New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
There are palm trees in Ireland. Did you know that? Palm trees. We expect palms in tropical locations, like Mexico, Bali, and films like The Pirates of the Caribbean. In Ireland, I supposed we should expect species like yew, wych elm, and those talking trees from The Lord of the Rings. In the 1800s, sailors brought palm trees to Ireland from New Zealand and the plants took root, enjoying the warm ocean currents lapping at the southwestern shores. One of the palms is the cabbage palm. The edible part of the cabbage palm is a bud, which looks like a cabbage, and when cooked, tastes surprisingly like cabbage. Is this palm related to cabbages? No. Of course not. Don't be silly. Palm ...
The Southern United States is home to a myriad of haunted locations, some of which are widely recognized, such as the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana; the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; and the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. However, there are also numerous lesser-known haunted sites that merit exploration for those brave enough to seek out their mysteries. The following locations may not enjoy the same notoriety as some of the South's best-known haunted sites, but they more than make up or it with compelling eyewitness accounts of paranormal encounters, recorded electronic voice phenomena (EVP), and intriguing photographs that appear ...
Vampires do not share a single religion, creed, or system of worship. We come from many cultures, spiritual traditions, and philosophical backgrounds. Vampirism can exist beside an established religion or within it. Vampires do not necessarily share beliefs in the same deities, spirits, or afterlife. What we share is a way of understanding ourselves, subtle reality, and the exchange of vital energy between living things. Vampires believe vampirism is a state of being before it is a practice. A person does not become a vampire because they dress a certain way, enjoy the night, drink blood, practice magic, or adopt a title. These things can become expressions of vampirism; however, they do ...
Anyone who has treated themselves to the pleasure of reading Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece Dracula will notice something rather curious. For most of the novel, although his menacing presence is felt, the Count himself is nowhere to be seen. The book, the greatest gothic horror novel of all time, is supposed to chronicle the dark deeds of the vampire. However, after the first section in Transylvania, the Count only makes a few "guest appearances." Dracula dominates the early chapters, when Jonathan Harker visits him to conduct a real estate transaction. In this sequence, his evil and menace is overwhelming from the first description: "Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a ...
