Stealing Fire from Heaven by Nevill Drury

Stealing Fire from Heaven by Nevill Drury

Despite the dramatic expansion of modern technology, which defines and dominates many aspects of contemporary life and thought, the Western magical traditions are currently undergoing an international resurgence. How can we account for this widespread interest in ancient magical belief systems? In historical terms, Gnosticism and the Hermetica, the medieval Kabbalah, Tarot and Alchemy, and more recently, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, collectively laid the basis for the modern magical revival, which first began to gather momentum in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. Modern Western magic has since become increasingly eclectic, drawing on such diverse sources as classical Greco-Roman mythology, Celtic cosmology, Kundalini yoga and Tantra, shamanism, chaos theory, and the various spiritual traditions associated in many different cultures with the Universal Goddess. In this overview of the modern occult revival, Nevill Drury traces the rise of various forms of magical belief and practice, from the influential Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to the emergence of Wicca and Goddess worship as expressions of contemporary feminine spirituality. He also explores Chaos Magick and the occult practices of the so-called Left-Hand Path, as well as twenty-first-century magical forays into cyberspace. Drury believes that the rise of modern Western magic stems essentially from the quest for personal spiritual transformation and the direct experience of the sacred--a quest which the trance occultist and visionary artist Austin Osman Spare once referred to as "stealing fire from heaven." Considered in this light, modern Western magic can be regarded as a form of alternative spirituality in which the practitioners seek direct engagement with the mythic realm.

Drury is a skilled word craftsman, making his prose a pleasure to readThe many years he has spent researching this field are reflected in his masterly analysis, with information presented in a flowing, yet systematic fashion. I expect Stealing Fire from Heaven will immediately be recognized as filling an important gap in the literature. * James R. Lewis, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Tromso, Norway *

Ph.D. University of Newcastle, Australia; award-winning author of several books on the occult

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199751006
ISBN 10	0199751005
Title	Stealing Fire from Heaven
Author	Nevill Drury
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2011-03-10
Number of pages	376
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable