Modern Spirituality

Throughout much of the 19th century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago.

From the dawn of time, crystals have been a source of power and healing for all living beings. Humans discovered that these magical stones could do miraculous things and so built their cultures around them. They used them to create powerful magic, they gave them to their rulers to give them divine guidance, and they used them to make their average lives more magical in even the smallest ways. In modern times, crystals play a crucial role in our lives; they are utilized in technology. However, the true power of crystals goes beyond parts of a motherboard and cell phone screens.

This comprehensive guide delves deep into the history and meanings of each of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark, the oldest known runic alphabet. It explores the mythology and lore surrounding these ancient symbols and provides practical guidance for how you can use them in your own spiritual practices and personal development.

What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church. Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country....

This comprehensive book presents a political philosophy from the perspective that the Gospel pertains to all of life, including politics. Politics—According to the Bible is an in-depth analysis of conservative and liberal plans to do good for the nation, evaluated in light of the Bible and common sense.

A book that brings to light the true essence of Buddhism as a religion that inspires in each one of us a yearning for a higher and better life, one full of virtue, spiritual joy, and service to fellow human beings. A book that firmly reminds us that every man must be a fabricator of his own salvation, that The Buddha does not proclaim himself to be a savior but only professes to teach us the way we can liberate ourselves as he has liberated himself.

In this inspirational audio program, best-selling author and lecturer Marianne Williamson offers her insights on a variety of issues that confront many of us in our daily lives. This collection of live lectures includes: Letting Go/Becoming Your Potential; Spiritual Victory/The Power of Forgiveness; Balancing Masculine and Feminine; and Love Is Real, Nothing Else Is/Praying for Changes.

Thou shalt in no way use this sacred science to offend the great God, and to work ill unto thy neighbor; thou shalt communicate it unto no living person whom dost not thoroughly know by long practice and conversation, examining well whether such a person really intendeth to work for the good or for the evil. And if thou shalt wish to grant it unto him, thou shalt well observe and punctually, the same fashion and manner, which I have made use of with thee, and if thou doest otherwise, he who shall receive it shall draw no fruit therefrom.

Prophecy and Modern Times is a delightfully arranged collection of prophecies from both ancient and modern prophets. A foreword by President Ezra Taft Benson sets the stage. Learn how to interpret and understand prophecy. Learn its purpose in your own life. Next, read about prophecies concerning America and Palestine, and see how those ancient men foresaw events that we are living through right now.

Tarot for Beginners is a beginner’s guide to reading tarot cards. Tarot reading is a practice that uses a deck of 78 cards to divine information about the past, present, or future. It helps you understand information that you would otherwise have no chance of knowing. The physical world provides us many sensations, but through tarot, we can also add senses from the spiritual world to our repertoire, making tarot readers more knowledgeable than ever!

The modern dating system is bankrupt. It does not train young people to form a relationship but rather to form a series of relationships, hardening themselves to all but the current one. Recreational dating encourages emotional attachments without covenantal fences and makes a joke of a father's authority. The disrespect children have for their fathers in this area is an echo of the disrespect fathers have for their own office.

Step into your power and feel confident in your magick with this modernized and inclusive approach to witchcraft. Charlotte Wilde teaches you foundational skills, such as raising and grounding energy, and then guides you into greater workings, including how to create your own spells. As an eclectic witch, Charlotte shares a collage of practices you can choose from to use in your own path.

In this dazzling global history that charts five centuries of innovation and change, Alec Ryrie makes the case that Protestants made the modern world. Protestants introduces us to the men and women who defined and redefined this quarrelsome faith. Some turned to their newly accessible bibles to justify bold acts of political opposition, others to support a new understanding of who they were and what they could and should do. Above all, they were willing to fight for their beliefs.

While much of church planting today is approached as an innovative new effort, church leaders can take comfort in the truth that they are simply stewards of what the faithful church has been doing for millennia. By rediscovering the foundations of our heritage, we are able to build healthier, more faithful, and more effective churches. At the same time, the act of planting new churches can breathe new life into these ancient traditions as they are applied to a variety of cultural contexts.

William C. Martin has freshly reinterpreted the Tao Te Ching to speak directly and clearly to the most difficult of modern tasks—parenting. With its combination of free verse and judicious advice, The Parent's Tao Te Ching addresses the great themes that permeate the Tao and that support loving parent-child relationships: responding without judgment, emulating natural processes, and balancing between doing and being.

Five hundred years after Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses ushered in the Reformation, best-selling author and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong delivers 12 forward-thinking theses to spark a new reformation to reinvigorate Christianity and ensure its future. Spong contends that there is mounting pressure among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity - a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma.

Why are scholars so prone to fabricate a new Jesus? Why is the public so eager to accept such claims without question? What methods and assumptions predispose scholars to distort the record? Is there a more sober approach to finding the real Jesus? Commenting on such recent releases as Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, James Tabor's The Jesus Dynasty, Michael Baigent's The Jesus Papers and the Gospel of Judas, Craig Evans offers a sane approach to examining the sources for understanding the historical Jesus.

This comprehensive guide, "Sabbats and Esbats: A Modern Witch's Guide to Wiccan Rituals," empowers you to connect with the natural world and the divine through the rich tapestry of Wiccan traditions. Embark on a journey exploring the eight Sabbats – the solar holidays marking the Wheel of the Year including Solstices and Equinoxes – and the Esbats – rituals held during the potent phases of the New and Full Moon.

Witchcraft meets astrology in this comprehensive guide to the power of the planets tailored specifically for witches so you can incorporate the celestial study into your spells and magical rituals. This guide to astrology was written just for witches, with information to help you understand how the positions of the celestial bodies can affect your magic and spellcraft—and how you can use a deeper understanding of the zodiac to strengthen your magic by becoming in tune with the planets.

The first comprehensive history of modern American evangelicalism to appear in a generation, American Apocalypse shows how a group of radical Protestants, anticipating the end of the world, paradoxically transformed it.