A useful manual for any magician or curious spectator who wonders why the tricks seem so real, this guide examines the psychological aspects of a magician’s work. Exploring the ways in which human psychology plays into the methods of conjuring rather than focusing on the individual tricks alone, this explanation of the general principles of magic includes chapters on the use of misdirection, sleight of hand, and reconstruction, provides a better understanding of this ancient art, and offers a section on psychics that warns of their deceptive magic skills.
First written by Marcel Mauss and Henri Humbert in 1902, A General Theory of Magic gained a wide new readership when republished by Mauss in 1950. As a study of magic in 'primitive' societies and its survival today in our thoughts and social actions, it represents what Claude Lévi-Strauss called, in an introduction to that edition, the astonishing modernity of the mind of one of the century's greatest thinkers. The book offers a fascinating snapshot of magic throughout various cultures as well as deep sociological and religious insights still very much relevant today. At a period when art, magic and science appear to be crossing paths once again, A General Theory of Magic presents itself as a classic for our times.
Though his work was little known outside Italian intellectual circles for most of the twentieth century, anthropologist and historian of religions Ernesto de Martino is now recognized as one of the most original thinkers in the field. This book is testament to de Martino's innovation and engagement with Hegelian historicism and phenomenology--a work of ethnographic theory way ahead of its time. This new translation of Sud e Magia, his 1959 study of ceremonial magic and witchcraft in southern Italy, shows how De Martino is not interested in the question of whether magic is rational or irrational but rather in why it came to be perceived as a problem of knowledge in the first place. Setting his exploration within his wider, pathbreaking theorization of ritual, as well as in the context of his politically sensitive analysis of the global south's historical encounters with Western science, he presents the development of magic and ritual in Enlightenment Naples as a paradigmatic example of the complex dynamics between dominant and subaltern cultures. Far ahead of its time, Magic is still relevant as anthropologists continue to wrestle with modernity's relationship with magical thinking.
Of course, Magic is Magic wherever. But Ceremonial Magic - with or without a k ending - is perceived as largely European in origin and practice. The Golden Dawn, Aurum Solis, O.T.O were European and even AMORC, B.O.T.A., G.B.G. were mostly European inspired. As valid as these esoteric orders were and are, they are at best schools and the knowledge taught is now widely available. What is key is not the knowledge but the self-accomplishment that comes only through personal experience (otherwise known as ''self-initiation''). The essence of Magic is a simple formula based on the exercise of Will, Imagination, and Gnosis or Magical Trance. It is a ''technology'' and must be mastered like any technology through understanding and practice. Like playing the piano, it takes discipline to continue practicing basic exercises until it all becomes second nature and can function as an art as well. "And, what for? " Not to perform tricks or miracles. Not to wear fancy robes and chant barbarous words. Not to reach high degrees with grand titles in a secret order. No, it is to transform and transmute your own self and thus to become more than you were, not merely to accelerate normal human evolution but to actually move beyond and be a co-creator. And to finally answer those questions: "Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?" High Magic is an active program for self-discovery and Self-Realization. This book by a famed contemporary German magician self-instructs the student through a series of basic exercises and real magical practices that train the magician through a consistent program combined with examples and explanations. Each step isthorough without extravagance; the program is effective and entirely self-directed (as must be all real learning); the book is encyclopedic in depth and inclusive even of chaos and cyber magic. Tables and Charts simplify the learning process. The system starts with immediate immersion in ritual practice starting with the Kabbalistic Cross and Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and moves through beginning to advanced levels of Practical Sigil Magic, Ritual Magic, Elemental Magic, the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram, Planetary Magic, the Hexagram Ritual, Mantra Meditation, the Magical Gaze, Magical Trance, the Pan Ritual, Money Magic, Talisman Magic, Moon Magic, Chaos Magic and Cyber Magic. In each case, practice is used to instruct - nothing is presented as ''theory only.'' You will find everything analyzed, explained and justified with refreshing and truly uncommon common sense! The author fully dispels the myths and subterfuges of archaic magical orders and explores the role of the Unconscious Mind, the issues of Religion and Mysticism, the nature of High and Low Magic, the function of Myth and the role of Drama in Ritual, the Magical Nature of Reality and Magical Perception, Dream Work in relation to Magical Training, the Magical Imagination and training for Visualization, Psychic Protection, Invocation and Evocation, the Calling and Movement of Energies, Charging, Paradigm Shifting, what is really means ''to Keep Silent, '' the power of Intention & definition of Magical Goals, the ritual use of Symbols and Gestures, the power of Words, the Magician''s Universe, the magical pronunciation of Hebrew Letters, the Magician''s Tools, Mantric Sigils, the IAO formula, andmuch more. High Magic is as central to Western culture as are science, technology, the rule of law, democracy and the entrepreneurial economy. Its practice and application should be part of your daily life starting now.
Magic is a universal phenomenon. Everywhere we look people perform ritual actions in which desirable qualities are transferred by means of physical contact and objects or persons are manipulated by things of their likeness. In this book S rensen embraces a cognitive perspective in order to investigate this long-established but controversial topic. Following a critique of the traditional approaches to magic, and basing his claims on classical ethnographic cases, the author explains magic's universality by examining a number of recurrent cognitive processes underlying its different manifestations. He focuses on how power is infused into the ritual practice; how representations of contagion and similarity can be used to connect otherwise distinct objects in order to manipulate one by the other; and how the performance of ritual prompts representations of magical actions as effective. Bringing these features together, the author proposes a cognitive theory of how people can represent magical rituals as purposeful actions and how ritual actions are integrated into more complex representations of events. This explanation, in turn, yields new insights into the constitutive role of magic in the formation of institutionalised religious ritual.
An ambitious and original work which uses early film theory, anthropological insights, and avant--garde film to explore the relation of cinema to ritual healing.
"Given the historical orientation of philosophy, is it unreasonable to suggest a wider cast of the net into the deep waters of magic? By encountering magical thought as theory, we come to a new understanding of a thought that looks back at us from a funhouse mirror."—The Occult Mind Divination, like many critical modes, involves reading signs, and magic, more generally, can be seen as a kind of criticism that takes the universe—seen and unseen, known and unknowable—as its text. In The Occult Mind, Christopher I. Lehrich explores the history of magic in Western thought, suggesting a bold new understanding of the claims made about the power of various belief systems. In closely interlinked essays on such disparate topics as ley lines, the Tarot, the Corpus Hermeticum, writing and ritual in magical practice, and early attempts to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, Lehrich treats magic and its parts as an intellectual object that requires interpretive zeal on the part of readers/observers. Drawing illuminating parallels between the practice of magic and more recent interpretive systems—structuralism, deconstruction, semiotics—Lehrich deftly suggests that the specter of magic haunts all such attempts to grasp the character of knowledge. Offering a radical new approach to the nature and value of occult thought, Lehrich's brilliantly conceived and executed book posits magic as a mode of theory that is intrinsically subversive of normative conceptions of reason and truth. In elucidating the deep parallels between occult thought and academic discourse, Lehrich demonstrates that sixteenth-century occult philosophy often touched on issues that have become central to philosophical discourse only in the past fifty years.
In May of 2003, Timothy Ryback, the author of "Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life" had an article published in The Atlantic Monthly. In the article he detailed several of the books held in a portion of Hitler's library at Brown University. Mr. Ryback also mentioned some of the passages Hitler marked in these books. One particular passage was worthy of attention: "He who does not carry demonic seeds within him will never give birth to a new world." That passage appeared in the book "Magic: History / Theory / Practice," written by Dr. Ernst Schertel. Schertel was a researcher of alternative sexual practices, nudism, and the occult. After finishing his book Magic in 1923 he sent a dedicated copy to Adolf Hitler. Now, for the first time ever, "Magic: History/Theory/Practice" has been translated into English, with all sixty-six Hitler annotations intact.
An interdisciplinary investigation of the role of magic in human societies, past and present, asserts that magic remains an important element in contemporary civilizations
Europe's best-known mage and contemporary occult author, Frater U∴D∴, shares his extensive magical expertise in the companion volume to his highly acclaimed High Magic. Previously unavailable in English, High Magic II has been eagerly awaited by ceremonial magicians, mages, and Hermetic practitioners. This comprehensive guide explores a variety of magical topics--mirror magic, sigil magic, shamanism, magical orders, mudras, folk magic, and divination--in a modern, non-dogmatic way. The integrated, progressive approach of this book on high magic is designed to help the reader develop a holistic understanding of the underlying magical theories and a true mastery of the magical techniques. Themes in the text recur, focusing on different aspects of core topics but taking the reader further along each time, using the format proven effective in High Magic. High Magic II also delves into magic and yoga, magic in the Bible, the Kabbalah, forms of initiation, and the magic of ancient Egypt and the late Hellenistic period. Many provocative practices are addressed, including demonic magic and combat magic. Some of the techniques have never before appeared in an English-language book.
