New Age Alternative Belief Books

Although some of its suggestions and theories would appear to be outdated, it is an excellent work and will drive the curious to seek out more information on the varied subjects it covers beneath the umbrella of Semetic magic as traced or linked to older sources and its influence over various cultures and religous ideologies.

It is filled with accounts of ghuls, ghosts, demons and gods. It roams amidst their horrid habitations and divulges some of their strange and terrible secrets whilst giving the wary some ideas of ancient protective measures against them. It covers many of the concepts of demonic possesion amoungst the ancients and expands on curious myths you may have seen only hints of through the Quran, Tanak or Christian bible. It is a great source for myths and magical details including an Assyrian ritual that would seem to be an ancient origin for the modern concept of the Qabbalistic Cross Ritual, the idea of laying on of hands in faith healing and the concept of a guardian being. To quote:

"Unto the house on entering
Samas (is) before me,
Sin (is) behind [me],
Nergal (is) at [my] right hand,
Ninib (is) at my left hand;
When I draw near unto the sick man,
When I lay my hand on the head of the sick man,
May a kindly Spirit, a kindly Guardian, stand at my side."

The quote above is one of many very interesting bits of information contained in this book. I recommend it highly.

I need to read this again to even try to speak clearly about it. This is not your ordinary sexual enhancement feel-good book. That would be very very far from the point of it.

It is many years worth of notes from private talks the author gave on techniques for an unusual path. If you are seriously interested in the subject then this book is worth getting. Good Luck!

I have read this book through and through, and I have read the brief review pannning the book and the response by the author, Eugene Taylor. I had two reactions: First, I found the author's "rebuttal" rather spooky. It was a mean-spirited response, not at all polite or -- dare I say -- spiritually enlightened, although the author hints at his own ability to see into the great beyond and to know more than the rest of us who are not blessed with such . . . experiences. He is apparently thin-skinned, and perhaps, after I read this book, I now see that he has reason to be. Which brings me to my second point, my review of the book: I found myself in total agreement with the reviewer from Lincoln, Mass. I'm sorry to say this, but the book is boring. And repetitive. And offers a thesis that is not very original at all. I have read many books on the history of New Age spirituality, and this is just so-so.

"Boring"--the pet phrase of the adolescent who's "little gray cells" have been overstretched by too much stimulation--is far from a correct portrayal of this fine book. It is a deeply intelligent, constantly fascinating, and highly readable account of the entire sweep of American spirituality, folk psychology, and the American visionary tradition from their beginnings in colonial days. From the visionaries and mystics of early 1700s, to the Quakers and Shakers, to Swedenborg, Blavatsky, and the New England Transcendentalists, and on to the Americanization of Jung and Freud, and finally to the modern transpersonal psychologies and spiritually inspired alternative therapies, this is a record of the passions and history of American spiritual life never before recorded with such clarity. Don't be fooled by trash reviews written by rash undergraduates (of all ages). This is a story without precedent, a landmark in American spiritual and intellectual history written by one of the foremost historians of our age.

Like some of the other reviewers I cannot say that this is an interesting book. I have read many New Age books, many of them quite scholarly. This is just not a good book. Sorry, Mr. Taylor -- better luck in the next life, eh?

Eugene Taylor offers a great explanation of the shadow culture in America since the first Great Awakening in this book. He explains every aspect of the spiritual history of the United States, including the Quakers, Shakers, Transcendentalists, Swamis, and even the counter-culture of the 1960s. I especially enjoyed the section on the Americanization of the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in psychology or religious studies. As a student of both, I found this book to be an excellent mixture of both disciplines.

Taylor does indeed present an overview of a certain sort of tradition that has not been well-surveyed to this point. His historiography, while not deep, is adequate, given the wide range of material. However, Taylor's own agenda so overwhelms the history that his assessment of particular figures is nearly useless. To contrast broadly the "Western rationalist tradition" with the "Western visionary tradition" - as he does in various ways at every opportunity - is little more than name-calling. His "faith" in something called "pure religious experience" is almost 100 years out-of-date -- has the author not realized that all experience (including religious experience) is shaped by language, culture, and tradition? Unsuspecting readers, beware: a position as a psychitrist at Harvard does not make up for a history that is little more than an advertisement for his own personal spiritual predilection.

I really enjoyed Mr. Olson's Translation, and I hope he keeps translating more and more . Tung Li