Excerpts on Magic
All works cited in this section can be found on the Works Cited page. Also read my Book Recommendations.
On War | On Rulership | On Life
- Achieving Life After Death
- The Act of Sacrifice
- Aim of Initiation
- Aims of Magic: Benign Magic
- Aims of Magic: Malign Magic
- Akkadian Conception of the Supernatural
- The Alchemical Way of Change
- Alchemist as Master of Fire
- Alchemists Want to Change the World
- Alchemy Had an Unscientific Method
- Alchemy Is a Very Broad Church
- Alchemy Means Constantly Transmuting Yourself
- Always a Toll in the Underworld
- The American Spiritual Temper Is Unconsciously Calvinist
- Amulets Often Portrayed the Spirit They Were Supposed to Ward Off
- Ancient Asiatic Spiritual Traditions
- Ancient People Were Deeply Religious
- Ancient State of Consciousness
- The Appeal of Magic
- An Arsenal of Magic Implements
- Artificial Distinctions In Fantasy Magic
- Astrolabe, Gift Of The Arabs
- Attention as Psychic Energy
- Babylonian Divination
- Banishing Is Essential in Magical Practice
- The Basic Logic of Alchemy is Relationship
- Beasts Hold Important Offices in the Cosmic Order
- Becoming a Techno-mage
- Beginning of Science
- Beneath the Official Pantheon Was a Layer of Demons
- Birth of the Alphabet
- Blinkblades
- Blood Sacrifice Was the Central Religous Ritual
- Blurred Line Between Medicine and Magic
- Chinese Magic Centered on Transactions
- Compelling Deities To Yield Their Boons
- Concept of a Manifest Deity
- Contrasting Demonologies in the Ancient World
- Control of Attention Is the First Skill of a Magician
- Conversing With the Dead
- The Cosmos Operated Through Regular Rhythms and Periodic Events
- Cult of the Hero
- The Dangerous Direction From Which Demons Were Most Likely to Swoop
- Dark Basement of the Heroic World: Mines
- Defensive Magic
- Defensive Wards Came in Different Flavors
- Demons Fight in Vain Against the Order of Nature
- Distinction Between Shamans, Magicians, and Priests
- Divination Practices
- Dragon as Amalgamated Uber-Predator
- Dwarves Have Magic Powers and Need Fear No Man on Earth
- Earth and the Heavens
- Evolution of Spiritual Powers
- Exorcism in Babylonia and Assyria
- Experienced the Sacred in Catastrophe
- Find Trickster at the Boundaries
- Fire, the First Enshrined Divinity
- Five Sorcerers Standing As One
- Forgetful Gods
- The Game of Arts and Powers
- The Gods Are Not Ends in Themselves
- Gods from the Bicameral Mind
- Grail Lore
- The Great Oath
- Greek Gods’ Relations With Man
- Greek View of the Cosmos
- Guarding the Balance
- Herleva
- His First Working
- Holiness in the Ancient Middle East
- How To Navigate the After-Death Journey Safely
- I Give That You Might Give
- Ignorance Is Deadly
- Imitation as Magical Incantation
- Inscriptions Charged With Occult Force
- Iron Did Not Replace Bronze
- It Is Best to Repeat All of Them Exactly and Slavishly Every Time
- Jinn: Neither Angels Nor Devils
- The Lady of the Lake Had a Secret
- Leaving the Master Behind
- Lifelike Statues Help Bring the Gods to Earth
- A Locus of Strange Energy
- Loosened My Soul and Softened My Piercing Gaze
- Lower-Order Spirits and the Ancestral Dead
- Luck Is a Possession
- Machine, Heal Thyself
- Magic Armor in the Iliad
- Magic Is More Tolerant of Failure
- Magic Is Not Supernatural
- Magic Was Both a Force of the Universe and a Set of Practices
- Magic and Religion Enjoyed a Symbiotic Relationship
- Magic at the Inbetween Places
- Magic of Metallurgy
- The Magic of the Past Is Reworked For Each Age
- Magical Practice Required Specialist Knowledge
- A Magical Sword Is Used to Command, Banish, and Defeat Spirits
- Magical Weapon Combination
- The Magical and Musical Arts Are Entwined
- Magicians as Intellectuals
- Maintaining the Diversity Within the Divine
- Making a Magical Sword
- Military Leaders Served in the Priestly Role of Sacrificer
- Monsters Eat Humans
- The Mystery of Steel
- Mystical Explanations Are Not Necessary
- Mystics and Magicians
- The Mythological Realm We Carry Within
- Nature Takes Life as Well as Gives It
- No Two Copies of the Egyptian Book of the Dead Are the Same
- Non-Mages Are Amateurs Not Cripples
- Not Superior to Man
- Not a Delicate Art
- Observed Process of the Causality of Magic
- Odic Shields and Shrouds of Concealment
- On Man’s Side
- Once They Had Been Greater In Number
- Only the Spiritually Gifted Are Capable of Flight
- Oracles Work
- Partners With a Sentient Universe
- Performing Miracles
- Perilous Journeys into the Mind
- The Perilous Journeys of the Shaman
- Personal Misfortune or Sickness Was Often Blamed on Witches or Demons
- Playing With Fire
- Polycentric, Polytheistic, Polyphrenic, and Polyocular
- The Power To Crush Diamonds
- Powers Beyond Human Comprehension
- Preserving Magical Knowledge For Adepts As Yet Unborn
- Prophecy Concerns Eternal Truths
- Prophylactic Magic
- Psyche Was Not a Thing But a Process
- Psychic Tension of Fighting
- Public Versus Private Sorcery
- A Puca Was a Stronger Power By Far
- Purpose and Goal of Initiation Is Gnosis
- Reach Deep Inside and Sacrifice
- Reaching Through the Matrix
- The Real Power of the Dark Side of the Force
- The Reason for the Seasons
- Receptacles of Enormous Magical Power
- Ritual Sacrifice: Establishing Beneficial Relations With Blood
- Sacred Power Spots
- Sandmagic
- Seeing the Gods
- Service Promised Was Service Given
- Shaman as Master of Fire
- Shamanic Initiation Is a Journey Into Chaos
- Shamanic Paraphernalia
- Shamanism in Ancient Maya Life
- Shamans and Their Inner Journeys
- Snakes Carry Out Divine Demands
- The Spiritual Hunt and Spiritual Warfare
- The Spiritual and the Material Are Two Different Aspects of the Same World
- Stay Awake to Death
- Stones of Light
- Strong and Subtle, Restless and Powerful
- Subject to Divine, Human, and Demonic Manipulation
- The Subtle Body Has a Location
- Subtle Science and Exact Art of Potion-making
- Such Is the Nature of Magical Constructs
- Supernatural Tactics of the Mongols
- Swords Were Thought to Have Miraculous Powers
- Tempting Gods to Inhabit the Material Plane
- Terrifying Initiation Ordeals
- There Is a Disruptive Element in Shamanism
- Through Magic We Can Explore Mutuality
- To Limit Immersion in the Wells of Power
- To Pass Through Shadow and Fire
- To Test Your Powers Or Prove Their Own
- Too Dangerous To Depict in Art
- Too Much Power Expended Too Quickly
- Transcendence, Transformation, and Transactions
- Transmuted From One Form Into Another
- Trickery Is Part of the Shaman’s Craft
- Tricking Monsters To Death
- Trickster Stories As Parodies of Shamanism
- Ultimate Sources of Power
- Unacceptable Magic Is Usually Attributed to Foreigners
- Unseen But Nonetheless Real
- Vulnerability of Demigods
- Walls of Air, Bars of Light
- A Wand Is Gentle With Power
- The Wand Is a Symbol of the Will
- Water Contains Universal Knowledge
- Water Was Great Magic
- A Weapon Against the Dark But Also a Beacon That Summons It
- The Weapon That Could Not Miss
- Weapons Are Not Everything
- Where the Power for Spells Comes From
- Why Wizards Do Not Rule the World
- A Witch Who Had Dealings With the White-fiends
- Words of Power
- A Year of Dreadful Portent
- You Must Know How to Undo
- Zakal the Terrible
