Take back the magic, p.23
Take Back the Magic, page 23
[74] Darkness has become synonymous in our culture with ignorance and evil: Clark Strand’s book Waking Up to the Dark: The Black Madonna’s Gospel for an Age of Extinction and Collapse (Monkfish, 2022) explores our modern addiction to light and its catastrophic implications for our souls. The most comprehensive book about the Black Madonna is Ean Begg’s seminal The Cult of the Black Virgin (Arkana, 1996).
[88] the whole story of civilization is nothing but a tale of woe: Many books have documented the catastrophic effects of agriculture. Among the most accessible are the works of Jared Diamond, especially Gun, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Norton, 2017). Ishmael (Bantam, 2009), a speculative work of fiction by Daniel Quinn, may be one of the most influential novels about the role of our species on this planet and all that has gone wrong since we abandoned our hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
[106] “On ka ka kabi sa ma ei sowa ka”: Jizo Bodhisattva is most prominent in Japanese Buddhism. The name Jizo means “earth womb,” which may explain why this bodhisattva-saint is often invoked in praying to the dead. A comprehensive article can be found at https://tricycle.org/magazine/who-is-jizo/.
[110] I read a book about dirt once: Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth (Norton, 2007), by William Bryant Logan, transformed my understanding of the world around me. Grounded in science, yet lyrical and intimate, this beautiful book offers a wise and informative meditation on one of the most misunderstood and essential of all natural substances.
[111] It was all about abortion rituals in Japan: William R. LaFleur wrote Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan (Princeton University Press, 1994) to explore the differences between the conversations about abortion in North America and modern Japan, a culture that, by contrast, offers its women a spiritual understanding of this important choice.
[117] Time itself is stranger than we know: Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious (Anomalist Books, 2018) by Eric Wargo is a fascinating exploration of precognition, hypothesizing that what seem to be intimations of the future may in fact be “memories” of our own experiences. If all time is happening simultaneously, posits Wargo, we may have access not just to the past but also the future. Wargo offers a wealth of well-documented stories of ordinary people’s extraordinary prophetic experiences.
[144] I pulled out Animal Speak, a guide on totemic wisdom: The one book I recommend to everyone who comes to study the ancestors with me is Ted Andrews’s Animal Speak (Llewellyn, 2002). An accomplished naturalist, Andrews amassed a broad knowledge of how animals were regarded symbolically and spiritually around the world. He offers detailed descriptions of the animals’ habits and their iconic meanings, allowing readers to tap into their own intuitive sense of what is being communicated to them from the natural world.
[183] I began reading that book about Kali worship in: June McDaniel’s fascinating exploration of devotion to the goddess in West Bengal, Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls (Oxford University Press, 2004) is a treasure trove of information about the animistic practices of those still devoted to Kali.
[195] retelling of Shakespeare’s plays, including The Winter’s Tale: The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s later, “difficult” plays that melds the tragedies of Othello with the pastoral comedy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the deep romantic magic of The Tempest.
King Leontes becomes inexplicably jealous of his wife Hermione, convinced she has been unfaithful with his best friend. In a murderous rage he condemns both the queen and his infant daughter to death. Hermione’s friend rescues the baby and hides her away on a faraway island, where the young girl is raised by peasants unaware of her royal birth. They name the child they have found “Perdita,” which means “the lost one.”
Sixteen years pass and Leontes has come to regret the insanity that led him to destroy his family. Perdita, now a young shepherdess, has fallen in love with Florizel, a prince seemingly way above her station. Perdita and Florizel run away together and arrive in Sicily, the kingdom ruled by Leontes.
Florizel turns out to be the son of Leontes’s best friend, someone he had accused of betraying him. Leontes recognizes his daughter, who looks so much like her mother. Perdita is now deemed a suitable bride for Prince Florizel, and the old friends are reunited. As the play concludes, Hermione’s friend Paulina reveals a newly completed statue of Hermione. Everyone, especially Leontes, remarks at how beautiful and realistic the statue looks—and the statue comes to life. The mother has returned, and all is well again with the world.
Many Shakespearean scholars have wondered about where the famous playwright stood in relation to the religious upheavals of his day. As a boy Shakespeare experienced the dissolution of the Catholic Church in England—the primary manifestation of which was the suppression of devotion to the Virgin Mary. Her sacred shrines were decommissioned, and her many statues destroyed. Yet many remained devoted to their ancient mother surreptitiously. Perhaps Shakespeare’s sonnets to the Dark Lady were really for her, the lost Black Madonnas of England. Perhaps this later play was an ode to her return.
Advance Praise for
Take Back the Magic
“I have never read a book that creates a rapport with the dead with such skill and ease. What becomes clear early on in this wonderful book is that Perdita is a rare woman who has found a way to reside comfortably in the world of the living and the dead. This truly is a must-read book.”
—Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
and Intimate Conversations with the Divine
“What I love about this book is the warm, practical, spirited way Perdita explores the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Hers is a wisdom devoid of preachiness, quickened by curiosity, overflowing with love. Beautifully written, luminous, and earthy, Take Back the Magic makes conversations with the unseen world feel obvious, accessible, and our best hope for thriving amid the turmoil of the current age.”
—Mirabai Starr, author of Caravan of No Despair
and Wild Mercy
“In Take Back the Magic, Perdita creates a portable threshold through which you can access the Otherworld and the long history of your soul. Part memoir, part field guide to the other side, this page-turning book will dilate your awareness of the unseen world and help you recognize the helpful presence of your ancestors in your life. Through her own life stories of astonishing synchronicities, karmic connections, and communication with the dead, Perdita shows us how extraordinary all our lives truly are—and how healing is at the root of deep time.”
—Asia Suler, author of Mirrors in the Earth:
Reflections on Self-Healing from the Living World
“Perdita Finn’s startling, exquisitely written memoir invites us to rethink our relationships with the dead and the invisible world that they inhabit. I picked up Take Back the Magic as a die-hard agnostic regarding ghosts, spirits, and posthumous communication with the dearly departed. Finn’s intelligence and integrity opened my eyes to the possibility that I’ve been mistaken. This book is a memento mori for the thinking classes, revelatory, poignant, and lucidly observed. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in the mysteries of life and death, and what happens after we leave this world.”
—Mark Matousek, author of Lessons from an American Stoic:
How Emerson Can Change Your Life
“Perdita Finn is a masterful storyteller who captivates her readers in tales of wonder, enlightenment, and magic. You’re guaranteed to enjoy the adventure.”
—Julie Ryan, author of Angelic Attendants: What Really Happens as
We Transition from This Life Into the Next
“Perdita Finn masterfully weaves a soulful tapestry of stories and reflections that help the reader to viscerally appreciate the grand love story we eternally participate in through many different lives, roles, and forms. Perdita holds up a timely and potent soul-mirror to remind us that the magic and mystery of Being is always accessible and available to us in every moment. This is a book I will cherish and read again and again.”
—Bethany Webster, author of Discovering the Inner Mother:
A Guide to Healing the Mother Wound
and Claiming Your Personal Power
“Our lives are woven with everyday magic that most people overlook as coincidence. Spirits watch over us, guide us, and support us, and the divine speaks to us through symbols and signs, visions and dreams! This is the magic you will find in the pages of Take Back the Magic. Perdita Finn proves herself to be both a fabulous storyteller and a word-witch, as she shares her own awakening to a magical life. Part memoir, part educational manual, this is a book meant to open hearts and minds—something very much needed in this time of global change.”
—Salicrow, psychic medium and author of Spirit Speaker
“In Take Back the Magic, Perdita Finn offers practical, essential advice for those who are seeking deeper connections with their ancestors and the unseen world. Rather than something to be feared or avoided, Perdita demonstrates that the realm of spirit holds gifts for us all, and can be easily accessed when we trust our intuition and listen to the wisdom of the heart. Woven throughout with engaging, sometimes wrenching stories from Perdita’s life experience, Take Back the Magic is a riveting read that will remain with you long after you finish it.”
—Liz Childs Kelly, host of the Home to Her podcast and author of
Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine
Perdita Finn, Take Back the Magic
