Behind the Crystal Ball: Magic, Science, and the Occult from Antiquity Through the New Age

Front Cover
University Press of Colorado, 2002 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 361 pages
In this fascinating exploration of occult practice, Anthony Aveni takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through time and space to unveil the many ways people have used magic over the millennia in hopes of improving their lives. As Aveni persuasively argues, the ancients sought what we now search for through science and religion - a clearer picture of humanity's place in the cosmos.

Contents

MAGIC IN ANTIQUITY
9
FROM LIGHT TO LIGHT
63
RAISING SPIRITS NINETEENTHCENTURY OCCULTISM
129
Rochester Rap The First Haunted House
131
Before Hydesville Strange Forces New Experiments
141
Mr Sludge
154
DDH to HPB Pipelines to the Past
164
After the Foxes From Parlor to Stage
173
The Personalized Magic of Healing Mending the Cartesian Split
230
You Are What You Eat
238
Come Fly with Me UFO Abductions
242
Life After Life
250
Crystals Whos Scrying Now?
253
Geomancy From Saws to Sausages
257
Summary On Shifting Ground
264
GOD DICK AND HARRY MAGIC AT THE MILLENNIUM
267

My Body My Map Bumpology
182
Summary A Light That Failed?
193
PART
194
A MODERN KALEIDOSCOPE OF MAGIC
199
Whos a Magician? The Houdini Legend
201
Whos a Magician? Trickster from Far Rockaway
207
Magic in the Twentieth Century What the Pollsters Say
213
Different Time Same Channel
219
PK Wars Psychics vs Physics
223
Is Magic a Religion?
269
Magic and Science J Z and the Ramsters Meet Arch Debunker
275
Anthropologists Encounter the Occult
284
Summary Crossing Curves in an Age of Interconnectedness
297
Of Bacon and Black Holes
305
Notes
309
Bibliography
333
Index
347
Copyright

About the author (2002)

Anthony Aveni is the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropolgy, and Native Amerifan Studies at Colgate University. He has researched and written about Maya Astronomy for more than four decades. He was named a U.S. National Professor of the year and has been awarded the H.B. Nicholson Medal for Excellence in Research in Mesoamerican Studies by Harvard's Peabody Museum.

Bibliographic information

TitleBehind the Crystal Ball: Magic, Science, and the Occult from Antiquity Through the New Age
AuthorAnthony F. Aveni
Edition2, illustrated, revised
PublisherUniversity Press of Colorado, 2002
ISBN0870816713, 9780870816710
Length361 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Body, Mind & Spirit / General
Body, Mind & Spirit / Magick Studies
Body, Mind & Spirit / Mysticism
Body, Mind & Spirit / Occultism
Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan