The Secret Lore of Magic by Idries Shah

››› Free download audio book. ‹‹‹ Original Title: The Secret Lore of Magic ISBN: 0712635424 ISBN13: 9780712635424 Autor: Idries Shah Rating: 4.9 of 5 stars (4269) counts Original Format: Paperback, 320 pages Download Format: PDF, DJVU, iBook, MP3. Published: April 15th 1990 / by Rider & Co / (first published January 1st 1972) Language: English Genre(s): Occult- 2 users

Description: This book aims to include the entire text of all the major grammars of sorcery with commentaries

and illustrations, providing a comprehensive survey of ritual magic, black and white magic and sorcery. The author brings together material on spells, charms, divination and magical conjuration. The book should be of interest to all students and scholars of the black arts, with its compendium of rare grimoires or source books of magical arts, containing spells, charms and methods of making powerful talismans. The author's previous books include, The Wisdom of Idiots, Oriental Magic, The Sufis, The Exploits of The Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, and The Way of The Sufis.

About Author:

Idries Shah (Persian: ), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: ), was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies. Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S. In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories. Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting

professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom. Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated". The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words – "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man." Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim

Other Editions:

- The Secret Lore of Magic: Books of the Sorcerers

- The Secret Lore of Magic

- The Secret Lore of Magic (Kindle Edition)

- The Secret Lore of Magic (Paperback)

- The Secret Lore of Magic: Books of the Sorcerers (Hardcover)

Books By Author:

- The Sufis

- The Way of the Sufi

- Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years (Compass)

- The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin

- Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin: The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin

Books In The Series: Related Books On Our Site:

Rewiews:

Aug 25, 2016 Ita Rated it: it was amazing Crazy, entertaining but repetitive, often funny, very original. These were among my first impressions of THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC. Did Shah derive all his materials (including the drawings) from old manuscripts, or did he invent some of it, I couldn’t help wondering? Perhaps, by taking liberties, he was illustrating an aspect of this literature. Magic is a field where the human imagination runs wild. For answers I turned to Wikipedia. The book was published in 1957. Since 1933 Dennis Wheatley had Crazy, entertaining but repetitive, often funny, very original. These were among my first impressions of THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC. Did Shah derive all his materials (including the drawings) from old manuscripts, or did he invent some of it, I couldn’t help wondering? Perhaps, by taking liberties, he was illustrating an aspect of this literature. Magic is a field where the human imagination runs wild. For answers I turned to Wikipedia. The book was published in 1957. Since 1933 Dennis Wheatley had been writing occult novels with titles like THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and TO THE DEVIL – A DAUGHTER. He had become one of the world’s best selling writers. Sirdar Iqbal Ali Shah, Idries Shah’s father, revealed that the reason why he and his son had published books on the subject of magic and the occult was ‘to forestall a probable popular revival or belief among a significant number of people in this nonsense’. He said that his son researched for several years before publishing his two books on magic. Later Idries Shah told PSYCHOLOGY TODAY that the main purpose of his books on the occult was to provide information. He went on to say that ‘there do seem to be forces …which do not come within customary physics or within the experience of ordinary people.’ Reading the book almost sixty years after it was first published, what struck me was that, although we rarely resort to talismans or indulge in occult rituals, magical thinking is still an acceptable and widespread method of attempting to solve problems. It is as much a part of us as walking upright on two legs, but is as hidden from us as our bones. We use it as a substitute for effort and knowledge, and in the hope that through it we will avoid pain. It determines our decisions about

going to war and can affect how we treat illness. It is evident when we use religion to seek power or wealth, or to further our own ambitions. We reinforce it when we switch on our computers and turn to social media, or type ‘curing’ in an Amazon search for books. Although we are still far from harnessing the power of Solomon’s seventy-two Spirits, the past sixty years have also seen magic being converted into knowledge. We have learned to understand and employ more effectively the power of the placebo and of hypnosis. Sufi books can be written with a main purpose but be capable, at a different time, of supplying other insights. Iqbal Ali Shah described his son’s two books on magic as important, and I wholeheartedly agree. 1 like