Mythologies Religions

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.

An ancient Indian epic that follows the journey of Lord Rama, who sets out to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along the way, he is joined by loyal companions like Hanuman and Lakshmana, and together they teach timeless lessons of courage, duty, and righteousness.

Together, we’ll explore the psychology, folklore, and emotional forces that keep this mystery alive. From the birth of the “Bigfoot” name in a 1950s logging camp to Hollywood’s transformation of the legend into a cultural icon, you’ll discover why belief endures and what it reveals about human nature itself. Exploring the Mind isn’t just for Bigfoot enthusiasts; it’s for anyone who loves a good mystery, is intrigued by the unseen corners of the human psyche, and still believes there’s a little magic left in the world.

Authentic and unapologetic, this guide to magical spirituality empowers women of color to take back the power to heal and shine under their own strength. Written by an accomplished Hoodoo practitioner, this book features spells, recipes, and rituals that help listeners like you rise out of the constrictions around them. Sharing folk traditions, personal stories, and her favorite songs and pop stars, Mawiyah Kai El-Jamah Bomani shows you how to bless your gourd with love and reawaken your fullest potential.

Italian folk magic is a beautiful, powerful, and effective magical tradition that is accessible to anyone who wants to learn it, including Italians who want to regain their magical heritage. Containing magical and religious rituals and prayers, this book explores divination techniques, crafting, blessing rituals, witchcraft, and, of course, the evil eye.

Not so very long ago, Yuletide was as much a chilling season of ghosts and witches as it was a festival of goodwill. In The Old Magic of Christmas, you'll rub elbows with veiled spirits, learn the true perils of elves, and discover a bestiary of enchanted creatures. Rife with the more frightful characters from folklore and the season's most petulant ghosts, this book takes you on a spooky sleigh ride from the silvered firs of a winter forest to the mirrored halls of the Snow Queen.

Hey, I’m Shawn Thomas, the guy behind Wildfoot Explores and the Hidden Bloodlines of Bigfoot series. I’ve spent years chasing stories across Alberta and the Pacific Northwest, and every mile has pointed me toward one truth: this mystery runs deeper than tracks in the mud.

Nowadays, runes and Norse magic are used as a method of connecting to one’s higher self. Or as a way of foretelling what the future may hold. Now don’t worry because you don’t have to be of Norse ancestry to use them. However, you’ll have a far better understanding of their history, mythology, meanings, and more through listening to this book.

From New York Times bestselling author and legendary Jeopardy! host and champion Ken Jennings comes a hilarious travel guide to the afterlife, exploring to die for destinations from literature, mythology, and pop culture. Ever wonder which circles of Dante’s Inferno have the nicest...

In this study, Fromm argues that man needs to analyze his unconscious thoughts, his dreams, and his conscious fantasies, as they reflect a universal and symbolic representation of himself.

Walk down the streets of Chinatown in any American or western European city and look around. She is there. Walk through the downtown streets, look in a shop window. She is there. Go to any city in China and open your eyes. She is there, too. Kuan Yin is the most ubiquitous Chinese deity - and the most loved. She is the living expression of compassion whose gentle face and elegant figure form the center of devotion in most Chinese homes and workplaces. Until relatively recently, she was barely known in the West, and few studies had been made of her.

The ways of magic are revealed in nature.... The secrets are written in meandering streams and drifting clouds, whispered by the roaring ocean and cooling breeze, echoed through caves and rocks and forests. When you draw a heart in the sand, call on the four winds for assistance, or ask the rain to wash away a bad habit, you are practicing Earth magic. By working in harmony with nature, we can transform ourselves, our lives, and our world. This tried-and-true guide offers more than 100 spells, rites, and simple rituals you can perform using the powerful energy of the Earth.

Woven from Joseph Campbell’s previously unpublished work, this volume explores Judeo-Christian symbols and metaphors - and their misinterpretations - with the famed mythologist’s characteristic conversational warmth and accessible scholarship. Campbell’s insights highlight centuries of confusion between literal and metaphorical interpretations of Western religious symbols that are, he argues, perennially relevant keys to spiritual understanding and mystical revelation.

Secrets of Greek Mysticism is the first spiritual book about the Greek gods and goddesses written by a native, practicing priest of Hellenic Polytheism. It goes beyond the simplistic and archetypical representation of the Greek pantheon and reintroduces the gods and goddesses from a theological perspective. Rather than presenting the gods and goddesses as symbolic, lifeless figures one can use to embellish spiritual practice, Secrets of Greek Mysticism teaches listeners how to find each god or goddess within them.

In this "wise and wondrous" (David Quammen) exploration, a science writer reintroduces readers to The Snake, encouraging our initial reaction to the slithery creature to be one of awe rather than disgust. For millennia, depictions of snakes as alternatively beautiful and menacing creatures have...

The multi-dimensional aspect of the characters found in the Hindu spiritual world is unlike any other. The Hindu Gods and Goddesses embody both positive as well as negative characteristics. Bhartiya Pauranik Kathaein discusses how these opposing energies are valued equally in the Hindu worldview and how they balance out over time. Not only does this book reveal the essence of the Hindu worldview but also helps interpret ancient stories to inform the contemporary generation.

A successful optometry practice is a juggling act. You need to know your field of optometry, as well as how to run a small business. Your education has prepared you for the technical ins and outs of optometry practice. But what has prepared you to run a business? The E-Myth Optometrist fills this knowledge gap, giving you a complete toolkit for starting a successful practice from scratch or maximizing an existing practice’s performance.

A sweeping inquiry into how the night sky has shaped human history For as long as humans have lived, we have lived beneath the stars. But under the glow of today’s artificial lighting, we have lost the intimacy our ancestors once shared with the cosmos. In Starborn, cosmologist Roberto Trotta...

TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our...

The Aztecs believed offerings of human blood and human lives were necessary to the continued running of the universe. Indeed, in Aztec myths, the gods themselves make sacrifices of their own blood and even of their entire bodies in order to create a universe humans can live in and, in one story, to create humans themselves. To the ancient Aztecs, these practices seemed fitting, necessary, and honorable, helping to connect the world of humans to the divine world of the gods, a universe that in Aztec myth took shape in cycles of creation, destruction, and rebirth.