Mysticism, Alchemy and Magic

Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers.

· Includes spells, talisman formulations and secret magical alphabets reproduced from the author's private collection of grimoires, with instructions for their use · Explains the basic principles of mediaeval magic, including the doctrine of names and the laws of sympathy and contagion · Offers an overview of magic in the Western Mystery tradition Grimoires began ...

· Examines each line of the Book of the Law in the light of modern psychology, Egyptology, Gurdjieff's teachings and contemporary Left-Hand Path thought · Explores Crowley's identification with the First Beast of Revelations as well as his adoption of the Loki archetype for becoming a vessel of love for all humanity · Recasts the Cairo Working as a text of personal ...

· Details the author's training and life as a curandero using ayahuasca medicine, San Pedro cactus, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms and other visionary plants · Offers first-hand accounts of miraculous healing where ayahuasca revealed the cause of the illness, including how the author healed his mother from liver cancer

· Details a wide range of sex magic rituals that may be used by couples, groups and solitary practitioners · Explains how to channel, intensify and project your sexual energy for magical purposes · Provides instructions for crafting the necessary ritual tools, including wands, chalices, cauldrons and attire and for brewing the potions that accompany these rites One of the Druid's most ...

In the pre-Christian societies of Northern Europe, magic was embedded in the practical skills of everyday life. Everything in Nature was imbued with an inner spirit, as was anything made by hand. People believed in magic because it worked and because it was part of the functionality of their day-to-day lives.

During Paris's Belle Époque (1871–1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished - Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents - all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time.

In THE PATH OF MODERN YOGA, Elliott Goldberg shows how yoga was transformed from a sacred practice into a health and fitness regime for middle-class Indians in the early 20th century and then gradually transformed over the course of the 20th century into an embodied spiritual practice - a yoga for our times.

Shamanism is humanity's oldest spiritual tradition. In much of the Western world, the indigenous pre-Christian spiritual practices have been lost. Yet at the northern fringes of Europe, Christianity did not displace the original shamanic practices until the end of the Viking age.

Since the beginning of history, people have sought remedies for the many ills that have beset them, from illnesses afflicting the body to threats posed by evil and hostile individuals. In many folk healing and pagan traditions, it was believed that one must gain the assistance of the guardian spirit of a healing plant or substance through prayers or offerings before its chemical properties would ...

No decade in modern history has generated more controversy and divisiveness than the tumultuous 1960s. For some, the '60s were an era of free love, drugs and social revolution. For others, the Sixties were an ungodly rejection of all that was good and holy.

Our ancestors were deeply aware of the magical power of their local landscape, no matter where they lived. Every interaction with their environment from building to farming to the layout of ancient cities took into account terrestrial energies, ancestral memory and the many seen and unseen presences in Nature.

Born in the Soviet Union and descended from a matrilineal line of witches, Natasha Helvin offers a rare look into the secret practices of Russian black magic, passed down from teacher to disciple for generations, both orally and through their grimoires bound in black.

Written two years before his most prominent book Revolt Against the Modern World, Julius Evola's THE FALL OF SPIRITUALITY was originally published in Italian as Maschera e volto dello spiritualismo contemporaneo (The Mask and Face of Contemporary Spiritualism).

The Middle Ages witnessed the blossoming of oral traditions whose echoes can still be found in many legends, fables, and tales today. In this collection of medieval tales of witchcraft, wonder, and the supernatural, Claude and Corinne Lecouteux explain how many of these stories arose in Classical Antiquity while some made their way into Dark Ages Europe from the Middle East and India.

In this exploration of the history of the runes from 1500 CE to the present day, Stephen Edred Flowers examines the five periods of runic revival: the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Romantic period, the early 20th century, and the late 20th century.

Offering an illustrated exploration of the origins and history of amulets, lucky charms, talismans, and mascots, including photos of unique and original artifacts from his extensive collection, Nigel Pennick examines these objects from a magical perspective, from ancient Egypt to the present.