Coleston Brown—scholar and expert on the esoteric Christian traditions—reaches far beyond any other book of its genre to bring us a truly experiential form of Christianity. Drawing on the myths, legends, lore, and symbols inherent in the Christian tradition, Brown reveals the potential in all of us to use, as he does, Magical Christianity as a practice for healing and regenerating the spirit. Brown combines the insights he gained as a student under Gareth Knight, a renowned authority on Kabbalistic magic, with his own study of ancient texts and practice of the esoteric Christian tradition, developing this new work, the official text and formal course of training in what is now known as the Western Magical Tradition. Readers will be captivated by the symbols Brown covers in this book, including the sphere, the holy fire, the wheel of life, and the planes of being. He even details the magical power of sacred architecture rich in the Christian tradition as a basis for magical practice. This revised edition also includes an experiential meditation at the end of each chapter and a CD of guided meditations to bring readers more deeply into the transformative power of Christian symbolism.

Magical Christianity is a means of bringing about spiritual transformation. It refers to both a mystical transfiguration of the soul, and an active participation in the mediation of Divine Love, Power, and Wisdom to little suspected "inner" aspects of Creation. Contact with such inner realities is achieved through the imaginative use of symbolic material -- images, legends, myths, rites, and ceremonies. This fascinating and insightful study of Christian magical lore focuses on the mystical significance of seven key archetypes: The Sphere, The Axis, The Holy Fire, The Center, The Wheel of Life, The Three Worlds, and The Planes of Being.

This comprehensive anthology examines contemporary neo-paganism ranging from goddess theology to historical-critical essays. Many of the contributors are academically trained neo-pagans, and the resulting volume is a benchmark study of a significant movement that promises to reshape the religious landscape of the next century.

It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.

The world of Jesus and the early Christians swarmed with prophets and exorcists, holy men and healers, who invoked angels and demons, gods and ghosts. Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics explores that world through the surviving texts of the first Christians and their pagan and Jewish contemporaries. Ecstatic spirit possession, handing opponents over to Satan, sending demons into swine, striking others dead on the spot by pronouncing curses, using articles of clothing and parts of corpses to perform magical healing and exorcism, invoking ghosts and angels for protection-these are all ancient Christian practices described in the New Testament, explained in detail by early Christian writers, and preserved by Christian amulets. Pagans and Jews accused Jesus and his followers of practicing magic and Christians accused one another of sorcery. Both pagan and early orthodox writers describe the rituals of the Gnostic sects in detail, including the magical passwords required to cross through the gates of the lower heavens. Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics examines evidence from the New Testament, the first Christian apologists, early apocryphal works, curse tablets and amulets to reconstruct the apocalyptic magical world of Jesus and the first Christians.

Provides an overview of neo-paganism from the Goddess to magic and rituals, from history and ethics to the relationship of neo-paganism to Christianity.

During the Middle Ages, many occult rituals and beliefs existed and were practiced alongside those officially sanctioned by the church. While educated clergy condemned some of these as magic, many of these practices involved religious language, rituals, or objects. For instance, charms recited to cure illnesses invoked God and the saints, and love spells used consecrated substances such as the Eucharist. Magic and Religion in Medieval England explores the entanglement of magical practices and the clergy during the Middle Ages, uncovering how churchmen decided which of these practices to deem acceptable and examining the ways they persuaded others to adopt their views. Covering the period from 1215 to the Reformation, Catherine Rider traces the change in the church’s attitude to vernacular forms of magic. She shows how this period brought the clergy more closely into contact with unofficial religious practices than ever before, and how this proximity prompted them to draw up precise guidelines on distinguishing magic from legitimate religion. Revealing the necessity of improving clerical education and the pastoral care of the laity, Magic and Religion in Medieval England provides a fascinating picture of religious life during this period.