Miracles of Our Own Making

Miracles of Our Own Making PDF Author: Liz Williams
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789142601
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
A bewitching and authoritative historical overview of magic in the British Isles, from the ancient peoples of Britain to the rich and cosmopolitan landscape of contemporary paganism. “An absolute must for anyone interested in the development of paganism in the modern world. I cannot recommend this book enough.”—Janet Farrar, coauthor of A Witches’ Bible “At last, we have a history of British Paganism written from the inside, by somebody who not only has a good knowledge of the sources, but explicitly understands how Pagans and magicians think.”—Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon and The Witch What do we mean by “paganism”—druids, witches, and occult rituals? Healing charms and forbidden knowledge? Miracles of Our Own Making is a historical overview of pagan magic in the British Isles, from the ancient peoples of Britain to the rich and cosmopolitan landscape of contemporary paganism. Exploring the beliefs of the druids, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings, as well as Elizabethan Court alchemy and witch trials, we encounter grimoires, ceremonial magic, and the Romantic revival of arcane deities. The influential and well-known—the Golden Dawn, Wicca, and figures such as Aleister Crowley—are considered alongside the everyday “cunning folk” who formed the magical fabric of previous centuries. Ranging widely across literature, art, science, and beyond, Liz Williams debunks many of the prevailing myths surrounding magical practice, past and present, while offering a rigorously researched and highly accessible account of what it means to be a pagan today.

Miracles of Our Own Making

Miracles of Our Own Making PDF Author: Liz Williams
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789142601
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Get Book Here

Book Description
A bewitching and authoritative historical overview of magic in the British Isles, from the ancient peoples of Britain to the rich and cosmopolitan landscape of contemporary paganism. “An absolute must for anyone interested in the development of paganism in the modern world. I cannot recommend this book enough.”—Janet Farrar, coauthor of A Witches’ Bible “At last, we have a history of British Paganism written from the inside, by somebody who not only has a good knowledge of the sources, but explicitly understands how Pagans and magicians think.”—Ronald Hutton, author of The Triumph of the Moon and The Witch What do we mean by “paganism”—druids, witches, and occult rituals? Healing charms and forbidden knowledge? Miracles of Our Own Making is a historical overview of pagan magic in the British Isles, from the ancient peoples of Britain to the rich and cosmopolitan landscape of contemporary paganism. Exploring the beliefs of the druids, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings, as well as Elizabethan Court alchemy and witch trials, we encounter grimoires, ceremonial magic, and the Romantic revival of arcane deities. The influential and well-known—the Golden Dawn, Wicca, and figures such as Aleister Crowley—are considered alongside the everyday “cunning folk” who formed the magical fabric of previous centuries. Ranging widely across literature, art, science, and beyond, Liz Williams debunks many of the prevailing myths surrounding magical practice, past and present, while offering a rigorously researched and highly accessible account of what it means to be a pagan today.

Making Pagans

Making Pagans PDF Author: John Kuhn
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512825107
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
How early modern theatrical practice helped construct the category of “pagan” as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition In Making Pagans, John Kuhn argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era. Combining properties such as triumphal chariots, trick alters, and moving statues with music, special effects, and other elements, the spectacular set-pieces that were mostly developed for plays set in antiquity, depicting England’s pre-Christian past, were frequently repurposed in new plays, in representations of Native Americans and Africans in colonial contact zones. Kuhn argues that the recycling of these set-pieces encouraged audiences to process new cultural sites through the lens of old performance tropes, and helped produce fictitious, quasi-ethnographic knowledge for spectators, generating the idea of a homogeneous, trans-historical, trans-geographical “paganism.” Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition.

Making Magick

Making Magick PDF Author: Edain McCoy
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 9781567186703
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Through exercises designed to develop basic skills, "Making Magick" lays a firm foundation of elemental magickal wisdom. The first chapters begin with an introduction to magick and how it works. The last half of the book will take readers into the advanced magickal arts, which rely on highly honed skills of meditation, astral projection, visualization, and sustaining of creative energy. A complete course in natural magick.

Pagans & Christians

Pagans & Christians PDF Author: Gus DiZerega
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 9781567182286
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Although Christianity is still a major religious force, there are growing numbers of people in other faiths, including the various Pagan traditions. Some Christians have responded to this trend with fear and derision, while some Pagans have reacted to that fear with anger and mistrust. Much of the problem is due to misunderstandings and lack of communication. This can change with Gus diZerega's Pagans & Christians. Here you will find a penetrating and illuminating comparison, showing that neither path has the single correct approach to the Divine. Rather, either or both can be authentic and legitimate expressions of the appreciation of the Ultimate Source of All. Pagans & Christians is an ideal way to help bridge what at time seems a wide chasm between Christian and Pagan beliefs. By sharing core ideas of both paths, this book provides a way to give deeper mutual understanding and unity among the religions of the world. Although Pagans & Christians accepts both paths as valid, the book provides a more in-depth explanation of Paganism ó the minority religion because in some ways, Paganism demands a greater defense and explanation of its beliefs and ideas to dispel misunderstandings. The author is a Third Degree Gardenerian Elder and in Pagans & Christians has presented nothing less than a brilliant defense of Paganism, clearly showing how it should stand beside all of the major religions of the world as an equal. As part of this defense, diZerega gives a listing of biblical contradictions and Christian philosophical difficulties which can help any Pagan responding to a negative attack, and will help any Christian to view his or her religion as a way, not the way. Winner of the 2001 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Award for Best Non-fiction Book

Neo-pagan Sacred Art and Altars

Neo-pagan Sacred Art and Altars PDF Author: Sabina Magliocco
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781578063918
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
Mystic meanings behind the flourishing art of modern-day pagans and witches

Pagans and Christians in the City

Pagans and Christians in the City PDF Author: Steven D. Smith
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467451487
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
Traditionalist Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and other cultural developments in the United States wonder why they are being forced to bracket their beliefs in order to participate in public life. This situation is not new, says Steven D. Smith: Christians two thousand years ago faced very similar challenges. Picking up poet T. S. Eliot’s World War II–era thesis that the future of the West would be determined by a contest between Christianity and “modern paganism,” Smith argues in this book that today’s culture wars can be seen as a reprise of the basic antagonism that pitted pagans against Christians in the Roman Empire. Smith’s Pagans and Christians in the City looks at that historical conflict and explores how the same competing ideas continue to clash today. All of us, Smith shows, have much to learn by observing how patterns from ancient history are reemerging in today’s most controversial issues.

Solitary Pagans

Solitary Pagans PDF Author: Helen A. Berger
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643360108
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
An exploration of the increasingly popular phenomenon of solitary practice within contemporary paganism Solitary Pagans is the first book to explore the growing phenomenon of contemporary Pagans who practice alone. Although the majority of Pagans in the United States have abandoned the tradition of practicing in groups, little is known about these individuals or their way of practice. Helen A. Berger fills that gap by building on a massive survey of contemporary practitioners. By examining the data, Berger describes solitary practitioners demographically and explores their spiritual practices, level of social engagement, and political activities. Contrasting the solitary Pagans with those who practice in groups and more generally with other non-Pagan Americans, she also compares contemporary U.S. Pagans with those in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Berger brings to light the new face of contemporary paganism by analyzing those who learn about the religion from books or the Internet and conduct rituals alone in their gardens, the woods, or their homes. Some observers believe this social isolation and political withdrawal has resulted in an increase in narcissism and a decline in morality, while others argue to the contrary that it has produced a new form of social integration and political activity. Berger posits the implications of her findings to reveal a better understanding of other metaphysical religions and those who shun traditional religious organizations.

Paul

Paul PDF Author: Paula Fredriksen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300231369
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
A groundbreaking new portrait of the apostle Paul, from one of today’s leading historians of antiquity Often seen as the author of timeless Christian theology, Paul himself heatedly maintained that he lived and worked in history’s closing hours. His letters propel his readers into two ancient worlds, one Jewish, one pagan. The first was incandescent with apocalyptic hopes, expecting God through his messiah to fulfill his ancient promises of redemption to Israel. The second teemed with ancient actors, not only human but also divine: angry superhuman forces, jealous demons, and hostile cosmic gods. Both worlds are Paul’s, and his convictions about the first shaped his actions in the second. Only by situating Paul within this charged social context of gods and humans, pagans and Jews, cities, synagogues, and competing Christ-following assemblies can we begin to understand his mission and message. This original and provocative book offers a dramatically new perspective on one of history’s seminal figures.

Paganism

Paganism PDF Author: River Higginbotham
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 0738717037
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
A comprehensive guide to a growing religious movement If you want to study Paganism in more detail, this book is the place to start. Based on a course in Paganism that the authors have taught for more than a decade, it is full of exercises, meditations, and discussion questions for group or individual study. This book presents the basic fundamentals of Paganism. It explores what Pagans are like; how the Pagan sacred year is arranged; what Pagans do in ritual; what magick is; and what Pagans believe about God, worship, human nature, and ethics. For those who are exploring their own spirituality, or who want a good book to give to non-Pagan family and friends A hands-on learning tool with magickal workings, meditations, discussion questions, and journal exercises Offers in-depth discussion of ethics and magick

Paganism for Beginners

Paganism for Beginners PDF Author: Althaea Sebastiani
Publisher: Rockridge Press
ISBN: 9781646117055
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Begin your journey of spiritual exploration with this modern guide to Paganism Introduce yourself to the world of Paganism and its diverse magick with this reader-friendly guide. Paganism for Beginners features a comprehensive overview of common Pagan practices, traditions, and core beliefs like open-mindedness, self-reliance, and freedom of choice. Paganism for Beginners is inclusive, inspiring, and the perfect way for seekers to explore this time-honored, earth-centric form of spirituality. You’ll nourish your soul and unlock the magick of the universe with: Pagan basics—Delve into deities, follow along with the Pagan calendar, and learn essential knowledge of Pagan symbols, rituals, and tools on your journey of spiritual exploration. Pagan history—Paganism is one of the world’s oldest religious movements. You’ll read about the roots of Paganism and how it’s evolved to serve modern practitioners yearning to reconnect with themselves and find more wonder, depth, and meaning in the world. Pagan traditionss—There are many forms of Paganism and each is known as a tradition. You’ll learn the defining details and ritual practices of traditions like Celtic Polytheism, Druidry, Wicca, and more. Embrace your spiritual path and live a more magickal life with Paganism for Beginners.