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Victorian Occultism And The Making Of Modern Magic
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Book Synopsis Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic by : A. Butler
Download or read book Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic written by A. Butler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-01-05 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The late Victorian period witnessed the remarkable revival of magical practice and belief. Butler examines the individuals, institutions and literature associated with this revival and demonstrates how Victorian occultism provided an alternative to the tightening camps of science and religion in a social environment that nurtured magical beliefs.
Book Synopsis Magic in the Modern World by : Edward Bever
Download or read book Magic in the Modern World written by Edward Bever and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2017-04-18 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays considers the place of magic in the modern world, first by exploring the ways in which modernity has been defined in explicit opposition to magic and superstition, and then by illuminating how modern proponents of magic have worked to legitimize their practices through an overt embrace of evolving forms such as esotericism and supernaturalism. Taking a two-track approach, this book explores the complex dynamics of the construction of the modern self and its relation to the modern preoccupation with magic. Essays examine how modern “rational” consciousness is generated and maintained and how proponents of both magical and scientific traditions rationalize evidence to fit accepted orthodoxy. This book also describes how people unsatisfied with the norms of modern subjectivity embrace various forms of magic—and the methods these modern practitioners use to legitimate magic in the modern world. A compelling assessment of magic from the early modern period to today, Magic in the Modern World shows how, despite the dominant culture’s emphatic denial of their validity, older forms of magic persist and develop while new forms of magic continue to emerge. In addition to the editors, contributors include Egil Asprem, Erik Davis, Megan Goodwin, Dan Harms, Adam Jortner, and Benedek Láng.
Download or read book Cursed Britain written by Thomas Waters and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-07 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive history of how witchcraft and black magic have survived, through the modern era and into the present dayCursed Britain unveils the enduring power of witchcraft, curses and black magic in modern times. Few topics are so secretive or controversial. Yet, whether in the 1800s or the early 2000s, when disasters struck or personal misfortunes mounted, many Britons found themselves believing in things they had previously dismissed – dark supernatural forces.Historian Thomas Waters here explores the lives of cursed or bewitched people, along with the witches and witch-busters who helped and harmed them. Waters takes us on a fascinating journey from Scottish islands to the folklore-rich West Country, from the immense territories of the British Empire to metropolitan London. We learn why magic caters to deep-seated human needs but see how it can also be abused, and discover how witchcraft survives by evolving and changing. Along the way, we examine an array of remarkable beliefs and rituals, from traditional folk magic to diverse spiritualities originating in Africa and Asia.This is a tale of cynical quacks and sincere magical healers, depressed people and furious vigilantes, innocent victims and rogues who claimed to possess evil abilities. Their spellbinding stories raise important questions about the state’s role in regulating radical spiritualities, the fragility of secularism and the true nature of magic.
Book Synopsis Ritual Embodiment in Modern Western Magic by : Damon Zacharias Lycourinos
Download or read book Ritual Embodiment in Modern Western Magic written by Damon Zacharias Lycourinos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Western world, magic has often functioned as an umbrella term for various religious beliefs and ritual practices that seek to influence events by harnessing supernatural power. The definition of these myriad occult and esoteric traditions have, however, usually come from those that are opposed to its practice; notably authorities in religious, legal and intellectual spheres. This book seeks to provide a new perspective, directly from the practitioners of modern Western magic, by exploring how a distinctive mode of embodiment and consciousness can produce a transition from an ‘ordinary’ to a ‘magical’ worldview. Starting with an introduction to the study of magic in the Western academy, the book then presents the author’s own participant observation of five ethnographic case studies of modern Western magic. The focus of these ethnographic case studies is directed towards ideas and methods the informants employ to self-legitimise and self-represent as ‘magicians’. It concludes by discussing the phenomenological implications and issues around embodiment that are inherent to the contemporary practice of magic. This is a unique insight into the lived experience of practitioners of modern magic. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of the Occult and New Religious Movements, as well as Religious Studies academics examining issues around the embodiment and the anthropology of religion.
Book Synopsis Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams by : Aren Roukema
Download or read book Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams written by Aren Roukema and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-05-29 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams, Aren Roukema looks through the portal of Charles Williams’s fantastic fiction, analyzing the author’s narrative translations of ritual experiences with modern magic, kabbalah and spiritual alchemy.
Book Synopsis The Spiritualist Movement by : Christopher M. Moreman
Download or read book The Spiritualist Movement written by Christopher M. Moreman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once controversial and intriguing, Spiritualism has spread from the United States to become a global movement. Bringing together perspectives from within the movement and without, this unique collection treats readers to insights about Spiritualism's history, belief, and practice. Based on the belief that the dead can communicate with the living through mediums, Spiritualism touches concepts as timelessly fascinating as human mortality and the continuing existence of the soul beyond bodily death. This comprehensive work will help readers parse the mysteries of this uniquely American religion through three thematically organized volumes: Spiritualism in the U.S. and Globally, Evidence and Beliefs, and Cultural and Social Issues. Drawing on fields as diverse as psychology, sociology, religious studies, anthropology, history, ethnic and gender studies, literature, and art, this broad-based collection frames Spiritualism through the views of a team of international scholars. Among the many things that separate Spiritualism from mainstream religions is the involvement of women in central leadership roles. Such cultural and political elements of the movement are one aspect of this study. Of equal interest to believers and skeptics alike will be the work of scholars who have devoted themselves to examining the claim that communication through mediums proves the existence of life after death.
Book Synopsis The Devil and the Victorians by : Sarah Bartels
Download or read book The Devil and the Victorians written by Sarah Bartels and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, there has been a growing recognition of the significance of the supernatural in a Victorian context. Studies of nineteenth-century spiritualism, occultism, magic, and folklore have highlighted that Victorian England was ridden with spectres and learned magicians. Despite this growing body of scholarship, little historiographical work has addressed the Devil. This book demonstrates the significance of the Devil in a Victorian context, emphasising his pervasiveness and diversity. Drawing on a rich array of primary material, including theological and folkloric works, fiction, newspapers and periodicals, and broadsides and other ephemera, it uses the diabolic to explore the Victorians' complex and ambivalent relationship with the supernatural. Both the Devil and hell were theologically contested during the nineteenth century, with an increasing number of both clergymen and laypeople being discomfited by the thought of eternal hellfire. Nevertheless, the Devil continued to play a role in the majority of English denominations, as well as in folklore, spiritualism, occultism, popular culture, literature, and theatre. The Devil and the Victorians will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth-century English cultural and religious history, as well as the darker side of the supernatural.
Book Synopsis The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy by : Liana Saif
Download or read book The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy written by Liana Saif and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigating the impact of Arabic medieval astrological and magical theories on early modern occult philosophy, this book argues that they provided a naturalistic explanation of astral influences and magical efficacy based on Aristotelian notions of causality.
Book Synopsis Magic: A Very Short Introduction by : Owen Davies
Download or read book Magic: A Very Short Introduction written by Owen Davies and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-01-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Book Synopsis MAGIC IN THREE CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND AMERICAN NOVELS：TRAUMA, ARCHIVE,AND SPECTACLE 三本當代英美小說中的魔術：創傷、檔案、奇觀 by : 吳哲硯 CHE─YEN WU
Download or read book MAGIC IN THREE CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND AMERICAN NOVELS：TRAUMA, ARCHIVE,AND SPECTACLE 三本當代英美小說中的魔術：創傷、檔案、奇觀 written by 吳哲硯 CHE─YEN WU and published by 索引數位股份有限公司. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 本書是關於魔術與文學、文學中的魔術、以及魔術中的文學性。論 文始於一個單純的發想：魔術於今日可以做些什麼？除了娛樂，或頂多 被視為藝術，魔術在當代創傷記憶橫溢、暴力遍地、對他者充滿敵意的 世界中，是否有任何嚴肅的功能？ 追溯其系譜，我們可發現魔術的播撒是由上而下、朝向世俗化的過 程。它的意義與功能，與時推移。我的進一步提問是：當魔術出現於當 代文學文本中，是否可引我們深思反省？我將魔術論述與理論方法帶進 三本當代與魔術有關的英美小說，探究《奇術師》中的創傷記憶、《戰 爭魔術師》中的檔案問題、及《黑人魔術師》中的失能奇觀。 克里斯多夫．裴斯特的《奇術師》主要涉及家族世仇，但其實文本 中很大一部分也隱含帝國殖民主義和現代性除魅的議題。大衛．費雪的 《戰爭魔術師》與殘酷的二戰檔案記憶有關。丹尼爾．衛理斯的《黑人 魔術師》則是由四位畸零人講述黑人魔術師亨利失落及失能的一生。我 在這三本小說中所處理的議題包括家族創傷、殖民創傷、現代性創傷、 戰爭檔案、及失能歧視。魔術作為推動 事的轉義，在三本小說中具有 重整並改變結構的潛力。我檢視魔術在三本小說中消解認同的詩學、可 能性、及未逮處。
Book Synopsis The Occult World by : Christopher Partridge
Download or read book The Occult World written by Christopher Partridge and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents students and scholars with a comprehensive overview of the fascinating world of the occult. It explores the history of Western occultism, from ancient and medieval sources via the Renaissance, right up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and contemporary occultism. Written by a distinguished team of contributors, the essays consider key figures, beliefs and practices as well as popular culture.
Book Synopsis Representing Magic in Modern Ireland by : Andrew Sneddon
Download or read book Representing Magic in Modern Ireland written by Andrew Sneddon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-19 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Element argues that Ireland did not experience a disenchanted modernity, nor a decline in magic. It suggests that beliefs, practices and traditions concerning witchcraft and magic developed and adapted to modernity to retain cultural currency until the end of the twentieth century. This analysis provides the backdrop for the first systematic exploration of how historic Irish trials of witches and cunning-folk were represented by historians, antiquarians, journalists, dramatists, poets, and novelists in Ireland between the late eighteenth and late twentieth century. It is demonstrated that this work created an accepted narrative of Irish witchcraft and magic which glossed over, ignored, or obscured the depth of belief in witchcraft, both in the past and in contemporary society. Collectively, their work gendered Irish witchcraft, created a myth of a disenchanted, modern Ireland, and reinforced competing views of Irishness and Irish identity. These long-held stereotypes were only challenged in the late twentieth-century.
Book Synopsis The Magical Imagination by : Karl Bell
Download or read book The Magical Imagination written by Karl Bell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-23 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovative history of the popular magical imagination and ordinary people's experience of urbanization in nineteenth-century England.
Book Synopsis Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark by : L. Kallestrup
Download or read book Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark written by L. Kallestrup and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a comparison of lay and inquisitorial witchcraft prosecutions. In most of the early modern period, witchcraft jurisdiction in Italy rested with the Roman Inquisition, whereas in Denmark only the secular courts raised trials. Kallestrup explores the narratives of witchcraft as they were laid forward by people involved in the trials.
Book Synopsis Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland by : Raisa Maria Toivo
Download or read book Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland written by Raisa Maria Toivo and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early modern Finland is rarely the focus of attention in the study of European history, but it has a place in the context of northern European religious and political culture. While Finland was theoretically Lutheran, a religious plurality – embodied in ceremonies and interpreted as magic – survived and flourished. Blessing candles, pilgrimages, and offerings to forest spirits merged with catechism hearings and sermon preaching among the lay piety. What were the circumstances that allowed for such a continuity of magic? How were the manifestations and experiences that defined faith and magic tied together? How did western and eastern religious influences manifest themselves in Finnish magic? Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland shows us how peripheral Finland can shed light on the wider context of European magic and religion.
Book Synopsis Urban Magic in Early Modern Spain by : M. Tausiet
Download or read book Urban Magic in Early Modern Spain written by M. Tausiet and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the graphic and revealing evidence recorded by the different courts in early modern Saragossa, this book captures the spirit of an age when religious faith vied for people's hearts and minds with centuries-old beliefs in witchcraft and superstition.
Author :Jason Ananda Josephson Storm Publisher :University of Chicago Press ISBN 13 :022640336X Total Pages :428 pages Book Rating :4.2/5 (264 download)
Book Synopsis The Myth of Disenchantment by : Jason Ananda Josephson Storm
Download or read book The Myth of Disenchantment written by Jason Ananda Josephson Storm and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.
