The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World


Lucette Lagnado - 2007
    Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy, dark bar of the Nile Hilton, dressed in his signature white sharkskin suit. But with the fall of King Farouk and Nasser's nationalization of Egyptian industry, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed, neighborhoods of their fellow Jews disbanded, and the city purged of all foreign influence, the Lagnados, too, must make their escape. With all of their belongings packed into twenty-six suitcases, their jewels and gold coins hidden in sealed tins of marmalade, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxta-posed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.An inversion of the American dream set against the stunning portraits of three world cities, Lucette Lagnado's memoir offers a grand and sweeping story of faith, tradition, tragedy, and triumph.Winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and hailed by the New York Times Book Review as a "brilliant, crushing book" and the New Yorker as a memoir of ruin "told without melodrama by its youngest survivor," The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit recounts the exile of the author's Jewish Egyptian family from Cairo in 1963 and her father's heroic and tragic struggle to survive his "riches to rags" trajectory.

Yule: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Winter Solstice


Susan Pesznecker - 2015
    It includes hands-on information for modern celebrations, spells and divination, recipes and crafts, invocations and prayers, and more!Yule—also known as Midwinter—is when nighttime has reached its maximum length, but there is a promise of brighter days to come as candles are lit and feasts are enjoyed. This guide to the history and modern celebration of Yule shows you how to perform rituals and magic to celebrate and work with the energy of the winter solstice.

Winterborn


Stuart Grosse - 2019
    Many of them have rules and laws that are utterly alien to the world that we know. Most never leave the world they were born into, never even know or suspect that other worlds even exist. Their souls simply go through the cycle of reincarnation again and again, always forgetting their past lives, and living as they please. But some few are given the gift of Transfering after death, to live their next life in a different world, with memories of their past lives to enrich the world they go to with new concepts and new ideas, and bringing back those same from the world they visited when it is time for their next cycle in their old world. A young woman suffers a tragic fate, and is granted the ability to Transfer. She is reincarnated into a new world, full of monsters and magic, things that would be mere myths and legends to her in her old life. This time, she promises, will be different. She doesn't have to be weak here. She doesn't have to be a victim. She can be strong, and no one will ever control her again!

World of Archangels


Sufian Chaudhary - 2013
    Regardless of who you are, where you come from or what you are doing, this book contains Universal principles that will redefine your spiritual life. Every single Chapter introduces and explores a powerful spiritual concept. The book is filled with Enlightening meditations, Ancient wisdom and uplifting stories of ethereal encounters with the other side. Whether you are a beginner in this field or an old soul wiser than the day, World of Archangels will help you achieve the next level of your spiritual journey.Throughout history we have been led to believe that there were only 7 primary Chakras within the human body. There are in fact 12 Chakras that act as representatives for the 12 Dimensions that make up our Universal learning environment. World of Archangels delves quite heavily into each of the Dimensions that collectively became known as Creator School. We are each of us developing souls that will one day achieve the 12th Dimension and leave Creation as powerful Creators ourselves. The fundamentals of achieving such a feat revolves around Unconditional Love and expressing ourselves within the extremely heightened existence of Enlightenment. The Archangels are the Beings who convey these teachings down in order to complete the cycle of learning. World of Archangels was written to simply orchestrate such a Divine meeting; the rest is entirely up to Destiny.The book follows a self-realization process that Archangel Uriel hand-crafted for the sole purpose of awakening souls. Each chapter continues this powerful journey, where by the end of the book, descriptive meditations upon activating and cleansing the Chakras, raising the vibration of the human body, communing with ethereal Beings, psychic self defense, healing and the ability to understand Life beyond normal human perception becomes available. With self-realization in mind, World of Archangels aims to excel the spiritual aspirant onto a pathway of Enlightenment with dedicated meditations to empower the human energetic body beyond the normal limitations.Here on Earth we may sometimes become bogged down with all manner of disharmonies that cause us to be shackled into a physical life that was effectively set up for us to fail at some point in time. Sometimes we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel and many times we may even feel burnt by Life itself for no other reason than for the justification of karmic debt. It may be one of the greatest answers to know the meaning of your life and to understand why you are even alive. To genuinely approach an Archangel; these answers may very well be given to you. To live a fulfilling Life, to be free of limitations, to recognize the nature of who you are and where you have come from; this is the result of becoming an awakened soul.

Everyday Witch Book of Rituals: All You Need for a Magickal Year


Deborah Blake - 2012
    Whether practicing alone or with a group, these empowering ceremonies--designed for new moons, full moons, sabbats, and other special occasions--will help you find love, build courage, boost creativity, achieve balance, and deepen your faith.No matter what your skill level, Everyday Witch Book of Rituals shows you how to fill the year with meaningful magickal practice. Through lighthearted, down-to-earth methods, this guide provides basic ritual elements and ingredients, timing for success, and the importance of each ritual step. Using the perfect blend of reverence and mirth, practicality and spirituality, and a sprinkling of wisdom from Magic the Cat, this guide provides nearly every ritual you need for a magickal year.Praise: With her wonderful new book...Deborah Blake escorts us around the Wheel of the Year, providing inspiration and guidance for novice and adept alike.--Judika Illes, author of The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 SpellsI highly recommend Everyday Witch Book of Rituals for anyone who wants to enrich their Craft through more dynamic, satisfying, and effective rituals.--Melanie Marquis, author of The Witch's Bag of TricksBored with formal ritual? Deborah Blake's fresh approach in Everyday Witch Book of Rituals will forever change your mind.--Dorothy Morrison, author of The Craft and Utterly Wicked

When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt


Kara Cooney - 2018
    Regularly, repeatedly, and with impunity, queens like Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra controlled the totalitarian state as power-brokers and rulers. But throughout human history, women in positions of power were more often used as political pawns in a male-dominated society. What was so special about ancient Egypt that provided women this kind of access to the highest political office? What was it about these women that allowed them to transcend patriarchal obstacles? What did Egypt gain from its liberal reliance on female leadership, and could today's world learn from its example?Celebrated Egyptologist Kara Cooney delivers a fascinating tale of female power, exploring the reasons why it has seldom been allowed through the ages, and why we should care.

Tiy and the Prince of Egypt


Debbie Dee - 2013
    With her mother consumed by the need to keep up appearances, and her father too busy to care, Tiy just wants to disappear into the background. But her hope for a quiet life is shattered when she rescues Prince Amenhotep from a sandstorm and is rewarded with an invitation to attend the royal school in Egypt’s capital”"-a place where girls like her will never belong.Amenhotep welcomes her into his close circle of friends and their friendship strengthens into a bond neither is willing to lose. But when Amenhotep becomes Pharaoh and is pressured by the priests to marry, the strength of their friendship is threatened. Will Tiy find enough courage to accept Amenhotep’s hand when he wants her to become the next Queen of Egypt, especially when her feelings run no deeper than friendship? And how can she protect him from the Nubian rebels who are determined to take control of Egypt? ˃˃˃ "This story is a rare gem." - Playing for Sweeps ˃˃˃ "Debbie Dee blew me away, yet again....I was at the edge of my seat over and over." - Kayla's Place ˃˃˃ "Really draws you in." - Trips Down Imagination Road

When We Were Gods: A Novel of Cleopatra


Colin Falconer - 1999
    . . whom dreamers find always at the end of their dreams."-- Theophile Gautier, 1845Arrestingly beautiful and fiercely intelligent, Cleopatra VII of Egypt was barely more than a teenager when she inherited the richest empire in the world--one that stretched from the scorching deserts of lower Egypt to the shining Mediterranean metropolis of Alexandria, with its famed libraries, storehouses, and treasuries. Imperiled at every turn by court conspiracies and Roman treachery, the young queen was forced to flee Alexandria and live in exile while a foreign army overran her city and her own siblings plotted her downfall. With nothing to lose, Cleopatra brazenly sought a partnership with the only man who could secure Egypt's safety: Julius Caesar, a wily politician and battle-hardened general with a weakness for women. The result was a passionate love affair that scandalized Rome and thrust Cleopatra into the glittering but deadly world of imperial intrigue and warfare-- a world that she would mesmerize and manipulate even after Caesar was gone.At the height of her power and fame, Cleopatra fell in love with Caesar's protégé and successor, Marc Antony, a handsome general known as much for his drunken hedonism as for his victories in  battle. Brash, irresistible, and fatally unreliable, Antony's once-strong hold on the Roman Empire was slipping fast, and with it slipped Cleopatra's fortunes. When the tide had finally, irrevocably turned against her, the proud queen plotted a last, spectacular maneuver that was to save her children, her empire, and her place in the pantheon of gods. Colin Falconer's bold, sensuous prose takes the reader inside the walls of Alexandria's great palaces and into Cleopatra's very heart, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman who thrived and triumphed in a world ruled by men. This is the story of a legendary woman's most glorious time, a story that blazes through thousands of years of history to capture the imagination of readers today.From the Hardcover edition.

The Queue


Basma Abdel Aziz - 2012
    Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer. Citizens from all walks of life mix and wait in the sun: a revolutionary journalist, a sheikh, a poor woman concerned for her daughter’s health, and even the brother of a security officer killed in clashes with protestors. Among them is Yehia, a man who was shot during the Events and is waiting for permission from the Gate to remove a bullet that remains lodged in his pelvis. Yehia’s health steadily declines, yet at every turn, officials refuse to assist him, actively denying the very existence of the bullet. Ultimately it is Tarek, the principled doctor tending to Yehia’s case, who must decide whether to follow protocol as he has always done, or to disobey the law and risk his career to operate on Yehia and save his life. Written with dark, subtle humor, The Queue describes the sinister nature of authoritarianism, and illuminates the way that absolute authority manipulates information, mobilizes others in service to it, and fails to uphold the rights of even those faithful to it.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Buried Pyramid


Jane Lindskold - 2004
    They're part of a team investigating the legendary Buried Pyramid, the tomb of the pharaoh Neferankhotep -- who may also have been Moses the Lawgiver.But they're not the only ones interested in the site. Another party, led by the opulent and treacherous Lady Audrey Cheshire, is shadowing theirs. Someone who signs himself "The Sphinx" has been sending threatening letters -- written entirely in hieroglyphics. In Egypt, an ancient and shadowy organization seems determined to keep the tomb from being discovered.But mortals may not be all that stands in their way.

Bewitching the Elements: A Guide to Empowering Yourself Through Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit


Gabriela Herstik - 2020
    The tools that Gabriela Herstik offers in Bewitching the Elements will help you connect to the universe and your inner light.Through earth, learn how to ground and create compassionate boundaries.Through air, harness the breath, balance the body, and find presence in the moment.Through fire, embody passion, burning away what no longer serves you, and learn to constructively work with anger.Through water, explore your emotional depths and come back to the heart.Through spirit, connect to your own sense of power, embracing all of the lessons of the elements.Committing to a path that serves our authentic selves is a radical act. When we do this work alongside nature, by turning to the elements, we find a map back to our intuitive and energetic wisdom.

Shaman Pathways - Elen of the Ways: British Shamanism - Following the Deer Trods


Elen Sentier - 2013
    Elen Sentier grew up in a long family lineage of following the Deer Trods; in this book she tells of the old, forgotten ways of our ancestors. Through her own experience, stories, practical exercises and journeys with the deer, Elen takes you into the realm of the Boreal Forest, of which Britain is a part, to show how the Deer Goddess is the spirit of this land. To walk the deer trods is to realise how close and connected you are to nature and everything in this beautiful world which we share with our non-human brethren. You learn, too, that our everyday world and otherworld are intertwined. Elen of the Ways is both here and there at the same time. You will find her everywhere.

Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend


Joann Fletcher - 2008
    Joann Fletcher offers an unparalleled look at one of history’s most fascinating leaders—Politician, Mother, and Goddess—the legendary Cleopatra.The subject of myth for more than two millennia, Cleopatra was a woman of passion, magnetism, and political genius, the last and greatest Egyptian pharaoh. In this mesmerizing biography, Egyptologist Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of newly discovered information and research to reveal this vital woman as she truly was, from her first meeting with Julius Caesar to her legendary death by snakebite. Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its center. A polymath monarch, she was also a potent combination of traditionalist and innovator, astute enough to realize what was necessary for Egypt’s continued prosperity and sufficiently ruthless to allow nothing to stand in her way.Yet our understanding of Cleopatra has been obscured by Roman propaganda, Shakespearean tragedy, and Hollywood glamour. Cleopatra the Great pieces together the pharaoh’s ancient world with details about her massive library and infamous banquets, her relationships with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her skillful use of fashion and style to further her ambitions and her mystique. Intelligent and compulsively readable, here is an unparalleled biography worthy of its subject.

Daughter of the Gods: A Novel of Ancient Egypt


Stephanie Marie Thornton - 2014
    The pharaoh’s pampered second daughter, lively, intelligent Hatshepsut, delights in racing her chariot through the marketplace and testing her archery skills in the Nile’s marshlands. But the death of her elder sister, Neferubity, in a gruesome accident arising from Hatshepsut’s games forces her to confront her guilt...and sets her on a profoundly changed course. Hatshepsut enters a loveless marriage with her half brother, Thut, to secure his claim to the Horus Throne and produce a male heir. But it is another of Thut’s wives, the commoner Aset, who bears him a son, while Hatshepsut develops a searing attraction for his brilliant adviser Senenmut. And when Thut suddenly dies, Hatshepsut becomes de facto ruler, as regent to her two-year-old nephew. Once, Hatshepsut anticipated being free to live and love as she chose. Now she must put Egypt first. Ever daring, she will lead a vast army and build great temples, but always she will be torn between the demands of leadership and the desires of her heart. And even as she makes her boldest move of all, her enemies will plot her downfall....Once again, Stephanie Thornton brings to life a remarkable woman from the distant past whose willingness to defy tradition changed the course of history.

The Memoirs of Cleopatra


Margaret George - 1997
    Told in Cleopatra's own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome. Most of all, in its richness and authenticity, it is an irresistible story that reveals why Margaret George's work has been widely acclaimed as "the best kind of historical novel, one the reader can't wait to get lost in."