What is Magic?

Publisher Marketing: Magic is a spiritual path which is not very well understood in our society. This is because the theory and practice of magic have never before been explained clearly and convincingly, in a way that makes sense to intelligent and thoughtful people. Written in a sassy, irreverent style, What is Magic? discusses how such otherworldly concepts as demons, casting spells, and bewitching are just the hidden underside of everyday society - the skeletons in everybody's closet. What is Magic? answers the questions which all serious spiritual seekers, no matter what their spiritual path, ask at one time or another, but can never find satisfactorily answered: 1) What is the difference between faith and fooling yourself? 2) What is the relationship between altered states and normal, everyday life? 3) If you lose your desires, as many spiritual paths advocate, what zest or spice does life have left? 4) If the world is an illusion or dream, as it's said to be, then why does it seem so real? 5) Where does the world of magic - the shaman's world - take off from the world of everyday life? What and where is the interface? 6) Why is it so difficult to achieve real, permanent spiritual growth? Contents: Spirits, Intent, The Nature of Reality, Spells, Charms & Rituals, Science Debunked, Demons, The Nature of the Self, Bewitching, Magic & Money, Death, Black Magicians & Vampires, Power Places, The Magician's God, Magical Time, Magic and Morality, Dreaming & Stalking, Magic and Sex. "Bob is daring, willing to be offensive with his truths, and wise in the ways of words and magic. ... Bob Makransky, I feel, has written a great treatise on magic. I urge you to enjoy it as much as I have." from the foreword by Michael Peter Langevin, publisher of Magical Blend magazine. Contributor Bio:  Makransky, Bob Bob Makransky is a systems analyst, computer programmer, and professional astrologer. For the past 38 years he has lived on a farm in highland Guatemala, where he is a Mayan priest and is head of the local blueberry growers' association. Bob became interested in magic at Micky Russo's Spiritualist Church in San Francisco in the 60's, but it wasn't until twenty years later that he began channeling spirits himself. He moved to Guatemala in the early 70's and started a farm which operates on principles akin to Rudolf Steiner's Biodynamics, but with a Mayan slant. He became involved with local Mayan priests because of Mayan calendar software he had written, which they had adopted; and he was given a ritual to invoke Mayan spirits himself. He studied Mayan astrology and shamanism and performed ceremonies with his teacher, don Abel Yat Saquib, until don Abel's death in 2009.