In Defense of Magic the Meaning and Use of Symbol and Rite (1930) (Paperback)

Magic and ritual are here considered from a new angle, not as folklore anthropology, superstition, or abnormal psychology, but as a perfectly natural means of human expression: an attempt to control and heighten the emotions which are to man as true and as necessary as the intellect. Contents: Irrational truth; Technique of the Magician; Primitive rites; The Grail. Mediaeval magician; Hindu ritual. Vedanta and Raja Yoga. Taoism.; Conversion. Keats and Tolstoi; Yeats. Modern magic; Behaviorism; Psychoanalysis; Education and magic; Theater; The ultimate symbol; Notes.