Ari Freeman is a writer, fortune teller, public wizard and autodidact. He has over twenty years of experience as a performing professional musician, and spent seven years as the apprentice to the Wizard of New Zealand, which involved discussing philosophy, politics and magic out on the streets with an enthusiastic general public. Freeman writes about magic and how it can be found in art, science, religion, modern society, as well as the occult and indigenous cultures. His goal is to bridge the gap between magical practitioners and skeptics, towards a world where we can all talk to each other. Ari lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“This intriguing book sets out to launch a conversation about how much of traditional occultism can be understood from within a philosophically literate modern worldview. Thoughtful and refreshingly open-minded, it’s worth a close reading from occultists and rationalists alike.” John Michael Greer, author of The Occult Philosophy Workbook “Ari Freeman has turned the tables. Pragmatic Magical Thinking has taken typical arguments and assumptions used to discredit magic, and used them to justify, explain and actually celebrate magical thinking.” Ramsey Dukes, author of The Little Book of Demons and How to See Fairies “Using tools from science, philosophy, history, and anthropology, Ari Freeman writes on magic from a twenty-first century perspective. He debunks the scientific reductionist view of the world, he believes, and I agree, changing your mind, really can change your reality. Freeman makes his arguments elegantly in this deep, but accessible book. Recommended.” Elisabeth Brooke, author of Goddess Astrology and A Woman’s Book of Shadows