Magic, Power, Language, Symbol: A Magician's Exploration of Linguistics

From the sigils of chaos magic to the numerical code of Qabalah, all magical practices operate in a web of symbols and language. Yet academics seldom examine the role that semiotics and linguistics play in the unfolding of magical works.

In the follow-up to his debut Postmodern Magic, Patrick Dunn returns once again to the theoretical realm of the sign, the signified, and the changeable perceptions of a slippery reality. Intellectual and aggressively modern, his language-driven perspective on magic touches on all elements voiced and written, from speaking in tongues and creating mantras to composing Enochian spells and working with gematria. A hefty appendix includes exercises that put Dunn's theories to work, as well as the first published dictionary of English alphabet numerology.

Highly literate and highly readable, Magic, Power, Language, Symbol will tickle the minds of theory-thirsty academics and seasoned mages alike, as well as anyone else eager to examine the manufacture of meaning.

Patrick Dunn (Chicago, IL) is a poet, linguist, Pagan, and a university English professor with a PhD in modern literature and language. His understanding of semiotics and the study of symbols arise from his training in linguistics and literary theory. He has practiced magic since childhood. Visit him online at https://pomomagic.wordpress.com.