Ancient Cults

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world.

The strange and sinister world of cults is a source of endless fascination. Their secrets, rituals and shadowy hierarchies make for some of the most disturbing and shocking revelations in history. Most chilling of all is the fact that many of their followers forfeit all independence in order to carry out the often sadistic bidding of a mysterious master manipulator - and continue to defend their leader to this day.

Belief and Cult argues that belief isn't uniquely Christian but was central to ancient Roman religion. Drawing on cognitive theory, Jacob Mackey shows that despite having nothing to do with salvation or faith, belief underlay every aspect of Roman religious practices—emotions, individual and collective cult action, ritual norms, social reality, and social power. In doing so, he also offers a thorough argument for the importance of belief to other non-Christian religions.

Vampire siblings challenge the unholy powers of destiny to save a multitude of worlds from mass destruction in the third book of this apocalyptic adventure.

Historians Cameron Thorne and Amanda Spencer-Gunn discover a fourteenth-century journal which confirms a long-rumored historical heresy: The medieval Church outlawed the Knights Templar because the warrior monks were secretly worshiping the ancient Goddess. The journal also sucks Cam and Amanda into the orbit of a ruthless cabal of modern-day pagans intent on pushing America into the loving arms of the Goddess—whether America wants succor there or not.

Reveals how we can each reconnect to collective intelligence and return our world to wholeness, balance, and sanity Explains how collective intelligence manifests in flocks of birds, instantaneous knowing in indigenous peoples, and the power of sacred places Offers ways for us to...

Sarah Wright has a job to die for. She never asked for it, never even filled out an application. To be fair, she didn’t ask to die either. Ever since she woke up as a vampire, she only wanted to unlive in as ordinary a way as possible. Alas, the realities of undeath and awakening to the greater existence of the supernatural made certain demands of the family. Now Sarah runs errands for the vampire boss of Seattle. It isn’t such a bad gig when she’s not being shot at, chased, clawed up, thrown around, or scrambling to keep her family safe.

Demons, jinn, possession, sinister artifacts, and gruesome archaeological discoveries haunt this new book by Dr. Heather Lynn. Evil Archaeology investigates the archaeological record for artifacts and evidence of evil entities, revealing how demons from the ancient world may be dwelling among us. It also looks at the history and lore behind real relics believed to be haunted and includes historical accounts of demonic possession that go as far back as King Solomon invoking demons to help him build his famed temple.

The reverence that ancient Egyptians had for certain animals evolved during the long duration of Pharaonic history until the Late Period animals of specific species were mummified by the thousands as offerings for their associated deities. For instance, ibises were mummified for the god Thoth, while cats were mummified for the goddess Bastet. Although most of the animal mummies discovered in the Sacred Animal Necropolis of Saqqara are the thousands of nameless ibises, falcons, crocodiles, and cats, the region was also home to another, more important animal cult.

In the early Roman Empire, as Christianity struggled to gain a foothold and survive in the polytheistic pool of Roman theology, its greatest rivals weren't the Caesars or the Roman aristocracy but rather the faith and devotion of the common Roman legionary. The faith of these men was centered on the god Mithras, who, they believed, led them to victory upon the field of battle and had done so for nearly four centuries.

The city of Heliopolis was one of ancient Egypt’s most important religious centers, the focus of the civilization’s solar cult, and a destination for pilgrims for nearly 3,000 years. Heliopolis’ origins were quite humble though, and it does not appear that it was ever planned to be a great city. The city began as a small settlement in the late 4th millennium BC, but within a couple of hundred years it became the center of Egypt’s solar religion, due to several fortuitous circumstances.