Magickal Mechanics


Book Description

Mechanics are defined as a branch of physical science that deals with energy and forces and their effect on things in the universe. This book presents mechanics of magick based on their consistency in practice across the majority of magickal systems of thought and their effectiveness in creating changes in one's reality. Thorough explanations of each mechanic are followed by scientific knowledge, anecdotes and examples to illustrate each mechanic's efficacy and why they apply to all paths of magickal practice.




Animation between Magic, Miracles and Mechanics


Book Description

When it comes to images, we are all animists. Deep down, we all know that images can – at least potentially – be alive or come to life. Nowadays, we may tend to rationalize our ingrained animism and explain it away as a mere projection only happening in the space between image and viewer. In the Middle Ages, however, imagery made enthusiastic use of magical, miraculous and mechanical means of animation, empowered and ensouled by both natural and supernatural principles of life. This animist book investigates magic, miracles and mechanics as motors of animation and seeks to understand the living image in solidarity with medieval experience rather than dismissive alienation of it. Effigies did bleed, weep or lactate, either through divine intervention or through hydraulic machinery. Statues did move or speak, either as demonic oracles or as talking heads with implanted speaking tubes. Marvels made by magic or by miracles were real, as real as the wonders of physical mechanics moving bodily matter. We just need to look and listen more carefully to comprehend these fluid realities, even when – especially when – they challenge our received worldview. Animation was by no means uncontested or uncontradicted, but even its stiffest critics knew that gods and demons could intervene in inanimate matter to set it in motion, to speak in tongues and exude the liquids of life.




Game Magic


Book Description

Make More Immersive and Engaging Magic Systems in GamesGame Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice explains how to construct magic systems and presents a compendium of arcane lore, encompassing the theory, history, and structure of magic systems in games and human belief. The author combines rigorous scholarly analysis wi




High Fantasy Magic


Book Description

". . . [High Fantasy Magic] feels like the kind of thing that should have been in the Core rules - aspects for permissions, skills for actions, stunts for bonus stuff. Well done." - Christopher Dolunt (Author of Savage Worlds: Rippers) ". . . I like that it's a very light touch on the existing skills and action system. Very good from my perspective of not bolting on lots of extras." - Rory Bracebuckle (Author of Perilous Intersections) High Fantasy Magic is a simple, freeform magic system designed for Fate Core, Fate Condensed and Fate Accelerated. It is a drop-in magic system with a high fantasy tone that sticks closely to Fate Core and provides the same amount of flexibility in character creation and progression. There are no spell lists. Instead, the players can choose which types of magic they can use via a list of magic disciplines. Then, the players are encouraged to use the power they have in whatever creative ways they can think of. The freeform nature of this magic system allows for simple adjudication of the rules and a low barrier to entry. Whether you use it in its entirety or pick it apart as a toolkit, this is a great resource for magical, fantasy settings. High Fantasy Magic includes the following: - Simple rules to handle a wide variety of magical abilities - A list of magical disciplines - Tips for managing the varying potency of magic - Rules for animating creatures to your aid - Example stunts for magic users - Tons of examples




Original Magic


Book Description

A complete guide to the theory, practice, and history of Mazdan magic, the first organized system of magic • Provides a complete curriculum of magical study and initiation centered on exercises keyed to the sacred Zoroastrian calendar • Details advanced magical rituals and practices based on archaic Persian formulas, including fire rituals and divine invocations • Explores the history and lore of Persian magic, explaining how the author reconstructed the original Mazdan system of magic Stephen Flowers explores the history, theory, practice, rituals, and initiations of the Mazdan magical system practiced by the Magi of ancient Persia, who were so skilled and famed for their effectiveness that their name came to mean what we today call “magic.” The prestige and reputation of the Magian priests of Mazda is perhaps most iconically recorded in the Christian story of the Three Wise Men who visited newborn Jesus. The author explains how the religious branch of the Mazdan magical system, founded by the Prophet Zarathustra, is known in the West under the name Zoroastrianism. He reveals how the Zoroastrian religion, which acts as a matrix for the symbols and formulas of the original form of magic, has existed for almost four thousand years with roots going back even deeper into the Indo-European past. The author reveals how all other known systems of magic have borrowed from this tradition, providing the clues that enabled him to reformulate the original Mazdan system. He reviews what the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Christians, and Chinese said about the Iranian-Persian tradition of the Mazdans and their invention of a magical technology. He explains how the ultimate aim of the original form of magic was not only individual wisdom, self-development, and empowerment, but also the overall betterment of the world. Outlining the theoretical principles of this method, which can be applied in practical ways to deepen the effectiveness of these magical operations, the author details a complete curriculum of magical study and initiation based on a series of graded exercises keyed to the sacred Zoroastrian calendar. He then offers a series of more advanced magical rituals and practices based on archaic Persian formulas, including fire rituals and divine invocations. Providing a manual for the original magical system used by the members of the Great Fellowship, this book guides you toward the comprehensive practice of the Mazdan philosophy, the ultimate outcome of which is ushta: Happiness.




Magical Epistemologies


Book Description

This book began with a simple question: when readers such as us encounter the term magic or figures of magicians in early modern texts, dramatic or otherwise, how do we read them? In the twenty-first century we have recourse to an array of genres and vocabulary from magical realism to fantasy fiction that does not, however, work to read a historical figure like John Dee or a fictional one he inspired in Shakespeare's Prospero. Between longings to transcend human limitation and the actual work of producing, translating, and organizing knowledge, figures such as Dee invite us to re-examine our ways of reading magic only as metaphor. If not metaphor then what else? As we parse the term magic, it reveals a rich context of use that connects various aspects of social, cultural, religious, economic, legal and medical lives of the early moderns. Magic makes its presence felt not only as a forms of knowledge but in methods of knowing in the Renaissance. The arc of dramatists and texts that this book draws between Doctor Faustus, The Tempest, The Alchemist and Comus: A Masque at Ludlow Castle offers a sustained examination of the epistemologies of magic in the context of early modern knowledge formation. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.







Magic Words


Book Description

This is a one-of-a-kind resource for armchair linguists, pop-culture enthusiasts, Pagans, Wiccans, magicians, and trivia nuts alike.




Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World


Book Description

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focussing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.




Magic When You Need It


Book Description

Many spells and charms can take days or even weeks to complete. In Magic When You Need It, Judika Illes offers a collection of super-powered magic to help you right now. Is your career in a slump? Are you being visited by ghosts? Short on cash. Magic When You Need It can help with these problems and more. Divided into four sections: Money and Ca...