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WITCHCRAFT
AND SORCERY OF THE BALKANS
By
Radomir Ristic
152 pages,
with color and black and white illustrations,
Trade
Paperbound Edition, List Price: $18.50
Hardcover
Edition with dust jacket, limited to 300 copies, List Price: $46.00
Publisher:
Three Hands Press, July 2015
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
With its
geographic diversity of rocky edifices, deep river valleys and dense
forests, Europe's Balkan mountain region has been characterized as a
natural fortress. This natural multiformity is mirrored by an ancient
admixture of magical beliefs and practices present in the region for
thousands of years. Among the many specialist types of Balkan magic
is Vesticarstvo, a sorcery drawing its power from Balkan folk belief,
relict shamanism, and medieval heresy. This traditional magic, which
has also been referred to as The Balkan Craft, is present today in
many forms, and uses of thousands of charms, rites, and spells in the
rural communities where it survives. A quintessential embodiment of
this power is the zmajevit covek or ‘dragon-man’. Part human,
part serpent, he possessed supernatural heredity and the power to
curse, cure, and traffic with supernatural beings. Often
incorporating the ancient powers of the pre-Roman Gods, the Queen of
the Fairies, elemental spirits, and the ancestral retinue, the vital
corpus of Vesticarstvo lore is a little-explored area of occult
study. Drawing from both historical sources and present survivals,
the present volume examines its history, beliefs, and rituals,
including a complete English translation of De Intorkatura, an
age-old rite of magical combat, as well as several other Balkan
witchcraft rituals never before translated into English.
**
ALCHEMICAL
TRADITIONS:
From
Antiquity to the Avant-Garde
Edited
By Aaron Cheak, PhD.
Perfectbound
Paperback: 684 pages ∙ 40 illustrations
Publisher:
Numen Books (August 22, 2013)
List Price:
$39.95
Spanning
the world's artistic, scientific and religious traditions, alchemy
has embraced and continues to embrace the complete spectrum of
existence. From metallurgy to metaphysics, alchemy engages the
technical, fine and hieratic arts in order to provide a living
phenomenology of the one, single, elusive process that acts through
all things. Ultimately—in its guise as ars transmutationis—alchemy
penetrates to the heart of the transfiguring spiritual intensity that
underpins the perfection of life, not only from 'mineral to man', but
from humanity to divinity.
Despite
this profoundly all-embracing purview, alchemy continues to be
conceived as either proto-chemistry or proto-psychology. The present
volume seeks to redress this false dichotomy by exploring alchemy as
a quintessentially integral phenomenon. Opening wide the full
spectrum of alchemy—from east to west, in history and practice,
from antiquity to the avant-garde—our aim is to penetrate as deeply
as possible, within the limits of a single volume, into the rich
practical and experiential traditions of the alchemical mysterium.
Featuring
both well-established scholars and emerging, cutting-edge
researchers, this book synthesises a quintessentially high caliber of
academic authorities on the vast and baroque heritage of the
alchemical world. As a whole, the volume seeks to strike the perfect
balance-the golden mean-between strict, historical objectivity and
empathic, phenomenological insight. Drawn from international ranks
(Europe, the Antipodes, the Americas) and cutting across disciplinary
boundaries (Egyptology, Classics, Sinology, Indology, Tibetology,
philosophy, religious studies, Renaissance studies, history of
science, art history, critical theory, media studies), the
contributors to this volume include some of the most gifted
investigators into the world's esoteric lineages.
Featuring
Aaron CHEAK ∙ Algis UŽDAVINYS ∙ Rodney BLACKHIRST ∙ David
Gordon WHITE ∙ Kim LAI ∙ Sabrina DALLA VALLE ∙ Christopher A.
PLAISANCE ∙ Hereward TILTON ∙ Angela VOSS ∙ Paul SCARPARI ∙
Leon MARVELL ∙ Mirco MANNUCCI ∙ Dan MELLAMPHY
Egyptian
alchemy ∙ Greek alchemy ∙ Hellenistic alchemy ∙ Taoist alchemy
∙ Hindu Tantric alchemy ∙ Tibetan Buddhist alchemy ∙ Islamicate
alchemy ∙ European alchemy ∙ Surrealist alchemy ∙ Erotic
alchemy ∙ Laboratory alchemy ∙ Alchemy of the word ∙ Alchemy of
the body ∙ Alchemy of the spirit ∙ and more.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
Alchemical
Traditions:
From
Antiquity to the Avant-Garde
EDITED BY
AARON CHEAK, PHD
Numen Book
2013
684 pages;
40 Illustrations
Table of
Contents
FRONT
MATTER
Acknowledgments
Peer
Reviewers
List of
Illustrations
PART I:
CORNERSTONES
Ancient
Alchemies, East and West
Introduction
to Part One:
Circumambulating
the Alchemical Mysterium
—Aaron
Cheak
1. The
Perfect Black: Egypt and Alchemy
—Aaron
Cheak
2. Telestic
Transformation and Philosophical Rebirth:
From
Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism
—Algis
Uždavinys
3.
Metallurgy and Demiurgy:
The Roots
of Greek Alchemy in the Mythology of Hephaestos (Discussions)
—Rod
Blackhirst
4. Taking
from Water to Fill in Fire:
The History
and Dynamics of Taoist Alchemy
—Aaron
Cheak
5. Mercury
and Immortality:
The Hindu
Alchemical Tradition
—David
Gordon White
6.
Iatrochemistry, Metaphysiology, Gnōsis:
Tibetan
Alchemy in the Kālacakra Tantra
—Kim Lai
PART II:
TRANSFORMATIONS
Alchemies
of the Spirit, Body, and Word
Introduction
to Part Two:
On the
Origins and Nature of European Alchemy
—Aaron
Cheak
7. The
Alchemical Khiasmos:
Counter-Stretched
Harmony and Divine Self-Perception
—Aaron
Cheak & Sabrina Dalla Valle
8. Altus’
Ominous Aphorism:
Reading as
Alchemical Process
—Mirco
Mannucci
9. Turris
Philosophorum:
On the
Alchemical Iconography of the Tower
—Christopher
A. Plaisance
10. Of
Ether, Entheogens and Colloidal Gold:
Heinrich
Khunrath and the Making of a Philosophers’ Stone
—Hereward
Tilton
11.
Becoming an Angel:
The Mundus
Imaginalis of Henry Corbin and the Platonic Path of Self-Knowledge
—Angela
Voss
12. The
Kiss of Death:
Amor,
Corpus Resurrectionis and the Alchemical Transfiguration of Eros
—Paul
Scarpari
13. Agent
of All Mutations:
Metallurgical,
Biological and Spiritual Evolution in the Alchemy of René Schwaller
de Lubicz
—Aaron
Cheak
14. Take
Two Emerald Tablets in the Morning:
Surrealism
and the Alchemical Transubstantiation of the World
—Leon
Marvell
15.
Incredible Lunatic of the Future:
The
Alchemical Horticulture of Alan Chadwick
—Rod
Blackhirst
16.
Alchemical Endgame:
‘Checkmate’
in Beckett and Eliot
—Dan
Mellamphy
END MATTER
**
OCCULT
TRADITIONS
By
Damon Zacharias Lycourinos (Editor), and the following contributors:
Aaron Cheak, Christopher A. Plaisance, David Rankine, Ioannis
Marathakis , Christopher A. Smith , Tess Dawson, Gwendolyn Toynton ,
Sorita d'Este and Melissa Harrington
Paperback:
308 pages
Publisher:
Numen Books (May 12, 2012)
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
Occult
Traditions is the manifestation of the endeavours of scholars and
practitioners alike exploring and challenging both historical and
contemporary perspectives on the occult arts and sciences. The title
of this book serves as a testimony for the occult acting as a
designation of currents and traditions of esoteric philosophy, and
magic as a participatory worldview manipulated as an instrument by
the active person through the execution of the art and science of
ritual, which is an extension grounded in the belief in magical
powers within the self and other.
Each page
bears witness to aspects of occult traditions, which are in essence
simultaneously meta-historical and dynamic, serving as an overall
ordering force in service of the principles of the arcane
correspondences that exist between the microcosm and the macrocosm.
This book is an awakening to the occult reality that since the dawn
of ages men and women have sought a glimpse of gnôsis within the
awesome natural performance of ritual, the slithering flow of the
elements, the sensational sounds of the spheres, the iconic form of
dreams undreamt and now awoken, the irrational whispering of mystical
verses, the silence of contemplation, and the passion drenched erotic
thirst for life, death, and rebirth. Unlike the priesthood of sterile
logic and doctrinal faith, these men and women have been a visible
representation of spiritual virility, of the human condition, and
many times the romantic ethos, which many have convicted as an
antinomian ethos, refusing, adapting, and also enchanting the
dictates of conventional society, morality, and metaphysical culture.
Thus,
Occult Traditions invites the reader to journey along with the
authors and conjurors, who have been generous enough to share their
visions and gestures in this book, through various traditions
relating to distinct historical developments, unique occult
philosophies, and potent ritual practice. Here the reader shall
encounter summoning magical assistants and the presence of the
mystery traditions in the Greek Magical Papyri; deification through
the arcane process of drowning in the Greek Magical Papyri; an
exploration of occult theology as a continuation of Neoplatonism; a
historical analysis of the grimoire traditions and a search for the
original source of the Key of Solomon; the Icelandic tradition of
magic as presented in an eighteenth century grimoire; a comparative
analysis of medieval and Renaissance angel magic; Canaanite views of
death and necromancy; an exploration of the use and attributes of
incenses throughout history; a consideration of the science of
divining the will of the gods; Seth as god of chaos and equilibrium;
Julius Evola's ideas concerning the formula of sex, magic, and power;
Buddhist 'wizards' at war in Thailand; a critical examination of the
role of sex, magic, and initiation in the Wiccan Great Rite; the
dynamics of altering consciousness within the spiral maze of Wiccan
ritual; a restoration of the Rite of the Headless One from the Greek
Magical Papyri; the elements of being and becoming in Conversation
with one's Holy Guardian Angel; the Eucharistic Feast of
Agathodaimon; the Rite of the Solar and Lunar Mysteries of the Altar
of Eros for the Consecration of the Talismans of Helios and Selene;
the Calling and Adoration of Aion, and the Spell of the Mystic Flame;
and finally the Hymnic Adoration and Invocation of Thoth, to whom
this book belongs, as He is lord of magic and scribe of the gods.
About the
Author: Damon Zacharias Lycourinos has an academic background in the
fields of anthropology and religious studies from the University of
Wales, Lampeter, the University of Oxford, and the University of
Cambridge. He is currently engaged in a Doctor of Philosophy at the
University of Edinburgh exploring the meanings and weavings of ritual
and magic in the West, both from a diachronic and synchronic
perspective. Other current academic areas of research include
paradigms of sex, gnosis, and liberation, the embodiment of states of
consciousness, the notion of ritual body and performance, and the
history, philosophy, and practice of magic in Western contexts and
beyond. When not engaged within the arena of academia, he can be
found embodying the Greek Magical Papyri through intense study and
performance, wandering the wilderness, fighting, and indulging in
rural wine. He currently resides in Britain, but when not he can be
found in Athens or on the volcanic island of Thira overlooking the
Aegean.
**
MYTHOS:
The
Myths and Tales of H.P. Lovecraft & Robert E. Howard
By H. P.
Lovecraft (Author), Robert E. Howard (Author), Gwendolyn Toynton
(Editor), Gwendolyn Taunton, (Contributor)
Paperback:
336 pages
Publisher:
Numen Books; 1st edition (October 31, 2011)
List Price:
$10.95
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
Mythos
contains the key stories which make up the mythical world established
by H.P. Lovecraft, and also contains works by Robert E. Howard
written in this mythological framework. It also contains Lovecraft's
essay on the the nature of the horror tale, and a new analysis
written on the nature of myth and the occult in Lovecraft's work. In
addition to this, Mythos also contains new tales of terror written in
the same vein as Lovecraft..
**
TECHNIQUES
OF SOLOMONIC MAGIC
By Dr
Stephen Skinner
Hardcover:
378 pages
Publisher:
Llewellyn Publications (July 8, 2015)
List Price:
$72.00
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
The most
detailed analysis of the techniques of Solomonic magic from the
seventh to the nineteenth century ever published. This volume
explores the methods of Solomonic magic in Alexandria, tracing how
the tradition passed through Byzantium (the Hygromanteia) to the
Latin Clavicula Salomonis and its English incarnation as the Key of
Solomon.
Discover
specific magical techniques such as the invocation of the gods, the
binding of demons, the use of the four demon Kings, and the
construction of the circle and lamen. The use of amulets, talismans,
and phylacteries is outlined along with their methods of
construction. Also included are explanations of the structures and
steps of Solomonic evocation, the facing directions, practical
considerations, the use of thwarting angels, achieving invisibility,
sacrifice, love magic, treasure finding and the binding, imprisoning,
and licensing of spirits.
About the
Author:
Stephen
Skinner began his career as a Geography lecturer and magazine
publisher, but his long term interest has always been Western magic.
During the
1970s he was the driving force behind Askin Publishers, producing a
number of classic magical works by Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus,
Austin Osman Spare, Aleister Crowley, and others. During the 1970s he
co-wrote many books with Francis King, including the still popular
Techniques of High Magic. Also with Francis King he wrote
Nostradamus. His interest in prophecy stimulated by this book, he
went on to write the best selling Millennium Prophecies.
Stephen is
credited with bringing the art of Feng Shui to the West, and in 1976
he wrote the Living Earth Manual of Feng Shui, which was the first
English book on feng shui in the 20th century.
Stephen has
written more than 35 books, which have been published worldwide in 28
different languages. These books have had introductions by such
diverse people as Colin Wilson, HRH Charles Prince of Wales, and
Jimmy Choo, shoe designer to the stars.
Stephen
lives in Singapore.
**
PENUMBRAE
An
Anthology of Occult Fiction
Edited
By Richard Gavin, Patricia Cram, and Daniel A. Schulke
Publisher:
Three Hands Press, April 2015
Penumbrae
is 192 pages, printed on heavy stock.
Standard
Hardcover Edition
Brown cloth
with full colour dust jacket.
Limited to
2,500 copies
List Price:
$34.50
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
THREE HANDS
PRESS is proud to announce Penumbrae, a collection of thirteen works
of Occult Fiction by some of that genre's great luminaries. The locus
of this anthology lies in tales that embody a metaphysical position,
as opposed to fiction that merely employs metaphysical trappings to
enforce a materialist worldview. Occult fiction, by contrast, strives
to evoke the energies that inform such symbols, and create a vital
experience for the reader. Far beyond mere description, this is work
that proves its value through its capacity to seduce, captivate, and
incept states of magical consciousness. Like the practice of magic
itself, the finest works of occult fiction will be distinguished by
their power to evoke an embodied experience, and to tangibly compel
shifts in consciousness while arousing the uncommon. It intoxicates
the rite of reading as much as it permeates the spaces between
readings.
Marriage
between the objective and the imaginative often results in an
enrichment of existence. All spiritual traditions stand upon a
foundation of both worldly Act and transcendent Idea. Idea becomes
Image, Image becomes Symbol, Symbol becomes Portal. Through the Act
of passing through it, one is thereby transformed. It thus stands to
reason that the annals of occultism are lush with fable, poetry,
mythology, and tales. A delicate but highly potent quality of this
work is the creation of a spirit-trap wherein the words and images
themselves act as hosts to the experience itself. Under auspicious
conditions, a reader may encounter a tale that hews so closely with
their own interior universe that a Key is thereby given.
Penumbrae
features tales from the following authors:
Kenneth
Grant
Richard
Gavin
Andrew
D. Chumbley
Daniel
A. Schulke
Sun Yung
Shin
Hanns
Heinz Ewers
Lee
Morgan Caitlín R. Kiernan
Don Webb
Patricia
Cram
Michael
Cisco
Dale
Pendell
Brian
Evenson
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