<p>Much has been written concerning Tibet and its secret lore, but precious few authors have actually visited &lsquo;The Land of Snows&rsquo; and a vanishingly small number were vouchsafed the&nbsp; privilege of studying with Tibetan masters during the culture&rsquo;s heyday, long before its present domination by China.</p><p>Alexandra David-N&eacute;el is one of this select group, and Magic and Mystery in Tibet is her account of the various mystical traditions she encountered while traveling in Tibet during the early 1900s.&nbsp; A woman of prodigious energy and courage, she spent 14 years in this Forbidden Land, at one time disguising herself as a beggar to secretly visit Lhasa, the first western woman to make the journey.</p><p>A practising Buddhist (and latterly a Lama in her on right), David-N&eacute;el was privy to many aspects of&nbsp; Tibetan culture that remained hidden from other travellers.&nbsp; Her description of the people, their beliefs, her conversations with sages and sorcerers, all paint a fascinating picture of Tibetan occult/ mystical theories and psychic training practices.&nbsp; Many of these skills she mastered herself, from meditation techniques, and elaborate magical rites, through necromancy, psychic abilities such as &lsquo;sending messages on the wind&rsquo; and&nbsp; creating &lsquo;tulpas&rsquo; (manifested thought-forms), to methods of breathing and mental concentration that control pain, extend physical endurance, and generate prodigious bodily heat, allowing an adept to go naked through the snow without discomfort. &nbsp;<br />
This is a fascinating, unique account of the spiritual core of a now-threatened culture.&nbsp; A must-read for anyone interested in Magic, the Occult, and the mystical traditions of Tibet.</p>