Wizards : a history / Peter Maxwell-Stuart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maxwell-Stuart, P. G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wizards.

Magic.

Physical Description:

222 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Tempus, 2004.

Summary:

In an age of scientific certainties, the idea that scientific absolutes can be breached at will by individuals asserting themselves against such laws is rather attractive. Throughout the ages the wizard, magician, sorcerer, has claimed to do just this. From Simon Magus to Merlin, Faust to Cornelius Agrippa, the Comte de Saint Germain to Aleister Crowley, the magician has been both feted and feared. An awesome figure in real life and in literature, he has retained his hold on the Western imagination in the teeth of scientific advance.

P.G. Maxwell-Stuart's history of the wizard from ancient times to the present shows just how extraordinary a character the wizard has proved to be - not merely a conjuring trickster or malicious egotist in league with Satan (though there have been plenty of both), but also a deeply religious person intent on using magic the better to understand the mind of God. This unexpectedlu rich diversity of wizards offers new insights into our continuing fascination with magic.

Contents:

1 The Ritual Magician and his Work 13

2 Evocation and Ecstasy in the Ancient World 33

3 The Pattern and Aims of a Ritual Magician 59

4 Natural Magic and the Blurred Borders of Deception 101

5 Wizard or Witch? A Problem for the Authorities 127

6 Enlightenment Magicians in Fact and Fiction 147

7 Twentieth-Century Magicians: The Children of Freud and the Therapists 181.

Notes:

Bibliography: pages 211-218. - Includes index.

ISBN:

0752428403

OCLC:

57381590