Readers have always been fascinated by the vast body of fact and fable surrounding wizards, those healers, mystics, and memorable figures from folklore and literature. Here is a beautifully illustrated guide to wizards and wizardry, a volume tracing wizardry's origins and legends, and charting wizards' activities and powers over the centuries and across many cultures. The book's six chapters examine and discuss--the history of wizards, including Siberian shamans, the classical Roman poet Virgil, wizards of the medieval and Renaissance eras including Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), famous fictional practitioners of wizardry such as Tolkien's Gandalf, and today's shamans in South America and India . . . The traditional role of the wizard as prophet and visionary .
