Leo Ruickbie
Leo Ruickbie is a British historian and sociologist of religion, specializing in exceptional experiences, paranormal beliefs, magic, witchcraft and Wicca. He is the author of several books, beginning with ''Witchcraft Out of the Shadows'', a 2004 publication outlining the history of witchcraft from ancient Greece until the modern day. Ruickbie was born in Scotland and took a master's degree in Sociology and Religion at the University of Lancaster. He then studied at King's College London and was an awarded a PhD for his thesis entitled ''The Re-Enchanters: Theorising Re-Enchantment and Testing for its Presence in Modern Witchcraft''. On Samhain 2007 he launched Open Source Wicca, a project inspired by the open-source software movement aimed at making the founding texts of Wicca more readily available by releasing them under a Creative Commons licence. In 2008 and 2009 he exhibited on the subject of witchcraft in France. He is also a council member of the Society for Psychical ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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King's College, London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV and the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. It is one of the Third-oldest university in England debate, oldest university-level institutions in England. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology (1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (in 1998). King's operates across five main campuses: the historic Strand Campus in central London, three other Thames-side campuses (Guy's, St Thomas' an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism. The three founders, William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell Mathers, were Freemasons and members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Westcott appears to have been the initial driving force behind the establishment of the Golden Dawn. Hence the Golden Dawn system was based on hierarchy and initiation, similar to Masonic lodges. While th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Rosemary Ellen Guiley (July 8, 1950 - July 18, 2019) was an American writer on topics related to spirituality, the occult, and the paranormal. She was also a radio show host, a certified hypnotist, a board director of the "National Museum of Mysteries and Research" and the "Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters", and a "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner from the Upper Peninsula Paranormal Research Society, Michigan. She has written more than 49 books, including ten encyclopedias. Guiley died on Thursday, July 18, 2019, after a battle with colon cancer. Works Her works include ''Atlas of the Mysterious in North America'' (1995) – a listing of places in Canada and the US associated with mysterious occurrences; ''The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft''; ''Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience'' – a reference book on topics related to spirituality, mythology and New Age; and ''The Encyclopedia of Angels''. In 2011, Guiley published ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Ghost Club
The Ghost Club is a paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest such organisation in the world, though its history has not been continuous. The club still investigates mainly ghosts and hauntings. History 1862 establishment The club has its roots in Cambridge in 1855, where fellows at Trinity College began to discuss ghosts and psychic phenomena.Peter Underwood (1978) "Dictionary of the Supernatural", Harrap Ltd., London, , p. 144 Launched officially in London in 1862, it counted Charles Dickens among its members. One of the club's earliest investigations was of the Davenport brothers and their "spirit cabinet" hoax, the club challenging the Davenports' claim of contacting the dead. The group continued to undertake practical investigations of spiritualist phenomena, a topic then in vogue, meeting to discuss ghostly subjects. 1882 revitalisation The club was revived on All Saints Day 1882 by the medium ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ghost Hunting
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating list of reportedly haunted locations, locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has ever been able to confirm the existence of ghosts. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, science writers and skeptics. Science historian Brian Regal described ghost hunting as "an unorganized exercise in futility". Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect "evidence" supporting the existence of paranormal, paranormal activity. Ghost hunters also refer to themselves as paranormal investigators. Ghost hunters use a variety of electronic devices, including EMF meters, digital thermometers, both handheld and static digital camera, digital video cameras, including thermographic camera, thermographic and night vision, night vision cameras, Night-vision device, night vision goggles, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Constable & Robinson
Constable & Robinson Ltd. is an imprint of Little, Brown which publishes fiction and non-fiction books and ebooks. History Constable & Co. was founded in 1795 by Archibald Constable, and became the publisher of works by Sir Walter Scott. In 1897, Constable released the well-known horror novel, Bram Stoker's ''The Un-Dead'', albeit with a last-minute title change to ''Dracula''. In 1813, the company was the first publishing company to give an author advance against royalties. In 1821, it introduced the standard three-volume novel, and in 1826, with the launch of the book series ''Constable's Miscellany'', it became the first publisher to produce mass-market literary editions. By 1921, Constable & Robinson Ltd. was the first publishing house to advertising books on the London Underground. Ralph Arnold joined the firm in 1936, rising to chairman between 1958 and 1961. In his memoir ''Orange Street and Brickhole Lane'' (1963) he described the firm as having "a strangely e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The History Press
The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 books per year and with a backlist of over 12,000 titles. Created in December 2007, The History Press integrated core elements of the NPI Media Group within it, including all existing published titles, plus all the future contracts and publishing rights contained in them. At the time of founding, the imprints included Phillimore, Pitkin Publishing, Spellmount, Stadia, Sutton Publishing, Tempus Publishing and Nonsuch. History The roots of The History Press's publishing heritage can be traced back to 1897 when William Phillimore founded a publishing business which still carries his name, however the company itself evolved from the amalgamation of multiple smaller publishing houses in 2007 that formed part of the NPI Media Group. The lar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a Crossroads (folklore), crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for Works based on Faust, many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "''Faustian''" imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain. The Faust of early books – as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them – is irrevocably damned because he prefers human knowledge over divine knowledge: "He laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine". Chapbooks containing v ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paganism
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the Roman Empire, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population, or because they were not '' milites Christi'' (soldiers of Christ).J. J. O'Donnell (1977)''Paganus'': Evolution and Use, ''Classical Folia'', 31: 163–69. Alternative terms used in Christian texts were '' hellene'', '' gentile'', and '' heathen''. Ritual sacrifice was an integral part of ancient Greco-Roman religion and was regarded as an indication of whether a person was pagan or Christian. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry". During and after the Middle Ages, the term ''paganism'' was applied to any non-Christian religion, and the term presumed a belief in fal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment () is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modernized, bureaucratic, secularized Western society. In Western society, according to Weber, scientific understanding is more highly valued than belief, and processes are oriented toward rational goals, as opposed to traditional society, in which "the world remains a great enchanted garden". Enlightenment ambivalence Weber's ambivalent appraisal of the process of disenchantment as both positive ''and'' negative was taken up by the Frankfurt School in their examination of the self-destructive elements in Enlightenment rationalism. Jürgen Habermas has subsequently striven to find a positive foundation for modernity in the face of disenchantment, even while appreciating Weber's recognition of how far secular society was created from, and is still "haunted b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more generally. His ideas continue to influence social theory and social research, research. Born in Erfurt in 1864, Weber studied law and history in Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, and Heidelberg University, Heidelberg. After earning his doctorate in law in 1889 and habilitation in 1891, he taught in Berlin, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Weber, Marianne Schnitger two years later. In 1897, he had a breakdown after Max Weber Sr., his father died following an argument. Weber ceased teaching and travelled until the early 1900s. He recovered and wrote ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism''. During the First World War, he initia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Owen Davies (historian)
Owen Davies (born 1969) is a British historian who specialises in the history of magic, witchcraft, ghosts, and popular medicine. He is currently Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire and has been described as Britain's "foremost academic expert on the history of magic". Early life and education Davies's interest in the history of witchcraft and magic developed out of a childhood interest in folklore and mythology, which was spawned in part from reading the books of Alan Garner. From around the age of sixteen, he also became interested in archaeology and began to get involved with field-walking and Earthworks (engineering), earthwork surveying. He then went on to study archaeology and history at Cardiff University and spent many weeks over the next six years helping excavate Bronze Age and Neolithic sites in France and England, mostly in the area around Avebury. He developed a strong interest in archaeology in general, and the ritual monuments and practices of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |