As he takes us on these myriad travels, Lopez also probes the long history of humanity's quests and explorations, including the prehistoric peoples who trekked across Skraeling Island in northern Canada, the colonialists who plundered Central Africa, an enlightenment-era Englishman who sailed the Pacific, a Native American emissary who found his way into isolationist Japan, and today's ecotourists in the tropics. Throughout his journeys--to some of the hottest, coldest, and most desolate places on the globe--and via friendships he forges along the way with scientists, archaeologists, artists and local residents, Lopez searches for meaning and purpose in a broken world. Horizon is a revelatory, epic work that voices concern and frustration along with humanity and hope--a book that makes you see the world differently, and that is the crowning achievement by one of America's great thinkers and most humane voices.

    Just look at a few of the things shared in this gentle, loving book:For December: The Magic of Mistletoe; The Ritual Burning of the Yule Log; Magical Uses of Ashes from the Yule Fire; A Ritual for Cutting Sacred Fir; The Pagan Symbolism of Santa Claus. For March: Nine Magical Woods for the Beltane Fire; Psychic Skills for Working Magic; Making and Using the Magic (Black) Mirror; Telepathy; The Ouija Board; A Ritual for Opening the Heart Chakra. For May: Seeing Faeries; A May Wine Ritual; Symbolism of the Maypole; Sacred Marriages; Hawthorn Protection Amulet. For August: Celebration of the Grain Harvest; Ritual for Baking Sacred Bread; Making an Onion Charm; Magical Symbolism of Garlic; Natural Dyes and Inks. For October: Apple Traditions; A Hazelnut Charm; The Man in Black; Ritual Costuming and Mask Making; Divination for Samhain. This is only a small amount of the lore and a few of the many activities you will learn for each of these five months, in Wheel of the Year. The other seven months of the year are covered in depth, too, and each chapter has beautiful illustrations by Dan Campanelli.Whether you live in a city, suburb, or farm and whether you live by yourself, with a partner, or with a family, Wheel of the Year will reintroduce you to the magic that is all around you.

    "A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook" provides magical sustenance for family and guests with over 300 carefully selected recipes whose ingredients were especially chosen to promote magical goals--and plain good eating! Encourage psychic insight, prosperity, luck, creativity, and more--through the food that you eat.

    And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner.Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita.Sally Horner’s story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel’s creation, The Real Lolita casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.

    Organized in five parts moving from the microcosmic to the universal, this work explores a unique integration of clinical herbalism, Ayurveda, medical astrology, spagyric alchemy, and medical and esoteric traditions from across the world into a truly holistic system of plant medicine. A balance of the heart and the mind, the science and spirit of people and plants, Evolutionary Herbalism provides a holistic context for how plants can be used for transformational levels of healing for the body, spirit, and soul. For both the student herbalist and experienced practitioner, Popham's original perspectives guide readers to a more intimate, synergistic, and intuitive relationship with the plant kingdom, people, and Nature as a whole.

    Ruth Kassinger’s wonderful story of the unique way she chose to cope with the profound changes in her life—a book that will delight readers of Eat, Pray, Love and I Feel Bad About My Neck—is interwoven with the fascinating history of conservatories from the Renaissance orangeries to the glass palaces of Kew.

    Illustrated.

    Covering magical tools, growing and gathering herbs in the wild, and spell-casting, discover more than 50 enchanting herbs, fruits and flowers, including their elements, deities, and magical and healing properties, along with spells, kitchen witchery, and more. The first chapters detail herbal mythology and magical theory and tools, plus different types of magic (including black and white, using charm bags, and log-term spells), and ways of working, either alone or as part of a coven. Next, discover how to grow and store magical herbs, and the importance of the moon phases when planting and harvesting them. The "52 Major Magical Herbs" chapter lists these herbs and their uses and includes the element they are associated with, what day/time is best for magic with them, plus a simple spell for each herb. This is followed by "Other Foods and Their Magical Uses" which focuses on a variety of enchanted ingredients such as lemon, poppy seeds, and flowers. The spells section, arranged by theme, has spells for love and fertility to spells for prosperity, moving home, finding a job, friendship, health, wisdom, and more. Silja also explains how to go about writing your own herbal spells, along with magical correspondences on suitable timing, colors, and crystals for specific herbs. You will also discover how to keep track of the spells you have performed and how to know if they have worked. *How to grow and gather magical herbs in accordance with the phases of the moon, plus spell-casting, coven rituals, and colors and crystals to use with your magical herbs.*Beautifully illustrated by Michael Hill.

    It is full of wonder at what it can mean to learn and teach and change and grow in this world which belongs to all of us: you, me, plants, trees, coffee cups and garbage bins. What can it mean to be a witch today, in the city?

    In the only book written solely on this ancient Pagan festival, you'll explore the evolution of the May Pole and various folklore characters connected to May Day celebrations. Raven Grimassi reveals the history behind the revelry, and shows you how to welcome this sacred season of fertility, growth, and gain with:   -May Day magick and divination: Beltane spells to attract money, success, love, and serenity; scrying with a bowl or glass -Beltane goodies: Quick May Wine, Bacchus Pudding, May Serpent Cake, May Wreath Cake -Seasonal crafts: Maypole centerpiece, May wreath and garland, pentacle hair braids, May Day basket -Springtime rituals and traditions: the Maypole dance, May doll, the Mummer's Play, Beltane fires, May King and Queen -Myths, fairy and flower lore: Green Man, Jack-in-the-Green, Dusio, Hobby Horse; elves, trolls and fairies; spring flowers and their correspondences This well-researched book corrects many of the common misconceptions associated with May Day, and will help you appreciate the spirituality and connection to Nature that are intimate elements of May Day Celebrations. Welcome the season of fertility, flowers, and fairies with Beltane: Springtime Rituals, Lore & Celebration.

    Magic and magicians appear in early Babylonian texts, the Bible, Judaism, and Islam. Secret words, spells, and incantations lie at the heart of nearly every mythological tradition. But for every genuine magus there is an impostor.During the Middle Ages, religion, science, and magic were difficult to set apart. The Middle Ages also saw the pursuit of alchemy—the magical transformation of base materials—which led to a fascination with the occult, Freemasonry, and Rosicrucianism.The turn of the twentieth century witnessed a return to earlier magical traditions, and today, magic means many things: contemporary Wicca is practiced widely as a modern pagan religion in Europe and the US; “magic” also stretches to include the nonspiritual, rapid-fire sleight of hand performed by slick stage magicians who fill vast arenas.The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic is packed with authoritative text and a huge and inspired selection of images, some chosen from unusual sources, including some of the best-known representations of magic and the occult from around the world spanning ancient to modern times.

    Witchcraft is not one defined path—rather, it is a diversity of practices you can curate and align with based on your lifestyle and unique gifts. Which witch are you?Do you have an affinity for working with plants and herbs for magic and medicine? You may be a Green Witch.Is the kitchen and home space sacred to you? Are you able to tap into the sensory and healing properties of food for spellwork? Is cooking an intentional act for you? You may be a Kitchen Witch.Are you able to easily connect with the spirit world or the liminal realms? You may be a Hedge Witch.Can you do many practices with ease? You may be an Eclectic Witch.The Path of the Witchdescribes the many different types of witches, their gifts and abilities, and their practices. Each path shows readers activities and rituals that they can use to discover and explore that type of witchcraft and discern which one is the fit for them.

    You’ve heard about St. George, but how about the Green Man, who was believed to rule over the natural world? Or Black Shuck, the giant ghostly dog who was reputed to roam East Anglia? As well as looking at the history of this subject, this book has a directory of places you can go to see folklore alive and well today. The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, for example, or wassailing cider orchards in Somerset.

    Seeing Trees celebrates seldom seen but easily observable tree traits and invites you to watch trees with the same care and sensitivity that birdwatchers watch birds. Many people, for example, are surprised to learn that oaks and maples have flowers, much less flowers that are astonishingly beautiful when viewed up close. Focusing on widely grown trees, this captivating book describes the rewards of careful and regular tree viewing, outlines strategies for improving your observations, and describes some of the most visually interesting tree structures, including leaves, flowers, buds, leaf scars, twigs, and bark. In-depth profiles of ten familiar species—including such beloved trees as white oak, southern magnolia, white pine, and tulip poplar—show you how to recognize and understand many of their most compelling (but usually overlooked) physical features.

    He was bound for a New Jersey dueling ground to settle his bitter dispute with Aaron Burr. Hamilton took just two men with him: his “second” for the duel, and Dr. David Hosack.As historian Victoria Johnson reveals in her groundbreaking biography, Hosack was one of the few points the duelists did agree on. Summoned that morning because of his role as the beloved Hamilton family doctor, he was also a close friend of Burr. A brilliant surgeon and a world-class botanist, Hosack—who until now has been lost in the fog of history—was a pioneering thinker who shaped a young nation.Born in New York City, he was educated in Europe and returned to America inspired by his newfound knowledge. He assembled a plant collection so spectacular and diverse that it amazes botanists today, conducted some of the first pharmaceutical research in the United States, and introduced new surgeries to American. His tireless work championing public health and science earned him national fame and praise from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander von Humboldt, and the Marquis de Lafayette.One goal drove Hosack above all others: to build the Republic’s first botanical garden. Despite innumerable obstacles and near-constant resistance, Hosack triumphed when, by 1810, his Elgin Botanic Garden at last crowned twenty acres of Manhattan farmland. “Where others saw real estate and power, Hosack saw the landscape as a pharmacopoeia able to bring medicine into the modern age” (Eric W. Sanderson, author of Mannahatta). Today what remains of America’s first botanical garden lies in the heart of midtown, buried beneath Rockefeller Center.Whether collecting specimens along the banks of the Hudson River, lecturing before a class of rapt medical students, or breaking the fever of a young Philip Hamilton, David Hosack was an American visionary who has been too long forgotten. Alongside other towering figures of the post-Revolutionary generation, he took the reins of a nation. In unearthing the dramatic story of his life, Johnson offers a lush depiction of the man who gave a new voice to the powers and perils of nature.