Into The Mystic

Explores the visionary, mystical, and ecstatic traditions that influenced the music of the 1960s • Examines the visionary, spiritual, and mystical influences on the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, the Incredible String Band, the Left Banke, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, and others • Shows how the British Invasion acted as the “detonator” to explode visionary music into the mainstream • Explains how 1960s rock and roll music transformed consciousness on both the individual and collective levels The 1960s were a time of huge transformation, sustained and amplified by the music of that era: Rock and Roll. During the 19th and 20th centuries visionary and esoteric spiritual traditions influenced first literature, then film. In the 1960s they entered the realm of popular music, catalyzing the ecstatic experiences that empowered a generation. Exploring how 1960s rock and roll music became a school of visionary art, Christopher Hill shows how music raised consciousness on both the individual and collective levels to bring about a transformation of the planet. The author traces how rock and roll rose from the sacred music of the African Diaspora, harnessing its ecstatic power for evoking spiritual experiences through music. He shows how the British Invasion, beginning with the Beatles in the early 1960s, acted as the “detonator” to explode visionary music into the mainstream. He explains how 60s rock and roll made a direct appeal to the imaginations of young people, giving them a larger set of reference points around which to understand life. Exploring the sources 1960s musicians drew upon to evoke the initiatory experience, he reveals the influence of European folk traditions, medieval Troubadours, and a lost American history of ecstatic politics and shows how a revival of the ancient use of psychedelic substances was the strongest agent of change, causing the ecstatic, mythic, and sacred to enter the consciousness of a generation. The author examines the mythic narratives that underscored the work of the Grateful Dead, the French symbolist poets who inspired Bob Dylan, the hallucinatory England of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, the tale of the Rolling Stones and the Lord of Misrule, Van Morrison’s astral journeys, and the dark mysticism of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. Evoking the visionary and apocalyptic atmosphere in which the music of the 1960s was received, the author helps each of us to better understand this transformative era and its mystical roots.

Daniel Devereaux was the successful, rich and handsome owner of the Devereaux Fishing fleets in Boston, Massachusetts, with the world at his fingertips...but he was a man drowning in pain. Seduced into marrying the wrong woman, his life was a nightmare until the miraculous day a gentle smile from a beautiful stranger made him want to live again. From that moment, he could not rest until she was his. Alea Gabrielle was a brilliant orthopedic surgeon from Chicago, dedicated to her work, with no time for love. She never expected to feel the flames of passion that were lit the day she met Daniel Devereaux. But she hid a painful secret, a secret from her past she was too ashamed to reveal, until Daniel. From childhood, Daniel had learned to dive, surf and fish the sparkling turquoise waters of Spanish Wells, Eleuthera as well as any native Bahamian. He longed to share the wonders of the islands with Alea and took her on a trip that would ultimately change their lives forever. While on their honeymoon on his private cruiser, Into The Mystic, the most destructive solar flare in earth's history obliterates electrical power worldwide, flinging life for mankind 40,000 backwards. Alone and powerless on the Atlantic ocean with a hurricane approaching, Into The Mystic drifts to a stunning but curiously uninhabited island where Daniel and Alea must learn to survive, marooned and alone, until the world of men finds them once more. Little do they know the important role they will play in re-shaping the cruel new age in which they found themselves. Will the island people of Spanish Wells and Eleuthera be able to adapt to the perilous world threatening not only their lives, but the future of their children as well? Can man's true source of power defeat the forces of evil and oppression?Into The Mystic is a novel of Survival, Hope, and the Power of Love

Six tales of fantasy and romance to enchant, move, and delight: a world of magic and fairy tales interweaved with the supernatural and a bit of steamy romance thrown in for good measure.

“With the elegance of simplicity, this book takes you on an exploration of consciousness that will shift you to a higher reality.” —Deepak Chopra, New York Times–bestselling author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success Constructed around a series of late-night conversations around a campfire between Cheryl Simone and Sadhguru Vasudev on an island in the middle of a Western North Carolina lake near her mountain home, Midnights with the Mystic is the most thorough exposition of the teachings of India’s most sought-after mystic. Sadhguru challenges us to embrace the possibility that to each of us is available a higher realm of reality, a peak of consciousness—an entrée into the realm of freedom and bliss. Simone, an Atlanta real estate developer, was the typical baby boomer in search of an authentic spiritual experience. Professionally successful, yet spiritually arid, she discovered a way into what she was looking for in the teachings of Sadhguru. Concrete and down-to-earth, Midnights with the Mystic provides both an introduction to profound spiritual teaching and a personal glimpse of a charismatic guru. “If you read this powerful book, you will discover who you really are, who we all are.” —Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God

Three years after losing her family in a car crash, Grace MacKenna is set to inherit her stepfather's ancestral estate among the mountains of West Virginia. Seeking solace and healing, Grace discovers the ghost of William Kavanaugh, a dashing Civil War captain in Virginia's 17th Infantry, haunts the property. When William charms Grace into investigating the mystery that led to his death a hundred and fifty years ago, she finds herself drawn into a world of chivalry and honor, but also deception with secrets too dark to speak aloud. Meanwhile, Clay Baxter, home from service in Afghanistan, fights his own demons and ghosts. When Clay senses Grace falling deeper into the realm of the dead, he seeks to pull her back. But is he too late? Torn between her love for two mysterious young men - one living and one dead - Grace stands in the shadows of the Antietam Battlefield with a choice: one that could leave Grace lost forever, -crossing into the Mystic.-

The author presents a deeply insightful assessment of the various causes of human suffering that is so rampant in the 21st century, despite all the technological advances.

To those without time or inclination for intensive spiritual reading and study, this handbook is a find! The work is firmly grounded in Scripture and Christian teachings on growth through contemplation. The wisdom of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross has been distilled to help us understand the stages and experiences of the inner journey. The reader is guided through the classic works of these time-tested directors, in a logical, easily understood fashion. Enlightenment, encouragement, and energy are drawn from these pages, and a sense of adventure beckons the reader to new perspectives. For over a quarter century the author, married and mother of eight, has been nourished by these masters and by the way of life of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. Drawing on her experience in counseling and teaching contemplative meditation, she meets the need for a practical modern guidebook.

Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian's list of the ten most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time. Since its completion in 1432, this twelve-panel oil painting has been looted in three different wars, burned, dismembered, forged, smuggled, illegally sold, censored, hidden, attacked by iconoclasts, hunted by the Nazis and Napoleon, used as a diplomatic tool, ransomed, rescued by Austrian double-agents, and stolen a total of thirteen times. In this fast-paced, real-life thriller, art historian Noah Charney unravels the stories of each of these thefts. In the process, he illuminates the whole fascinating history of art crime, and the psychological, ideological, religious, political, and social motivations that have led many men to covet this one masterpiece above all others.