Color of the day: Yellow Incense of the day: Neroli On this day in 1865, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published. Magician and author Gareth Knight defines white magic in his book Magic and the Western Mind: Ancient Knowledge and the Transformation of Consciousness (Llewellyn, 1991), as a technology of the imagination used "to expand consciousness and improve the common good." In explaining magic, Knight makes use of an analogy with mathematics, which is also a construct of the mind yet can have an effect on physical reality. He also points out that Romantic artists and poets believed that to make a work of art was an act of magic. It seems that Lewis Carroll, who under his given name of Charles Dodgson wrote books on math, is part of this tradition, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland certainly fits Knight's definition of white magic. Today would be a good day to make a work of art. |