After identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed by a shaman or wizard, this text traces the development of the Magus through pre-Christian religious and mystic philosophers, medieval sorcerers and alchemists and the 18th and 19th century occult revival.

Nothing is overdone and not a word is out of place in this auspicious debut," wrote Kirkus in a starred review of Instead of Three Wishes, the first book by Megan Whalen Turner. Her second book more than fulfills that promise. The king's scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king's prison. The magus is interested only in the theif's abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone's guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses. Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen's stories and Gen's story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise.

The Faustus myth, before being identified as a myth, was the folktale of a man named Faustus who lived in Germany. Underneath the popularity of this myth lies the basic human instinct to trespass the limits of traditional knowledge in pursuit of self-definition, authentic knowledge and power. This search and transgression also involve the desire to exercise the right of making free authentic choices. Faustus represents universal issues that are relevant for all human beings, which explains the reason why he has acquired mythic stature. Indeed, a most persistent myth has evolved, the appeal of which has led one writer after the other to reshape it. After his story became popular, he reappeared, even in contemporary culture, in different art forms such as literature, both high-brow and popular, including comics, the ballet and the opera. The real historical Faustus came onto the scene as a scholar and persistently reappeared in literature assuming different identities which, however, shared basically the same qualities. This book demonstrates and offers different perspectives to versions of the Faustus myth in literature: Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Goethe’s Faust and John Fowles’ The Magus. The Faustus Myth is a cycle which starts and ends in tragic circumstances in Christopher Marlowe’s Renaissance Faustus, in salvation in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, and in meaninglessness, ambiguous collapses in John Fowles’ existentialist Nicholas Urfe.

Damien was a simple man, cruising on the highway of life. A goddess of temptation lures him into a deal he scoffs at. Superstition is for the foolish. Small problem: she's real, her ritual works, and Damien is magically teleported into a strange new realm. Damien awakens in Nordan, a land of myth and magic. A realm where humans battle legendary creatures for the amusement of the gods. In a war between man and myth. Damien's powers set him above the rest, a lord of life and death - enemy of all. Stranded, but not alone, will he perish, or conquer his way home?

In this vivid account, Kryiacos C Markides introduces to us the rich and intricate world of Daskalso, The Magus of Strovolos. In what appears at first to be an exercise in fantasy, we see Daskalos draw on seemingly unlimited mixture of esoteric teachings, psychology, reincarnation, demonology, cosmology and mysticism, from both eastern and western traditions. But Daskalos is first and foremost a healer, whose work is firmly rooted in a belied in 'Holyspirit' or absolute love, and whose aim is the expansion of reason and spiritual evolution.