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Magia orientale
Il libro Magia Orientale di Idries Shah è un importante testo di ricerca, definito un grande contributo alla conoscenza della magia dal professor Louis Marin, direttore della Ecole d’Anthropologie. Il libro riporta un’indagine accurata sulle credenze esoteriche nei territori che vanno dal Nord Africa al Giappone. Dopo la sua pubblicazione nel 1956 è stato tradotto in diverse lingue con ottimi successi di vendite, ed è diventato un classico tra gli studiosi della storia e della diffusione delle idee.
Esoterismo e magia: un testo chiave sull'esoterismo orientale
Riccamente illustrato, il libro è frutto di anni di ricerca e lavoro sul campo in decine di differenti ambienti culturali. Dalla magia africana alle pratiche esoteriche dell'estremo Sol Levante questo saggio si propone come un'opera unica nel suo genere. La sua erudita accuratezza e il suo genuino contributo alla comprensione culturale di esoterismo e magia lo rendono ancora oggi un testo chiave per chiunque sia interessato alle credenze informali e alle pratiche esoteriche.
L’opera include materiale sull’alchimia e magia indiana, sul sistema arabo Abjad, sulle suggestioni divinatorie e talismaniche. Contiene anche un’antica formula magica brahmin per conseguire l’immortalità.
Esoterismo e magia: un testo chiave sull'esoterismo orientale
Riccamente illustrato, il libro è frutto di anni di ricerca e lavoro sul campo in decine di differenti ambienti culturali. Dalla magia africana alle pratiche esoteriche dell'estremo Sol Levante questo saggio si propone come un'opera unica nel suo genere. La sua erudita accuratezza e il suo genuino contributo alla comprensione culturale di esoterismo e magia lo rendono ancora oggi un testo chiave per chiunque sia interessato alle credenze informali e alle pratiche esoteriche.
L’opera include materiale sull’alchimia e magia indiana, sul sistema arabo Abjad, sulle suggestioni divinatorie e talismaniche. Contiene anche un’antica formula magica brahmin per conseguire l’immortalità.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
23 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Idries Shah
242 books423 followersIdries Shah (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي), was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.
In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.
Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.
Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words – "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."
Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim
Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.
In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.
Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.
Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words – "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."
Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 1, 2019
Sufis champion the right to know, and magic, shrouded as it has been in ignorance and secrecy, is one of the things about which we know little. Magic is connected to a wisdom, handed down through countless generations. Even though we may not want to admit it, traces still adhere to beliefs we think have superseded it. However its essence remains elusive, hidden behind obsessions, superstitions, and the beliefs of cults.
In this book Idries Shah takes us back to the magical practices of the Jews, the Babylonians, and the ancient Egyptians. Then we go on a journey east, from North Africa, through Asia to China, Tibet, and Japan. On the way we see the diverse manifestations of the occult as they occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Shah’s account is detailed, entertaining and humorous, but behind the numerous spells and alchemical formulae, he detects a little known force. He sees no reason why this force cannot be investigated scientifically, but doubts that orthodox science will undertake the task. The serious students and investigators, he concludes, will be those who believe that in magic lies vast potential use and meaning.
In this book Idries Shah takes us back to the magical practices of the Jews, the Babylonians, and the ancient Egyptians. Then we go on a journey east, from North Africa, through Asia to China, Tibet, and Japan. On the way we see the diverse manifestations of the occult as they occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Shah’s account is detailed, entertaining and humorous, but behind the numerous spells and alchemical formulae, he detects a little known force. He sees no reason why this force cannot be investigated scientifically, but doubts that orthodox science will undertake the task. The serious students and investigators, he concludes, will be those who believe that in magic lies vast potential use and meaning.
November 18, 2019
"There is, of course, a scientific explanation for this happening, but the occultist would claim that the origin of a phenomenon need not be supernatural to make it valid..."
Spicy title, but held my attention for only 4 segments : Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian, and some of the Chinese. Perhaps the original river civilizations collected more data on magic than others ?
"THE OCCULT IN BABYLONIA":
-------------------------------------
"The pure Akkadian-Mongoloid forms of magic are still preserved in the bilingual tablets of such collections as Asurbanipal's library..."
"The raising of the hand was the Babylonian's sign of the commencement of a magical or religious rite."
"Although Asurbanipal's tablets were not collected until the 7th century BC, they date back almost to the earliest days of the terrainian Mongoloid arrival in the eastern Mediterranean. The tablets are a treasure of magical lore for the king seems to have a mania for book collecting. Everything that was ever written mostly magic and books on occult matters had to be copied and brought to him... from every quarter of the kingdom."
"Each victory over an enemy was recorded, together with the spirit god with whose help it been achieved."
"The center of the earth was believed to be the place of the dead... a sort of hell where all humanity went, whether good or evil... There was little belief in reincarnation, for the name of the place was Maatalataari, the 'place of no return'. The dead lived in utter darkness, eating dust, and to this destination everyone went; there was neither reward nor punishment for deeds..."
"When a man asked Jesus to cast the evil out of a possessed person into a herd of swine, he was asking for the repetition of one of the standard methods of Semitic exorcism. The 19th formula from one of Asurbanipal's protection rites, now in the British Museum in fragment form, gives the words of this..."
"As with most occult writings, the originals in the then-dead Akkadian language, were believed to be the most potent. The actual spells and hymns are evidently recited in Akkadian, for each is accompanied by a translation in Assyrian, which was the living tongue at the time of their copy."
"...The actual words of power, the abracadabra, were the phrases Spirits of the heavens conjure, spirit of the earth conjure, which were always added, as was the word amanu - amen - translated from the Akkadian kakama, which had the same meaning of 'truth' or 'so it be' . "
EGYPTIAN MAGIC :
"...The Semites, like the Greeks. Romans. and others of the ancient world, were firmly convinced of the superiority of Egyptian magic over the thaumaturgy of other lands."
"Moses, as we learn from the Bible and the Quran, was one of Egypt's greatest foreign disciples in the practice of the art. Like the Egyptians, he used a magical staff or wand. Like them, he causes the waters to be divided. He even used some of the mystic words of power of the pharonic priesthood."
"... The Westcar Papyrus tells us the miracle identical with the reputed parting of the waters by Moses was performed by the chief priest of the day."
"Just as the Semitic word inga produced the English term magic, so one of the oldest names of the word Egypt, Kempt - dark or black - came to be translated 'black' in place of 'Egyptian' magic. Egypt of course was called 'the black' not because of the diabolicism of its magic, but from the color of its earth when flooded by Nile water."
"Illicit magic was a crime punishable by death through obligatory suicide."
"Garbled versions of rituals performed in the Valley of the Kings were taken back to the desert by Arabian Bedouins and embroidered upon until all over the Near East, Egypt was implicitly believed to be peopled by a race of sorcerers."
"Modern Egyptologists claim that the ritual magic practices of Egypt must date back to predynastic or even prehistoric times. Elliot Smith, studying this question, as an anatomist, concurs with other authorities that there was a continual ethnic drift from inner Africa to ancient Egypt."
"While it is known that the body would resurrect in another world... there are also clear indications that some of the rites were designed to revive the corpse."
"Khufu is seems was one day discussing miracles with his son... He then promised to show his father a man who could in fact perform the miracle of revivication of those who were not only dead, but... beheaded. This magician was Teta, reputed to be 110 years old. He was versed in secrets from the famed Santuary of Toth."
"... The belief in the mystic word of power was highly developed, just as magic itself was considered an art so ancient as to have no known source other than revelation by the gods."
"In the El Mamaan chain near the Red Sea is the Gebel Nakus, 'mountain of the bell.' Its rocks and pinnacles are so placed that when the wind blows from a certain direction loud whispers are heard proceeding from the rocks."
HINDUS :
---------------
"Those who ---, such as the sadhus....prepare themselves by one of the strictest and most austere disciplines recorded in human history."
"...Miracles, which I have myself seen and -- test scientifically,
"So startling are the results obtained by these sadhus that I am almost driven to the conclusion that there may be one natural law that is as yet undiscovered in the West, which enables seeming miracles to be performed by those who have tuned their minds to it."
"...I asked him if he would make a chair rise from the ground and hover in space. Knitting his eyes in concentration he extended both arms toward the largest chair on the veranda. In 10 seconds, timed with a stop-watch, the chair seemed to rise into the air, and turning slightly, actually hover in space about 5 feet up.... I approached it and pulled on the legs. It descended to the floor, but as soon as I let it go, it sailed upwards again. I asked the man if I myself could be carried upward with the chair... I sat on the seat and rose into on it... I got him to make all the furniture in the place rise... I asked him to bring flowers from a nearby garden... which all appeared."
"I asked the Hindu to describe to me the contents of the next two letters which I should receive, and he did so correctly. Next I asked him to bring to me immediately a rifle what I knew belonged to a neighbor... In the next house 5 miles away, and the gun appeared. The following morning came the owner of the rifle. He claimed that he had dreamed the previous night that I had borrowed it."
"The magician never asked for any payment or reward. I never gave him any. He came, as he said, to demonstrate the powers that come to a man who genuinely follows the path of virtue."
"The Atharva Veda is divided into 2 parts : the holy, or legitimate, as acknowledged by the Brahmins, and sorcery... The orthodox Brahmin, or high-caste priesthood, is required to know and practice its rites."
THE OCCULT ART IN CHINA :
----------------------------------
"Confucius appeared on the scene when the people of China were feeling that this form of religion - animism - was somehow in need of readjustment. His tenets were almost entirely speculative and philosophical, and he was Lao-Tse's contemporary, though his senior in age. Lao Tse, on the other hand, worked for the reconstruction of Chinese philosophy through mysticism rather than logic. As an imperial librarian, he had access to books of ancient philosophy..."
"In the case of Hindu magic... few links with European sorcery can be found, yet a Chinese wizard of the Middle Ages and his western counterpart might well have understood each other's motives and even certain rituals : willow wands and water divining spells cast through wax images, superstitions connected with builders... There may be some Semitic connection here. for most of the European magical rites are derived from such books as the Key of Solomon, the Sword of Moses, or the Two Alberts, well-known to be rooted in the Jewish Assyrian Chaldean systems. "
"...Early contact of the Arabs with China is well known. Even today, certain superstitions about not destroying paper - an item brought to Europe by the Arabs - are shared by Chinese and Arabs alike, but by no other peoples."
"...The Sui dynasty published a rare booklet in which the virtues and importance of the magic mirror are exhaustively described...Any mirror which is sufficently antique... and large enough when hung in a house is capable of detecting spirits. It should be kept covered until needed and not used for any other purpose."
"Charms are written is a strange sort of script called celestial calligraphy. While many of the characters resemble conventional Chinese ones, some of it cannot be uinterpreted by the usual methods and may be meaningless. It is interesting to note here that the Chinese method of indicating the stars and planets... are found in a number of the books of sorcerers published in Europe during the Middle Ages."
"Bells are regarded as a powerful charm... This belief in the power of bells is thought to have come from India. Certainly it was widespread in Arabia when Muhammed prohibited the superstitious ringing... which had been imported into the Hejaz from Byzantium and is still known among the Yazidi devil worshippers of Kurdistan."
"It is believed that the crowding together of many people produces a certain power of its own. This concentrated power is stronger than that of... single people..."
"Tens of thousands of charms are in active use by the Chinese."
,
Spicy title, but held my attention for only 4 segments : Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian, and some of the Chinese. Perhaps the original river civilizations collected more data on magic than others ?
"THE OCCULT IN BABYLONIA":
-------------------------------------
"The pure Akkadian-Mongoloid forms of magic are still preserved in the bilingual tablets of such collections as Asurbanipal's library..."
"The raising of the hand was the Babylonian's sign of the commencement of a magical or religious rite."
"Although Asurbanipal's tablets were not collected until the 7th century BC, they date back almost to the earliest days of the terrainian Mongoloid arrival in the eastern Mediterranean. The tablets are a treasure of magical lore for the king seems to have a mania for book collecting. Everything that was ever written mostly magic and books on occult matters had to be copied and brought to him... from every quarter of the kingdom."
"Each victory over an enemy was recorded, together with the spirit god with whose help it been achieved."
"The center of the earth was believed to be the place of the dead... a sort of hell where all humanity went, whether good or evil... There was little belief in reincarnation, for the name of the place was Maatalataari, the 'place of no return'. The dead lived in utter darkness, eating dust, and to this destination everyone went; there was neither reward nor punishment for deeds..."
"When a man asked Jesus to cast the evil out of a possessed person into a herd of swine, he was asking for the repetition of one of the standard methods of Semitic exorcism. The 19th formula from one of Asurbanipal's protection rites, now in the British Museum in fragment form, gives the words of this..."
"As with most occult writings, the originals in the then-dead Akkadian language, were believed to be the most potent. The actual spells and hymns are evidently recited in Akkadian, for each is accompanied by a translation in Assyrian, which was the living tongue at the time of their copy."
"...The actual words of power, the abracadabra, were the phrases Spirits of the heavens conjure, spirit of the earth conjure, which were always added, as was the word amanu - amen - translated from the Akkadian kakama, which had the same meaning of 'truth' or 'so it be' . "
EGYPTIAN MAGIC :
"...The Semites, like the Greeks. Romans. and others of the ancient world, were firmly convinced of the superiority of Egyptian magic over the thaumaturgy of other lands."
"Moses, as we learn from the Bible and the Quran, was one of Egypt's greatest foreign disciples in the practice of the art. Like the Egyptians, he used a magical staff or wand. Like them, he causes the waters to be divided. He even used some of the mystic words of power of the pharonic priesthood."
"... The Westcar Papyrus tells us the miracle identical with the reputed parting of the waters by Moses was performed by the chief priest of the day."
"Just as the Semitic word inga produced the English term magic, so one of the oldest names of the word Egypt, Kempt - dark or black - came to be translated 'black' in place of 'Egyptian' magic. Egypt of course was called 'the black' not because of the diabolicism of its magic, but from the color of its earth when flooded by Nile water."
"Illicit magic was a crime punishable by death through obligatory suicide."
"Garbled versions of rituals performed in the Valley of the Kings were taken back to the desert by Arabian Bedouins and embroidered upon until all over the Near East, Egypt was implicitly believed to be peopled by a race of sorcerers."
"Modern Egyptologists claim that the ritual magic practices of Egypt must date back to predynastic or even prehistoric times. Elliot Smith, studying this question, as an anatomist, concurs with other authorities that there was a continual ethnic drift from inner Africa to ancient Egypt."
"While it is known that the body would resurrect in another world... there are also clear indications that some of the rites were designed to revive the corpse."
"Khufu is seems was one day discussing miracles with his son... He then promised to show his father a man who could in fact perform the miracle of revivication of those who were not only dead, but... beheaded. This magician was Teta, reputed to be 110 years old. He was versed in secrets from the famed Santuary of Toth."
"... The belief in the mystic word of power was highly developed, just as magic itself was considered an art so ancient as to have no known source other than revelation by the gods."
"In the El Mamaan chain near the Red Sea is the Gebel Nakus, 'mountain of the bell.' Its rocks and pinnacles are so placed that when the wind blows from a certain direction loud whispers are heard proceeding from the rocks."
HINDUS :
---------------
"Those who ---, such as the sadhus....prepare themselves by one of the strictest and most austere disciplines recorded in human history."
"...Miracles, which I have myself seen and -- test scientifically,
"So startling are the results obtained by these sadhus that I am almost driven to the conclusion that there may be one natural law that is as yet undiscovered in the West, which enables seeming miracles to be performed by those who have tuned their minds to it."
"...I asked him if he would make a chair rise from the ground and hover in space. Knitting his eyes in concentration he extended both arms toward the largest chair on the veranda. In 10 seconds, timed with a stop-watch, the chair seemed to rise into the air, and turning slightly, actually hover in space about 5 feet up.... I approached it and pulled on the legs. It descended to the floor, but as soon as I let it go, it sailed upwards again. I asked the man if I myself could be carried upward with the chair... I sat on the seat and rose into on it... I got him to make all the furniture in the place rise... I asked him to bring flowers from a nearby garden... which all appeared."
"I asked the Hindu to describe to me the contents of the next two letters which I should receive, and he did so correctly. Next I asked him to bring to me immediately a rifle what I knew belonged to a neighbor... In the next house 5 miles away, and the gun appeared. The following morning came the owner of the rifle. He claimed that he had dreamed the previous night that I had borrowed it."
"The magician never asked for any payment or reward. I never gave him any. He came, as he said, to demonstrate the powers that come to a man who genuinely follows the path of virtue."
"The Atharva Veda is divided into 2 parts : the holy, or legitimate, as acknowledged by the Brahmins, and sorcery... The orthodox Brahmin, or high-caste priesthood, is required to know and practice its rites."
THE OCCULT ART IN CHINA :
----------------------------------
"Confucius appeared on the scene when the people of China were feeling that this form of religion - animism - was somehow in need of readjustment. His tenets were almost entirely speculative and philosophical, and he was Lao-Tse's contemporary, though his senior in age. Lao Tse, on the other hand, worked for the reconstruction of Chinese philosophy through mysticism rather than logic. As an imperial librarian, he had access to books of ancient philosophy..."
"In the case of Hindu magic... few links with European sorcery can be found, yet a Chinese wizard of the Middle Ages and his western counterpart might well have understood each other's motives and even certain rituals : willow wands and water divining spells cast through wax images, superstitions connected with builders... There may be some Semitic connection here. for most of the European magical rites are derived from such books as the Key of Solomon, the Sword of Moses, or the Two Alberts, well-known to be rooted in the Jewish Assyrian Chaldean systems. "
"...Early contact of the Arabs with China is well known. Even today, certain superstitions about not destroying paper - an item brought to Europe by the Arabs - are shared by Chinese and Arabs alike, but by no other peoples."
"...The Sui dynasty published a rare booklet in which the virtues and importance of the magic mirror are exhaustively described...Any mirror which is sufficently antique... and large enough when hung in a house is capable of detecting spirits. It should be kept covered until needed and not used for any other purpose."
"Charms are written is a strange sort of script called celestial calligraphy. While many of the characters resemble conventional Chinese ones, some of it cannot be uinterpreted by the usual methods and may be meaningless. It is interesting to note here that the Chinese method of indicating the stars and planets... are found in a number of the books of sorcerers published in Europe during the Middle Ages."
"Bells are regarded as a powerful charm... This belief in the power of bells is thought to have come from India. Certainly it was widespread in Arabia when Muhammed prohibited the superstitious ringing... which had been imported into the Hejaz from Byzantium and is still known among the Yazidi devil worshippers of Kurdistan."
"It is believed that the crowding together of many people produces a certain power of its own. This concentrated power is stronger than that of... single people..."
"Tens of thousands of charms are in active use by the Chinese."
,
June 2, 2019
First published over 60 years ago, Idries Shah’s Oriental Magic remains a classic. For five years Shah examined rare artifacts and obscure manuscripts, travelling to remote areas in a dozen regions where magic persists. Neither credulous or skeptical, he takes the hocus-pocus out of magical texts, beliefs & practices. Yet he deepens its mystery, maybe even its use, with some intriguing and fruitful questions. Could the startling similarity in magical belief, practice and terminology around the world hint at a single origin? Could it’s universality and persistence together with confirmed eye-witness reports point to under-recognized, extraordinary mental and physical processes worth investigating objectively? Loaded with illustrations this brand new edition is sure to intrigue a new generation of readers.
February 9, 2016
A very interesting work. The assertion that seemingly genuine magical events may be the result of practitioners from various and diverse cultures knowingly manipulating a form of energy, that is morally neutral, and has yet to be investigated in a level headed way, seems well worth considering.
The author's travels and research regarding the subject's history, cultural development and application are extensive, involving many years of study and worldwide journeys. His approach is dispassionate and professional in a way that leaves the reader pondering the possibilities of approaching the matter in a way that would more fruitful than current lines of enquiry.
The author's travels and research regarding the subject's history, cultural development and application are extensive, involving many years of study and worldwide journeys. His approach is dispassionate and professional in a way that leaves the reader pondering the possibilities of approaching the matter in a way that would more fruitful than current lines of enquiry.
May 22, 2019
MAGIC, a word like LOVE that covers a huge spectrum. One of those books that written in the past, inform the future. Magic may be the new word for science, a far cry from/form just conjuring tricks, unless one would like to say creation/the world is a conjuring trick. This book sheds light on that spectrum.
May 19, 2016
ORIENTAL MAGIC is a fascinating, clear-eyed look at a difficult and potentially confusing subject. Author Idries Shah avoids the twin pitfalls of knee-jerk skepticism and foolish credulity, approaching the topic with an open yet critical mind. He makes accessible, in a highly readable way, the results of extensive and wide-ranging research, leavened with firsthand accounts of his own experiences. The result is an instructive book that’s well worth reading, regardless of what one’s beliefs about magic may be.
February 27, 2016
Hypnosis, that today is both an accepted fact and a useful technique, comes direct from magic. Are there, in this relatively unexplored territory, more things we can learn that can be useful for us? Shah wants us to approach and study magic from a scientific perspective. Do we do that, half a century after the book was first published?
Science replaced abracadabra when we from alchemy got chemistry. For not so long ago, theories of atoms were looked upon as fantasies, out of touch with reality. Now we know: there are atoms, electrically charged and we have learned to harness electricity for human service and it´s nothing supernatural about it. Likewise, possibly some of the hokus-pokus in magic, could be exchanged for knowledge.
I learned from the book that “for centuries, perhaps thousands of years, magic flowed slowly but powerfully through the human race” and that most religions forbade/forbid it, perhaps according to the doctrine “like repels alike”. Oriental Magic is immensely interesting and full of facts, many of which were gathered by the author himself on his travels around the world. It has an academic tone and contains notes and a bibliography useful for further studies.
Science replaced abracadabra when we from alchemy got chemistry. For not so long ago, theories of atoms were looked upon as fantasies, out of touch with reality. Now we know: there are atoms, electrically charged and we have learned to harness electricity for human service and it´s nothing supernatural about it. Likewise, possibly some of the hokus-pokus in magic, could be exchanged for knowledge.
I learned from the book that “for centuries, perhaps thousands of years, magic flowed slowly but powerfully through the human race” and that most religions forbade/forbid it, perhaps according to the doctrine “like repels alike”. Oriental Magic is immensely interesting and full of facts, many of which were gathered by the author himself on his travels around the world. It has an academic tone and contains notes and a bibliography useful for further studies.
June 25, 2010
Despite the apparent differences between peoples the world over in terms of levels of 'sophistication' and other cultural indices, the NY or London banker and the Amazonian pygmy are in most respects pretty much identical, as we all share a common collective unconscious and this is the subterranean stream - repressed in the West (good title for a book lol) but on the surface in 'primitive' and fairly recent Western societies - that magic taps into.
Idries Shah was the doyen of the subject, a respected and pioneering anthropologist, and this is a good introduction. Magic is just like drilling to a common bedrock of oil, an oily continent vaster than we can possibly imagine, a shared humanity. Which of course is why Western and Eastern magic and mythology intersect at so many points, and share many things with the ancients' belief systems, and why Schopenhauer's philosophy pushed the bouundaries so far that he merged it in with Eastern, especially Hindu, thought and created a synthesis.
Idries Shah was the doyen of the subject, a respected and pioneering anthropologist, and this is a good introduction. Magic is just like drilling to a common bedrock of oil, an oily continent vaster than we can possibly imagine, a shared humanity. Which of course is why Western and Eastern magic and mythology intersect at so many points, and share many things with the ancients' belief systems, and why Schopenhauer's philosophy pushed the bouundaries so far that he merged it in with Eastern, especially Hindu, thought and created a synthesis.
March 15, 2016
A fascinating account of Asiatic and African magical practices, drawing on the author's several years of travel in these regions studying the subject. It's a dispassionate, sensitive inquiry into the topic, grounded on wide experience and seemingly very extensive information. While the writer seems well aware of hoaxes, he also touches on the possibility that certain effects in magic may obey laws not yet fully articulated in Western-based science.
This book seems indispensable for any serious study of magic: not least because of the author's attitude, which seems to evade facile credulity, cultish enthusiasm, and unimaginative skepticism in favour of this more constructive posture: critical, yet open to possibilities.
This is a new edition, published in January 2016 by ISF Publishing.
This book seems indispensable for any serious study of magic: not least because of the author's attitude, which seems to evade facile credulity, cultish enthusiasm, and unimaginative skepticism in favour of this more constructive posture: critical, yet open to possibilities.
This is a new edition, published in January 2016 by ISF Publishing.
September 12, 2017
This new edition is a delight, beautifully produced, very readable layout and handling. And the content is extraordinary. Evidence is presented for the spread of magic rituals from Mongolia throughout most of the world. Magical practices are looked at in contemporary usage as well as historical. The relation to religion is explored. For me one of the most interesting chapters is on Tibet where two very different traditions are contrasted, orthodox Lamaism and Bonism. Evidence is presented of some very strange happenings as well as misunderstanding and fraud. And we are given six formulae for creating alchemical gold. What more could you want?
January 22, 2023
De particular/parcial interés para conocer un poco mejor, desde una perspectiva curiosa o antropológica, el mundo de la magia y su interconexión quasi-universal. Parte de su valor estriba en su originalidad cuando fue editado (1956), lo que lo ha convertido en un clásico con aires de antigualla.
Idries Shah, autor relevante para el estudio del sufismo, escribió una gran cantidad de libros de gran erudición acerca de fenómenos tales como la magia,la alquimia, el misticismo o la espiritualidad. Fue uno de los primeros autores no-occidentales en acercarse a estos fenómenos desde una posición respetuosa pero con ánimo científico. Casi científico, en realidad.
El problema es que el libro está lleno de altibajos. Fragmentos descriptivos de gran interés se asocian a otros de carácter etnológico muy cercanos al pensamiento de Eliade. Pero otros tantos dan pábulo a la maguferia más simplista o se extienden en rituales de escaso interés. Además, el contenido se ha quedado anticuado en ciertos aspectos.
Mucho más recomendable, aun cuando diferente en temática, es la historia de la filosofía oculta de Alexandrian.
Idries Shah, autor relevante para el estudio del sufismo, escribió una gran cantidad de libros de gran erudición acerca de fenómenos tales como la magia,la alquimia, el misticismo o la espiritualidad. Fue uno de los primeros autores no-occidentales en acercarse a estos fenómenos desde una posición respetuosa pero con ánimo científico. Casi científico, en realidad.
El problema es que el libro está lleno de altibajos. Fragmentos descriptivos de gran interés se asocian a otros de carácter etnológico muy cercanos al pensamiento de Eliade. Pero otros tantos dan pábulo a la maguferia más simplista o se extienden en rituales de escaso interés. Además, el contenido se ha quedado anticuado en ciertos aspectos.
Mucho más recomendable, aun cuando diferente en temática, es la historia de la filosofía oculta de Alexandrian.
February 11, 2017
One aspect of this book could well be summed up by the photograph at the very front. It depicts a house decoration in Northern Sudan where the star and crescent motif, - being both Islamic and Byzantine,- is supported by ancient Egyptian and African magical designs. This idea of the amalgamation and persistence of belief and ritual is an interesting one and reminds me of two excellent monographs, Nos. 31 & 32, on magic and ritual at Publications/Monograph Archive of the- [now dormant] website of the Institute for Cultural Research [[http://www.i-c-r.org.uk/]].) They can still be downloaded for free.
September 27, 2008
I think I was looking for more of a history book about the evolution of Asian religion and thought, focusing on some of the darker or more 'pagan' Asian religions. This book touched on some of that, but did not go too in depth.
April 16, 2019
This early Idries Shah book seems like an experiment, yet it is also full of information and knowledge about magic from the Ancient Egyptians to China. One clear lesson built into its text: magic is not for everyone, maybe not even many magicians.
May 2, 2020
Lots of stuff on Sufis that I presume were his original thoughts that turned into his later book on The Sufis. Some interesting stuff on Chinese and Japanese magic.
June 12, 2020
It was not as informative as I had hoped it would be, although I did like the story about the Three Stolen Hearts and the part about whispers heard among sand dunes.
November 25, 2024
Shah did a good job outlining the different lineages of magic and highlights the similarities among them. These include Egyptian, Persian, Jewish, African, Indian, Chinese and Japanese magical traditions. These similarities are not only in their objectives (romance, fertility, curses, divination, etc.) but also in their general methods: potions, words of power, communication with spirits, use of effigies, etc. He also places hypnotism and faith healing into this category.
Shah personally visited several of these locations and spoke with these practitioners and studied what they were doing. He draws the conclusion that the reason there are global similarities is that there must be common points of origin to them and have been corrupted or degenerated into its current various forms. Shah outlines a theory that essentially Babylon and Siberia were two centers of magic which then splintered and interacted in different forms in different cultures. This makes sense, either a common culture or that the entities being interacted with are similar across cultures.
Shah personally visited several of these locations and spoke with these practitioners and studied what they were doing. He draws the conclusion that the reason there are global similarities is that there must be common points of origin to them and have been corrupted or degenerated into its current various forms. Shah outlines a theory that essentially Babylon and Siberia were two centers of magic which then splintered and interacted in different forms in different cultures. This makes sense, either a common culture or that the entities being interacted with are similar across cultures.
February 28, 2016
Sufis champion the right to know, and magic, shrouded as it has been in ignorance and secrecy, is one of the things about which we know little. Magic is connected to a wisdom, handed down through countless generations. Even though we may not want to admit it, traces still adhere to beliefs we think have superseded it. However its essence remains elusive, hidden behind obsessions, superstitions, and the beliefs of cults.
In this book Idries Shah takes us back to the magical practices of the Jews, the Babylonians, and the ancient Egyptians. Then we go on a journey east, from North Africa, through Asia to China, Tibet, and Japan. On the way we see the diverse manifestations of the occult as they occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Shah’s account is detailed, entertaining and humorous, but behind the numerous spells and alchemical formulae, he detects a little known force. He sees no reason why this force cannot be investigated scientifically, but doubts that orthodox science will undertake the task. The serious students and investigators, he concludes, will be those who believe that in magic lies vast potential use and meaning.
In this book Idries Shah takes us back to the magical practices of the Jews, the Babylonians, and the ancient Egyptians. Then we go on a journey east, from North Africa, through Asia to China, Tibet, and Japan. On the way we see the diverse manifestations of the occult as they occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Shah’s account is detailed, entertaining and humorous, but behind the numerous spells and alchemical formulae, he detects a little known force. He sees no reason why this force cannot be investigated scientifically, but doubts that orthodox science will undertake the task. The serious students and investigators, he concludes, will be those who believe that in magic lies vast potential use and meaning.
January 31, 2018
An early (1956) work by Shah, examining the occult beliefs in a range of countries, with particular emphasis on the similarities between them. In common with Destination Mecca, Oriental Magic portrays Sufism from the outside, largely from a western viewpoint, although one chapter, 'The Fakirs And Their Doctrine' is devoted to its visible history and some organisational aspects. The bibliography also lists a number of classical Sufi texts at a time when they would be virtually unknown in the west.
Much of the book is a laying-bare of some of the rituals, invocations and curses used in different places, presented in a prosaic manner. Those familiar with Shah's later work may find the story of the alchemist, told by Morag Murray Abdullah, to be more familiar teritory.
Much of the book is a laying-bare of some of the rituals, invocations and curses used in different places, presented in a prosaic manner. Those familiar with Shah's later work may find the story of the alchemist, told by Morag Murray Abdullah, to be more familiar teritory.
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