The Return of Magic by David Farren (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 631 concerned either with the Third World or with the role of the church in the modern world. Lebanon Valley CoUege Annville, Pa. DoNALD E. BYRNE JR. The Return of Magic. By DAVID FARREN. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Pp. 128. $4.95. The Behavioral Theory in Psychology has made a great deal of human needs in explaining the adjustive responses of the human organism and psyche to various stimuli. It appears that David Farren (pseudonym) sees The Return of Magic in our society as just such an adjustive response. Perhaps magic can fill a human need for modem man where both science and religion are falling short. Magic adds a dimension of subjectivity to the cold logical approach of science, making room for the warmth of imagination and will, in its view of reality. To religious faith magic adds a certitude. It purports to understand the universe though a systematic causality, different from that of science, by which the magician can command the forces of nature. Mr. Farren tells quite honestly of his rejection of faith after a strong commitment to Catholicism evidenced by ten years in the Jesuit Order. It is only after marriage that he found out that his new spouse was a genetic witch, as distinguished from a cultural witch of the Sybil Leek ilk. Particularly fascinating is the account of her initiation to witchcraft through a strange sequence of experiences which led to a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a stay in a sanitarium for the mentally ill. Generally the author displays a refreshing honesty and openness to other points of view, even stimulating the reader to religion, interest in the science of parapsychology, or commitment to magic. These parallel three suggested interpretations of magic as supernatural, paranormal, or natural. It has become quite common, if not even fashionable, in this twentiethcentury Western world to undergo crises of faith; this is the logical consequence of an existential philosophy and psychology which focuses on the subject in an isolated milieu of feelings, relationships, and often loneliness. Those who see faith as not only satisfying a human need but also giving insight into the truth-of a real God who gives meaning to our satellite existence-frequently wonder about the thought processes of a crisis of faith. The Return of Magic will provide considerable understanding at least of one such case. National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception WMhington, D. C. JoHN J. NICoLA ...