Author: Allegra Iafrate Publisher: Penn State Press ISBN: 0271085339 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 173
Book Description
This book explores a series of powerful artifacts associated with King Solomon via legendary or extracanonical textual sources. Tracing their cultural resonance throughout history, art historian Allegra Iafrate delivers exciting insights into these objects and interrogates the ways in which magic manifests itself at a material level. Each chapter focuses on a different Solomonic object: a ring used to control demons; a mysterious set of bottles that constrain evil forces; an endless knot or seal with similar properties; the shamir, known for its supernatural ability to cut through stone; and a flying carpet that can bring the sitter anywhere he desires. Taken together, these chapters constitute a study on the reception of the figure of Solomon, but they are also cultural biographies of these magical objects and their inherent aesthetic, morphological, and technical qualities. Thought-provoking and engaging, Iafrate’s study shows how ancient magic artifacts live on in our imagination, in items such as Sauron’s ring of power, Aladdin’s lamp, and the magic carpet. It will appeal to historians of art, religion, folklore, and literature.
Author: Scott Cunningham Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide ISBN: 9780875421858 Category : Crafts & Hobbies Languages : en Pages : 220
Book Description
Spell Crafts Take a look at your hands. See them as wondrous vehicles of power. Feel the energy that flows through everything you do. Tap into that power! Carve a symbol, dip a candle, mix fragrant herbs, sculpt clay, and make your life all that you want it to be. When crafts are used to create objects intended for ritual or to symbolize the divine, the connection between the craftsperson and divinity grows more intense. This second edition of "Spell Crafts, the much-loved and oft-read guide to magical handwork, features new illustrations and a new preface by David Harrington. Learn how to create and use all of the following: - magical simmering potpourris - a beaded psychic mandala - clay pentacles, plaques, and runic dice - a shaman''''s arrow - sand paintings - Corn Mother - a magical spell broom - protective hex sign - Witch bottles - flower garlands - spell banner - magic mirror - prosperity trivet - wheat weaving
Author: Mindy MacLeod Publisher: Boydell Press ISBN: 9781843832058 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
A fresh examination of one of the most contentious issues in runic scholarship - magical or not? The runic alphabet, in use for well over a thousand years, was employed by various Germanic groups in a variety of ways, including, inevitably, for superstitious and magical rites. Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto small items that could be carried for good luck; runic charms were carved on metal or wooden amulets to ensure peace or prosperity. There are invocations and allusions to pagan and Christian gods and heroes, to spirits of disease, and even to potential lovers. Few such texts are completely unique to Germanic society, and in fact, most of the runic amulets considered in this book show wide-ranging parallels from a variety of European cultures. The question ofwhether runes were magical or not has divided scholarship in the area. Early criticism embraced fantastic notions of runic magic - leading not just to a healthy scepticism, but in some cases to a complete denial of any magical element whatsoever in the runic inscriptions. This book seeks to re-evaulate the whole question of runic sorcery, attested to not only in the medieval Norse literature dealing with runes but primarily in the fascinating magical texts of the runic inscriptions themselves. Dr MINDY MCLEOD teaches in the Department of Linguistics, Deakin University, Melbourne; Dr BERNARD MEES teaches in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne.
Author: Harry Eilenstein Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand ISBN: 3753492396 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 66
Book Description
Magical items are mostly familiar from fantasy novels and fantasy movies, but they also exist "in real life." However, these real magic items are different from those that appear in the realm of fantasy. They are gateways to certain qualities, spirits, and deities, but not items that give a person a power they could not otherwise obtain. Such magical objects include talismans, magic rings, magic wands, voodoo dolls, and the spiritus familiaris (a self-made spirit), as well as statues, temples, sweat lodges, haunted houses, pyramids, power places, crop circles, and homeopathic globules. These magical objects are neither indispensable (you can achieve everything without them) nor useless (they can help with many things) - they are tools that can facilitate many things in magic.
Author: Adam Parker Publisher: Oxbow Books ISBN: 1785708821 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 419
Book Description
This second volume in the new TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology series seeks to push the research agendas of materiality and lived experience further into the study of Roman magic, a field that has, until recently, lacked object-focused analysis. Building on the pioneering studies in Boschung and Bremmer's (2015) Materiality of Magic, the editors of the present volume have collected contributions that showcase the value of richly-detailed, context-specific explorations of the magical practices of the Roman world. By concentrating primarily on the Imperial period and the western provinces, the various contributions demonstrate very clearly the exceptional range of influences and possibilities open to individuals who sought to use magical rituals to affect their lives in these specific contexts – something that would have been largely impossible in earlier periods of antiquity. Contributions are presented from a range of museum professionals, commercial archaeologists, university academics and postgraduate students, making a compelling case for strengthening lines of communication between these related areas of expertise.
Author: George Schindler Publisher: Scarborough House ISBN: 1461660432 Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
Magic with Everyday Objects is an easy-to-follow how-to manual for novice magicians or those interested in picking up a few easy tricks to entertain at a moment's notice.
Author: Avinash C. Kak Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1118581202 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 504
Book Description
Here is a book that takes the sting out of learning object-oriented design patterns! Using vignettes from the fictional world of Harry Potter, author Avinash C. Kak provides a refreshing alternative to the typically abstract and dry object-oriented design literature. Designing with Objects is unique. It explains design patterns using the short-story medium instead of sterile examples. It is the third volume in a trilogy by Avinash C. Kak, following Programming with Objects (Wiley, 2003) and Scripting with Objects (Wiley, 2008). Designing with Objects confronts how difficult it is for students to learn complex patterns based on conventional scenarios that they may not be able to relate to. In contrast, it shows that stories from the fictional world of Harry Potter provide highly relatable and engaging models. After explaining core notions in a pattern and its typical use in real-world applications, each chapter shows how a pattern can be mapped to a Harry Potter story. The next step is an explanation of the pattern through its Java implementation. The following patterns appear in three sections: Abstract Factory, Builder, Factory Method, Prototype, and Singleton; Adapter, Bridge, Composite, Decorator, Facade, Flyweight, and Proxy; and the Chain of Responsibility, Command, Interpreter, Iterator, Mediator, Memento, Observer, State, Strategy, Template Method, and Visitor. For readers’ use, Java code for each pattern is included in the book’s companion website. All code examples in the book are available for download on a companion website with resources for readers and instructors. A refreshing alternative to the abstract and dry explanations of the object-oriented design patterns in much of the existing literature on the subject. In 24 chapters, Designing with Objects explains well-known design patterns by relating them to stories from the fictional Harry Potter series
Author: Laurel Kendall Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520420691 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 251
Book Description
Statues, paintings, and masks—like the bodies of shamans and spirit mediums—give material form and presence to otherwise invisible entities, and sometimes these objects are understood to be enlivened, agentive on their own terms. This book explores how magical images are expected to work with the shamans and spirit mediums who tend and use them in contemporary South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bali, and elsewhere in Asia. It considers how such things are fabricated, marketed, cared for, disposed of, and sometimes transformed into art-market commodities and museum artifacts.
Author: Allegra Iafrate
Author: Elmar Schenkel
Author: Scott Cunningham
Author: Mindy MacLeod
Author: Genese Grill
Author: Harry Eilenstein
Author: Adam Parker
Author: George Schindler
Author: Avinash C. Kak
Author: Laurel Kendall