The Nature of Magic - Softcover

Greenwood, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845200950 ISBN 13: 9781845200954

Publisher: Berg Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

This book examines how and why practitioners of nature religion - Western witches, druids, shamans - seek to relate spiritually with nature through 'magical consciousness'. 'Magic' and 'consciousness' are concepts that are often fraught with prejudice and ambiguity respectively. Greenwood develops a new theory of magical consciousness by arguing that magic ultimately has more to do with the workings of the human mind in terms of an expanded awareness than with socio-cultural explanations. She combines her own subjective insights gained from magical practice with practitioners' in-depth accounts and sustained academic theory on the process of magic. She also tracks magical consciousness in philosophy, myth, folklore, story-telling, and the hi-tech discourse of postmodernity, and asks important questions concerning nature religion's environmental credentials, such as whether it as inherently ecological as many of its practitioners claim.

About this title

About the Author:

Susan Greenwood is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sussex.

Review:

'The Nature of Magic 'reflects increased confidence, maturation of thought, and the ongoing development of sophisticated and nuanced theoretical frameworks that enable [Greenwood] to successfully tackle the challenge of writing academically about magic without simply dismissing, ridiculing, or explaining it away as so many other scholars have done'The Pomegranate review by Nikki Bado-Frelick, Iowa State University'This is a timely and original contribution to our understanding of magical thought in post-modern Western civilization. Greenwood's in-depth study of her subject, combined with thorough field research, has enabled her to perceive connections not previously made, and to construct a comprehensive and ambitious theory of magic.'Roy Willis, Emeritus Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.'Most work on contemporary Western shamans and magicians is either uncomprehending dismissal or uncritical celebration. In this work, Greenwood shows again that she is one of the ver

About this edition

• Publisher: Berg Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1845200950
• ISBN 13: 9781845200954
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256