El libro Magia oriental es reconocido como un brillante estudio acerca de caAmo, quaA(c) y por quaA(c) piensa la gente, en territorios que se extienden desde el norte de aAfrica hasta JapaAn.Profusamente ilustrado, el libro es el resultado de aaAos de investigaciaAn y trabajo de campo en una docena de diversas regiones culturales.Su erudita precisiaAn y genuina contribuciaAn al entendimiento cultural lo han transformado en un texto fundamental para cualquiera interesado en creencias informales y pra!cticas esotaA(c)ricas.El trabajo incluye material sobre alquimia india, el sistema abjad de los a!rabes, la adivinaciaAn y los hechizos talisma!nicos, e incluso contiene un antiguo conjuro Brahma!n para conseguir la inmortalidad.

The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.

The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.

En La sabiduria de los idiotas, los "e;idiotas"e; son los Sufis, llamados asaA- debido a que su sabiduria penetra a una profundidad que la transforma en inaccesible para el conocedor meramente acadaA(c)mico o inteligente. Los cuentos-ejercicios de los Sufis son herramientas preparadas para propaAsitos especaA-ficos.En este nivel, los movimientos de los personajes que forman parte de los cuentos retratan procesos psicolaAgicos internos, transforma!ndose el relato en un plan de trabajo, en un retrato perfecto de dichos procesos.La sabiduria de los idiotas ha recibido muchos premios, incluyendo dos medallas de oro, una de ellas por ser "e;El Mejor Libro"e; como parte del AaAo Mundial del Libro patrocinado por la UNESCO.

PequeAAo pero impactante, Reflexiones de Idries Shah es una colecciAAn de fA!bulas, aforismos y afirmaciones que desafAA-an a la mente condicionada. El libro confronta al lector con perspectivas e ideas inusuales, en un intento de liberar la mente para ver las cosas como realmente son. El prefacio dice: "e;AImaginas que las fA!bulas existen solamente para divertir o instruir, y que estA!n basadas en ficciones? Las mejores son trazos de lo que sucede en la vida real, en la comunidad y en los procesos mentales del individuo."e;

Magic and divination in early Islam encompassed a wide range of practices, including belief in jinn, warding off the evil eye, the production of amulets and other magical equipment, conjuring, wonder-working, dream interpretation, predicting the weather, casting lots, astrology, and physiognomy. The ten studies here are concerned with the pre-Islamic antecedents of such practices, and with the theory of magic in healing, the nature and use of amulets and their decipherment, the arts of astrometeorology and geomancy, the refutation of astrology, and the role of the astrologer in society. Some of the studies are highly illustrated, some long out of print, some revised or composed for this volume, and one translated into English for the first time. These fundamental investigations, together with the introductory bibliographic essay, are intended as a guide to the concepts, terminology, and basic scholarly literature of an important, but often overlooked, aspect of classical Islamic culture.

"This book offers a fascinating account of the development of Western sexual magic through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Urban focuses on an extraordinary set of historical figures, and his rich analysis illuminates the sexual—and supernatural—undercurrents that have shaped modernity."—Randall Styers, author of Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World