The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots
Folk Magic in Witchcraft and Religion
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- 199,00 kr
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- 199,00 kr
Utgivarens beskrivning
• Looks at the age-old spiritual principles, folklore, and esoteric traditions behind the creation of magical objects as well as the use of numbers, colors, sigils, geometric emblems, knots, crosses, pentagrams, and other symbols
• Explores hundreds of artifacts, such as hagstones, Norse directional amulets, car hood mascots, objects made from bones and teeth, those connected with plants and animals, charms associated with gambling, and religious relics
• Includes photos of artifacts from the author’s extensive collection
Offering an illustrated exploration of the origins and history of amulets, lucky charms, talismans, and mascots, including photos of unique and original artifacts from his extensive collection, Nigel Pennick examines these objects from a magical perspective, from ancient Egypt to the present. He looks at the age-old spiritual principles, folklore, and esoteric traditions behind their creation as well as the use of numbers, colors, sigils, geometric emblems, knots, crosses, pentagrams, and other symbols.
Pennick explores magical charms and objects manufactured from bones, teeth, claws, and horns and those that include symbols of the human body. He also discusses religious relics as well as the combining of charms to make more powerful objects, from the bind runes of the Norse and the crowns of ancient Egypt to the Mojo hand and the medicine pouch.
Revealing the lasting power of amulets, talismans, charms, and mascots, Pennick shows that these objects and symbols have retained their magic across the centuries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Independent scholar Pennick (Witchcraft and Secret Societies of Rural England) delivers an informative reference on the history of Western charms, amulets, symbols, and the belief that people are "protected, assisted or healed by a benevolent influence that is inherent within the objects." Pennick keeps a European (and largely English) focus while tracing cultural attitudes toward superstition that at different periods—such as the rise of Catholicism and Protestantism—shifted perceptions of fortune and magic. Christian religious concepts from throughout Europe, he notes, became absorbed into local spiritualities of "astrologers, fortune-tellers, alchemists, magicians, and amulet makers" between the sixth and 10th centuries (and vice versa), such as British belief in the magical powers of "Irish stones," the keeping of bones as powerful relics, and the relationship between sun worship and depictions of God and Jesus as the sun. Pennick explains the origins of good-luck charms like horseshoes and rabbits' feet, as well as lucky or unlucky correspondences with certain numbers, and charts how materials such as metals, woods, and graveyard dirt were imbued with distinctive properties for protection and healing. A lengthy bibliography provides plenty of fodder for those who wish to delve deeper. Academics and magic practitioners will be enlightened by Pennick's comprehensive guide.