Resumen
Resumen de Magia moderna
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Para quién es
This book suits readers who enjoy ghost stories with names and dates attached, curious case histories, and the Victorian habit of weighing marvels against medicine, religion and common sense.
De qué trata este libro
What happens when a frightened king, in disguise, asks a witch to call up a dead prophet? The scene at Endor opens the second chapter of Modern Magic, and it sets the tone for the whole book. The author treats it as a real event of the mind.
M. Schele de Vere was a professor at the University of Virginia. He published this work in New York in 1873. In ten chapters he gathers tales of witchcraft, dreams, ghosts, mesmerism, faith healing and mysticism. His aim is to find the grain of truth hidden inside a heap of rubbish. You get a tour of how earlier generations explained the unseen, with his sharp eye for fraud.
En este resumen
- 1Witch trials grew from fear and learned menFree
- 2Magic is old, and its tools are only props
- 3Dreams may carry knowledge the waking mind lacks
- 4Visions grow from the body and the mind together
- 5Ghosts appear where the living expect them
- 6Divination is the mind seeing beyond space and time
- 7Possession looks like disease of mind and body
- 8Mesmerism shows the will acting across a gap
- 9Faith lies behind every miraculous cure
- 10Mystics push body and spirit to their limits
Idea clave 1 de 10
Witch trials grew from fear and learned men
The book opens with the madness of witch hunting. Schele de Vere blames the judges and theologians more than the poor women who died. A papal bull of 1484 and a handbook of judges called the Malleus gave the hunt its rules.
He lists the cruelties. Accused women were tortured until they confessed. A numb spot on the skin proved guilt, and so did the lack of one, since the Devil supposedly left his trusted servants unmarked. Floating in water counted as proof too.
Yet he will not call it all invention. He thinks the witches' sabbath came from trances brought on by herbs and narcotic salves. Patients who tried such ointments slept for hours and woke sure they had flown to a feast. In Sweden in 1669 a nervous illness at Mora led to the execution of dozens of women and children.
Panic needs no real witches, only frightened judges and a belief that spreads.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 110,600 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 45 min
Questions about Magia moderna
What is Modern Magic by Schele de Vere about?
It is a collection of ten essays on witchcraft, magic, dreams, visions, ghosts, divination, possession, mesmerism, faith healing and mysticism. The author gathers case histories and asks what they show about the powers of the human mind and soul.
When was Modern Magic written and is it a true account?
It was published in New York in 1873. The author draws on histories, doctors' reports, travelers and letters, and names his sources. He separates fraud and delusion from cases he thinks remain unexplained, but readers should weigh each story themselves.
What is the main message of Modern Magic?
The author argues that people have mental and spiritual powers beyond ordinary senses, and that these deserve calm scientific study. He asks readers neither to scoff at strange phenomena nor to accept every tale, but to look for the grain of truth.
Who are the famous people in Modern Magic?
Many appear, including Luther, Melanchthon, Kant, Goethe, Napoleon, Josephine, the medium Daniel Home, Mesmer, Saint Francis Xavier and Filippo Neri. Each is used as a witness or example in a particular case.
Is Modern Magic easy to read?
It is built from short, self-contained stories with names, places and dates. Each chapter has one theme, so you can read it in order or dip into dreams, ghosts or mesmerism on their own.
Cite this edition
Schele de Vere, M. Modern Magic. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/modern-magic.
Schele de Vere, M. (2026). Modern magic. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/modern-magic (Original work published 1873)
Schele de Vere, M. Modern Magic. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/modern-magic.
@book{scheledevere2026modern,
author = {Schele de Vere, M.},
title = {Modern Magic},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/modern-magic},
note = {First published 1873}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Magia moderna, free
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