Description
Book SynopsisReclaiming magic and magical thought in the modern, mainstream world
The modern Western world has often raised its eyebrows at magic, associating it with madness and superstition. However, this ignores the fact of the matter that magic is a universal human experience which has existed in a multitude of forms across time and space.
Now, in his groundbreaking book, Ari Freeman presents his argument that magic is still a human universal - we’ve just forgotten how to talk about it!
Laying out clear and concise arguments, Pragmatic Magical Thinking will enlighten readers to how magic can be a practical approach to achieving real world results, drawing on evidence from science, philosophy, history and anthropology.
For both beginners at magic, and the long practicing witch or wizard, Ari Freeman’s book is a breath of fresh air for the world of magical studies, inviting readers to join him in placing magic in it’s rightful place as a serious and mainstream subject of conversation and enquiry.
Pragmatic Magical Thinking covers a wide and comprehensive selection of subjects in relation to your magical education. These include, but are not limited to: magic and memory, spirits, belief, magic in everyday life, science and magic, religion and magic, Kabbalist cosmology and morality.
Trade Review“This intriguing book sets out to launch a conversation about how much of traditional occultism can be understood from within a philosophically literate modern worldview. Thoughtful and refreshingly open-minded, it’s worth a close reading from occultists and rationalists alike.”
John Michael Greer, author of The Occult Philosophy Workbook
“Ari Freeman has turned the tables. Pragmatic Magical Thinking has taken typical arguments and assumptions used to discredit magic, and used them to justify, explain and actually celebrate magical thinking.”
Ramsey Dukes, author of The Little Book of Demons and How to See Fairies
“Using tools from science, philosophy, history, and anthropology, Ari Freeman writes on magic from a twenty-first century perspective. He debunks the scientific reductionist view of the world, he believes, and I agree, changing your mind, really can change your reality. Freeman makes his arguments elegantly in this deep, but accessible book. Recommended.”
Elisabeth Brooke, author of Goddess Astrology and A Woman’s Book of Shadows
Table of ContentsIntroduction
CHAPTER 2 - On attention
CHAPTER 3 - A definition of magic for our times
CHAPTER 4 - Useful fictions
CHAPTER 5 - A pragmatist’s approach to scepticism
CHAPTER 6 - Memory, narrative, and identity
CHAPTER 7 - Believing different things on different days
CHAPTER 8 - Outside voices vs. inner voices
CHAPTER 9 - Spirits
CHAPTER 10 - Why you aren’t just your brain
CHAPTER 11 - Magic is around us every day
CHAPTER 12 - The origins of modern science
CHAPTER 13 - The fake war between science and religion
CHAPTER 14 - Science’s on and off again relationship with magic
CHAPTER 15 - Science, magic, and religion compared
CHAPTER 16 - The origins of Christian fundamentalism
CHAPTER 17 - Religion’s suspicion of magic: the witch trials
CHAPTER 18 - The cycle of creativity and inspiration
CHAPTER 19 - Ladder cosmologies
CHAPTER 20 -The Kabbalist cosmology
CHAPTER 21 - The chakras
CHAPTER 22 - The sephiroth and chakras compared
CHAPTER 23 - Magic and morality
CHAPTER 24 - Superstition
CHAPTER 25 - Smart people traps
REFERENCES
INDEX
