Gargoyles

Book excerpt: Gargoyles takes you on a journey into a mysterious world, through bestiaries and traveling menageries, past grotesques and chimeras, through medieval cities and guilds and into huge stone buildings. Gargoyles are an embodiment of form and function—serving a clear architectural purpose but, also, symbolically important. Whether warding off evil, frightening away fear or showcasing human foibles, when a gargoyle was placed on a building, people noticed. The book delves into historic models of arcane craftsmanship and architecture, considering the reasons for gargoyles coming into being and hearing the legends of the gargoyle, both mythic and modern. It, also, covers the emergence of stone creatures into popular culture. For modern magick users, Gargoyles explores the role of the gargoyle in magickal practice, including gargoyle use in elemental correspondences, stone magick, protection, warding, egregores, talismans, animal associations, ritual and spell work.