Showing posts with label Shakta Agama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shakta Agama. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power
Product Description
Sorcery has long been associated with the "dark side" of human development. Along with magic and witchcraft, it is assumed to be irrational and antithetical to modern thought. But in The Feast of the Sorcerer, Bruce Kapferer argues that sorcery practices reveal critical insights into how consciousness is formed and how human beings constitute their social and political realities.
Kapferer focuses on sorcery among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka to explore how the art of sorcery is in fact deeply connected to social practices and lived experiences such as birth, death, sickness, and war. He describes in great detail the central ritual of exorcism, a study which opens up new avenues of thought that challenge anthropological approaches to such topics as the psychological forces of emotion and the dynamics of power. Overcoming both "orientalist" bias and postmodern permissiveness, Kapferer compellingly reframes sorcery as a pragmatic, conscious practice which, through its dynamic of destruction and creation, makes it possible for humans to reconstruct repeatedly their relation to the world.
Kapferer focuses on sorcery among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka to explore how the art of sorcery is in fact deeply connected to social practices and lived experiences such as birth, death, sickness, and war. He describes in great detail the central ritual of exorcism, a study which opens up new avenues of thought that challenge anthropological approaches to such topics as the psychological forces of emotion and the dynamics of power. Overcoming both "orientalist" bias and postmodern permissiveness, Kapferer compellingly reframes sorcery as a pragmatic, conscious practice which, through its dynamic of destruction and creation, makes it possible for humans to reconstruct repeatedly their relation to the world.
Balancing the Chakras
Product Description
The chakras are a series of seven energy fields or centers of consciousness in the body which harbor latent divine energy known as Kundalini energy. The balance or imbalance of these vortices affects a person's health, as well as his or her emotional and spiritual well-being and evolution. The first section begins with a lesson on Kundalini energy and describes the chakras through colors, sounds, foods, and the elements. The second section presents holistic methods used for balancing: herbs, homeopathy, aromatherapy, astrology, polarity, bodywork, color therapy, sound therapy, proper diet and nutrition, yoga, affirmations, flower essences, and pranayama. The third section identifies symptoms of imbalance and techniques for self-healing.
About the Author
Maruti Seidman is on the faculty of Spectrum Center Schools of Massage in Lake Stevens, Washington and has been teaching Polarity Therapy in North and Central America for twenty years. He co-founded Twin Lakes College of Healing Arts in Santa Cruz, California. He is the author of A Guide to Polarity Therapy.
The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars: An Exhibition of Surprising Structures across Dimensions
From Scientific American
"In this book," Pickover writes, "we will go far beyond ordinary magic squares and consider many unusual variations, some in higher dimensions, all with mind-boggling patterns." You do not have to reach the "miniature epiphany" he says you might have while contemplating the intriguing structures he describes, but you should get instruction and pleasure from them. Pickover, a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, is the author of many other books on mathematical subjects. Editors of Scientific American --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today. -- Journal of Recreational Mathematics
Pickover just seems to exist in more dimensions than the rest of us. -- Ian Stewart, Scientific American
Clifford Pickover is many things--scientist, scholar, author, editor, and visionary. . . . -- Games
It is a safe bet to conjecture that this is the best recreational mathematics book that will be published in this year. . . . Pickover writes with his usual style and straightforward simplicity in this book. The material is presented well and can be understood by anyone with a basic middle school mathematics background. This is a cool book! -- Charles Ashbacker, Journal of Recreational Mathematics
Through accessible and readable prose and through detailed, highquality line illustrations, Pickover ably transports the general reader from culturally embedded traditional topics to a new and surprising frontier. -- Harold Don Allen, Mathematics Teacher
Pickover writes about his subject with contagious enthusiasm and comprehensive erudition. -- Choice
A splendid recreational book. . . . An extremely alluring page-turner. -- Andrew Bremner, Notices of the American Mathematical Society
Pickover just seems to exist in more dimensions than the rest of us. -- Ian Stewart, Scientific American
Clifford Pickover is many things--scientist, scholar, author, editor, and visionary. . . . -- Games
It is a safe bet to conjecture that this is the best recreational mathematics book that will be published in this year. . . . Pickover writes with his usual style and straightforward simplicity in this book. The material is presented well and can be understood by anyone with a basic middle school mathematics background. This is a cool book! -- Charles Ashbacker, Journal of Recreational Mathematics
Through accessible and readable prose and through detailed, highquality line illustrations, Pickover ably transports the general reader from culturally embedded traditional topics to a new and surprising frontier. -- Harold Don Allen, Mathematics Teacher
Pickover writes about his subject with contagious enthusiasm and comprehensive erudition. -- Choice
A splendid recreational book. . . . An extremely alluring page-turner. -- Andrew Bremner, Notices of the American Mathematical Society
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