What does a witch do when she finishes her destiny? Charlie Schofield saved the world but can she save herself from a kidnapper, loneliness and a sensational trial? Her journey begins on her birthday.
This stunning English translation of a medieval Japanese text is an illustrated martial arts manual and a historical account of the teachings of a samurai grandmaster Available for the first time in English, this book explores the essential practices of the samurai school known as Mubyoshi Ryu. Complete with more than 350 images, The Lost Samurai School collects and translates ancient documents that contain the teachings of grandmaster Hagiwara Juzo—revealing for the first time to western readers the enthralling martial arts, secret weapons, magic, and espionage as they were practiced by samurai in their daily lives. The ancient Mubyoshi Ryu scrolls contain fascinating descriptions of “civilian” samurai skills—which concentrate more on personal protection than battlefield warfare—including the full ninja curriculum and elements of esoteric magic. Martial arts expert Antony Cummins contextualizes these translated documents by providing a history of the era and the school itself. The abundant illustrations form a useful martial arts manual, bringing to life the skills required to master everything from jujutsu and shuriken-jutsu (throwing blades) to swords, chain weapons, and the quarterstaff. The Lost Samurai School is a journey into the past that will preserve such skills for future generations and will appeal to anyone interested in martial arts or Japanese history.
A compilation of rare works on the untold history and destiny of America by acclaimed occult writer Manly P. Hall. Writer and scholar Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) is one of the most significant names in the study of the esoteric, symbolic, and occult. His legendary book The Secret Teachings of All Ages has been an underground classic since its publication in 1928. The Secret History of America expands on that legacy, offering a collection of Hall’s works—from books and journals to transcriptions of his lectures—all relating to the hidden past and unfolding future of our nation. Hall believed that America was gifted with a unique purpose to explore and share principles of personal freedom, self-governance, and independent thought. PEN Award-winning historian, Mitch Horowitz has curated a powerful collection of Hall’s most influential and insightful works that capture and explore these ideas. Never before collected in one volume, the material in The Secret History of America explores the rich destiny, unseen history, and hidden meaning of America.
The Signature Edition of Manly P. Hall’s Esoteric Classics on America Fully reset and newly introduced by PEN Award-winning historian Mitch Horowitz, The Secret Destiny of America (1944) and America’s Assignment with Destiny (1951) are Manly P. Hall’s core statements on the esoteric purpose and occult backstory of the United States. In these two volumes appears Hall’s thrilling thesis that democracy and personal liberty are part of a “Great Plan” extending from the pharaonic era to Hellenic secret societies to illumined intellects such as Francis Bacon and Christopher Columbus to modern expressions of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, finally blossoming among the ideals of America’s Founders. In his introduction, Mitch explores the historicism of Hall’s writing on America, highlighting lasting points and augmenting the record where new information is available. Mitch specifically considers the Atlantean thesis from the perspective of the twenty-first century; reviews Hall’s career-long influence on President Ronald Reagan; examines the eye-and-pyramid of the Great Seal of the United States; contextualizes the impact of Freemasonry on the nation’s founding; explores Mesoamerican civilization and its complexities; and critically considers the role of secret societies in modern life. “Hall ranks among the few historical writers who at least recognized the inceptive role of Freemasonry in America’s founding,” Mitch writes, “a perspective only recently granted overdue treatment in scholarly literature.” Indeed, it was Manly P. Hall alone who kept alive the light of esoteric ideas—and their role in the nation’s formation—during the time he produced these seminal volumes. They are presented here, with a substantial historical introduction, in their definitive form.
An overview of how esoteric brotherhoods have shaped history • Examines the secret chronology and clandestine causes of seminal world events • Shows how secret societies feed into one another, and how they have worked together For thousands of years secret societies--guardians of ancient esoteric wisdom--have exercised a strong and often crucial influence on the destiny of nations. Though largely ignored by orthodox historians, the Freemasons, Knights Templar, and Rosicrucians affected the course of the French and American Revolutions as well as the overthrow of the medieval feudal order. Inevitably, the true ideals and esoteric practices of these societies have, at times, been perverted by self-serving individuals. The Nazis and the Bolsheviks, British security forces, the founding fathers of America, and the Vatican have all justified their actions--for good or for ill--by claiming the mystic ideals of secret societies. Michael Howard explores these connections, tracing their effects in politics and statecraft from the time of ancient Egypt up to the present. He sheds light on the influence of secret societies on governments and in the lives of many well-known figures, including Frederick the Great, John Dee, Francis Bacon, Benjamin Franklin, Comte de Cagliostro, Helena Blavatsky, Rasputin, and Woodrow Wilson. He contends that the recent formation of the European Union was directed by an umbrella group of secret societies and reveals that though secret societies have been persecuted throughout history, they have survived and continue to operate powerfully in world affairs today.
'Searching for the Secret River is the extraordinary story of how Kate Grenville came to write her award-winning novel, The Secret River. It all began with her ancestor Solomon Wiseman transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life who later became a wealthy man and built his colonial mansion on the Hawkesbury. Increasingly obse...
The dawning of the nineteenth century found the Jews of Eastern Europe torn between the forces of progress and reaction as they took their first tentative steps toward the modern world. In a war of words and of books, Haskaia–the Jewish Enlightenment–did battle with the religious revival movement known as Hasidism. Perl, an ardent advocate of Enlightenment, unleashed the opening salvo with the publication in 1819 of Revealer of Secrets. The novel tried to pass itself off as a hasidic holy book when it was, in fact, a broadside against Hasidism–a parody of its teachings and of the language of its holy books. The outraged hasidim responded by buying up and burning as many copies as they could. Dov Taylor's careful translation and commentary make this classic of Hebrew literature available and accessible to the contemporary English-speaking reader while preserving the integrity and bite of Perl's original. With Hasidism presently enjoying a remarkable rebirth, the issues in Revealer of Secrets are all the more relevant to those seeking to balance reason and faith. As the first Hebrew novel, the work will also be of great interest to students of modern Hebrew literature and modern Jewish history.