Magick Matters

“The Pagan Christ : Recovering the Lost Light” by Tom Harpur

"A provocative argument for a mystical, rather than historical, understanding of Jesus, leading to a radical rebirth of Christianity in our time. For forty years, scholar and religious commentator Tom Harpur has challenged church orthodoxy and guided thousands of readers on subjects as controversial as the true nature of Christ and life after death. Now, in his most radical and groundbreaking work, Harpur digs deep into the origins of Christianity. Long before the advent of Jesus Christ, the Egyptians and other peoples believed in the coming of a messiah, a virgin birth, a madonna and her child, and the incarnation of the spirit in flesh. While the early Christian church accepted these ancient truths as the...>>

“Women of Wisdom: The Journey of the Sacred Feminine Through the Ages” by Paula Marvelly

"An inspiring collection of writings from women visionaries and mystics from an array of religious faiths and traditions. In her introduction, Paula Marvelly offers a definition of mysticism, looks at its feminine aspects within each of the major world religions, discusses what it means to be a woman mystic, and explains why she has chosen the women in this anthology. Her selection features 32 women mystics from all ages and faiths, from Mary Magdalene to Evelyn Underhill. She explores their lives, their experiences and their teachings, and draws out the core underlying themes which relate to the concept of non-duality or ''oneness.''...>>

“Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter — Then, Now, and Forever” by John McWhorter

"One of the preeminent linguists of our time examines the realms of language that are considered shocking and taboo in order to understand what imbues curse words with such power—and why we love them so much. Profanity has always been a deliciously vibrant part of our lexicon, an integral part of being human. In fact, our ability to curse comes from a different part of the brain than other parts of speech—the urgency with which we say "f&*k!" is instead related to the instinct that tells us to flee from danger. Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every...>>

“The Return of Odin: The Modern Renaissance of Pagan Imagination” by Richard Rudgley (new 3rd edition, retail kindle version)

"Exploring the influence of the Norse god Odin in the modern world, Richard Rudgley reveals Odin’s central role in the pagan revival and how this has fueled a wide range of cultural movements and phenomena, including Nazi Germany, the 1960s counterculture revolution, the Lord of the Rings, the ecology movement, and the occult underground. Rudgley argues that it is Odin and not Jesus Christ who is the single most important spiritual influence in modern Western civilization. He analyzes the Odin archetype—first revealed by Carl Jung’s famous essay on Wotan—in the context of pagan religious history and explains the ancient idea of the Web—a cosmic field of energies that encompasses time, space, and the hidden potentials...>>

“The Tyranny of Algorithms: Freedom, Democracy, and the Challenge of AI” by Miguel Benasayag

"A clear-eyed, timely investigation of the threat posed by Artificial Intelligence to individual freedom, social cohesion, and the democratic process—and a radical proposal on how to fight back. In this sharp, urgent book, philosopher, psychoanalyst, and former resistance fighter Miguel Benasayag warns of the great danger posed by the growing role of big data and algorithms in deciding the contours of individual lives and the direction of the world. From mass surveillance to predictive law enforcement to data-driven social interactions, AI has already colonized most aspects of our lives and determines the decisions of companies, financial markets, and governments. Structured as a conversation with anthropologist Régis Meyran, The Tyranny of Algorithms rejects the sterile dichotomy that...>>