Modern Revivals of Magic
During the 1890s there was a revival of interest in ritual magic in Europe among both intellectuals and traditional occultists.
This ‘‘occult underground’’ permeated much of the intellectual life and progressive movements in Europe, in contrast to the more popular preoccupation with Spiritualism and table turning.
Symbolic of this magic revival was the founding of the famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which numbered among its members such individuals as Annie Horniman (sponsor of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Florence Farr (mistress of George Bernard Shaw), S. L. MacGregor Mathers, William Butler Yeats, Arthur Machen, and Arthur Edward Waite. Another famous member was the magician Aleister Crowley, who left the order to found his own organization, A∴A∴, and then become head of the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis. Crowley’s more psychologically sophisticated presentation of magic came to dominate twentieth-century thought on magic, even among those who rejected various portions of it, such as its emphasis on sex, mind-altering drugs, and egocentricity. A more sinister aspect of magic was the current
of occult thought that flowed into and undergirded Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
During the 1930s there was an outbreak of public interest in the occult in Britain and Europe, and a number of significant books on magic were published. Their influence was limited only by the relatively smaller influence of mass media at that time and by the conservatism of intellectual life. Exceptional individuals like Aleister Crowley flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, but were deplored by polite society, which regarded
such occultists as scandalous misfits.
A second wave of popular occultism flared up in the 1950s in Britain and North America, fueled largely by reprints of key books published during the 1930s. This modern interest in magic, however, had little in common with the outlook and ideals of medieval magicians and followers of the hermetic art.
It stemmed largely from the trendiness of postwar affluence and the desire for sensationalist indulgence. The occult explosion led in the 1960s to Satanism and black magic cults. Much of modern occultism has been influenced by the use of mindaltering
drugs.
During this modern period, one long-kept secret of occultism became generally discussed—that of the importance of sexual energy in dynamizing the processes of magic. Although this factor was well known to some occultists in Persia, China, and India, it was rediscovered in the early twentieth century and increasingly and openly discussed in the writings of Aleister Crowley and his disciples.
Throughout this century practitioners of magic have made some extraordinary claims about achieving desired ends.
There are still two opinions among occultists as to how such feats are achieved. One is that desired effects in the physical world are produced through the operator’s willpower, assisted by various ritual practices. The other opinion, still held by a minority, is that desired effects are achieved by means of spirit entities evoked during rituals. (Among skeptics there are various mundane explanations for the seemingly positive results of magic activity.)
During the 1890s there was a revival of interest in ritual magic in Europe among both intellectuals and traditional occultists.
This ‘‘occult underground’’ permeated much of the intellectual life and progressive movements in Europe, in contrast to the more popular preoccupation with Spiritualism and table turning.
Symbolic of this magic revival was the founding of the famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which numbered among its members such individuals as Annie Horniman (sponsor of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Florence Farr (mistress of George Bernard Shaw), S. L. MacGregor Mathers, William Butler Yeats, Arthur Machen, and Arthur Edward Waite. Another famous member was the magician Aleister Crowley, who left the order to found his own organization, A∴A∴, and then become head of the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis. Crowley’s more psychologically sophisticated presentation of magic came to dominate twentieth-century thought on magic, even among those who rejected various portions of it, such as its emphasis on sex, mind-altering drugs, and egocentricity. A more sinister aspect of magic was the current
of occult thought that flowed into and undergirded Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
During the 1930s there was an outbreak of public interest in the occult in Britain and Europe, and a number of significant books on magic were published. Their influence was limited only by the relatively smaller influence of mass media at that time and by the conservatism of intellectual life. Exceptional individuals like Aleister Crowley flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, but were deplored by polite society, which regarded
such occultists as scandalous misfits.
A second wave of popular occultism flared up in the 1950s in Britain and North America, fueled largely by reprints of key books published during the 1930s. This modern interest in magic, however, had little in common with the outlook and ideals of medieval magicians and followers of the hermetic art.
It stemmed largely from the trendiness of postwar affluence and the desire for sensationalist indulgence. The occult explosion led in the 1960s to Satanism and black magic cults. Much of modern occultism has been influenced by the use of mindaltering
drugs.
During this modern period, one long-kept secret of occultism became generally discussed—that of the importance of sexual energy in dynamizing the processes of magic. Although this factor was well known to some occultists in Persia, China, and India, it was rediscovered in the early twentieth century and increasingly and openly discussed in the writings of Aleister Crowley and his disciples.
Throughout this century practitioners of magic have made some extraordinary claims about achieving desired ends.
There are still two opinions among occultists as to how such feats are achieved. One is that desired effects in the physical world are produced through the operator’s willpower, assisted by various ritual practices. The other opinion, still held by a minority, is that desired effects are achieved by means of spirit entities evoked during rituals. (Among skeptics there are various mundane explanations for the seemingly positive results of magic activity.)
