Research Catalog

Title

Behind the crystal ball : magic, science, and the occult from antiquity through the New Age / Anthony Aveni.

Author

Aveni, Anthony F.

Publication

New York : Times Books, 1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 406 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• In this fascinating exploration of occult practice, Anthony Aveni takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through time and space, traveling from the ancient Tigris-Euphrates river valley to the streets of our modern-day cities. On the way, he catalogs the many ways people have used magic over the millennia in hopes of improving their lives. Consider a page from your ancestors' book of spells: For a headache, pour vinegar on your door hinges.
• For warts, wait until the twentieth day after a new moon, rub dirt on the warts while you lie in the road, and gaze up at the moon. Or, if you prefer more modern superstitions and want to be a good pitcher, be like Texas Ranger Mike Griffin and always eat bacon the day before you take to the mound.
• .
• Professor Aveni argues persuasively that we cannot separate a culture's perception of reality from its times. The ancient priests of Egypt saw the dung beetle, or scarab, as a sign of life not because they were ignorant primitives, but because they were using the available clues in the world around them to map out a greater truth. When Kabbalists sought to discover meaning through the letters in a name or an historical date, they were seeking to satisfy a very deeply held urge.
• The ancients sought the same goals we now obtain from science and religion - a clearer picture of humanity's place in the cosmos. How and why has Western thought and scientific inquiry diverged from magic?
• . At a time when crystals, channeling, faith healing, earth worship, and transcendental meditation are enjoying a renaissance, the lines between science, magic, and the occult are beginning to blur once again. Comparing Harry Houdini and scientific provocateur Richard Feynman, Professor Aveni asks, "Is magic in the eye of the beholder?"

Subjects

• Magic > History
• Occultism and science

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-389) and index.

Contents

• Introduction: Above the Ordinary -- Pt. I. Magic in Antiquity: How Magic Works and Why We Misunderstand It. Ch. 1. Middle East Exotica: Ancient Egypt and Magical Mesopotamia. Ch. 2. The Ancient Art of Hepatoscopy. Ch. 3. The Greek Paradox: Magic Confronts Science. Ch. 4. Magic in the Roman Empire. Ch. 5. The New Outcasts: The Rise of Secret Doctrines. Ch. 6. Knowledge through Number and the Word -- Pt. II. From Light to Light: Magic from the Dark Ages to the Enlightenment. Ch. 7. Pathways to Knowledge. Ch. 8. Resurrection of the Kabbalah. Ch. 9. Music of the Spheres. Ch. 10. Two Sides of the Coin of Alchemy. Ch. 11. Rise of the Clear Seer. Ch. 12. Medieval Astrology. Ch. 13. The Devil and the Proliferation of Good and Evil. Ch. 14. It's Witchcraft. Ch. 15. Summary: Who Turned on the Lights? -- Pt. III. Raising Spirits: Nineteenth-Century Occultism. Ch. 16. Rochester Rap: The First Haunted House. Ch. 17. Before Hydesville: Strange Forces, New Experiments.
• Ch. 18. "Mr. Sludge" Ch. 19. DDH to HPB: Pipelines to the Past. Ch. 20. After the Foxes: From Parlor to Stage. Ch. 21. My Body, My Map: "Bumpology" Ch. 22. Summary: A Light That Failed? -- Pt. IV. A Modern Kaleidoscope of Magic. Ch. 23. Who's a Magician?: The Houdini Legend. Ch. 24. Who's a Magician?: Trickster from Far Rockaway. Ch. 25. Magic in the Twentieth Century: What the Pollster Say. Ch. 26. Different Time, Same Channel. Ch. 27. PK Wars: Psychics vs. Physics. Ch. 28. The Personalized Magic of Healing: Mending the Cartesian Split. Ch. 29. You Are What You Eat. Ch. 30. Come Fly with Me: UFO Abductions. Ch. 31. Life After Life. Ch. 32. Crystals: Who's Scrying Now? Ch. 33. Geomancy: From Saws to Sausages. Ch. 34. Summary: On Shifting Ground -- Pt. V. God, Dick, and Harry: Magic at the Millennium. Ch. 35. Is Magic a Religion? Ch. 36. Magic and Science: J.Z. and the Ramsters Meet Arch Debunker. Ch. 37. Anthropologists Encounter the Occult.
• Ch. 38. Summary: Crossing Curvers in an Age of Interconnectedness. Epilogue: Of Bacon and Black Holes.

ISBN

0812924150

LCCN

96002592

OCLC

• 34150181
• ocm34150181

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries