When you work with the sigils in this book, you throw out all the confusing magickal garbage and get straight to the power of change. Sigils provide you with a visual code that unlocks the essence of magick. This book does not contain anything to do with witchcraft, spellcasting, kabbalistic ritual, evocation or any other method of magick that you might be familiar with. A sigil is nothing more than a drawing, but in this case, the drawing is so much more than you can imagine. These drawings bypass the conscious mind, connecting you to a stream of pure magick. This is not dark magick, but magick of light. You can do no harm with this magick, to yourself or to others. The magick works because you have access to one hundred and eleven secret sigils, handed down from ancient times. Every one of them can work wonders in the modern world. You will discover: The Magick of the Mind Inspiring Others Extended Perception Fortune Love and Friendship Breakthrough Magick Spiritual Magick Personal Strength Peace Magick Protection Magick Personal Healing Health Magick Wisdom and Education Business and Finance Employment Magick The magick presented here is not bound to any religion, and it requires no magick words. You don't have to learn any difficult pronunciations or say a single word out loud. The magick requires no visualization and no equipment. You won't light a candle or wave a wand. All you need is this book, your own strong desire and the will to carry out the instructions.

    "Here’s a partial list of things I don’t believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn’t believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch."For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared--until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that's a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift.From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man's journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn in Toil & Trouble. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all.

    "Seeds of feminine wisdom that have been quietly germinating underground are now breaking through the surface," writes Mirabai Starr. "Women everywhere are rising to the collective call to step up and repair our broken Earth.And we are activating a paradigm shift such as the world has never seen."With "Wild Mercy", Mirabai shares the subversive wisdom and fierce compassion of the feminine mystic across cultural boundaries and throughout history. From saints and sages, to goddesses and archetypal energies, to contemporary teachers and seekers—you’ll meet women who blazed a path that will illuminate your own.Each chapter explores a different facet of feminine mysticism through a tapestry of teachings, reflections, and stories, along with a practice for integrating the chapter’s themes into your own life. As you journey through these pages, you’ll explore: Taking refuge in contemplative practice with St. Teresa of Avila and the Shekinah• Longing, embodiment, and union as the heart of feminine spiritual practice with the Hindu poet Mirabai and Mary Magdalene• Your relationship with the Earth, motherhood in all its forms, and a loving call to action alongside Gaia and Ix Chel• Community and the web of life with Indra, the Beguines, and female prophets throughout history• Wild, playful, and compassionate mercy with Tara and Kuan Yin• Finding joy in creativity and the arts with Saraswati and Chiyo-ni• More inspiration from archetypal goddesses and amazing women past and present—Julian of Norwich, the Sufi saint Rabia, Pachamama, Sophia, Old Spider Woman, Hildegard of Bingen, Demeter, Kali, and more"Wild Mercy" provides a much-needed alternative to the models of religion and spirituality that have dominated history. Here, Mirabai invites you to welcome the wisdom of women back into the collective field where it may transform the human family, heal the ravaged Earth, and awaken the divine love in our hearts.

    Therese's mother herself a saint? The Church now says "Yes!" Zelie Martin and her husband, Louis, were declared Venerable by the Church in 1994 for their heroic virtue, and the couple's cause is now complete, ending with their cannonization in 2015. Zelie married at 27, bore 9 children, ran a home business and did a superb job of raising 5 daughters, including "the greatest saint of modern times" (St. Pius X). She died of breast cancer at 45, but her greatness was recognized by her family and friends, and is now known to the world. Zelie suffered many of the ordinary burdens of life, yet she was happy, loved her children madly and enjoyed them immensely. This book was written by her daughter, Celine, who had access to Zelie's letters and to the reminiscences of her older sisters in the Carmel of Lisieux. It is authentic and inspiring, showing what a tremendous life's work and accomplishment it is to be a truly Catholic mother. Looking at Zelie's picture, one can see her incredible character, integrity, goodness, constancy and love.

    What’s it like to work in a morgue? This book describes, first hand, coping with mutilated or decomposed bodies and the carnage of large-scale disasters like the Bali bombings. Equally as traumatic, the suicides, accidental drownings, car accidents and murders. But forensic counsellors do much more, witnessing autopsies, attending crime scenes and coronial enquiries. It’s all in a day’s work. Find out what it’s like behind the scenes. Those working at the morgue come face to face with death on a daily basis, and forensic counsellors like John have to find the compassion and kindness to ease the grief of those left behind.

    David Hockney has worked in almost every medium - painting, drawing, stage design, photography and printmaking. He has undertaken an ambitious experiment with ways of seeing and ways of representing sight - ranging from his paintings, with their challenges to perspective and brilliant colours, to his vivid multi-dimensional photo-collages and his fax art, computer printings and coloured laser prints.

    For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. Trapped in this dangerous and desperate world, she suffered the brutality and horrors of human trafficking—rape, torture, deprivation—until she managed to escape with the help of a French aid worker. Emboldened by her newfound freedom, education, and security, Somaly blossomed but remained haunted by the girls in the brothels she left behind.Written in exquisite, spare, unflinching prose, The Road of Lost Innocence recounts the experiences of her early life and tells the story of her awakening as an activist and her harrowing and brave fight against the powerful and corrupt forces that steal the lives of these girls. She has orchestrated raids on brothels and rescued sex workers, some as young as five and six; she has built shelters, started schools, and founded an organization that has so far saved more than four thousand women and children in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Her memoir will leave you awestruck by her tenacity and courage and will renew your faith in the power of an individual to bring about change.

    At once a biography of an extraordinary 18th century gentlewoman and a meditation on late-life creativity, it is a beautifully written tour de force from an acclaimed poet. Mary Granville Pendarves Delany (1700-1788) was the witty, beautiful and talented daughter of a minor branch of a powerful family. Married off at 16 to a 61-year-old drunken squire to improve the family fortunes, she was widowed by 25, and henceforth had a small stipend and a horror of a marriage. She spurned many suitors over the next twenty years, including the powerful Lord Baltimore and the charismatic radical John Wesley. She cultivated a wide circle of friends, including Handel and Jonathan Swift. And she painted, she stitched, she observed, as she swirled in the outskirts of the Georgian court. In mid-life she found love, and married. Upon her husband's death 23 years later, she arose from her grief, picked up a pair of scissors and, at the age of 72, created a new art form, mixed-media collage. Over the next decade, Mrs Delany created an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Botanica Delanica.Delicately, Peacock has woven parallels in her own life around the story of Mrs Delany's and, in doing so, has made this biography into a profound and beautiful examination of the nature of creativity and art.Gorgeously designed and featuring 35 full-colour illustrations, this is a sumptuous and lively book full of fashion and friendships, gossip and politics, letters and love. It's to be devoured as voraciously as one of the court dinners it describes.

    The daughter of Lang Hancock – legendary arch-conservative, secessionist, mining millionaire and discoverer of the world's largest iron deposit in the Pilbara – Gina has grown up in a family known as much for its front-page legal stoushes as for its business acumen and toughness.With her reported wealth more than doubling in the last twelve months, Rinehart is beginning to flex the enormous power her money gives, buying large shareholdings in television's Ten Network and newspaper group Fairfax Media. They are moves that will give Rinehart and her controversial views a major place in Australian life and public affairs.Based on painstaking research and a wealth of interviews with Rinehart's colleagues, friends, family and former employees, award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson has written the definitive biography, shining a light into the private world of Gina Rinehart, her family, her feuds and the iron determination that has driven her relentless rise.

    Here she interweaves a personal story with the work that she loves, illuminating how, for better and worse, religious traditions have shaped how we understand ourselves; how we relate to one another; and, most importantly, how to get through the most difficult challenges we face.Drawing upon the perspectives of neurologists, anthropologists, and historians, as well as her own research, Pagels opens unexpected ways of understanding persistent religious aspects of our culture.A provocative and deeply moving account from one of the most compelling religious thinkers at work today, Why Religion? explores the spiritual dimension of human experience.

    - Times Online, 1/30/09

    I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too.I was one of twenty-eight children born to my dad and his three wives. Indoctrinated to believe that the outside world was evil, and that I resided among the righteous, I was destined to marry a man chosen for me by the Prophet. I would then live in harmony with my sister-wives, bear many children, and obey and serve my future husband in this life and throughout eternity. But my innocence didn't last long. While still a child, I understood that the church of the righteous was nothing but a church of lies.When I was eight years old my father sexually molested me for the first time, raping me when I was twelve. I tried to kill myself. Beaten, molested, taunted, and abused by family members alleging they only wanted to save my soul became a daily routine, I ran from this abuse more than once in my early teens--even attempting to cross the desert on foot. My family hunted me down. I thought government agencies would provide me safety if I reported my father. Instead, police and social services colluded with the FLDS to return me to my family and I ended up back inside polygamy, right where I started."Flora goes on from there to tell the dramatic true story of how she ultimately escaped and has been fighting against frustrating obstacles with hard fought successes in rescuing women and children from the FLDS. It's a story you can't put down.

    "We all have a deep capacity to make magic . . . . . . and to do it as easily as we breathe or open our eyes. This is not a matter of belief. You can discover your own capacity for magic in your own direct experience." —Briana Saussy When you think of magic, do you imagine something supernatural, extraordinary, or beyond your everyday reality? Many of us are drawn to magic because we think there’s something "out there" that can bring enchantment and wonder back into our lives. Yet there’s a secret to real magic: the extraordinary is much closer than you may think. With Making Magic, expert teacher Briana Saussy invites you to discover a practice of magic that will bring a new depth and power to each moment, act, and choice of your life. Through teaching stories, wisdom from a wide variety of world traditions, and no-nonsense practices you can easily weave into your daily routine, Briana will help you reconnect with the wild and creative force of magic that is always around and within you, waiting for you to remember. As you explore this path of transformation, you’ll discover resources of magic that permeate your life, including: • Doors and thresholds—ways we "cross between worlds" • Communication—creating magic with your voice, body, intentions, and relationships • Holy helpers—ancestors, angels, saints, and spirit beings who guide and support you • Water and washing—access the revitalizing energy of water when you drink or bathe • Textiles and threads—how to loosen, mend, or bind up supportive energies • Candles and fire—elemental power to bring light to darkness and burn away what no longer serves you • Kitchen magic—using food to nourish your whole self and reconnect you with nature • Talismans—infuse your beloved objects with sacred purpose and supportive power "Magic is the most real part of any ‘real life’—the spark illuminating the authentic core of every experience," writes Briana Saussy. If you are ready to enter a world that is ripe with possibility and rediscover the electric wildness of your life, here is an essential resource for Making Magic as only you can.

    A brilliant visual storyteller, Redniss has hand-designed more than 100 color collages to tell Curie’s story, fascinating in its scientific significance and its sometimes whimsical, sometimes haunting mix of romance and intrigue. Bringing together archival photos, images, and clippings with dazzling line drawings and a compelling narrative, Radioactive is far more than just an art book or a graphic novel: It is a stunning visual biography and a true work of art.

    It is proof that, 'if you go looking for trouble, you'll probably find it'. Over nearly 40 years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, Hugh Riminton has been shot at, blown up, threatened with deportation and thrown in jail. He has reported from nearly 50 countries, witnessed massacres in Africa, wars and conflicts on four continents, and every kind of natural disaster. It has been an extraordinary life. From a small-town teenager with a drinking problem, cleaning rat cages for a living, to a multi-award-winning international journalist reporting to an audience of 300 million people, Hugh has been a frontline witness to our times. From genocide in Africa to the Indian Ocean tsunami, from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to slave-trading in Sudan, Hugh has seen the best and worst of human behaviour. In Australia, he has covered political dramas, witnessed the Port Arthur Massacre and the Thredbo disaster and broke a major national scandal. His work helped force half-a-dozen government inquiries.Entertaining, deeply personal and quietly wise, MINEFIELDS is a compelling exploration of a foreign correspondent's life. 'His story is a triumph' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD