Magic

It was the belief of Europe during the Middle Ages, that our globe was the centre of the universe.
The earth, itself fixed and immovable, was encompassed by ten heavens successively encircling one another, and all of these except the highest in constant rotation about their centre.

"PUT A SPELL ON YOU CAUSE YOU'RE MINE" Those are the words of the great bluesman Screamin' Jay Hawkins, who was years ahead of Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and a multitude of Heavy Metal bands seeking to embrace - and sometimes exploit - a bit of the macabre in their musical persona, including various aspects of occultism, from "Satanism" to Voodoo to Hoodoo. As a rock enthusiast, I truly admire Screamin' Jay, for he was genuinely authentic and an original - no doubt reinforced by a real visit to the infamous "crossroads" sometime in his life.

Did you ever notice that there are some people who seem to always come out ahead in life? You know the ones...they are always at the right time and place to get the very best of everything. They get the best jobs, make a lot of money, are super attractive to the opposite sex, and they make it look so easy. What makes these people especially irritating is that it seems as if they don't try at all for these things that life just tosses everything that they desire right into their laps.

This book is for the student who seeks to illuminate his intelligence by the Torch of his own divinity. Let him whose quest is the gratification of a selfish intellectualism beware its pages, for this is a book of hidden mystery and power. Therefore let the mind be pure that it may invite the approach of the Pilgrim Soul and come into a new realization of God's Omnipotence and Justice.

"The Pearl of Great Price," as written by Bonus of Ferrara, and edited by Janus Lacinius. In the first place, it is one of the earliest works printed on alchemy, and the original is a very beautiful specimen of typography. Concerning the latter point, it is only necessary to say that it was issued from the press of Aldus, appearing in 1546.

The art of telling fortunes by cards, known professionally as Cartomancy, has been practiced for centuries. In our day and generation divination by cards is chiefly employed for amusement and pastime, for the entertainment of one's self or one's company, or at church fairs, charity bazars, and the like; but in the days of the ancients it was practiced by prophets and sibyls as a serious business, and so accepted by all, from king to peasant.

Of Assyriology it may truly be written, "day unto day uttereth knowledge." There is probably no section of the science of comparative mythology of which, till recently, less has been known, or of which, at present, more authentic materials remain, than the subject of "Chaldean Magic: its Origin and Development."