Occult Mind , livre ebook

265

pages

English

Ebooks

2010

Écrit par
I. Lehrich Christopher

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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265

pages

English

Ebooks

2010

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 décembre 2010

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801460548

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

"Given the historical orientation of philosophy, is it unreasonable to suggest a wider cast of the net into the deep waters of magic? By encountering magical thought as theory, we come to a new understanding of a thought that looks back at us from a funhouse mirror."-from The Occult Mind Divination, like many critical modes, involves reading signs, and magic, more generally, can be seen as a kind of criticism that takes the universe-seen and unseen, known and unknowable-as its text. In The Occult Mind, Christopher I. Lehrich explores the history of magic in Western thought, suggesting a bold new understanding of the claims made about the power of various belief systems.In closely interlinked essays on such disparate topics as ley lines, the Tarot, the Corpus Hermeticum, writing and ritual in magical practice, and early attempts to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, Lehrich treats magic and its parts as an intellectual object that requires interpretive zeal on the part of readers/observers. Drawing illuminating parallels between the practice of magic and more recent interpretive systems-structuralism, deconstruction, semiotics-Lehrich deftly suggests that the specter of magic haunts all such attempts to grasp the character of knowledge.Offering a radical new approach to the nature and value of occult thought, Lehrich's brilliantly conceived and executed book posits magic as a mode of theory that is intrinsically subversive of normative conceptions of reason and truth. In elucidating the deep parallels between occult thought and academic discourse, Lehrich demonstrates that sixteenth-century occult philosophy often touched on issues that have become central to philosophical discourse only in the past fifty years.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 décembre 2010

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801460548

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

the occult mind

TheOccultMind

m a g ic i n t h e ory a n d p r a c t ice

christopheri.lehrich

cornell university press ithaca and london

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2007 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lehrich, Christopher I. The occult mind : magic in theory and practice / Christopher I. Lehrich. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4538-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Magic. 2. Occultism. I. Title.

BF1611.L435 2007

133.4'3—dc22

2006036025

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood ﬁbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

For Sarah, who puts magic in my life

c o n t e n t s y

List of Illustrations

Preface

1 Ægypt

2 The Ley of the Land

3 The Theater of Hieroglyphs

4 The Magic Museum

5 Tarocco and Fugue

6 De(mon)construction

Notes

Bibliography

Index

132

158

183

223

239

i l l u s t r a t i o n s y

1 The main hall of the museum at the Collegio Romano

2 Hieroglyphs and their alphabetic derivations

3 Egyptian hieroglyphics translated by Athanasius Kircher

4 Fanciful origins of Chinese characters

5 Occult chains linking the sciences

6 Classiﬁcation from the musical ennead scale

7 Kircher’s music-making ark

8 The Egyptian labyrinth

9 Tarot card of the Hermit, c. 1690

10 Tarot card of the Hermit, c. 1910

101

107

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136

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