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Pathwaysin Modern Western Magic

Edited by Nevill Drury

Pathways in Modern Western MagicEdited by Nevill Drury

This exciting multi-authored volume provides a fascinating overview of the many different pathways that help defi ne esoteric belief and prac-

tice in modern Western magic. Included here are chapters on the late 19th century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the infl uential Thelemic doc-trines of Aleister Crowley, and the different faces of the Universal God-dess in Wicca and the Pagan traditions. Also included are chapters on Neo-shamanism in Europe and the United States—and an account of how these traditions have in turn infl uenced the rise of techno-shamanism in the West. Additional features of this collection include insider perspectives on Seidr oracles, hybridised Tantra, contemporary black magic, the Scandinavian Dragon Rouge and Chaos magic in Britain—as well as profi les of the magi-cal artists Ithell Colquhoun, Austin Osman Spare and Rosaleen Norton.

Contributors:

Nikki Bado • Jenny Blain • Nevill Drury • Dave Evans • Amy Hale

Phil Hine • Lynne Hume • Marguerite Johnson • Thomas Karlsson

James R. Lewis • Libuše Martínková • Robert J. Wallis • Don Webb

Dominique Beth Wilson • Andrei A. Znamenski

Nevill Drury, editor of this collection, received his PhD from the Univer-sity of Newcastle, Australia, in 2008. His most recent publications include

Stealing Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Modern Western Magic and The Varieties of Magical Experience (co-authored with Dr Lynne Hume).

Scholars Concrescent Scholars Richmond • California

Pathways in M

odern Western M

agic • Drury

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10 Pathways in Modern Western Magic

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C o n c r e s c e n t S c h o l a r s

Scholars


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Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thebook,orpartsthereof,maynotbereproducedinanyworkwithoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted.

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ISBN:978-0-9843729-9-7

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Cover illustration: Jean Delville, Parsifal, 1890

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Contents

Introduction 1Nevill Drury

1 Lifting the Veil: An Emic Approach to Magical Practice 19Lynne Hume

2 The Visual and the Numinous: MaterialExpressionsoftheSacredinContemporaryPaganism 37

Dominique Beth Wilson

3 EncounteringtheUniversalTripleGoddessinWicca 65 NikkiBado

4 AwayfromtheLight:DarkAspectsoftheGoddess 87Marguerite Johnson

5 Neo-ShamanismintheUnitedStates 105Andrei A. Znamenski

6 Neo-ShamanismsinEurope 127Robert J. Wallis

7 SeiðrOracles 159Jenny Blain

8 MagicalPracticesinTheHermeticOrderofTheGoldenDawn 181 Nevill Drury

9 TheThelemicSexMagickofAleisterCrowley 205 Nevill Drury


10 The Draconian Tradition: DragonRougeandtheLeft-HandPath 247

Thomas Karlsson

11 ClaimingHellishHegemony: Anton LaVey,TheChurchofSatan&TheSatanicBible 261

James R. Lewis

12 ModernBlackMagic: Initiation,SorceryandTheTempleofSet 281

Don Webb

13 TheMagicalLifeofIthellColquhoun 307Amy Hale

14 TwoChthonicMagicalArtists: AustinOsmanSpare&RosaleenNorton 323

Nevill Drury

15 NothingisTrue,EverythingisPermitted: ChaosMagicsinBritain 379

Dave Evans

16 TheComputer-MediatedReligiousLife ofTechnoshamansandCybershamans 409

Libuše Martínková

17 TheMagicWonderlandoftheSenses: ReflectionsonaHybridisedTantraPractice 425 Phil Hine

Contributors 437

Index 443

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Publisher’s Preface

Welcome to Concrescent Scholars

Pathways in Modern Western Magic launches a new imprint in theConcrescentfamilyofbooks.Thisimprintspecializesinpeer-reviewedworks of scholarship in the fields of Esotericism, Pagan religion andculture,Magic,andtheOccult.ConcrescentScholarspresenttheirviewsfromwithinandwithouttheAcademy.HerewillbeheardtheVoiceoftheAcademic,andalsotheVoiceofthePractitioner,thenativeofthesome-timesalien,sometimesintimate,spacesoftheEsoteric.

Paraphrasing the Buddhologist Stephan Beyer, we aremindful thatScholarsof theEsotericdonotdealwithEsotericismsomuchas theydealwithEsotericists.Reallivesarebehindthesewordsandeachonehasavoicetocontribute.

ConcrescentScholarsisdedicatedtobringingtogetherallwhowork,learn,andliveintheEsotericthattheymayflourishmaterially,intellectu-ally,andspiritually.

Andsoitbegins…

Introduction 1

Introduction

Nevill Drury

The academic study of modern Western magic is still a comparativelynew phenomenon. While the anthropological study of magic in pre-literatesocietieshasbeenwellestablishedasadisciplineforahundredyearsormore,rigorousacademicinterestinthestudyofmodernWesternmagicalbeliefshasgatheredpaceonlyduringthelasttwentyyearsorso.Pathways in Modern Western Magic hasbeenconceivedasacontribu-tiontothissteadilyexpandingbodyofliterature,complementingotheracademicstudiesofmodernWesternmagicalpracticesbyauthors likeTanya Luhrmann (1989), Ronald Hutton (1999), Alex Owen (2004),SusanGreenwood(2005),NikkiBado-Fralick(2005)andHughUrban(2006).1One of the key elements that distinguishes Pathways in Modern

Western Magic from a number of etic anthologies on esotericism thathaveappearedinthelastfewyearsisthathereemicmagicalaccounts—‘insiderperspectives’—arehighlyvaluedbecauseoftheinsightsprovid-edby thepractitioners themselves.The termsemic andeticwerefirstproposedbytheanthropologicallinguistKennethPikeandwerefurtherdeveloped by the socio-cultural anthropologistMarvinHarris.2 Essen-tially they relate to issues of subjectivity and objectivity in anthropo-logical research. ‘Emic’ derives from thewordphonemic, a linguistictermthat refers to thecategoriesofsoundsusedbynativespeakers tounderstandandcreatemeaningfulutterances.‘Etic’isfromthelinguistic


term phonetic, referring to the acoustic properties of sounds discerniblethrough linguistic analysis.3 Harris is quite specific in describing theirapplicationtothestudyofculturalanthropology:

Emic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of the native informant to the status of ultimate judge of the adequa-cy of the observer’s descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy of emic analyses is their ability to generate state-ments the native accepts as real, meaningful, or appropriate… Etic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of observ-ers to the status of ultimate judges of the categories and concepts used in descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy of etic accounts is simply their ability to generate scientifically productive theories about the causes of sociocul-tural differences and similarities.4 [bold in original]

Harrishimselfwasinnodoubtastowhichwasthesuperiormethod.According to Harris the value of the etic approach was that it allowed theanthropologisttoestablish‘thesocialnatureoftruth’inanobjectiveandscientificfashion,whereasemicapproaches,inhisopinion,wereinvari-ably‘relativistic’.AsHarrissuccinctlyexplains:

…the participant observer can never find the truth of the lived experience, apart from the consensus about such things found in the community in which the observer participates.5

Harris also makes specific reference to the ‘obscurantist’ approachadoptedbysomeanthropologistswithregardtovariousformsofcontem-poraryesotericandreligiouspractice:

Obscurantism is an important component in the emics of astrol-ogy, witchcraft, messianism, hippiedom, fundamentalism, cults of personality, nationalism, ethnocentrism, and a hundred other contemporary modes of thought that exalt knowledge gained by inspiration, revelation, intuition, faith, or incanta-tion as against knowledge obtained in conformity with scien-tific research principles. Philosophers and social scientists are implicated both as leaders and as followers in the popular success of these celebrations of non-scientific knowledge, and in the strong anti-scientific components they contain.6

Harris’s point is well taken, whether one agrees with it or not, but

Introduction 3

it is ultimately of little assistance in solving the vexed issue of how tolegitimatelyresearchthenatureofmodernWesternmagicanditsquestfor transformative states of consciousness.A more sympathetic viewthan that of Marvin Harris—one which seeks to bridge the apparentgulf between themagical realm and theworld of legitimate academicresearch—isprovidedbyanthropologistLynneHume,whoarguesthataphenomenological[orsubstantiallyemic]approachisextremelyusefulinresearchingmagicalbeliefsandpractices:

To my mind, the most appropriate approach to the study of belief systems is a phenomenological one which aims at moving beyond the constraints of structural functional analysis, and even beyond semiotic symbolic anthropology which treats accounts as texts to be analysed in terms of their meaning. A phenomenological approach aims at an objective descriptive analysis, and a systematic evaluation of the essence of a belief system, endeavouring to perceive the devotee’s conception of truth in order to assess what is meaningful to the devotee, without raising questions of its ultimate status in reality… as a phenomenologist one suspends disbelief without accepting the totality of the informants’ worlds as one’s own.7

Another important distinction that should be made at this point is thatintheclassicalanthropologicalliterature‘magic’haslongbeenassoci-atedwithpre-literateindigenousculturesthatwereassumedtobeessen-tially‘primitive’andintellectuallyunsophisticated.Muchoftheacadem-ic literature onmagic up until quite recent times has beenwritten byanthropologistsandsocialtheoristswhohaverespondedtothedataonmagic in a fundamentally unsympathetic way and from a position ofperceived intellectual superiority.Academic responses to magic—andalsoreligion—includethelate19th century evolutionary approach, whichsought common threads in the development of magical and religioussystems(aperspectiveassociatedespeciallywithFrazerandTylor);thefunctional approach, which focused on the relationship of magic andreligionto thestructureandsurvivalofsociety(Durkheim,Malinows-ki, Radcliffe-Brown), and the psychosocial approach,which has beenconcerned with the relationship between culture and personality andtheconnectionbetweenthesocietyandtheindividual(Evans-Pritchard,Freud,Spiro,etal.).8All of these perspectives have continued to influence anthropologi-

cal thought in varying degrees. As recently as the late 1980s TanyaLuhrmannthoughtitappropriatetostudymagicincontemporaryurban


England whilst also employing Malinowski’s Trobriand-islander modelof ‘magical crisis’.9 Drawing on an anthropological paradigm trans-posedfromthestudyofpre-literateOceaniccultures,LuhrmannarguedthatmodernWesternmagicwasessentiallyaboutseekingcontrolinanuncontrollableworld.Needlesstosay,Luhrmann’sdatadoesnotsupportherprincipalconclusions—oneofthecontemporarymagicalgroupsshestudied (GarethKnight’sWesternMysteriesgroup)derives itsesotericpracticesfromDionFortune’sFraternityoftheInnerLightwhichinturnhadhistoricalassociationswiththetheurgichighmagicpractisedintheGoldenDawn.Highmagicisnotfoundinpre-literatesocietiesandthemagicassociatedwithallofthesemodernEnglishesotericorganisationsis inwardly-directed and ‘transformational’ rather than ‘functional’ ineverysignificantrespect.Paradoxically, the misplaced nature of Luhrmann’s anthropologi-

cal approach reinforces the innatevalueof scholarlyemic accountsofmodernWesternmagic.Academicswhoarealsomagicalpractitionersandwhodocumenttheirexperiencesintelligentlyandsystematicallyhelpusavoidthedistortionsthatinevitablyentertheliteraturewheninsideraccountsareignored.Contemporaryanthropologistswhohaveexploredmagical beliefs and practices as ‘insider-practitioners’ include JeanneFavret-Saada (1980) who studied witchcraft in the Bocage region ofNormandy,10 Paul Stoller (1987) who became an apprentice to Songhaysorcerers,11 Lynne Hume (1997) who researched Wicca and neo-pagan-ismasaparticipantwithvariousgroupsinAustralia,12 Susan Greenwood(2000, 2005)who became aWiccan priestess in England13 and NikkiBado-Fralick(2005),currentlyauniversityprofessor,whohasalsobeenahighpriestessinwitchcraftcovensinOhioandIowa.14 Hume and Bado-Fralick(nowBado)arecontributorstothepresentvolume.

Defining magicGiven the diversity of modern esoteric practice, magic itself obviouslyrequires some sort of definition.Aleister Crowley, arguably the mostinfluentialoccultist in the20th century, provided several different defi-nitionsofmagic inhisvariouspublications. InMagick in Theory and Practice(1929)hewrites:

There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel, or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.’ [capitals in original]15

Introduction 5

In the same volume Crowley echoes the famous Hermetic principle ‘Asabove,sobelow’whenhewrites:‘TheMicrocosmisanexactimageoftheMacrocosm;theGreatWorkistheraisingofthewholemaninperfectbalancetothepowerofInfinity.’16 Crowley also offered a more direct andpragmaticdefinitionofmagic:‘MagickistheScienceandArtofcausingChangetooccurinconformitywithWill.’17. For Crowley, application ofthewillwasacrucialcomponentinmagicalpracticeforhealsowrote:‘EveryintentionalactisaMagicalAct,’18 to which he added a footnote:‘By“intentional’Imean“willed”.’FromCrowley’sperspective,actsofmagicalintentcouldalsoleadtosubjugationofothers:‘Maniscapableofbeing,andusing,anythingwhichheperceives,foreverythingthatheperceivesisincertainsenseapartofhisbeing.HemaythussubjugatethewholeUniverseofwhichheisconscioustohisindividualWill.’19Israel Regardie, Crowley’s one-time secretary and editor of The Golden

Dawn (published1937-40),definedmagicinmorepsychologicalterms:‘Asapractical system,Magic isconcernednot somuchwithanalysisaswithbringingintooperationthecreativeandintuitivepartsofman....Magicmaybesaid tobea techniqueforrealisingthedeeper levelsoftheUnconscious.’[capitalsinRegardie’stext]20 However, like Crowley,Regardiealsofocusedonthesignificanceofthemagicalwill:

The magician conceives of someone he calls God, upon whom attend a series of angelic beings, variously called archangels, elementals, demons etc. By simply calling upon this God with a great deal of ado, and commemorating the efforts of previ-ous magicians21 and saints who accomplished their wonders or attained to the realization of their desires through the invoca-tion of the several names of that God, the magician too realizes the fulfilment of his will.22

Regardie also emphasized the nature of the magical imagination:

In practice, the idea is to arrange a play or a ritualistic ceremony wherein is enacted the entire life-cycle of the God or his terrestrial emissary whose spiritual presence one wishes to invoke. The union or identification with the God is accomplished through suggestion, sympathy and the exaltation of conscious-ness. ...the magician imagines himself in the ceremony to be the deity who has undergone similar experiences. The rituals serve but to suggest and to render more complete the process of identification, so that sight and hearing and intelligence may serve to that end. In the commemoration, or rehearsal of this


history, the magician is uplifted on high, and is whirled into the secret domain of the spirit... 23

For Regardie, the ultimate spiritual destination of the magician wassubmergenceoftheindividualselfwithinthetranscendentGodhead:

All the characteristics of the higher worlds are successively assumed by the Magician, and transcended, until in the end of his magical journey, he is merged into the being of the Lord of every Life. The final goal of his spiritual pilgrimage is that peaceful ecstasy in which the finite personality, thought and self-consciousness, even the high consciousness of the highest Gods, drops utterly away, and the Magician melts to a oneness with the Ain Soph 24 wherein no shade of difference enters. 25

Other influential occultists—pioneers, as it were, of the modernWesternmagicalperspective—havealsoproposedtheirowndefinitionsofmagic.ForS.L.MacGregorMathers,co-founderoftheHermeticOrderoftheGoldenDawnin1888,magicwas ‘theScienceoftheControloftheSecretForcesofNature’26 while Mathers’ colleague in the GoldenDawn,DrEdwardBerridge(Frater Resurgam)soughtalsotodistinguishtheroleoftheimaginationinthepracticeofmagic:

Imagination is a reality. When a man imagines he actually creates a form on the Astral or even on some higher plane; and this form is as real and objective to intelligent beings on that plane, as our earthly surroundings are to us...To practice magic, both the Imagination and the Will must be called into action... the Imagination must precede the Will in order to produce the greatest possible effect. 27

Dion Fortune, a former member of the Stella Matutina (a GoldenDawnderivative)andfounderoftheFraternityoftheInnerLight,notedthat:‘Whitemagic...consistsintheapplicationofoccultpowerstospiri-tualends.’28 Fortune also defined magic in much the same way as Aleis-ter Crowley: ‘[Magic is] the art of causing changes in consciousnessatwill.’29 Dr Michael Aquino, a self-proclaimed ‘black magician’ andprincipalformulatorofthedoctrinesofTheTempleofSet,alsodefinesmagicwithinthecontextoftheapplicationofthemagicalwill:

The theory and practice of non-natural interaction with the subjective universe is defined as Greater Black Magic...Great-

Introduction 7

er Black Magic is the causing of change to occur in the subjec-tive universe in accordance with the Will. This change in the subjective universe will cause a similar and proportionate change in the objective universe.’ 30

Influential Goddess worshipper and eco-feminist Starhawk offersanother perspective, emphasizing the principle of interconnectednesswiththecosmosinherdefinitionofmagic:

The primary principle of magic is connection. The universe is a fluid, ever-changing energy pattern, not a collection of fixed and separate things. What affects one thing affects, in some way, all things. All is interwoven into the continuous fabric of being. Its warp and weft are energy, which is the essence of magic.31

Starhawk focuses on the connection between magic and the physicalworld:

Magic is part of nature; it does not controvert natural laws. It is through study and observation of nature, of the visible, physical reality, that we can learn to understand the workings of the underlying reality. Magic teaches us to tap sources of energy that are unlimited, infinite...32

Overview of VolumeIn the opening chapter, ‘Lifting the veil: an emic approach to magi-calpractice’, anthropologistLynneHumesets the tone for thepresentvolume, arguing that magicians, pagans and shamans have numerousportals,orentrypoints, to thesacredandmysteriousrealmreferred tobysomeas the‘otherworld’.Forher thekeylies inunderstandingtherelationship between altered states of consciousness and the realm ofemotions and imagination.Magicians of all persuasions acknowledgethevalueofusingvisualisationand trance techniquesaccompaniedbychantingandsinging,andsometimestheyalsoemployritualentheogens(psychedelicsacraments)toenterthehidden,sacredworldsbeyondtherealm of familiar reality.As several of the contributors to the presentvolumeemphasize in their respectivechapters,modernWesternmagicvaluestheimaginal—andmanymagicalritualsarebasedonconceivingandvisualizingforcesgreaterthantheindividualself.Indeed,thisishowthesenseofmagicaltransformationgenerallycomesabout.Modern pagan witchcraft—otherwise known as Wicca—openly


explores the imaginal as an ‘alternative reality’. Wicca offers a holisticviewofacosmosalivewithcreativepotential—propelledbythedynam-icunionofsacredfemaleandmaleprinciples.InhonoringtheUniversalGoddessasitsprincipaldeity,WiccaisveryspecificallygroundedinthesymbolismoffertilityandembracesNature’sseasonsasreflectiveoftheeternalcyclesof life,deathand rebirth.For themostpart, theWiccanspiritual quest is oriented towards ‘thisworld’.Themain emphasis inWicca is on immanent, rather than transcendent, aspects of deity andtheUniversalGoddessispersonifiedinthecovenbythehighpriestess.Nevertheless,asDominiqueBethWilsonobservesinherchapter,‘Thevisualandthenuminous:materialexpressionsofthesacredincontempo-rarypaganism,’itisstillpossiblefordevoteesofsacredearthtraditionstoembracethemoreabstractnotionofthe‘mysterium tremendum et fasci-nans’.MembersofthecontemporaryAustralianwitchcraftcommunity,Applegrove,makeuseof‘numinous’objectslikealtars,dressandritualsinordertotranscendtheprofaneandeverydayworldandcommunewiththesacredandthedivine.ThisthemeisalsoexploredbyNikkiBadoin‘EncounteringtheUniver-

salTripleGoddessinWicca’.Sheacknowledges,though,thattheritualprocessitselfissometimesbasedonmodernconstructsfarremovedfromtheancientculturestraditionallyassociatedwithmythandprimalreligion.Wehavetoask,writesBado,whetherinthePaganandGoddesscommu-nities ‘theMaiden,Mother, and Crone are either self-evident ancientand empowering figures that have been universally revered as primalarchetypessincethedawnoftime’orwhethertheyare‘relativelyrecentromanticliteraryconstructsrootedindubiousscholarshipthatarepossi-blyessentialist,covertlysexist,andwoefullyinadequateincapturingtherangeofwomen’slifecycles,roles,andexpectationsoflongevity’.Badoacknowledgesthatlikemostreligiouspractitioners,‘Witchesparticipatein a universe of competing and sometimes conflicting discourses andpractices.’ButasapractisingWiccanHighPriestessherselfsheneverthe-lessvaluesthetransformativeexperiencesassociatedwithGoddessspiri-tualitydespitetheiroccasionalcontradictions—andtheseareexperiencesthatinvolvebothlightanddarkness.TheGoddess,writesBado,‘movesthroughout theworld, freeandunfetteredbyour simplisticcategories,embracingandembracedbyMoonandSun.Dancing inauniverseoflightsandshadows.’Anditprovestobeverymuchamatteroflightandshadow.AsMargue-

rite Johnson’schapteron theDarkGoddessmakesclear, there isnowatendencyamong‘Gothic’shadow-magicWiccanstofocustheirritualenergieson imageryassociatedwith thedark regionsof thepsyche inordertoobtainanauthenticbalancebetween‘white’and‘black’magic.

Introduction 9

Some Wiccan practitioners who practise Nocturnal Magic or ShadowMagicfocusprimarilyon‘dark’goddesseslikeHecate,LilithandKali.AsJohnsonexplains,these‘Nocturnal’or‘Shadow’Wiccansaredismis-siveof‘FluffyBunnies’,‘Playgans’or‘White-lighters’whointerprettheWiccanRedeliterally—‘AnYeHarmNone,DoWhatYeWill’.NocturnalWiccansopenlyembracewhatothersregardasamoreconfrontinginter-pretation of theCraft.As oneWiccan practitioner,Digitalis, explains:‘Theaspectsofshadowmagickrangewidely.Inmanyways,thosethatdealwiththeinternal darknessoftheselfcanbeconsideredpositiveinnature:practicessuchasmagickalworkontheemotionalplane,mysti-cism,andtypesofdeepmeditation.Otherarts,suchasdivination,astralprojection,automaticwriting,anddreamwalking,areclearlynotnegativeinnature(andareinfactsharedbynearlyallWitches).Butsomeshadowmagick can be deemedmore negative: demonic evocation,Qlippothic[sic]orGoeticwork,uncontrolledpsychicvampirism,cursing,andsometypesofnecromancy.’MovingonfromWiccaandGoddessspiritualitytotheresurgentinterest

inshamanismand‘nativespirituality’,itisfairtodescribe‘neo-shaman-ism’—likemodernpaganwitchcraft—asaconstructor‘inventedtradi-tion’.FollowingtheleadofanthropologistMichaelHarner—whoestab-lishedtheFoundationforShamanicStudiesandsoughttodistilcommonelementsoftheshamanicprocessintoanaccessibleapproachcalled‘coreshamanism’33—various forms of neo-shamanism have now emerged inboththeUnitedStatesandEurope.AndreiA.Znamenskidescribesthegrowthofthismovementinhischapter‘Neo-shamanismintheUnitedStates’,acknowledgingalsothekeyroleofCarlosCastanedaandMirceaEliadeinstimulatingtherevivalofinterestinNativeAmericanspiritual-ityinthe1960sand1970scounterculture.Znamenskiaddressestheimportantissueofwhetherneo-shamanism

losesitsauthenticityandusefulnessbybeingabstractedfromaspecificcultural context.Healsonotes that somewriters claim that traditionalshamanismisaformofspiritualindividualismandthatthischaracteristichasbeenresponsible inpart forneo-shamanism’sappeal,especially intheUnitedStates.Theissueofwhethercoreshamanismcanbesuccess-fully reintroduced intovarious indigenous cultures that have lost theirshamanicheritage—nativepeoples like theSami,SiberiansandInuits,forexample—isalsoaddressedhere.Robert J. Wallis explores similar issues in ‘Neo-shamanisms in

Europe’. Wallis rejects universalist interpretations of shamanism andneo-shamanismasunhelpful abstractions, preferring instead togroundshamanisms (and neo-shamanisms) within their specific culturalcontexts.Wallis argues against Eliade’s concept of shamanistic world


views based on a tripartite cosmology of upper, middle and lower worldsandmaintains that the focus on ‘altered states of consciousness’ as acharacteristic of shamanisms has also been greatly overstated. Ratherthantheirexperiencesproducingthe‘worldviews’oftheircommunities,hewrites,shamans,theirexperiencesandtheircommunities,humanandnon-human, are situated within ‘wider animic ontologies’. AsWallisexplains,animistontologiesapproachaworldfilledwithpersons,onlysomeofwhomarehuman,andoftenshamansarecrucialinmaintainingrelationsbetweenhuman-personsandother-than-humans.Animismsare,then, concerned with relating—with persons, human and non-human,and‘animismmakesshamansbothpossibleandnecessarybecausetheirrolesareaboutdealingwiththeproblemsoflivinginarelationalworld’.JennyBlain’s chapter ‘Seidr oracles’ focuses specifically on a form

of oracular neo-shamanism based on re-constructed elements derivedinitially from Nordic mythology. Diana Paxson, founder of the seid-magicHrafnarcommunityinSanFrancisco,reconstructedEiríks Saga Rauða andtheEddicVoluspá andbegantousethemexperientiallyasaformofvisionarymagic.Paxsonhadalsobeeninfluencedbythe‘coreshamanism’ techniques of Michael Harner and her approach mirrorssomeaspectsoftheneo-shamanicspirit-journey.Paxson’sseidrséancesinvolvetwomainfigures—thevölvaorseeress,andapersonwhoservesasbothguideandsinger,chantingthevölva andtheothergrouppartici-pants intoastateof trance.ThesongsarebasedonNordicmythologyand guide the participants toward Helheim, where the völva commu-nicateswith theancestors.Thevölvaentersadeeperstateof tranceasshegoes through thegatesofHelheimand thenencounters the spiritsofthedead.Membersofthegroupareabletoputoracularquestionstothevölva relatingtomorespecific,localissuesandcircumstances.Thevölvatypicallyreceives‘answers’tothesequestionsintheformofvisualimagesreceivedfromthedeitiesandancestorspirits—andthenconveysappropriateresponsestothepeoplewhoaskedthequestions.AsexperientialjourneysthatventurebeyondthegatesofHelheim,seidr

séancesclearlyemployimageryandtechniquesthattaketheirpractitio-nersintothedarkmythicunderworldofthemagicalpsyche.However,asBlainexplains,thisparticularformofvisionarymagicfocusesonhealinganddivinatorymethodsthatbenefitthecommunitymembersasawhole.Lookingbacknowtotheoriginsofthe20th century magical revival,

it is increasinglyclear that the late19th century Hermetic Order of theGolden Dawn—with its systematic approach to practical ceremonialmagicanditsfocusonthequestforpersonalspiritualtransformation—stronglyinfluencedthevariousformsofesotericismthatwouldemergeintheWestinmorerecenttimes.

Introduction 11

‘Magical practices in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’,describes the theurgic techniquesadoptedbymembersof this late19thcenturyorganisation.Shunningdarknessinthepursuitofspirituallight,theGoldenDawnmagicianswereinfluencedbytheKabbalisticdesiretoattainsacredknowledgeofthe‘BodyofGod’.TheultimateaimoftheirmagicalritualswastoexperiencewhatoccultpractitionerIsraelRegardiehas called ‘a spiritual state of consciousness, inwhich the ego entersintoaunionwitheitheritsownHigherSelforaGod’.HoweverastheHermeticOrderoftheGoldenDawnbegantofragmentduringtheperiodbetween1900andtheendofWorldWarOne,34 the practice of ceremo-nialmagicintheWestwouldbecomeincreasinglydominatedbyAleisterCrowley’sdoctrineofThelema(Greek:‘will’).HistoricallythisoccurredasCrowley introduced sexmagick into hismagical order,ArgenteumAstrum(TheSilverStar,established1907)andlaterintotheEuropeanOrdoTempliOrientis.Since the 1960s modern Western magical practice has polarized,

producingtwomajorstreamsofoccultthoughtledontheonehandbyCrowleyanThelema and its various derivative offshoots and affiliatedmovements35 and by Wicca and Goddess spirituality on the other (Wiccawouldnotemergeasamajoresotericmovementuntiltherepealin1951of the BritishWitchcraftAct forbidding the practice of witchcraft.)36Placing this polarization effect in a historical context, ‘The ThelemicmagickofAleisterCrowley’describesthesignificanceofCrowley’s1904revelationinCairoandtheemergenceofThe Book of the Law—akeyThelemitetextdictatedintrancebyametaphysicalentitynamedAiwassthat changedCrowley’smagical orientation completely.Moving awayfromtheHermetictheurgyoftheGoldenDawn,amagicalorganisationtowhichhehadbelonged,Crowleynowembracedanewformofsexualmagickthat,forhim,characterisedthebirthoftheNewAeon.Crowley’sinterestinsexualmagicksubsequentlybroughthimintocontactwiththeEuropeanOrdoTempliOrientis(O.T.O.)—anorganisationthatCrowleyheaded from 1922 onwards, following the resignation of co-founderTheodorReuss.One of themost interestingmagical orders to have emerged in the

post-CrowleyeraistheDragonRouge,establishedinSwedenbyThomasKarlssonin1989.ThisorderdevelopedindependentlybutsharesmanypointsincommonwiththeTyphonianO.T.O.establishedinBritainbyCrowley’sdisciple, the lateKennethGrant.TheDragonRougeopenlyalignsitselfwiththeLeft-HandPath,whichitreferstoas‘thedarksideofmagic’.AsKarlssonpointsoutinhischapter‘TheDraconianTradition:DragonRougeandtheLeft-HandPath’,darknessequatessymbolicallywithunfathomedpotentialandhere themagicianseeks todevelop the


individual human will in order to enter parallel universes. In the DragonRougetheLeft-HandPathisassociatedwith‘theforbidden,theabnor-mal, theexclusiveanddeviant,…[and]celebratesdarkand revolution-arydeitieslikeLucifer,Loke,Kali,Hekate,Prometheus,AzazelandtheFallenAngels,tomentionjustafew.’TheDragonRougeisantinomianandbreakscultural,religiousandexistentialtaboos—butthecentralaimisself-deification.AsKarlssonobserves:‘TheLeftHandPath isassoci-atedwith the goal to become aGod, whichmeans that one becomesexistentially mature, expresses free will, takes personal responsibilityandgainsknowledgeandpoweroverexistence.’We turn now to contemporarySatanism,which also identifies itself

withtheso-calledLeft-HandPath.ItsoonbecomesapparentthattherearemarkeddifferencesbetweenthetwoleadingSatanicgroups—AntonLaVey’sChurchofSatan(establishedin1966)andTheTempleofSet,headed by MichaelAquino (established in 1975)—although both arecharacteristicallyantinomianandshareacommonquestinembracingthepotencyofdarkness.UnderLaVey,theChurchofSatancelebratedhuman-ity’scarnalnatureandindulgencesofthefleshanditsfounderjustifiedthisbyassertingthatananimalisticimageofhumanitywassupportedbynatural scienceandDarwin’s theoryofevolution. In ‘Claiminghellishhegemony:AntonLaVey,TheChurchofSatan and theSatanic Bible’JamesR.LewisexploresLaVey’slegitimationstrategyanddissectsthefaçadecreatedbyAntonLaVeyashesoughttodevelopanoccultpersonafarmoreexoticthanwasactuallywarranted.In1975LaVeywasdesertedbyagroupofseniorChurchofSatanmemberswhowentontoestablishthemorephilosophicallybasedTempleofSet.AformerHighPriestofthisTemple,DonWebbprovidesuswithalucid‘insider’accountinhisessay‘Modernblackmagic:initiation,sorceryandtheTempleofSet’.Thefollowingchapters,‘TheMagicalLifeofIthellColquhoun’and

‘Twochthonicmagicalartists:AustinOsmanSpareandRosaleenNorton’,explorethevisionaryartandcreativityofthreeimportantmodernoccult-ists. Focusing especially on the connection between modernWesternmagic and artistic creativity,AmyHale shows in ‘Themagical life ofIthell Colquhoun’ that in addition to embracing a Hermetic approachtomagic the noted British surrealist artist was also fascinated by thesymbolicattributionsofcolourthatshefirstencounteredintheGoldenDawnapproachtoWesternceremonialmagic.SpareandNortonhadasomewhatdarkervision,andhaveevenbeenaccusedofbeingsatanic.Spare andNorton both producedmagical imagery that wasmarkedlychthonicinnatureandbothartistsutilisedtechniquesofself-hypnosistoproducetheirvisionaryimagery.TheyalsoexploredmagicalgrimoiresliketheGoetiaandwerefascinatedbythesigilsor‘seals’associatedwith

Introduction 13

elemental spirit-beings. Both artists were attracted to sex-magic and bothwerefamiliarwiththemagicalwritingsofAleisterCrowley(SpareknewCrowleypersonally).Crowley’sinfluencehasextendedinrecenttimestoincludepractitio-

nersofChaosMagickwhoalignthemselveswiththeLeft-HandPathandwhousethistermemicallytodescribetheirmagicalorientation.ChaosMagick—generally spelt with a ‘k’ to acknowledge its connection toThelemicmagick—burstontotheBritishoccultsceneinthelate1970switharadicaloutlookandareformistagenda.Inhischapter,‘Nothingis true, everything is permitted:Chaosmagics inBritain’DaveEvansdescribesthebirthofthemovement,notinginpassingthatitpresentsuswithamultitudeof interestingandrewardingchallenges. ‘Asamajor,influentialandfast-movingnewdevelopmentinoccultism,’hewrites,it‘cannotbeignoredandoffersanenticingarenaforresearchersinfindingnew,improvedresearchstrategieswhichwillhopefullyevolveintandemwiththedevelopmentsinthemagicalpracticeitself.’Alsoofinterestinthisparticularcontextaremagicalpracticesthatdraw

inspirationfromfictionandtheInternet.Intherealmofcyberspacehumanbeingsinteractwitheachotherinwayslimitedonlybytheirimagination.Inher fascinating chapter, ‘TheComputerMediatedReligiousLifeofTtechnoshamansandCybershamans’LibušeMartínkováshowsclearlythat some contemporarymagical practitioners have integrated cutting-edgecomputertechnologiesandtraditionalshamanicpracticesinordertogiverisetoanewformofpostmodernreligion.Finally, there are those who have embraced more eclectic esoteric

fusions.TheinfluentialBritishoccultistPhilHine,whohasbeencloselyassociatedinthepastwiththeriseofChaosMagick,providesaninsideraccountofhis ‘hybridisedTantrapractice’.Hinedescribes theArrow-Shaktirite—whichutilisesbothexternalworship(bahiryaga)andinter-nal worship (antaryaga). Here the practitioner exteriorises the Sense-ShaktisinordertohonorthembeforedrawingbacktheArrowGoddess(theircondensedform)intothe‘heart-cave’thatequateswiththeseatoftheinnerself.Aswillbecomecleartoanyreaderperusingthechaptersinthisanthol-

ogy,themajorformsofcontemporaryWesternmagicarecharacterisedbyanongoingsenseofself-explorationandspiritualrenewal.Pathways in Modern Western Magic willhopefullybe seenasa far-rangingandauthoritative selection of writings addressing the broad spectrum ofmodernWesternmagicalbeliefsandpractices.

—Editor


Endnotes1 Four of these publications focus on modern and contemporary magic in

Britain.TanyaLuhrmann’sPersuasions of the Witch’s Craft(HarvardUniversityPress,Cambridge,Massachusetts1989)explorescontempo-raryWiccaandwhitemagicinEngland,RonaldHutton’sThe Triumph of the Moon(OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford1999)isconsideredthedefinitivehistoricalstudyofmodernpaganwitchcraftandexploresthebirthofWiccainEnglandandeventsleadinguptoit,SusanGreen-wood’sThe Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of Consciousness (Berg,Oxford2005)describesnaturemagic,witchcraftandneo-shamanismincontemporaryBritain,andAlexOwen’sThe Place of Enchantment(UniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago2004)isahighlyregardedschol-arlyoverviewofoccultpracticesinVictorianandEdwardianEngland.NikkiBado-Fralick’sComing to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initia-tion Ritual(OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork2005)isofspecialinter-estbecausetheAmericanauthorisbothanacademicandahighpriestesswithinaWiccancoven,andHughUrban’sMagia Sexualis(UniversityofCaliforniaPress,Berkeley,California2006)lookslikelytobecomeakeysource-workonsexualmagicintheWestformanyyearstocome.

2 SeeM.Harris,Cultural Materialism,RandomHouse,NewYork1979.3 P.E.Sandstrom,‘AnthropologicalApproachestoInformationSystems

andBehaviour’,Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology,30,3,February/March2004.

4 M.Harris,Cultural Materialism,loccit:32.5 Ibid:315.6 Ibid.7 L.Hume,Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia,MelbourneUniversity

Press,Melbourne1997:11.8 R.L.SteinandP.L.Stein,The Anthropology of Religion, Magic and

Witchcraft,Pearson/Allyn&Bacon,Boston2005:21-23.9 T.M.Luhrmann,Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft: Ritual Magic in

Contemporary England,loccit.10 J.Favret-Saada,Deadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage,Cambridge

UniversityPress,Cambridge1980.11 P.Stoller(andC.Olkes),In Sorcery’s Shadow,UniversityofChicago

Press,Chicago1987.12 L.Hume,Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia,MelbourneUniversity

Press,Melbourne1997.13 S.Greenwood,Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld,Berg,Oxford

andNewYork2000,andThe Nature of Magic: an Anthropology of Consciousness,Berg,OxfordandNewYork2005.

14 N.Bado-Fralick,Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation

Introduction 15

Ritual,OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork2005.15 A.Crowley,Magick in Theory and Practice,CastleBooks,NewYork,

n.d:[1929]:11.16 Ibid:4.17 Ibid:xii.18 Ibidxiii.19 Ibid:xvii.ItisinterestingthatofallthereligiouspantheonsCrowley

utilizedforhismagicalactivitiesheregardedtheancientEgyptianas‘thenoblest,themosttrulymagical’.SeeA.Crowley,Magick without Tears,FalconPress,Phoenix,Arizona1982:23.CrowleywouldsurelyhaveknownthatinancientEgyptmagicianscouldsubdueeventhegodsthemselves,throughactsofmagicalintent.AsWallisBudgehasobserved(E.A.WallisBudge,Egyptian Magic,UniversityBooks,NewYork1958:ix[1899]):‘...theobjectofEgyptianmagicwastoendowmanwiththemeansofcompellingbothfriendlyandhostilepowers,nay,atalatertime,evenGodHimself,todowhathewished,whethertheywerewillingornot.’Budgesubsequentlyelaboratesonthepotencyofwordsofpowerutteredbythemagician:‘Bypronouncingcertainwordsornamesofpowerinthepropermannerandinthepropertoneofvoicehecouldhealthesick,andcastouttheevilspiritswhichcausedpainandsufferinginthosewhowerediseased,andrestorethedeadtolife,andbestowuponthedeadmanthepowertotransformthecorrupt-ibleintoanincorruptiblebodywhereinthesoulmightlivetoalleternity.Hiswordsenabledhumanbeingstoassumediverseformsatwill,andtoprojecttheirsoulsintoanimalsandothercreatures...Thepowersofnatureacknowledgedhismight,andwindandrain,stormandtempest,riverandsea,anddiseaseanddeathworkedevilandruinuponhisfoes,andupontheenemiesofthosewhowereprovidedwiththeknowledgeofthewordswhichhehadwrestedfromthegodsofheaven,andearth,andtheunderworld.Inanimatenaturelikewiseobeyedsuchwordsofpower,andeventheworlditselfcameintoexistencethroughtheutteranceofawordbyThoth;bytheirmeanstheearthcouldberentasunder,andthewatersforsakingtheirnaturecouldbepiledinaheap,andeventhesun’scourseintheheavenscouldbestayedbyaword.Nogod,orspirit,ordevil,orfiend,couldresistwordsofpower.’(1958:xi).

20 I.Regardie,The Middle Pillar,AriesPress,Chicago:1945:19.21 Thisquotationincorporatesthemagicalconceptthattherepeatedperfor-

manceofthesamerituals-whetherbymagiciansorreligiouspractitio-ners-hasacumulativeeffectonthe‘innerplanes’,aneffectreferredtoasthe‘egregore’or‘groupconsciousness’.W.E.Butler,adiscipleofDionFortuneintheFraternityoftheInnerLight,describesthenatureoftheegregoreinThe Magician: His Training and Work[1959]:‘When


twoorthreeormanypeoplegathertogetherinoneplacetoperformcertainactions,tothinkalongcertainlines,andtoexperienceemotionalinfluences,thereisbuiltup,inconnectionwiththatgroup,whatmaybetermedacompositegroup-consciousness,whereintheemotionalandandmentalforcesofallthemembersofthegrouparetemporarilyunitedinwhatisknowninoccultismasagroup-thought-formor“artifi-cialelemental”.Thisgroupconsciousnessseemstohaveamuchgreaterpowerthatthesimplesumoftheobjectivemindsinthegroupwouldsuggest.Thisisbecause,notonlyisthegroup-thought-formbuiltupbytheconsciousmindsofallwhohelptobuilditup.Sincethosesubcon-sciousmindsreachbackontheonehandintotheCollectiveUnconsciousandontheotherreachupwardsintotherealmsofthesuperconscious,thegroup-thought-formispsychicallylinkedwith...manyaspectsofthoughtandmanyformsofpsychic-mentalenergy.Thusitisgreaterthananysumofitsparts.’SeeW.E.Butler, The Magician: His Training and Work,1959:57-58.

22 I.Regardie,Ceremonial Magic: A Guide to the Mechanisms of Ritual,loc.cit:93.

23 Ibid:93-94.24 TheAin Sophisthe‘limitlesslight’thatextendsbeyondfinitecreationas

delineatedontheKabbalisticTreeofLife.25 Ibid:246-47.26 QuotedinD.Valiente,An ABC of Witchcraft, Past and Present,revised

edition,Hale,London1984:231.27 QuotedfromFlyingRollNo.5(GoldenDawnsourcedocument),‘Some

ThoughtsontheImagination’inF.King(ed.)Astral Projection, Magic and Alchemy,Spearman,London1971:33.

28 D.Fortune,The Mystical Qabalah,Benn,London1935:11.29 QuotedbyFortune’smagicaldiscipleW.E.Butlerandascribedtoher.

SeeW.E.Butler,Magic: Its Ritual Power and Purpose,AquarianPress,London1952:10.

30 M.Aquino,‘BlackMagicinTheoryandPractice,’inM.Aquino(ed.)The Crystal Tablets of Set, Selected Extracts,TempleofSet,SanFrancisco1983:18and28.

31 Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess,20thAnniversaryedition,HarperCollins,SanFrancisco1999[1979]:155.

32 Ibid:159.33 SeeHarner’skeyworkonexperientialshamanism,The Way of the

Shaman,Harper&Row,NewYork1980.34 MacGregorMathers,theinfluentialco-founderoftheGoldenDawn,died

in1918.

Introduction 17

35 TheseincludetheOrdoTempliOrientisintheUnitedStates,theTyphonianO.T.O.inBritain,andtheChurchofSatanandtheTempleofSetintheUnitedStates.ChaosMagickhasalsobeenstronglyinfluencedbyCrowley.

36 TheWitchcraftAct1735wasrepealedinNewSouthWalesbytheImperialActsApplicationAct,1969.SeeL.Hume,Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia,MelbourneUniversityPress,Melbourne1997:224.

Pathwaysin Modern Western Magic

Edited by Nevill Drury


This exciting multi-authored volume provides a fascinating overview of the many different pathways that help defi ne esoteric belief and prac-

tice in modern Western magic. Included here are chapters on the late 19th century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the infl uential Thelemic doc-trines of Aleister Crowley, and the different faces of the Universal God-dess in Wicca and the Pagan traditions. Also included are chapters on Neo-shamanism in Europe and the United States—and an account of how these traditions have in turn infl uenced the rise of techno-shamanism in the West. Additional features of this collection include insider perspectives on Seidr oracles, hybridised Tantra, contemporary black magic, the Scandinavian Dragon Rouge and Chaos magic in Britain—as well as profi les of the magi-cal artists Ithell Colquhoun, Austin Osman Spare and Rosaleen Norton.

Contributors:

Nikki Bado • Jenny Blain • Nevill Drury • Dave Evans • Amy Hale

Phil Hine • Lynne Hume • Marguerite Johnson • Thomas Karlsson

James R. Lewis • Libuše Martínková • Robert J. Wallis • Don Webb

Dominique Beth Wilson • Andrei A. Znamenski

Nevill Drury, editor of this collection, received his PhD from the Univer-sity of Newcastle, Australia, in 2008. His most recent publications include

Stealing Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Modern Western Magic and The Varieties of Magical Experience (co-authored with Dr Lynne Hume).

Scholars Concrescent Scholars Richmond • California

Pathways in M

odern Western M

agic • Drury

S

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