An interesting free e-book which TDG readers might like to check out – Magic Archetypes:
Stage illusionists and amateur conjurors play out a mythic story, told through the deep symbolism underlying their age-old magic tricks and tools: the top hat, cups and balls, escape trunk, linking rings, white dove and rabbit, wand, handcuffs, restored ropes and papers, multiplying coins, etc. This book explores how magical props, as symbols, point beyond themselves to the larger mystery. Magic Archetypes is a picto-poetic history of magic recalling the ancient Mystery School traditions. Told by artists from the 700s – 1600s who were influenced by the iconography of even earlier ages, this history is an initiation into the deeper aspects of magic: the meaning in the art beyond clever trickery, the archetypes at play since time immemorial. The book is available for free reading online
The book is available freely online from The Magician’s Hidden Library, (along with another book, Magic Words: A Dictionary), although if you enjoy it you can also purchase a copy for your bookshelf.
