title: Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft
author: James R. Lewis
description: This much-needed collection of investigative essays, many from scholarly members of the Pagan community, clears the clouds of misconception surrounding Neo-Pagan culture. Here is inside information on the worldview, rituals, history and renaissance of practices predating the most popular current religions by thousands of years. Written in an intelligent and credible manner by authors who comprehend Paganism as a way of life rather than a distant mythology.
zlib_text: WIZARDS
  FROM MERLIN TO FAUST
  BY DAVID AND LESLEY McINTEE
  ILLUSTRATED BY MARK STACEY
  
  CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION
  THE ORIGINAL WIZARDS
  DEDI 
   HERMES THRICE GREAT 
   SIMON MAGUS
  WIZARDS OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM
  VIRGIL 
   GEBER
  THE WIZARD OF CAMELOT
  MERLIN
  WIZARDS OF THE EAST
  ZHANG GUO LAO 
   THE NAMELESS WIZARD
  WIZARDS OF THE RENAISSANCE
  NICOLAS FLAMEL 
   BENVENUTO CELLINI
  THE GOLDEN AGE WIZARDS
  FRANCIS STEWART, 5TH EARL OF BOTHWELL 
   DR JOHN DEE
  (AND EDWARD KELLEY) 
   JOHANN GEORG FAUST
  WIZARDS TODAY
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
  INTRODUCTION
  A belief in magic has always existed. In the earliest societies, shamans tried
  to establish control over nature in order to help their communities survive.
  Some tried to propitiate the gods, starting religions, while others tried to
  replicate natural effects. The shaman was believed to maintain the balance
  between man and nature, to travel to other realms, and to transform himself
  into animal form.
  As civilization developed, the purpose of magic changed. It became an
  expressi