Welcome to our book review site www.go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Myth, Ritual, and Visible Expressions of Obàtálá and Olókun in Ilé-Ife`
This book fills a gap in Yorùbá history and religion to provide an extensive analysis of two deities: O?bàtálá and Olókun. Drawing from oral accounts, chants, folk songs, praise poems, and verses from the Ifá corpus, the authors provide new insights into the worlds of both deities hitherto missing in the literature.
Memories of the Classical Underworld in Irish and Caribbean Literature
Classical Memories is an intervention into the field of adaptation studies, taking the example of classical reception to show that adaptation is a process that can be driven by and produce intertextual memories. I see ‘classical memories’ as a memory-driven type of adaptation that draws on and reproduces schematic and otherwise de-contextualised conceptions of antiquity and its cultural ‘exports’ in, broadly speaking, the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These memory-driven adaptations differ, often in significant ways, from more traditional adaptations that seek to either continue or deconstruct a long-running tradition that can be traced back to antiquity as well as its canoni...
The Secrets of the Mist Witches
The German term "Nebelhexe" (Mist Witch) is no longer an unknown word, you can find it in many places: In ghost stories, in books for children and grown-ups, it is used in comics and plays, as well as in poetry, as picture descriptions, and in fantasy- and role-playing games. A musician used it as her artist name, and as a pseudonym it is also used more and more often on the Internet. It is even used in recipes, as a type of beer, and as the name of a well-known tourist destination. The underlying customs and folk knowledge, including many folk tales from past centuries about the fog creatures from mainly the German-Dutch border area is presented here. In the book the dialect term "Witte Wieven" in this or similar spellings is often used for these supernatural mist women, who often have their dwellings in small hills or waters. By means of background information, collected customs and folk knowledge, more than 80 folk tales, some fictional but exciting stories and many decorative illustrations in color these fog creatures are presented here, but in a chapter of its own it also gives due attention to similar beings from other parts of the world.
Water from the Sacred Well
An illustrated exploration of the folklore and mythology of sacred water found throughout the world. A companion volume to Sacred Wells, Water From the Sacred Well continues the quest for the underlying sacredness associated with water and the universal themes found in folklore and religious traditions from around the world. Blending personal exploration with archaeology, folklore, and ancient traditions, Water From the Sacred Well takes the reader on a fascinating trip to surreal lakes, hot springs, and rivers in search of the spirit helpers, demons, faeries, mysterious Black Dogs, Women in White, Water Babies and the gods and goddesses that are part of this story. Water From the Sacred Well connects common themes found in water lore to sites around the world. Varner provides a glimpse into the world of spiritual development and the continuing rituals and traditions associated with life-giving waters and how these traditions continue to create a need for sacred space.
Aradia: Gospel of the Witches, Retold
A new translation of a 120-year-old book. Finally, you will know what it REALLY says! Be ready to change your impression of Charles Godfrey Leland's important work. Did Leland create a complete fiction? Was he duped by a wily Tuscan witch into believing he'd been given accurate information? Was his honest work changed, or delayed, by a publisher who feared the material? After you've read what the Italian verses actually say, you will have the answers to these and other questions that may have been forming in your mind.
Strangely Wrought Creatures of Life Dea
In his seventh book on folklore and symbolism, Gary R. Varner provides a look at strange and grotesque images we see everyday on our churches, banks and in our cemeteries. Images with origins far older than the structures they adorn. What are the meanings behind these grotesque creatures, why are carvings of griffins and dragons, unicorns and Green Men found throughout the world on churches and cathedrals, government buildings and even apartment buildings? Illustrated with over 50 original photographs, Varner explores the meanings of the carvings found on both old and contemporary buildings, from France and Great Britain to New York and California. In addition, Varner explores strange images that are commonly seen in our cemeteries, engraved on grave-markers and tombs. This is a book for anyone interested in symbolism and folklore, architectural history and the development of religion. Gary R. Varner is a member of the American Folklore Society and the Foundation for Mythological Studies.
Ash
Ash is a beautifully illustrated account of the botanical and cultural faces of the ash tree. The book maps the tree’s evolution and geographical spread across the entire Northern Hemisphere over the last 44 million years, and describes the 43 species that grace the planet today. Edward Parker also explores the botany, cultural history, and medicinal uses of the tree, from its significance in ancient Indo-European cultures, to its remarkable properties in treating Alzheimer’s disease. In addition he looks at topical issues, such as the devastating effects that the spread of the emerald ash borer beetle and the ash dieback fungal infection are having on Northern Hemisphere forests.
Creatures in the Mist
Varner brings together a medley of stories, myths, and folklore, sharing a fascination and respect for humankind''s early and contemporary cultures and wondering at similarities across the board. Here, he focuses on Little People and giants, animals and were-creatures, and the odd, helpful or threatening ways imputed to our earthly companions including dogs and cats, bats and spiders, and the stories people have told each other about them since time immemorial.
Hidden In Plain Sight
Sacramento. Capital of California and home to a half million people and hundreds of symbols and images from an ancient past. These are the same symbols that have been part of the framework of the human psyche for thousands of years. While contemporary man of the 21st century may think that they are simply decorative manifestations of a by-gone era, they represent so much more. They represent the fears, dreams, ideas, beliefs and struggles that humankind has endured since we began to walk upright. This book will survey many of the icons that still reside alongside modern man in Sacramento and will present them in a broader context both in the context of ancient history and folklore as well as a meaning that is suitable for our contemporary times. The locations of these images are also given so that the reader may seek them out at leisure. Gary R. Varner has authored numerous books on symbolism, folklore, mythology and Native American culture.
Psychic
None
