Table of Contents
The Magic of Mixing Drinks 6
How to Use This Book 8
Tools & Tricks 11
Ancient Arcana 27
I Order & Chaos
Thoth: The Ancient Egyptian God of Magic and Wisdom 30
II Gate of the Gods
Ancient Horoscopes: The Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa 32
III Queen of the Night
Hecate: Goddess of Darkness, Magic and Crossroads 34
IV Thyself Known
The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi 36
V I Conjure You
Artemis and Ephesia Grammata 38
VI Death by Desire
The Mystery Cult of Dionysus 40
VII Love & Strife
The Four Elements of Empedocles 42
VIII Améthystos
Mocktail: Amethyst Against Drunkenness 44
IX Oak & Mistletoe
Magic of the Ancient Druid Forest 46
X As If by Magic
Abracadabra 48
Dark Arts in the Dark Ages 51
XI Temple of Sin
Harran: Paganism in the Ancient City of the Moon 54
XII The Last Druid
Merlin: The Highland Seer of Scotland 56
XIII Riding the Night
The Canon Episcopi and the Pagan Goddess Diana 58
XIV Leeches' Milk Punch
Magic and Medicine: Bald's Leechbook 60
XV The Wise Sot
Drinking with Saturn: The Astrological Talismans of Picatrix 62
XVI Bloodless Bezoar
Magical Balls of Indigestible Matter 64
XVII As Above, So Below
Mocktail: Secretum Secretorum 66
XVIII Magnum Opus
Nicolas Flamel and the Philosophers' Stone 68
XIX Divine Intervention
The Consecrating Oil of Abramelin the Mage 70
XX Hunting the Lyon Greene
George Ripley and the Elixir of Life 72
Renaissance Magic 75
XXI The Witches' Cradle
The Wrath of the Burning Times 78
XXII Black Sabbath
Bubbling Cauldrons and Flying Ointments 80
XXIII Vice & Virtue
Mocktail: The Corpus Hermeticum 82
XXIV The Devil's Daughter
Mother Shipton's Petrifying Well 84
XXV Garden of Mandragora
Devil's Apple: The Mandrake and Sympathetic Magic 86
XXVI Prima Materia
Paracelus: The Alchemist's Grand Arcanum 88
XXVII Love & Beauty
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: The Occult Feminist 90
XXVIII Soothsayer Sour
Nostradamus' Magical Jams 92
XXIX Smoking Mirrors
John Dee and the Aztec Obsidian Mirror 94
XXX Vessel of Demons
The Lesser Key of Solomon 96
An Enchanted World 99
XXXI Shang Dragon
Dragon Bones: Divination in Ancient China 102
XXXII Maya Old-Fashioned
Sacred Astrology in Ancient Mesoamerica 104
XXXIII Voodoo That You Do
Vodún: The Spirits of West Africa 106
XXXIV Mana'o Mana
Polynesian Kaitiakitanga: Guarding the Magic of Nature 108
XXXV El Chicha Dios
Inca Empire: Divination and the Sacred Chicha 110
XXXVI One Who Knows
Shamanism: Flying Spirits of Siberia 112
XXXVII Navajo Sour
Mocktail: Diné Cosmology and Nature's Magic 114
XXXVIII River Child
Japanese Yokai and the Supernatural Water Spirit 116
XXXIX Ganachakra
Tantra of India: Inner Alchemy and Sex Magic 118
XL Against Envy
Brujería and the Black Masses of Mexico 120
The Occult Revival 123
XLI Force of Gravity
Isaac Newton: Science and Alchemy 126
XLII Do What Thou Wilt
Secret Societies: The Hellfire Club 128
XLIII Major Arcana
Grand Etteilla: Tarot and Cartomancy 130
XLIV The Magnetizer
The Animal Magnetism of Fran: Anton Mesmer 132
XLV Led by Iolo
The Equinox and the Druid Revival 134
XLVI Quack's Sazerac
From Magical Elixirs to the Birth of Classic Cocktails 136
XLVII Hail Marie
New Orleans' Voodoo Queen 138
XLVIII The Great Pretender
A Golden Age of Stage Magic 140
XLIX Cabaret of Nothingness
Mocktail: Forbidden Fruit: Satanism in the Belle Époque 142
L Devil's Disciple
Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World 144
Recipes: Elixirs, Infusions, Syrups, &c 147
Further Reading & Index 156
About the Authors & Acknowledgements 158