17.11.2021

“Gothic Dissections in Film and Literature: The Body in Parts” by Ian Conrich and Laura Sedgwick

Magick Matters

"This is the first book-length study to systematically and theoretically analyse the use and representation of individual body parts in Gothic fiction. Moving between filmic and literary texts and across the body―from the brain, hair and teeth, to hands, skin and the stomach―this book engages in unique readings by foregrounding a diversity of global representations. Building on scholarly work on the ‘Gothic body’ and ‘body horror’, Gothic Dissections in Film and Literature dissects the individual features that comprise the physical human corporeal form in its different functions. This very original and accessible study, which will appeal to a broad range of readers interested in the Gothic, centralises the use (and abuse) of limbs, organs,...>>

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17.11.2021

“Consuming Gothic: Food and Horror in Film” by Lorna Piatti-Farnell

Magick Matters

"This book offers a critical analysis of the relationship between food and horror in post-1980 cinema. Evaluating the place of consumption within cinematic structures, Piatti-Farnell analyses how seemingly ordinary foods are re-evaluated in the Gothic framework of irrationality and desire. The complicated and often ambiguous relationship between food and horror draws important and inescapable connections to matters of disgust, hunger, abjection, violence, as well as the sensationalisation of transgressive corporeality and monstrous pleasures. By looking at food consumption within Gothic cinema, the book uncovers eating as a metaphorical activity of the self, where the haunting psychology of the everyday, the porous boundaries of the body, and the uncanny limits of consumer identity collide. Aimed...>>

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17.11.2021

“Daoist Internal Mastery” by Wang Liping

Magick Matters

"This book translates Master Wang’s original practice instructions and discourses given during training seminars. His system of internal alchemy goes back to two ancient Daoist texts: the 13th-century Lingbao bifa, linked to the immortals Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin; and the 17th-century Taiyi jinhua zongzhi (Secret of the Golden Flower), also connected to Lü. Together they are known as the Lingbao tong zhineng neigong shu (Arts of Internal Mastery, Wisdom, and Potential, Based on Numinous Treasure). The texts outline the concoction of a golden elixir through the dual cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny. This book follows the classics and presents all different kinds of techniques―including walking, pacing, sleeping, circulating the five phases, absorbing...>>

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17.11.2021

“The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping: Volume One” by Nathan Brine and Wang Liping

Magick Matters

"For centuries, high up in the mountains of China, spiritual adepts explored the essence of being human. Known as Taoist alchemists, these practitioners developed and refined systems of energetic practice that allow us to experience our true nature. The Taoist Alchemy of Wang Liping: Vol. 1 introduces a traditional system of Taoist self-transformation known as internal alchemy or neidan, outlining the core curriculum and instruction methods designed to awaken consciousness and the mind-body connection. Wang Liping is the current transmitter of the Dragon Gate Lineage, a Taoist lineage that for centuries has been synonymous with the practice of neidan. The first in a series, Volume One briefly details Nathan’s training with Wang Liping before presenting...>>

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17.11.2021

“Tao of Internal Alchemy: Activating the Immortal Self” by Barefoot Doctor

Magick Matters

"Taoism differs from other similar esoteric systems in many ways. You can distinguish it both by the emphasis Taoist practice places on referencing all experience to proprioceptive awareness of what's occurring in the body rather than being lost and prey to delusion in the imagination, which is the usual way of modern Western culture; and by the ultimate goal of practice. At their highest level all other practices ancient and newfangled promise transcendence and enlightenment. While this is a product of Taoist practice it goes one step further to promise immortality. This is not, as far as anyone knows, actual physical immortality, as that remains the province of vampire movies and suchlike, but immortality...>>

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