The story tells of his return to his people, his hard initiation back into those people, which lead to his desire to convey their knowledge to the world. "Of Water and the Spirit" is the result of that desire; it is a sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of the spirit.

    Christianity, for example, was one of the innovative religious movements that arose during this time. However, Christianity had many competitors, and one of the most remarkable of these was the ancient Roman mystery religion of Mithraism. Like the other mystery cults of antiquity, Mithraism kept its beliefs strictly secret, revealing them only to initiates. As a result, the cult's teachings were never written down. However, the Mithraists filled their temples with an enigmatic iconography, an abundance of which has been unearthed by archaeologists. Until now, all attempts to decipher this iconography have proven fruitless. Most experts have been content with a vague hypothesis that the iconography somehow derived from ancient Iranian religion. In this groundbreaking work, David Ulansey offers a radically different theory. He argues that Mithraic iconography was actually an astronomical code, and that the cult began as a religious response to a startling scientific discovery. As his investigation proceeds, Ulansey penetrates step by step the mysteries concealed in Mithraic iconography, until finally he is able to reveal the central secret of the cult: a secret consisting of an ancient vision of the ultimate nature of the universe. Brimming with the excitement of discovery--and reading like an intellectual detective story--Ulansey's compelling book will intrigue scholars and general readers alike.

     The Red Dragon however bears the title "Grand Grimoire" on its own. Multiple editions of it exist, some with material tacked on. It takes the form of a long ritualistic ceremony designed to secure communication with a demon known as "Lucifuge Rofocale" followed by various invocations and incantations and spells. The contents are heretical in the extreme, from rituals involving boiling a black cat to the use of toxic substances in ritual form. Small wonder, that this text has gained so much notoreity.

    Nor is it a collection of bizarre facts, though the Angel of the Bizarre might well find himself at home in it. It is not a scientific contribution, a vehicle for an exotic teaching, a testament, a document, a fable. It is simply an account - at times figurative, at times factual - of a first excursion into some as yet scarcely explored realms of consciousness. The Morning of the Magicians is a classic of radical literature, a book that has challenged assumptions and conventional knowledge for decades. It has shaken the foundations of beliefs all over the world and may be the most influential book published in the twentieth century. Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier spent years searching "through all the regions of consciousness, to the frontiers of science and tradition" and opened their minds to any fact or theory that went beyond the frontier of current theories. The result is this remarkable work, and the stream of possibilities that it contains: Do mutants exist, are they a future form of man? Does extrasensory perception reveal that human consciousness has advanced beyond its currently accepted limits? What connects the ancient art of alchemy and modern atomic physics?

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

    But magic - the idea that we have a connection with the universe - has developed a bad reputation.It has been with us for millennia - from the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, and even quantum physics today. Even today seventy-five per cent of the Western world holds some belief in magic, whether snapping wishbones, buying lottery tickets or giving names to inanimate objects.Drawing on his decades of research, with incredible breadth and authority, Professor Chris Gosden provides a timely history of human thought and the role it has played in shaping civilization, and how we might use magic to rethink our understanding of the world.

    Are you ready to answer the call and embrace your own inner witch? In this book, third-generation Witch Juliet Diaz guides you on a journey to connect with the Magick within you. She explains how to cast off what doesn't serve you, unleash your authentic self, and become an embodiment of your truth. You'll also learn the skills and techniques you need to build your own Magickal craft. Within these enchanted pages you'll discover how to:  *  Connect with the power of your inner witch  *  Create spells, potions, and rituals for love, protection, healing, manifestation and more  *  Amplify your energy by working with a Book of Shadows  *  Create an altar and decorate it according to the seasons  *  Work with the Moon and the Seasons of the Witch  *  Connect with your ancestors to receive their wisdomFilled with Magick, inspiration, and love, Witchery is your guide and companion on a wickedly delicious journey to true self-empowerment.

    With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan's story into an audacious exploration of Christianity's shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike.

    But what about a wheel of the year for the rest of us pagans and witches? As a witch living in sunny South Florida, longtime hereditary witch Temperance Alden has often felt at odds gearing up to celebrate Yule, for example, when it is 76 degrees and sunny outside.Year of the Witch will help readers create their own intuitive practices in harmony with the climate, culture, and local spirits where they live. It’s of interest to witches coming off the Wiccan path and looking for a more personal approach to celebrating the rhythms of nature. Year of the Witch covers all aspects of this new, seasonal practice: The origins of the neo-pagan wheel of the year and why it is still so relevant today Culture, historical facts, and traditions associated with the major ceremonies Basic principles of land-based magick How to intuitively connect to the nature below your feet and the local gods Being a custodian to the land and its impact on our spiritual practice

    Mining the Hermetic, alchemical, and Neoplatonic influences behind the evolution of the deck, author Robert M. Place provides a historically grounded and compelling portrait of the Tarot's true origins, without overlooking the deck's mystical dimensions.Indeed, Place uncommonly weds reliable historiography with a practical understanding of the intuitive help and divinatory guidance that the cards can bring. He presents techniques that offer new and valuable ways to read and interpret the cards. Based on a simple three-card spread, Place's approach can be used by either the seasoned practitioner or the new inquirer.

    Magical thought is described and contrasted with Science, Art and Religion. The dynamic relationship between them is explained. Modern magic and its role in the 21st century is outlined with respect to practices ranging from ritual magic, through alchemy to New Age therapies. Specific topics include: secrecy, initiation, sacrifice, cyber-animism, Crowleyanity, morality, pseudo-science, demonology, deity, miracles and divination.

    What is interesting, here, is that all of the above and more are contained in one work, instead of separately. Speaking of everything from fortune telling to folk healing, the Book of Forbidden Knowledge is perhaps better classed as a modern grimoire than most contemporary works of similar origin; the paper covers of any of a number of competing Victorian and Edwardian era titles.

    • Explains various divination systems and how to perform ancient rituals that open the doorway to secret and arcane knowledge. True magic can be defined as the art and science of using little-known or forgotten natural forces in order to achieve changes in consciousness and the physical environment. It concerns a wide body of doctrines and techniques, including the conjuring of spirits and non-human entities; the manufacture and consecration of wands, swords, talismans, and other tools of the magus; ritual divination; and the exploration of universes other than that with which we are familiar. The masters who taught others these ancient arts are gone, but Techniques of High Magic provides the practical and lucid instruction necessary for self-initiation into these secret traditions. Emphasizing the ordered nature of the universe and the power of will directed by imagination, Francis King and Stephen Skinner introduce the reader to magical practices, rituals, and instruments that have been used for centuries. They explain systems of divination such as the I Ching, the Tarot, and geomancy, as well as techniques of astral projection and elementary alchemy. Their disciplined approach to magical practice includes easy formulas and diagrams that will help the initiate navigate an ancient and potent universe of gods, angels, and spirits--the world of High Magic.

    Julius Evola sheds new light on the mystical and spiritual expression of sexual love. This in-depth study explores the sexual rites of sacred traditions, and shows how religion, mysticism, folklore, and mythology all contain erotic forms in which the deep potentialities of human beings are recognized.

    Its leader was Genesis P-Orridge, co-founder of Psychick TV and Throbbing Gristle, the band that created the industrial music genre. The limited signed cloth edition of Thee Psychick Bible quickly sold out, creating demand for any edition of this 544-page book, which will be available in a handsome smyth-sewn paperback edition with flaps and ribbon. According to author Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, "this is the most profound new manual on practical magick, taking it from its Crowleyan empowerment of the Individual to a next level of realization to evolve our species."