20.02.2022

“Odin and Thor: The Origins, History and Religious Evolution of the Norse Gods” by Jesse Harasta and Charles River Editors

Magick Matters
"Odin and Thor: The Origins, History and Religious Evolution of the Norse Gods" by Jesse Harasta and Charles River Editors
"A hammer no mortal can lift. A flame-haired fiery storm god. A comic book alien-hero-god who defends humanity. The swastika. Even the name "Thursday" ("Thor's Day"). Despite the virtual disappearance of the indigenous Norse religion and mythology several centuries ago, modern society still regularly encounters the storm god Thor, who continues to be brought back to life in the form of literature and was recently the protagonist in a big-budget Hollywood movie. What is it about this god, out of the hundreds (if not thousands) of deities that were consigned to the dustbin of history by the world’s major religions, that so captures people’s imaginations today? A better understanding of Thor’s appeal can be found...>>
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20.02.2022

“The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy” by Ryan E. Stokes

Magick Matters
"The Satan: How God's Executioner Became the Enemy" by Ryan E. Stokes
"Many people today think of Satan as a little red demon with a pointy tail and a pitchfork—but this vision of the devil developed over many centuries and would be foreign to the writers of the Old Testament, where this figure makes his first appearances. The earliest texts that mention the Satan—it is always “the Satan” in the Old Testament—portray him as an agent of Yahweh, serving as an executioner of evildoers. But over the course of time, the Satan came to be regarded more as God’s enemy than God’s agent and was blamed for a host of problems. Biblical scholar Ryan E. Stokes explains the development of the Satan tradition in the Hebrew scriptures...>>
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19.02.2022

“Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692” by Benjamin C. Ray

Magick Matters
"Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692" by Benjamin C. Ray
"The result of a perfect storm of factors that culminated in a great moral catastrophe, the Salem witch trials of 1692 took a breathtaking toll on the young English colony of Massachusetts. Over 150 people were imprisoned, and nineteen men and women, including a minister, were executed by hanging. The colonial government, which was responsible for initiating the trials, eventually repudiated the entire affair as a great "delusion of the Devil." In Satan and Salem, Benjamin Ray looks beyond single-factor interpretations to offer a far more nuanced view of why the Salem witch-hunt spiraled out of control. Rather than assigning blame to a single perpetrator, Ray assembles portraits of several major characters, each of whom...>>
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19.02.2022

“Developing Supersensible Perception” by Shelli Renee Joye

Magick Matters
"Developing Supersensible Perception" by Shelli Renee Joye
A detailed guide to awakening your powers of supersensory perception • Details methods and techniques for the acquisition of supersensory powers distilled from Rudolf Steiner’s 400 published volumes and from Patañjali’s Yoga Sutra • Explores acquisition of these powers at birth (genetic) and through entheogens, mantra and prayer, effort and exercise, and nondual meditation • Includes a map of consciousness based on the work of neuroscientist Karl Pribram and physicist David Bohm According to philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), there exists within every human being the potential for developing supersensory powers and, with these powers activated, the ability to awaken the higher self and attain knowledge of non-physical higher worlds. Steiner himself worked diligently throughout...>>
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19.02.2022

“The Astrologer: How British Intelligence Plotted to Read Hitler’s Mind” by James Parris

Magick Matters
"The Astrologer: How British Intelligence Plotted to Read Hitler's Mind" by James Parris
"In the darkest days of the Second World War, as Europe fell under Nazi domination and Britain faced invasion, Louis de Wohl, a 36-year-old refugee from Germany, made a curious offer to British Intelligence. Based on the widely held belief that Hitler’s every action was guided by his horoscope, de Wohl claimed he could reveal precisely what advice the Fu¨hrer’s astrologers were giving him. Rather than dismissing de Wohl out of hand as a crank, senior intelligence officers and chiefs of staff of the three armed services took him at his word. De Wohl was made an army captain and quartered in the Grosvenor House Hotel, from where his one-man ‘Psychological Research Bureau’ passed astrological...>>
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