Author: Sally Quinn
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062315528
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 438
Book Description
The author, journalist, television commentator, and longtime Washington insider reflects on the spiritual quest that has brought deeper meaning to her life—and kept her grounded within the high-powered political world of Washington, D.C.’s elite—her renowned writing career, her celebrity marriage, and her legendary role as doyenne of the capital’s social scene. In this emotionally involving, illuminating memoir, the legendary Washington Post journalist, and author talks candidly about her life at the white-hot center of power and the surprising spiritual quest that has driven her for more than half a century. While working as a reporter, caring for a learning-disabled son with her husband, longtime Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, reigning over the capital’s social scene, and remaining intimately connected with national politics, Sally Quinn yearned to understand what truly made the world—and her life—tick. After years of searching, most of which occurring in the secular capital of the world, she came to realize that the time she spent with friends and family—the evenings of shared hospitality and intimate fellowship—provided spiritual nourishment and that this theme has been woven into all the most important moments of her life. In this spiritual memoir, Quinn speaks frankly about her varied, provocative spiritual experiences—from her Southern family of Presbyterians and psychics, to voodoo lessons from her Baptist nanny, her trials as a hospitalized military kid in Japan as the Korean War begins, to her adventures as a Post reporter and columnist and her experience as one of the first female news anchors on national television; her battles with the Nixon administration, Watergate, and other scandals that have rocked the nation; her courtship and long marriage to one of the most authoritative figures in the media; her role as the capital’s most influential hostess; and her growing fascination with religious issues. This fascination led to her pioneering work in creating the most visited religious site on the web, OnFaith.co, where she reports on the unseen driving force of American life. Throughout this radiant, thoughtful, and surprisingly intimate memoir, Quinn reveals how "it’s all magic"—the many forms of what draws us together and provides meaning to all we do. Her roller coaster and irreverent but surprisingly spiritual story allows us to see how the infinite wonder of God and the values of meaningful conversation, experience, and community are available to us all. Finding Magic includes 16 pages of exclusive photographs.
Finding Magic
Author: Sally Quinn
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062315528
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 438
Book Description
The author, journalist, television commentator, and longtime Washington insider reflects on the spiritual quest that has brought deeper meaning to her life—and kept her grounded within the high-powered political world of Washington, D.C.’s elite—her renowned writing career, her celebrity marriage, and her legendary role as doyenne of the capital’s social scene. In this emotionally involving, illuminating memoir, the legendary Washington Post journalist, and author talks candidly about her life at the white-hot center of power and the surprising spiritual quest that has driven her for more than half a century. While working as a reporter, caring for a learning-disabled son with her husband, longtime Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, reigning over the capital’s social scene, and remaining intimately connected with national politics, Sally Quinn yearned to understand what truly made the world—and her life—tick. After years of searching, most of which occurring in the secular capital of the world, she came to realize that the time she spent with friends and family—the evenings of shared hospitality and intimate fellowship—provided spiritual nourishment and that this theme has been woven into all the most important moments of her life. In this spiritual memoir, Quinn speaks frankly about her varied, provocative spiritual experiences—from her Southern family of Presbyterians and psychics, to voodoo lessons from her Baptist nanny, her trials as a hospitalized military kid in Japan as the Korean War begins, to her adventures as a Post reporter and columnist and her experience as one of the first female news anchors on national television; her battles with the Nixon administration, Watergate, and other scandals that have rocked the nation; her courtship and long marriage to one of the most authoritative figures in the media; her role as the capital’s most influential hostess; and her growing fascination with religious issues. This fascination led to her pioneering work in creating the most visited religious site on the web, OnFaith.co, where she reports on the unseen driving force of American life. Throughout this radiant, thoughtful, and surprisingly intimate memoir, Quinn reveals how "it’s all magic"—the many forms of what draws us together and provides meaning to all we do. Her roller coaster and irreverent but surprisingly spiritual story allows us to see how the infinite wonder of God and the values of meaningful conversation, experience, and community are available to us all. Finding Magic includes 16 pages of exclusive photographs.
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062315528
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 438
Book Description
The author, journalist, television commentator, and longtime Washington insider reflects on the spiritual quest that has brought deeper meaning to her life—and kept her grounded within the high-powered political world of Washington, D.C.’s elite—her renowned writing career, her celebrity marriage, and her legendary role as doyenne of the capital’s social scene. In this emotionally involving, illuminating memoir, the legendary Washington Post journalist, and author talks candidly about her life at the white-hot center of power and the surprising spiritual quest that has driven her for more than half a century. While working as a reporter, caring for a learning-disabled son with her husband, longtime Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, reigning over the capital’s social scene, and remaining intimately connected with national politics, Sally Quinn yearned to understand what truly made the world—and her life—tick. After years of searching, most of which occurring in the secular capital of the world, she came to realize that the time she spent with friends and family—the evenings of shared hospitality and intimate fellowship—provided spiritual nourishment and that this theme has been woven into all the most important moments of her life. In this spiritual memoir, Quinn speaks frankly about her varied, provocative spiritual experiences—from her Southern family of Presbyterians and psychics, to voodoo lessons from her Baptist nanny, her trials as a hospitalized military kid in Japan as the Korean War begins, to her adventures as a Post reporter and columnist and her experience as one of the first female news anchors on national television; her battles with the Nixon administration, Watergate, and other scandals that have rocked the nation; her courtship and long marriage to one of the most authoritative figures in the media; her role as the capital’s most influential hostess; and her growing fascination with religious issues. This fascination led to her pioneering work in creating the most visited religious site on the web, OnFaith.co, where she reports on the unseen driving force of American life. Throughout this radiant, thoughtful, and surprisingly intimate memoir, Quinn reveals how "it’s all magic"—the many forms of what draws us together and provides meaning to all we do. Her roller coaster and irreverent but surprisingly spiritual story allows us to see how the infinite wonder of God and the values of meaningful conversation, experience, and community are available to us all. Finding Magic includes 16 pages of exclusive photographs.
The Findings of Magic
Author: Kari Kilgore
Publisher: Spiral Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33
Book Description
Magic Lost. And Found. Katie makes magical beads. Desired by her best clients, Atlanta's powerful and rich. But now she frantically searches for a lost set. Never suspecting another seeks not only her beads, but Katie herself. What happens when the two cross paths, hot on the trail of so much treasure? An excerpt from The Findings of Magic: Vanished, but not without a trace Katie knew her instincts and the pull of familiar magic were right. The last few of her missing beads had been here in this otherwise ordinary emporium, and not long ago, either. Their music lingered as a whispery echo, stirring her blood and bones. But they were gone now. She slowly settled her hands onto the delightfully tactile sea of beads anyway. Sinking her fingers into cool and smooth and rough and scratchy. Cheap and well-made, ordinary and carrying faint traces of power. Enough power that she might have carefully gathered those to add into designs to support the stronger pieces and increase their potency. She would have, if she hadn't been on the trail of the last few of the most potent beads she'd ever had the privilege of handling.
Publisher: Spiral Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33
Book Description
Magic Lost. And Found. Katie makes magical beads. Desired by her best clients, Atlanta's powerful and rich. But now she frantically searches for a lost set. Never suspecting another seeks not only her beads, but Katie herself. What happens when the two cross paths, hot on the trail of so much treasure? An excerpt from The Findings of Magic: Vanished, but not without a trace Katie knew her instincts and the pull of familiar magic were right. The last few of her missing beads had been here in this otherwise ordinary emporium, and not long ago, either. Their music lingered as a whispery echo, stirring her blood and bones. But they were gone now. She slowly settled her hands onto the delightfully tactile sea of beads anyway. Sinking her fingers into cool and smooth and rough and scratchy. Cheap and well-made, ordinary and carrying faint traces of power. Enough power that she might have carefully gathered those to add into designs to support the stronger pieces and increase their potency. She would have, if she hadn't been on the trail of the last few of the most potent beads she'd ever had the privilege of handling.
Materia Magica
Author: Andrew Wilburn
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472117793
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
Materia Magica approaches magic as a material endeavor, in which spoken spells, ritual actions, and physical objects all played vital roles in the performance of a rite. Through case studies drawing on objects excavated or discovered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century at three Mediterranean sites, Andrew T. Wilburn identifies previously unknown forms of magic. He discovers evidence of the practice of magic in objects of ancient daily life, suggesting that individuals frequently turned to magic, particularly in times of crises. Studying the remains of spells enacted by practitioners, Wilburn examines the material remains of magical practice by identifying and placing them within their archaeological contexts. His method of connecting an analysis of the texts and inscriptions found on artifacts of magic with a close consideration of the physical form of these objects illuminates an exciting path toward new discoveries in the field.
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472117793
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
Materia Magica approaches magic as a material endeavor, in which spoken spells, ritual actions, and physical objects all played vital roles in the performance of a rite. Through case studies drawing on objects excavated or discovered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century at three Mediterranean sites, Andrew T. Wilburn identifies previously unknown forms of magic. He discovers evidence of the practice of magic in objects of ancient daily life, suggesting that individuals frequently turned to magic, particularly in times of crises. Studying the remains of spells enacted by practitioners, Wilburn examines the material remains of magical practice by identifying and placing them within their archaeological contexts. His method of connecting an analysis of the texts and inscriptions found on artifacts of magic with a close consideration of the physical form of these objects illuminates an exciting path toward new discoveries in the field.
Finding Magic in the Mess
Author: Steven Fonso
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525504885
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
A supportive guide for busy parents who want to connect more and stress less. In our stressed-out culture, too many parents are just coping rather than thriving, juggling demands on their time and energy, and tuning out their inner voices and deeper visions for family life in order to keep their heads above water. There is a better way. Coaching parents through his holistic health practice, Dr. Steven Fonso has helped thousands of families reconnect with what matters most: slowing down to savor authentic moments of connection and letting go of the noise and stress that all too often get in the way. In this reflective and heartfelt guide, you'll find insights and advice for bringing your best self to every parenting challenge, great and small, with greater awareness, authenticity, and grace. Topics include: recognizing our old patterns--and interrupting them seeing our kids as teachers, and following their lead to experience more presence and joy letting go of the need to be perfect--and the expectation that our kids should be, too reframing challenges as an opportunity to grow--within ourselves and together as a family As calming as a talk with a dear friend, this deceptively simple book turns parenting "truths" upside down to reveal a path to greater presence and connection.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525504885
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
A supportive guide for busy parents who want to connect more and stress less. In our stressed-out culture, too many parents are just coping rather than thriving, juggling demands on their time and energy, and tuning out their inner voices and deeper visions for family life in order to keep their heads above water. There is a better way. Coaching parents through his holistic health practice, Dr. Steven Fonso has helped thousands of families reconnect with what matters most: slowing down to savor authentic moments of connection and letting go of the noise and stress that all too often get in the way. In this reflective and heartfelt guide, you'll find insights and advice for bringing your best self to every parenting challenge, great and small, with greater awareness, authenticity, and grace. Topics include: recognizing our old patterns--and interrupting them seeing our kids as teachers, and following their lead to experience more presence and joy letting go of the need to be perfect--and the expectation that our kids should be, too reframing challenges as an opportunity to grow--within ourselves and together as a family As calming as a talk with a dear friend, this deceptively simple book turns parenting "truths" upside down to reveal a path to greater presence and connection.
Finding the Magic in You
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789387328754
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 186
Book Description
Isn't magic a wonderful thing? And how beautiful is to appreciate people doing magical things with their life? Do you want to be one of those people? Well, the good news is that you too have magic inside you and the amazing news is that you have the power to unleash it. You are a few pages away from finding the magic in you.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789387328754
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 186
Book Description
Isn't magic a wonderful thing? And how beautiful is to appreciate people doing magical things with their life? Do you want to be one of those people? Well, the good news is that you too have magic inside you and the amazing news is that you have the power to unleash it. You are a few pages away from finding the magic in you.
The Map
Author: Colette Baron-Reid
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1401929494
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
This best-selling spiritual growth book will help you see your life as a wonderful adventure from world-renowned oracle card expert with over a million decks sold, best-selling author, and internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher Colette Baron-Reid. Intuitive counselor Colette Baron-Reid is renowned for helping people create the purposeful and authentic lives they desire. In this inspirational book, Colette hands you the “magic wand” of your own awareness so that you can see yourself as an enchanted mapmaker. “This book is wonderful, whimsical, inspiring, and revealing. It will empower anyone willing to enter a magical world where they can find their true destiny.” — Courteney Cox, star of ABC’s Cougar Town Enter a deep journey into your inner landscape and meet the imaginary beings that hold the keys to the wisdom hidden in your subconscious: the Wizard of Awareness, the Gentle Gardener, the Bone Collector, and the spirits of the psychological terrain you traverse, who know where to find the treasure in each experience. Discover how to tame the mischievous trickster Goblin, who locks you into old habits. Each of these aspects of your psyche has lessons for you, and each responds to your directions, for you are in charge of your own map. You don’t have to feel lost or disoriented in this time of global transformation, or be at the mercy of the winds of change. The Map invites you to boldly claim your power to direct your journey so that you may find meaning, purpose, and joy. “In The Map, Colette shows you how to navigate within your own interior landscapes to hear the messages of the natural vistas that dwell inside you.” — Denise Linn “When we journey into the Map, we can find our own oracles and wisdom within our personal inner landscapes. “Bypassing logic and reason and entering the magical world of intuition and imagination, we find empowering answers with respect to meaning, purpose, and hope. “The process and concepts outlined in this book are tried-and-true. All you have to do is step into the Map and let the magic reveal itself . . . as it reveals you. “May this book bring you wisdom, peace, and joy!” Love, Colette Step into the magic of The Map, and harness the extraordinary power within you to shape your destiny.
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1401929494
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
This best-selling spiritual growth book will help you see your life as a wonderful adventure from world-renowned oracle card expert with over a million decks sold, best-selling author, and internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher Colette Baron-Reid. Intuitive counselor Colette Baron-Reid is renowned for helping people create the purposeful and authentic lives they desire. In this inspirational book, Colette hands you the “magic wand” of your own awareness so that you can see yourself as an enchanted mapmaker. “This book is wonderful, whimsical, inspiring, and revealing. It will empower anyone willing to enter a magical world where they can find their true destiny.” — Courteney Cox, star of ABC’s Cougar Town Enter a deep journey into your inner landscape and meet the imaginary beings that hold the keys to the wisdom hidden in your subconscious: the Wizard of Awareness, the Gentle Gardener, the Bone Collector, and the spirits of the psychological terrain you traverse, who know where to find the treasure in each experience. Discover how to tame the mischievous trickster Goblin, who locks you into old habits. Each of these aspects of your psyche has lessons for you, and each responds to your directions, for you are in charge of your own map. You don’t have to feel lost or disoriented in this time of global transformation, or be at the mercy of the winds of change. The Map invites you to boldly claim your power to direct your journey so that you may find meaning, purpose, and joy. “In The Map, Colette shows you how to navigate within your own interior landscapes to hear the messages of the natural vistas that dwell inside you.” — Denise Linn “When we journey into the Map, we can find our own oracles and wisdom within our personal inner landscapes. “Bypassing logic and reason and entering the magical world of intuition and imagination, we find empowering answers with respect to meaning, purpose, and hope. “The process and concepts outlined in this book are tried-and-true. All you have to do is step into the Map and let the magic reveal itself . . . as it reveals you. “May this book bring you wisdom, peace, and joy!” Love, Colette Step into the magic of The Map, and harness the extraordinary power within you to shape your destiny.
The Psychology of Magic and the Magic of Psychology
Author: Amir Raz
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889450082
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Magicians have dazzled audiences for many centuries; however, few researchers have studied how, let alone why, most tricks work. The psychology of magic is a nascent field of research that examines the underlying mechanisms that conjurers use to achieve enchanting phenomena, including sensory illusions, misdirection of attention, and the appearance of mind-control and nuanced persuasion. Most studies to date have focused on either the psychological principles involved in watching and performing magic or “neuromagic” - the neural correlates of such phenomena. Whereas performers sometimes question the contributions that modern science may offer to the advancement of the magical arts, the history of magic reveals that scientific discovery often charts new territories for magicians. In this research topic we sketch out the symbiotic relationship between psychological science and the art of magic. On the one hand, magic can inform psychology, with particular benefits for the cognitive, social, developmental, and transcultural components of behavioural science. Magicians have a large and robust set of effects that most researchers rarely exploit. Incorporating these effects into existing experimental, even clinical, paradigms paves the road to innovative trajectories in the study of human behaviour. For example, magic provides an elegant way to study the behaviour of participants who may believe they had made choices that they actually did not make. Moreover, magic fosters a more ecological approach to experimentation whereby scientists can probe participants in more natural environments compared to the traditional lab-based settings. Examining how magicians consistently influence spectators, for example, can elucidate important aspects in the study of persuasion, trust, decision-making, and even processes spanning authorship and agency. Magic thus offers a largely underused armamentarium for the behavioural scientist and clinician. On the other hand, psychological science can advance the art of magic. The psychology of deception, a relatively understudied field, explores the intentional creation of false beliefs and how people often go wrong. Understanding how to methodically exploit the tenuous twilight zone of human vulnerabilities – perceptual, logical, emotional, and temporal – becomes all the more revealing when top-down influences, including expectation, symbolic thinking, and framing, join the fray. Over the years, science has permitted magicians to concoct increasingly effective routines and to elicit heightened feelings of wonder from audiences. Furthermore, on occasion science leads to the creation of novel effects, or the refinement of existing ones, based on systematic methods. For example, by simulating a specific card routine using a series of computer stimuli, researchers have decomposed the effect and reconstructed it into a more effective routine. Other magic effects depend on meaningful psychological knowledge, such as which type of information is difficult to retain or what changes capture attention. Behavioural scientists measure and study these factors. By combining analytical findings with performer intuitions, psychological science begets effective magic. Whereas science strives on parsimony and independent replication of results, magic thrives on reproducing the same effect with multiple methods to obscure parsimony and minimise detection. This Research Topic explores the seemingly orthogonal approaches of scientists and magicians by highlighting the crosstalk as well as rapprochement between psychological science and the art of deception.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889450082
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Magicians have dazzled audiences for many centuries; however, few researchers have studied how, let alone why, most tricks work. The psychology of magic is a nascent field of research that examines the underlying mechanisms that conjurers use to achieve enchanting phenomena, including sensory illusions, misdirection of attention, and the appearance of mind-control and nuanced persuasion. Most studies to date have focused on either the psychological principles involved in watching and performing magic or “neuromagic” - the neural correlates of such phenomena. Whereas performers sometimes question the contributions that modern science may offer to the advancement of the magical arts, the history of magic reveals that scientific discovery often charts new territories for magicians. In this research topic we sketch out the symbiotic relationship between psychological science and the art of magic. On the one hand, magic can inform psychology, with particular benefits for the cognitive, social, developmental, and transcultural components of behavioural science. Magicians have a large and robust set of effects that most researchers rarely exploit. Incorporating these effects into existing experimental, even clinical, paradigms paves the road to innovative trajectories in the study of human behaviour. For example, magic provides an elegant way to study the behaviour of participants who may believe they had made choices that they actually did not make. Moreover, magic fosters a more ecological approach to experimentation whereby scientists can probe participants in more natural environments compared to the traditional lab-based settings. Examining how magicians consistently influence spectators, for example, can elucidate important aspects in the study of persuasion, trust, decision-making, and even processes spanning authorship and agency. Magic thus offers a largely underused armamentarium for the behavioural scientist and clinician. On the other hand, psychological science can advance the art of magic. The psychology of deception, a relatively understudied field, explores the intentional creation of false beliefs and how people often go wrong. Understanding how to methodically exploit the tenuous twilight zone of human vulnerabilities – perceptual, logical, emotional, and temporal – becomes all the more revealing when top-down influences, including expectation, symbolic thinking, and framing, join the fray. Over the years, science has permitted magicians to concoct increasingly effective routines and to elicit heightened feelings of wonder from audiences. Furthermore, on occasion science leads to the creation of novel effects, or the refinement of existing ones, based on systematic methods. For example, by simulating a specific card routine using a series of computer stimuli, researchers have decomposed the effect and reconstructed it into a more effective routine. Other magic effects depend on meaningful psychological knowledge, such as which type of information is difficult to retain or what changes capture attention. Behavioural scientists measure and study these factors. By combining analytical findings with performer intuitions, psychological science begets effective magic. Whereas science strives on parsimony and independent replication of results, magic thrives on reproducing the same effect with multiple methods to obscure parsimony and minimise detection. This Research Topic explores the seemingly orthogonal approaches of scientists and magicians by highlighting the crosstalk as well as rapprochement between psychological science and the art of deception.
Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World
Author: Scott Noegel
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271046006
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
In the religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, gods and demigods were neither abstract nor distant, but communicated with mankind through signs and active intervention. Men and women were thus eager to interpret, appeal to, and even control the gods and their agents. In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to--or, in some cases, to bind or escape from--the divine powers of heaven and earth. Grounded in a variety of disciplines, including Assyriology, Classics, and early Islamic history, the fifteen essays in this volume cover a broad geographic area: Greece, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Topics include celestial divination in early Mesopotamia, the civic festivals of classical Athens, and Christian magical papyri from Coptic Egypt. Moving forward to Late Antiquity, we see how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each incorporated many aspects of ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman religion into their own prayers, rituals, and conceptions. Even if they no longer conceived of the sun, moon, and the stars as eternal or divine, Christians, Jews, and Muslims often continued to study the movements of the heavens as a map on which divine power could be read. The reader already familiar with studies of ancient religion will find in Prayer, Magic, and the Stars both old friends and new faces. Contributors include Gideon Bohak, Nicola Denzey, Jacco Dieleman, Radcliffe Edmonds, Marvin Meyer, Michael G. Morony, Ian Moyer, Francesca Rochberg, Jonathan Z. Smith, Mark S. Smith, Peter Struck, Michael Swartz, and Kasia Szpakowska. Published as part of Penn State's Magic in History series, Prayer, Magic, and the Stars appears at a time of renewed interest in divination and occult practices in the ancient world. It will interest a wide audience in the field of comparative religion as well as students of the ancient world and late antiquity.
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271046006
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
In the religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, gods and demigods were neither abstract nor distant, but communicated with mankind through signs and active intervention. Men and women were thus eager to interpret, appeal to, and even control the gods and their agents. In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to--or, in some cases, to bind or escape from--the divine powers of heaven and earth. Grounded in a variety of disciplines, including Assyriology, Classics, and early Islamic history, the fifteen essays in this volume cover a broad geographic area: Greece, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Topics include celestial divination in early Mesopotamia, the civic festivals of classical Athens, and Christian magical papyri from Coptic Egypt. Moving forward to Late Antiquity, we see how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each incorporated many aspects of ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman religion into their own prayers, rituals, and conceptions. Even if they no longer conceived of the sun, moon, and the stars as eternal or divine, Christians, Jews, and Muslims often continued to study the movements of the heavens as a map on which divine power could be read. The reader already familiar with studies of ancient religion will find in Prayer, Magic, and the Stars both old friends and new faces. Contributors include Gideon Bohak, Nicola Denzey, Jacco Dieleman, Radcliffe Edmonds, Marvin Meyer, Michael G. Morony, Ian Moyer, Francesca Rochberg, Jonathan Z. Smith, Mark S. Smith, Peter Struck, Michael Swartz, and Kasia Szpakowska. Published as part of Penn State's Magic in History series, Prayer, Magic, and the Stars appears at a time of renewed interest in divination and occult practices in the ancient world. It will interest a wide audience in the field of comparative religion as well as students of the ancient world and late antiquity.
Moral Power
Author: Koen Stroeken
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845457358
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
Neither power nor morality but both. Moral power is what Sukuma farmers in Tanzania in times of crisis attribute to an unknown figure they call their witch. A universal process is involved, as much bodily as social, which obstructs the patient's recovery. Healers turn the table on the witch through rituals showing that the community and the ancestral spirits side with the victim. In contrast to biomedicine, their magic and divination introduce moral values that assess the state of the system and that remove the obstacles to what is taken as key: self-healing. The implied 'sensory shifts' and therapeutic effectiveness have largely eluded the literature on witchcraft. This book shows how to comprehend culture other than through the prism of identity politics. It offers a framework to comprehend the rise of witch killings and human sacrifice, just as ritual initiation disappears.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845457358
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
Neither power nor morality but both. Moral power is what Sukuma farmers in Tanzania in times of crisis attribute to an unknown figure they call their witch. A universal process is involved, as much bodily as social, which obstructs the patient's recovery. Healers turn the table on the witch through rituals showing that the community and the ancestral spirits side with the victim. In contrast to biomedicine, their magic and divination introduce moral values that assess the state of the system and that remove the obstacles to what is taken as key: self-healing. The implied 'sensory shifts' and therapeutic effectiveness have largely eluded the literature on witchcraft. This book shows how to comprehend culture other than through the prism of identity politics. It offers a framework to comprehend the rise of witch killings and human sacrifice, just as ritual initiation disappears.
Here Is Real Magic
Author: Nate Staniforth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 163286424X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
An extraordinary memoir about finding wonder in everyday life, from magician Nate Staniforth. Nate Staniforth has spent most of his life and all of his professional career trying to understand wonder--what it is, where to find it, and how to share it with others. He became a magician because he learned at a young age that magic tricks don't have to be frivolous. Magic doesn't have to be about sequins and smoke machines--rather, it can create a moment of genuine astonishment. But after years on the road as a professional magician, crisscrossing the country and performing four or five nights a week, every week, Nate was disillusioned, burned out, and ready to quit. Instead, he went to India in search of magic. Here Is Real Magic follows Nate Staniforth's evolution from an obsessed young magician to a broken wanderer and back again. It tells the story of his rediscovery of astonishment--and the importance of wonder in everyday life--during his trip to the slums of India, where he infiltrated a three-thousand-year-old clan of street magicians. Here Is Real Magic is a call to all of us--to welcome awe back into our lives, to marvel in the everyday, and to seek magic all around us.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 163286424X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
An extraordinary memoir about finding wonder in everyday life, from magician Nate Staniforth. Nate Staniforth has spent most of his life and all of his professional career trying to understand wonder--what it is, where to find it, and how to share it with others. He became a magician because he learned at a young age that magic tricks don't have to be frivolous. Magic doesn't have to be about sequins and smoke machines--rather, it can create a moment of genuine astonishment. But after years on the road as a professional magician, crisscrossing the country and performing four or five nights a week, every week, Nate was disillusioned, burned out, and ready to quit. Instead, he went to India in search of magic. Here Is Real Magic follows Nate Staniforth's evolution from an obsessed young magician to a broken wanderer and back again. It tells the story of his rediscovery of astonishment--and the importance of wonder in everyday life--during his trip to the slums of India, where he infiltrated a three-thousand-year-old clan of street magicians. Here Is Real Magic is a call to all of us--to welcome awe back into our lives, to marvel in the everyday, and to seek magic all around us.