Monsters, Ghosts, & Mysteries

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
English writer and magician, the most notorious occultist of his generation.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The use of magic with the intention of harming or destroying others, or for personal gain.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
A postmodern form of occultism which strives to reduce ritual magic to those techniques common to all magical systems; practitioners are encouraged to adopt any belief or method which allows them to attain the altered state of consciousness necessary to bring about the desired magical effect.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
An organization formed in 1966, which promotes Satanism as defined by its founder, Anton LaVey, in his Satanic Bible.

Dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2nd century C.E.; they all promised salvation through an occult knowledge that they claimed was revealed to them alone.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The word ‘occult’ comes from the Latin occultus, meaning hidden, secret or unknown, and occultism may be defined as the doctrine or study of mysterious or hidden things. The term ‘occult’ is commonly used to refer to knowledge meant only for certain people, or knowledge that must be kept hidden, but is often misused as being almost synonymous with ‘evil’ or ‘satanic’.

One of several collections of texts in various cultures which are intended to prepare and guide the recently deceased in their passage through the afterlife; the best known of these are the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Ritual observances involved in worship of, or communication with, the supernatural or its symbolic representations.

Ceremonies in honor of the Greek deities Demeter, goddess of corn, and her daughter Persephone, queen of the underworld, celebrated in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in the territory of Athens. They formed the basis of a secret cult, requiring initiation for entrance. The rituals were agrarian in origin and had a strong chthonic (pertaining to the underworld) aspect, dealing with the cycle of growth and decay represented by Persephone's half-yearly absence from her mother.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
A book of spells; specifically, one of several books of magical knowledge written between the late medieval period and the 18th century.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
Magic formulae performed by a witch, wizard or magician, and said to have tangible outcomes.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
Legendary magician associated with King Arthur.

From Women in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia
The lady of the enchanted island of Avalon, Morgan (also Morgain la Fee, Fata Morgana, etc.) was King Arthur's formidable sister whose reputation, from her first appearance in the middle of the twelfth century until the end of the Middle Ages, suffers a remorseless decline.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
People who practice sorcery; magicians who use supernatural powers, usually for evil purposes.

A witch is someone who practices witchcraft, an alleged magical or supernatural power.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
Male practitioners of magic, popular figures in folklore and literature.

Astrology can be roughly defined as an umbrella term denoting any one of several systems of divination that attempt to uncover information that is otherwise hidden or difficult to access by examining the position and motion of various heavenly bodies.

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
An ancient form of divination. It was held that those who had the gift, by gazing fixedly and deeply into a polished crystal ball, could see what would happen in the future or what was actually happening elsewhere.

Divination is an attempt to connect to a supernatural power in order to retrieve information. It is intended to allow participants to learn about the future or secret, hidden matters.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The foretelling of a person’s future by reading their palms, gazing into a crystal ball, or by other supernatural means.

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
.Magic healing and control, especially in African-based folk medicine in the United States and the Caribbean. Also called conjure.

The belief in and practice of magic is probably as old as human history. Magic may be defined as the influencing of events and physical phenomena by humans using mystical, paranormal or supernatural means.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The art or practice of revealing future events by calling up and questioning the spirits of the dead; also, another name for sorcery or black magic.

Divination by numbers. The basis of numerology is the belief that numbers connect the world of humans to the structure of the universe. A superstitious fear of the number 13 is its most common expression in the West.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
Divination by gazing into a reflective surface, such as a crystal ball, mirror or bowl of water.

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural AnthropologyEuropeans and North Americans often regard the belief in witchcraft as unique to the witch persecutions of the Inquisition and Reformation.

As the practice or the production of malign or beneficial magic, witchcraft has an enduring place in the western, and in much of the non-western, imagination of the dynamics of esoteric and exotic powers.

In 100 Ideas that Changed the Web
On 30 July 1999, a couple of amateur filmmakers released an indie flick that would challenge Hollywood's preconceptions about how to make and market a film.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The legend that the discoverers of the tomb of Tutankhamen were cursed.

Eponymous hero of a series of phenomenally popular prize-winning novels written by J. K. Rowling (1970—).

October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, observed with traditional games and customs.

An item of equipment employed during séances, through which messages can allegedly be received from spirits of the dead.

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
A horror film (1968) based on a novel by Ira Levin about a young New York couple whose happiness about the forthcoming birth of their first child is undermined by the wife's growing conviction that she is carrying the Devil's child.

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
A fictional book of magic referred to in the works of H P Lovecraft; although Lovecraft insisted it was purely an invention on his part, it has inspired the publication of a number of texts claiming to be the 'real' Necronomicon.

From Chambers Film FactfinderAfter quarrelling with her aunt, farm girl Dorothy wishes herself elsewhere, only for a cyclone to grant her wish by sweeping her up and away. She finds herself in the magical land of Oz, populated by Munchkins and ruled over by two witches and one all-powerful wizard.

By the time The Exorcist was released in 1973, the nation's confidence in the American Dream—peaceful, prosperous lives centered on nuclear families—had eroded.

In Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories
The term pseudo-science refers to a system of theories and methods that claims falsely to be scientific, or is a system that is falsely regarded by some people to be scientific.