The Meaning of Witchcraft

The Meaning of Witchcraft
Author :
Publisher : Weiser Books
Total Pages : 292
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781609251895
ISBN-13 : 160925189X
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Synopsis The Meaning of Witchcraft by : Gerald B. Gardner

Thought to be the father of modern witchcraft, Gerald Gardner published The Meaning of Witchcraft in 1959, not long after laws punishing witches were repealed. It was the first sympathetic book written from the point of view of a practicing witch. The Meaning of Witchcraft is an invaluable source book for witches today. Chapters include: Witch's Memories and Beliefs, The Stone Age Origins of Witchcraft, Druidism and the Aryan Celts, Magic Thinking, Curious Beliefs about Witches, Signs and Symbols, The Black Mass, Some Allegations Examined. The Meaning of Witchcraft is a record of witches' roots-and a tribute to a founding pioneer with the courage to set that record straight.

Sexuality, Magic & Perversion

Sexuality, Magic & Perversion
Author :
Publisher : Feral House
Total Pages : 232
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781936239528
ISBN-13 : 1936239523
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Sexuality, Magic & Perversion by : Francis King

Sexuality, Magic & Perversion by Francis King is a controversial, revelatory, highly recommended volume of original research that investigates sexuality in religions and traditions all over the globe, from fertility cults and tantricism to Islamic mysticism and Crowleyan sex magick. A tantalizing study of the mystical aspect of sex, heavily researched.

Ritual Magic

Ritual Magic
Author :
Publisher : Penn State Press
Total Pages : 352
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0271044888
ISBN-13 : 9780271044880
Rating : 4/5 (88 Downloads)

Synopsis Ritual Magic by : Eliza Marian Butler

Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation

Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation
Author :
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Total Pages : 250
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780791480106
ISBN-13 : 0791480100
Rating : 4/5 (06 Downloads)

Synopsis Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation by : Henrik Bogdan

For more than three hundred years the practice of Masonic rituals of initiation has been part of Western culture, spreading far beyond the boundaries of traditional Freemasonry. Henrik Bogdan explores the historical development of these rituals and their relationship with Western esotericism. Beginning with the Craft degrees of Freemasonry—the blueprints, as it were, of all later Masonic rituals of initiation—Bogdan examines the development of the Masonic High Degrees, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—the most influential of all nineteenth-century occultist initiatory societies—and Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft movement of the 1950s, one of the first large-scale Western esoteric New Religions Movements.

The Golden Dawn - A Key to Ritual Magic

The Golden Dawn - A Key to Ritual Magic
Author :
Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages : 142
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781782795780
ISBN-13 : 1782795782
Rating : 4/5 (80 Downloads)

Synopsis The Golden Dawn - A Key to Ritual Magic by : Gordon Strong

The Esoteric Order of The Golden Dawn was a school of magic, founded during the late nineteenth century, one vowing to reveal all manner of occult knowledge to its members. Celebrated among these were Florence Farr, W.B Yeats, Charles Williams, A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman-Smith. Its figurehead, the autocratic Samuel MacGregor Mathers, inaugurated ceremonies that melded Christian Mysticism, the Qabalah and Hermeticism. Such a potent brew would eventually ensure that the Golden Dawn would burst asunder in an esoteric apocalypse.

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6
Author :
Publisher : A&C Black
Total Pages : 262
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0485890062
ISBN-13 : 9780485890068
Rating : 4/5 (62 Downloads)

Synopsis Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6 by : Willem de Blecourt

Witchcraft continues to play a role in the modern European imagination and in its cultures. This book brings together studies of its most important modern manifestations. The volume includes a major new history of the origins and development of English 'Wicca', an account of satanic abuse mythology in the Twentieth Century and a survey of the continued existence of traditional witchcraft.

The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic

The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 342
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780192884077
ISBN-13 : 0192884077
Rating : 4/5 (77 Downloads)

Synopsis The Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic by : Owen Davies

Histories you can trust. This history provides a readable and fresh approach to the extensive and complex story of witchcraft and magic. Telling the story from the dawn of writing in the ancient world to the globally successful Harry Potter films, the authors explore a wide range of magical beliefs and practices, the rise of the witch trials, and the depiction of the Devil-worshipping witch. The book also focuses on the more recent history of witchcraft and magic, from the Enlightenment to the present, exploring the rise of modern magic, the anthropology of magic around the globe, and finally the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The Wizard of Oz to Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A Cultural History of Tarot

A Cultural History of Tarot
Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages : 286
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780857711823
ISBN-13 : 0857711822
Rating : 4/5 (23 Downloads)

Synopsis A Cultural History of Tarot by : Helen Farley

The enigmatic and richly illustrative tarot deck reveals a host of strange and iconic mages, such as The Tower, The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man and The Fool: over which loom the terrifying figures of Death and The Devil. The 21 numbered playing cards of tarot have always exerted strong fascination, way beyond their original purpose, and the multiple resonances of the deck are ubiquitous. From T S Eliot and his 'wicked pack of cards' in "The Waste Land" to the psychic divination of Solitaire in Ian Fleming's "Live and Let Die"; and from the satanic novels of Dennis Wheatley to the deck's adoption by New Age practitioners, the cards have in modern times become inseparably connected to the occult. They are now viewed as arguably the foremost medium of prophesying and foretelling. Yet, as the author shows, originally the tarot were used as recreational playing cards by the Italian nobility in the Renaissance. It was only much later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, that the deck became associated with esotericism before evolving finally into a diagnostic tool for mind, body and spirit. This is the first book to explore the remarkably varied ways in which tarot has influenced culture. Tracing the changing patterns of the deck's use, from game to mysterious oracular device, Helen Farley examines tarot's emergence in 15th century Milan and discusses its later associations with astrology, kabbalah and the Age of Aquarius.

Mystical Origins of the Tarot

Mystical Origins of the Tarot
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 503
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781620551837
ISBN-13 : 1620551837
Rating : 4/5 (37 Downloads)

Synopsis Mystical Origins of the Tarot by : Paul Huson

A profusely illustrated history of the occult nature of the tarot from its origins in ancient Persia • Thoroughly examines the original historical source for each tarot card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols • Provides authentic 18th- and 19th-century spreads and divination techniques • Reveals the divinatory meanings of the cards as understood by diviners in the Middle Ages and Renaissance The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle, and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 18th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meanings of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He also reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced their interpretation in tarot divination. Mystical Origins of the Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols. Huson also provides concise and practical card-reading methods designed by the cartomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries and reveals the origins of the card interpretations promoted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and A. E. Waite.