07.12.2020

“Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World” by Randall Styers

Magick Matters

"Since the emergence of religious studies and the social sciences as academic disciplines, the concept of "magic" has played a major role in defining religion and in mediating the relation of religion to science. Across these disciplines, magic has regularly been configured as a definitively non-modern phenomenon, juxtaposed to distinctly modern models of religion and science. Yet this notion of magic has remained stubbornly amorphous. In Making Magic, Randall Styers seeks to account for the extraordinary vitality of scholarly discourse purporting to define and explain magic despite its failure to do just that. He argues that this persistence can best be explained in light of the Western drive to establish and secure distinctive norms for...>>

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07.12.2020

“Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World” edited by Scott Noegel et al

Magick Matters

"In the religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, gods and demigods were neither abstract nor distant, but communicated with mankind through signs and active intervention. Men and women were thus eager to interpret, appeal to, and even control the gods and their agents. In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to—or, in some cases, to bind or escape from—the divine powers of heaven and earth. Grounded in a variety of disciplines, including Assyriology, Classics, and early Islamic history, the fifteen essays in this volume cover a...>>

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07.12.2020

“Witch, Warlock, and Magician: Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland” by W. H. Davenport Adams

Magick Matters

"It was in the early years of the fourteenth century that the two pseudosciences of alchemy and astrology, the supposititious sisters of chemistry and astronomy, made their way into England. At first their progress was by no means so rapid as it had been on the Continent; for in England, as yet, there was no educated class prepared to give their leisure to the work of experimental investigation. A solitary scholar here and there lighted his torch at the altar-fire which the Continental philosophers kept burning with so much diligence and curiosity, and was generally rewarded for his heterodox enthusiasm by the persecution of the Church and the prejudice of the vulgar. But by...>>

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06.12.2020

“Luna: Harness the Power of the Moon to Live Your Best Life” by Tamara Driessen

Magick Matters

"Luna is your essential guide to harnessing the moon's healing potential and achieving a happier, more fulfilling life. Tamara Driessen is guaranteed to help you to realise your potential, turn challenges into transformative opportunities and become more connected with yourself. Luna empowers by grounding you in the moment, inspiring you to celebrate the positives in your life and helping you find a clear sense of purpose. Luna nourishes you with moon rituals for every occasion, from crystals to tarot and meditation, that you can use during the moon's cycles. Tamara guides you through New Moon Rituals to inspire new beginnings and positive life change, Waxing Moon Rituals to help you take action and achieve personal...>>

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06.12.2020

The Black Books: 1913-1932, Notebooks of Transformation (Slipcased Edition) (Volume Seven-Volume Set) by C. G. Jung

Magick Matters

In 1913, C.G. Jung started a unique self- experiment that he called his “confrontation with the unconscious”: an engagement with his fantasies in a waking state, which he charted in a series of notebooks referred to as The Black Books. These intimate writings shed light on the further elaboration of Jung’s personal cosmology and his attempts to embody insights from his self- investigation into his life and personal relationships. The Red Book drew on material recorded from 1913 to 1916, but Jung actively kept the notebooks for many more decades. Presented in a magnificent, seven-volume boxed collection featuring a revelatory essay by noted Jung scholar Sonu Shamdasani―illuminated by a selection of Jung’s vibrant visual works―and...>>

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