Written by an avid student and accomplished practitioner, The Way of the Orisa provides an exhilarating introduction to the orisa, the powerful messenger spirits who act as our personal guardians. Through fables, rituals, prayers and simple guidelines, Philip Neimark shows how we can further...

" Bockie s] description of Kongo culture is vivid, beautifully clear, and absolutely authentic, as only a native could make it.... I don t know of anything of its kind that is both as good, ethnographically, and as readable." Wyatt MacGaffey

"Simon Bockie has written an engaging, often personal account of the views and behaviors surrounding death in his own society, the Kongo of Lower Zaire, northern Angola, and the Congo." Cahiers d Etudes africaines

..". excellent book of Kongo religious life and thought... " Religion

"It is a book that is remarkably well written, both...

..". a landmark in research of African oral traditions."--African Arts

..". a significant contribution to the understanding of Yoruba religious belief, magic, and art." --Journal of Religion in Africa

Yoruba texts and English translations of a divination system that originated in Nigeria and is widely practiced today by male and female diviners in the diaspora. A landmark edition.

"On his own terms, Brandon more than fulfills his promise to take the reader on the transatlantic journey of the orisha and to explore the complexities of African memory in the diaspora." American Historical Review

"He adeptly addresses broader issues, such as power relations within Caribbean slavery, multiculturalism, and the forms of religious accommodation to cultural change. In addition, he offers a fresh and cogent assessment of the production and reproduction of African beliefs and practices in new contexts. Brandon s exemplary archival research is supplemented by skillful...

Osun is a brilliant deity whose imagery and worldwide devotion demand broad and deep scholarly reflection. Contributors to the ground-breaking Africa's Ogun, edited by Sandra Barnes (Indiana University Press, 1997), explored the complex nature of Ogun, the orisa who transforms life through iron and technology. Osun across the Waters continues this exploration of Yoruba religion by documenting Osun religion. Osun presents a dynamic example of the resilience and renewed importance of traditional Yoruba images in negotiating spiritual experience, social identity, and political power in...

For many Africanist historians, traditional religion is simply a starting point for measuring the historic impact of Christianity and Islam. In Tongnaab, Jean Allman and John Parker challenge the distinction between tradition and modernity by tracing the movement and mutation of the powerful Talensi god and ancestor shrine, Tongnaab, from the savanna of northern Ghana through the forests and coastal plains of the south. Using a wide range of written, oral, and iconographic sources, Allman and Parker uncover the historical dynamics of cross-cultural religious belief and practice. They...

Concerned with Andean cosmology both as the manifestation of a system of belief and as a way of thinking or worldview that orders the social environment, this volume advances an explanation of why Andean indigenous communities are still recognizably Andean after a half-millennium of forced exposure to Western systems of thought and belief. Dealing with cultural authenticity in an Andean context, the essays describe a process facilitated by a cosmology which readily integrates the accoutrements of non-Andean community. At issue is not so much what is authentic but, rather, how it is...

Santeria, also known as Yoruba, Lukumi, or Orisha, was originally brought to the Americas from Africa by enslaved peoples destined for the Caribbean and South America. By the late 1980s it was estimated that more than 70 million African and American people participated in, or were familiar with, the various forms of Santeria, including traditional religions in Africa, Vodun in Haiti, Candomble in Brazil, Shango religion in Trinidad, Santeria in Cuba and, of course, variants of all of these in the U.S. Today there are practitioners around the world including Europe and Asia. Because of the...

It is impossible to discuss what shamans are and what they do, contends Gregory G. Maskarinec, without knowing what shamans say. When Maskarinec took an interest in shaman rituals on his first visit to Nepal, he was told by many Nepalis and Westerners that the shamans he had encountered in the Himalayan foothills of western Nepal engaged in "meaningless mumblings." But in the course of several years of fieldwork he learned from the shamans that both their long, publicly chanted rituals and their whispered, secretive incantations are oral texts meticulously memorized through years of...

A combination dictionary and annotated discography, videography and bibliography, this sourcebook brings together listings of materials on the Rastafarian movement and reggae music. . . . This sourcebook serves as a good introduction to Rastafari and reggae. Reference Books Bulletin

Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of Rastafari, this reference book traces the relationship between two intertwined aspects of Jamaican culture: Rastafari and reggae music. As important voices in the ongoing dialogue concerning Jamaica's search for a national identity, Rastafari and...

The first comprehensive study of its kind, this fully illustrated book establishes Paganism as a persistent force in European history with a profound influence on modern thinking.

From the serpent goddesses of ancient Crete to modern nature-worship and the restoration of the indigenous religions of eastern Europe, this wide-ranging book offers a rewarding new perspective of European history.

In this definitive study, Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick draw together the fragmented sources of Europe's native religions and establish the coherence and continuity of the Pagan...

Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth Century Syria presents an in-depth investigation of a variety of 'magical' practices with a focused study in the late antique Syria and Palestine.

Offering new research using both archaeological and literary sources, and blending Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions from both regions, Silke Trzcionka examines a myriad of magical activities such as:

• curses, spells and amulets
• accusations related to chariot races, love and livelihood
• methods involved in...