![raven](https://wpr-public.s3.amazonaws.com/ttbook/styles/story_full_image/s3/images/meg-jerrard-9J3YRpgGq3Q-unsplash-Edit.jpg?itok=bfN9egPO)
Photo illustration by Mark Riechers. Original images by Ramiro Pianarosa and Meg Jerrard (CC0)
Years ago, the animist philosopher David Abram was a sleight-of-hand magician who wanted to learn from the "traditional magicians" of Asia. So he apprenticed with a powerful shaman in Nepal, who seemed to have the ability to transform into a raven. What Abram experienced was its own life-changing kind of magic.