Statues, paintings, and masks—like the bodies of shamans and spirit mediums—give material form and presence to otherwise invisible entities, and sometimes these objects are understood to be enlivened, agentive on their own terms. This book explores how magical images are expected to work with the shamans and spirit mediums who tend and use them in contemporary South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bali, and elsewhere in Asia. It considers how such things are fabricated, marketed, cared for, disposed of, and sometimes transformed into art-market commodities and museum artifacts.
Scared of ghosts, Alison is a most unlikely medium. But her huge natural gifts for sensing the presence of spirits and angels have taken her on an extraordinary life journey, helping thousands of others with her channelling and healing abilities. Her down-to-earth English humour has also brought her fame as hostess of the TV programme Rescue Mediums.
This 1750 text, written by a Catholic missionary in Tonkin, is the earliest known systematic first-hand account of Vietnamese religious practice, including chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, the worship of spirits, magicians, fortune tellers and diviners, and Christianity in the region. It was recently discovered in a Paris archive and will be of interest to a broad array of scholars. Includes a facsimile of the original manuscript.
This anthology of essays aims to explore the many types of relationships that exist between puppets, broadly speaking, and the immaterial world. The allure of the puppet goes beyond its material presence as, historically and throughout the globe, many uses of puppets and related objects have expressed and capitalized on their posited connections to other realms or ability to serve as vessels or conduits for immaterial presence. The flip side of the puppet’s troubling uncanniness is precisely the possibilities it represents for connecting to discarnate realities. Where do we see such connections? How do we describe, analyze, and theorize these relationships? The first of two volumes, this book focuses on these questions in relation to long-established, traditional practices using puppets, devotional objects, and related items with sacred aspects to them or that perform ritual roles. Looking at performance traditions and artifacts from China, Indonesia, Korea, Mali, Brazil, Iran, Germany, and elsewhere, the essays from scholars and practitioners provide a range of useful models and critical vocabularies for addressing the ritual and spiritual aspects of puppet performance, further expanding the growing understanding and appreciation of puppetry generally. This book, along with its companion volume, offers, for the first time, robust coverage of this subject from a diversity of voices, examples, and perspectives.
Posters, photography, and objects from the height of Spiritualism and the history of magic gain renewed power when seen through today’s lens. The human desire to connect with the dead since the mid-19th century gave rise to a fascination with the supernatural and the magical. Mediums and magicians from Harry Houdini, Margery the Medium, Howard Thurston, and the Fox Sisters offered “communication” with the departed at séances and magic shows, two interrelated forms of popular culture that relied heavily on illusions and stagecraft. This is the first illustrated volume to gather the art and objects that made medium and magician performances iconic during the Spiritualism movement and beyond, a time when people actively debated and wondered, "can spirits return?" An international selection of paintings, photographs, posters, stage apparatuses, film, publications, and other objects reveal how audiences were entranced and mystified by these experiential performances, captivating willing believers and garnering skeptics as they navigated the intersecting realms of science and spirituality. From the origins of the iconic Oujia board to spirit photography, this book is a treasure trove.
A friendly guide to a wide array of divination tools, both ancient and modern, from internationally known spiritual teacher and author Radleigh Valentine. With a little help from the angels and a dash of fairy dust, Radleigh Valentine invites you to find your perfect "language" for communicating with the Universe to manifest your most cherished dreams! This simple how-to guide explores different divination tools, also known as oracles, which are simply methods of getting clarity and assistance from Source. You'll learn the basics of working with the magic of angels, fairies, tarot and oracle cards, Lenormand, runes, pendulums, the I Ching, astrology, numerology, meditation, and mantras--all delivered with Radleigh's gentle sense of humor and deft way of making complicated topics easy to understand. With each turn of a card, swing of a pendulum, or chanted mantra, your eyes will be opened to the brightness and the vastness of the Universe. Release your fears and see again through the universal language of laughter that . . . life really is magic!
Christmas is my favorite holiday, but is Santa stuffing my stocking with ghosts? It seems Thornhollow has more secrets to reveal. After ridding my family of an ancient curse, I’m hired to break another. A two-hundred-year-old hex is about to expire and release a ghost from Christmas past. The witch trapped by the hex is seeking revenge and coming after my boyfriend. (Like I don’t have enough issues in the relationship department!) Add in planning for the Mistletoe Ball, the biggest event of the year in Thornhollow, launching my new wedding dress line, and an unexpected, yet welcome, visitor, and it all spells trouble. Something is brewing this Christmas, and it isn’t just hot cocoa. Murder and magic are in the air and Santa has stuffed my stocking with ghosts! ★ Grab this humorous, holiday story today!
