Magician and Fool


Book Description

Pamela Colman Smith, newly arrived from New York to her birthplace of London, is received as an oddball in Victorian society. Her second sight helps her in her new job: illustrating tarot cards for the Golden Dawn, a newly formed occult group. But when Pamela refuses to share her creations with Aleister Crowley, a controversial magician, he issues a threat: give up the cards’ power, or he’ll harm her muses. In the midst of this battle, two of Pamela’s idols, the actors Henry Irving and William Terriss, take her under their wing. Henry, who tutors her as the leader of the Lyceum Theatre, becomes the muse for her Magician card. William Terriss, teaching her by examples of instinct and courage, becomes the muse for her Fool card. As Pamela begins to create the tarot deck, she is almost overwhelmed by the race to possess the magical power of her cards. In order to defeat Aleister, Henry and William will have to transform into living incarnations of the Magician and the Fool—and Pamela will have to learn how to conjure her own magic.




The Magician and the Fool


Book Description

For hundreds of years, men have sought their hidden futures in the legendary images of the tarot—but what secrets of the past are harbored by the priestess, the magician, the hanged man…and the fool? The author of the explosive The Patron Saint of Plagues returns with a richly textured mystical mystery exploring the dark heart of one of our oldest traditions. Years ago, fallen scholar Jeremiah Rosemont left the bitter rivalries of academia behind and now lives a simple nomadic existence in South America, far from the arguments that once defined his life. But he can’t outrun his past…or the dangerous truth that lurks beneath his abandoned studies. Following an enigmatic summons to Rome, Rosemont finds himself at the center of a mystery that dates back to the fall of Troy, the pursuit of a mystical treasure many are willing to sacrifice fortunes and lives for: the earliest known tarot deck. As Rosemont delves deeper and deeper into the tarot’s unsettling secret origins, his own fate is inexorably intertwined with that of the Boy King, a homeless man with an unspeakable gift…and a mysterious past of his own. For these two men—and the demons, dupes, and power seekers drawn to them—the cards will reveal everything, even the shattering, unseen truths of human life itself.…




Master and Fool


Book Description

The Known Lands are teetering on the brink of war. Desperate to avert worldwide catastrophe, Jack, the baker's boy, must learn to harness the full strength of his magic to face his ultimate destiny--a final confrontation with the murderously evil Kylock.




Pamela Coleman Smith


Book Description

Pamela Colman Smith: The Untold Story brings together the work of four distinguished scholars who have devoted years of research to uncover the life and artistic accomplishments of Pamela Colman Smith. Known to millions as the creator of the Rider-Waite Tarotƒƒ‚‚ƒ‚‚ deck, Pamela Colman Smith (1878ƒ‚‚"ƒ‚‚€ƒ‚‚"1951) was also a stage and costume designer, folklorist, poet, author, illustrator of ballads and folktales, suffragette, and publisher of books and broadsheets. This collaborative work presents: a richly illustrated biography of Pamela's life with essays on the events and people that influenced her including Jack Yeats, Ellen Terry, Alfred Stieglitz, Bram Stoker and William Gillette. There is also a chronological survey of her folktales, art and poetry and an exploration of her lasting legacy. Over 400 color images of Pamela's non-tarot art have been curated from her publications including A Broad Sheet, The Green Sheaf, Blue Beard, Annancy stories, Russian ballet, costumes, stage designs, Iri




Wild Magic


Book Description

Magic has returned to Elda, creating all manner of wonders and terrors. None yet know that the source of this magic is the legendary Rosa Eldi, restored to the world, but not yet restored to herself. Unaware of her true nature, she has married King Ravn Asharson of the North, and now with usurpers and assassins circling she must conceive a child to establish the succession. In the Southern Empire, the fire of holy war is smouldering and violence is everywhere, fuelled by fundamentalist hatred and bigotry. Caught up in these machinations, peace-loving Saro Vingo is forced to take up arms against the North; and Virelai, apprentice sorcerer, finds himself chained to the murderous plans of his master, Tycho Issian. Ignoring his king's call to arms, Aran Aranson, chief of the Rockfall clan, is in the grip of a mad obsession borne of a magical map and dreams of sailing the frozen seas to Sanctuary, island of legend, to find a fortune. His daughter, Katla, dreams of sailing with him; but her fate lies elsewhere. All over Elda, forces are aligning themselves for good or for evil. There is magic in the world again, but it is wild and unpredictable, and few will count its touch a blessing.




Practical Mental Magic


Book Description

Outstanding collection of nearly 200 crowd-pleasing mental magic feats requiring no special equipment. Author offers insider's tips and expert advice on techniques, presentation, diversions, patter, staging, more.




The Fool & the Mirror


Book Description

The Fool & The Mirror reflects the latest work of occultist and writer Julian Vayne. Step through this magical looking glass and into a wonderland populated by artist sorcerers, cross-dressing witches, entheogenic adventurers, subterranean shamans, magical arachnids, DMT elves and many more!This wide-ranging volume offers examples of practical how-to-do magic embedded within the author's lived narrative, and essays on landscape, queer identity, occult philosophy and politics, witchcraft, and drugs... he approaches writing as an artistic endeavour, conjuring scenes for the reader that are rich in meaning and powerfully evocative.Julian Vayne is known for his lively style, clarity of explanation, and inspirational insights. Down the rabbit hole we go...




Learning the Tarot


Book Description

Learning the Tarot, Joan Bunning offers a complete course in 19 lessons that covers the basics and then gradually goes into more advanced concepts. First published in 1998, Joan Bunning’s Learning the Tarot has become a tarot classic. Written in a confident and natural style, the book communicates the basic depth and beauty of each card, shows how the cards trigger psychological projection, and enhances intuition. Learning the Tarot is a thorough (but never overwhelming) invitation to the beginner. The book focuses in detail on: the actual process of discovering meaning in the cards how to consider one card by itself, how to look for card pairs how to create the "story" of a reading The book includes a convenient reference section that contains two pages of information for each card, including a picture from the popular Waite-Smith deck, a description, keywords, action phrases, and suggestions for cards with similar and opposite meanings. The author first presented this course online at learntarot.com, which continues to attract over one hundred thousand visitors per month. “When I first created my website in 1995,” writes Joan Bunning, “I never dreamed how much interest in the tarot I would find. People from all over the world began writing to tell me about their experiences with the course and their adventures with the cards. This response was music to my ears! I knew from my own experience that the tarot is a wonderful tool for personal guidance and inner exploration. “My goal with this book was to give you the basics you need to begin working with the tarot on your own. I try to make this inner process understandable by breaking it up into a series of steps that are simple while still doing justice to the depth and beauty of the cards. I concentrate on the everyday, showing how the tarot makes real, practical sense in the modern world. The tarot is a living system that adapts creatively to each user. Rather than rules, I offer guidelines. While reading my book, I want you to feel that you have a teacher sitting next to you who is introducing you to this special tool, but also encouraging you to go on to discover your own unique approach to the cards.”




Fool on the Hill


Book Description

From the author of Lovecraft Country: Myth and reality collide on a college campus “in a comic fantasy of wonderful energy, invention, and generosity of spirit” (Alison Lurie). Stephen Titus George is a young writer-in-residence at Cornell University in upstate New York. A bestselling author in search of a new story, he sees his life as a modern-day fairy tale starring himself as a would-be knight trying to woo a lovely maiden—or, actually, two: the bewitching Calliope and his guiding light, Aurora Borealis Smith. But he’s not quite in control of the narrative. There’s another writer with even greater influence on campus. The unseen Mr. Sunshine is an eternal, semi-retired deity who’s been fashioning his own story for centuries. He has all his characters in place: dragons, sprites, gnomes, and villains. And now, finally, his hero. As Mr. Sunshine’s world comes to fabulous and violent life, how can Stephen decide his own fate if it’s already being plotted by a god? An epic of life and death, good and evil, love and sorcery, Fool on the Hill lands Matt Ruff happily on the shelf between Tom Robbins and J. R. R. Tolkien for every lover of the “funky and fantastical” (New York magazine). “Inspired . . . rich in flavorful language . . . [a] dazzling tour de force.” —San Francisco Chronicle “The plot comes together like a brilliant clockwork toy.” —Locus




Magician and Fool


Book Description

Hired by the Golden Dawn to illustrate a deck of tarot cards, Pamela, a London-born empath with second sight, wants to keep the power of her creation out of the hands of her nemesis, magician Aleister Crowley, who desires to use her cards for his evil purposes.