Hitler's Monsters

Hitler's Monsters PDF Author: Eric Kurlander
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300190379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

Urania's Children

Urania's Children PDF Author: Ellic Howe
Publisher: London : Kimber
ISBN: 9780718300104
Category : Astrology
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description


Narrative Structure and Reader Formation in Lady Mary Wroth's Urania

Narrative Structure and Reader Formation in Lady Mary Wroth's Urania PDF Author: Rahel Orgis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317090489
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Narrative Structure and Reader Formation in Lady Mary Wroth’s Urania offers the first systematic formal and thematic analysis of Wroth’s Urania in its historical context and explores the structural means by which Wroth fashions her readership. The book thus has a dual focus, at once on narrative art and reader formation. It makes two original claims, the first being that the Urania is not the unorganized accumulation of stories critics have tended to present it as, but a work of sophisticated narrative structures i.e. a complex text in a positive sense. These structures are revealed by means of a circumspect narratological analysis of the formal and thematic patterns that organise the Urania. Such an analysis furthers our understanding of the reading strategies that Wroth encourages. The second claim is, then, that through the careful structuring of her text Wroth seeks to create her own ideal readership. More precisely, the formal and thematic structures of the Urania engage with readers’ expectations, inviting them to reflect on prominent thematic issues and respond to the text as what early modern prefaces term "good" readers. Combining narratological methods with a generic perspective and taking into account the work of book historians on early modern reading practices, this monograph provides a new approach to the Urania, supplementing the typically gender- or (auto)biographically-oriented interpretations of the romance. Moreover, it contributes to the study of early modern (prose) narrative and romance and exemplifies how historically contextualised narratological analysis may yield new insights and profit research on reading strategies.

Grimoires

Grimoires PDF Author: Owen Davies
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199590044
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
Grimoires are books of spells that were first recorded in the Ancient Middle East and which have developed and spread over the ensuing millennia.

Witchcraft, magic and culture 1736–1951

Witchcraft, magic and culture 1736–1951 PDF Author: Owen Davies
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526184370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
The only serious study of witchcraft and magic from 1736 to 1951. Brings together matters ranging from upper class spiritualism to rural witchcraft in an exciting and intellectually stimulating way. Essential reading for all social historians and all h. . . .

Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West

Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West PDF Author: Nicholas Campion
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317177789
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This book explores an area of contemporary religion, spirituality and popular culture which has not so far been investigated in depth, the phenomenon of astrology in the modern west. Locating modern astrology historically and sociologically in its religious, New Age and millenarian contexts, Nicholas Campion considers astrology's relation to modernity and draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with leading modern astrologers to present an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the origins and nature of New Age ideology. This book challenges the notion that astrology is either 'marginal' or a feature of postmodernism. Concluding that astrology is more popular than the usual figures suggest, Campion argues that modern astrology is largely shaped by New Age thought, influenced by the European Millenarian tradition, that it can be seen as an heir to classical Gnosticism and is part of the vernacular religion of the modern west.

The Heroines of English Pastoral Romance

The Heroines of English Pastoral Romance PDF Author: Sue P. Starke
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 184384124X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The figure of the woman as hero in pastoral romance is shown to grow in importance and complexity in this important new study. The genre of pastoral romance flourished dramatically in Renaissance England between 1590 and 1650. One of its key elements is that it is the daughter, not the son, of the gentle family who increasingly becomes the subject of theromance's attempt to define and illustrate heroism. The pastoral heroine's task is paradoxical: to break out of her pastoral paradise in order to ensure its reconstitution. She is the princess, the shepherdess, the Lady, or the virtuous daughter who becomes a repository of honor and virtue in a changing society where traditional chivalric definitions of honor hold decreasing purchase. This groundbreaking book examines the typical challenges facedby the pastoral romance heroine as she matures within the pastoral locus amoenus: the foundling dilemma; the loop-shaped quest: the rhetorical battle; the chastity threat; the reconciliation of beauty to virtue; and familial reunification. It illustrates how the allegorical, symbolic, and psychological characterizations of pastoral heroines in the works of Sidney, Spenser, Wroth, Fletcher, Milton, and Marvell anticipate developments in the representation of female subjectivities normally associated with the novel. SUE P. STARKE is Associate Professor of English at Monmouth University, New Jersey.

The Fortune-Telling Book

The Fortune-Telling Book PDF Author: Raymond Buckland
Publisher: Visible Ink Press
ISBN: 1578597935
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
A look at Fortune Telling and Divination from the author of Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft Best-selling Wiccan seer and gypsy mystic Raymond Buckland focused his attention on the intuitive art of prognostication in this tome. A master of his art, the late Buckland designed fortune-telling decks, read cards, and did other types of fortune telling for over fifty years. A comprehensive A-to-Z exploration of all that peers into tomorrow, The Fortune-Telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying divines the meanings of 400 key topics relating to this oft-misunderstood, oft-consulted-upon science. Written in clear, concise language, it discusses everything from aeromancy (seeing by observing atmospheric phenomena) to zoomancy (divination by the appearance or behavior of animals) and the 398 others in between. This fascinating encyclopedia is illustrated with 100 pictures and includes a detailed index and additional reading recommendations. Packed with colorful histories, people, and significant events, The Fortune-Telling Book shows readers how to foretell their own fates. It’s sure to please fortune-telling enthusiasts, whatever their powers.

Octavia, Daughter of God

Octavia, Daughter of God PDF Author: Jane Shaw
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300176155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
DIVThe little-known story of the charismatic, utopian leader Octavia and her devoted followers in the interwar years/div

Galileo Revisited

Galileo Revisited PDF Author: Paschal Scotti
Publisher: Ignatius Press
ISBN: 1681497832
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
No other work on Galileo Galilei has brought together such a complete description of the historical context in its political, cultural, philosophical, religious, scientific, and personal aspects as this volume has done. In addition to covering the whole of Galileo's life, it focuses on those things that are most pertinent to the Galileo Affair, which culminated in his condemnation by the Inquisition in 1633. It also includes an extensive discussion of the relationship between religion and science in general, and of the relationship between Christianity and science in particular, without which a true understanding of the affair is much weakened. This discussion of the relationship of Christianity with science-a long, generally positive relationship-is most timely since the case of Galileo is, as many historians and Pope Benedict XVI have stated, the beginning of the alienation of the Church from much of the intellectual culture of our present age. The "warfare between science and religion" is an old myth that should finally be retired, but for many it is still axiomatic. This work shows the significance of astrology in the history of society and the Church (Galileo was a master astrologer), and the importance of the internal tensions and factions within the Roman Curia in the seventeenth century. It also tells of the profound battles among Church leadership over the direction of the Church in a time of uncertainty and intellectual and cultural ferment. The Galileo Affair is not just of its time and place, and it is not just about Galileo, but it touches upon that perennial issue of how the Church deals with issues of adaptation and change.