Magick Matters

30.11.2020

“Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century” by Richard Kieckhefer (kindle and paper editions)

Magick Matters
"Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century" by Richard Kieckhefer (kindle and paper editions)
"Preserved in the Bavarian State Library in Munich is a manuscript that few scholars have noticed and that no one in modern times has treated with the seriousness it deserves. Forbidden Rites consists of an edition of this medieval Latin text with a full commentary, including detailed analysis of the text and its contents, discussion of the historical context, translation of representative sections of the text, and comparison with other necromantic texts of the late Middle Ages. The result is the most vivid and readable introduction to medieval magic now available. Like many medieval texts for the use of magicians, this handbook is a miscellany rather than a systematic treatise. It is exceptional, however, in ...>>
View
30.11.2020

“Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella” by D. P. Walker

Magick Matters
"Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella" by D. P. Walker
"First published by the Warburg Institute in 1958, this book is considered a landmark in Renaissance studies. Whereas most scholars had tended to view magic as a marginal subject, Walker showed that magic was one of the most typical creations of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Walker takes readers through the magical concerns of some of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance, from Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples to Jean Bodin, Francis Bacon, and Tommaso Campanella. Ultimately he demonstrates that magic was interconnected with religion, music, and medicine, all of which were central to the Renaissance notion of spiritus. Remarkable for its clarity of writing, this book is still ...>>
View
30.11.2020

“Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages” by Don C. Skemer

Magick Matters
"Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages" by Don C. Skemer
"In the Middle Ages, textual amulets—short texts written on parchment or paper and worn on the body—were thought to protect the bearer against enemies, to heal afflictions caused by demonic invasions, and to bring the wearer good fortune. In Binding Words, Don C. Skemer provides the first book-length study of this once-common means of harnessing the magical power of words. Textual amulets were a unique source of empowerment, promising the believer safe passage through a precarious world by means of an ever-changing mix of scriptural quotations, divine names, common prayers, and liturgical formulas. Although theologians and canon lawyers frequently derided textual amulets as ignorant superstition, many literate clergy played a central role in producing ...>>
View