Beginning in the 4th century BCE, the use of the term magus became ambiguous and had a double significance. It often acquired contemptuous connation and was used to designate conjurers, sorcerers, and soothsayers (Bidez and Cumont, I, p. 174; Bickerman and Tadmor, p. 252; Papathcophances, p. 105). But the same word was also used for designating... See more

It's true that the history of civil rights campaigns and revolutionary movements of the era is tightly intertwined with the proliferation of magical societies, mystery cults, Theosophical and Swedenborgian organizations, and other occult communities. The popularity of spirituality during this time is given a diversity of explanations, from the

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He spent the early 1980s traveling as an itinerant sleight-of-hand magician through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and eventually studying with Indigenous magical practitioners, including shamans, in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Nepal. These magicians, he found, were also healers and often the primary carers in their communities, but they occupied... See more