Magick Matters

24.03.2021

“Demon Possession in Anglo-Saxon England” by Peter Dendle

Magick Matters

"Anglo-Saxon England was a society governed by the competing discourses of illness, spirituality, power, and community. The concepts of demon possession and exorcism, introduced by Christian missionaries, provided a potential outlet for expressing the psychological, biological, and sociopolitical dysfunctions of a society that was at the center of multiple conflicting cultural dimensions. Demon Possession in Anglo-Saxon England is a reexamination of the available sources describing the possessed and a study of the currently recognized medical and psychiatric conditions that may be relevant to and resemble medieval possession."...>>

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24.03.2021

“Women’s Colonial Gothic Writing, 1850-1930: Haunted Empire” by Melissa Edmundson

Magick Matters

"This book explores women writers’ involvement with the Gothic. The author sheds new light on women’s experience, a viewpoint that remains largely absent from male-authored Colonial Gothic works. The book investigates how women writers appropriated the Gothic genre―and its emphasis on fear, isolation, troubled identity, racial otherness, and sexual deviancy―in order to take these anxieties into the farthest realms of the British Empire. The chapters show how Gothic themes told from a woman’s perspective emerge in unique ways when set in the different colonial regions that comprise the scope of this book: Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Edmundson argues that women’s Colonial Gothic writing tends to...>>

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24.03.2021

“Magic in Names and in Other Things” by Edward Clodd

Magick Matters

"Magic in Names and in Other Things is a fascinating treatise on superstition by English anthropologist Edward Clodd. It explores the idea of 'mana'-or 'power'-in both tangible and intangible things, but concentrates particularly on its proposed existence in names and words. Most of the information was taken from "Magic in Names", a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution in March 1917. Edward Clodd (1840 - 1930) was an English writer, banker, and anthropologist famous for his various and notable literary and scientific friends. Other notable works by author include: "The Childhood of the World" (1872), "Jesus of Nazareth" (1880), and "Nature Studies" (1882)."...>>

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24.03.2021

“Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism” by Thomas Inman

Magick Matters

"First published in 1869, this remarkable early work of comparative mythology intended for the general public takes great pains to remind the reader that there is no danger of suddenly finding oneself transformed into a Buddhist or a "Mahometan" merely by allowing one's eyes to alight upon symbols of a non-Protestant faith. It also feels the need to introduce the reader to the idea of religious "arcana," that some concepts were once deemed fit only for select and secret ears, and then proceeds to cheerfully reveal some of those secrets, such as the phallicism of church steeples and spires. With the assistance of numerous charming illustrations, Inman introduces his 19th-century readers to the metaphorical...>>

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24.03.2021

“Secret Origins of the Bible” by Tim Callahan

Magick Matters

"Clearly written and easily understandable by the lay reader. Thoroughly researched: author's points are backed by references in the writings of acknowledged scholars. Special features of the book: lavishly illustrated with multiple images in each illustration that show at a glance the mythic themes paralleling the bible. This book demonstrates that the stories and themes of the Bible were part of the great mythic systems of the ancient world by u sing comparative mythology, tell tale verses in the Bible and archaeology. The abstract God of modern monotheistic Judaism, Christianity and Islam is a comparatively recent creation. In later times the myth of a messianic deliverer was combined with that of the pagan god-man who...>>

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