The Afflicted Mirror. A Study of Ordeals and the Making of Compacts.
Richmond Vista, CA: Three Hands Press, 2013. "Special" deluxe edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 172pp. Full turquoise leather with gilt stamped lettering to spine and device to upper board, raised bands and gilt embellishments to spine, b&w illustrations, marbled endpapers, ribbon marker. This deluxe "Special edition" is limited to 66 hand-numbered copies. (NOTE, while it is stated in the colophon that this edition included a slipcase, it was not published with one due to high production costs). A groundbreaking work, "The Afflicted Mirror", is based on a research paper presented at the 1996 AAA, Anthropology of Religion inaugural conference in Kansas, offers an original phenomenological model in which Hamilton-Giles unites such diverse spiritual states as the mysticism of the Seer, the religious ecstasy of the Saint, and the spirit-conjurations of the sorcerer. Providing insight on the magician's actuated relationship with spirits and Gods, "The Afflicted Mirror" is an examination of a topic often overlooked by scholars. A shared feature of genuine magical practice and religious experience is the impression of 'Otherness', an arena of alienation and unfamiliarity. Contrasted with the more comfortable and known spheres of the Self, this 'state apart' provides not only inspiration and wonder, it is the dwelling-place of the gods and the prime source of gnosis, direct experience with the divine. This copy "as new" thus in Fine condition. (No dust jacket or slipcase issued). Item #64145
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