Eros and Magic in the Renaissance challenges this view, providing an in-depth scholarly explanation of the workings of magic and showing that magic continues to exist in an altered form even today.Renaissance magic, according to Ioan Couliano, was a scientifically plausible attempt to manipulate individuals and groups based on a knowledge of motivations, particularly erotic motivations. Its key principle was that everyone (and in a sense everything) could be influenced by appeal to sexual desire. In addition, the magician relied on a profound knowledge of the art of memory to manipulate the imaginations of his subjects. In these respects, Couliano suggests, magic is the precursor of the modern psychological and sociological sciences, and the magician is the distant ancestor of the psychoanalyst and the advertising and publicity agent.In the course of his study, Couliano examines in detail the ideas of such writers as Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola and illuminates many aspects of Renaissance culture, including heresy, medicine, astrology, alchemy, courtly love, the influence of classical mythology, and even the role of fashion in clothing.Just as science gives the present age its ruling myth, so magic gave a ruling myth to the Renaissance. Because magic relied upon the use of images, and images were repressed and banned in the Reformation and subsequent history, magic was replaced by exact science and modern technology and eventually forgotten. Couliano's remarkable scholarship helps us to recover much of its original significance and will interest a wide audience in the humanities and social sciences.

    The material in this book is a highly improved version of the ground breaking material in the four-volume set by Dr. Regardie that revolutionized the Occult world in the late 1930s. It includes the Order's instructions in Ritual Magic, Invocation, Tarot, Qabalah, Enochian, Astrology, Esoteric Doctrine and more, along with the Order's Initiation Rituals.Only 22 copies were produced of this special Red Edition. Each has a hand stamped Hebrew letter and includes a brand new foreward by the noted occultist David Cherubim. Brand new material by Chic and Tabatha Cicero as well as contributions by Dr. Jack Willis and S. Jason Black make this a must read. It also includes a complete Index and detailed Table of Contents, compiled by James Strain, to assist readers in their Golden Dawn studies.This is a massive and beautiful hardcover book and includes copious illustrations with several in full color. This is a Special Red Edition with olive colored end papers."Without Regardie, the Golden Dawn would have perished in the flames of history." David Cherubim, Israel Regardie Foundation"As a writer, Regardie has long been hailed as one of the most coherent proponents of Western magic. His work is refreshingly humble and honest: he is able to convey difficult, abstract concepts with clarity and openness to inquiry. Never one to talk down to readers, he focuses instead on the patient teaching of esoteric knowledge: his warm style coaxes readers toward further investigation. He invites the reader to join him in the journey on the Path of Light. And it was through Regardie s writings that we began our own Rosicrucian adventure." Chic and Tabatha CiceroIsrael Regardie (1907-1985) was an Adept of the Golden Dawn. At an early age, Regardie worked as Aleister Crowley's personal secretary. Regardie was the messenger to the modern world charged with preserving and perpetuating the teachings of Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn. He takes his place among such luminaries as Madame Blavatsky, S. L. MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, and Dion Fortune. Even in such distinguished company, Regardie stands out as a figure of central importance.

    Everyone interested in Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's teachings should read all five volumes. Regardless of what spiritual path a person is on, the psychological commentaries can be a big help because they detail on a day-to-day basis the obstacles the false personality creates and how to conquer and remove those obstacles. Very few books have ever been written that go into great detail exposing the tricks the imaginary I uses to prevent people from succeeding in their spiritual goals. The psychological commentaries do just that. The Psychological Commentaries is the classic work on the fundamental ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, expounded by one of their foremost students. The Commentaries, concerned with the immediate processes of applying certain principles in daily life, have come to be known and loved by entire generations of people interested in the ongoing evolution of psychological transformation. One of the leading British psychologists of his time, Maurice Nicoll was a student of Jung, Gurdjieff, and Ouspensky. At the latter's request, he devoted the last twenty years of his life to passing on the ideas he had received from his teachers. This devotion culminated in the five volumes of the Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff & Ouspensky

    And this 'opening' enables him to recover and reaffirm the deep metaphysical insights that have come down to us through the teachings of Christianity: having broken the grip of scientistic presuppositions, the author succeeds in bringing to view universal truths which had long been obscured.