Best of
Esoterica

2017

By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn: The Theory & Practice of Effective Home Warding


Althaea Sebastiani - 2017
    It is a preventative measure that uses your skill as a witch to tap into wild and ancient forces in order to take very ordinary objects and render them powerful wards. In this book, you’ll explore the theory behind warding with an in-depth look at the three things generally warded against, those things that cannot be warded against, and the surprising benefits warding affords to your witchcraft practice. You'll then put that information into practice with simple yet powerful wards you can easily make to guard your home, as well as techniques for warding your home when you don’t have access to tools but need immediate magickal protection. You will learn: • Why blanket protection spells are generally ineffective at providing the protection you need • How to make your magick stronger by identifying what you can and cannot ward against • How to transform your home into a spiritual safe-haven with a powerful hands-on approach to witchcraft • To simply yet effectively protect yourself from curses and unwanted energy • How to quickly ward your home without any tools in the event of a spiritual threat • To rely more strongly on yourself and make fewer excuses about why you can’t do the witchcraft With an emphasis on common sense, practicality, and a no-excuses approach to witchcraft, this book will help you to look at your spiritual protection needs for your home more objectively and to devise an immediate plan of action using materials you already have on hand.

Wicca Essential Oils Magic: A Beginner's Guide to Working with Magical Oils, with Simple Recipes and Spells


Lisa Chamberlain - 2017
    Since before recorded history, shamans and healers of all kinds have used fragrant oils in ritual, magic and medicine, knowing as we do that their use has the potential to transform lives on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Because of their unique effects on the mind of the practitioner, botanical oils provide a direct tie between the natural physical world and the spiritual plane. But what exactly are magical oils and where do they come from? Unlike other natural ingredients such as crystals and plant roots, oils don’t come fully-formed into the world on their own—instead, they are derived from processes developed by human beings. Many who are new to the Craft may have little understanding of just what it is they’re anointing their candles (or their own bodies) with, since unlike most other tools used in ritual and spellwork, oils aren’t exactly easy to examine close-up. This lack of familiarity can make working with oils seem daunting, or even create an unintentional energetic disconnect between the beginning magician and these otherwise-powerful substances. If you’ve ever wondered how or why to use botanical oils in your spellwork, this guide will serve you well. Essential Oil Magic was created to provide you with a comprehensive overview of magical botanical oils and their use in modern Witchcraft. Best-selling author Lisa Chamberlain explains the evolution of magical oils over time, from their rustic beginnings to their modern incarnations in the form of essential oils, giving you a clearer sense of how these unique substances came to be and why they greatly enhance your ritual and magical practice. In addition, you’ll be introduced to a Witch’s dozen of essential oils commonly used in both healing and contemporary magic, many with histories of magical use going back for thousands of years. These 13 oils represent a wide range of scents, plant types, and healing and magical properties, and are among the most affordable essential oils available today. What’s more, each of the blend recipes and spells utilize oils from this Witch’s dozen, making it easier for you to get your blending practice underway in no time. Foundations for Using Essential Oils in Your Magical Practice Knowing what goes into essential oils and how these ingredients contribute to magic is an excellent first step. But to create the highest quality magical blends, you’ll need to know what to look for when purchasing your oils, and how to properly care for them. Furthermore, you’ll need to get acquainted with each of your single oils on its own terms—its unique scent, its magical properties, and which oils to mix it with for a pleasing and powerful blend. Essential Oil Magic has all of this information and more, including: How our spiritual forbears in the Craft used botanical oils in ritual, magic and healing in ancient civilizations How the magical properties of oils add power to your spellwork Profiles of 13 of the most popular and readily available oils used by Witches today, including their magical properties and associations Need-to-know tips for selecting and storing essential oils Detailed instructions for creating your own magical blends Blend recipes, oil-oriented spells for you to try your hand at, and a few other ideas f

10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die TODAY: ...and What to Do Instead (The ScriptMedic Guides)


Samantha Keel - 2017
     Written by a paramedic and writer with a decade of experience, 10 BS Medical Tropes covers exactly that: clichéd and inaccurate tropes that not only ruin books, they have the potential to hurt real people in the real world. In this book, you’ll discover why these ten clichés make readers throw their books across the room and their remotes at their TVs, from the ever-present “gunshot to the shoulder” to the ubiquitous “knocking out the henchmen.” You’ll learn why they’re so incorrect, with easy-to-read medical explanations that may just spark your creativity. But more importantly, you’ll be inspired about what to write instead, to solve the same plot point challenges in more believable—and interesting—ways! Download 10 BS Medical Tropes that Need to Die… TODAY!

Conversations with God Trilogy


Neale Donald Walsch - 2017
    Titles in the Set Conversations with God: Book1, Book 2, Book 3

Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics


Selah Saterstrom - 2017
    Film. Religion & Spirituality. How does one participate (read and write) from within the membranous precinct between our multiple bodies, from within the larger rhizomic field of resonances, where much is sounding and also unsounded? By employing various divinatory generators (instructions, methods, trances), the essays in IDEAL SUGGESTIONS: ESSAYS IN DIVINATORY POETICS genuflect to practices that celebrate engagement with uncertainty while cultivating strategies through which one might collaborate with both rupture and rapture.

Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions


Jeffrey J. Kripal - 2017
    Kripal’s study of religion has had two major areas of focus: the erotic expression of mystical experience and the rise of the paranormal in American culture. This book brings these two halves together in surprising ways through a blend of memoir, manifesto, and anthology, drawing new connections between these two realms of human experience and revealing Kripal’s body of work to be a dynamic whole that has the potential to renew and reshape the study of religion.             Kripal tells his story, biographically, historically and politically contextualizing each of the six books of his Chicago corpus, from Kali’s Child to Mutants and Mystics, all the while answering his censors and critics and exploring new implications of his thought. In the process, he begins to sketch out a speculative “new comparativism” in twenty theses. The result is a new vision for the study of religion, one that takes in the best of the past, engages with outside critiques from the sciences and the humanities, and begins to blaze a new positive path forward. A major work decades in the making, Secret Body will become a landmark in the study of religion.

We Are the Weirdos


Maranda Elizabeth - 2017
    We Are the Weirdos explores trauma, gender, poverty, invalidation, and memory, as well as themes of trust, abandonment, confinement, and revenge. The characters encounter one another, as well as authority figures and ghosts, at home and through institutions: school, court cells, a detention centre, and a group home. Each of them dream of magic and escape. Indigo is a 13-year old goth and teenage criminal with a history of antisocial tendencies, shoplifting, destructive impulses, cutting, and dysmorphia/dysphoria. When they start bleeding petals and flames along with their blood, they make connections between alienation, witchcraft, and survival. Grey is Indigo’s best friend, a shy trans girl with stolen Sharpies and heavy sketchbooks whose illustrations escape borders and panels to make spells come true. Both are the only children of poor, depressed, single moms in a small, mostly-white town in Southern Ontario. In 1999, their favourite movie is The Craft, their favourite band is Marilyn Manson, and their favourite activity is spell-casting. When they find a book about witchcraft hidden in a box of letters written between their mothers, who claim not to know each other and refuse to speak – one is mostly-absent, the other is obsessed with a talk show hosted by a psychic and Saturday night episodes of Cops – they choose to communicate with ghosts, and each other, instead. As the two are separated, and Indigo is charged with crimes they barely remember committing, each of them continue casting spells – or trying to – in dangerous and painful attempts to stay alive. Shuffled through the juvenile injustice system, Indigo meets Sea, a clumsy and curious social worker who hates her job, and Mint, a 16-year old Black girl with a stick-and-poke tattoo of moon phases on her wrist, rage of her own about isolation and incarceration, and a longer sentence for a non-violent crime. Each of them wants to be believed, to be real, and to craft their own form of justice.

Get To Be Happy: Stories and Secrets to Loving the Sh*t Out Of Life


Ted Larkins - 2017
    I lived there for nine years, helping start a 500 million business, including a LARKINS (my last name) line of product, finding enlightenment and meditating in Zen temples in the mountains of Hiroshima, meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta, partying with Bon Jovi, experiencing the death of my business partner and then the loss of my daughter, and all the life lessons that come with the following statement: I Get To do this!

Contemplative Masonry: Basic Applications of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Imagery for the Craft (Revised & Expanded Edition)


C.R. Dunning Jr. - 2017
    Sixteen years later, the original author of that material, C.R. “Chuck” Dunning, Jr., has come forward with a substantially expanded edition for those seeking to utilize Masonic symbolism and teachings in a way that is practical, accessible, inspiring, and profoundly transformative. Contemplative Masonry is a much-needed resource for Masons seeking to undertake the challenging and rewarding work of deep self-knowledge and self-improvement. Brother Dunning provides Freemasons with a unique system of practices derived directly from the Degrees of Craft Masonry, without reliance upon other religious, spiritual, or esoteric traditions. He also shares the valuable wisdom and insights that come from decades of personal experience with contemplative practices. "I would heartily recommend this book to any Mason who has wondered how he might engage more deeply with the Craft and enhance his quest for light. Brother Dunning has mapped out a practical approach to what he terms contemplative Masonry, which can be practiced by any brother, regardless of his religion or spiritual beliefs. I know of few Masons better qualified to serve as a guide to a specifically Masonic path of spiritual growth." — Jay Kinney, 33°, author of The Masonic Myth and editor of The Inner West "Chuck Dunning takes us on a wonderful and enlightening journey of what has to occur in a man's body, mind, and spirit for him to actually improve himself in Masonry. He discusses the nature of inner work in Freemasonry, and he is eminently qualified to do so. He enlightens us with his wisdom and offers us a number of exercises which can lead us to the true treasure of manhood. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to know what is hidden in the language of Freemasonry." — Robert G. Davis, 33° G.C., author of The Mason's Words and Understanding Manhood in America

The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism


Robert M. Place - 2017
    An exploration of the Tarot’s mystical roots, with a guide to The Tarot of Marseilles, The Waite-Smith Tarot, The Alchemical Tarot, and The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery.

The Signs: Decode the Stars, Reframe Your Life


Carolyne Faulkner - 2017
     For thousands of years, people have looked to the night sky for guidance. Yet these days it's so easy to lose touch with the universe and the important direction it can provide. In The Signs, astrologer and life coach Carolyne Faulkner reveals how the ancient wisdom of the stars can empower you to get the most out of life. Faulkner's method is not about nebulous predictions or fate. It's about discovering the qualities, good and bad, associated with your natal chart--the position of the planets at the time of your birth--and using that knowledge to inform your decisions and relationships. Easy to use and designed as both an introduction for the cosmically curious and a deep dive for experienced spiritual seekers, this guide shows you how to interpret your chart, find balance, and reconnect with yourself.Consult The Signs to learn what to do when:- You're an inflexible Taurus, resistant to change. (Create things. Even a home-cooked meal will heal you in wondrous ways.) - You live with an argumentative Aries. (Never fight fire with fire. Wait till your partner calms down to discuss your feelings.) - You have Capricorn influence. (Shed the need to conform. Structure is important, but it needs to be flexible enough to change as we grow.)

Paths of Wisdom: Cabala in the Golden Dawn Tradition


John Michael Greer - 2017
    From the overall structure of the Tree of Life, through the complete symbolism of each of the tree's 10 spheres and 22 paths, to the practical applications of the Cabala in magic, meditation, pathworking, and daily life, it's all here--including material not found in other books on the magical Cabala.This new edition has been revised and corrected by the author and will take its place as the standard introduction to the Cabala in ceremonial magic.

Deep Principles of Kabbalistic Alchemy


David Chaim Smith - 2017
    The material is presented in clear yet esoteric terms, free from the common tendencies of psychologization, new-age dilution, and religious mythology. It is a rare opportunity for a deep consideration of profound mysteries that cannot be summarily addressed with conventional language and theoretical speculation, ultimately offering a living invitation into a rare and powerful style of mystical practice. • Clothbound hardcover book • Smyth sewn • Blocked in red metallic • French fold dust jacket • 8 in. x 10 in. • Custom endpapers • 280 pages • 65 full-page images • 23 vignettes • 1 folding plate poster

Fascinating Facts for the Whole Family


Nayden Kostov - 2017
    This book will entice them into reading and learning new stuff while having fun.I created the popular trivia website RaiseYourBrain and wrote two trivia books so far. As I was new to writing for kids, my son Pavel (aged 8) helped me very much. He reads a lot and really loves learning new things every day. Pavel proudly illustrated the book and helped me to handpick and order the facts.The book contains 600+ pieces of trivia and is covering topics that kids love: cute animals and human body. The lack of explicit sexuality, foul language or gore makes it a good read for anyone in the age range 8-18 years (and their parents too ;) ).A life hack if your child is NOT an avid reader: when you are preparing his/her lunch box, slip inside a couple of those facts. You could print out three facts every day to create some lunchtime fun for your kids and provoke their intellectual curiosity.

The Voynich Manuscript: The Complete Edition of the World's Most Mysterious and Esoteric Codex


Stephen Skinner - 2017
    It is written in a strangely beautiful cryptographic script.