Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-236) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- Nature religion and underlying influences -- Connection with nature -- 'Calling to be remembered' : place, ancestors, and tradition -- Magical consciousness -- The wild hunt : a mythological language of magic -- Learning to be indigenous -- A tangled web : paradoxical elements -- Nature in the city : a globalizing postmodern world?
Summary:
(Publishers Description) "This book examines how and why practitioners of nature religion--Western witches, druids, shamans--seek to relate spiritually with nature through "magical consciousness". Greenwood develops a new theory of magical consciousness by arguing that magic ultimately has more to do with the workings of the human mind in terms of an expanded awareness than with socio-cultural explanations. She combines her own subjective insights gained from magical practice with practitioners' in-depth accounts and sustained academic theory on the process of magic. She also tracks magical consciousness in philosophy, myth, folklore and story-telling, and the hi-tech discourse of postmodernity."
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.