Mytologi

This volume provides a critical reappraisal of Stoker's Dracula by examining various adaptations of the book, as well as different literary, cinematic, theatrical, cultural, artistic and creative reworkings of the Gothic.

This volume deals with the depictions of animal sacrifice from ancient Greece, full catalogues of which are included. The relevant aspects of Greek sacrifice are studied on the basis of an analysis and interpretation of these representations, combined with the pertinent textual data.

Based on the visual and textual evidence, this volume concentrates on the artistic, intellectual, religious, and socio-political importance of divine images as media of communication in the polytheistic cosmos of ancient Greece and Rome.

'A fairy-tale romance to warm even the coldest of hearts.' Chloe's Chick Lit ReviewsSally Thorne's The Hating Game meets Netflix's The Christmas Prince , you will ADORE this fun and flirty romcom!

FLEX: Distilled magic in crystal form. The most dangerous drug in the world. Snort it, and you can create incredible coincidences to live the life of your dreams.FLUX: The backlash from snorting Flex. The universe hates magic and tries to rebalance the odds; maybe you survive the horrendous accidents the Flex inflicts, maybe you don't.PAUL TSABO: The obsessed bureaucromancer who's turned paperwork into a magical Beast that can rewrite rental agreements, conjure rented cars from nowhere, track down anyone who's ever filled out a form.But when all of his formulaic magic can't save his burned daughter, Paul must enter the dangerous world of Flex dealers to heal her. Except he's never done this before and the punishment for brewing Flex is army conscription and a total brain-wipe.File Under:Urban Fantasy[ Magic Pill | Firestarter | Bureaucramancy | The Flex & the Flux ]

This monograph begins with a puzzle: a Babylonian text from late 5th century BCE Uruk associating various diseases with bodily organs, which has evaded interpretation. The correct answer may reside in Babylonian astrology, since the development of the zodiac in the late 5th century BCE offered innovative approaches to the healing arts. The zodiac-a means of predicting the movements of heavenly bodies-transformed older divination (such as hemerologies listing lucky and unlucky days) and introduced more favorable magical techniques and medical prescriptions, which are comparable to those found in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and non-Hippocratic Greek medicine. Babylonian melothesia (i.e., the science of charting how zodiacal signs affect the human body) offers the most likely solution explaining the Uruk tablet.

Myth, magic, and monsters-the stuff of childhood dreams (or nightmares) and adult fantasies. Delve into these classic fairy tales retold with a queer twist and surrender to the world of seductive spells and dark temptations.

This is a story about every child's imagination-your imagination. It takes place in the early twentieth century about 1910. It is a fairy tale, a fantasy. However, the places are real and so are the people. The names have been altered to add a touch of mystery, or just in case someone does not like his or her character. The house is real, including the three doors. Maybe it's your house, your home town, or your family. Maybe it's your name that has been changed in our story. Even Gillo, the Troll is real. At least he was real to my youngest grandson. The only contrast to his imaginary friend, Gillo and the Gillo of our story is that his friend Gillo was just about always in trouble. When my grandson, was about Sue's age in our story (four), he came walking in the living room with peanut butter all over his face. His mom said, "Didn't I say to stay out of the peanut butter?" He immediately said, "Yes, but you don't understand; Gillo fell into the peanut butter jar, and I was just trying to get him out." Imagination is an excellent gift.

As I attempted to digest stories of spiritual cannibalism, of curses that could cost a student her eyesight or ignite the pages of the books she read, I knew I was not alone in my skepticism. And yet, when I caught sight of the waving arms of an industrious scarecrow, the hair on the back of my neck would stand on end. It was most palpable at night, this creepy feeling, when the moon stayed low to the horizon and the dust kicked up in the breeze, reaching out and pulling back with ghostly fingers. There was something to this place that could be felt but not seen. With these words, Karen Palmer takes us inside one of West Africa’s witch camps, where hundreds of banished women struggle to survive under the watchful eye of a powerful wizard. Palmer arrived at the Gambaga witch camp with an outsider’s sense of outrage, believing it was little more than a dumping ground for difficult women. Soon, however, she encountered stories she could not explain: a woman who confessed she’d attacked a girl given to her as a sacrifice; another one desperately trying to rid herself of the witchcraft she believed helped her kill dozens of people. In Spellbound, Palmer brilliantly recounts the kaleidoscope of experiences that greeted her in the remote witch camps of northern Ghana, where more than 3,000 exiled women and men live in extreme poverty, many sentenced in a ceremony hinging on the death throes of a sacrificed chicken. As she ventured deeper into Ghana’s grasslands, Palmer found herself swinging between belief and disbelief. She was shown books that caught on fire for no reason and met diviners who accurately predicted the future. From the schoolteacher who believed Africa should use the power of its witches to gain wealth and prestige to the social worker who championed the rights of accused witches but also took his wife to a witch doctor, Palmer takes readers deep inside a shadowy layer of rural African society. As the sheen of the exotic wore off, Palmer saw the camp for what it was: a hidden colony of women forced to rely on food scraps from the weekly market. She witnessed the way witchcraft preyed on people’s fears and resentments. Witchcraft could be a comfort in times of distress, a way of explaining a crippling drought or the inexplicable loss of a child. It was a means of predicting the unpredictable and controlling the uncontrollable. But witchcraft was also a tool for social control. In this vivid, startling work of first-person reportage, Palmer sheds light on the plight of women in a rarely seen corner of the world.

In Medieval Italy, seven young women and three young men flee plague-ridden Florence for the countryside, where, over the course of ten carefree days, each tells ten stories of intrigue and romance-100 tales in all. First published in the 1300s, these lusty tales are still as entertaining and diverting as they were during the Middle Ages. Here noblemen and ladies, peasants and princesses, cavort together in a magnificent collection of timeless tales brimming with life and love. The Decameron is a big book, and most publishers try to pack it into small newsprint pages with tiny, nearly unreadable type. This edition, on the other hand, has been newly designed and printed on large-format, high-quality paper with easy-to-read type, making it a deluxe volume at a still-reasonable price.

SPIRITUALITY / GEM STONES "This has to be the most incredible book ever published on sacred and magical stones. A must-have for historians and anyone interested in the sacred and magical properties of stones. This book really is a magical mystery tour!" --John DeSalvo, author of Power Crystals, Decoding the Enochian Secrets, and host of Mysterious Realms radio show Our ancestors believed stones were home to sacred beings of power, entities that if properly understood and cultivated could provide people protection from ill fortune, envy, and witchcraft; grant invisibility and other magical powers; improve memory; and heal the sick from a wide variety of diseases. These benefits could be obtained by wearing the stone on a ring, bracelet, or pendant; through massage treatments with the stone; or by reducing the gem to a powder and drinking it mixed with water or wine. Drawing from a wealth of ancient Arabic, Greek, Jewish, and European sources--from the observations of Pliny the Elder to extremely rare texts such as the Picatrix and Damigeron's Virtue of Stones--Claude Lecouteux provides a synthesis of all known lore for more than 800 stones. He includes such common examples as the emerald, which when engraved with the figure of a harpy holding a lamprey in its claws will banish panic and nightmares, and beryl, which when appropriately carved can summon water spirits or win its owner high renown, as well as more exotic stones such as astrios, a stone celebrated by ancient magicians and whose center glows like a star. Lecouteux also examines bezoars--stones formed in animals' bodies--as well as "magnets" that attract materials other than iron, such as gold, flesh, cotton, or scorpions. This comprehensive dictionary of sacred and magical gem lore, drawn from the rarest sources of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, represents a one-of-a-kind resource for gem enthusiasts and magical practitioners alike. CLAUDE LECOUTEUX is a former professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval and pagan beliefs, including The Secret History of Poltergeists and Haunted Houses and The Secret History of Vampires. He lives in Paris.

English translation and introductory study of a previously unedited Hispano-Arabic legend of Alexander the Great.

A Ceremony for Every Occasion has been written as a guide for Pagans and non-Pagans alike who wish to celebrate the passing of the seasons, the Wheel of the Year and who need a Rite of Passage for different times in their life. These rituals are spiritual, at the same time non-religious in the general accepted term. They can be adapted and used in different parts of the World and with different Deity, with a little work or simply used exactly as written. This book is a practical, step by step guide, and contains a basic list of all the items needed to take along to a ritual site in order to perform the ceremonies. There are illustrations and instructions on for instance 'how to make a set of Handfasting Cords' with photos as a guide. Each chapter has an introduction with points of interest about the season and the Deity associated.

How did the world begin? How were the first people created and which specific roles were they supposed to play in the cosmos? Like other mythologies worldwide, China s creation and origin myths explain how man created order out of chaos and imposed culture on nature. Cross-cultural approaches to myth make us aware of the limitations of our own familiar classifications. This book makes a provocative case for the comparative study of the hidden treasures of China s oral and written myth traditions in different languages and cultures, a legacy generously left behind by singers, storytellers, poets, and writers. This book opens new doors to the study of Chinese mythologies, a surprising and so far almost unknown world outside China.

STOP! Watch out! Be careful when you go outside. You might walk into a pretend creature. Worry not, there just so happens to be someone who can illuminate the way! Come along on this little adventure into Mr. Monroe's vast backyard as he catalogs pretend creatures by name and species. There is information to be had for each discovered creature as well, so upon this journey we shall have five facts about these wonderful things that inhabit our world...of imagination.MR. MONROE'S ALPHABET BOOK OF PRETEND CREATURES - 56 PagesShowing children everywhere that there is so much to explore in their growing minds. We must never deny the whimsical or the seed of imagination won't take root. What is difficult to most adults, comes so easy to children. IMAGINATION, and that must be cultivated. SO! No matter where they play or who they play with, imagination will lead to creation. And that will lead to fun!

Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition explores the theme of visits to the underworld in the ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions from a broad perspective including written sources, iconography and archaeology.

Jesus was the greatest storyteller there ever was. He spoke to the people right where they were. He told parables and stories that related to them in the natural with hidden gems with a spiritual message. Sandra L. Ross takes childhood fables and nursery rhymes and with a twist, she turns them into beautiful allegories full of wisdom and healing. If you struggle with fear, people-pleasing, facing a spiritual storm, feeling broken, dismissed, and overlooked. Then "e;Let's Tell A Story: The Allegories of God,"e; is for you. Get ready as Sandra L. Ross tells you a story that will change your life.

ACT III: DAMNATION>It was the only thing Gerwalta could do, the only chance she and Andreas had to stay alive. No matter how far away they travel from the Black Forrest, however, it will never be far enough. Especially when the sanctuary they believe they've found holds its own hidden dangers. Andreas knew there would be consequences when he decided to make a wolfsretter his mate, but he could never have imagined the lengths he'd have to go to protect his family. When both he and Gerwalta lose an aspect of their powers, can they still stand against forces determined to tear them apart? The final installment of the tragic love story of the real Little Red Riding Hood, and the close of the prequel trilogy to the bestselling Red Chronicles.

Leben, das ist eine Fülle von Augenblicken. Nicht nur von solchen, wie sie in ihrer Erhabenheit nur Erwachsene auskosten können, bei Olympia, bei einer Hochzeit, bei der Geburt eines Kindes. Es gibt so viele kleine, kurze, banale, schmerzhafte, schreckliche, ausgelassen lustige Erlebnisse, an die wir oft zurück-denken, wenn sie durch eine neue Erfahrung getriggert werden, oder einfach ohne Anlass, wie eine Zeitschleife im Kopf. Es gibt sogar Ereignisse des eigenen Daseins, die wir gar nicht bewusst erlebt haben und die unser Grübeln immer wieder in den Bann ziehen. Wie war das, als ich gezeugt wurde?In sieben Kapiteln erzähle ich solche Geschichten, wo die Vergangenheit in die Zukunft übergeht: Momente, die unser Geist festhalten, immer wieder betrachten will. Manche füllen nur zwei Seiten, gleich die erste ist nur eine Art Prosagedicht, andere erstrecken sich über fünf und mehr Blätter.Die titel der sieben Kapitel lauten:- Augenblicke des Entstehens und Vergehens- Tief erlebte Momente in Kindheit und Jugend- Schicksalsmomente- Augenblicke der Entscheidung- Momente in der Musik- Erlebnisse auf Reisen- Tragikomische Momente

This novel is a continuation of the timeless classic by one of the most widely read authors in modern history, Alexandre Dumas!It follows the adventures of Robin Hood which started in Dumas' first edition, Prince of Thieves. Journey with him through his dangerous encounters in the Sherwood forest, his continued struggles against the Sheriff of Nottingham and his new ones against the Normans.Unearth the stories behind how he outwits a number of wealthy, corrupted men and why Marian became one of the earliest examples of strong female figures in literature. Discover Robin's valiant leadership of the Merry Men, and his shocking sorrows caused by betrayal and death.Will he stay loyal to King Richard? What will happen in the unfinished love stories? And what will Robin Hood be doing when he grows old and weary of stealing from the rich and giving the poor? Answers to all these questions in this book!"I am what men call a robber, a thief - so be it! But I extort money from the rich, I take naught from the poor."~Robin Hood

Cute, relatable characters. Beautiful artistry. And an irresistibly cool dragon. What more could a kid ask for? The first in a two-part series, What Color is Your Dragon? opens up a world of fun, fantasy, and high-flying adventures for kids or anyone who secretly longs to believe in magic. A dragon coloring book page is included!

Voices From Nature, Lessons From God is the story of a woman and her adventure in gardening in cooperation with Nature. The adventure starts in her small city garden in the Midwest and expands to include other non-plant forms of Nature. The journey includes Lessons From God through Nature and prayers to instill the heart lessons in one's soul. The guided meditation will assist anyone wishing to connect and talk to Nature. Also included is the process for creating flower essences for healing the body, mind, and spirit.Teresa Garrison is a mother of three, a registered nurse, and a Reiki Master. The Reiki attunements opened her ability to hear plants and Nature speak, a gift she thought she had lost in childhood. She currently lives in the Southwest, where she continues to garden in cooperation with Nature.