This is a seriously funny book Traditional Qabalistic (or Cabalistic, or, indeed, Kabbalistic -- read this book to find out what the difference is...we know you've always wondered) sources tend to be a bit, er, dry. DuQuette spices up the Qabalah and makes it come alive, restoring the joy of learning the fundamentals of this admittedly arcane system by using simple, amusing anecdotes and metaphors. This account, written psuedepigraphically (fictitiously attributed to a supposed authority), allows DuQuette as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford to soar to outrageous heights and, when necessary, stand apart from the silliness to highlight the golden eggs of Qabalistic wisdom nested therein. Sure to be a revelation to those who think that learning about the Qabalah needs to be tedious and serious, DuQuette shows that great truths can be transmitted through the medium of laughter. * A Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist .

    Wesselman reveals what it means to be a mystic and a medicine man in an age of high technology and super science. His spiritual quest continues to unfold, illuminating the emergence of a modern Western shamanism, the phenomenon of spirit possession, the conveyance of the souls of the dead, and the true nature of the human spirit.

    People could seek knowledge from the dead by sleeping on tombs, visiting oracles, and attempting to reanimate corpses and skulls. Ranging over many of the lands in which Greek and Roman civilizations flourished, including Egypt, from the Greek archaic period through the late Roman empire, this book is the first comprehensive survey of the subject ever published in any language.Daniel Ogden surveys the places, performers, and techniques of necromancy as well as the reasons for turning to it. He investigates the cave-based sites of oracles of the dead at Heracleia Pontica and Tainaron, as well as the oracles at the Acheron and Avernus, which probably consisted of lakeside precincts. He argues that the Acheron oracle has been long misidentified, and considers in detail the traditions attached to each site. Readers meet the personnel--real or imagined--of ancient necromancy: ghosts, zombies, the earliest vampires, evocators, sorcerers, shamans, Persian magi, Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Roman emperors, and witches from Circe to Medea. Ogden explains the technologies used to evocate or reanimate the dead and to compel them to disgorge their secrets. He concludes by examining ancient beliefs about ghosts and their wisdom--beliefs that underpinned and justified the practice of necromancy.The first of its kind and filled with information, this volume will be of central importance to those interested in the rapidly expanding, inherently fascinating, and intellectually exciting subjects of ghosts and magic in antiquity.

    The astrological student may know that the Sun is the most important factor in the birth horoscope, but frequently used terms such as "self-expression" give little insight into this most profound and complex of astrological symbols. The seminars in this volume explore the many dimensions of the astrological Sun, from the Sun as a father-symbol to its importance as a significator of personal identity, vocation, and spiritual values. Also examined are progressions of the Sun to natal planets, and major planetary aspects to the natal Sun. With so little written work available on the Sun in the horoscope, this innovative volume offers psychological and astrological perspectives which will be invaluable for both the student and the professional astrologer.

    Divine Mother, Mistress of Magic, Goddess of the Green Earth, Queen of the Mysteries, Goddess of Women and Sacred Sexuality, Lady of Hermetic Wisdom . . . "Isis Magic" begins with a fascinating history of this many-aspected Lady of the Ten Thousand Names. Then apply this information to a four-part initiatory journey through the "House of Isis" as you become Her Votary, Her Handmaiden or Servant, her Magician, and Her Prophetess or Prophet.  Through a series of exercises, meditations, and fully scripted rituals, you will be touched by the Heart of Isis and cultivate your relationship with this powerful, magical, and living Goddess. On a spiritual level, this process fosters spiritual growth and personal transformation. On a practical level, you will increase your magical and Priest/esscraft skills as you learn Isiac ways of healing, celebrating the seasons, honoring life passages, practicing divination, and more. Enter this four-part initiatory journey, and . . . • Learn how to "Open the Ways" to Isis • Powerfully connect with Her through special invocations, meditations, and prayers • Celebrate the seasonal rites in honor of the Isis of Nature • Express and heal deep sorrows through ritual • Learn what modern Priestesses and Priests have to say about their relationship with Isis. "Isis Magic" is complete, well researched, and deeply experiential. It is the perfect resource for the individual seeker, to inspire your circle or coven, or as a program of personal development for those called by Isis to be her Priestesses and Priests.

    The astrology that is ubiquitous today is quite different from astrology as practised throughout almost all of its long history. The dilute and distorted version with which we are so familiar is not the study that has fascinated so many of the finest minds in our culture with its intellectual depth and practical precision. John Frawley provides a searching - and often hilarious - critique of modern astrology, and a detailed introduction to all the main branches of the traditional craft. Accessible to those with no prior knowledge of the subject, yet sufficiently through to serve as a vade mecum for the student or practitioner.

    

    This renowned but little-known Sufi mystic of the 10th century preceded Rumi by over two hundred years on the same path of annihilation into God. He referred to himself as -- Nobody Son of Nobody his expression of the reality that his life was subsumed in the Divine, and that the individual self had disappeared in the heart of God: Under this cloak is nothing but God. Introduce me as Nobody, Son of Nobody. These are 195 short selections translated from the original Farsi. These poems deal with the longing for union with God, the desire to know the Real from the False, the inexpressible beauty of Creation when seen through the eyes of Love, and the many attitudes of heart, mind and feeling that are necessary to those who would find the Beloved -- The Friend -- in this life.

    For instance, your rage can give you superhuman strength, your fear can save you from certain death, and your shame and depression can bring you to a complete (and often necessary) halt. Imagine what you could accomplish if - instead of repressing your emotions and losing your energy, or expressing them haphazardly and losing your way - you could marshal their energies and use them to increase your awareness, heal your relationships, and address your deepest wounds. Emotional Genius takes you on a healing journey that delves, chapter by chapter, into each of the cultural impediments to true emotional agility - our misunderstanding of genius (it's not simply more intelligence), our disavowal of our emotional way of knowing (our empathy), our disconnection from the quaternary of elements that can make us whole and functional people, our overemphasis on unbalanced intellectual knowledge (our minds can only function properly when we have open access to our emotions, our spiritual awareness, and our grounded physicality), and the startling connection between unhealed trauma and the state of our present-day world. From that empathic understanding of the deep trouble all around us, a brilliant new view of emotional incapacity, avoidance behaviors, addictions, distractions, isolation, trauma, and dissociation emerges - and then leads to the specific healing and balancing practices that address these troubles and make emotional genius (and genius in every area of life) possible. With the support of these self-healing and balancing practices, readers can then enter the territory of the emotions with their feet under them and their wits about them - and learn about the exquisite energy, information, and wisdom inside each of their emotions - the Honorable Sentry of Anger; The Profound Mirror of Hatred; the Water Bearer of Sadness; the Deep River of Grief; the Communion of Joy; The Intuitive Energy of Fear; the Frozen Fire of Panic and Terror; the Relational Radar of Jealousy and Envy; the Masking States of Apathy and Confusion; the Emotional Physics of Stress and Resistance; and why Love is not an emotion at all! Each emotion is explored in empathic terms, which includes an explanation of the energy inside the emotion, what happens when it becomes trapped or overemphasized, how it works within the psyche, how it should work with your other emotions (and why it doesn't), specific practices and questions to help you welcome, work with, and honor that emotion - and suggestions for how to honor that emotion in others (even if they don't know how to honor it in themselves). In this groundbreaking new work, empath Karla McLaren leads you on a step-by-step journey out of emotional confusion, energy loss, and suffering, and helps you discover your soul's deepest language and your own innate Emotional Genius.

    Magee traces the influence on Hegel of such Hermetic thinkers as Baader, B�hme, Bruno, and Paracelsus, and fascination with occult and paranormal phenomena. Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition covers Hegel's philosophical corpus and shows that his engagement with Hermeticism lasted throughout his career and intensified during his final years in Berlin. Viewing Hegel as a Hermetic thinker has implications for a more complete understanding of the modern philosophical tradition, and German idealism in particular.

    Presents lore relating to the 'latter days' and the Antichrist from various religious traditions. Drawing on the writings of the leading perennialist thinkers Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon, sketches the particular quality of spirituality proper to apocalyptic times-both its dangers and the opportunities open to it.