A defender of Copernicus´s sun-centred universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses, and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trialthat lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defence.In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one which takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the centre of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil - a century after the Reformation, and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War.Kepler's defence of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena which his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina'schildren struggled to understand what their mother had done...

    This encyclopedia aims to dispel such notions, with a comprehensive guide to witchcraft throughout history and around the world.

    Reveals how the earth's crust shifted in 9600 BCE, dragging Atlantis into the polar zone beneath miles of Antarctic ice. Examines ancient yet highly accurate maps, including the Piri Reis map of 1513, which reveals a pre-glacial Antarctica. Shows how myths of floods and disaster from around the world all point to a common source. In this completely revised and expanded edition of When the Sky Fell, Rand and Rose Flem-Ath show that 12,000 years ago vast areas of Antarctica were free from ice and home to the kingdom of Atlantis, a proposition that also elegantly solves the mysteries of ice ages and mass extinctions, the simultaneous worldwide rise of agriculture, and the source of devastating prehistoric climate change. Expanding upon Charles Hapgood's theory of earth crust displacement, which was championed by Albert Einstein, they examine ancient yet highly accurate world maps, including the Piri Reis map of 1513, and show how the earth's crust shifted in 9600 BCE, dragging Atlantis into the polar zone where it now lies beneath miles of Antarctic ice. From the Cherokee, Haida, and Okanagan of North America to the earliest records of Egypt, Iran, Mexico, and Japan, they reveal that ancient myths of floods, lost island paradises, and visits from advanced godlike peoples from all corners of the globe all point to the same worldwide catastrophe that resulted in Atlantis's demise. The authors explain how the remaining Atlanteans, amid massive earthquakes and epic floods, evacuated and spread throughout the world, resulting in the birth of the first known civilizations. Including rare material from the archives of Charles Hapgood, Albert Einstein, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Flem-Aths explain how an earth crust displacement could happen again in the future, perhaps in correspondence with high solar activity. With new scientific, genetic, and linguistic evidence in support of Antarctica as the location of long-lost Atlantis, this updated edition convincingly shows that Atlantis was not swallowed by the sea but was entombed beneath miles of polar ice.The fascinating truth about Atlantis leads to a chilling conclusion about the environmental catastrophe that destroyed it. Now you can find out how the forces that shattered the first great civilization on Earth can happen again, bringing the end of the world to us all.Contents:Memorandum for the President --Adapt, migrate, or die --The wayward sun --Atlantis in Antarctica --The lost island paradise --Aztlan and the polar paradise --Atlantean maps --Embers of humankind --The ring of death --Broken paradigm --Finding Atlantis --City of Atlantis --Why the sky fell --Appendix. A global climatic model for the origins of agriculture and the sequence of pristine civilizations.Previous edition: published as When the sky fell. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995.,

       With every swing of the pendulum, you can develop your spiritual energy. Dani Bryant, a green witch, provides an easy-to-follow guide that explains how to choose or craft your pendulum, and use it for dowsing and divination. You’ll find rituals for clearing negativity, balancing chakras, making contact with the spirit world, meditation, generating accurate answers to your questions, and much more.

    Anselmi covers the bands and musicians that have impacted those styles most―Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Melvins, Eyehategod, Godflesh, Neurosis, Saint Vitus, and many others―while diving into the cultural doom that has spawned such music, from the bombing of Birmingham and hurricane devastation of New Orleans to glaring economic inequality, industrial alienation, climate change, and widespread addiction. Along the way, Anselmi interweaves the musical experiences that have led him to proudly identify as one of the doomed.

    At the outset the plan and scope of this book must be made clear. It will be noticed that the belief in fairies and suchlike beings is hardly touched upon at all, except in those instances where fairy lore and witchcraft become inextricably blended. When did witchcraft make its appearance in Ireland, and what was its progress therein? It seems probable that this belief, together with certain aspects of fairy lore previously unknown to the Irish, and ideas relative to milk and butter magic, may in the main be counted as results of the Anglo-Norman invasion, though it is possible that an earlier installment of these came in with the Scandinavians.

    The wilderness has now become her home. She can interpret the cries of birds. She has seen vistas that have stolen away her breath. She has learned to live in a new, free way.... Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson is captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the on-going bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her. Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meaning of freedom, faith, and acceptance.READERS GUIDE INCLUDED

    Tied to Queen Anne by an intimate friendship, Sarah hoped to wield power equal to that of a government minister. When their relationship soured, she blackmailed Anne with letters revealing their intimacy, and accused her of perverting the course of national affairs by keeping lesbian favourites. Her spectacular arguments with the Queen, with the architects and workmen at Blenheim Palace, and with her own family made Sarah famous for her temper. Attacked for traits that might have been applauded in a man, Sarah was also capable of inspiring intense love and loyalty, deeply committed to her principles and to living what she believed to be a virtuous life.Sarah was a compulsive and compelling writer, narrating the major events of her day, with herself often at center stage. This biography brings her own voice, passionate and intelligent, back to life, and casts a critical eye over images of the Duchess handed down through art, history, and literature. Here is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who cared intensely about how we would remember her.

    Cowan provides the definitive account of the origins of coffee drinking and coffeehouse society, and in so doing he reshapes our understanding of the commercial and consumer revolutions in Britain during the long Stuart century.Britain’s virtuosi, gentlemanly patrons of the arts and sciences, were profoundly interested in things strange and exotic. Cowan explores how such virtuosi spurred initial consumer interest in coffee and invented the social template for the first coffeehouses. As the coffeehouse evolved, rising to take a central role in British commercial and civil society, the virtuosi were also transformed by their own invention.

    Assessing the evidence of a corrupt world, Father Spyridon, a Greek Orthodox priest, draws together the different strands that reveal how the institutions and international organisations are preparing humanity for the end. The first half of the book deals with the United Nations, the arms industries, banking, the Freemasons, and the various secret elite groups hat control our world. He then gives a clear explanation of the means by which we are being attacked and manipulated through television, education, culture and philosophy.Finally he presents the prophecies of various Orthodox saints who told us what else we should expect. Father Spyridon's warnings will comfort some and anger others, This is a book that many will try to dismiss, while others will find in it comfort and confirmation of what they already suspected was happening. Written in a sober style, Orthodoxy And The Kingdom of Satan is a wake up call for all those who believe that time is running out. "It's Later than you think" we once heard, and the hour may be later than we dared imagine.

    From humorous fishing excursions and frightening bear encounters to snow blinding blizzards and quirky characters, they come face to face with the unpredictable Mother Nature and learn the value of friendship, survival, and solitude in a picturesque but harsh life by the sea. Packed with adventures, challenges, and true Alaskan lifestyle.

    Thompson’s Las Vegas, with the Good Doctor as tour guide. A Lord of the Rings-like adventure in the city’s underground flood channels. A seven-day stay at a seedy motel on East Fremont Street.The stories in My Week at the Blue Angel aren’t about Steve Wynn, Cirque du Soleil, or how to play poker and they aren’t set in Caesars Palace, XS Nightclub, or a 2,000-seat showroom. They’re about prostitutes, ex-cons, and the homeless and they’re set under Caesars Palace and in trailer parks and weekly motels.In this creative-nonfiction collection, Matthew O’Brien—author of Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas—and veteran photographer Bill Hughes show a side of the city rarely seen. A side beyond the neon lights, themed facades, and motel-room doors. A side beyond the barbwire fences, “No Trespassing” signs, and midnight shadows.A side of Las Vegas many locals and visitors are curious about, but few ever explore.

    An acclaimed author and public speaker, Black shows how this body of knowledge has been declared ‘heretical’ both by the established church and by today’s atheistic intellectual elite.Finally, he outlines in the clearest terms possible the supernatural laws that govern our universe, and describes rules for living that take us beyond consensual thought, rules that may at first seem crazy, even dangerous, but which contain the secrets for achieving success, happiness and a higher state of being.

    From magic's origin in the Shamanic tradition can religion, which, for the world's first civilizations, had no disctinction from magic. The book includes an international sweep of ancient cultural traditions and details the medieval phenomena of witch-hunts that still have resonance in modern society. In addition, the book examines the modern wicca movement, tracing the development fromt he 1900s and its links with the Celtic tradition.Illu strated with archival material, fine art illustrtaions of legendary magic workers, and special photography, this volume is a comprehensive examination of a timeless subject.

     This book is going to show the student and seeker of Wicca how even in our modern world we can still make radical lifestyle changes and embrace a new way of life to become closer with nature and tap your own natural power that resides in you to help yourself and others. There is a lot of confusion and fear about what real Wicca is and this book is not like other self-help books that the inspiration and motivation die as soon as you put it down but instead serves to help the reader build new habits and stir the desire to become a real Wiccan practitioner Here is a preview of what you will learn What real Wicca is and also what misconceptions people have Learn how to perform Wiccan Rituals, Magick and Pure Spells to help yourself and others Healing and Protective Spells to help yourself and loved ones be happy Learn the true meaning of Witchcraft and how this can empower your life Self dedication ceremony and creating your book of shadows for the future Learning to bring Wicca into your daily life so you can grow as a person and find contentment