In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry" and its peculiar and mythic language.

    Helplessness in the face of disease and human disaster helped to perpetuate this belief in magic and the supernatural. As Keith Thomas shows, England during these years resembled in many ways today's underdeveloped areas. The English population was exceedingly liable to pain, sickness, and premature death; many were illiterate; epidemics such as the bubonic plague plowed through English towns, at times cutting the number of London's inhabitants by a sixth; fire was a constant threat; the food supply was precarious; and for most diseases there was no effective medical remedy. In this fascinating and detailed book, Keith Thomas shows how magic, like the medieval Church, offered an explanation for misfortune and a means of redress in times of adversity. The supernatural thus had its own practical utility in daily life. Some forms of magic were challenged by the Protestant Reformation, but only with the increased search for scientific explanation of the universe did the English people begin to abandon their recourse to the supernatural. Science and technology have made us less vulnerable to some of the hazards which confronted the people of the past. Yet Religion and the Decline of Magic concludes that if magic is defined as the employment of ineffective techniques to allay anxiety when effective ones are not available, then we must recognize that no society will ever be free from it.

    The remarkable discovery recently of a considerable number of letters and sermons by Augustine has thrown fresh light on the first and last decades of his experience as a bishop. These circumstantial texts have led Peter Brown to reconsider some of his judgments on Augustine, both as the author of the Confessions and as the elderly bishop preaching and writing in the last years of Roman rule in north Africa. Brown's reflections on the significance of these exciting new documents are contained in two chapters of a substantial Epilogue to his biography (the text of which is unaltered). He also reviews the changes in scholarship about Augustine since the 1960s. A personal as well as a scholarly fascination infuse the book-length epilogue and notes that Brown has added to his acclaimed portrait of the bishop of Hippo.

    In Wicca, 21-year-old Harmony Nice--a YouTube and Instagram star with 700,000 followers--offers modern readers a guide to overcoming obstacles and maximizing happiness. She offers practical guidance on:using crystals, wands, tarot cards, and magical toolssetting up an altarintroductory spells for health and protectionfinding your own witchy path--solitary or with a covenWith beautiful illustrations throughout, Wicca offers readers spiritual authenticity, a hint of glamour, and a perfect guide to infusing their lives with spiritual purpose, confidence, and resilience.

    

    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.

    Completely filled with some amazing insights, ideas, and tips that come from experience. His ideas are some that I’ve never seen in other books. This book alone completely changed how I approach giving offerings to spirits and deities.” —Mat Auryn, author of Psychic WitchThis book is about real magick, effecting real change, in a real world. There are some books on magick that teach it purely as spiritual advancement. There are others that teach it as a form of psychological self-help that effects only inner change. While magick can and should be both of these, it is something more. The Sorcerer's Secrets is about success in practical magick; it is a book that aims at change in both the outer and inner worlds.Beyond a mere spell book or training course, The Sorcerer's Secrets is a field manual on successful sorcery written by a professional sorcerer. The first part of the book lays out the qualities, concepts, and exercises necessary to attempt practical magick. The second part presents clear strategies for tackling almost any type of issue with sorcery.In this book you will learn how to:Attack problems from multiple angles, not just by casting a spell.Blend mundane and magickal action to ensure success.Figure out whether what you are doing is working.Fix it if it isn't.Go beyond readings, into magickal intelligence-gathering.Influence the minds of other people.Work most effectively on behalf of others.The Sorcerer's Secrets will help rescue the art of Magick from those who have ignored, downplayed, or just outright denied the existence of practical sorcery in favor of arcane titles, intangible results, and fantasy attainments.

    Donald Tyson presents a new, easy way to perform ritual magic with only one tool: tarot. From manipulating elemental forces of nature to making potent charms, all ceremonial rituals can be performed with a standard 78-card deck. Tyson's efficient system of tarot magic is based on the Golden Dawn tradition, which corresponds with tarot imagery. He teaches how to work magic on the astral level by projecting one's awareness into the ritual tarot layout. Learn how to set up an astral temple, build an altar, cast a magic circle, and create a triangle through which to actualize your purpose. This innovative guide to tarot magic also includes rituals related to unions, business, banishing, and evoking elementals.

    Now greatly expanded, the classic anthology of contemporary texts reexamines the phenomenon of witchcraft, taking into account the remarkable scholarship since the book's publication almost thirty years ago.Spanning the period from 400 to 1700, the second edition of Witchcraft in Europe assembles nearly twice as many primary documents as the first, many newly translated, along with new illustrations that trace the development of witch-beliefs from late Mediterranean antiquity through the Enlightenment. Trial records, inquisitors' reports, eyewitness statements, and witches' confessions, along with striking contemporary illustrations depicting the career of the Devil and his works, testify to the hundreds of years of terror that enslaved an entire continent.Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Thomas Hobbes, and other thinkers are quoted at length in order to determine the intellectual, perceptual, and legal processes by which folklore was transformed into systematic demonology and persecution. Together with explanatory notes, introductory essays--which have been revised to reflect current research--and a new bibliography, the documents gathered in Witchcraft in Europe vividly illumine the dark side of the European mind.

    The time is A.D. 1250 and the city is Troyes, capital of the county of Champagne and site of two of the cycle Champagne Fairs—the “Hot Fair” in August and the “Cold Fair” in December. European civilization has emerged from the Dark Ages and is in the midst of a commercial revolution. Merchants and money men from all over Europe gather at Troyes to buy, sell, borrow, and lend, creating a bustling market center typical of the feudal era. As the Gieses take us through the day-to-day life of burghers, we learn the customs and habits of lords and serfs, how financial transactions were conducted, how medieval cities were governed, and what life was really like for a wide range of people.For serious students of the medieval era and anyone wishing to learn more about this fascinating period, Life in a Medieval City remains a timeless work of popular medieval scholarship.

    Ostensibly concerned with turning base metals into gold, alchemy was in fact dedicated to transforming the lead of self into the gold of spirit. This brilliant history of alchemy traces its sources back to ancient Egypt, and presents alchemy as a useful, practical system of self-transformation. Each of the seven steps of alchemical transformation is explained, with hands-on techniques and exercises, treating alchemy as a living discipline for achieving a spiritual awakening.

    The greatest historians are vivid storytellers, Robert Lacey reminds us, and in Great Tales from English History, he proves his place among them, illuminating in unforgettable detail the characters and events that shaped a nation. In this volume, Lacey limns the most important period in England's past, highlighting the spread of the English language, the rejection of both a religion and a traditional view of kingly authority, and an unstoppable movement toward intellectual and political freedom from 1387 to 1689. Opening with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and culminating in William and Mary's "Glorious Revolution," Lacey revisits some of the truly classic stories of English history: the Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V's skilled archers defeated a French army three times as large; the tragic tale of the two young princes locked in the Tower of London (and almost certainly murdered) by their usurping uncle, Richard III; Henry VIII's schismatic divorce, not just from his wife but from the authority of the Catholic Church; "Bloody Mary" and the burning of religious dissidents; Sir Francis Drake's dramatic, if questionable, part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; and the terrible and transformative Great Fire of London, to name but a few. Here Anglophiles will find their favorite English kings and queens, villains and victims, authors and architects - from Richard II to Anne Boleyn, the Virgin Queen to Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys to Christopher Wren, and many more. Continuing the "eminently readable, highly enjoyable" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) history he began in volume I of Great Tales from English History, Robert Lacey has drawn on the most up-to-date research to present a taut and riveting narrative, breathing life into the most pivotal characters and exciting landmarks in England's history.

    Andrieh Vitimus presents a revolutionary hands-on course of study for the average Jane or Joe. Vitimus banishes the severe tone of other esoteric orders, offering an accessible and practical approach that makes it easier to perform successful chaos magic that is uniquely your own.Praise: Andrieh Vitimus is the real deal...honest-to-gods, in-your-face magic. Hands-On Chaos Magic is just what it says, and the next best thing to working with the master himself.--Lon Milo DuQuette, author of The Magick of Aleister Crowley, Homemade Magick, and Low MagickA must-have for any magician.-- Taylor Ellwood, author of Multi-Media MagicWritten with intelligence, experience, and a genuine desire to empower readers.--Raven Digitalis, author of Shadow Magick CompendiumA usable introduction to the concepts and practical techniques of chaos magic.--Donald Michael Kraig, author of Modern MagickA well-considered and thorough contribution to the chaos magic current.--Dave Lee, author of Chaotopia

    It is the first in a two volume work; the companion volume, Praxis, being an exposition of ritual actions, is due to be published in 2016.The fall of Lucifer, and that of the rebel angels who descended upon the daughters of men, comprise the foundation myth of the Western occult tradition. Lucifer: Princeps is a study of origins, a portrait of the first ancestor of witchcraft and magic. In tracing the genealogy of our patron and prince, the principles that underlie the ritual forms that have come down to us, through the grimoires and folk practices, are elucidated. The study draws on the extensive literature of history, religion and archaeology, engaging with the vital discoveries and advances of recent scholarship, which render previous works on Lucifer, however well intentioned, out of date. A concomitant exegesis of the core texts conjures the terrain and koine of the Ancient Near East, the cradle cultures and language of his nascence. Of critical importance are the effaced cultures and cults that lie behind the Old Testament polemics, viz. those of Assyria, Ugarit and Canaan, as well as Sumeria, Egypt and Greece; they provide the context that give meaning to what would otherwise be an isolated brooding figure, one who makes no sense without being encountered in the landscape.Intended to be the definitive text on Lucifer for the witch, magician and student of the grimoires, Princeps spans wingtip to wingtip from the original flood myth and legends of divine teachers to the Church Fathers, notably Augustine, Origen and Tertullian. The tales of the Garden of Eden, the Nephilim, of the fall of Helel ben Šahar and the Prince of Tyre, the nature of Azazel, and the creation of the Satan are drawn beneath the shadow of these wings into a narrative that binds Genesis and Revelation via the Enochian tradition. The story of the Serpent in the Garden and that of Lucifer are revealed to be a singular myth whose true significance had been lost and can now be restored. It illuminates the path to apotheosis, and the role of the goddess as the transforming initiatrix who bestows the crown.

    Through it you can change your circumstances, live according to a developing sense of personal responsibility, effect change around you, and stop living as a helpless cog in some clockwork universe. All acts of personal/collective liberation are magical acts. Magic leads us into exhilaration and ecstasy; into insight and understanding; into changing ourselves and the world in which we participate. Through magic we may come to explore the possibilities of freedom.