Nonparanormal Mysteries An Invitation Chapter 2: Why Study These Things? The Dangers of Unexamined Paranormal Claims The Risk of Paranormal Passion and the Critical Thinker?s Toolkit Eight Reality-Checks: The Critical Thinker?s Toolkit PART II: THE CRITICAL THINKER?S TOOLKIT EVALUATE SUPPORT FOR A CLAIM Chapter 3: Reality Check: Are the Sources Credible? Astrology Questionable Sources The Question of Authority When Experts Get It Wrong An Invitation to Question Chapter 4: Reality Check: Is the Logic Valid and Sound? Basic Logic Informal Logical Fallacies Premises, Logic, and Hypothesis Testing Chapter 5: Reality Check: Are Claims Based on Science: (Observations, Tests, and Theories)? Observations Tests Theories Sagan?s Balance and the FEDS Standard Science and Alternative Hypotheses CONSIDER ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS Chapter 6: Reality Checking for Oddities of Nature and the World of Numbers Probability Estimates and Bias Math Ignorance Coincidences The Clumpiness of Randomness The Law of Very Large Numbers Science and Chance Summary: Psychic Bias Chapter 7: Reality Checking for Perceptual Error and Trickery Top-Down Processes and Perception Manipulations of Magicians and Psychics: The Cold Reading Toolkit Hypnotic Suggestion Enhancers Chapter 8: Reality Checking for Memory Errors Memory Myths What is Memory? Memory Errors Déjà vu The Déjà vu Reality Check Chapter 9: Reality Checking for the Placebo Effect What are Placebos? Weak and Strong Placebos Is the Placebo Effect Real? Underlying ?Placebogenic? Mechanisms Placebos and Superstitious Beliefs Placebo Controversies Placebos and Performance Chapter 10: Reality Checking for Sensory Anomalies and Hallucinations Sensory Phenomena Migraines Tunnel Experiences Hallucinations Hallucinations and the Critical Thinker?s Toolkit PART 3: THE PARANORMAL FILES Chapter 11: Spiritualism and the Survival Hypothesis History of the Spiritualist Movement Impact of Spiritualism Spiritualism Today Research on Life after Death Research on Channeling and Mediums Conclusion Chapter 12: Parapsychology The Language of Parapsychology Research on PSI Conclusion: The State of PSI Research Chapter 13: Energy Treatments and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Contemporary Views of Energy: The Scientific Perspective Concepts of Energy in Children and Western History: Vitalism Chinese History and Energy: The Yin-Yang School Chinese Energy Treatments Western Energy Treatments Conclusion Chapter 14: Supernatural Cures and Faith Healing The Varieties of Healing Experience The Evidence Chapter 15: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and God Great Debate Things Great and Small Chapter 16: The Reality Checkup: Using your Toolkit The Reality Checkup How to Carry on a Civilized Discussion about the Paranormal Parting Words: The Paranormal Challenge APPENDIX A: Complementary and Alternative Medicine APPENDIX B: Critical Thinking and Paranormal Resources APPENDIX C: Susan Blackmore on Paranormal Research

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Within the academy, it will be of particular interest to scholars focusing on the paranormal, esotericism, and the other blurred boundaries between the religious and non-religious in Western society." * Reading Religion *"Paranormal Americais an excellent text for parlaying this interest into an exploration of the sociology of religion." * Nova Religio *"Paranormal America takes the reader on a thought-provoking journey into the study of paranormal beliefs and experiences in the United States. The authors do not take a position with regard to the reality of the paranormal, but, as is appropriate for social scientists, simply seek to describe the prevalence of paranormal beliefs and the characteristics of the people who hold them. This is done not only by summarizing the results of surveys, but also by relating personal accounts and interactions. For example, in this book we are introduced to psychics, UFO abductees, and a self-proclaimed warlock. We go on a hunt for ghosts and a search for Bigfoot, and we learn about the types of equipment that ghost hunters and Bigfoot searchers use. Regardless of one’s personal view with regard to the paranormal, it makes for interesting reading, and the personal accounts serve to develop and put faces on the survey data." -- Review of Religious Research"This is a fun read. Armed with a wealth of stories and a trove of recent surveys, the authors introduce us to those who believe and experience the paranormal. This is an engaging and eye-opening book that offers an abundance of new insights, dispelling some popular stereotypes and reaffirming others." -- Roger Finke,Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University"This is not merely a second edition of an already fine book, but a landmark in the evolution of modern culture, documenting the significant increase of public interest and richness of popular culture about possibilities that exist just outside the boundaries of science and religion. Nicely blending research data with descriptions of first-hand experiences, it raises the possibility that secularization is actually spiritual diversification, rather than religious decline, and provides a rigorous but poetic basis for many future scholarly studies and personal explorations." -- William Sims Bainbridge,author of eGods: Faith Versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming and Across the Secular Abyss"It’s a rare delight when a book comes my way from a publisher that is both engrossing and intellectually stimulating. Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture, is one that ably checks both columns and will likely soon be nestled on my shelf next to Glen Chilton’s The Attack of The Killer Rhododendrons and Gregory L. Reece’s Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs: Mysterious Creatures, Lost Worlds and Amazing Inventions... I wholeheartedly recommend this second edition as a strong entry point for anyone interested in the paranormal, whether as a curiosity or academic pursuit." * Journal of Religion and Culture *

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Book SynopsisThe untold account of the countless Americans who believe in, or personally experience, paranormal phenomena such as ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs and psychics Given the popularity of television shows such as Finding Bigfoot, Ghost Hunters, Supernatural, and American Horror Story, there seems to be an insatiable public hunger for mystical happenings. But who believes in the paranormal? Based on extensive research and their own unique personal experiences, Christopher Bader, Joseph Baker and Carson Mencken reveal that a significant number of Americans hold these beliefs, and that for better or worse, we undoubtedly live in a paranormal America. Readers will join the authors as they participate in psychic and palm readings, and have their auras photographed, join a Bigfoot hunt, follow a group of celebrity ghost hunters as they investigate claims of a haunted classroom, and visit a support group for alien abductees. The second edition includes new and updated research based on findings from the Trade Review"Within the academy, it will be of particular interest to scholars focusing on the paranormal, esotericism, and the other blurred boundaries between the religious and non-religious in Western society." * Reading Religion *"Paranormal Americais an excellent text for parlaying this interest into an exploration of the sociology of religion." * Nova Religio *"Paranormal America takes the reader on a thought-provoking journey into the study of paranormal beliefs and experiences in the United States. The authors do not take a position with regard to the reality of the paranormal, but, as is appropriate for social scientists, simply seek to describe the prevalence of paranormal beliefs and the characteristics of the people who hold them. This is done not only by summarizing the results of surveys, but also by relating personal accounts and interactions. For example, in this book we are introduced to psychics, UFO abductees, and a self-proclaimed warlock. We go on a hunt for ghosts and a search for Bigfoot, and we learn about the types of equipment that ghost hunters and Bigfoot searchers use. Regardless of one’s personal view with regard to the paranormal, it makes for interesting reading, and the personal accounts serve to develop and put faces on the survey data." -- Review of Religious Research"This is a fun read. Armed with a wealth of stories and a trove of recent surveys, the authors introduce us to those who believe and experience the paranormal. This is an engaging and eye-opening book that offers an abundance of new insights, dispelling some popular stereotypes and reaffirming others." -- Roger Finke,Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University"This is not merely a second edition of an already fine book, but a landmark in the evolution of modern culture, documenting the significant increase of public interest and richness of popular culture about possibilities that exist just outside the boundaries of science and religion. Nicely blending research data with descriptions of first-hand experiences, it raises the possibility that secularization is actually spiritual diversification, rather than religious decline, and provides a rigorous but poetic basis for many future scholarly studies and personal explorations." -- William Sims Bainbridge,author of eGods: Faith Versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming and Across the Secular Abyss"It’s a rare delight when a book comes my way from a publisher that is both engrossing and intellectually stimulating. Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture, is one that ably checks both columns and will likely soon be nestled on my shelf next to Glen Chilton’s The Attack of The Killer Rhododendrons and Gregory L. Reece’s Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs: Mysterious Creatures, Lost Worlds and Amazing Inventions... I wholeheartedly recommend this second edition as a strong entry point for anyone interested in the paranormal, whether as a curiosity or academic pursuit." * Journal of Religion and Culture *

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Book SynopsisSpirit Matters explores the heterodox and unorthodox religions and spiritualities that arose in Victorian Britain as a result of the faltering of Christian faith in the face of modernity, the rise of the truth-telling authority of science, and the first full exposure of the West to non-Christian religions. J. Jeffrey Franklin investigates the diversity of ways that spiritual seekers struggled to maintain faith or to create new faiths by reconciling elements of the Judeo-Christian heritage with Spiritualism, Buddhism, occultism, and scientific naturalism. Spirit Matters covers a range of scenarios from the Victorian hearth and the state-Church altar to the frontiers of empire in Buddhist countries and Egyptian crypts. Franklin reveals how this diversity of elements provided the materials for the formation of new hybrid religions and the emergence in the 20th century of New Age spiritualities.Franklin investigates a broad spectrum of experiences through a series oTrade ReviewFranklin's study, well researched and grounded in primary documents, makes an important contribution to the study of 19th-century Christianity, alternative religions, and the predecessors of 20th-century New Age religion. * Choice *Spirit Matters is persuasive and engaging, deserving of the attention of anyone interested in English literature or in the development of modern Western occultism. * Fortean Times *A generous overview of a large topic.... Franklin's contribution to this established research works powerfully to both collect and to expand upon these core concepts of heterodox faiths and belief systems and, in particular, to better globalize them. The result is a text that avoids broad conclusions and injects a series of much-needed nuances to the overall tapestry of the study of heterodox religions and occult philosophies. * The Wilkie Collins Journal *Spirit Matters presents a critical exploration of these various alternative spiritual discourses...[W]orthy contributions to this field of study. * British Association for Victorian Studies *Overall, the book is excellent: a very close reading of a set of sources for historical data where many would not think to perform such a reading. * Nova Religio *Fascinating and compelling. * The Journal of Religion *The originality of Spirit Matters undoubtedly comes from Franklin's keen analysis of the intertwined religious, cultural, and national discourses on orthodox Christianity in relation to the formulation of alternative religions fostered by the scientific skepticism about Christian Spirit. * Supernatural Studies *Much recommended. * Religious Studies Review *

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Book SynopsisOne of the most enigmatic figures in history, Nostradamus - apothecary, astrologer and soothsayer - is a continual source of fascination. Indeed, his predictions are so much the stock-in-trade of the wildest merchants of imminent Doom that one could be forgiven for forgetting that Michel de Nostredame, 1503-1566, was a figure firmly rooted in the society of the French Renaissance. In this bold new account of the life and work of Nostradamus, Denis Crouzet shows that any attempt to interpret his Prophecies at face value is misguided. Nostradamus was not trying to predict the future. He saw himself, rather, as 'prophesying', i.e. bringing the Word of God to humankind. Like Rabelais, for whom laughter was a therapy to help one cope with the misery of the times, Nostradamus thought of himself as a physician of the soul as much as of the body. His unveiling of the menacing and horrendous events which await us in the future was a way of frightening his readers into the realisation that inner hatred was truly the greatest peril of all, to which the sole remedy was to live in the love and peace of Christ. This inspired interpretation penetrates the imaginative world of Nostradamus, a man whose life is as mysterious as his writings. It shows him in a completely new dimension, securing for him a significant place among the major thinkers of the Renaissance.Trade Review"This study by the distinguished historian of Renaissance France, Denis Crouzet, is a milestone in studies of Nostradamus for two reasons: its attention to the sixteenth century context of the prophecies, and its 'anti-interpretation', arguing that the meaning of the texts 'is always left hanging in the air'."Peter Burke, University of Cambridge "In this very subtle and thought-provoking book Denis Crouzet makes sense of Nostradamus precisely by accepting his deliberate obscurity. The extraordinary violence and disquieting imagery of his quatrains can be compared with the paintings of Bosch, portraying a world turned upside down where sin and cruelty presage divine punishment. Crouzet skillfully weaves this into a broader understanding of the spiritual and emotional imaginary of the Reformation era, when all old certainties seemed to be melting down, amidst terrifying human savagery."Robin Briggs, All Souls College, University of OxfordTable of ContentsTranslator�s Preface Introduction. Fragments of History 1. The Place Beyond Words 2. A Self-Contradictory Utterance 3. Treasures Beneath an Oak Tree 4. A Would-Be Astrophile 5. Thresholds Dependant on Subjectivity 6. An Evangelist Cogito 7. �For the Common Profit of Mankind� 8. �A Burning Mirror� 9. Divine Light 10. From the All to the One 11. The Word of Creation 12. An Episteme of Reason 13. Sacredness and Nothingness 14. The Energetics of Obscurity 15. Powers of Evil 16. Man Against Man 17. All the Sins of the World 18. The Horror that Invites Horror 19. Faith: Trial and Tribulations 20. From Alpha to Omega 21. The Philology of Angst 22. The Panic Paradox 23. The Eschataology of the Rainbow 24. The Ontological Turn 25. Liberty in Christ By Way of Conclusion: Why Nostradamus? Notes Chronology Sources and Bibliography

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Book SynopsisPre-Christian religious spirituality, Norse Paganism, occult, sorcery, metaphysical rune magick and Heathenry. This book is devoted toward the old ways and neo-pagan God and Goddess worship, initiation into the Northern Tradition Mysteries, as well as

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Book SynopsisIn his debut book, author Simon M. Miles offers an entirely new perspective on one of the most compelling mysteries of our time. He documents an investigation over more than twenty years into the "affair of Rennes", a tangle of puzzles that has fascinated readers and researchers alike for half a century. A minor riddle of local history centred on a tiny village in the south of France became a global phenomenon, yet its secrets have remained tightly sealed. Until now. Amongst a sequence of breakthrough original insights, "The Map and the Manuscript" reveals for the first time the traces of a remarkable artefact of the ancient world, a geometrical complex laid out with impressive accuracy and at large scale between certain peaks, churches and châteaux in the landscape of the Pyrenees mountains. This discovery leads to a far-reaching exploration across a rich expanse of topics, from sacred geography to French poetry, from alchemy to dreams, from the Temple of Delphi to the streets of Paris, from hidden designs in old books to secret codes in manuscripts. While no prior knowledge is required or assumed, for those familiar with the many questions surrounding the twin villages of Rennes-le-Château and Rennes-les-Bains, this book will come as a revelation. It includes complete solutions to core riddles at the heart of the affair, including the famous parchments and the mysterious book and map written by the local priest. It also reveals the true identity of the author of the enigmatic poem Le Serpent Rouge, and opens this obscure yet deeply significant work to understanding at last. Richly illustrated with over 140 full-colour images, "The Map and the Manuscript" decisively resolves several longstanding literary and esoteric problems in the affair of Rennes, and also makes a significant contribution to a wider reappraisal of the capabilities of landscape architects in the ancient world. A mystery is solved, while an even greater one is revealed.Table of ContentsPrologue: A Dream in Athens Introduction Part One:Identification Chapter One: On the Path Chapter Two: Le Serpent Rouge Chapter Three: First Inklings Chapter Four: Sightlines Chapter Five: Sacred Geography Chapter Six: Converging Circles Chapter Seven: The Number of the Famous Seal Part Two: Orientation Chapter Eight: The Zodiac of Rennes-les-Bains Chapter Nine: The Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains Chapter Ten: Delphi, Apollo and the Python Chapter Eleven: Confirmation from the Team Part Three: Solution Chapter Twelve: Geographic Cryptography Chapter Thirteen: The Riddle of the Parchments Chapter Fourteen: The Arques Square Part Four: Transmission Chapter Fifteen: Grand Voyager of the Unknown Chapter Sixteen: Dreams, Alchemy and the Omphalos Chapter Seventeen: Imprint of a Seal Chapter Eighteen: A Walk in the Woods Chapter Nineteen: Reassembling the Scattered Stones Epilogue: Coda to a Dream Appendices Appendix I: The Parchment Text Decipherments Appendix II: List of Figures Appendix III: The Text of Le Serpent Rouge Appendix IV: Chronology of Key Texts Appendix V: Bibliography

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