M A G I C A L L I N E A G E
"In studying the history of the human mind one is impressed again and again by the fact that the growth of the mind is the widening of the range of consciousness, and that each step forward has been a most painful and laborious achievement. One could almost say that nothing is more hateful to man than to give up even a particle of his unconsciousness. Ask those who have tried to introduce a new idea!"
C. G. JUNG
C. G. JUNG
The figures listed below represent a tiny proportion of those who for millennia have been working behind the scenes of consensus reality gently spoon-feeding an unknowing and ungrateful humanity with morsels of true knowledge to fuel our spiritual development. They are representative of the 'generals' as well as the 'foot soldiers' of magic; and amongst their ranks you will also find the martyrs.
They are listed in order of their passing; although if there is a natural grouping I break the chronology. There is no implied hierarchy or comparison intended by juxtaposition. My focus is primarily the Western Mystery Tradition and its middle eastern origins; I have also included a few personal favourites from the Asian subcontinent.
On another page I have inserted these figures into a timeline of major events so that they can be viewed in the context of mundane history.
They are listed in order of their passing; although if there is a natural grouping I break the chronology. There is no implied hierarchy or comparison intended by juxtaposition. My focus is primarily the Western Mystery Tradition and its middle eastern origins; I have also included a few personal favourites from the Asian subcontinent.
On another page I have inserted these figures into a timeline of major events so that they can be viewed in the context of mundane history.
5,000 BC - 1610 AD
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1574 AD - 2011 AD
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Hermes Trismagistus (As distinct from Hermes) This is the big boy, the heavy hitter of magickal philosophy. Hermes to the Greeks and Thoth to the Egyptians Enoch to Jews and Idris to Muslems. The Greek god of interpretive communication combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom and patron of astrology and alchemy - the celestial scribe. In addition, both gods were charged with guiding souls to the afterlife. The Egyptian Priest Imhotep, deified long after his death, was assimilated into the Thoth identity in the classical and hellenistic period. And so it goes, you'll never get a straight answer out of Hermes; but he'll also never lie to you.
Enoch was thought to be Adam's greatx4 grandson, through Seth. Enoch is unique in that his life-span of 365 years is extremely short in the context of his long-lived peers, and he does not die, the Bible noting rather that "he was not, for God took him." Legend has it that he was taken up to Heaven and appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures. Enoch was credited as the inventor of writing, and teacher of astronomy and arithmetic. The 3rd Book of Enoch identifies Enoch as the Metatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In the Quran, Enoch is sometimes identified with Idris.
Idris an Islamic prophet mentioned in the Qur'an identified with the Biblical Enoch. It has been said that Idris was among the first men to
use the pen as well as being one of the first men to observe the movement of
the stars and set out scientific weights and measures. He probably lived during the ‘Generations of Adam’, the same era as Enoch. The founder of the Bahá'í
Faith, wrote: “The first person who devoted himself to philosophy was Idris…Some
called him also Hermes…In every tongue he hath a special name. After him
Balínús derived his knowledge and sciences from the Hermetic tablets...”
Imhotep (2655-2600BC) ‘the one who comes in peace’ was an Egyptian polymath, who served the Third
Dynasty king Djoser. Considered to be the first architect, engineer and physician.
Titles include Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the
King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman,
High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor, and Maker
of Vases in Chief. Two thousand years after his death, Imhotep's status was raised to that of a deity - the god of medicine and healing.
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (unknown - 1336BC or 1334BC) Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt abandoned traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the solar deity Aten. It is thought that he may have been murdered byelements of the the priesthood bent on re establishing the pantheistic status quo. In esoteric circles Akhenaten is believed to be the second manifestation of Hermes Trismagistus. His tomb was unearthed in 1907 by Edward R. Ayrton (please tell me I'm not the only one to have noticed the syncronicity).
Moses (1391–1271 BC) Moshe Rabbenu, in Hebrew, was the greatest prophet, leader that Judaism has ever known. Born into the tribe of Levi and raised as an Egyptian he was credited with writing the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Described as the only person that God spoke to directly, in plain language, not through visions and dreams, as God communicated with other prophets. Freud postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the monotheism of Akhenaten.
Balinas /Apollonius of Tyana (c 3BC to c 97AD) A 1st-century orator and philosopher, he was compared to Jesus of Nazareth by 4th century Christians. However, from then until the Age of Enlightenment, he was regarded as an enemy of the Church and a demonic magician bent on the overthrow of Christianity. Credited with the rediscovery of the Emerald Tablet, the cornerstone of Hermeticism, he is regarded in occult circles as the third manifestation (notice I don't say incarnation) of Hermes Trismagistus.
Jesus/The Christ (7 to 2BC—30 to 36AD) Jewish teacher and healer suposedly crucified in Jerusalem by Roman Prefect of Judaea for sedition against the Roman Empire. The name Jesus is a transliteration based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Iēsoûs, itself a Hellenisation of the Hebrew Yĕhōšuă (Joshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic Yēšûă meaning 'Yahweh delivers' or saves. (In the light of his contretemps with the 'money changers in the Temple' one shudders to think of his reaction to the antics of his followers down the centuries.)
Marcus Aurelius(121-180) Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor between 161 and 180 AD, and became one of the most important Stoic philosophers. His Meditations, written whilst on campaign between 170 and 180, describes how to achieve equanimity in the midst of conflict. 'Regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul' from Meditations. (On the basis that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' Marcus Aurelius, arguably overcame greatest disadvantage that could befall any philosopher. )
Mary the Jewess (around 200AD) also known as Maria Prophetessa, the first non-fictional alchemist. Referred to by almost all the early alchemists in terms of respect and reverence. Persian poet Nezami noted that Maria, a Syrian princess, visited the court of Alexander the Great and learned from Aristotle the art of making gold. Her name survives in the water-bath or baño maría, used in chemical and culinary processes in which require gentle heat. Noted for Maria's Cry: "One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth." Jung used this as a metaphor for the process of wholeness and individuation.
Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570–c. 495 BC) Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician. Travelled to Egypt and other places seeking knowledge. His followers pursued the religious rites and practices developed by Pythagoras, and studied his philosophical theories. Best known for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name. He believed in the reincarnation of the soul into the bodies of humans, animals, or vegetables until it became immortal. Pythagoras started a secret society called the Pythagorean brotherhood devoted to the study of mathematics. This had a great effect on future esoteric traditions, such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.
Socrates (c. 469 BC–399 BC) Classical Athenian philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. An enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers. Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics providing a foundation for much western philosophy that followed. Socrates relied on what the Greeks called his 'daemonic sign', an inner voice Socrates heard only when he was about to make a mistake. which he considered this to be a form of 'divine madness', the sort of insanity that is a gift from the gods and gives us poetry, mysticism, love, and even philosophy itself. Socrates was famously sentenced to die by drinking hemlock.
Plato (424/423–348/347 BC), Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Plato's academy operated until AD 529, when it was closed by Justinian I of Byzantium, who saw it as a threat to the propagation of Christianity.
Zosimos of Panopolis (end of 3rd - beginning 4th century AD ) Egyptian or Greek alchemist who wrote the oldest known books on alchemy. Arabic translations of texts by Zosimos were discovered in 1995 in a copy of a book by a Persian alchemist. Zosimos provided one of the first definitions of alchemy: “The study of the composition of waters, movement, growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies.” He asserted that the fallen angels taught the arts of metallurgy to the women they married, an idea also recorded in the Book of Enoch.
Mohammed ibn ‘Abdullāh (570-632) Founder of the religion of Islam considered by followers to be a messenger and prophet of God, the last law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets and the restorer of the uncorrupted original monotheistic faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. "If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and outstanding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad.” Alphonse de Lamartine (French writer, poet and politician).
Mansur Al-Hallaj (858 - 922) Even amongst fellow Sufis, Al-Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with common people. This was exacerbated by occasions when he would fall into trances and utter "I am The Truth", which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God. Utterances such as “I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I said: Who art Thou? He answered: Thou” led to his being found guilty of heresy and was condemned to public execution in 922. During his ordeal he kept repeating "I am the Truth" as they cut him to pieces.
Moshe ben Shem-Tov (1250 – 1305) Known as Moses De Leon. This guy's as good as any, and better than most, to represent the Kabbalists . A Spanish rabbi, he is thought to be the composer or redactor of the Zohar. He knew how to charm with brilliant and striking phrases without expressing any well-defined thought. In this works he deals with the human soul as "a likeness of its heavenly prototype," with its state after death, with its resurrection, and with the transmigration of souls. His name was very familiar to the philosophers of the Middle Ages.
Jacques de Molay (1240/1250-1340) The last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Philip IV of France, deep in financial in debt to the Templars, had Molay and many other French Templars arrested in 1307 and tortured into making false confessions. When Molay later recanted he was burned at the stake on an island in the Seine. Freemasonry has drawn liberally on Templar mystique for its own rituals and lore. (And if you are looking for a hero look no further than Jacques de Molay.)
Abraham of Worms (c. 1362-c. 1458) A German Jew who was taught a system of magic by Egyptian mage named Abramelin. This is described in The Book of Abramelin which regained popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries due to the efforts of MacGregor Mathers' translation. It was integrated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and later into the mystical system of Thelema (created in 1904 by Aleister Crowley). The text describes an elaborate and protracted ritual the purpose of which is to obtain the "knowledge and conversation" of the magician's Holy Guardian Angel (HGA).
Nicholas Flamel (1330s–1418) Parisian book dealer and scribe, bought a mysterious but indecipherable manuscript ‘The Book of Abraham the Jew’. Flamel and his wife allegedly deciphered enough to replicate a recipe for transmuting metals. From this point, they became astoundingly rich and devoted their lives to philanthropy. They established poor houses, founded free hospitals, and endowed churches. Flamel lived into his 80s and the last years of his life were spent writing books on alchemy. He designed his own tombstone, carved with arcane alchemical signs and symbols, which is the Musée de Cluny in Paris. (Got a bit part in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.)
Basil Valentine (c. 1394 - ?) The Anglicised version of the name Basilius Valentinus; author of a seminal alchemical work 'The 12 Keys'. Allegedly an 15th-century alchemist and Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Sankt Peter in Erfurt, Germany; but there is no evidence of such a name on the rolls in Germany or Rome and no mention of this name before 1600. During the 18th century it was suggested that the author of the works attributed to him was Johann Thölde, German alchemist , Salinist , author and publisher.
Marsilio Ficino(1433-1499) One of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance - an astrologer and reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day. His Florentine Academy had enormous influence on the direction and tenor of the Italian Renaissance and the development of European philosophy. He was the first to translate Plato's works into Latin and a collection of Hellenistic Greek documents of the Hermetic Corpus - particularly the Corpus Hermeticum of Hermes Trismegistos.
Johannes Trithemius(1462–1516) Most famous work entitled 'Steganographia' a book is in three volumes, which appears to be about magic - specifically, about using spirits to communicate over long distances. Since the publication of the decryption key to the first two volumes in 1606, they have been known to be actually concerned with cryptography and steganography. But then why was this book placed on the Roman Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1609 only removed in 1900? The work of Trithemius greatly influenced the Elisabethan mage John Dee.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim(1486-1535) Theologian, physician, legal expert and soldier. Author of the most comprehensive and most widely known book on magic - De occulta philosophia libri tres/Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Noted sayings include: "Nothing is concealed from the wise and sensible, while the unbelieving and unworthy cannot learn the secrets." He emphasized: "All things which are similar and therefore connected, are drawn to each other's power." This is now known as the law of resonance.
Paracelsus (1493-1541) A self adopted name meaning ‘equal to or greater than Celsus’ (Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus). Given name Auroleus Phillipus Theostratus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He held the 'Hermetical' view that health relied on the harmony of Man (the microcosm) and the Universe (macrocosm). Taught that illnesses had chemical remedies. He was unpopular with the medical establishment, not least because he got results, and he suffered persecution. (The term ‘bombastic’ derives from his name and could be another clue to his lack of popularity.)
Gordiano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited worlds populated by other intelligent beings. He was burned at the stake in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy for his pantheism. Described the world as a 'Beautiful Nothing'. (Mundus Nihil Pulcherrimum.)
John Dee (1527-1609) Gifted mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, spy and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. Spent much of his life in the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy. In 1582, he met Edward Kelley who became his 'seerer' and devoted his energies to 'spiritual conferences'. Dee developed a system of angel magic through the mediumship of Kelly which included a functional angelic language termed 'Enochian'. He died in Mortlake late in 1609 aged 82. Much of Dee's magical equipment is in the British Museum.
Edward Kelley (1555-1597) Came to prominence prominence working with John Dee in his magical investigations. Besides the professed ability to summon spirits or angels , which John Dee so valued, Kelley also claimed to possess the secret of transmuting base metals into gold. For a time he and John Dee earned patronage in Poland and Bohemia where the promise of alchemical gold made them popular with certain members of the aristocracy. His success rate can't have been that impressive because he was imprisoned more than once, and died escaping escaping from a castle in Bohemia. Or so they say.
Jakob Böhme (c. 1590-c.1610) German Christian mystic and theologian. Considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition. Böhme believed that the Son of God became human through the Virgin Mary. Unlike Luther he did not believe that Mary was the 'Ever Virgin'. Böhme's peculiar theological language, involved fire, light and spirit, which permeated his theology and Marian views. Böhme's writing shows the influence of Neoplatonist and alchemical writers such as Paracelsus.
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Robert Fludd (1574-1637) a prominent English Paracelsian physician, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist. Fludd studied medicine, chemistry and the occult on the European mainland, but he is best known for his occult research. He was the first person to identify the circulation of the blood, and arrived at the correct conclusion based on the hermetic macrocosm-microcosm analogy. He also produced an influential diagram illustrating the process of cognition for the study of perception, consciousness and psychology.
George Starkey (1628–1665) American alchemist, medical practitioner, and writer of numerous commentaries and chemical treatises that were widely circulated in Europe and influenced prominent men of science, including Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton. After relocating from New England to London in 1650, he is presumed to have begun writing under the pseudonym Eirenaeus Philalethes, although this connection has never been definitively established. Starkey became a victim of the Great Plague of London in 1665.
Isaac Newton, (1642 – 1727) Scientist and mathematician, wrote many works explored chronology, alchemy, and Biblical interpretation that would now be classified as occult.
Some have commented that reference to 'Newtonian Worldview' as mechanistic is inaccurate. The economist John Maynard Keynes is quoted as saying "Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians." Newton, the alchemist, completed his career as Master of the Royal Mint. (So nothing suspicious there then.) Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic and theologian. In 1741 at the age of fifty-three he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine and that he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels and demons. His writings have fascinated many notable people including Immanuel Kant, William Blake, Goethe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Balzac, Jorge Luis Borges, August Strindberg, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Carl Jung.
Francis Barrett (c.1770-c.1780) English student of chemistry, metaphysics, and the occult. Known to be an extreme eccentric who gave lessons in the magical arts and fastidiously translated Kabbalistic and other ancient texts into English. Enthusiastic about reviving interest in the occult arts, and published a magical textbook called ‘The Magus’ consisting of elements of Cornelius Agrippa's published works which dealt with the natural magic of herbs and stones, magnetism, talismanic magic, alchemy, numerology, the elements, and biographies of famous adepts from history. Greatly influenced influenced Eliphas Levi.
Antoine Court de Gébelin (1719-1784) Frenchman, former Protestant pastor and freemason; considered to be the intellectual grandfather of modern occultism. His intellectual focus was on the universal origins of language and the Hermetic origins of symbolism. He identified the Tarot deck as a repository of the Hermetic secrets of the Egyptians. He reconstructed Tarot history and was responsible for the mystical connection of the major arcane with the Hebrew alphabet. His suggestions for cartomancy gave birth to the practice of tarot reading.
Count Alessandro Cagliostro (1743 -1795) Alias of the Giuseppe Balsamo, an Italian 'adventurer'. Cult figure of European Masonry in the tumultuous years leading to the French Revolution. He professed magical powers, including imortality, conferred by his self devised Egyptian Rite. Arrested by the Inquisition in Rome as "a enchanter occupied with unlawful studies" he was tried and condemned to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment following intervention by a mysterious benefactor. He died in miserable conditions in 1795.
William Blake (1757-1827) poet, painter, and printmaker, and mystic. He embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "Human existence itself". A friend gave the following account of his death: “He died ... in a most glorious manner. He said he was going to that country he had all His life wished to see and expressed himself happy, hoping for salvation through Jesus Christ - just before he died his countenance became fair. His eyes brighten'd and he burst out Singing of the things he saw in Heaven.”
Eliphas Lévi (1810-1875) born Alphonse Louis Constant, French occult author and magician. He identified three fundamental principles of magic: [1] the material universe is only a small part of total reality [2] human willpower is capable of achieving anything [3] humans are a microcosm of the macrocosmic universe. He had a deep impact on the magic of the Golden Dawn and his writings were one of the key forces behind the twentieth century magical revival.
Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875) American medical doctor, occultist, Spiritualist, trance medium, writer and free man of mixed-race. The first person to openly introduce the principles of sex magic to North America. Lectured in favor of the abolition of slavery and after emancipation taught literacy to freed slaves. Published both fictional and instructive books based on his theories of health, sexuality, Spiritualism and occultism. Promoted birth control when it was illegal to mention this topic. Heavily influenced twentieth century occultists and practitioners of sex magic, Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley.
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) Born Helena von Hahn . At 17 she escaped (on horseback) from an unhappy marriage to forty-year old Nikifor Vassilievich Blavatsky and became a prolific world traveller. She built a reputation as a powerful psychic and eventually settled in India where, with Henry Steel Olcott, she established the Theosophical Society. Her first major book Isis Unveiled presented elements from the Western wisdom tradition coloured by her extensive travels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Col. Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) was the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society and was among the first Westerners to become a Buddhist. He devoted his life to the renaissance of Buddhist culture in Southeast Asia. So greatly is his contribution valued in Sri Lanka that February 17 is celebrated as Olcott Day. He wrote a Buddhist catechism, and elementary handbook. The book became a bestseller and was translated into more than twenty languages.
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854 - 1918) In 1891 he assumed leadership of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. A gifted ritualist, Mathers produced some of the finest teachings in the Western Esoteric Tradition. Literary works include The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, The Kabbalah Unveiled, The Key of Solomon The King, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and the Grimoire of Armadel. (Counted one time friend and pupil Aleister Crowley amongst his enemies.)
(Albert Karl) Theodor Reuss (1855-1923) Anglo-German tantric occultist, utopian socialist, journalist, singer, spy and promoter of Women's Liberation. Successor to Carl Kellner as head of Ordo Templi Orientis O.T.O. Professional singer in his youth, worked under Richard Wagner. Became a journalist and travelled frequently to England, where he became a Mason in 1876. Whilst in England, Reuss joined the Socialist League as an anarchist but was expelled as a police spy. Reuss met Aleister Crowley and in 1910 made Crowley a VII° of O.T.O. After his death Crowley added Reuss to the list of Gnostic Saints listed in the Gnostic Mass.
Dion Fortune (1890–1946) Born Violet Mary Firth Evans was born in 1890 with innate psychic ability. In 1919 she was initiated into the London Temple of the Alpha et Omega before transferring to the Stella Matutina order. From 1919 she began writing a number of novels and short stories that explored various aspects of magic and mysticism. Her book 'The Mystical Qabalah' published in 1935, is regarded as one of the best books on magic ever written.
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) born Edward Alexander Crowley. "For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the diminutives Ted or Ned were even less appropriate. I had read in some book or other that the most favourable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a dactyl followed by a spondee, as at the end of a hexameter: Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions." ("Do what thou wilt...")
Lady Frieda Harris (1877 - 1962) Married to Liberal Party MP and Chief Whip Percy Harris. Lady Harris created the artwork for Aleister Crowley's Thoph tarot pack. Throughout the project she insisted on anonymity, but revelled in working for such a notorious man. Crowley wrote to the photoengraver of the deck: "I should like to emphasise that I am absolutely devoted to Lady Harris, and have the evidence of countless acts of kindness on her part, indicating that her feelings toward me are similar". Neither Crowley or Harris lived to see the deck printed.
Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) Prolific author of occult works and much lampooned for his verbosity. He made an enemy of Aleister Crowley (not difficult) who characterised him in the villainous Arthwate in his novel Moonchild. Waite is best known as the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, illustrated by fellow Golden Dawn member Pamela Colman Smith, and first published in 1909. Rider-Waite Tarot deck was notable for being one of the first tarot decks to illustrate the lesser arcana as well as the major arcana.
Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) What can you say about a girl with a smile like that? Her nickname, Pixi, says it all. I have been in love with this woman from the second I glimpsed this portrait, which sits on my desk as I write. Not a lot is known of her apart from the fact that she was a gifted artist, a member of the Golden Dawn and illustrated the now ubiquitous Waite/Rider tarot pack. And that's not such an insubstantial claim to fame.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 –1961) a Swiss psychiatrist the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung reexamined alchemical symbolism and and presented the inner meaning of alchemical work as a spiritual path. Jung saw alchemy as a Western proto-psychology dedicated to the achievement of individuation. "Only by discovering alchemy have I clearly understood that the unconscious is a process and that ego's rapports with the unconscious and his contents initiate an evolution, more precisely a real metamorphoses of the psyche." (Pick the bones out of that.)
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner(1861-1925) Austrian philosopher, social thinker, architect, and philosopher. Founded a spiritual movement, ‘Anthroposophy’, an esoteric discipline with links to Theosophy. Steiner devoted himself to developing a synthesis between science and mysticism. He worked collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, the movement arts and architecture. After the First World War, Steiner worked with educators, farmers, doctors, and other professionals to develop Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and anthroposophical medicine .
Sir James Hopwood Jeans (1877–1946) English physicist, astronomer and mathematician. "I incline to the idealistic theory that consciousness is fundamental, and that the material universe is derivative from consciousness, not consciousness from the material universe... In general the universe seems to me to be nearer to a great thought than to a great machine. It may well be, it seems to me, that each individual consciousness ought to be compared to a brain-cell in a universal mind."
Peter D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) Russian esoteric philosopher known for his association with and expositions of the early work of George Gurdjieff. His first book 'The Fourth Dimension' appeared in 1909; his second book, 'Tertium Organum', denying the ultimate reality of motion was published in 1912; and 'A New Model of the Universe' in 1931. Ouspensky's lectures in London were attended by such literary figures as Aldous Huxley and T. S. Eliot.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1866-1949) Mystic and spiritual teacher. He claimed the teachings he brought to the West expressed the truth found in ancient religions. Gurdjieff claimed that people cannot perceive reality in their current states because they live in a state of a hypnotic 'waking sleep' and that maleficent events such as wars could not possibly take place if people were more awake. He asserted that people in their typical state function as unconscious automatons, Movements, or sacred dances, constitute an integral part of the 'Gurdjieff Work'.
Austin Osman Spare (1886 -1956) A powerful combination of ‘tortured’ artist and magician Spare's approach to magic was understandably very graphic. Among the techniques he employed were automatic writing and drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. He viewed the subconscious as the source of all magical power. His sigils (‘glyphs of desire’) empowered by ‘repression’ (forgetting) greatly influenced the development of Chaos Magic decades later.
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, one of the most radical figures in psychiatry. He claimed discovered a primordial cosmic energy which he called 'orgone'. Reich relocated to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of articles about orgone the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) obtained an injunction against the sale of orgone products. Charged with contempt, Reich was sentenced to two years in prison and several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA . He died in jail just over a year later.
Franz Bardon (1909-1958) Bardon was both a stage magician and student and teacher of Hermetics. He was member of Czech hermetic society 'Universalia'. During World War II Bardon was held in a concentration camp for refusing to participate in Nazi Mysticism and was rescued by Russian soldiers. He continued his work in the field of Hermetics until 1958 when he was arrested and imprisoned in Brno Czechoslovakia. Bardon died while in the custody of police. He is best known for his three volumes on Hermetic magic; Initiation Into Hermetics, The Practice of Magical Evocation and The Key to the True Quabbalah.
Erwin Schrodinger (1887 -1961) Representing the world of Quantum Physics. Principally famous for the 'Schrödinger's cat' thought experiment which he devised in 1935 as a vivid illustration of what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The experiment highlighted the 'observer-induced collapse of the wave function' - that is, in order to function the universe requires an observer. Which makes humanity an essential participant in creation not merely the result of it. (The above and the below are one.)
Gerald Brousseau Gardner (1884-1964) Amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, edged weapon expert, tea and rubber planter, nudist and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the neopagan religion of Wicca (that he claimed was the survival of a pre-Christian pagan cult) to public attention and wrote some of its definitive religious texts. He was a member of the Ancient Druid Order as well as a priest of the Ancient British Church and Aleister Crowley elevated him to the VII° of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). A plaque on his grave in Tunis describes his as "Father of Modern Wicca. Beloved of the Great Goddess".
Israel Regardie (1907-1985) Aleister Crowley's secretary from 1928 to 1932 and author of seminal magickal works including a biography of Crowley, The Eye in the Triangle. Regardie is a principal reliable source for much of what is
known about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His writings, the
students he taught and those he influenced provide much of the foundation for modern
Western occultism. In addition to preserving knowledge, Regardie also
preserved a valid branch of the initiatory lineage of the Golden Dawn in
America.
Philip M. Hine (more commonly known as Phil Hine) writer, book reviewer and occultist he became known internationally through his books Pseudonomicon, Condensed Chaos, and Prime Chaos, as well as several essays on the topics of chaos magic and Cthulhu Mythos magick. He has facilitated workshops and seminars on modern magical practice in America and Europe and contributed to a wide range of occult journals, being most active in the period 1986-1996. Hine is widely considered one of the most practical, down-to-earth, and accessible authors on the subject of occultism.
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Asia