Cassandra Eason has written several books on different aspects of magic; in the Encyclopedia of Magic and Ancient Wisdom she draws together a range of esoteric subjects--some 88 in all--in a well-illustrated volume.The wide scope of the book can be seen in the titles of its six parts: Essential Wisdom; Traditions, Myths and Folklore; Magical, Mystical and Otherworldly Beings; Nature Magic and Mystery; Wisdom from Other Cultures, Other Lands; and Psychic Powers and Strange Phenomena. Each contains entries on individual topics as varied as the Tarot, Fairies, Leylines and Telepathy. All classification systems are essentially arbitrary, but it seems strange, for example, that Candle Magic is included under Essential Wisdom, while Alchemy is listed under Traditions, Myths and Folklore along with Dice Divination and Tea Leaf Reading.
This book is really a selected compendium rather than an encyclopaedia; it is closer in style, content and pictorial appeal to Francis X. King's Encyclopedia of Mind, Magic & Mysteries than to more scholarly works such as Richard Cavendish's Encyclopedia of the Unexplained or Rosemary Ellen Guiley's Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience. Nevertheless, the Encyclopedia of Magic and Ancient Wisdom provides an attractively presented basic introduction to a good spread of esoteric topics, its Suggested Reading List providing a starting point to more detailed studies. --David V. Barrett
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