Magus

Has proved to be the most sought after set of books on magic and alchemy ever published. Powerful work and considered so dangerous that for many years, rare copies could only be found in certain libraries, locked away from the general public and from those who would use (or misuse) its power. Original set first published in 1801. by author who spent many years of study before releasing them. Includes rare illustrations from original sources. Covers natural magic, amulets and charms, potions, precious stones, candles, alchemy, the philosophers stone, transmutation, the four elements, numbers, and the planets.

Simon Magus was originally a Christian and disciple of John the Baptist, but broke off and formed the first Christian heresy, called Simonianism. After learning magical medicine in Alexandria he was considered to have many magical skills. To this day, a skilled magician is called a "magus." He also studied Greek philosophers, especially Heraclitus, and became the first Christian to attempt to bridge Greek philosophy and Christianity. If a mixture ever occurred Church leaders feared they would become weaker over time and not survive. According to Mead, this was Simon's great heresy -- not his magic. This interesting book shows Simon Magus to have been a brilliant man who was breaking new ground, both philosophically and spiritually.

A revelatory new account of the magus—the learned magician—and his place in the intellectual, social, and cultural world of Renaissance Europe. In literary legend, Faustus is the quintessential occult personality of early modern Europe. The historical Faustus, however, was something quite different: a magus—a learned magician fully embedded in the scholarly currents and public life of the Renaissance. And he was hardly the only one. Anthony Grafton argues that the magus in sixteenth-century Europe was a distinctive intellectual type, both different from and indebted to medieval counterparts as well as contemporaries like the engineer, the artist, the Christian humanist, and the religious reformer. Alongside these better-known figures, the magus had a transformative impact on his social world. Magus details the arts and experiences of learned magicians including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Trithemius, and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Grafton explores their methods, the knowledge they produced, the services they provided, and the overlapping political and social milieus to which they aspired—often, the circles of kings and princes. During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, these erudite men anchored debates about licit and illicit magic, the divine and the diabolical, and the nature of “good” and “bad” magicians. Over time, they turned magic into a complex art, which drew on contemporary engineering as well as classical astrology, probed the limits of what was acceptable in a changing society, and promised new ways to explore the self and exploit the cosmos. Resituating the magus in the social, cultural, and intellectual order of Renaissance Europe, Grafton sheds new light on both the recesses of the learned magician’s mind and the many worlds he inhabited.

What can endure when the cost is unveiled? Trust is a commodity in short supply. Still searching for Ruben and determined not to lose hope, Donovan and Whitman combine forces once more, revealing a pattern neither anticipated. Determined to gleam information about life mages from the source, Whitman leads them deeper into hostile territory even as the Retrievers unite into an army of their own. Ruben continues to learn the joys and challenges of life magic and struggles to understand his place in the new world he is shown. The true threat of blood mages is revealed and war looms overhead even as it is battled underground. What is the cost of magic? What is the price of hope? In this conclusion, Donovan finally realizes what it means to be a Seeker — and must decide if he has the courage to bear it.

Police are called to a murder scene in Fulham. They find a dead body - but no evidence of murder...Two detectives struggle to find out the truth of the matter. But when a mysterious old man claims that the victim was killed by a Satanist, little do they realise their lives will be changed forever...The first book in the Magus trilogy. Suitable for adult readers.

Authors Confession: The Daily Agony of Theophil Magus Jazz & Blues Haiku Novel for Anna-Maria Dear Reader, In the beginning of the twenty-one century, year 2011, somewhere in the North-East of the USAs Promised Land of Loneliness, there is a dwarfish State where, more or less, the peoples life is flowing under the irrefutable conclusion of the officer from Kafkas Penal Colony: Guilt is always beyond any doubt. Yes, this is the supreme commandment. Yes, the almighty State and its Police & Justice rule everything and everyone. Human kind and Nature, as well. Personal life, family, children, alas! children; culture and religion are no more than some ridiculous ghosts of a lost free-world . . . For a genuine artist the daily life here is nothing else but an endless swamp of sadness, distress and finally, death. How could you describe such a tragic reality using the way of a classic or contemporary novel? For me - no doubt - the normal way . . . definitely is a dead end. Therefore - I used again the Haiku (yes, this is my second Haiku Novel; the first one I published in 2007 under the title: Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge - a Haiku Novel). Dear Reader, you have here almost 170 haiku composing the novel of the daily agony of Theophil Magus inside that dwarfish State of the USAs Promised Land of Loneliness. Yet, now you have something never made before in the literature worldwide: also, you have almost 170 jazz and blues masterpieces of great musicians . . . No question, I offer you almost 170 jazz and blues pieces for almost 170 haiku . . . Every haiku is ended and splendidly illustrated by a jazz or blues masterpiece, having the title and the name of the musician or band who performs it, as its displayed on youtube.com. Indeed, you click on youtube.com, listen the jazz or blues masterpiece and . . . read my haiku . . . Beyond a doubt, you will get the thrilling, you will feel your own catharsis - you will live the Daily Agony of Theophil Magus. And - one day, probably you will be free . . .

A comprehensive look at the life of Elias Ashmole, who represents the historic missing link between operative and symbolic Freemasonry • Explores the true role of occult and magical studies in the genesis of modern science • Explains the full meaning of the term magus, which Ashmole exemplified Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) was the first to record a personal account of initiation into Accepted Freemasonry. His writings help solve the debate between operative and “speculative” origins of Accepted Freemasonry, demonstrating that symbolic Freemasonry existed within the Masonic trade bodies. Ashmole was one of the leading intellectual luminaries of his time: a founding member of the Royal Society, a fellowship and later academy of natural philosophers and scientists; alchemist; astrological advisor to the king; and the creator of the world’s first public museum. While Isaac Newton regarded him as an inspiration, Ashmole has been ignored by many conventional historians. Tobias Churton’s compelling portrait of Ashmole offers a perfect illustration of the true Renaissance figure--the magus. As opposed to the alienated position of his post-Cartesian successors, the magus occupied a place at the heart of Renaissance spiritual, intellectual, and scientific life. Churton shows Ashmole to be part of the ferment of the birth of modern science, a missing link between operative and symbolic Freemasonry, and a vital transmitter of esoteric thought when the laws of science were first taking hold. He was a man who moved with facility between the powers of earth and the active symbols of heaven.

This book about receptions of Simon Magus uncovers further facets of one who was held to be the evil archetype of heretics. Ephraim Nissan and Alberto Ferreiro explore how Simon Magus has been represented in text, visual art, and music. Special attention is devoted to the late medieval Catalan painter Lluís Borrassà and the Italian librettist and musician Arrigo Boito. The tradition of Simon Magus’ demonic flight, ending in his crashing down, first appears in the patristic literature. The book situates that flight typologically across cultures. Fascinating observations emerge, as the discussion spans flight of the wicked in rabbinic texts, flight and death of King Lear’s father and a Soviet-era Buryat Buddhist monk, flight and doom of the fool in an early modern German broadsheet, and more. The book explains and moves beyond extant scholarly wisdom on how the polemic against Mani (the founder of Manichaeism) was tinged with hues of Simon Magus. The novelty of this book is that it shows that Simon Magus’ receptions teach us a great deal about the contexts in which this archetype was deployed.