I was surprised and, in fact, a little terrified when I found myself in the middle of a feminist spiritual reawakening.Sue Monk was a "conventionally religious, churchgoing woman, a traditional wife and mother" with a thriving career as a Christian writer until she began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore to monastery retreats and rituals in the caves of Crete, Kidd takes readers through the fear, anger, healing, and transformation of her awakening. Retaining a meaningful connection "with the deep song of Christianity," she opens the door for traditional Christian women to discover a spirituality that speaks directly to them and provides inspiring wisdom for all who struggle to embrace their full humanity.

    His articulation of the furthest reaches of human potential, the eternal validity of the soul, and the concept that we create our own reality according to our beliefs, has been presented in books that have sold over 8 million copies and been translated into over a dozen languages. Seth's empowering voice clearly stands out as one of the major forces which led to the current New Age philosophical movement. This book chronicles Seth's first contact with author and medium Jane Roberts. It is a mixture of great Seth excerpts, selected by topic, and further explained by Jane.Topics covered include: afterdeath & between lives, how to get rid of llness, reincarnation, why people are born into different circumstances, God, All That Is, Dreams, exercises to develop the inner senses, and much more.

    But for the past thirty-five years of his professional life, he has also been active as an investigator of the paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims that have impressed the thinking of the public for a generation: ESP, psychokinesis, psychic detectives, levitation, psychic surgery, UFOs, dowsing, astrology, and many others. Those of us unable to discriminate between geniune scientific research and the pseudoscientific nonsense that has resulted in fantastic theories and fancies have long needed James Randi and Flim-Flam!In this book, Randi explores and exposes what he believes to be the outrageous deception that has been promoted widely in the media. Unafraid to call researchers to account for their failures and impostures, Randi tells us that we have been badly served by scientists who have failed to follow the procedures required by their training and traditions. Here he shows us how what he views as sloppy research has been followed by rationalizations of evident failures, and we see these errors and misrepresentations clearly pointed out. Mr. Randi provides us with a compelling and convincing document that will certainly startle and enlighten all who read it.

    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?

    The Chalice and the Blade tells a new story of our cultural origins. It shows that warfare and the war of the sexes are neither divinely nor biologically ordained. It provides verification that a better future is possible—and is in fact firmly rooted in the haunting dramas of what happened in our past.

    Exploring the Amazon Basin in search of mythical shamanic hallucinogens, they encounter a host of unusual characters—including a mushroom, a flying saucer, pirate Mantids from outer space, an appearance by James and Nora Joyce in the guise of poultry, and translinguistic matter—and discover the missing link in the development of human consciousness and language.

    But what if we have got this completely wrong? What if death was not the catastrophe it is made out to be but an essential aspect of life, rife with spiritual possibilities for transcendence? For the first time, someone is saying just that.In this unique treatise-like exposition, Sadhguru dwells extensively upon his inner experience as he expounds on the more profound aspects of death that are rarely spoken about. From a practical standpoint, he elaborates on what preparations one can make for one’s death, how best we can assist someone who is dying and how we can continue to support their journey even after death.Whether a believer or not, a devotee or an agnostic, an accomplished seeker or a simpleton, this is truly a book for all those who shall die!>

    It is intimacy.""Look in a mirror and one thing's sure: what we see is not who we are.""Next to God, love is the word most mangled in every language. The highest form of regard between two people is friendship, and when love enters, friendship dies.""There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go."

    "If we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."This book gives detailed instructions for dream yoga, including foundational practices done during the day. In the Tibetan tradition, the ability to dream lucidly is not an end in itself, rather it provides and additional context in which one can engage in advanced and effective practices to achieve liberation.Dream yoga is followed by sleep yoga, also known as the yoga of clear light. It is a more advanced practice, similar to the most secret Tibetan practices. The goal is to remain aware during deep sleep when the gross conceptual mind and the operation of the senses cease. Most Westerners do not even consider this depth of awareness a possibility, yet it is well known in Tibetan Buddhist and Bon spiritual traditions.The result of these practices is greater happiness and freedom in both our waking and dreaming states. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep imparts powerful methods for progressing along the path to liberation.

    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.

    While psychedelics of all sorts are demonized in America today, the visionary compounds found in plants are the spiritual sacraments of tribal cultures around the world. From the iboga of the Bwiti in Gabon, to the Mazatecs of Mexico, these plants are sacred because they awaken the mind to other levels of awareness--to a holographic vision of the universe.Breaking Open the Head is a passionate, multilayered, and sometimes rashly personal inquiry into this deep division. On one level, Daniel Pinchbeck tells the story of the encounters between the modern consciousness of the West and these sacramental substances, including such thinkers as Allen Ginsberg, Antonin Artaud, Walter Benjamin, and Terence McKenna, and a new underground of present-day ethnobotanists, chemists, psychonauts, and philosophers. It is also a scrupulous recording of the author's wide-ranging investigation with these outlaw compounds, including a thirty-hour tribal initiation in West Africa; an all-night encounter with the master shamans of the South American rain forest; and a report from a psychedelic utopia in the Black Rock Desert that is the Burning Man Festival.Breaking Open the Head is brave participatory journalism at its best, a vivid account of psychic and intellectual experiences that opened doors in the wall of Western rationalism and completed Daniel Pinchbeck's personal transformation from a jaded Manhattan journalist to shamanic initiate and grateful citizen of the cosmos.

    It is a collection of religious and philosophic texts gathered and translated into Coptic by fourth-century Gnostic Christians and translated into English by dozens of highly reputable experts. First published in 1978, this is the revised 1988 edition supported by illuminating introductions to each document. The library itself is a diverse collection of texts that the Gnostics considered to be related to their heretical philosophy in some way. There are 45 separate titles, including a Coptic translation from the Greek of two well-known works: the Gospel of Thomas, attributed to Jesus' brother Judas, and Plato's Republic. The word gnosis is defined as "the immediate knowledge of spiritual truth." This doomed radical sect believed in being here now--withdrawing from the contamination of society and materiality--and that heaven is an internal state, not some place above the clouds. That this collection has resurfaced at this historical juncture is more than likely no coincidence.--P. Randall Cohan

    95 four-color, 30 two-color, and 30 black-and-white illustrations.

    With study, dedication, and practice, the lessons and exercises in this book will empower you to transform the repetitive rigors of the daily grind into a witch's web of magickal experiences.The Inner Temple of Witchcraft is a thorough course of education, introspection, meditation, and the development of the magickal and psychic abilities that are the birthright of the witch. Four introductory chapters present the history, traditions, and principles of witchcraft, followed by thirteen lessons that start with basic meditation techniques and culminate in a self-initiation ceremony equivalent to the first-degree level of traditional coven-based witchcraft.As you progress through this year-and-a-day course of study, you will explore a wide range of topics that support and inform the dedicated witch:Ancient and modern magickal philosophy Modern scientific theories supporting a new definition of reality Instant magick techniques for protection, healing, and serenity Energy work and anatomy, including chakras and auras Astral travel, dreams, and spirit guides Healing techniques for body, mind, and spirit This book's non-dogmatic presentation encourages an eclectic, personal approach while providing a strong foundation for the practice of witchcraft and magick. Develop your psychic abilities and practice potent magickal techniques as you explore the source of every witch's power--the temple within.Winner of the 2003 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Award for Best Magic Book

    Already over 100,000 people are using it.Author Donald Michael Kraig wrote this after teaching the information in classes for ten years. It is refined, tested, and easy to understand. It is filled with exercises, techniques, and rituals to help you. It is presented in a series of eleven lessons. Follow the lessons, practice the rituals and techniques, and by the end of your work you will be a magician. What does it cover? Rituals, healing, initiation, talismans, astral travel, creative visualization, psychic self-defense, evocation of spirits, the Kabalah, physical exercise, and magical tools such as wands.Want more? You'll also learn the secrets of true meditation, how to use the Tarot, how to remember your dreams, how to do the rituals of Western Magick, including rituals of the Pentagram, Hexagram, Middle Pillar, Rose Cross, and Watchtower. You'll learn how to manipulate magical energy, secrets of relaxation, Wicca, pathworking, Tantra, and sex magick.Once you have finished working your way through this book you will be an accomplished magician. You will be able to perform real magick. Then this book will become the most valuable reference tool in your collection of books.What if you want to know even more about a subject? No problem. Each chapter has a bibliography so you can go even deeper into any topic. There is an annotated bibliography at the end with even more resources.In the new, second edition the contents pages contain more information so it is even easier to find what you need, but there is also an entirely new appendix with answers to many of the most frequently asked questions that Kraig has received over the years. This book is a must!