Book picks similar to
The Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of Consciousness by Susan Greenwood
anthropology
nonfiction
cultural-studies
religion
Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards
Michelle Tea - 2017
Infused with beloved iconoclastic author Michelle Tea’s unique insight, inviting pop sensibility, and wicked humor, Modern Tarot is a fascinating journey through the cards that teaches how to use this tradition to connect with our higher selves.Whether you’re a committed seeker or a digital-age skeptic—or perhaps a little of both—Tea’s essential guide opens the power of tarot to you. Modern Tarot doesn’t require you to believe in the supernatural or narrowly focus on the tarot as a divination tool. Tea instead provides incisive descriptions of each of the 78 cards in the tarot system—each illustrated in the charmingly offbeat style of cartoonist Amanda Verwey—and introduces specially designed card-based rituals that can be used with any deck to guide you on a path toward radical growth and self-improvement.Tea reveals how tarot offers moments of deep, transformative connection—an affirming, spiritual experience that is gentle, individual, and aspirational. Grounded in Tea’s twenty-five years of tarot wisdom and her abiding love of the cards, and featuring 78 black and white illustrations throughout, Modern Tarot is the ultimate introduction to the tradition of the tarot for millennial readers.
A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook
Janet Farrar - 1987
This collection includes two books in one volume, Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches' Way and is the most comprehensive and revealing work on the principles, rituals and beliefs of modern witchcraft.
Sigils of Power and Transformation: 111 Magick Sigils to Change and Control Your Life
Adam Blackthorne - 2017
When you work with the sigils in this book, you throw out all the confusing magickal garbage and get straight to the power of change. Sigils provide you with a visual code that unlocks the essence of magick. This book does not contain anything to do with witchcraft, spellcasting, kabbalistic ritual, evocation or any other method of magick that you might be familiar with. A sigil is nothing more than a drawing, but in this case, the drawing is so much more than you can imagine. These drawings bypass the conscious mind, connecting you to a stream of pure magick. This is not dark magick, but magick of light. You can do no harm with this magick, to yourself or to others. The magick works because you have access to one hundred and eleven secret sigils, handed down from ancient times. Every one of them can work wonders in the modern world. You will discover: The Magick of the Mind Inspiring Others Extended Perception Fortune Love and Friendship Breakthrough Magick Spiritual Magick Personal Strength Peace Magick Protection Magick Personal Healing Health Magick Wisdom and Education Business and Finance Employment Magick The magick presented here is not bound to any religion, and it requires no magick words. You don't have to learn any difficult pronunciations or say a single word out loud. The magick requires no visualization and no equipment. You won't light a candle or wave a wand. All you need is this book, your own strong desire and the will to carry out the instructions.
Eros and Magic in the Renaissance
Ioan Petru Culianu - 1984
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 Serpent and the Rainbow
Wade Davis - 1985
Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti—from the African origins of its people to the successful Haitian independence movement, down to the present day, where vodoun culture is, in effect, the government of Haiti’s countryside. The Serpent and the Rainbow combines anthropological investigation with a remarkable personal adventure to illuminate and finally explain a phenomenon that has long fascinated Americans.
Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation
Sandra Ingerman - 2010
Thanks to a modern renaissance of shamanic spirituality, practitioners from all walks of life now use powerful indigenous techniques for healing, insight, and spiritual growth. With Awakening to the Spirit World, teachers Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wesselman bring together a circle of renowned Western shamanic elders to present a comprehensive manual for making these practices accessible and available in our daily lives, including:- How the original practice of shamanism shaped the world's spiritual traditions and why it is still relevant today - The art of the shamanic journey--a time-tested meditative method for experiencing important spiritual lessons and truths - Guidance for avoiding common pitfalls of shamanic practice - Instruction for working with your dreams, connecting to your spirit guides, healing yourself and your environment - A CD of drumming to facilitate your shamanic journeys
High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row
Damien Echols - 2018
Magick is for those who feel the desire to peel away the surface of reality and see what lies beneath. Like various persecuted forms of mysticism, magick promotes direct contact with the source of creation.” —Damien Echols Discover a Powerful Practice for Transforming Yourself and Your Reality At age 18, Damien Echols was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. “I spent my years in prison training to be a true magician,” he recalls. “I used magick—the practice of reshaping reality through our intention and will—to stave off incredible pain, despair, and isolation. But the most amazing feat of all that practice and study was to manifest my freedom.” With High Magick, this bestselling author shares his first teaching book on the powerful spiritual techniques that helped him survive and transcend his ordeal on death row. Though our culture has consigned “magic” to fiction, stage illusions, or superstitions about dark practices, the magick Damien learned is an ancient Western tradition equal the Eastern practices of Buddhism, Taoism, and yoga in its wisdom and transformative power. Here he brings you an engaging and highly accessible guide for bringing magick into your own life, including: • What is High Magick? Damien clears away the stigma and reveals the history and core teachings of this extraordinary art. • The Four-Fold Breath—a foundational meditation practice to train your mind and body to channel subtle energies. • The Middle Pillar—how to bring divine energy into the central channel of your body for empowerment and healing. • The Qabalistic Cross—a centering technique to help you stay balanced and protected regardless of circumstances. • The Lesser Rituals of the Pentagram—powerful practices for banishing negative energies and invoking energy to manifest your goals. • Working with angelic beings and other spiritual allies to support your practice. • Creating thoughtforms to assist you in your ongoing magickal development. • Guidance for overcoming your doubts, enhancing your visualization skills, creating talismans, practicing magick ethically, and much more. “Magick is a journey,” writes Damien. “It’s a continuously unfolding path that has no end. You can study and practice magick for the rest of your life and you will still never learn everything that it has to teach you.” If you’re ready to discover your untapped potential for co-creating your reality with the energy of the divine, then join this extraordinary teacher to begin your training in High Magick.
The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need
Joanna Martine Woolfolk - 1982
But the CD-ROM in this new edition allows the reader to cast his or her chart in just a few minutes by inputting the date, time and place of birth into the computer, producing a personalized astrological chart in just a few minutes. In addition to revealing the planets' influence on romance, health, and career, The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need takes a closer look at the inner life of each sign. Celebrated astrologer Joanna Martine Woolfolk offers abundant insights on the personal relationships and emotional needs that motivate an individual, on how others perceive astrological types, and on dealing with the negative aspects of signs. Readers will also welcome the inclusion of new discoveries in astronomy.
Flim-Flam!: Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions
James Randi - 1982
But for the past thirty-five years of his professional life, he has also been active as an investigator of the paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims that have impressed the thinking of the public for a generation: ESP, psychokinesis, psychic detectives, levitation, psychic surgery, UFOs, dowsing, astrology, and many others. Those of us unable to discriminate between geniune scientific research and the pseudoscientific nonsense that has resulted in fantastic theories and fancies have long needed James Randi and Flim-Flam!In this book, Randi explores and exposes what he believes to be the outrageous deception that has been promoted widely in the media. Unafraid to call researchers to account for their failures and impostures, Randi tells us that we have been badly served by scientists who have failed to follow the procedures required by their training and traditions. Here he shows us how what he views as sloppy research has been followed by rationalizations of evident failures, and we see these errors and misrepresentations clearly pointed out. Mr. Randi provides us with a compelling and convincing document that will certainly startle and enlighten all who read it.
Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy
Robert Allen Bartlett - 2006
A laboratory scientist and chemist, Robert Allen Bartlett provides an overview of the history of alchemy, as well as an exploration of the theories behind the practice. Clean, clear, simple, and easy to read, Real Alchemy provides excellent directions regarding the production of plant products and transitions the reader-student into the basics of mineral work--what some consider the true domain of alchemy. New students to practical laboratory alchemy will enjoy reading Real Alchemy and hopefully find the encouragement needed to undertake their own alchemical journey. Bartlett also explains what the ancients really meant when they used the term "Philosopher's Stone" and describes several very real and practical methods for its achievement. Is the fabled Philosopher's Stone an elixir of long life or is it a method of transforming lead into gold? Judge for yourself.
The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia
Paul Devereux - 1997
In fact, as this illuminating study demonstrates, psychedelics have been used by human societies in every part of the world for ritual and spiritual purposes for millennia. As Paul Devereux points out, our modern culture is eccentric in its refusal to integrate the profound experiences offered by these natural substances into our own spiritual life and traditions. Modern Western culture's recent experimentation with psychedelic drugs raised the awareness of archaeologists and anthropologists, leading them to recognize the use of hallucinogens in surviving traditional societies and in the archaeological record. Devereux reveals dramatic new evidence - from linguistics, ethnobotany, biology, and other fields - for the psychedelic experiences of various prehistoric cultures, and ponders the implications and effects of psychedelic revelations on our contemporary worldview, linking them to out-of-body and near death experiencs, shamanic trances, even memory and dreaming.
Alchemy & Mysticism
Alexander Roob - 1996
This unique selection of illustrations with commentaries and source texts guides us on a fascinating journey through the representations of the secret arts.
Homemade Magick: The Musings & Mischief of a Do-It-Yourself Magus
Lon Milo DuQuette - 2014
Written in Lon's humorous style that makes learning and discovery a joy, Homemade Magick will show you that everyday life events are, in fact, true magical adventures.As you navigate your journey, learn how to:Choose your magical motto Perform a self-initiation ritual Make your own tools Raise children in a magical home Perform the Rite of Earth Learn how to make your whole life magick With this insightful book as your guide, you can see how the magical world is already an integral part of your life. Between easy-to-follow instructions and Lon's colorful stories about his years as a domesticated magician, you'll be inspired to wake up to your own magical identity--and have a whole lot of fun along the way.
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin, The Mage — As Delivered By Abraham The Jew Unto His Son Lamech — As A Grimoire of The 15th Century
Abraham von Worms - 1897
From Abramelin he took his concepts of protections, purifications, evocations, vestments, and dromena down to specific details. This system of Abramelin the Mage is known from a unique 15th century manuscript persevered in the Bibliotheque de l`Arsenal in Paris. In it, Abraham of Wurzburg, a cabalist and connoisseur of magics, describes a tour that he made of the then civilized world, visiting sorcerers, magicians, and cabalists, estimating their powers and virtues. This quest is in itself as fascinating as the similar tours of Gurdjieff. The high point of Abraham`s travels was found in a small town on the banks of the Nile, where he encountered the great magician Abramelin, whose complete system Abraham thereupon sets out in detail. This amounts to a complete course in ceremonial magic (both white and black), which the student can pursue by himself. Abramelin, whose system is based mostly on Hellenistic theurgy of the Iamblichan sort, but with Jewish increments from the Cabala, explains the qualifications needed to become a magician, purifications and asceticisms to be practiced month by month, studies and activities permitted during this period, selections of place and time for working magic, equipment needed, prayers and formulas, evocation of good and evil spirits, commanding spirits, to do one`s will, overcoming rebellious spirits, an similar material. Specific instructions are offered to develop such powers as clairvoyance, divining metals and treasurers, warding off evil magic, healing illness, levitation, transportation, rendering oneself invisible, creating illusions and glamour, reading minds, placing compulsions, working black magic, and a host of other abilities. We do not guarantee that Abramelin's techniques work, not that the results are desirable...
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
Jeremy Narby - 1998
This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald "a Copernican revolution for the life sciences," leads the reader through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge.In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.