The Shaman and the Magician: Journeys Between the Worlds

‘We require domains of mystery; we need to know where the sacred aspects of life may be found and how to understand the intuitive, infinite and profoundly meaningful visionary moments which arise in all of us at different times!

So writes Nevill Drury in this exploration into the importance of both the traditional shaman and the contemporary mystical magician in the unfolding of human consciousness. Shamans are the healers and high priests of aboriginal cultures world-wide, and, the author argues, the spiritual order they have bequeathed is mirrored in our own Western mystery traditions and schools of magic, long driven underground but still with us. In The Shaman and the Magician, a follow-up to his popular earlier work Don Juan, Mescalito and Modern Magic, Drury explores the parallels between traditional shamanism and contemporary western occultism - worlds where visions are revered and integrated into the daily round instead of being rejected, as happens all too often today.

Nevill Drury PhD is an independent historical researcher whose specialist interests include modern Western magic, shamanism, transpersonal psychology and visionary art. His most recent publications include The Varieties of Magical Experience (co-authored with Lynne Hume; Praeger, January 2013), Dark Spirits: The Magical Art of Rosaleen Norton and Austin Osman Spare (Salamander, 2012); Stealing Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Modern Western Magic (Oxford University Press 2011); Homage to Pan (Creation Oneiros 2009), The Dictionary of Magic (Watkins 2005) and The New Age: the History of a Movement (Thames & Hudson 2004). He received his Ph.D from the University of Newcastle in 2008 for a dissertation on the visionary art and magical beliefs of Rosaleen Norton (awarded 'Best Humanities Ph.D'. in that year). Born in England in 1947 but resident in Australia since 1963, Nevill has worked as an international art-book publisher, lecturer and magazine editor and is now a full-time writer. He is the author/co-author/editor of seventy books covering a range of subjects like contemporary art (Images in Contemporary Australian Painting, New Sculpture, Australian Painting Now, Fire and Shadow: Spirituality in Contemporary Australian Art), Aboriginal culture (Wisdom from the Earth), holistic health (The Healing Power, Inner Health) and the magical traditions (Dark Spirits; Stealing Fire from Heaven: Sacred Encounters; Homage to Pan, Inner Visions). He is also the author of a work of mythic fiction, The Shaman's Quest, which was described by Publisher's Weekly as a 'poetic' book that 'could become a classic'. His work has been published in 26 countries and 19 languages.