The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present by Chris Gosden

Gosden defines Magic as emphasising “human connections with the universe, so that people are open to the workings of the universe and the universe is responsive to us. Magic is related to, but different from, the other two great strands of history, religion and science: the former focuses on god or gods, the latter a distanced understanding of physical reality.” This book is about all kinds of human-cosmos connections throughout human history. 

When I started reading this book, I had a narrow idea of magic: a hat and a rabbit, a magic wand, curses and haunted houses. The history of magic has opened my eyes to a much bigger spectrum of what can constitute magic. From ideas about the sky and stars, unexplained natural phenomena and unseen phenomena to myths and shamans, human emotions and perceptions, death and the dead. 

One thing I really liked about the history of magic is the concept of the triple helix: magic, religion, and science. Three apparently separate worldviews, which are actually connected and which Gosden uses as a framework of enquiry. Throughout the book religious and scientific knowledge is explored looking for their magical origins and or aspects. 

Drawing on archaeological, geological and historical records, Gosden relates the history of magic starting from thousands of years ago in the palaeolithic noting the meaning of everyday objects, cave paintings and burials. Then one of my favourite chapters, Mesopotamia and Egypt, including civilisations like Sumer and Babylon. The we get chapters for China, the Eurasian Steppe, Europe, the Jewish, the Greek and the Romans, and so much more, until the present day, where we find characters like Aleister Crowly, Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle. At the end of the book there is a short section about the sentience of matter, which I found very interesting.

Much has been discovered about these people's fascination with the stars, calendars, astrology—including the zodiac and horoscopes—and their beliefs about the dead. For so many cultures the dead are actually part of our societies. So for example, carrying with you the skull of a loved dead one would make a lot of sense. Myths and gods have a very tangible influence on our daily lives too. They do not belong to the supernatural but to our world. For ancient people and some modern too, there is no separation between the material world and the other world, whatever that is. We are all connected, we are all part of the same cosmos. 

I do not think I grasped everything this book had to give. I guess there is too much detail given about some sub-topics or historical periods I do not find interesting. I had to turn my brain on and off every now and then. Regardless this is a very good book. Recommend.