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Similarly, we seek to avoid the implied critique of the complex content of the curricula evident in Webb,[87] and Gibbons who argues that the occult philosophy has a “merely compensatory function.”[88] In fact, Webb, whose ambivalent sympathy for the matter is confused, goes so far as to say that the occult tradition is singularly characterised as “world-rejecting,” whilst ignoring the vast range of methods taught within such groups to engage magically with the world itself in everyday life.[89]
Our analysis will call upon the work of René Guénon[90] and others such as his nephew and student, Luc Benoist,[91] in subjecting the curricula to the conceptual model of landscapes, sign-posts and qualifications – of subjective and objective esotericism (the student experience and the taught content) and of the relationship of experience and tradition.
Western Esotericism, Rituals and Knowledge
One recent examination of ceremonial practice in Western esoteric groups is Henrik Bogdan’s book, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation (2007). Bogdan matches his research paradigms to those similar to Yates, Faivre and Hanegraaff, whilst noting the limitations of each – the Hermetic tradition implied by Yates, the validity of Faivre’s defining components to post-18th century currents, and whilst appearing to favour Hanegraaff, Bogdan notes this latter’s approach as being open between a spectrum of reductionism and all-inclusiveness.[92]
Bogdan usefully adds the importance attached to personal religious experience – a theme to which we will return – and the introjections of the concept of personal Will into the schema of magical practice. We will trace this particular development in full as it is of significance to the practitioner experience and the aim of the curricula, particularly following the work of the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). We will see how Crowley’s definition of magic, later transformed by Dion Fortune (1890-1946), has informed the aim and attraction of magical practice throughout the revival of neo-paganism and into popular culture.
In relation to Faivre’s definition of esotericism on the basis of six characteristics (see later), Bogdan categorises texts in four manners, implicitly or explicity esoteric in content, according to Faivre’s components. However, having established this categorisation, Bogdan later concentrates far more on the rituals of initiation rather than the taught content or ‘in-between’ teachings that fill-in the student experience between those rituals.
It is my view that these teachings are often neglected due to their complexity and diversity, and in favour of already established paradigms for examining ritual, particularly initiatory ritual. It is similar to the Sufi parable about looking for a lost key in the light of a street lamp rather than at the door where one lost it, because there it is darker. Although such rituals are a key component of many of the groups we are to survey, the student experience would be far more involved with learning – and being taught – magical practices and concepts than the occasional (albeit important) ritual initiation.
Faivre also implicitly directs us away from the taught content:
The best way to locate any of these six components in a discourse, a work, a ritual, etc., is not to look for doctrinal tenets, but to try and find evidence of their presence in concrete manifestations like images, symbols, styles, etc.[93]
Bogdan himself concentrates the study of his work upon the rituals of initiation; those of the Freemasons, the Golden Dawn, the O.T.O., and modern Wicca or witchcraft. He analyses the structure and basic components of these rituals, and concludes that the rituals can be seen as ‘mirrors’ of the esoteric currents of the time, and that the symbols encountered within those rituals are concerned with an ‘esoteric worldview’. Although the former conclusion is fully demonstrated in the work, the argument that the rituals reflect an esoteric worldview is not fully developed.
Similarly, in the whole of the work, the taught content is barely touched upon other than as a diversion to demonstrate the introduction of sexual magic into the curriculum of the O.T.O., leaving the penultimate paragraph of the entire study to briefly and generically outline:
These [esoteric] teachings are often concentrated in the instructional part of the rituals, and can consist of such topics as alchemy, astrology, and magic.[94]
In academia, the structure and workings – even the specific content of teachings – of esoteric groups is often ignored in treating these groups through the lenses of reception, historiography, sociological modelling, and literary critique. This is evident in earlier publications of material for an academic appreciation of Western esotericism. A key writer on the Golden Dawn, R.A. Gilbert (1987), wrote on his selection of A.E. Waite’s papers for publication:
Of the remaining twelve essays, five are on mysticism, three are on rituals, and four concern the structure and working of the Order; they are all of lesser interest than the six published here.[95]
The otherwise laudable and comprehensive – indeed, monumental – two volume Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (2005) has no individual entry for initiation, although it has one for imagination.[96] Neither does it treat grades, although it treats many other subjects.
However, it does reference at length the concepts – prevalent in Western esotericism – of hierarchies, and intermediaries, which provide the cosmological backdrop for Faivre’s (1994) components of the Western esoteric tradition, specifically, correspondence and, in turn, the fundamental backdrop for concepts of graduated ascent which is central to the magical curricula that we present here.[97]
It is fair to point out that some scholars have recognised the importance of content, but have usually approached it in a dismissive way. The following observation by Daniel van Egmond is an example:
A comprehensive comparative study of the doctrines and practices of these Western esoteric schools with those of some of the established traditions might enable us to discover the main causes of their failures, and might help us to understand their importance as a spiritual phenomenon, even within our own culture.[98]
A more distinct argument, whilst not from a recognised scholar, in favour of appreciation of the teachings of esoteric organisations may be discerned in the work of René Guénon (1886-1947). In an appreciative summary of Guénon’s work, Borella writes:
It remains to be said that the metaphysical conception of symbolism he [Guénon] laid out is doubtless the only one that (intelligibly and without any diminution) allows one to take in all the sacred scriptures and thus escapes the destructive deviations of modernism.[99]
The Problem of Magic and the Occult
Green argues that magic has been unjustly neglected by contemporary sociology.[100] He defies this neglect by freely using the term ‘magic’ and editing a journal entitled Journal for the Academic Study of Magic. More broadly, there seems to be wariness on the part of academics to refer to ‘magic’ and the ‘occult’ rather than the preferred category of ‘Western esotericism’. A brief survey of academic titles demonstrates a slight majority of titles favouring the ‘esoteric’ brand.
However, most groups that we survey will be seen to be self-defined as ‘occult’ groups and teaching ‘magic’. The term ‘magic’ is often confined to primitive societies, and it is here until recently that sociology has concerned itself; Weber, Durkheim and Mauss’s tribal studies are typical.[101] Only recently has a sociological and anthropological eye been turned to the contemporary practice of magic, namely Green,[102] Evans,[103] Luhrmann,[104] and Greenwood,[105] whilst others have concerned themselves with the neo-pagan community, such as Clifton[106] in the United States, and Hutton.[107]
Luhrmann usefully introduces the idea of different discourses that are perceived by the practitioner during the study of magic (an area we will examine), and notes that the practice of magic is interesting as a flamboyant example of a common process, “That when people get involved in an activity they develop ways of interpreting which make that activity meaningful even though it may seem foolish to the uninvolved.”[108] It is this activity we will examine from the
student experience – what was practised and what interpretation was placed upon the practice by the practitioner?
Treatments of the Magical Orders
There are substantial treatments of only a few of the diverse groups who have claimed to be bearers of the Western esoteric tradition, none more so than the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888.[109] In these treatments we see an array of biography, sociological analysis (often concentrating upon the initiation rituals or political in-fighting of charismatic leaders) and reproduction of source materials in collations of letters and teaching materials, such as the ‘Knowledge Lectures’ distributed by the order.
There are no comprehensive attempts to analyse the teachings themselves, which are given verbatim, or to trace the development of those teachings over time. There are neither attempts to comment upon the student experience or the specific attraction of such teachings, which often required substantial investments of time and energy to accomplish, particularly in practical matters such as the creation of magical implements and tools – a task to which even W.B. Yeats applied himself.[110]
There are other groups that have received specific attention. The documents of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, active from around 1895, have been disclosed by Godwin, Chanel and Deveney, with biographical sketches of influential members such as Max Theon, Peter Davidson, Thomas Henry Burgoyne, and Paschal Beverly Randolph. We may see here that it is essential to carefully survey the teachings of each group; here we see that a form of sexual magic was likely being taught[111] prior to the earliest claimed by others such as Bogdan (2007). In fact, work from the group published as the Light of Egypt (1889) by Thomas H. Burgoyne, writing as Zanoni, has an entire chapter on the ‘Mysteries of Sex’.[112]
Other groups are perhaps more well-known and yet have been little approached by academic studies; where these groups are still active, public or have surviving members, there is often distrust of ‘outsider’ enquires. Such groups include AMORC, the Rosicrucian Order, the O.T.O., and the Order of the Cubic Stone. Still others are active and well known in the ‘New Age’ community: the Servants of Light, the Society of the Inner Light, and the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) amongst these. All of the aforementioned have structured curricula of study.
The teachings of these groups is rarely made public. On occasion a private student publishes material, such as David Edwards from the Order of the Cubic Stone, whose slim volume, Dare to Make Magic, includes basic instructions from that group.[113] We know much of the earlier Golden Dawn teachings through publication of its private materials by Aleister Crowley in his journal of ‘scientific illumism’, The Equinox, and Israel Regardie’s monumental publication of the Complete Golden Dawn, which proved to be far from such.
Other lesser known groups will also be examined throughout The Magister, such as Clifford Bias’ Ancient Mystical Order of Seekers (AMOS) and C.C. Zain’s Brotherhood of Light.
The Teachings of Individual Esoteric Teachers and Followers
There have been a number of recent scholarly incursions into occult groups, such as the Typhonian O.T.O. ,[114] Order of Dagon or the Dragon Rouge.[115] Not surprisingly, groups which have been open to such study have on the whole benefitted from having their work promoted within and without academia. The academic is congratulated on his access to the group, and the group is often given an air of ‘established recognition’ by the study. We should also note that a number of strands of Western esoteric teachings were developed by individuals whose works proved popular and attracted followers whilst not establishing an organisation themselves. Such authors include Franz Bardon and Ophiel, whose works have attracted small numbers of nonetheless devoted followers of a variety of esoteric teachings and techniques, namely ritual and kabbalah in Bardon and astral travel in Ophiel.[116]
This volume will also reference lesser known authors in the Western esoteric field during the past century, including Eldon Templar, whose works The Path of the Magus and The Tree of Hru serve as examples of the curriculum applied to spiritual development, and far earlier examples of New Thought teachers explicitly demonstrating the ascent narrative in their teachings, such as the Astarian Society.
The complex cosmological backdrop of the curriculum can be read in such works as The Hidden Way Across the Threshold, written in 1887 by J.C. Street, a “Fellow of the Order S.S.S. and of the Brotherhood Z.Z. R.R. Z.Z.” At this time, we see a bridging of spiritualistic practice, mediumship and magical practice of a Hermetic nature. We will later see such transition points of the curriculum and its relationship to defining a tradition.
That the work of these esoteric organisations was primarily teaching to serve the aim of initiation is undoubted; from the beginning of the Golden Dawn society, one of the three primary founders, Westcott, had been keen to develop a full curriculum from the rudiments of the ‘cypher manuscripts’.
Conclusion
It will be argued that the magical curriculum is more than what Gibbons partially dismisses as a “compensatory function” or even a “palpable absurdity” for which “mystification is its best protection”[117] rather it is a means of reintegration through a project that has its roots in Neo-Platonism, the Renaissance and throughout the entire corpus of Western esotericism.[118]
The Academic and Esoteric Encounter
In introducing the magical curriculum – the very prima materia of the Western esoteric tradition – it is necessary to trace the academic history that precedes this study, and highlight salient issues with the encounter of the scholar and the esotericist.[119]
The specific issue of knowledge deemed esoteric – the very nature of that knowledge – and neutrality with regard to that knowledge must be identified and acknowledged. We must also position our study with regard to the nascence of academic approaches, recognising both the limits and opportunities of a field in the earliest stage of development. We will conclude with a summary of the contemporary milieu.
It is understated to remark that the scope of Western esotericism is vast, the corpus both complex and obscure. The language, terminology and cosmological schema are both cross-cultural and specialised. The appropriation of cultural references spanning the whole of recorded time and with no respect for geographical boundaries further bulks out this material, making it impenetrable to many. A tradition of correspondence between systems as varied as science and Jewish mysticism adds further layers to this morass. We might take for example this example from a classic theosophical text:
The meaning is plain.* They [the three steps] are all symbols, and emblematic, mutually and correlatively, of Spirit, Soul and Body (MAN); of the circle transformed into Spirit, the Soul of the World, and its body (of Earth). Stepping outside of the Circle of Infinity, that no man comprehendeth, Ain-Soph (the Kabalistic synonym for Parabrahm, for the Zeroana Akerne, of the Mazdeans, or any other ‘UNKNOWABLE’) becomes ‘One’
– the ECHOD, the EKA, the AHU …[120]
*The numbers 3, 5, and 7 are prominent in speculative masonry, as shown in ‘Isis’. A mason writes:- “There are the 3, 5 and 7 steps to show a circular walk. The three faces of 3, 3; 5, 3; and 7, 3; etc., etc. Sometimes it comes in this form – 743/2
= 376.5 and 7635/2 = 3817.5 and the ratio of 20612/6561 feet for cubit measures gives the Great Pyramid measures,” etc., etc.[121]
It is perhaps this type of content which prompts Gibbons (2001) to propose that fragile intellectuals, “socially useless by commercial or industrial standards,” fall back on raising their trade into a mystery, and thus “occult philosophy in its pure form serves a merely compensatory function. Mystery is its own authority. A palpable absurdity is a challengeable absurdity, and mystification is its best protection.”[122] Criticism has been levelled at the late Victorian self-styled scholar-magicians, who have been found guilty of a “considerable confusion” in the eyes of contemporary scholars.[123]
The academic encounter of Western esotericism is as problematic as that of the same academic encounter
with religion. In the encounter, we may perceive early – for the study itself is nascent – evidence of the ‘false anxiety’ described by Penner and Yonan[124] where practitioners and scholars alike seek to either defend the ‘irreducible’ nature of the assemblage of actions, beliefs and values that constitute the esoteric corpus, or argue for a post-modern reductionalism deemed by Windschuttle to be the “killing of history.”[125] We might agree with Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade that esoteric belief, as religion, is a unique category – whilst distinguishing it somehow from religion – in its claim for a numinous and sacred space.[126] We might, however, wish to categorise its components to attain a definitional construct against which to analyse a corpus and deem it as belonging in the Western esoteric space.
There is further complication. The early pioneers of academic study were in fact the practitioners – insiders – themselves. Such practitioners and developers of the esoteric corpus at the turn of the 20th century – Lévi, Blavatsky, Westcott, Mathers, Waite, MacKenzie – considered themselves scholars of esoteric knowledge. Their ability and enthusiasm for research – Westcott himself wrote to a colleague, Theodor Reuss, to ask him to attain and preserve useful primary source material in Europe for study – is matched only by their ability to utilise that material in the support of their own esoteric claims.