Magick Matters

“Past the Sky’s Rim: The Elder Scrolls and Theology” by Joshua Wise

"The Elder Scrolls series has entranced gamers for two decades with its deep mythology, complex history, and intriguing locations. Players have explored a world in The Elder Scrolls rich with kings, demons, heroes, magic, and gods. Past the Sky's Rim: The Elder Scrolls and Theology engages with the world from the perspective of academic theology and religious studies. Within these pages, scholars ask what it means to become a god, to die alone in the solitude of Vvardenfell, and to live in a world with different afterlives for different people. Attempting to move beyond a shallow engagement, Past the Sky's Rim considers video games as serious media capable of transmitting important ideas to those...>>

“Life Ritualized: A Witch’s Guide to Honoring Life’s Important Moments” by Phoenix LeFae and Gwion Raven

"Make Every Rite of Passage Sacred and Meaningful. Dozens of group and solitary activities for ritualizing life's changes. Commemorate the moments that shape who you are with this book of rituals designed for rites of passage, no matter how big or small. Drawing on almost thirty years of experience in Witchcraft and Paganism, Phoenix LeFae and Gwion Raven offer powerful activities to honor everything from getting a driver's license to starting a coven to retiring. Life Ritualized offers clear instructions and inspiring stories to deepen your spirituality. Whether it's a weighty occasion like birth, marriage, or death, or a more private one like blessing a new house or changing jobs, this book provides everything you need...>>

“Kabbalah: A Neurocognitive Approach to Mystical Experiences” by Shahar Arzy and Moshe Idel

"In this original study, Moshe Idel, an eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism and thought, and the cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist Shahar Arzy combine their considerable expertise to explore the mysteries of the Kabbalah from an entirely new perspective: that of the human brain. In lieu of the theological, sociological, and psychoanalytic approaches that have generally dominated the study of ecstatic mystical experiences, the authors endeavor to decode the brain mechanisms underlying these phenomena. Arzy and Idel analyze first-person descriptions to explore the Kabbalistic techniques employed by most prominent Jewish mystics to effect bodily reduplications, dissociations, and other phenomena, and compare them with recent neurological observations and modern-day laboratory experiments. The resultant study offers readers...>>

“The Promise of Kuan Yin: Wisdom, Miracles, & Compassion” by Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay

"The best and most comprehensive book on the most important and best-loved Chinese goddess. Walk down the streets of Chinatown in any American or western European city and look around. She is there. Walk through the downtown streets, look in a shop window. She is there. Go to any city in China and open your eyes. She is there, too. Kuan Yin is the most ubiquitous Chinese deity—and the most loved. She is the living expression of compassion whose gentle face and elegant figure form the center of devotion in most Chinese homes and workplaces. Until relatively recently, she was barely known in the West, and few studies had been made of her. Originally published as Kuan...>>

“The Healing Effects of Energy Medicine: Memoirs of a Medical Intuitive” by Shannon McRae

"In this book, Shannon McRae, a gifted clairvoyant and healer, weaves case stories with cutting-edge science to describe her remarkable work with clients at the cellular level, from healing a headache and repairing an eardrum to removing cancer and alleviating depression. Working in the tradition of Dora Kunz and Delores Krieger, cofounders of Therapeutic Touch, McRae emphasizes the importance in healing of positive thought, forgiveness, and the patient's letting go of emotional pain and resistance to health. Each of her examples is instructive, and each gives hope, no matter what the physical or mental condition might be. The epilogue shares Shannon's insights about life after death and the realm of unseen helpers.This first-person account of...>>