Chymical Wedding

Magic, like science, must be studied according to the level of knowledge and technical expertise of the time in which it is being studied. Depending upon which tradition or system of magic you’re studying, you’ll find that there’s been quite a good bit of advancement since the Renaissance. At least in the Western Esoteric Tradition (really a group of historically related traditions), there really is no such thing as a “pure” strain; everything is synchretic. Kabbalah has come into contact with Eastern systems like Zen and Tantra, for example; Hermetics has come into contact with Zen, Tantra, Yoga, and Taoism among others. A lot of good material has come out of these relationships, though Kabbalah and Hermetics both remain essentially Kabbalah and Hermetics. Thus, we have to work up a modern list of “classics” and let the older classics rest in their proper place: history.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t respect the magicians who have gone before us, or the works which they have left us. I just happen to feel that they must be kept in perspective. Most of them have little to no real value to them beyond history, considering the vast reams of more practical materials which we have at our disposal today. I thank those magicians who have come before for the work which they performed to my benefit, for the books which they left to me, and for their courage in sustaining their practice in the face of religious, cultural and political forces of opposition. Their written works are of exceptional value on that level.

The majority of medieval and Renaissance grimoires are of exactly zero practical value for a modern magician. We have learned better. We know that Heaven is not physically above us, nor is Hell physically below us. There is not a vengeful Zeus-like Jehovah in the clouds over our heads at all times awaiting any excuse to strike us down, nor are there hordes of demons slathering at the mouth just outside of our magic circles hoping for a careless finger to slip over the chalk lines on the floor. While they all have some historical interest, none of them are terribly practical for a well-educated member of the 21st century. The only exception is, of course, The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. It is qualitatively different in important ways. In a big way, its author was prescient of the developments in the Sacred Magic in the 19th and 20th centuries, insofar as the spirituality of magic has opened up to allow people of all faiths (or none) admittence into the Mysteries. The author is plain about the fact that the Sacred Magic is workable by Christian, Jew, Muslim or (*gasp*) Pagan, as long as they are willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the One God (which, by the way, most classical Pagans historically have, even before the advent of Christianity). The main aim of Abramelin is the attainment of Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel; that is, the communion of the mortal magician with his or her Angelic Guide. It is, in fact, from this book that we have borrowed the term “Knowledge and Conversation, etc.” Rather than focusing on how to command the lowest sort of spirits to find us treasure and to make women dance naked before us (yes, some of the Goetic demons are supposed to possess that power), Abramelin is more concerned with the conscious evolution of the human worker, and on using one’s magical powers (which do include commanding lower spirits) to do good works in the world.

We come now to the work of Cornelius Agrippa. His Three Books of Occult Philosophy and the subsequent attributed work, Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, are epic manuals of Hermetic natural magic and practical Kabbalah. As Joseph Lisiewski, one of the last worshippers of the almost-useless “classics”, aptly pointed out Three Books is a manual of theory, while the Fourth Book provides practical working examples of the theory presented in the first three. Together, even if the Fourth is almost certainly not from the hand of Cornelius Agrippa, the four books provide a complete course in the magic of the early Renaissance. It is exceptionally useful for historical researches for this reason, and also still holds some practical usefulness to those of us interested in Hermetic natural magic (although there are better books on the subject now, they do not always contain the vast wealth of information on the subject found in some of these older books).

Eliphas Levi is still worshipped by many, including our friend Joseph Lisiewski as well as most of Aleister Crowley’s modern followers. Levi’s materials are more useless than any other books of magic that I can think of. He literally provides nothing practical in any of his books, but instead tries to impress the reader with his vast knowledge of Kabbalah (which is actually almost nonexistent, if you compare his “Kabbalah” with either Jewish or Hermetic sources). If you want the best out of Eliphas Levi’s works, read the translations by A. E. Waite; Waite has a dry wit that cuts through the irrelevancies and absurdities of Levi’s works and his outlandish claims and his footnotes make Levi entertaining and worth reading, though really still no more than an amusement.  It is more than clear that Levi actually never tried any of the stuff he wrote about. He was too busy trying to figure out if he was really Catholic or not.

Aleister Crowley is the last Western Esoteric source of “classics” to be dealt with in this list. I’m sorry to say it, but Crowley was a miserable man. He did little more with his life than struggle in a herculean fashion with his Puritan upbringing, and his occult writings do little more than to reinforce his seeming inability to come to any sort of peace with this own background. He abused women and children and indulged in excessive drug use to the effect of becoming a syphilitic dope fiend by the end of his haggard life. His books are every bit as useless as Levi’s (Levi was one of his heroes, and he claimed one of his past incarnations), being full of superfluous theory and very little of any lasting value. Crowley’s greatest addition to occult literature was his sense of humor, which was sharp and constantly moving. In a literature so often taken deadly serious, humor is always a breath of fresh air. This has had a lasting effect insofar as authors since Crowley have felt free to make jokes and use humor as a teaching tool (as it has long been in certain Eastern and other traditions).

Our greatest modern classics pick up where such works as Three Books and The Sacred Magic of Abramelin leave off. Israel regardie is a perfect place to start, as he was one of Crowley’s students. Unlike Crowley, Regardie had both a sense of humor and self-discipline enough to actually perform the Work. His books are still quite valuable. While he tended to focus on the Golden Dawn’s system of Hermetic magic, his insights into that system are universally applicable and provide wit and wisdom for modern magicians of all stripes. His little volume The One Year Manual is still one of the single finest basic training manuals in occultism, providing at least one years’ worth of spiritual and magical exercises designed to profoundly alter one’s experience of the world with a minimum of time and effort. It is a good introduction to real spiritual practice. If you can make it through Regardie’s one year, you have a flawless foundation upon which to build.

Dion Fortune has a relatively large following among not only Hermetics and Kabbalists, but also Neopagans, and this is a good thing. Fortune’s works are clear and plainly written, and readily available in major bookstores. Of course, The Mystical Qabalah is her best known and most important book. It remains one of the best general introductions to Kabbalistic cosmology available. Fortune’s one drawback is her bizarre support of “the political status quo”. She states explicitly in What Is Occultism? that it is the duty of a magical initiate to uphold the establishment of their society. I find that the reality is quite different: a magician’s duty is to challenge the problems with society and with “the system” not out of a childish need for rebellion, but out of a genuine desire for a more humane civilization.

William G. Gray, one of Dion Fortune’s inheritors, has done more than almost any other single author to advance the state of modern Western magic. Stripping away obsolete language and irrelevant symbols, Gray has provided us with two college-level manuals of magical ritual construction and performance. Inner Traditions of Magic is a fabulous introduction to magical ritual, with more than enough to challenge even advanced magicians. Magical Ritual Methods picks up from there and details the workings of Western rituals from start to finish, providing an entire course of study and practice in Hermetic and Kabbalistic ritualism (though with lessons designed to be easily applicable to nearly any system).

Franz Bardon, like Gray, is one of the unsung heroes of modern Western magic. His Initiation Into Hermetics is the single finest manual of modern Hermetic magic available. It takes us through the very basics, all the way through the advanced end of intermediate magical practice. In a big way, IIH has taken the place of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage by leading the magician to Knowledge and Conversation, and then beyond. Bardon followed up this classic with two more books of great importance: The Practice of Magical Evocation and Key to the True Quabbalah (Kabbalah) which form powerful adjuncts to IIH’s course of progression.

There are more modern authors who could be mentioned in detail, like Mark Stavish (The Path of Alchemy and Kabbalah for Health and Wellness) and John Michael Greer (Encyclopedia of Natural Magic and Earth Divination, Earth Magic). While I consider their works to be of great value to modern magicians, only time will tell if they will be counted among “the classics”.