Showing results by narrator "Norman" in All Categories

Dr. Franz Hartmann was a notable Freemason and prolific writer of his day, as well as a member of several esoteric organizations, such as the Theosophical Society and a nonmasonic Templar Order. Here, he discusses the concept of the philosopher's stone, as studied by the Rosicrucians, and how it relates to alchemy. He talks about the incorruptible body, spiritual development, and the alchemical concept of base metal.

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was an anarchist political activist and writer. Here she discusses, inter alia, the split in the revolutionary movement between Bakunin and the Marxists. She recounts her experiences of the Anarchist Congress in Paris in 1900 and in Amsterdam in 1907.

When 18-year-old Eva Walker enters the local talent showdown, she hopes it’ll will rekindle her love of music. She doesn’t expect it to ignite a fire in her heart. Rafe Hunter is everything Eva should stay away from. Tattooed, brooding, and mysterious. Not to mention the fact he’s the bassist for one of the world’s hottest rock bands. Their weekend of lust, laughter, and music changes everything.

The ubiquitous picture of the Vikings as horn-helmeted, brutish, hairy giants that mercilessly marauded among the settlements of Northern Europe is based on a smattering of facts combined with an abundance of prejudicial historical writing by those who were on the receiving end of Viking depredations. At the same time, much of the popular picture of the Vikings is a result of the romantic imagination of novelists and artists. However, the Vikings' reputation for ferocious seaborne attacks along the coasts of Northern Europe is no exaggeration.

Mention the 18th century Royal Navy and visions come to mind of swashbuckling sailors swinging from rope to rope while a red-faced captain in an even redder coat and a powdered wig shouts order and pitches fits. Such visions naturally fail to do full justice to a group of men who functioned, with little direction and even less support, on the seas for years at a time. Disney may enjoy portraying them sitting down to sumptuous feasts or cavorting with scantily clad native girls, but the opposite was true.

On Christmas Day 1914, amid the bloodily stalemated trenches of Flanders just five months into World War I, a memorable event dubbed the Christmas Truce occurred. In place of the rattle of gunfire and the crash of bursting artillery shells, familiar German and English Christmas carols floated through the frosty air. Officers and men on both sides emerged from their trenches to mingle, exchange Yuletide greetings, give one another small gifts and mementos, and discuss the fighting as language allowed.

Brother McCurdy briefly explains the origins of Cryptic Masonry, as well as how it relates to the royal arch degrees. He talks about Cryptic Masonry as a modern extension of Ancient Craft Masonry and how it ties in with the blue lodge degrees. Although short, this is a lovely, introspective, and philosophical piece.

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington & Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses.

You are Dr. James Healey and last week you were a genius that was before the DNA experiments. Before the accident you said could never happen since then you have felt your mind decaying a little more each day. You have watched your wife slip into imbecility. You have seen the crowds growing murderous with animal terror, the president of the United States babbling and drooling on tv only one thing separates you from them.

Lauri Fitz-Pegado explores her life's journey, and how her training in dance helped establish the skills—balance, endurance, perseverance—that informed her approach to the challenges that she faced, both professionally and personally, as an African American woman. This memoir is particularly relevant today, during our national conversation reassessing our assumptions, our past, as well as our path forward. In telling her story, the author reveals her insights and observations about history and its consequences, about opportunity and obstacles, and about loss and redemption.

Hagar’s story, found in Genesis 16, is a story of cultural victimization. She was betrayed, abandoned, and scorned. Her response? She did what most of us would do when deeply hurt by someone we trust–she ran away. She got defensive. She retreated to a place where she felt safe. She felt justified in her anger and hurt. But deep in her core was a woman who longed to be seen and hoped for redemption.

No matter your background, QuickBooks & Accounting will walk you through learning optimization techniques used to improve results and teach you the exact steps to boost productivity, reduce risks, and eliminate catastrophic errors.

Hotheaded succubus Willow Bellum doesn't take kindly to being given away to the alpha of shapeshifters like a hunk of unwanted old fruit cake. However, when the will from her deceased father puts Willow under the protection of a man as enticingly hard as he was disgustingly arrogant, she runs hard and fast.

An elderly inventor, burning with manic creativity, tries to reconcile with his estranged gay son. A bereaved boy draws a thuggish classmate into a relationship of escalating guilt and violence. A genteel middle-aged woman, a longtime resident of a psychiatric hospital, becomes the confidante of a lovelorn teenaged volunteer. Told with Chekhovian restraint and compassion, and conveying both the sorrow of life and the courage with which people rise to meet it, You Are Not a Stranger Here is a triumph of storytelling.

The Copeland family history is rich and ambiguous. Beginning with patriarch Walker and his wife Caroline, who once threatened a troop of Yankee soldiers with a pan of boiling water, the Copeland legacy continues with Walker’s great grandson, Albert, who builds floatplanes that never fly. Albert’s floatplane logbook becomes a family album, with each member of the family penning in his personal revelations, from Meredith, a maverick Vietnam veteran, to Noralee, who shocks everyone by dating a hippie.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change Africa. Indeed it is the only thing that would. Observing the impact that the right people in leadership positions have, people who wholly subscribe to servant leadership rather than self-serving leadership, has been a great source of inspiration.

"One mistake doesn't make you a failure". I always saw relationships as a burden instead of a gift...until my world imploded...until Wynn showed me their true value. Now, I have to find a way to convince her that I've changed my tune. Bass player, Lonnie Brennan, is known as the band's overgrown jokester. He came to Tennessee to make sure his best friend and bandmate didn't disappear after falling in love and moving across the country in just three short weeks. What Lonnie doesn't expect is to fall in love himself...

It is hard to find an island on the map more central than Sicily. It has rarely been governed as an independent, unified state. Nonetheless, the island has always occupied a front-row seat to some of the most important events in history, and nowhere is this more obvious than during antiquity. Modern Sicily: The History and Legacy of the Mediterranean Island Since the Middle Ages looks at one of the world’s most important and contested territories. You will learn about Sicily like never before.

Explorers, soldiers, and settlers of African-American heritage comprise an unfamiliar story to most students of American history. However, in the push westward, they were present in sufficient numbers to exert great influence on the nation's development. Among the earliest accounts is that of Isabel de Olvera, who settled in New Mexico around the year of 1600, and it is estimated that by 1750, 25% of Albuquerque's population shared discernible African ancestry.

Haunted Liverpool 26 will challenge your most basic perceptions about the universe you live in, and undermine your assumptions about reality itself. Liverpool and the Northwest of England is teeming with ghosts, witches, fallen angels, timeslips, test-tube supermen, weird reptilian humanoids, and some of the weirdest and most nightmarish apparitions in the paranormal sphere.