Investigations Into Magic

Investigations Into Magic
Author: Martin Antoine Del Rio
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780719049767

This is the first English translation of one of the most important, interesting and comprehensive discussions of the occult sciences ever published. Investigations into magic deals not only with magic in all its forms, from the manipulation of angelic and demonic powers to straightforward conjuring and illusion, but also with witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, divination, prophecy, and possession by evil spirits. In addition, Del Rio gives judges and confessors practical advice on the most effective ways of dealing with people who are accused of practising magic, and enlivens his whole discussion with anecdotes drawn from a remarkable range of sources, including his own experience. Nothing so panoramic had ever appeared before, and for the next one hundred and fifty years Investigations into magic was the indispensable reference work on the subject.

Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic

Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic
Author: Jesper Sørensen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2021-05-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 900444758X

In Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic ten leading scholars of religion provide up-to-date investigations into these classic domains from historical, anthropological, cognitive, philosophical and theoretical perspectives.

Magic

Magic
Author: Ernesto De Martino
Publisher: Hau
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Basilicata (Italy)
ISBN: 9780990505099

Though his work was little known outside Italian intellectual circles for most of the twentieth century, anthropologist and historian of religions Ernesto de Martino is now recognized as one of the most original thinkers in the field. This book is testament to de Martino's innovation and engagement with Hegelian historicism and phenomenology--a work of ethnographic theory way ahead of its time. This new translation of Sud e Magia, his 1959 study of ceremonial magic and witchcraft in southern Italy, shows how De Martino is not interested in the question of whether magic is rational or irrational but rather in why it came to be perceived as a problem of knowledge in the first place. Setting his exploration within his wider, pathbreaking theorization of ritual, as well as in the context of his politically sensitive analysis of the global south's historical encounters with Western science, he presents the development of magic and ritual in Enlightenment Naples as a paradigmatic example of the complex dynamics between dominant and subaltern cultures. Far ahead of its time, Magic is still relevant as anthropologists continue to wrestle with modernity's relationship with magical thinking.

The Materiality of Magic

The Materiality of Magic
Author: Ceri Houlbrook
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2015-12-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785700111

The subject of ‘magic’ has long been considered peripheral and sensationalist, the word itself having become something of an academic taboo. However, beliefs in magic and the rituals that surround them are extensive – as are their material manifestations – and to avoid them is to ignore a prevalent aspect of cultures worldwide, from prehistory to the present day. The Materiality of Magic addresses the value of the material record as a resource in investigations into magic, ritual practices, and popular beliefs. The chronological and geographic focuses of the papers presented here vary from prehistory to the present-day, including numinous interpretations of fossils and ritual deposits in Bronze Age Europe; apotropaic devices in Roman and Medieval Britain; the evolution of superstitions and ritual customs – from the ‘voodoo doll’ of Europe and Africa to a Scottish ‘wishing-tree’; and an exploration of spatiality in West African healing practices. The objectives of this collection of nine papers are twofold. First, to provide a platform from which to showcase innovative research and theoretical approaches in a subject which has largely been neglected within archaeology and related disciplines, and, secondly, to redress this neglect. The papers were presented at the 2012 Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference in Liverpool.

Black Magic Woman

Black Magic Woman
Author: Justin Gustainis
Publisher: Solaris
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2008-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1849972893

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant,” white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – and the very heart of darkness.

Magic, Reason, and Experience

Magic, Reason, and Experience
Author: Geoffrey Ernest Richard Lloyd
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 378
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780872205284

This study of the origins and progress of Greek science focuses especially on the interaction between scientific and traditional patterns of thought from the sixth to the fourth century BC. It begins with an examination of how particular Greek authors deployed the category of "magic," sometimes attacking its beliefs and practices; these attacks are then related to their background in Greek medicine and philosophical thought. In his second chapter Lloyd outlines developments in the theory and practice of argument in Greek science and assesses their significance. He next discuses the progress of empirical research as a scientific tool from the Presocratics to Aristotle. Finally, he considers why the Greeks invented science, their contribution to its history, and the social, economic, ideological and political factors that had a bearing on its growth.

Amari and the Great Game

Amari and the Great Game
Author: B. B. Alston
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2022-08-30
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0062975218

Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers! Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor. After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze. But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about! But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind. The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?