From the back cover: "In this book, Olivia Robertson, co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, vividly describes her adventures in the occult and mystical fields. She worked for many years with groups in South Ireland and London, and specialized in guided meditations. First published in 1975, this is an original account that begins with the experiments of a few friends and develops into a variety of experiences involving artists, musicians, dancers, craftsmen and writers, inspired by the divinity within Nature Herself. The Call of Isis is divided into three sections: 'The Temple of the Moon' explores psychic development and the control of emotions ; 'The Temple of the Sun' introduces using vital force for healing and creativity, and 'The Temple of the Stars' deals with mystical experiences and the safe development of cosmic consciousness." (Original 1975 edition, with illustrations added by the author.)
Isis, Egyptian Goddess of Magic, thinks herself destined for a charmed life as the Goddess-Queen of Egypt. But in one fell swoop she loses her love, her home, even her magical powers. For the sake of Egypt and her infant son, Horus, she has to put this topsy-turvy world aright. Her adventures take her out into the realm of humans and down into the underworld. How will she reclaim Egypt's throne for Horus against the will of the evil usurper Seth? Will she be able to save Egypt from ruin? And where will you find her now? Told by Isis in the first person, this lively book gives young readers a unique entry into the world of Egyptian mythology and provides interesting cultural and historical context in a nonfiction section illustrated with a family tree of the Egyptian pantheon, as well as maps and photographs.
In the foreword, Olivia Robertson wrote : "In my 85th year, I feel the time has come for me honestly to describe how my brother, his wife and myself founded the Fellowship of Isis. This is a question I am so often asked and as often brush the query aside with a recommendation to read our Manifesto, study the Liturgy or join a centre! What I have avoided as a matter of principle is to be personal. I had encapsuled my personal experiences within a framework of ideas in my book "The Call of Isis". I refused to write an autobiography. I wished to give the rest of my life to promoting the Fellowship: not on encouraging a cult of personality, bugbear of our media-crazed society."This book is a personal account of how each aspect of the Fellowship of Isis came into being as Olivia Robertson experienced it as co-founder. An Oracle and illustration begins each of the nine chapters, which include: 1) Foundation: The Throne of Isis, 2) Return of the Priestess, 3) The College of Isis Revived, 4) Spirals of Light, 5) Dana's Land of Immortality, 6) Ladies and Knights of the Green Earth, 7) The Goddess Has New Helpers, 8) Isis Prophetis, 9) The Muses Symposium. (FOI Foundation Center authorized publication.)
"The Way of the Strangers is an intimate journey into the minds of the Islamic State's true believers. From the streets of Cairo to the mosques of London, Wood interviews supporters, recruiters, and sympathizers of the group...Wood speaks with non-Islamic State Muslim scholars and jihadists, and explores the group's idiosyncratic, coherent approach to Islam...Through character study and analysis, Wood provides a clear-eyed look at a movement that has inspired so many people to abandon or uproot their families.
A gripping account of thirteen women who joined, endured, and, in some cases, escaped life in the Islamic State—based on years of immersive reporting by a Pulitzer Prize finalist. FINALIST FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Toronto Star • The Guardian Among the many books trying to understand the terrifying rise of ISIS, none has given voice to the women in the organization; but women were essential to the establishment of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s caliphate. Responding to promises of female empowerment and social justice, and calls to aid the plight of fellow Muslims in Syria, thousands of women emigrated from the United States and Europe, Russia and Central Asia, from across North Africa and the rest of the Middle East to join the Islamic State. These were the educated daughters of diplomats, trainee doctors, teenagers with straight-A averages, as well as working-class drifters and desolate housewives, and they joined forces to set up makeshift clinics and schools for the Islamic homeland they’d envisioned. Guest House for Young Widows charts the different ways women were recruited, inspired, or compelled to join the militants. Emma from Hamburg, Sharmeena and three high school friends from London, and Nour, a religious dropout from Tunis: All found rebellion or community in political Islam and fell prey to sophisticated propaganda that promised them a cosmopolitan adventure and a chance to forge an ideal Islamic community in which they could live devoutly without fear of stigma or repression. It wasn’t long before the militants exposed themselves as little more than violent criminals,more obsessed with power than the tenets of Islam, and the women of ISIS were stripped of any agency, perpetually widowed and remarried, and ultimately trapped in a brutal, lawless society. The fall of the caliphate only brought new challenges to women no state wanted to reclaim. Azadeh Moaveni’s exquisite sensitivity and rigorous reporting make these forgotten women indelible and illuminate the turbulent politics that set them on their paths.
This magical book is filled with powerful incantations and invocations to call the strength and passion of the Goddess Isis into your life. Through these short guided rituals and the striking artwork that accompany them, the Goddess offers her guidance, protection and love to empower you as you break through fear and face any challenge, stay true to yourself and grow in love and wisdom. Allow the energy of Isis to awaken in you now--her passion, her power, her intent to live fully, consciously, bravely. Use this book daily to build your connection to Isis and receive her healing energy. Watch as your own magical energy and spiritual essence grow with the focus and attention you dedicate to this practice.
• Details the nine stages of the ancient Egyptian initiatory path, describing each stage’s powers as well as the culminating ceremony called “The Crown of Isis” • Provides profound guided meditations for each of the nine stages and illustrates the manifestation of this path’s principles through stories of awakening • Shares the author’s personal journey as a Garment of Isis and her own powerful interactions with Isis, which culminated in her serving as Oracle of Isis at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1993 The Sacred Science of ancient Egypt was an initiatory spiritual system, a technology of consciousness designed to birth a mystical communion with the divinities, an embodied union of being between the eternal and the mortal. After initiation was completed, the re-identified being, now divinely possessed, was known as a Garment of Isis, signifying that the goddess Isis dwelt within them. Offering a practical guide to the key principles within the Egyptian temple tradition, Naomi Ozaniec explores the process of creating and developing a personal relationship with the Neteru, the divinities and forces of creation of ancient Egypt. She details the nine stages of this initiatory path, which are divided into three phases--heartmind, spiritmind, and soulmind. This step-by-step, interactive process culminates in a ceremony called The Crown of Isis. The author provides profound guided meditations and illustrates the manifestation of the initiate’s powers through stories of awakening brought on by this spiritual path. She also shares her personal journey as a Garment of Isis and her own powerful interactions with Isis. An accessible yet substantive guide to initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries, this book details how to gradually awaken and attune your mind to the symbolic, open access to higher realms of consciousness, and enter into a mystical marriage between personal and divine consciousness.
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE • In this “courageous” (The Washington Post) memoir of survival, a former captive of the Islamic State tells her harrowing and ultimately inspiring story. Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon. On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one years old, this life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia’s brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, into the ISIS slave trade. Nadia would be held captive by several militants and repeatedly raped and beaten. Finally, she managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety. Today, Nadia's story—as a witness to the Islamic State's brutality, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi—has forced the world to pay attention to an ongoing genocide. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war.
"A rare and riveting first-hand account of the terror and torture inflicted by ISIS on young Iraqi Yazidi women, and an inspiring personal story of bravery and resilience in the face of unspeakable horrors. In the early summer of 2014, Farida Khalaf was a typical Yazidi teenager living with her parents and three brothers in her village in the mountains of Northern Iraq. In one horrific day, she lost everything: ISIS invaded her village, destroyed her family, and sold her into sexual slavery. The Girl Who Escaped ISIS is her incredible account of captivity and describes how she defied the odds and escaped a life of torture, in order to share her story with the world. Devastating and inspiring, this is an astonishing, intimate account of courage and hope in the face of appalling violence"--
