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Rituals and celebrations

Bas-relief sculpture depicting the three most important figures of the Eleusianian Mysteries: the goddess of agriculture and abundance Demeter, her daughter Persephone, queen of the Underworld, and the Eleusinian hero Triptolemus, in what appears to be a rite. Triptolemus stands in the centre, the two goddesses stand either side.

Rituals and celebrations

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For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path

Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?

by Sam Woodward

A close-up of hands holding papers with handwritten notes, coin purses, and a pen, set on a wooden surface with grass in the background.

Sports and games

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For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill

The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you

by Brittany Birberick

Ancient painting of a bearded man in a blue robe with a halo, guiding naked figures among skeletons and skulls on a pastel background.

The body and physical health

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Magic helped us in pandemics before, and it can again

Magic always booms during pandemics, whether past or present – but that response might not be as irrational as it seems

by Matthew Melvin-Koushki

Vintage black and white photo of two women lighting cigarettes together. One woman holds the matchbox while both lean in closely.

Drugs and psychedelics

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Cigarette! Exquisite fiend, ephemeral friend, how I miss you

Melancholic and alluring, addictive and seductive, cigarettes were the excuse for a sweet pause between lovers and friends

by Caroline Eden

Painting depicting various racial mixtures in colonial Mexico, with different family groups labelled by their racial classifications.

Identity

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Why Spanish colonial officials feared the power of clothing

Colonial society depends on a clear distinction between the rulers and the ruled. Clothing could create problems

by Rebecca Earle

A colourful mosaic composed of various broken ceramic tiles with intricate floral and geometric patterns.

The self

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You’re not a computer, you’re a tiny stone in a beautiful mosaic

Let’s ditch talk of computers and bank accounts. Positive mind-metaphors emphasise our embodied inter-connectedness

by Anna Katharina Schaffner

Close-up of intricately coiled corrugated cardboard creating abstract shapes and shadow patterns against a dark background.

Emotion regulation

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What geometry taught me about awe, love and grief

I’ve loved geometry all my life. This is what it has taught me about grief, and what grief has taught me about geometry

by Michael Frame

Close-up of colourful, glossy Skittles sweets - red, yellow, green, orange and purple

Emerging therapies

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Why placebo pills work even when you know they’re a placebo

New evidence of the power of the placebo effect – even without any deception – is raising important questions for medicine

by Darwin A Guevarra & Kari A Leibowitz