Folklore Magic

Women today are banding together in magical ways to celebrate and encourage one another, and many are turning to the sacred goddesses of the past to guide their way. Your Goddess Year provides a calendar of 52 goddesses along with fascinating background information, herstory, and reasons why invoking her power can strengthen and benefit you in your day-to-day life.

The last thing Mason Starling remembers is the train crossing a bridge. An explosion...a blinding light...then darkness. Now she is alone, stranded in Asgard - the realm of Norse legend - and the only way for her to get home is to find the Spear of Odin, a powerful relic left behind by vanished gods. The Fennrys Wolf knows all about Asgard. He was once trapped there. And he'll do whatever it takes to find the girl who's stolen his heart and bring her back - even if it means a treacherous descent into the Underworld.

Collected from storytellers on snow-capped mountains, and in eerie forests, opulent palaces and countries near and far, the captivating folk tales in this book have mesmerized generations. Injected with freshness, mystery, adventure and magic, Geeta Ramanujam retells her all-time favourite stories with a song here and a twist there.

Cursed Britain unveils the enduring power of witchcraft, curses, and black magic in modern times. Few topics are so secretive or controversial. Yet, whether in the 1800s or the early 2000s, when disasters struck or personal misfortunes mounted, many Britons found themselves believing in things they had previously dismissed—dark supernatural forces. Historian Thomas Waters here explores the lives of cursed or bewitched people, along with the witches and witch-busters who helped and harmed them.

Melony Yoshimura’s parents have always been overprotective. They say it’s because a demonic spirit called the Amanjaku once preyed upon kids back in Japan, but Melony suspects it’s just a cautionary tale to keep her in line. So on her twelfth birthday, Melony takes a chance and wishes for the freedom and adventure her parents seem determined to keep her from.

If you ask Delphinia Baker, she’d tell you she has all the family she needs. Sure, her mom passed away when she was young, her dad is often away on deployment, but even though Del has never had anyone she can call her people, she has always had her grandmother—and that’s enough. Besides, having no roots just makes it that much easier when you have to move again. All of that changes, though, when Gramma falls ill and Del is sent to stay with her great-grandmother. Del has never even heard of Nana Rose, and she has no interest in spending the summer on a hot island off the South Carolina coast.

Red doesn’t remember who she is or where she came from. In fact, her only memory is a terrifying, repeating dream of a threatening shadow and a foggy field. But after many years, she wonders if that’s just something she made up. Red does know that she now belongs with Yakaka, the witch who rescued Red when she was a little girl. Full of power and magic, Yakaka travels the world, healing the planet when it calls for her help.

Freddie Ruiz is cursed. While other people may have bad days, Freddie and his family have had bad generations: from bird poop splatting on him during picture day to the many tumbles and trips that earned him the nickname Faceplant Freddie.

This is the story of the greatest funambulist who ever lived. Born into a postwar circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus. Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child. But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

In the US and Canada, spiritualism's primary focus was on communication between the living and the dead. The spiritual tradition traveled around the world, especially in Latin America, where it evolved in different ways. The Puerto Rican influence on modern Western magic is profound but largely unheralded. Beginning in the early 20th century, Puerto Rican immigrants to the US introduced espiritismo to the US spiritual landscape, strongly affecting the way magic was practiced. Hector Salva's book places Puerto Rican espiritismo in this broader perspective.