In The Sabbats, Edain McCoy reveals the eight major holidays of this faith and the many ways in which they are celebrated.There are two basic types of holidays. The first come at the Solstices and Equinoxes. The others divide the time between those dates in two, resulting in eight major holidays or Sabbats with approximately the same amount of days between them. The balance, here, gives the appearance of spokes in a wheel, so this cycle is commonly called the Wheel of the Year.The holidays represent two things. First, the harvest cycle. Each holiday represents a time in the growth of crops. From planting to growth, from harvesting to letting the lands lie fallow in the cold winter, the festivals follow the agricultural cycles of ancient times. However, they also represent the eternal love of the God and Goddess, following the God's birth from the Goddess and his death before she gives birth to him again. This also follows the pattern of the Sun which moves from warm and high in the sky to cold and low in the sky.The book is filled with ways you can follow the Wheel of the Year, whether you work with a coven, with your family, or by yourself. You will learn the secrets of ritual construction and handicrafts appropriate to each of the festivals. You will also learn recipes for traditional foods for each holiday and even songs appropriate to the Sabbats.This is a wonderful, joyous book filled with color, information, and wisdom. If you are involved with Paganism in any way, this book is a must for your studies and practices. This book functions as both a resource and as a practical manual for the celebration of the holidays. Get your copy today.

    Providing vital evidence of the views of the Greek philosophers of the Hellenistic age, Cicero also casts light on the intellectual life of first-century Rome. When these Greek beliefs are translated into the Roman context they result in a fascinating clash of ideologies.This new translation of a work whose importance is becoming increasingly recognized is complemented by an invaluable introduction to the main philosophical issues, as well as substantial and helpful annotation.

    

    Slip this lovely little book into your purse or bag and take it with you wherever you go. Turn the pages as you are drawn -- you can be inspired every day or once an hour, or you can meditate on your favorite thought all month. Use it as an oracle, or to stimulate deeper insight, joy, and appreciation of your life and the lives of others. This powerful volume is for those who are growing in consciousness and for those who want to. It is the perfect gift for someone you love or for yourself.

    White contains all the colors of the spectrum yet it seems to be colourless; it contains all these colours in such synthesis that they all disappear.

    The description for this book, Critique of Religion and Philosophy, will be forthcoming.

    The West’s initial successes in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan weakened their support still further.Today, as renowned Middle East commentator Patrick Cockburn sets out in this explosive new book, that’s all changed. Exploiting the missteps of the West’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, as well as its misjudgments in relation to Syria and the uprisings of the Arab Spring, jihadist organizations, of which ISIS is the most important, are swiftly expanding. They now control a geographical territory greater in size than Britain or Michigan, stretching from the Sunni heartlands in the north and west of Iraq through a broad swath of north-east Syria. On the back of their capture of Mosul and much of northern Iraq in June 2014, the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been declared the head of a new caliphate that demands the allegiance of all Muslims.The secular, democratic politics that were supposedly at the fore of the Arab Spring have been buried by the return of the jihadis. As the Islamic State announced by ISIS confronts its enemies, the West will once again become a target. Cockburn cites an observer in southern Turkey interviewing Syrian jihadi rebels early in 2014 and finding that “without exception they all expressed enthusiasm for the 9/11 attacks and hoped the same thing would happen in Europe as well as the US.”How could things have gone so badly wrong? Writing in these pages with customary calmness and clarity, and drawing on unrivaled experience as a reporter in the region, Cockburn analyzes the unfolding of one of the West’s greatest foreign policy debacles and the rise of the new jihadis.

    He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Jan and their two teenage children Charity and John. At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). From 1980-86 he taught Philosophy of Religion at Trinity, during which time he and Jan started their family. In 1987 they moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Dr. Craig pursued research at the University of Louvain until 1994.

    "Kabbalah For Dummies" also shows how Kabbalah simultaneously presents an approach to the study of text, the performance of ritual and the experience of worship, as well as how the reader can apply its teaching to everyday life.

    The New Muslim's Field Guide offers a fresh approach to guiding Muslim converts, focused on helping them grow as Muslims while maintaining their identity and love for God. Drawing on their shared decades of experience, Theresa and Kaighla walk the new Muslim through the hills and the valleys they'll encounter on their journey, helping the newcomer navigate the sometimes slippery cliffs of culture, politics, and interpersonal relationships. Injected with a healthy dose of humor and candor, The New Muslim's Field Guide discusses some of the deeper meanings behind belief and ritual, clarifies common sticky issues, and tells stories of triumph and failure on the journey of Islam.

    Drawing on his long personal experience as a Buddhist teacher, journalist, and editor, Clark Strand offers broad insight into how and why the Soka Gakkai, with its commitment to social justice and its egalitarian approach, has become a role model, not only for other schools of Buddhism, but for other religions as well. Readers will be inspired by the struggles and triumphs of the Soka Gakkai’s three founding presidents—individuals who staked their lives on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the extraordinary power of those teachings to help people become happy.

    This unique and handy resource is perfect for youth, adults, students, families, and all those interested in learning about much of what encompasses life in the church.Sections include: - How to Stay Alert in Church - How to be a Greeter (or Usher, or Acolyte, etc.) - How to tell the difference between a "Vocation" and a "Vacation" - How to Survive a Service in an Un-Air-Conditioned Church - A brief history of the Anglican Communion - How to Interpret "Controversial" Bible Passages and Remain Episcopalian -...and dozens more!

    At the core of every heart it reaches it creates a desire to lift the veil between the human and the Divine, not merely to believe and worship and practice, but to see, know, and be with the One who is greater than all. Sufism is a way of worship of the Divine through such direct knowledge, in the Prophetic phrase, “as though you see Him.”Sea Without Shore describes five remarkable men the author met and knew in his own Sufi path, and what he heard and learned from them first hand while living in the Near East over several decades. It is a Sufi manual taken from hearts, because God looks at them first, and they matter to the work of the Sufis more than books or literature. It offers a window upon a living tradition of experiential knowledge of the highest Reality. It is a handbook as valuable for its inside view of a centuries-old Islamic mystical order, as for its solution to the greatest mysteries at the heart of human existence: you, God, and your fate beyond the grave." -Nuh Ha Mim KellerSea Without Shore is a practical manual for those travelling the path of Sufism or Islamic mysticism, which strives, in Junayd's words, "to separate the Beginninglessly Eternal from that which originates in time," in a word, to be with the Divine without any relation.The Book opens with narratives of Sufis met by the author in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey whose lives exemplified the knowledge and practice of the Sufi path.The second part is a complete handbook of the method and rule of the Shadhili order of Susifm, transmitted to the author by his spiritual mentor, Sheikh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri - from devotions, dhikr or 'invocation,' and metaphysical doctrine, to how a Sufi lives, marries, and earns a living in the modern world.A third part treats wider theological questions such as other faiths and mysticisms, universalism and the finality of Islam, the promise of God to Jews and Christians, evolution and religion, and divine Wisdom and Justice in the face of human suffering.The book provides an indelible portrait of a vibrant mystical tradition spanning seven and a half centuries of endeavor to know the Divine without any other.

    A well-rounded introduction to Midsummer, this attractive book features rituals, recipes, lore, and correspondences. It includes hands-on information for modern celebrations, spells and divination, recipes and crafts, invocations and prayers, and more!

    Richard Smoley, an expert in esoteric Christianity, traces the Gnostic legacy from its ancient roots in the Gospel of Thomas, discovered in Egypt; early 2nd-century Gnostic communities of the Roman Empire & the Manichaeans of Central Asia. He tracks how the Gnostic impulse was publicly repressed but survived underground in various forms of Christianity, surfacing again in the Middle Ages with the Cathars, a mysterious group of heretics who inspired the medieval tradition of courtly love but were then wiped out by the Inquisition. Since then the Gnostic legacy has survived into the modern era with the help of Kabbalists, the Freemasonry of our founding fathers, Wm Blake's poetry, the intuitive insights of 19th-century Theosophists & the psychological work of C.G. Jung. Finally, we learn how some of their key teachings are being revived in Harold Bloom's criticism, the sf of Philip K. Dick & films like The Matrix & The Da Vinci Code. Why should Gnosticism exercise such a lasting fascination? Throughout most of Christian history, Gnosticism was the "forbidden faith," & such condemnation by the official Church might actually have served to endow the movement with glamour. But that explanation goes only so far. For the Gnostics to have such lasting appeal, it seems logical that they must offer solutions to some problems, solutions overlooked by mainstream religion. Forbidden Faith provides the enduring story & continuing legacy of those errant faithful who've had direct experiences of the divine that can't be explained by the official beliefs of the Church.