Magick Matters

04.03.2021

“Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages” by Nancy Mandeville Caciola

Magick Matters

"Trance states, prophesying, convulsions, fasting, and other physical manifestations were often regarded as signs that a person was seized by spirits. In a book that sets out the prehistory of the early modern European witch craze, Nancy Caciola shows how medieval people decided whom to venerate as a saint infused with the spirit of God and whom to avoid as a demoniac possessed of an unclean spirit. This process of discrimination, known as the discernment of spirits, was central to the religious culture of Western Europe between 1200 and 1500. Since the outward manifestations of benign and malign possession were indistinguishable, a highly ambiguous set of bodily features and behaviors were carefully scrutinized by observers....>>

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03.03.2021

“The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys” by James Fadiman

Magick Matters

"Psychedelics for spiritual, therapeutic, and problem-solving use • Presents practices for safe and successful psychedelic voyages, including the benefits of having a guide and how to be a guide • Reviews the value of psychedelics for healing and self-discovery as well as how LSD has facilitated scientific and technical problem-solving • Reveals how microdosing (ultr-low doeses) improve cognitive functioning, emotional balance, and physical stamina • This year 600,000 people in the U.S. alone will try LSD for the the first time, joining the 23 million who have already experimented with this substance Called “America’s wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use,” James Fadiman has been involved with psychedelic research since the 1960s. In this guide to...>>

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03.03.2021

“Psychedelic Mysticism: Transforming Consciousness, Religious Experiences, and Voluntary Peasants in Postwar America” by Morgan Shipley

Magick Matters

"Concerned with scholarly, popular, and religious backdrops that understand the connection between psychedelics and mystical experiences to be devoid of moral concerns and ethical dimensions—a position supported empirically by the rise of acid fascism and psychedelic cults by the late 1960s—Psychedelic Mysticism: Transforming Consciousness, Religious Experiences, and Voluntary Peasants in Postwar America traces the development of sixties psychedelic mysticism from the deconditioned mind and perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley, to the sacramental ethics of Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, to the altruistic religiosity practiced by Stephen Gaskin and The Farm. Building directly off the pioneering psychedelic writing of Huxley, these psychedelic mystics understood the height of psychedelic consciousness as an existential awareness...>>

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03.03.2021

“Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture” edited by Mariko Namba Walter and Eva Jane Neumann Fridman (2-volume set)

Magick Matters

"A guide to worldwide shamanism and shamanistic practices, emphasizing historical and current cultural adaptations. This two-volume reference is the first international survey of shamanistic beliefs from prehistory to the present day. In nearly 200 detailed, readable entries, leading ethnographers, psychologists, archaeologists, historians, and scholars of religion and folk literature explain the general principles of shamanism as well as the details of widely varied practices. What is it like to be a shaman? Entries describe, region by region, the traits, such as sicknesses and dreams, that mark a person as a shaman, as well as the training undertaken by initiates. They detail the costumes, music, rituals, artifacts, and drugs that shamans use to achieve altered states of...>>

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03.03.2021

“Living in the Matrix: Understanding and Freeing Yourself from the Clutches of the Matrix” by Michael Hammer

Magick Matters

"Why are things the way they are on this planet? There is a very cleverly designed Matrix, hidden in plain view, which we believe is our very reality, that is created to be an imposition and limitation on every aspect of our lives. Almost everything we encounter on this earth and beyond, even our religions and spirituality are an aspect of this Matrix which controls and manipulates us to feed those who run things mostly behind the scenes. This book connects the dots and exposes the grand architect(s) behind the many aspects of the matrix. Even if you are well versed in conspiracy theories, when you see how everything works together, it is truly mind blowing...>>

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