She takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong’s characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense—and explains why if we dismiss it, we do so at our peril.

    In this volume the author resurrects the world of goddess-worshipping, earth-centred cultures, bringing ancient matriarchal society to life.

    But those that aren't, those that purport to document or comment on such phenomena in what passes for "real life" vary across such a wide range of quality, credulity & comprehensibility that it's tempting to dismiss them all as pure badly-written hokum. Of course, as in any genre, no matter how microscopic, there are classics. Charles Fort's Book of the Damned is surely in the forefront. But once you get past the looming shadow of Charles Fort, matters become far murkier. Patrick Harpur's Daimonic Reality is a work that would surely make the top ten lists of many Fortean scholars. Subtitled A Field Guide to the Otherworld, Daimonic Reality synthesizes the reports of many different phenomena into a single Unified Field Theory of the Strange. It's an audacious attempt that largely succeeds. Harpur has a low key writing style that makes this work easy to read. His comprehensive knowledge of a wide variety of inexplicable events is impressive & entertaining. Most importantly, he has drawn together these disparate elements with a rather interesting philosophical take that looks to Jung, Fort, Blake, Yeats & beyond. There are enough elements in this stew to make it a really tasty treat for the hungry mind. Daimonic Reality is divided into three sections thru which Harpur journeys ever deeper into the mind behind the perceptions. But he's careful not to shortchange the perceptions & events themselves. Part One: Apparitions covers apparitions of all kinds, from UFOs to lights in the sky, from aliens & fairies to sightings of Black Dogs & Big Cats. Harpur's economical coverage of these subjects makes it easy for any level of Fortean reader to enjoy the individuality of each experience. But this treatment also enables the reader to step back & see the bigger picture, to move towards the idea of the otherworld. The individual reports are carefully chosen & beautifully written. Harpur takes a more substantial step towards the otherworld in Part Two: Vision. Starting with a discussion of "seeing things", he moves on to visions of Ladies, which are dominated by (but not exclusively) visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He discusses the evidence that these encounters leave behind, from fairy shoes to crop circles. (Coming soon to a theater near you.) He talked about the part that Imagination plays in the otherworld & finally reaches the mythic land itself. In Part Three: Otherworld Journeys, Harpur gives both practical & philosophical advice for otherworld journeys. He discusses the variety of journeys that one can have, from missing time to alien encounters, from a trip to fairyland to an out-of-body experience. When Harpur sticks to the practical, he has practically no peer in writing compelling prose about otherworldly experiences. His philosophical thoughts aren't quite as page-turning, but they're pithy, fascinating & pertinent. Harpur isn't content to merely provoke thought. He wants to invoke internal debate in the reader, & does so with some formal philosophical discussion that is difficult to pull off with the authority that Harpur achieves. He's a remarkably intelligent writer & his work requires a reader of nearly equal intelligence. You don't have to be a philosopher to read Harpur's work, but it certainly helps to be philosophically inclined. This isn't mere reportage of events, but a reasoned analysis, with conclusions that go well beyond 'Is it real or are they all just a bunch of crazy yahoos?' That there is an audience for this sort of thinking is shown by the eternal sales of the works of writers such as Carlos Castenada, not to mention the immense & increasing popularity of Fortean fiction, horror, science fiction & fantasy. That's because Harpur is looking to snatch something from the center of creation, something that is partly in the human mind & partly in the otherworld. Daimonic Reality does an excellent job grasping at the ineffable & getting it in print. As of 2/2003, this title is back in print by Pine Winds Press/Idyll Arbor. They've chosen an equally nice cover print, & are publishing the book as a sturdy US hardcover. Better yet, they're a small press, so you can buy directly from them. Since Harpur has managed to wrestle the ineffable into print, we've got to thank Pine Winds Press for keeping it in print.--Rick Kleffel

    This book is an attempt to re-create this holistic experience in hopes that a synthesized view of life will become reality in the 21st century.

    A well-rounded introduction to Imbolc, this attractive book features rituals, recipes, lore, and correspondences. It includes hands-on information for modern celebrations, spells and divination, recipes and crafts, invocations and prayers, and more! Imbolc--also known as Brigid's Day--is a time to start making plans for the future, sowing the fields of the land as well as the mind. This guide to the history and modern celebration of Imbolc shows you how to perform rituals and magic to celebrate and work with the energy of the re-awakening earth.

    Greek and Roman mythology --European mythology. Celtic and Irish mythology ; Germanic and Norse mythology ; Finnish mythology ; Slavic mythology ; Romance mythology ; Arthurian mythology --Egyptian and African mythology. Egyptian mythology ; African mythology --Middle East and Asian mythology. Mesopotamian mythology ; Middle Eastern mythology ; Indian mythology ; Chinese mythology ; Japanese mythology ; Tibetan mythology --Mythology of Oceania. Oceanic mythology ; Australian Aboriginal mythology ; Maori mythology --Mythology of the Americas. North American mythology ; Mesoamerican mythology ; South American mythology.

    Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values. Writing drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking and this shift upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the feminine and ushering in patriarchal rule. Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christians, and Muslims, Shlain reinterprets ancient myths and parables in light of his theory. Provocative and inspiring, this book is a paradigm-shattering work that will transform your view of history and the mind.

    "The Mythology Bible" explores the powerful figures that have compelled us for millennia--including Indra, god of thunder in India's Rig Vedas; Thor, the merciless Nordic giant-slayer; and Mawu-Lisa, whom the African Fon people associate with fertility and compassion. Discover, too, the enduring themes that loom large in the myths of almost every culture: creation and the cosmos, beasts and monsters, death and the underworld, love and heroism.Filled with photographs and pictures, this volume is as attractive as it is readable.

    After resting undisturbed for more than three millennia, King Tut’s mummy was suddenly awakened in 1922. Archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered the boy-king’s tomb, and the soon-to-be famous mummy’s story—even more dramatic than King Tut’s life—began.The mummy’s “afterlife” is a modern story, not an ancient one. Award-winning science writer Jo Marchant traces the mummy’s story from its first brutal autopsy in 1925 to the most recent arguments over its DNA. From the glamorous treasure hunts of the 1920s to today’s high-tech scans in volatile modern Egypt, Marchant introduces us to the brilliant and sometimes flawed people who have devoted their lives to revealing the mummy’s secrets, unravels the truth behind the hyped-up TV documentaries, and explains what science can and can’t tell us about King Tutankhamun.

    G. Lockhart, who worked for a publishing firm. The book proved popular and Scott was paid six hundred pounds, which he desperately needed (despite his success as a novelist, Scott was almost ruined when the Ballantyne publishing firm, where he was a partner, went bankrupt in 1826).Letters was written when educated society believed itself in enlightened times due to advances in modern science. The book, however, revealed that all social classes still held beliefs in ghosts, witches, warlocks, fairies, elves, diabolism, the occult, and even werewolves. Sourcing from prior sixteenth- and seventeenth-century treatises on demonology along with contemporary accounts from England, Europe, and North America (Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi, for one), Scott's discourses on the psychological, religious, physical, and preternatural explanations for these beliefs are essential reading for acolytes of the dark and macabre; the letters dealing with witch hunts, trials (Letters Eight and Nine), and torture are morbidly compelling.Scott was neither fully pro-rational modernity nor totally anti-superstitious past, as his skepticism of one of the "new" sciences (skullology, as he calls it) is made clear in a private letter to a friend. Thus, Letters is both a personal and intellectual examination of conflicting belief systems, when popular science began to challenge superstition in earnest.

    This inquiry into Gnosticism examines the character, history, and beliefs of a brave and vigorous spiritual quest that originated in the ancient Near East and continues into the present day.Lawrence Durrell writes, “This is a strange and original essay, more a work of literature than of scholarship, though its documentation is impeccable. It is as convincing a reconstruction of the way the Gnostics lived and thought as D.H. Lawrence’s intuitive recreation of the vanished Etruscans.”“A remarkable book for both knowledge and the understanding of Gnostic texts, so abstruse at first sight, and for the poetical interpretation of the Gnostic movement across history. Lacarriere is particularly well informed about the various currents and undercurrents of Gnosticism, and their perennial importance for the religious and the mystic mind.” — Marguerite YourcenarJacques Lacrarriere (1925-2005) was a French writer who studied philosophy and classic literature and was known for his work as a critic, journalist, and essayist. In 1991, he received le Grand Prix de l'Academie francaise (The Great Prize of the French Academy).

    The Unexplained provides extraordinary insight into some of the planet's most startling and sensational phenomena. Breaking new bounds with its unique structure, this authoritative book presents the world's most compelling mysteries continent-by-continent, allowing worldwide comparison, and also revealing some of the more isolated and mysterious global enigmas.-- Are crop circles meteorological vortices, elaborate hoaxes created by human hand or messages from another world?-- Where can you find mysterious merfolk, falling frogs and fabulous sea monsters?-- Do you believe that religious statues can weep and bleed, or that the Virgin Mary can appear in a vision?

    Using six of Davis’s most important discoveries—from the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s sarcophagus to the exquisite shabti statuettes looted from the Egyptian Museum not too long ago—as a lens around which to focus his quintessentially American rags-to-riches tale, Adams chronicles the dizzying rise of a poor country preacher’s son who, through corruption and fraud, amassed tremendous wealth in Gilded Age New York and then atoned for his ruthless career by inventing new standards for systematic excavation. Davis found a record eighteen tombs in the Valley and, breaking with custom, gave all the spoils of his discoveries to museums. A confederate of Boss Tweed, friend of Teddy Roosevelt, and rival of J. P. Morgan, the colorful "American Lord Carnarvon" shared his Newport mansion with his Rembrandts, his wife, and his mistress. The only reason Davis has been forgotten by history to a large extent is probably the fact that he stopped just short of King Tutankhamen’s tomb, the discovery of which propelled Howard Carter (Davis’s erstwhile employee) to worldwide fame just a few short years later.Drawing on rare and never-before-published archival material, The Millionaire and the Mummies, the first biography of Theodore Davis ever written rehabilitates a tarnished image through a thrilling tale of crime and adventure, filled with larger-than-life characters, unimaginable treasures, and exotic settings.

    Explore the mythologies of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Learn what makes these stories so important, distinctive, and able to withstand the test of time. Discover how, despite geographical implausibilities, many myths from across the oceans share themes, morals, and archetypes.Listening Length: 31 hours and 35 minutes

    Positive, practical, and easy to use, Green Witchcraft brings together the best of both modern Wicca and the author's family heritage of herb craft and folk magic.Green Witchcraft explores the fundamentals of the Wiccan religion, providing magical training for the independent thinker. Step-by-step instructions on a wide variety of magical techniques as well as basic rules of conduct make this the ideal book to get you started. Green rituals for self-initiation, rites of passage, seasonal celebrations and activities provide an excellent foundation for your own magical tradition.Discover the fine art of spellcasting, the magical uses of herbs, divination with the tarot and more. Explore the Sabbats, Esbats, and other rituals attuned to the cycles of nature and the universal powers. Find out for yourself what this organic approach to Witchcraft is all about.