Magick Matters

11.03.2021

“Witchcraft Accusations and Persecutions as a Mechanism for the Marginalisation of Women” by Samantha Spence

Magick Matters

"This books draws on feminist commentary from the disciplines of anthropology, history, law, politics and sociology in order to deal with the phenomenon of modern-day witchcraft. It focuses on the re-emergence of witchcraft beliefs in contemporary society, suggesting that witchcraft accusations and persecution are being used as a marginalisation mechanism of women. The re-emergence of witchcraft beliefs in contemporary society and the prevalence of the violence associated with such beliefs has received little attention within academic literature, yet witchcraft-related violence against women is, progressively, becoming one of the most pervasive forms of violence facing women today. This book addresses this gap in the literature, discussing the return of witchcraft beliefs to contemporary society, whilst...>>

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11.03.2021

“A Time of Lost Gods: Mediumship, Madness, and the Ghost after Mao” by Emily Ng

Magick Matters

"Traversing visible and invisible realms, A Time of Lost Gods attends to profound rereadings of politics, religion, and madness in the cosmic accounts of spirit mediumship. Drawing on research across a temple, a psychiatric unit, and the home altars of spirit mediums in a rural county of China’s Central Plain, it asks: What ghostly forms emerge after the death of Mao and the so-called end of history? The story of religion in China since the market reforms of the late 1970s is often told through its destruction under Mao and relative flourishing thereafter. Here, those who engage in mediumship offer a different history of the present. They approach Mao’s reign not simply as an earthly...>>

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11.03.2021

“A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax” by Bill T. Arnold and John H. Choi (2nd edition)

Magick Matters

"A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax introduces and abridges the syntactical features of the original language of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. An intermediate-level reference grammar for Biblical Hebrew, it assumes an understanding of elementary phonology and morphology, and it defines and illustrates the fundamental syntactical features of Biblical Hebrew that most intermediate-level readers struggle to master. The volume divides Biblical Hebrew syntax and morphology, into four parts. The first three cover the individual words (nouns, verbs, and particles) with the goal of helping the reader move from morphological and syntactical observations to meaning and significance. The fourth section moves beyond phrase-level phenomena and considers the larger relationships of clauses and sentences. Since publication of...>>

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11.03.2021

“Revival of the Runes: The Modern Rediscovery and Reinvention of the Germanic Runes” by Stephen E. Flowers (2021 kindle edition)

Magick Matters

"In this exploration of the history of the runes from 1500 CE to the present day, Stephen Edred Flowers examines the five periods of runic revival: the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Romantic period, the early 20th century, and the late 20th century. For each period, he discusses both the scholarly studies and those focused on the esoteric mysteries of the runes--and how these two branches of study were at first intertwined yet diverged in later revivals. Focusing in particular on the first runic revival, Flowers examines the use of runes during the Renaissance by the foremost magicians and scholars of the era, including mystic and scholar Johannes Bureus, the “grandfather of integral runology,” who...>>

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11.03.2021

“Runes for Beginners: A Guide to Understanding and Using the Ancient Germanic Alphabet” by Sebastian Berg

Magick Matters

"Origins of the runic alphabet are shrouded in mystery. The earliest inscription is the one that reads Harja that might mean warrior or comb, which can be found on the Vimose comb in Denmark that dates back to 160 CE. This uses the runes so maturely and confidently that scholars think it resulted from about 100 years' experience from writing the runes over this amount of time. How this tradition was created has been debated and speculated for many years. Inspirations from the Roman and Greek alphabet, along with Danish and Italic origins have been suggested. The most likely is the Greek since it does resemble a variation of the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet...>>

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