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In the Western world, magic has often functioned as an umbrella
term for various religious beliefs and ritual practices that seek
to influence events by harnessing supernatural power. The
definition of these myriad occult and esoteric traditions have,
however, usually come from those that are opposed to its practice;
notably authorities in religious, legal and intellectual spheres.
This book seeks to provide a new perspective, directly from the
practitioners of modern Western magic, by exploring how a
distinctive mode of embodiment and consciousness can produce a
transition from an 'ordinary' to a 'magical' worldview. Starting
with an introduction to the study of magic in the Western academy,
the book then presents the author's own participant observation of
five ethnographic case studies of modern Western magic. The focus
of these ethnographic case studies is directed towards ideas and
methods the informants employ to self-legitimise and self-represent
as 'magicians'. It concludes by discussing the phenomenological
implications and issues around embodiment that are inherent to the
contemporary practice of magic. This is a unique insight into the
lived experience of practitioners of modern magic. As such, it will
be of keen interest to scholars of the Occult and New Religious
Movements, as well as Religious Studies academics examining issues
around the embodiment and the anthropology of religion.
In the Western world, magic has often functioned as an umbrella
term for various religious beliefs and ritual practices that seek
to influence events by harnessing supernatural power. The
definition of these myriad occult and esoteric traditions have,
however, usually come from those that are opposed to its practice;
notably authorities in religious, legal and intellectual spheres.
This book seeks to provide a new perspective, directly from the
practitioners of modern Western magic, by exploring how a
distinctive mode of embodiment and consciousness can produce a
transition from an 'ordinary' to a 'magical' worldview. Starting
with an introduction to the study of magic in the Western academy,
the book then presents the author's own participant observation of
five ethnographic case studies of modern Western magic. The focus
of these ethnographic case studies is directed towards ideas and
methods the informants employ to self-legitimise and self-represent
as 'magicians'. It concludes by discussing the phenomenological
implications and issues around embodiment that are inherent to the
contemporary practice of magic. This is a unique insight into the
lived experience of practitioners of modern magic. As such, it will
be of keen interest to scholars of the Occult and New Religious
Movements, as well as Religious Studies academics examining issues
around the embodiment and the anthropology of religion.
Occult Traditions is the manifestation of the endeavours of
scholars and practitioners alike exploring and challenging both
historical and contemporary perspectives on the occult arts and
sciences. The title of this book serves as a testimony for the
occult acting as a designation of currents and traditions of
esoteric philosophy, and magic as a participatory worldview
manipulated as an instrument by the active person through the
execution of the art and science of ritual, which is an extension
grounded in the belief in magical powers within the self and other.
Each page bears witness to aspects of occult traditions, which are
in essence simultaneously meta-historical and dynamic, serving as
an overall ordering force in service of the principles of the
arcane correspondences that exist between the microcosm and the
macrocosm. This book is an awakening to the occult reality that
since the dawn of ages men and women have sought a glimpse of gn
sis within the awesome natural performance of ritual, the
slithering flow of the elements, the sensational sounds of the
spheres, the iconic form of dreams undreamt and now awoken, the
irrational whispering of mystical verses, the silence of
contemplation, and the passion drenched erotic thirst for life,
death, and rebirth. Unlike the priesthood of sterile logic and
doctrinal faith, these men and women have been a visible
representation of spiritual virility, of the human condition, and
many times the romantic ethos, which many have convicted as an
antinomian ethos, refusing, adapting, and also enchanting the
dictates of conventional society, morality, and metaphysical
culture. Thus, Occult Traditions invites the reader to journey
along with the authors and conjurors, who have been generous enough
to share their visions and gestures in this book, through various
traditions relating to distinct historical developments, unique
occult philosophies, and potent ritual practice. Here the reader
shall encounter summoning magical assistants and the presence of
the mystery traditions in the Greek Magical Papyri; deification
through the arcane process of drowning in the Greek Magical Papyri;
an exploration of occult theology as a continuation of
Neoplatonism; a historical analysis of the grimoire traditions and
a search for the original source of the Key of Solomon; the
Icelandic tradition of magic as presented in an eighteenth century
grimoire; a comparative analysis of medieval and Renaissance angel
magic; Canaanite views of death and necromancy; an exploration of
the use and attributes of incenses throughout history; a
consideration of the science of divining the will of the gods; Seth
as god of chaos and equilibrium; Julius Evola's ideas concerning
the formula of sex, magic, and power; Buddhist 'wizards' at war in
Thailand; a critical examination of the role of sex, magic, and
initiation in the Wiccan Great Rite; the dynamics of altering
consciousness within the spiral maze of Wiccan ritual; a
restoration of the Rite of the Headless One from the Greek Magical
Papyri; the elements of being and becoming in Conversation with
one's Holy Guardian Angel; the Eucharistic Feast of Agathodaimon;
the Rite of the Solar and Lunar Mysteries of the Altar of Eros for
the Consecration of the Talismans of Helios and Selene; the Calling
and Adoration of Aion, and the Spell of the Mystic Flame; and
finally the Hymnic Adoration and Invocation of Thoth, to whom this
book belongs, as He is lord of magic and scribe of the gods.
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