Featuring over 1,200 topical entries arranged alphabetically, this encyclopedia provides diverse and detailed coverage of the related subjects of reincarnation and karma. Its in-depth examination ranges from ancient beliefs to those of the present, incorporating all relevant world cultures. A series of broad thematic entries cover foundational aspects while over a thousand highly focused entries deal with various societies and organizations which support the concepts of reincarnation and karma; specific religious groups, sects, and associations; key individuals both historic and modern; and related beliefs, concepts, and practices.

This insightful book helps readers come to grips with the karmic connections from past lives that have helped create the circumstances of their lives today.

The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal contains over 90 articles by more than 50 experts on topics including the strictly paranormal (psychokinesis, channeling, levitation, astrology, phrenology, palmistry); the historical (mediums, psychic research, alchemy, Houdini); the philosophical (miracles, survival of death, reincarnation); and work on investigatory photography, statistics, the media and the Bermuda Triangle. In his foreword, Carl Sagan says, "I wish [this book] were on the shelves of every newspaper editorial desk and every television newsroom, to encourage more skeptical backbone in reporting . . . . [I]n school libraries so that children would have some counterbalance to the many paranormal and mystical claims in our society."

The soul's immortality and its repeated earthly births are not new ideas in Western thought. They are implicit in the Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, as well as in some branches of esoteric Judaism and Cabbala. But it was not until the early years of this century that the West was given a detailed, modern, evolutionary philosophy of human life based on the reality of reincarnation and karma. This turning point occurred when Rudolf Steiner began to make public the results of his spiritual scientific researches. He viewed the revelation of reincarnation and karma as one of his most important life tasks. Steiner's contribution, however, remains unique in its understanding of the human being as an evolving, developing being of body, soul, and spirit. On the basis of his researches--presented in numerous books and lectures--we begin to understand how the complex interaction of human lives between birth and death and between death and a new birth gives new meaning not only to individual lives lived on Earth in community with others, but also to human history and evolution and to earthly and cosmic events. This book collects many of Steiner's major statements on reincarnation and karma. The primary purpose of this volume is to help readers meet the challenge of spiritual research in the area of individual evolution of the soul and spirit in the context of cultural and universal evolution. Such a study can be tremendously revealing and provide spiritual understanding in a time of increasing intellectual confusion and spiritual poverty. The notion of reincarnation and karma is generally associated in most minds with spiritual traditions of the East, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. Ren Querido's in-depth, sixty-page introduction, however, places these concepts within the context of Western spiritual development and esoteric tradition, showing us a panoramic view of how such ideas have developed over the centuries in the West. Contents: Introduction by Ren Querido: 1 Our Present Dilemma 2 Historical Survey of Reincarnation and Karma 3 Rudolf Steiner's Original Contributions The lectures: 1 Natural and Chance Illnesses in the Human Being 2 Elemental Events, Volcanic Eruptions, Earthquakes & Epidemics in Relation to Karma 3 Death and Rebirth in Relation to Karma 4 Knowledge of Reincarnation and Karma 5 Examples of Karma Working between Two Incarnations 6 Vital Questions in the Light of Reincarnation and Karma 7 The Formation of Karmic Forces 8 Reincarnation of the Spirit and Destiny

Ruth White provides a clear and practical guide, free of any religious or doctrinal influence, a useful definition of karma, she delves into the Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian views of karma, offering a straightforward discussion of its meaning in each tradition. Through exercises, meditations, and case studies, White guides the seeker through an exploration of how karma aids us in our evolutionary journey to enlightenment.

5 lectures, Berlin and Stuttgart, January-March 1912 (CW 135) "Just as an age was once ready to receive the Copernican theory of the universe, so is our own age ready for the ideas of reincarnation and karma to be brought into the general consciousness of humanity." --Rudolf Steiner Steiner introduced the West to his detailed, scientific knowledge of reincarnation and karma. He gave concrete descriptions of the way individuals transform during the course of successive incarnations and specific examples of how karma works. Steiner also provides practical exercises that lead us to experience the reality of reincarnation. He believed that by experiencing the reality of successive earth lives, we can form a foundation for a spiritual understanding of the relationship between humankind and the cosmos. These talks contain some of Steiner's most important teachings on reincarnation and karma. His examples and exercises can lead us to direct knowledge of the laws of reincarnation and karma. Topics include: How to perceive directly the part of our being that passes through many lives on earth; How to develop a "feeling memory," which we need before we are able to experience reincarnation; Thought exercises for gaining knowledge of reincarnation and karma; Examples of how karma works between incarnations; How knowledge of reincarnation and karma affects our moral life. This volume is a translation from German of Wiederverk rperung und Karma und ihre Bedeutung f r die Kultur der Gegenwart.

For serious yoga practitioners curious to know the ancient origins of the art, Phillips lays out the philosophy of action, knowledge, and devotion, as well as the processes of meditation, reasoning, and self-analysis, that formed the basis of yoga in ancient and classical India.