Supernatural – Writings on an Unknown History

By Richard Smoley.

229 Pages | Published in 2013 | Softcover | Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin, a member of Penguin Group Inc., New York | ISBN: 9780399161827.

An illuminating journey into the history of the paranormal and how it has shaped our world.

Nostradamus . . . channeling . . . Atlantis . . . divination. Most serious people consider such topics nonsense. But look again. Writing with intellectual verve and a deeply critical mind, religious thinker Richard Smoley uses this anthology to explore and reconsider the supernatural in history and today. We are often conditioned to think of the Judeo-Christian tradition as the only valid, historically accurate, and rational spiritual philsophy. Occultism, magic, intrinsic worth. The pieces in Supernatural challenge this prejudice, illustrating that Western occult traditions are richer and more historically impactful than most of us imagine. The book reveals hidden diamonds and neglected ideas that characterize the magical tradition in the West. For any reader, at any level of experience, who has ever been curious about an arcane subject - from psychical powers to secret societies - here is a collection that delivers a complete yet precise, critical yet serious, and always respectful account of topics from the unseen world. Supernatural is a brilliant primer to the occult and magical history of the West.

From Chapter One - 'An Encounter with the Ancient Wisdom' (p. 17):

" Another British magus, Aleister Crowley, defined magic as 'the Science and Art of causing Change in conformity with will'. One could add that this 'Science and Art' involves the use of power - the 'electric' atmosphere in the room during the ritual that was so powerful as to possess a sense of danger. From even this short discussion it should be obvious that power and attention are closely related. Perhaps at some level they are identical. In any event, power is, under ordinary circumstances, fairly diffuse. It is only when the will and the attention have been trained that it can be directed in the intense, 'electric' way that a magical ritual requires. "