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A Novel of forbidden love and religious war in the quest to find the mysterious Parchment of Circles • Centers…
on the search for the Parchment of Circles, an ancient map said to lead to mystical wisdom that challenges the story of Christ’s resurrection, validates the Cathar faith, and serves as the Templars’ blackmail against the Church • Includes a complex cast of characters including a rabbi and nun who fall in love, St. Francis of Assisi, Knights Templar, the Pope, and the Sultan of Egypt Set in the 13th century, this sweeping historical novel opens on the island of Torcello, outside Venice, in 1219, after the Crusaders have lost possession of Jerusalem. Yehezkel, a young yet revered kabbalist and student of Maimonides, is on the island for a secret meeting of rabbis. He is chosen to travel to Jerusalem to seek definitive proof of the Talmud’s antiquity, a search that grows to include the hunt for the mysterious Parchment of Circles. This ancient map could not only help Yehezkel’s quest, but also lead to explosive evidence about Christ’s resurrection that would destroy the Roman Church. Before leaving the island, Yehezkel rescues a young Cistercian abbess from drowning in the Venetian Lagoon. Galatea, the beautiful nun, has been plagued by mystic visions and prophetic dreams throughout her life, leading her to become a devotee of Hildegard von Bingen. Driven by premonitions of an “enigma in Jerusalem,” she abandons her monastic life and the orthodoxy of the Church and joins Yehezkel on his pilgrimage. On the way to Jerusalem, after being shipwrecked on Crete, the two meet St. Francis of Assisi in Cyprus and join him across the lines of the Fifth Crusade in his attempt to convert the Sultan of Egypt. Over the year-long trip, they also fall in love. But the rabbi and the nun are not the only ones seeking the Parchment of Circles: The Pope sends his agents in search of it, and the Knights Templar are also in pursuit of the Parchment, for the ancient map serves as the Templars’ blackmail against the Church. What none of these deadly adversaries know is that the Parchment leads to an even more startling secret with profound religious significance for the future of humanity. It’s not a question of who finds it first, but who survives to unlock the Parchment’s secrets.The Stuff of Dreams: The Weird Stories of Edward Lucas White (Dover Horror Classics)
By S. T. Joshi, Edward Lucas White. 2016
This original compilation presents chilling tales of terror by an unjustly neglected author. Inspired by the works of Edgar Allan…
Poe as well as his own vivid nightmares, Edward Lucas White (1866-1934) weaves a tapestry of weird stories populated by ghouls, monsters, a witch doctor, and creatures of ancient myths. The collection features White's most famous story, "Lukundoo," a gripping fable of an American explorer who incurs the wrath of an African sorcerer. Other tales include "Sorcery Island," an uncanny foreshadowing of television's The Prisoner, "The Flambeau Bracket," "The House of the Nightmare," "The Song of the Sirens," and five other stories. Additional selections include the haunting poems "Azrael" and "The Ghoula" and an essay in which the author reflects on the influence of dreams in his fiction. Editor S. T. Joshi provides an informative Introduction to White's life and work.Rochester Knockings
By Jennifer Grotz, Hubert Haddad. 2015
"Hats off to one of the most inventive writers of French literature. . . . Hubert Haddad concocts a colorful…
novel, funny and inventive, as clever as the Fox sisters themselves."--Jean-François Delapré, Saint Christophe bookstoreThe Fox sisters grew up just outside of Rochester, NY, in a house that had a reputation for being haunted, due in large part to a series of strange "rappings" or "knockings" that plagued its inhabitants. Fed up by whatever was responsible for the knockings, the youngest of the sisters (who was twelve at the time) challenged the ghost and ended up communicating with the spirit of Charles Haynes, who had been murdered in the house and buried in the cellar.Thanks to the enthusiasm of one Isaac Post, the Fox sisters became instantly famous for talking to the dead, launching the Spiritualist Movement in the US. After taking Rochester by storm, the sisters moved to New York where they were the most famous mediums of the time, giving séances for hundreds of people.Then, it all fell apart, and the sisters were exposed as frauds. Nevertheless, even today the Fox sisters are considered to be the founders of Spiritualism, one of the most popular religious movements of the past couple centuries (consider the success of Long Island Medium and the hundreds of thousands who visit Lily Dale every year).Rich in historical detail, Rochester Knockings novelizes the rise and fall of these most infamous of mediums. Hubert Haddad was born in Tunisia, and is the author of dozens of works, including the novels Palestine (winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie), Tango chinois, and La Condition magique (winner of the Grand Prix du Roman de la Société des Gens de Lettres).Originally published in 1963, this is a collection of true, authenticated accounts of experiences with "living" ghosts, written and compiled…
by the nationally recognized authority on psychic phenomena, Hans Holzer.This is a fascinating, astounding collection of the weird and inexplicable, including reports on:--The after-death messages from murdered financier Serge Rubinstein--The Bank Street ghost, discovered by a New York Times reporter--The falling mural of Artist John La Farge--The rendezvous with HoudiniFully documented reports of events guaranteed to confound the believer and non-believer alike...Occurrences in the realm of psychic phenomena that defy the laws of nature!UNBELIEVABLE YET TRUE..."True stories of ghosts and poltergeists...not the figment of the author's imagination."--Nashville Banner"Unusual reading."--Camden Courier-Post"If your interest has come to the advanced stage of scientific investigation of the occult, this book is your meat."--Sacramento Union"Fascinating reading..."--The Hollywood Reporter"Enthralling...guaranteed to amuse, amaze, baffle and entertain."--Appleton Post Crescent"Packed with spine-tingling stories."--San Francisco Call BulletinMelchizedek and the Mystery of Fire: A Treatise in Three Parts
By Manly P. Hall. 2016
Originally published in 1926, this short book focused on the symbolism surrounding the ancient patriarch Melchizedek serves as a concise…
introduction to important imperceptible truths."The elaborate rituals of the ancient Mysteries and the simpler ceremonials of modern religious institutions had a common purpose. Both were designed to preserve, by means of symbolic dramas and processionals, certain secret and holy processes, by the understanding of which man may more intelligently work out his salvation. The pages which follow will be devoted to an interpretation of some of these allegories according to the doctrine of the ancient seers and sages."Couching at the Door: Strange And Macabre Tales (Tales Of Mystery And The Supernatural Ser.)
By D. K. Broster. 2016
In this collection of dark, supernatural tales the esteemed author D. K. Broster gave full reign to her vivid imagination.…
Sometimes--as in "The Window" or "The Pestering," or "All Soul's Day"--these are what we might call 'explainable' ghost stories: apparitions or hauntings whose origin is to be found in some violent or unjust action in the past. Other stories, "Couching at the Door" and "From the Abyss," have little or no explanation, even in supernatural terms. Add to these an elegant reworking of the Persephone myth, "The Taste of Pomegranates," the downright bloodthirsty "Clairvoyance," and the psychological studies, "The Promised Land" and "The Pavement" which so well merit the heading 'Madness and Obsession', and you have a collection to disturb and unsettle the strongest nerves.Literary historian Jack Adrian describes Couching at the Door as "a pure masterwork, one of the most satisfying weird collections of the century".Charleston Ghosts
By Margaret Rhett Martin. 2016
Charleston, South Carolina, famous for its magnolia and azalea gardens, its Battery, its plantations, and its key role in early…
American history has certainly had its share of ghosts. They stalk the halls of townhouses once famous for gracious living and romance; they inhabit lonely stretches of moss-draped roads; and they roam the deserted garden paths of the old plantations outside the city.Charleston Ghosts brings to life an intriguing group of personalities who act out their fateful roles in true-to-legend style."Eighteen delightful ghost tales about Charleston and the Lowcountry told as only a native Charlestonian could tell them."--Charleston News and CourierVoodoo in Haiti
By Alfred Métraux, Hugo Charteris. 2016
Voodoo in Haiti is a masterwork of observation and description by one of the most distinguished anthropologists of the twentieth…
century. Alfred Métraux has written a rich and lasting study of the lives and rituals of the Haitian mambos and adepts, and of the history and origins of their religion. It is an accurate and engaging account of one of the most fascinating and misunderstood cultures in the world."Métraux's book is a landmark in the serious study of Afro-Atlantic religion. The breadth and subtlety of its approach is such that it remains an essential classic of Afro-American ethnology."--Robert Farris Thompson, professor of art history, Yale University, author of Flash of the Spirit"This is a work deserving of wide readership, and assured of it by its understanding and appeal."--Library Journal"This book gives what is surely the most authoritative general account of that complex of belief and practice called vaudou available in the literature....No other observer of vaudou has contributed to its study the exquisite documentation of detail that marks the work of Alfred Métraux."--Sidney W. Mintz, professor of anthropology, Johns Hopkins UniversityThe White Witch Of Rosehall
By Herbert G. De Lisser. 2016
A very striking and curious story, founded on fact, of the West Indies of the early nineteenth century.Robert Rutherford is…
sent to the Islands to learn the planter's business from the bottom. He becomes an overseer at Rosehall, the property of a young widow, Mrs Palmer, whose three husbands have all died in curious circumstances. She takes a violent fancy to Rutherford, who is also embarrassed by the attentions of his half-caste housekeeper, Millicent. His housekeeper is urging him, with some success, to fall in with West Indian habits, when Mrs Palmer arrives. Millicent defies her and threatens her with the powers of Takoo, an Obeah man. Mrs Palmer, herself skilled in Obeah magic, puts a spell on the girl, which Takoo's rites, shattered by the white woman's stronger magic, are powerless to remove."de Lisser utilizes the conventions of a romantic entanglement to investigate and debate the wider socio-political issues within the novel that relate to colonialism, Jamaican identity and culture... The White Witch of Rosehall is a delightful read, written by an author who sought not only to entertain, but also to educate."--Donna-Marie Tuck, Society for Caribbean Studies NewsletterThe House of the Vampire
By George Sylvester Viereck.
"He felt the presence of the hand of Reginald Clark - unmistakably - groping in his brain as if searching…
for something that had still escaped him. He tried to move, to cry out, but his limbs were paralyzed. When, by a superhuman effort, he at last succeeded in shaking off the numbness that held him enchained, he awoke just in time to see a figure, that of a man, disappearing in the wall that separated Reginald's apartments from his room..."This vampire doesn't want the blood from your veins; he's after the ideas in your head. The hypnotic Reginald Clarke chooses his victims for their artistic abilities, charms them, and discards them after robbing them of their gifts. Originally published in 1907, this gothic novella was among the first stories of its type and remains a gripping tale of psychic vampirism.The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
By S. L. Mathers. 1900
Around the turn of the century, when Aleister Crowley was working out his system of Magick, the source that he…
turned to for basics was the system of Abramelin of Egypt. From Abramelin he took his concepts of protections, purifications, evocations, vestments, and dromena down to specific details.This system of Abramelin the Mage is known from a unique fifteenth century manuscript preserved in the Bibliothèque de L'Arsenal in Paris. In it, Abraham of Würzburg, a cabalist and connoisseur of magics, describes a tour that he made of the then civilized world, visiting sorcerers, magicians, and cabalists, estimating their powers and virtues. This quest is in itself as fascinating as the similar tours of Gurdjieff.The high point of Abraham's travels was found in a small town on the banks of the Nile, where he encountered the great magician Abramelin, whose complete system Abraham thereupon sets out in detail. This amounts to a complete course in ceremonial magic (both white and black), which the student can pursue by himself.Abramelin, whose system is based mostly on Hellenistic theurgy of the Iamblichan sort, but with Jewish increments from the Cabala, explains the qualifications needed to become a magician, purifications, and asceticisms to be practiced month by month, studies and activities permitted during this period, selection of place and time for working magic, equipment needed, prayers and formulas, evocation of good and evil spirits, commanding spirits to do one's will, overcoming rebellious spirits, and similar material. Specific instructions are offered to develop such powers as clairvoyance, divining metals and treasures, warding off evil magic, healing illness, levitation, transportation, rendering oneself invisible, creating illusions and glamour, reading minds, placing compulsions, working black magic, and a host of other abilities.We do not guarantee that Abramelin's techniques work, nor that the results are desirable, but we offer this as a genuine medieval course in magic, one of the most important books in the history of occultism. It is of paramount importance to both the historian and the practitioner.Halloween: A Festival of Lost Meanings
By Alvin Boyd Kuhn. 2018
Alvin Boyd Kuhn, the author of the popular New Lectures on the Ancient Wisdom series, offers up an essay on…
the origins of Halloween and its traditions, including the candle in the pumpkin, broomstick riding witches, apple in a tub of water and the wearing of masks. Kuhn searches to find a meaning behind Halloween that goes beyond the sheer fun and deviltry of it, as it has been practised in the past and present.A fascinating read!Mysterious Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen: And Folk Tales Along The Mississippi
By Raymond J. Martinez. 2013
Raymond J. Martinez’ book on legends, lore, and unvarnished truths surrounding New Orleans’ most famous Voodoo mistress also features other…
tales from surrounding parishes of days long gone by, an illustrated guide to palm-reading, humorous asides, and over 30 fascinating drawings and images.In addition to facts and folklore about Laveau, including revealing research into some debunked myths and unanswered questions, the book offers entertaining stories of her life and the people around the New Orleans area.Apparitions (1953)
By G. N. M. Tyrrell. 2018
THE CLASSIC STUDY OF ESP AND GHOSTLY APPEARANCESWhat are ghostly apparitions?In this classic of psychical research, George N. M. Tyrrell…
submits that “ghosts” are subjective and telepathic, created in the regions of the personality outside the field of normal consciousness. Basing his theories on a vast collection of psychical data, and substantiating his arguments with more than sixty dramatic, well-documented case histories, he establishes a clear relationship between the phenomena of sensory hallucinations and modern psychology.His is a logical, impartial exploration of a subject long obscured by fear and too often dismissed as belonging to the realm of the “supernatural.” As past president of England’s famed Society of Psychical Research, Mr. Tyrrell demonstrates with authority that the scientific investigation of apparitions can make a significant contribution to our understanding of the human mind and personality.“Recommended to the scientific student of extra-sensory perception.”—Waldo Frank“Likely to be regarded as a classic of its kind…an admirable survey of the whole subject.”—The Times (London) Literary SupplementExtra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years: A Critical Appraisal of the Research in Extra-Sensory Perception
By Joseph Banks Rhine, J. Gaither Pratt. 2018
Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years: A Critical Appraisal of the Research in Extra-Sensory Perception, which was first published in 1940,…
represented the follow-up to parapsychologist Joseph Banks Rhine’s 1934 book, Extrasensory Perception.In Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years: A Critical Appraisal of the Research in Extra-Sensory Perception, Rhine and his colleagues endeavor to present a complete review of the recent research in ESP and to include in their survey “everything that is of importance to know in deciding whether ESP occurs. and what it is like if it does occur.”Using three experiments that they believed demonstrated ESP, namely the Pearce-Pratt experiment, the Pratt-Woodruff experiment, and the Ownbey-Zirkle series, the book’s first two parts deal with the question of whether ESP does occur. The formulation of the problem is presented, the mathematical and experimental methods used in attempting its solution, a survey of results obtained, and a consideration of the adequacy of some 35 hypotheses proposed as explanations alternative to ESP. Part II presents a survey of published criticisms and critical comments invited for this volume, whilst Part III considers the nature of ESP; the incidence of ESP ability; conditions that affect ESP performance; physical relations of ESP; ESP as a psychological process. The final part sketches “the outstanding problems that still remain unsolved, the methods under contemplation by which they may possibly be solved, and the further needs and prospects which confront investigators.”The present volume includes 21 appendices, a detailed glossary, as well as a list of 361 references.This book by Canadian-born mystical writer Manly P. Hall comprises of a series of lectures on nature spirits, thought forms,…
ghosts and specters, the dweller on the threshold.This compilation was first published in 1924.The Aesch Mezareph or Ash Metzareph is a Kabbalistic and Alchemical text originally known to persons of Western Culture from…
the Latin translation found in a fragmentary condition in the work entitled “Kabbala Denudata” by Knorr von Rosenroth, published at Sulzbach in 1677-84.The present volume is the translation into English, which was issued by W. Wynn Westcott in Vol. IV of his Collectanea Hermetica at the end of the 19th century.The Unobstructed Universe
By Stewart Edward White. 2018
In any field of human endeavor, a genuine masterpiece is rare. In the field of psychic exploration, The Unobstructed Universe…
is one of the few true masterworks—a brilliant exploration of the inner dimensions of life.The Unobstructed Universe records the investigations of Stewart White after the death of his wife Betty, who had acted as medium in earlier explorations. Utilizing the mediumship of their friend Joan, Betty leads Stewart on a challenging adventure in “the unobstructed universe” in which we all live and move and have our being, although we generally do not know it. In the process, they break through many of the illusions of physical life and open up to us a rich and exciting portrayal of the inner life.The Unobstructed Universe is an example of mediumship and psychic investigation at its very finest.Hellstromism
By Robert A. Nelson. 2018
Robert A. Nelson’s authoritative treatise on the life and sensational mind reading feats of Axel Hellstrom, a German muscle reader,…
mentalist and stage magician who redefined the art of muscle reading.Hellstrom was a man who baffled many of the brightest scientific and magical minds of his time by singlehandedly taking this ability to incredible, new heights—so much so, in fact, that for many magicians his name remains synonymous with “Contact” and “Non-Contact” Mind Reading—“Hellstromism!”Nelson, the long-time professional mentalist and mentalism/magic dealer, was personally coached by Hellstrom before the celebrated mind reader’s death.In this book, he painstakingly explains the inner workings of Hellstrom’s miracles. Every phase is covered in detail: from choosing and working with subjects to suggested performance routines.You will learn everything you need to know to begin developing your own abilities, as well as what is required to take your performance to the next level.A truly informative and fascinating read, written by an expert who was sincere and passionate about the possibilities “Hellstromism” has to offer.Originally published 1935, this edition contains the author’s additional chapter titled “Later day experiments in Hellstromism,” dated April 15, 1941.Brotherhood of Mt. Shasta
By Eugene E. Thomas. 2018
Brotherhood of Mt. Shasta is a strange and exciting new novel which leads the reader through a succession of extraordinary…
adventures…adventures not confined to the physical but bravely storming the realms of mind and spirit.If you are one who is weary and bewildered by conditions as they exist in the world today, here is “escape” certainly, for it is tale packed with thrills. But it is more than that, for the author, Eugene E. Thomas, has the philosophy and the skill to instruct while beguiling his readers into travelling new and fascinating paths.The story of Donald Crane and his search for a mystic Brotherhood and spiritual wisdom has its setting in the mysterious inner recesses of Mount Shasta, where Crane attains sufficient soul development to receive initiation into the secret rituals of the ancient order he seeks. Subsequently, his own previous incarnations are revealed to him in a colorful panorama of intriguing episodes which challenge the imagination and excite the interest in the philosophy of reincarnation.Brotherhood of Mount Shasta will bear deep and significant implications to its readers. We predict that even the skeptic may be induced to wonder…to ponder and to think.