Magick Matters

19.08.2022

“Taoism and Chinese Religion” by Henri Maspero (1981 scan)

Magick Matters

"This book is a translation of Le Taoisme et les Religions Chinoises, which was posthumously published in France in 1971. It is the first English translation of most of the seminal works on Chinese religion of the great sinologist Henri Maspero. Maspero (1883-1945) was the first Western scholar to study the vast and recondite compendium of Taoist writing, the Tao-tsang. As his discovery of its historic meaning was explained in publication, it exploded forever the myths that China was either a country without religion or one with three religions. Maspero, as did other French sinologists, rejected the idea that Confucianism was the philosophy of the majority of ancient Chinese. The first part of the book...>>

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19.08.2022

“Spiritualism & Clairvoyance for Beginners: Simple Techniques to Develop Your Psychic Abilities” by Elizabeth Owens

Magick Matters

"Clarivoyance is the ability to "see" things using psychic perception rather than your physical senses. Clairvoyant images may be experienced as scenes, symbols, words, numbers, colors, or even spirits. This positive and encourageing guidebook shows that with patience and practice, clairvoyance is possible for everyone. Spiritualist medium and popular author Elizabeth Owens offers simple techniques and a step-by-step approach to developing clairvoyant abilities at your own pace. Along with a straightforward explanation of different psychic abilities, Elizabeth shares firsthand accounts of clairvoyant experiences that she and six other Spiritualist mediums have encountered in their own lives. This book includes a system of progressive learning exercises that start with meditation and continue with memory development, visualization,...>>

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19.08.2022

“The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites” by Martin P. Starr (incomplete)

Magick Matters

"The first documentary study of Aleister Crowley's contemporary followers in North America, told through the life of their de facto leader, Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885-1957). Smith, the unacknowledged offspring of a prominent English family, emigrated to Canada where he met Charles Stansfeld Jones and through him, the works of Aleister Crowley. Although Crowley and Smith met only once, their twenty-year correspondence proved to be a major link to the few and the faithful attracted to Crowley's work in the United States and Canada. Smith's spiritual life centered first on the initiatic structure of the Order of the A.·.A.·., complemented by the emerging fraternal and social schemes of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Smith followed...>>

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19.08.2022

“Spiritual Alchemy: From Jacob Boehme to Mary Anne Atwood” by Mike A. Zuber

Magick Matters

"Most professional historians see the relationship between pre-modern and modern alchemy as one of discontinuity and contrast. Mike A. Zuber challenges this dominant understanding and explores aspects of alchemy that have been neglected by recent work in the history of science. The predominant focus on the scientific aspect of alchemy, such as laboratory experiment, practical techniques, and material ingredients, argues Zuber, marginalizes the things that render alchemy so fascinating: its rich and vivid imagery, reliance on the medium of manuscript, and complicated relationship with religion. Spiritual Alchemy traces the early-modern antecedents of modern alchemy through generations of followers of Jacob Boehme, the cobbler and theosopher of Görlitz. As Boehme's disciples down the generations — including...>>

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19.08.2022

“The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies” by Irving Finkel

Magick Matters

"There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally "believe" or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries — yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay...>>

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