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Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.

This book traces the cult of the Magi through their lore: their history, art, legends, rituals, and devotions. It examines their political and social influences as well as their cultural and religious impact, showing them to be cast both as legitimisers of established power structures, and as figures who foment profoundly radical dissent. Cummins presents and weighs historical prayers to the Three Holy Kings for their mythic structures and ritual possibilities. In particular this book discusses historiolae found in these prayers - appeals to mythic actions or origins, often by imitation, fit for both devotional meditation and operative sorcery. Finally, this text collects, analyses and explores the spellcraft of the Three Wise-Men: examining the various magical operations calling on Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar found in grimoiric handbooks of magic and folk custom alike. These include workings for travelling, for conjuring spirits, for detection, for protection, for healing, and even for dominating authorities. Overall, A Book of the Magi makes a case for the veneration of the Magi as a loci and catalyst for furthering a folk necromantic practice of working with ancestral magicians. It does this by examining the history, devotion, and magic associated with the Three Kings, as well as demonstrating how components from old manuscripts can be explored and incorporated into a personal practice through awareness of context and careful ritual design. A Book of the Magi is the third volume in the Folk Necromancy in Transmission series, conceived by Alexander Cummins and Jesse Hathaway Diaz, available through Revelore Press.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.

'. . . as when iron is drawn to a magnet, camphor is sucked into hot air, crystal lights up in the Sun, sulfur and a volatile liquid are kindled by flame, an empty eggshell filled with dew is raised towards the Sun . . .' An odd feature of the Bible is that it is full of stories featuring forms of magic and possession - from Joseph battling with Pharaoh's wizards to the supernatural actions of Jesus and his disciples. As, over the following centuries, the Christian church attempted to stamp out 'deviant' practices, there was a persistent interest in magic that drew strength from this Biblical validation. A strange blend of mumbo-jumbo, fraud and deeply serious study, magic was central to the European Renaissance, fascinating many of its greatest figures. Brian Copenhaver's wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casual interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance and the tangled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.