This innovative history of popular magical mentalities in nineteenth-century England explores the dynamic ways in which the magical imagination helped people to adjust to urban life. Previous studies of modern popular magical practices and supernatural beliefs have largely neglected the urban experience. Karl Bell, however, shows that the magical imagination was a key cultural resource which granted an empowering sense of plebeian agency in the nineteenth-century urban environment. Rather than portraying magical beliefs and practices as a mere enclave of anachronistic 'tradition' and the fantastical as simply an escapist refuge from the real, he reveals magic's adaptive and transformative qualities and the ways in which it helped ordinary people navigate, adapt to and resist aspects of modern urbanization. Drawing on perspectives from cultural anthropology, sociology, folklore and urban studies, this is a major contribution to our understanding of modern popular magic and the lived experience of modernization and urbanization.

The knowledge and use of magical images was once a closely guarded secret of initiates and adepts in the Mystery Schools. Gareth Knight gives easy-to-follow classifications of the various kinds of magical image, along with instructions for their use as agents of self realisation and spiritual service. Indispensible for beginners and advanced practitioners alike, this book presents the theory and techniques of creative visualisation and meditation. These practical teachings range from the circulation of force within the aura for the purpose of balancing the personality to the development of a full magical system of pathworking, enabling deep contact with inner sources of wisdom. Now in its third edition, a new section is included on the magical images of the Tarot, plus an extensive chapter on Qabalistic pathworking in the Western Mystery Tradition.

Imagination is our inner vision, our human skill to see different realities. It can take us to the throne of God, it can connect us to the stream of infinity and allow us to see the universe for what it really is. Controlled use of the imagination is fundamental to magical practice, and this comprehensive study by an experienced practitioner provides the keys to understanding and using these powerful inner techniques. Based on Nick Farrell's previous book Magical Pathworking, this greatly revised and expanded edition includes new chapters which further develop the techniques of pathworking for magical and spiritual purposes. It covers group work, divination, visiting other inner world dimensions and working towards what Farrell calls objective pathworking. "Even if you think you know all about visualisation, pathworking and the magical key of imagination - even if you teach the subjects - this book will astound you. Nick Farrell explores magical imagination with depth and discernment, revealing principles and methods that will enrich and transform your magical and spiritual practice. Quite simply, this book is the best of its kind and extends the magical use of imagination to new heights and insights. It is an essential book for all magicians, Pagans and anyone who works with the inner realms." - Peregrin Wildoak, author of By Names and Images.

In the English Renaissance, poetry was imagined to inspire moral behaviour in its readers, but the efficacy of poetry was also linked to 'conjuration,' the theologically dangerous practice of invoking spirits with words. Magical Imaginations explores how major writers of the period – including Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare – negotiated this troubling link between poetry and magic in their attempts to transform readers and audiences with the power of art. Through analyses of texts ranging from sermons and theological treatises to medical tracts and legal documents, Genevieve Guenther sheds new light on magic as a cultural practice in early modern England. She demonstrates that magic was a highly pragmatic, even cynical endeavor infiltrating unexpected spheres – including Elizabethan taxation policy and Jacobean political philosophy. With this new understanding of early modern magic, and a fresh context for compelling readings of classic literary works, Magical Imaginations reveals the central importance of magic to English literary history.

A historical and interpretive study of three aspects of Western esotericism from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.