. . as when iron is drawn to a magnet, camphor is sucked into hot air, crystal lights up in the Sun, sulfur and a volatile liquid are kindled by flame, an empty eggshell filled with dew is raised towards the Sun . . .' The Bible is full of stories featuring forms of magic and possession - from Moses battling with Pharaoh's wizards to the supernatural actions of Jesus and his disciples. As, over the following centuries, the Christian church attempted to stamp out 'deviant' practices, a persistent interest in magic drew strength from this Biblical validation. A strange blend of mumbo-jumbo, fear, fraud and deeply serious study, magic was at the heart of the European Renaissance, fascinating many of its greatest figures.This is a book filled with incantations, charms, curses, summonings, cures and descriptions of extraordinary, shadowy, only half-understood happenings from long ago. It features writers as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Milton, John Dee, Ptolemy and Paracelsus along with anonymous ancient and medieval works which were, in some cases, viewed as simply too dangerous even to open.Brian Copenhaver's wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casual interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance and the tangled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.

    WILKINS PHILIP K. DICK HENRY SLESAR HERMINIE TEMPLETON H. C. BAILEY JOHANN LUDWIG TIECK JOHN BUCHAN ROBERT F. YOUNG ISAAC ASIMOV Faeries-legends about them abound throughout the world. They are evil creatures conjured up to frighten children. Or they are glittering spirits, blessed with wisdom and magic beyond the understanding of mere mortals. They are the unseen, dwelling in subterranean depths, luscious green meadows, or realms caressed by the night's cool shadows.Here, in eighteen captivating journeys into the enchanting Faery lands, you'll find all sorts of enchanted creatures: from the Faerie Queen and King to the mischievous Brownies, from those who prey on the gullibility of humans to those who have been tricked out of their treasures by ordinary men and women. You'll witness mortals being held for a few brief hours in the timeless kingdom-only to find themselves returned to a world no longer their own. But beware, lest the spell of Faerie touch you, too, and force you to wander forever through Isaac Asimov's magical fantasy world.Editor Notes:Isaac Asimov (1920-92) was the award-winning author and editor of hundreds of books on everything from writing to science. His many groundbreaking novels, include the bestselling Foundation series and his novels Nightfall and The Positronic Man.Martin H. Greenberg has edited more than 1,100 books in history, fiction, science, and many other fields. He is the CEO of Tekno Books and lives in Green Bay,Wisconsin.Charles G. Waugh is a professor of Psychology and Communications at the University of Maine and the compiler of more than 100 anthologies. He lives in Winthrop, Maine.

    Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realisation that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales fully in the context of Norse mythology. This edition also includes detailed notes and appendices.

    In a world where we're constantly bombarded by work and worry, we all need a little boost to our happiness levels now and then.This book of inspiring quotations and simple, easy-to-follow tips provides you with practical advice on thinking positively and achieving a more balanced attitude to life.

    Too many "learn the tarot books" give you a handful of spreads and some keywords to memorize—or they give you endless paragraphs of words you have to try to remember every time you stare at your cards. The result you get from those books is that you will always be "referring back to the book" to figure out what your card means, in a reading. Look: We’ve all been there, and it gets frustrating when you are trying to learn to cast spreads and learn how to tell the future, or know what someone is thinking—or doing—and you end up staring at your cards and getting vague answers. That all stops here, and it all stops now. Simply put, this is the fastest and easiest way to learn how to read cards. That is why it is the #1 tarot textbook in the world. In this book you will learn what your cards mean and how to cast spreads easily: Just look at the cards (which is what you are going to be doing anyway when you are casting spreads for yourself or clients). Written by the #1 tarot teacher in the world, a tarot expert with over 40 years of experience reading cards, and decades of teaching beginning students and professionals. This book holds your hand every step of the way—and even comes with a free video tarot course (over 20 hours of video lessons, no cost, no catch). Our job is to help you actually learn what the card images mean when you look at them so that you are NEVER WRONG and never in doubt. We have you do lots of fun exercises and even play a few games with your cards to sharpen your awareness and strengthen your intuition to the point where someday you won't even need your tarot cards any more. In this book you will develop REAL tarot skills, not just learn some words to memorize or a few generic spreads. Everything in this book has been developed by experts, tested, and used with hundreds of thousands of clients all over the world. Dusty has worked with hundreds of the top tarot readers in the world to develop these techniques, and these are all taught and used by successful students at the House of White Metaphysical Academy. This is the #1 bestselling book on the tarot for the absolute beginner, and anyone who has consistently been frustrated with years of trying to master the tarot. NO MORE KEYWORDS! No more trying to force formula, like numerology or the Kabbalah into the tarot. In this special ebook version you will get to start right into the fun and easy exercises that help you see inside each tarot card, without the dogma and invented “Fool’s Journey” nonsense that is a complete lie (you would find this out anyway after you have read for a while, so you might as well know now). If you stop and think about it for a moment—hands-on practice is the *only way* to develop real tarot skills. You could read dozens of books and never become a truly great tarot reader, and too many people do that every day. With this one book and a deck of cards you will learn how to read your cards in any situation, for yourself or for others, even paying clients, and you will get access to free downloadable worksheets where you can practice your skills and write down your own thoughts on what the cards in your hands mean to you. There simply is no other book like this (even though there are several imitators). This is the *definitive* guide to learning and mastering the Tarot quickly & easily. Unique, fun, easy-to-learn exercises teach you how to hear what the cards are trying to tell you. This is not yet another book of Tarot card meanings.

    From all across the continent come tales of creation and love, of heroes and war, of animals, tricksters, and the end of the world. Alfonso Ortiz, an eminent anthropologist, and Richard Erdoes, an artist and master storyteller, Indian voices in the best folkloric sources of the nineteenth century to make this the most comprehensive and authentic volume of American Indian myths available anywhere.With black-and-white drawings throughoutPart of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

    But beware! Surprises lurk at the turn of every page. . . .Discover a time line of ALIEN LIFE on earth--beginning 4 billion years ago! Meet a man recruited by the U.S. government to become a PSYCHIC SUPERSPY. Spend a dark and stormy night with professional GHOSTBUSTERS. Visit a mysterious library in search of DRACULA's shocking origins. Witness new photos of the actual sea monster that inspired the mythical KRAKEN. And much more!

    They embrace family life and the lore of farmers, sailors, miners, and actors; offer advice on the signs to observe when contemplating a journey or a marriage; reveal the significance of animals, plants, stones, colors, food and drink, the elements, and heavenly bodies; outline the precautions to be taken after a death in the house or during a thunderstorm; and disclose the motives behind seasonal customs at New Year, in May, at Halloween, and Christmas. Each entry is arranged alphabetically according to its central idea or object, and illustrated with a selection of chronologically ordered quotations that indicate the history and development of each belief. And a thematic index helps the reader discover surprisingly coherent patterns in these mysterious and often misunderstood methods of comprehending the world and overcomingits perils, and shows the strong underlying connections with witchcraft and pagan religions. Superstitions have never before been treated in such depth or on such a scale. An entertaining volume for anyone curious about the beliefs of the past, A Dictionary of Superstitions also makes a valuable contribution to the study of folklore, providing the first systematic account of beliefs that form an integral part of our social life.

    In the Oxford Companion to World Mythology, David Leeming explores the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a larger collective story of humanity. Stopping short of attempting to be all-inclusive, this fascinating volume will nonetheless be comprehensive, opening with an introduction exploring the nature and dimensions of myth and proposing a definition as a universal language. Briefly dipping into the ways our understanding of myth has changed from Aristotle and Plato to modern scholars such as Joseph Campbell, the introduction loosely places the concept in its present context and precedes articles on influential mythologists and mythological approaches that appear later in the Companion.The main body of Leeming's work consists of A-Z entries covering all aspects of mythology, including substantial essays on the world's major mythological traditions (Greek, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Sumerian, Egyptian), mythological types and motifs (Descent to the Underworld, the Hero, the Trickster, Creation, the Quest), mythological figures (Odysseus, Zeus, Osiris, Spider Woman, and Inanna) as well as numerous interrelated subjects such as fairly tales and legends. The Companion also locates myth in our lives today, relating it to language patterns, psychology, religion, politics, art, and gender attitudes. Many of the better-known and more significant myths are vividly retold in this volume that will be illustrated with maps, more than 70 black and white images, and eight pages of color highlighting the central role art has often played in the transmission and perpetuation of myth. Following the entries, a rich section of appendices will include family trees of the major pantheons, equivalency charts for the gods of Greece and Rome, Babylon and Sumer, as well as other traditions, an extensive bibliography, and an index.

    You'll learn how each Moon phase affects your spellwork, including the seldom-discussed energies of the true Blue Moon, the Black Moon, the void-of-course moon, and the lunar eclipse. Follow the Moon as she traverses each sign of the zodiac, and discover how each astrological phase affects magic, mundane events, and gardening--and how your personal Moon sign affects your magical work. This guide by popular author Dorothy Morrison includes more than 140 spells, chants, and rituals, along with Esbat celebrations for the Full Moon.

    The more than 175 tales culled from a centuries-old Russian storytelling tradition by the outstanding Russian ethnographer Aleksandr Afanas’ev reveal a rich, robust world of the imagination that will fascinate readers both young and old.With black-and-white drawings throughoutPart of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

    By means of a genial blend of reason and imagination, logic and fantasy, profound academic insight and good old common sense, Lewis has challenged the modern world to re-examine the claims of Christ, the Bible, and the Church, re-experience the goodness, truth, and beauty of literature, and re-expand its vision of God, man, and the universe. In each 600-word entry, Markos enlist Lewis’s aid in the study, both theoretically and practically, of a topic of perennial interest to humanity and of particular interest to the early 21st century.

    From the mists of Japanese prehistory, through the medieval ages, up to today, the bestiary of Japanese folklore contains a wide range of monsters. There are women with extra mouths in the backs of their heads, water goblins whose favorite food is human anus, elephant-dragons which feed solely on bad dreams, dead baby zombies, talking foxes, fire-breathing chickens, animated blobs of rotten flesh that run about the streets at night... "The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" is a massive illustrated bestiary choc full of yokai. It features over one hundred traditional Japanese monsters, each one beautifully illustrated in full color by yokai artist Matthew Meyer. Each yokai is described in detail, including origins, habitat, diet, and legend, based on translations from centuries-old Japanese texts. Read this book, and the next time you watch an anime or a Godzilla movie, you'll be able to recognize their folkloric ancestors dating back centuries. You'll find out about all of the strange mythical animals you can see at temples and shrines, on beer can labels, and even on Japanese money. Meet the predecessors to Pokemon, Power Rangers, scary J-horror girls, and all of the strange creatures that pop up in Japanese video games. "Night Parade" will turn anyone with a passing interest in Japanese folklore into a full-blown yokai expert!

    Now you too can share the secrets!The Artemis Fowl Files will delight Eoin Colfer’s legions of fans with its behind-the-scenes interviews with the much-loved characters including: Holly Short, Mulch Diggums, and Artemis Fowl.Two brand-new Artemis Fowl short stories including:“LEPrecon,” the story of Fairy Police Captain Holly Short's move from Traffic to Recon following her initiation into the Fairy Police, and “The Seventh Dwarf,” featuring the flatulent dwarf Mulch Diggums, Butler, and Artemis himself.Plus:Special coded messages from the Fairy Book for fans to translateA “Fairy Spotter” Guide detailing the fairy world. Learn all about the physical characteristics and countless personality traits of the various fairy categories including: elves, trolls, sprites, pixies, goblins, and more.Cool descriptions and diagrams of Foaly’s greatest gadgets.

    From the tale of a sixteenth-century shoemaker from Breslau whose ghost terrorized everyone in the city, to the testimony of a doctor who presided over the exhumation and dissection of a graveyard full of Serbian vampires, his book is fascinating reading.