Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans [Paperback]

Nevill Drury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

Beginning with shamanism, this book explores myth and magic in the ancient world, the quest for gnosis, or sacred esoteric knowledge, and the emergence of the kabbalah, alchemy, and the Hermetic tradition. It then describes the rise of medieval witchcraft, the origins of the tarot, and the secret philosophy of the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, started in Britain in 1888, led to a 20th-century revival that extends into the present millennium. The influence of controversial occultist Aleister Crowley, the rebirth of witchcraft and goddess worship, the emergence of contemporary satanism, the revival of interest in shamanism and indigenous spirituality, and the intriguing connection between digital magic and cyberspace are all explored here in detail.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drury, the author of more than 40 books (The Shaman's Quest; Exploring the Labyrinth), offers a comprehensive yet accessible historical guide to magic and witchcraft through the ages. This is not a how-to manual or a spellbook, but a well-researched history with a refreshingly global perspective. Beginning with shamanism, "the oldest magical tradition," Drury examines shamanic traditions in Alaska, South America, Australia, Siberia and Indonesia. He then explores ancient magic traditions in Greece, Rome, Egypt and Mesopotamia; Gnostic and Kabbalistic cosmologies; witchcraft and witch trials in medieval and Renaissance Europe; and hermetic and alchemical traditions. Other chapters delve into Tarot, astrology, numerology, Wicca, contemporary technopaganism and mystical fraternities such as the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians. One of the most interesting chapters is an in-depth portrait of Aleister Crowley, the turn-of-the-century self-styled British warlock whom some called the "most wicked" man of the age. Drury writes well and never loses sight of the big picture, offering readers broad strokes and helping them to understand the subtle distinctions between magical traditions. He draws on some legitimate theory and scholarship from the likes of Mircea Eliade, Emile Durkheim and Carl Jung (though he quotes Carlos Castaneda without divulging until the end of the book that much of Castaneda's "anthropology" has been debunked as fiction). The book is strikingly well illustrated, with more than 200 illustrations, 61 of them in color.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Drury presents magic and witchcraft as a religious tradition concerned with directly contacting divine power to aid spiritual development and affect events and persons. Tribal shamans, the first magicians Drury describes, seem its most benign practitioners. Later magicians in Europe, which is Drury's geographical focus, were often considerably less innocent. Magic animated the first great literature and philosophy; sparked Gnosticism and Cabalism, the principal rivals of Christianity and Orthodox Judaism; underlay medieval witchcraft; helped Renaissance thinkers stumble through alchemy to science; and during the Enlightenment manifested as systems of influence upon persons (astrology and the tarot) and society (freemasonry and Rosicrucianism). Modern magic began with the Golden Dawn, once led by W. B. Yeats, and proceeded through Aleister Crowley's sex magic to satanism, the current wicca and goddess movements, and shamanist and pantheist revivals among cybernauts. Neither endorsing nor condemning any aspect of its subject, Drury's handsomely illustrated presentation is hampered only by typos in the book's latter half and the poor prose of the most recent sources he quotes. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500285144
• ISBN-13: 978-0500285145
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,109,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, clear, developed, well-produced, November 3, 2004

By 

Michael Hoffman (Egodeath.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans (Hardcover)

Drury has been refining his presentation of this material for several decades. This is a large, beautiful, well-produced presentation of his findings to date, with up-to-date coverage of magic in visionary-plant shamanism and on the Web. This book is a good model of combining clear, accessible presentation with scholarly references.

This book has widely comprehensive coverage of magic in the history of ideas, including myth; he treats magic in relation to religion, myth, Western esotericism, Gnosticism, alchemy, hermeticism, and astrology. Mostly Western rather than Eastern practices, but Bon shamanism is covered. Spans ancient and modern eras through the 20th Century. Has stronger coverage of visionary plants than most books on magic, though more coverage is needed such as in Ratsch's book "Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants", which raises the standard for covering this key subject.

I would like to see more explicit coverage of magic and myth as metaphorical double-entendres for the visionary-state phenomena. I would also like to see more extended coverage of astrological determinism and magically or supernaturally transcending it -- for example, the index lacks entries for determinism, fate, heimarmene, and astrological determinism, even though the book does have some coverage of astrological determinism.

Because of the focus on the history of esotericism, this is a superior book on magic. There is a little room for improvement in depth of profundity such as bringing together metaphor, ecstatic consciousness, transcendence, and cosmic determinism. This book is among the better treatments of the history of magic, though not outstanding in its depth of grasp; its real outstanding strength is its comprehensive scope, the author's thorough and highly developed long-term familiarity with the material, and clear presentation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Compact History of Magic and Mysticism, September 26, 2006

By 

M. J. Dirou (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans (Paperback)

This book is an essential read for any one interested not only in Witchcraft and Magic, but also in the general history of both Pagan, and Monotheistic, Esoteric Mysticism. In fact anyone expecting to learn Wiccan practices, craft or magick would be best to give this one a miss. As it is really more a loose, historical overview and exploration of the term 'Magic' (real magick that is) itself. An extremely comprehensive and well researched, compact bible of information, it links the idea of Witchcraft and Magic with philosophical, spiritual and metaphysical schools of thought in an intelligent and academic way for a change. Instead of treating it as something supernatural, evil or anti-Christian. Magick afterall, has always been greatly misunderstood and misrepresented. Magick and Witchcraft are not evil, they are in fact a kind of ancient natural science which has become forgotten in the modern world (though not lost entirely thankfully). It's only when the intent is harmful that it becomes 'evil', this can also be said about churches and religions, as well as human beings in general. In fact, there are schools of thought which actually support the theory that Jesus himself was a kind of Witch, a gifted Magician, Healer and Rabbi of the Mystical Jewish Kabbalah. Who's miracles and feats of magic were therefore seen as divine. Forget the De Vinci Code, wait'll the church gets a load of that!
Though the percentage of focus in this book is still on European influences, it still manages to cover a broard range of cultures and historic periods, spanning from the ancient world, and middle ages to the present day. Subjects include everything from Shamanism, Wicca, Alchemy and Gnosticism, to the Kabbalah, Hermetic Orders, Free Masonary and Neo-Paganism. A fascinating read and worthwhile coffee table book to have. My only minor criticism would be that at times the Author's writing style tends to be a little flowery and not always user friendly. He has a tendency to waffle a bit rather than get to the heart of the matter. Still, a very well put together book, and I congratulate Neville Dury for treating this subject with intelligence and maturity.