DAILY PHOTO: Wat Phramahathat Rajbovoravihane, Luang Prabang
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BOOKS: “Magic: A Very Short Introduction” by Owen Davies
Magic: A Very Short Introduction by Owen DaviesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – OUP
The first thing that a potential reader should be aware of is that this book isn’t about stage magic or sleight of hand, and that form of magic — in which all parties are aware that techniques are being used to exploit perceptual limitations so as to create the illusion of a supernatural occurrence — doesn’t even really come up as an aside. This book is about magic that (at least some) people believe is a demonstration of actual supernatural happenings in the world.
The book looks at the topic largely from a historical viewpoint; though special emphasis is given to the relationship between religion and magic, in both its congruous and adversarial aspects. That said, for the most part, it’s not arranged historically but rather topically. It does have one chapter on historical perspectives (ch. 3) and one that addresses the ways and degrees to which magical thinking still exists in the modern world (ch. 6.) But it also has chapters on the anthropology of magic (ch.1,) the shifting landscape of thinking about what magic actually is (given that it’s clearly something to many people but isn’t likely the actual exploitation of loopholes in the laws governing the physical world that believers feel it to be — ch. 3,) the role of language in magic (ch. 4,) and the practices of magic (ch. 5.)
The book does focus heavily on the Abrahamic world (Judeo-Christian-Islamic) and its Janus-faced relation to magic over time, but not exclusively so. It brings in African, Chinese, Caribbean, and Native American traditions here and there as well.
I found this book interesting and thought-provoking and would highly recommend it for anyone looking to gain a better insight into how humanity has thought about magic over time and how those beliefs have aligned – or conflicted with – religious beliefs and practices.
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“The Taxi” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]
When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of
the night?
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Coiled [Haiku]
neck coiled,
egret hovers stock still
to snap up a fish.
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PROMPT: Family Traditions
Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.
The Festivus Day Airing of Grievances.
Arbor Day Eve’s Trimming of the Shrubbery.
Goat Wrangling on the Third Thursday of September.
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DAILY PHOTO: St. Luke’s Church, Bangalore
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“Humoresque” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]
"Heaven bless the babe," they said.
"What queer books she must have read!"
(Love, by whom I was beguiled,
Grant I may not bear a child!)
"Little does she guess today
What the world may be," they say.
(Snow, drift deep and cover
Till the spring my murdered lover!)
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DAILY PHOTO: Luang Prabang High Speed Rail Station
Image
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Silent Autumn [Haiku]
PROMPT: Leisure Time
That’s trickier than it seems. I quite enjoy reading and many forms of bodily movement activities (e.g. swimming, yoga, taiji, qigong, exercise, etc.,) but I’d count them more as personal development activities than leisure activities. (Even something as seemingly non-purposeful as juggling.) I sometimes watch TV / movies, but I don’t know that I’d say I enjoy that so much as find it an opportunity to zone out.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 