“GHEDE: In voodoo, the loa of death Ghede is the loa invoked at the close of every Rada ceremony. He is said to dress in the colorful attire of a clown or court jester, and often wears between his legs a giant wooden phallus, sings dirty songs in a nasal voice and delights in embarrassing people in a sexual way (see RADA, see LOA, see VOODOO)… NAVKY: In Slavic folklore, the spirits of unbaptized or murdered children who appear as baby girls rocking in tree branches and wailing in the night. It is said that some navky beg passersby for baptism, while other, more vengeful ones, lure unwitting travelers into dangerous places. In Yugoslavia, the navky are said to appear in the form of great black birds whose cries could chill the soul of a man… (see BAPTISM).” GR

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 215 pages

“Michelet brilliantly re-creates the Europe of the Middle Ages, the centuries of fierce religious intolerance, the Inquisition and the auto-da-fé… draws flaming word pictures of the witch hunts, the Black Masses, the reign of Satan, and the weird rites of the damned. Here is the age of unbridled pleasure and sensuality, of luxury beyond imagination and squalor beyond endurance. Here is the time when a girl might be accused of witchcraft merely if she were young and pretty and did not survive the test of immersion in water or boiling oil.”

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 332 pages

Mystery religions were a feature of the Greek and Roman worlds at a time when those societies were becoming increasingly multicultural due to the expansion of economic and political empires. These religions were a reaction to the mixing of cultures and the exposure of previously isolated communities to the possibility of many different belief systems—and thus many different gods—which raised the question: How could one be sure that one’s own god was the right one, or the most powerful? Mystery religions were characterized by the hedging of bets, the incorporation of aspects of many religions as well as magic in the face of a myriad of choices. The author contends that these religions had an early and lasting influence on the Christian Church. NN

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 359 pages

A prophetic work from the author of The Spear of Destiny: “Now when we are standing at the very threshold of the spiritual world, a great personal and irrevocable decision must be made. The symbol which should help you make your decision, one way or another, is the Spear of Longinus. On the one side it will become the very emblem of the World Dictator who will claim it as his own talisman of global power. On the other it is the symbol of the redemptive, sacrificial, ritual love at Golgotha and the inspiration of all who seek to tread the pathway to spiritual freedom. In the great apocalyptic battle between good and evil this vital decision cannot be postponed. Whose side are you on?”

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 246 pages
Illustrated

If you've ever had a problem with cocaine, the opening pages of this book will send shivers through your blood. It starts with a depiction of a “nice yuppie girl” at the hospital—frozen into in a taut convulsing fetal position by a toxic dose of the evil snow queen. Very, very scary. From there it takes a look at the whys and hows of this insidious drug; unlocking the pleasure centers of the brain, triggering postsynaptic neurons; cocaine and sex; and the chemical manufacturing of alternative “pleasure” drugs. One of the best books I've seen on the drug, giving many facts without filler statistics or dry medical terminology, and managing to broach the area of social degradation without being preachy or political. MDH

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 167 pages
Illustrated

A comprehensive inquiry into the origins and meanings of the graphic/pictorial symbols which we see most often as artistic embellishments in visual art; stars, crosses, sunwheels, bells, candles, pillars, shields, swords, swastikas, fleur-de-lîs and many others, as well as the non-graphic symbols which we find throughout folklore, fairy tales and mythology, such as the shoes and mice in the Cinderella story. The author's investigation delves into the historical foundations of symbolism in secretive mystical traditions like Mythraism, the Knights Templar and Rosicrucianism, as well as in the widely known religious/spiritual traditions of numerous cultures. Symbols are usually much more ancient in origin than we imagine, says the author, most of them existing literally as far back as civilization has existed; they are handed down not merely from one generation to another, but from one culture to another, which suggests that they are, in some way, the premises upon which written and oral communication are founded. The two-volume set makes up what may be the most detailed and complete catalog of symbolism. BS

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 375 pages

A comprehensive inquiry into the origins and meanings of the graphic/pictorial symbols which we see most often as artistic embellishments in visual art; stars, crosses, sunwheels, bells, candles, pillars, shields, swords, swastikas, fleur-de-lîs and many others, as well as the non-graphic symbols which we find throughout folklore, fairy tales and mythology, such as the shoes and mice in the Cinderella story. The author's investigation delves into the historical foundations of symbolism in secretive mystical traditions like Mythraism, the Knights Templar and Rosicrucianism, as well as in the widely known religious/spiritual traditions of numerous cultures. Symbols are usually much more ancient in origin than we imagine, says the author, most of them existing literally as far back as civilization has existed; they are handed down not merely from one generation to another, but from one culture to another, which suggests that they are, in some way, the premises upon which written and oral communication are founded. The two-volume set makes up what may be the most detailed and complete catalog of symbolism. BS

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 388 pages

Chapters include “Explaining Monsters,” “The Armless, the Legless and the Limbless,” “The Hirsute,” “Sexual Monstrosities,” “Composite Monsters” and “Giants and Dwarfs. “ All your favorites are here, plus more than a few amazing surprises, in hundreds of black-and-white photos. Fatman Renaud le Jurassien (1,373 lbs. at death), Chubby Dolly Dimples (620 lbs.), human skeleton Isaac Sprague (44 lbs.). James Elroy, who plays trumpet with his feet. Johnny Eck, the “half man.” Lionel, the lion man. The Tyrolean giant (7-ft. 10-in. tall), Herve Villechaise, Tom Thumb. An African hermaphrodite. Bobby Kork, a sideshow “half and half.” A tailed boy discovered in a Saigon jail. “White negroes.” The man with the rubber skin. Testicles as big as a rock. Forty-four-pound breasts. Four breasts! Six breasts! Two heads! Three legs! A bound foot! And a horrible Chinese practice of creating “animal children” by stripping off human skin and grafting the hides of dogs onto the flesh of young bodies, a practice uncovered by a visiting doctor in 1880. GR

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 188 pages
Illustrated

“De Sade’s greatest crime, in the view of posterity, was the creation of a fictional world whose cruelty and sexual extravagance were a libel upon the society in which he lived. The truth was that the leaders of that society, in the name of moral example, devised the most ingenious forms of judicial cruelty and paid men well for inflicting them on other men and women, while crowds looked on as if at a circus of mortality. When de Sade was 17, Damiens was executed with satanic ingenuity for his attempt on the life of Louis XV. In the name of law and morality, the victim’s hair was seen to stand on end under such torment.”
Imprisoned for much of his adult life, less for his sexual transgressions than for embarrassing his in-laws, de Sade is remembered for the celebration of cruelty in his writings, and has an entire proclivity named after him. Yet as a citizen judge after the French Revolution he risked his own life in opposition to the death penalty. This biography looks at de Sade the man, in the context of his time, and evaluates without sensationalism his legacy. NN

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 326 pages
Illustrated

This is a nice little book written in a straightforward manner that covers what happens when one dies. The book details the basic biological transitions of death including heart failure, brain failure and lung failure. Brief definitions of such terms as “cadaveric spasms,” “algar mortis,” “rigor mortis,” “livor mortis” and “putrefaction” are included. Information is provided on embalming—its history, procedures and such alternatives as cremation—even mummification is briefly explained. The book talks about various religious beliefs surrounding funerals and wakes, and includes a glossary and bibliography. MC

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 104 pages