Behind the crystal ball. Magic, science, and the occult from antiquity through the new age revised edition

University Press of Colorado 2002. Paperback, 361 p. Very good shape. Titles on science and spirituality are usually targeted at readers interested in new scientific paradigms. This informative but stacked-deck history of science and magic (the latter a discipline that Aveni defines broadly enough to include kundalini yoga), however, presupposes a readership that embraces a scientific-materialistic worldview that sees little or no sense in the pursuit of so-called magical practices. Aveni, who teaches astronomy and anthropology at Colgate, seems eager to understand the motives of the magically inclined, but his tone can be condescending or flippant ("the seeming mumbo-jumbo magic of Kabbalism"). He offers a whirlwind tour that covers, among other matters, the complicated cures of the ancients, the rise of alchemy in medieval times, 19th-century occultism and New Age phenomena from channeling to UFO abductions to near-death experiences. His reach is so broad that he fails to cover any one subject in significant depth, meanwhile exhibiting a lack of scale and discrimination?for instance, by following up a mention of a modern-day innovation like magnet-therapy with a discussion of the venerable practice of tai chi. Aveni does a solid job of explaining the basic principles of magic (e.g., that like cures like), and he ultimately concludes that, to its practitioners, magic is an expression of deeply held religious beliefs. In his wonderful book Conversing with the Planets, Aveni sensitively explored astronomy's roots in astrology; that sensitivity is sorely lacking here.
Reviewed by Rita Rippetoe (University of Nevada-Reno)
Published on H-PCAACA (December, 1998)

In Behind the Crystal Ball, Dr. Aveni, who is a professor of astronomy, attempts an overview of magical thinking in the Western world, from Babylon to modern times. His premise is that, despite the advances of science, magical thinking endures, changing its manifestations as it adapts to the world views of the larger society. Magic envisions a world in which seemingly unrelated items are connected, in which the human mind is not separate from or unable to affect the material world.

Aveni's survey concentrates on the Western world and is fairly comprehensive, from the ancient forms of divination such as hepatoscopy (reading livers of animal sacrifices) to astrology, palmistry and New Age channeling. Magical practices touched on include Kabbalah, alchemy, table rapping, witchcraft, and crystal healing. In addition, attention is given to tenuously related phenomenon: UFO sightings, meditation, alternative healing, and the personalities and accomplishments of escape artist Harry Houdini and Nobel winning physicist Richard Feynman. Aveni concludes that the methodological curves of science and magic may be converging, as science takes on questions of ultimate meaning: the why as well as the how of the universe.

Behind the Crystal Ball contains a potpourri of interesting facts and ideas. F