Just when it seemed that Science and Reason had scored their greatest triumphs, the mid-nineteenth century witnessed an astonishing rebirth of occultism and anit-rationalism: the beginnings of the movement we now call New Age. A secret tradition of knowledge rejected by the Christian or Scientific establishments suddenly became emboldened to seek publicity and converts. James Webb's painstaking research carry him into the undergrowth inhabited by such illuminated personages as Madame Blavatsky, the Reverend Leadbeater, the Bortherhood of Luxor, Annie Besant, Krishnamurti, Swami Vivekananda, Spiritualists, Rosicrucians, Vegetarians, Mithraic cults, and all manner of occult propagandists. "fascinating detail . . . particularly good in tracing the obscure and subterranean spiritual affiliations through which these pilgrims of eternity were bound together . . . as relevant to our own time as it is to the nineteenth century." --Goronwy Rees, ENCOUNTER

This is a new release of the original 1923 edition.

Treason and magic were first linked together during the reign of Edward II. Theories of occult conspiracy then regularly led to major political scandals, such as the trial of Eleanor Cobham Duchess of Gloucester in 1441. While accusations of magical treason against high-ranking figures were indeed a staple of late medieval English power politics, they acquired new significance at the Reformation when the 'superstition' embodied by magic came to be associated with proscribed Catholic belief. Francis Young here offers the first concerted historical analysis of allegations of the use of magic either to harm or kill the monarch, or else manipulate the course of political events in England, between the fourteenth century and the dawn of the Enlightenment. His book addresses a subject usually either passed over or elided with witchcraft: a quite different historical phenomenon. He argues that while charges of treasonable magic certainly were used to destroy reputations or to ensure the convictions of undesirables, magic was also perceived as a genuine threat by English governments into the Civil War era and beyond.

Sexuality and the occult arts have long been associated in the western imagination, but it was not until the nineteenth century that a large and sophisticated body of literature on sexual magic - the use of sex as a source of magical power - emerged. This book, the first history of western sexual magic as a modern spiritual tradition, places these practices in the context of the larger discourse surrounding sexuality in American and European society over the last 150 years to discover how sexual magic was transformed from a terrifying medieval nightmare of heresy and social subversion into a modern ideal of personal empowerment and social liberation. Focusing on a series of key figures including American spiritualist Paschal Beverly Randolph, Aleister Crowley, Julius Evola, Gerald Gardner, and Anton LaVey, Hugh Urban traces the emergence of sexual magic out of older western esoteric traditions including Gnosticism and Kabbalah, which were progressively fused with recently-discovered eastern traditions such as Hindu and Buddhist Tantra. His study gives remarkable new insight into sexuality in the modern era, specifically on issues such as the politics of birth control, the classification of sexual 'deviance', debates over homosexuality and feminism, and the role of sexuality in our own new world of post-modern spirituality, consumer capitalism, and the Internet.

With their ability to enter trances, to change into the bodies of other creatures, and to fly through the northern skies, shamans are the subject of both popular and scholarly fascination. In Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western ImaginationRonald Hutton looks at what is really known about both the shamans of Siberia and about others spread throughout the world. He traces the growth of knowledge of shamans in Imperial and Stalinist Russia, descibes local variations and different types of shamanism, and explores more recent western influences on its history and modern practice. This is a challenging book by one of the world's leading authorities on Paganism.

The most complete summation to date of the New Testament evidence for magical practice by Jesus and the early Christians. The very notion of Jesus being a sorcerer runs so against the grain of the Western cultural myth that even non-Christians are likely to find it far-fetched or even vaguely disturbing. Nevertheless, scholars steadily accumulated evidence for magical practices in the New Testament throughout much of the 20th century. It is that ever expanding body of knowledge that has made this book possible. This book examines the following: The nature of the earliest Christian documents, the defects of their trans-mission, and the evidence for the suppression of descriptions of magical acts. The closely related problem of the New Testament accounts as historical sources. The radically apocalyptic nature of Jesus' message and the expectations of the early church. The failure of the apocalypse to occur and the theological reaction to that failure. The role of magic and mystery religion in early Christianity. A revisiting of the story of the "beloved disciple" and what it may tell us about Jesus and suppression of evidence about his life. Contents: Documentary Evidence / Infancy Narratives / Confrontation / Resurrection as Ghost Story /Apocalyptic Prophet / Apocalypse Postponed, / Magic and Mystery, / Jesus the Magician / Spirit Versus Spirit, / Ecstatic Inner Circle, / Christian Mysteries, / Secret Gospel of Mark, / Beloved Disciple, / On the Use of Boys in Magic, / Apocalypse, Magic, and Christianity, / "Son of David." / Mary Magdalene

The ancient Greeks commonly resorted to magic spells to attract and keep lovers--as numerous allusions in Greek literature and recently discovered "voodoo dolls," magical papyri, gemstones, and curse tablets attest. Surveying and analyzing these various texts and artifacts, Christopher Faraone reveals that gender is the crucial factor in understanding love spells. There are, he argues, two distinct types of love magic: the curselike charms used primarily by men to torture unwilling women with fiery and maddening passion until they surrender sexually; and the binding spells and debilitating potions generally used by women to sedate angry or philandering husbands and make them more affectionate.

Faraone's lucid analysis of these spells also yields a number of insights about the construction of gender in antiquity, for example, the "femininity" of socially inferior males and the "maleness" of autonomous prostitutes. Most significantly, his findings challenge the widespread modern view that all Greek men considered women to be naturally lascivious. Faraone reveals the existence of an alternate male understanding of the female as "naturally" moderate and chaste, who uses love magic to pacify and control the "naturally" angry and passionate male. This fascinating study of magical practices and their implications for perceptions of male and female sexuality offers an unusual look at ancient Greek religion and society.

Partly because of alchemy's dismissal from the Parnassus of rational sciences, the interplay between this esoteric knowledge and the visual arts is still a surprisingly neglected research area. This collection of articles covering the time span from the Late Middle Ages to the 20th century intends, however, to challenge the current neglect. Areas on which its twelve authors cast new light include alchemical gender symbolism in Renaissance, Mannerist, and modernist art; alchemical ideas of transformation in Italian fifteenth-century landscape imagery; Netherlandish seventeenth-century portrayals of alchemists; and alchemy's tortured status as a forerunner of photography. Art and Alchemy indicates that alchemy indeed has several connections with art by examining some of the pictorial and literary books that disseminated alchemical symbols and ideas, delving into images, which in one way or another can be shown to appropriate and interpret alchemical ideas or environments, and expanding t

Magic is an ultimate act of presumption. It is tricky, powerful, and often dangerous."

The author of Skin Folk and Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson is renowned for combining urban literary sensibilities with the rich lore of African-Caribbean cultures. Now, in a powerful anthology of nineteen original stories that explore the perils of personal magic, she brings together some of the most honored voices in modern fantasy and brilliant new talents of African Diaspora fiction. Exploding the myths of zombies and voodoo curses, these narratives range from the ancient rites of the Ibo to the bellies of slave ships, from '20s Jim Crow to '60s Black Power, from unmarked graves at midnight to quiet suburbs at dawn-and prove that where heartache and faith meet, you will find the crossroads for conjuring magic.

Stories included in this collection are:

"Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull," by Andy Duncan
"Rosamojo," by Kiini Ibura Salaam
23 "Lark till Dawn, Princess," by Barth Anderson
"Heartspace," by Steven Barnes
"The Prowl," by Gregory Frost
"Fate," by Jenise Aminoff
"Trial Day," by Tananarive Due
"The Skinned," by Jarla Tangh
"Death's Dreadlocks," by Tobias S. Buckell
"Asuquo, or The Winds of Harmattan," by Nnedima Okorafor
"The Horsemen and the Morning Star," by Barbara Hambly
"She'd Make a Dead Man Crawl," by Gerard Houarner
"Cooking Creole," by A. M. Dellamonica
"White Man’s Trick," by Eliot Fintushel
"The Tawny Bitch," by Nisi Shawl
"Bitter Grounds," by Neil Gaiman
"Shining through 24/7," by devorah major
"Notes from a Writer’s Book of Cures and Spells," by Marcia Douglas
"How Sukie Cross de Big Wata," by Sheree Renee Thomas

With an introduction by Luisah Teish, spiritualist and author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals

Contrarreste los efectos del "mal de ojo," limpie su nueva vivienda de energA-as negativas, incremente su poder de seducciA3n, interprete sus sueAos profA(c)ticos. Obtenga todo lo que desea a travA(c)s de Hechizos y Conjuros. Por medio de velas, hierbas o cualquier cosa que tenga a la mano, aprenderA la prActica de la magia folklA3rica basada en viejas tradiciones europeas y africanas.

Uncertainty is an everyday aspect of existence for the Maasai of East Africa. They take ritual precautions against mystical misfortune in their small and dispersed villages, and place community life in the hands of elders whose collective wisdom is underpinned by a belief in a moral, supreme and unknowably provident god. This stability is, however, edged with concern for secret malcontents who might seek to create havoc through sorcery and whose elusive magic lies outside the elders' power. "Time, Space and the Unknown" follows on from "The Maasai of Matapato and The Samburu" to show how uncertainty and misfortune influence the social life of the Maasai.

Divine Rite of Kings: Land, Race, Same Sex, and Empire in Mormonism and the Esoteric Tradition is a social-historical-political analysis of the religion of the Latter-day Saints as deeply indebted to a variety of esoteric systems of belief. It argues that the present campaign against gay marriage and other homophobic policies of the "American religion," targeting the LGBTQ community, and, indeed, children of same-sex parents, are connected to erstwhile racial doctrines and practices, which excluded persons from full fellowship on the basis of race alone, Africans the supposed offspring of Cain and Canaan and thus cursed. Narrow heterosexist notions of "sexual purity" merely replaced Anglo-Saxon supremacist notions of "racial purity" in the imperial and the millennial understanding of Mormonism. The new heterosexism, this book suggests, can be viewed as a form of boundary maintenance better suited to an emergent international church and world religion, ironically, which continues to make inroads in parts of Asia, where its social conservatism and, indeed, virulent attacks against the "gay and lesbian lifestyle," continue to attract followers.

In September 2008, an international conference on the history of alchemy was held at El Escorial, close to the ancient location of the distilling houses operating under royal patronage during the second half of the 16th century. The present book consists of a selection of the papers presented then, shedding light on little-studied medieval and early modern texts, important alchemical doctrines such as medieval corpuscularianism, early modern spiritus mundi or the function of salt within chymical principles, and discussing such prominent figures as Paracelsus, Isaac Hollandus, Michael Sendivogius, Fontenelle or G. E. Stahl. Last but not least, the book offers new insights on the most recent history of Spanish alchemy.

English summary: English summary: Between 900 and 1500 C.E., the knowlegde of Indian alchemy was codified in a group of Sanskrit texts that deal with the ideas and the methods of this scientific tradition. The dictionary explains about 400 technical terms and names of substances that are mentioned in these texts. Apart from translations of central passages of the alchemical treatises the dictionary offers an extensive collection of text references, which makes it possible to examine the intellectual cross-links in the alchemical tradition in detail. The dictionary is supplemented by a thematic introduction in the alchemical terminology and by indices of Sanskrit terms as well as of text references and topics. Dutch description: Zwischen 900 und 1500 n. Chr. wurde das Fachwissen der indischen Alchemie in einer Reihe von Sanskrit-Texten gesammelt, die detaillierte Einblicke in das Ideengebaude und die Methodik dieser wissenschaftlichen Tradition liefern. Das vorliegende Woerterbuch behandelt rund 400 Spezialbegriffe und Substanznamen, die in alchemistischen Sanskrit-Texten erwahnt werden, und umfasst damit einen Grossteil der verfahrenstechnischen und materialwissenschaftlichen Terminologie der altindischen Alchemie. Neben zahlreichen UEbersetzungen und Rekonstruktionszeichnungen liefert das Woerterbuch auch eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Textverweisen, die es erstmals ermoeglicht, die intellektuellen Abhangigkeiten innerhalb der alchemistischen Tradition im Detail zu verfolgen. Abgerundet wird das Woerterbuch durch eine thematisch gegliederte Einleitung in die indische Alchemie und durch ausfuehrliche Indizes, die den schnellen Zugriff auf Sanskrit-Begriffe, Textstellen und Themen erlauben. Dutch description: Zwischen 900 und 1500 n. Chr. wurde das Fachwissen der indischen Alchemie in einer Reihe von Sanskrit-Texten gesammelt, die detaillierte Einblicke in das Ideengebaude und die Methodik dieser wissenschaftlichen Tradition liefern. Das vorliegende Woerterbuch behandelt rund 400 Spezialbegriffe und Substanznamen, die in alchemistischen Sanskrit-Texten erwahnt werden, und umfasst damit einen Grossteil der verfahrenstechnischen und materialwissenschaftlichen Terminologie der altindischen Alchemie. Neben zahlreichen UEbersetzungen und Rekonstruktionszeichnungen liefert das Woerterbuch auch eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Textverweisen, die es erstmals ermoeglicht, die intellektuellen Abhangigkeiten innerhalb der alchemistischen Tradition im Detail zu verfolgen. Abgerundet wird das Woerterbuch durch eine thematisch gegliederte Einleitung in die indische Alchemie und durch ausfuehrliche Indizes, die den schnellen Zugriff auf Sanskrit-Begriffe, Textstellen und Themen erlauben.

The study of the Syriac magical traditions has largely been marginalised within Syriac studies, with the earliest treatments displaying a disparaging attitude towards both the culture and its magical practices. Despite significant progress in more recent scholarship in respect of the culture, its magical practices and their associated literatures remain on the margins of the scholarly imagination. This volume aims to open a discussion on the history of the field, to evaluate how things have progressed, and to suggest a fruitful way forward. In doing so, this volume demonstrates the incredible riches contained within the Syriac magical traditions, and the necessity of their study.

Winner of the 2005 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society.
What actually took place in the private laboratory of a mid-seventeenth century alchemist? How did he direct his quest after the secrets of Nature? What instruments and theoretical principles did he employ?
Using, as their guide, the previously misunderstood interactions between Robert Boyle, widely known as "the father of chemistry," and George Starkey, an alchemist and the most prominent American scientific writer before Benjamin Franklin as their guide, Newman and Principe reveal the hitherto hidden laboratory operations of a famous alchemist and argue that many of the principles and practices characteristic of modern chemistry derive from alchemy. By analyzing Starkey's extraordinary laboratory notebooks, the authors show how this American "chymist" translated the wildly figurative writings of traditional alchemy into quantitative, carefully reasoned laboratory practice--and then encoded his own work in allegorical, secretive treatises under the name of Eirenaeus Philalethes. The intriguing "mystic" Joan Baptista Van Helmont--a favorite of Starkey, Boyle, and even of Lavoisier--emerges from this study as a surprisingly central figure in seventeenth-century "chymistry." A common emphasis on quantification, material production, and analysis/synthesis, the authors argue, illustrates a continuity of goals and practices from late medieval alchemy down to and beyond the Chemical Revolution.
For anyone who wants to understand how alchemy was actually practiced during the Scientific Revolution and what it contributed to the development of modern chemistry, "Alchemy Tried in the Fire" will be a veritable philosopher's stone.