From the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible and Abraham comes a revelatory journey across four continents and 4,000 years exploring how Adam and Eve introduced the idea of love into the world, and how they continue to shape our deepest feelings about relationships, family, and togetherness. Since antiquity, one story has stood at the center of every conversation about men and women. One couple has been the battleground for human relationships and sexual identity. That couple is Adam and Eve. Yet instead of celebrating them, history has blamed them for bringing sin, deceit, and death into the world. In this fresh retelling of their story, New York Times columnist and PBS host Bruce Feiler travels from the Garden of Eden in Iraq to the Sistine Chapel in Rome, from John Milton's London to Mae West's Hollywood, discovering how Adam and Eve should be hailed as exemplars of a long-term, healthy, resilient relationship. At a time of discord and fear over the strength of our social fabric, Feiler shows how history's first couple can again be role models for unity, forgiveness, and love. Containing all the humor, insight, and wisdom that have endeared Bruce Feiler to readers around the world, The First Love Story is an unforgettable journey that restores Adam and Eve to their rightful place as central figures in our culture's imagination and reminds us that even our most familiar stories still have the ability to surprise, inspire, and guide us today.

Written for the spiritually-minded woman, Spiritual Rules describes how Kabbalah views relationships and what makes them work (or not work); and reveals that it is the woman who holds the power to determine the outcome. The book explains the spiritual reasons behind the different ways that men and women think and act in a relationship. And who better to reveal to women the secrets of men and marriage than a kabbalist? Author Yehuda Berg is not just any man, but a kabbalistic teacher who regularly provides counsel to hundreds of individuals and couples, and who is happily married himself. His book is based on the principles of Kabbalah, but the ideas and methods he presents will resonate with people of all backgrounds. This is not a book of dating tips, although its rules do work. They have to work: They are the Laws of the Universe. You will learn about the Law of Attraction (Like attracts Like), and about the Vessel and the Light and their respective roles. You’ll find the true meaning of the term “soul mate;” and why it is that your soul mate has to find you, not the other way around.

Here is your encyclopedia of Doll Magic! Toy Dolls; Stuffed Animals; Wooden Dolls; Cloth, Leather, and Sock Dolls; Knitted and Crocheted Dolls; Bone,?Horn, Antler, and?Feather?Dolls; Clay, Mud, and Dirt?Dolls; Paper Dolls; Wax, Butter, Fat, and?Meat Dolls; Twig and Stick Dolls; Rope and Twine Dolls; Loaded?Statuary Dolls; Figural?Candle Dolls; Photograph and?Tintype?Dolls; Dough, Bread, and?Cookie Dolls; and Corn?Husk?Dolls.Learn the basic techniques: How to link an effigy to a person, how to baptize it, speak to it, feed it, and keep it working for you, as well as how and why to stab, cut, tie, bind, burn, drown, deploy, dispose of, kill, and unmake your magical dolls.Dozens of step-by-step doll spells! Complete lists of herbs, roots, and incense powders to stuff inside them, liquids to splash on them, and prayers to say over them are included. More than 50 pages of traditional spells: Dolls for Romance and Love, to Draw and Hold Money, for Power and Success, to cause Pain and Suffering, to Cleanse and Heal, and for Protection, plus a bonus chapter on Venerated Idols and Fetishes.A complete course in doll magic in one handy book!

Tales of magic and wonder can be found in every phase of Jewish literature, from the sacred to the secular. The fairy tale in particular--set in enchanted lands and populated with a variety of human and supernatural beings, both good and evil--holds a very special place in the Jewish tradition. For in the fairy tale, where good and evil engage in a timeless struggle, we have a clear reflection of the Jewish world view, where faith in God can defeat the evil impulse. In Elijah's Violin, Howard Schwartz offers a sumptuous collection of thirty-six Jewish fairy tales from virtually every corner of the world. At once otherworldy and earthy, pious and playful, these celebrated tales from Morocco and India, Spain and Eastern Europe, Babylon and Egypt, illustrate not only their Jewish character but also their universality of themes. Invoking the biblical tale of David and Goliath, we read as King David defeats the giant by hovering above its spear in King David and the Giant. In the romantic tale of The Princess in the Tower, a variant of Rapunzel, we watch as the cautious King Solomon recognizes the vanity in trying to prevent Providence from taking place. And we see the religious nature of the quest for Elijah's violin in the title story. The successful completion of the king's quest enables the violin's imprisoned melodies, emblematic of the Jewish spirit, to be set free. Throughout this richly illustrated collection, one can find the quests and riddles of the traditional fairy tale along with the divine intervention that characterizes the Jewish fairy tale. Skillfully translated, these stories will captivate children and adults alike in which romance and magic become enchantingly entwined with faith, duty, and wisdom.

" Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love makes a powerful statement about the realities of gay and lesbian psyche. A gay and lesbian psychic perspective may at first be startling, but once examined, it proves to be unforgettable." - The Advocate

Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. Based on the movie Miracle in East Texas , this is the story of two aging, fast-talking hucksters: Doc Boyd and Dad Everett. These hard-luck con men make their living swindling widows during the Great Depression by selling them shares in sham oil wells. The truth is that they're selling hope and more romance than the widows they swindle have ever known. Once they've sold about a thousand percent of these fraudulent shares, they declare the well a dry hole and head for greener pastures. Then, miraculously, every lie they tell comes true. They hit not just an oil well but the richest strike in North America. They should cap the well, declare it a dry hole, and make their getaway. But then they would have to walk away from being honest oilmen for the first time in their larcenous lives. What follows is funny and poignant, romantic and inspiring. This tall tale inspired by an absolutely true story comes from a time when bums became billionaires and sinners became saints.

Part fictional narrative, part send-up of the New Age movement, and part comedic triumph, Tales of Tongue Fu splits the reader's sides with hilarious misadventures and wicked social commentary. The book's hero, Tongue Fu, evolves from the humble son of a radioactive mother and a kamikaze pilot father to a guru -- with an incredibly long tongue, which he uses for both romance and martial arts. Tongue Fu meets a cadre of riotous characters along his way, from Baba Blabla, who has been silent for 30 years, to Rosebud Zwaliyeh, an activist who joins a cult. At every turn, comedy legend Krassner skewers phony spiritualism with his formidable wit, and endlessly entertains with his razor-sharp satire and notorious sense of humor, as Trina Robbins delights with her singular artistic vision.

The ancient wisdom of the great Hebrew mystics makes one essential promise: "There is a better way to live." In his follow-up to the national bestseller "Soul Prints," renowned spiritual leader Marc Gafni addresses the ever-important issue of our erotic connection to the universe. "The Mystery of Love"takes us on an extraordinary journey that illuminates the path toward all-encompassing and enduring love -- one that enables us to experience the full eros of living. With clarity and compassion, Rabbi Gafni teaches us how to live with passion and love in all facets of our lives. "The Mystery of Love" begins with a radical new understanding of loving, drawn from the ancient wisdom texts of the Kabbalist tradition, and explains how ten unique qualities of sexuality (The Hebrew Tantra) can serve as our spiritual guides in the creation of a loving, passionate existence in every dimension of our lives.

Excerpt from The Combat of the People: Or Hillel and Herod; A Historical Romance of the Time of Herod I About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.