In Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, Owen Davies illuminates the many fascinating forms these recondite books have taken and exactly what these books held. At their most benign, these repositories of forbidden knowledge revealed how to make powerful talismans and protective amulets, and provided charms and conjurations for healing illness, finding love, and warding off evil. But other books promised the power to control innocent victims, even to call up the devil. Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present.

    Anodea Judith's classic introduction to the chakra system, which has sold over 200,000 copies, has been completely updated and expanded. It includes revised chapters on relationships, evolution, and healing, and a new section on raising children with healthy chakras.Wheels of Life takes you on a powerful journey through progressively transcendent levels of consciousness. View this ancient metaphysical system through the light of new metaphors, ranging from quantum physics to child development. Learn how to explore and balance your own chakras using poetic meditations and simple yoga movements--along with gaining spiritual wisdom, you'll experience better health, more energy, enhanced creativity, and the ability to manifest your dreams.

    Dr. Hoeller traces this fascinating story throughout time and shows how Gnosticism has inspired such great thinkers as Voltaire, Blake, Yeats, Hesse, Melville, and Jung.

    The tarot deck has been used as a divination tool for more than two centuries; while the tarot is still most commonly thought of as "fortune telling," the true power of the tarot lies in its ability to channel a clear path for our deep intuition to shine through. Consulting the tarot can help clear creativity blockages, clarify ambitions, work through complex decisions, and make sense of emotions and relationships. Whether used for simple decision-making or an understanding of your life's purpose, learning tarot can be an indispensible tool for being more mindful of the factors that can assist or weaken your efforts toward success. In Holistic Tarot, author Benebell Wen provides a complete guide to using the tarot to foster personal development. Wen gives a comprehensive overview of the history of the tarot and a wide array of theories on its use (including its relationship to Jungian archetypal psychology and traditional Chinese divination practices) before digging deeply into one of the best-known tarot systems, the Rider-Waite-Smith. Beginners will find a complete guide to working with the tarot, including choosing and caring for a deck, how best to learn and remember the attributes of the major and minor arcana, the interpretation of cards and spreads, the role of meditation in a tarot practice, and how to use the tarot for improving relationships, professional development, and personal resilience. More advanced practitioners will appreciate nuanced theoretical discussions of the tarot as well as practical advice about reading others' tarot cards and setting up a practice. Containing over 500 illustrations and detailed information on each card as well as numerous spreads, Holistic Tarot is a complete compendium of tarot study that every practitioner should have in his or her library.“A modern alchemical achievement.”—Barbara Moore, author of Tarot Spreads “Will become one of the jewels in the crown of tarot literature.” —Anthony Louis, MD, author of Tarot Beyond the Basics “A tarot classic.”—Sasha Graham, author of Tarot Diva“A magnificent, intelligent, comprehensive overview and innerview of the Rider Waite Smith system of tarot! This is the only guide you need to have. Bravo!” —James Wanless, PhD, author of Voyager Tarot“A huge accomplishment … likely to become the essential guidebook for serious students of the tarot.”— Joan Bunning, author of Learning the Tarot“No tarot enthusiast should be without this book!”—Chic and Tabatha Cicero, authors of The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot“Arguably the most comprehensive guide to tarot on the market today. It's also innovative: it deftly combines Eastern mysticism with Western metaphysics. It's an impressive tome that presents a wholly modern, rational approach to tarot practice while preserving notable elements of tradition."—Corrine Kenner, author of Tarot and Astrology

    Using a phenomenological approach to build his case based on in-depth study at the University of California, Santa Barbara McAfee analyzes the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament doctrine to build a logical and reasonable case against their validity. From contradictions between lived and portrayed religions to factual errors within the texts themselves, no stone is left unturned in this fully updated and expanded refutation of Christianity.

    Illustrated.

    This book is both a tutorial for new witches and a reference book for experienced practitioners. Covers the many ways there are to be a witch -- as a solitary practitioner, or part of a coven following one of many traditions. Holland shares useful information for writing spells, creating rituals, and making tools, charms, and potions. She also includes an index of spells, ancient and modern, making this an all-inclusive reference manual for all skill levels. Glossary. Index. Bibliography. 320 pp.

    This pamphlet explores two important phases in the male takeover of health care: the suppression of witches in medieval Europe and the rise of the male medical profession in the United States. The authors conclude that despite efforts to exclude them, the resurgence of women as healers should be a long-range goal of the women’s movement.

    The tale seems to begin with buried treasure and then turns into an unprecedented historical detective story - a modern Grail quest leading back through cryptically coded parchments, secret societies, the Knights Templar, the Cathar heretics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and a dynasty of obscure French kings deposed more than 1,300 years ago. The author's conclusions are persuasive: at the core is not material riches but a secret - a secret of explosive and controversial proportions, which radiates out from the little Pyrenees village all the way to contemporary politics and the entire edifice of the Christian faith. It involves nothing less than... the Holy Grail.

    In the West, Reiki has been kept highly secret for many years. ESSENTIAL REIKI presents full information on all three degrees of this healing system, most of it in print for the first time. Teaching from the perspective that Reiki healing belongs to all people, Diane Stein breaks new ground in her classic guide to this ancient practice. While no book can replace the directly received Reiki "attunements," ESSENTIAL REIKI provides everything else that the healer, practitioner, and teacher of this system needs.

    In medieval and Renaissance Europe, it was believed that speaking a demon’s true name could summon it, compel it, and bind it. Occult scholar Michelle Belanger has compiled the most complete compendium of demonic names available anywhere, using both notorious and obscure sources from the Western grimoiric tradition. Presented alphabetically from Aariel to Zynextyur, more than 1,500 demons are introduced, explored, and cross-referenced by theme and elemental or planetary correspondence. This meticulously researched reference work features fascinating short articles on demonology and a wealth of woodcuts, etchings, and paintings depicting demons through the ages.

    His body twitched, and then lay still.The Lama nodded again to the acolyte, who touched flame to the third stick of incense. "Spirit now released from the suffering body," said the Lama, "pay attention before setting out on your journey; pay attention for I shall detail to you the steps you must take, and the path you must follow..."The fourth stick of incense was lit, and the smoke trailed upwards, as if it had been drawn in blue-gray chalk, straight as a pillar in the almost airless room...

    Through analogy with the humanities, mythology and the graphic arts, the significance of the cards is related to personal growth and individuation. The major arcana becomes a map of life, and the hero's journey becomes something that each individual can relate to the symbolism of the cards and therefore to the personal life.

    Coping with grief and experiencing loss overwhelms us in ways that seem both hopeless and endless. In painful moments like these, we must make a choice: Will we allow the difficulties we face to become forces of destruction in our lives, or will we find a way to begin learning from loss, transforming our suffering into a source of strength?A theologian with the heart of a poet, Rabbi David Wolpe explores the meaning of loss, and the way we can use its inevitable appearance in our lives as a source of strength rather than a source of despair. In this national bestseller, Wolpe creates a remarkably fluid account of how we might find a way out of overwhelming feelings of helplessness and instead begin understanding grief in all its forms and learn to create meaning in difficult times.

    Lessons learned from the cards, and the incomparable Jane Stern