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Dark Webs: Tantra, Black Magic, and Cyberspace
This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three online tāntrik practitioners from Assam. The region of...
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Christianity, Witchcraft, Magic, and Healing in Africa
Christianity, healing, and witchcraft beliefs and practices have been closely connected in African history, but their relations have also vexed...
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Beliefs and Practices of Magic and Medicine
Among the strongly held beliefs in African Traditional Religion is the efficacy of magic and medicine in every realm of life. In some cultures and...
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Diligentia et divina sorte: Oracular Intelligence in Marsilio Ficino’s Astral Magic
This chapter discusses the Florentine thinker Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), who is usually credited for his attempt to revive the Platonic tradition...
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Magic, Religion and Evolutionary Ethics
Hypotheses proposed from an evolutionary perspective partly explain why every universal religion, including secular substitutes, encompasses...
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Compelling the Other: Esoteric Exorcism as a Reflection of Jewish–Christian Social Tensions in Premodern German Demonic Ritual Magic
That many Late Mediaeval and Renaissance Christian demonic ritual magic were influenced by Jewish and Islamic magical practices is undeniable,...
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A Necessary Conjunction: Cabala, Magic, and Alchemy in the Theosophy of Heinrich Khunrath (1560–1605)
Heinrich Khunrath’s 1609 Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom) was the first published work that described itself as...
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Conclusion: Man into Wolf Revisited—The Method and Magic of the Combinatory Mind
This chapter looks back at Robert Eisler’s biography and his work across the disciplines of art history, religion, philosophy, and economics. It...
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Women, Gender, Androgynous and Hierarchies in Damanhur
This chapter focuses on women’s narratives within the Damanhur community. It is the result of field research centred on dialogue with various...
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Islamic Calligraphy, Abstraction and Magic Talismans in Northern Nigeria
The chapter analyzes the forms of Islamic calligraphy among the HausaHausa Muslim communitiesMuslim communities of northernNorthern Nigeria...
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Anthropology and the Science of the Supernatural: Souls, Ancestors, Ghosts, and Spirits
Here we provide an extended discussion of the core conceptual background and the methodological structure we employ in the subsequent chapters. We...
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Robert Eisler and the Magic of the Combinatory Mind The Forgotten Life of a 20th-Century Austrian Polymath
Robert Eisler, the polymathic Jewish Austrian scholar and Holocaust survivor, faded into obscurity after his death in 1949. A contemporary and...
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African Traditional Religion and the Sociocultural Environment
African Traditional Religion exerts tremendous influence on the perspective of Africans not only on the continent but also among the African Diaspora...
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Defense Against the Dark
Here we demonstrate that spirits are treated as active agents that can help or hurt humans in most cultures. We discuss prayers, magic, talismans,...
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Innovation in Esotericism from the Renaissance to the Present
This collection explores the role of innovation in understanding the history of esotericism. It illustrates how innovation is a mechanism of...
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Psychic Disciplines: The Magnetizer as Magician in the Writings of Jules Dupotet de Sennevoy (1796–1881)
Brach’s chapter centers on a movement that claimed to be profoundly innovative: Mesmerism. Its founder, Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), maintained that his...
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“And You Should Also Adjure in Arabic:” Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Formulas in the Solomonic Corpus
Owing to the transcultural nature of “Solomonic Magic,” multilingualism is one of the most dominant features of Solomonic works, which deal mainly...
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The Shamanism of Ancient Dynasties
It can be seen that the belief originated among indigenous peoples from the time when they used words and thoughts with magic to master all kinds of...
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Traditional Religion, and Morality in Society
African Indigenous religions and moral values have a relationship that one could argue are inseparable because moral values draw from religious...