Magick Matters

01.06.2024

“Radiant Cool: A Novel Theory Of Consciousness” by Dan Edward Lloyd

Magick Matters

"An innovative theory of consciousness, drawing on the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and supported by brain-imaging, presented in the form of a hardboiled detective story. Professor Grue is dead (or is he?). When graduate student/sleuth Miranda Sharpe discovers him slumped over his keyboard, she does the sensible thing: she grabs her dissertation and runs. Little does she suspect that soon she will be probing the heart of two mysteries, trying to discover what happened to Max Grue, and trying to solve the profound neurophilosophical problem of consciousness. Radiant Cool may be the first novel of ideas that actually breaks new theoretical ground, as Dan Lloyd uses a neo-noir (neuro-noir?), hard-boiled framework to propose a new...>>

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01.06.2024

“Speaking with the Dead: An Ethnography of Extrahuman Experience” by Matt Tomlinson

Magick Matters

"If you tried speaking with a dead person and they gave you a clear response, how would you react? Mediums develop their minds and bodies to communicate messages from the deceased to their living loved ones, and in Speaking with the Dead, anthropologist Matt Tomlinson describes his experiences training as a medium with a Spiritualist congregation in Canberra, Australia. The book is written in a first-person narrative style that brings "extrahuman" relationships to life, showing what it is like to learn and practice mediumship: the strategic suspension of skepticism; the wobbly first attempts; the embarrassing failures; and the moments, both unsettling and enthralling, when someone tells you that yes indeed, you’ve just described her...>>

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01.06.2024

“The Presence of Spirits in Madness” by Wilson Van Dusen

Magick Matters

"The mind is what matters for it is the all in all of human personality. This most baffling and complex mechanism has long been the subject of speculation and scientific study. "Know thyself" is an ancient dictum attributed to Solon of Athens. And these very words were inscribed over the portico of the famed temple at Delphi. Certain it is that he who knows his mind knows himself. We have still a great deal to learn about the processes that result in our conscious thoughts and emotions. When the mind seems to produce visions, voices, and hallucinations, we find ourselves groping for explanations. Such symptoms commonly found in abnormal behaviour are given a new, provocative and...>>

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31.05.2024

“The Devil’s Best Trick: How the Face of Evil Disappeared” by Randall Sullivan

Magick Matters

"Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan Throughout history, humans have struggled to explain the evils of the world and the darkest parts of ourselves. The Devil’s Best Trick is a unique and far-reaching investigation into evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it — particularly through the figure of the Devil. Sullivan’s narrative moves through centuries of historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil and the Devil: from the Mesopotamian and Egyptian gods to the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th...>>

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31.05.2024

“My Life Among the Spirits: A Memoir” by Oshada Jagodzinski

Magick Matters

"When Oshada Jagodzinski was a child, she had otherworldly visions and a relationship with the dead that only her grandmother, who experienced the same, could understand. Jagodzinski’s astonishing life story details not only those early visions, but also the turmoil she felt before coming to appreciate, and, ultimately, harness her remarkable powers in service of others. Overcoming battles with substance abuse and her own inner demons, she emerged, after much healing work and study, an ordained Spiritualist minister and certified medium. She went on to build a fruitful career helping clients overcome the searing pain of loss, as well as both spiritual and emotional hunger. But Oshada’s story doesn’t end there. Her quest to find...>>

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