Placating The Demons

This book critically examines dominant ceremonial practices in Sri Lanka. It presents key ideas and symbolic systems that exist to this day, in similar shapes or in different guises. It looks at issues such as misfortunes caused by demons (yaksa dosa), an important ceremonial practice known as the puna-yāgaya, ideas pertaining to spirit possession, trance, and mediums. It also deals with classical Ayurvedic theories of disease, urban ceremonial practices such as cases of the apotheoses from demon to divinity, as well as multiple forms of Buddhist ceremonial practices that are part of the Sri Lankan consciousness and have found their way into public cultural performances in Sri Lanka. As a comprehensive volume on ceremonial practices in Sri Lanka, this work will be useful for scholars and researchers in cultural studies, sociology, social-anthropology, and particularly those interested in myths and rituals in South Asia.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Booklist’s Top Ten Best Horror of 2016 selection The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft The Demons of King Solomon is the innovative sequel to JournalStone Publishing’s bestselling anthology The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft. This anthology explores the legendary demonic bestiary of King Solomon by bringing together popular authors in horror, occultism, and dark fantasy, including many NY Times bestsellers, as well as featuring original artwork by John Coulthart and descriptions of the demons by Richard Smoley. The mythology of King Solomon and his Solomonic magic played a key role in the history of magic and occultism and influenced countless haunting and fantastical tales. The traditions of goëtia and grimoire owe their uniqueness to the legendary accounts of different classes, abilities, and categories of demons. Asmodeus, Belial, Abyzou, and Marchosias—these cryptic, evocative names continue to fascinate and terrify those who dare to utter them. The Demons of King Solomon collects twelve all-new demonic tales from: Asmodeus (Stephen Graham Jones) Marchosias (Michelle Belanger) Ephippas (Whitley Strieber) Ronove (Ronald Malfi) Amdusias (Philip Fracassi) Hanar (Jonathan Maberry) Ornias (Richard Chizmar) Buer (Scott Sigler) Agaras (R.S. Belcher) Abyzou (J.D. Horn) Caim (Seanan McGuire) Belial (Michael Griffin) Commentary on each demon by Richard Smoley

"The best book on Bali for the serious visitor…Has the freshness of personal experience."—Dr. Hildred Geertz, author of Kinship in Bali and Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University In Bali, what you see—sekala—is a colorful world of ceremony, ritual, dance, and drama. What you don't see what is occult—niskala—is the doctrine underlying the pageants, the code underlying the rites, and the magic underlying the dance. In this book, author Fred Eiseman explores both tangibles and intangibles in the realm of Balinese religion, ritual, and performing arts. The essays collected here topics ranging from Hindu mythology to modern gamelan music. Eiseman's approach is that of a dedicated reporter in love with his subject—he has the knowledge and patience to explain the near–infinite permutations of the Balinese calendar, and yet he is still moved by the majesty of the great Eka Dasa Rudra ceremony. The author's 28 years experience on the island shows, and this book rewards close reading—even by the most seasoned students of Balinese culture.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1864.

In the history of humanity as well as in the brief and recent history of the new paradigms in science, we find theories of the way the heavens and the earth are or should be. In this book our intention is to examine in depth those that build bridges. Humanity and consciousness are positioned as the foundation of the human being in the face of those who would reduce him to a genetic robot. Based on many years of work in the field, we are offering a possible doorway to healing as a bridge of knowledge in day-to-day life so that my masters, my patients, can receive what they have taught me: the magic of transforming an obstacle into a lever. This book is therefore both theoretical and practical, in order to assist in resolving those painful repetitions of our ancestors’ lives-blind programming and painful wounds, with a view to finding a healing path (nature’s, and therefore evolution’s, secret) in which the psychology of complexity serves to reconcile us with life in our afflicted and opportune world.