Initiatic Eroticism


Book Description

The first English translation of articles from Maria de Naglowska’s newspaper, La Flèche • Introduces Naglowska’s advanced occult teachings on the Third Term of the Trinity and the spiritually transformative power of sex • Includes two never-before-published essays by Julius Evola • Contains the complete collection of articles from all 20 issues, from October 1930 to January 1935 From October 1930 to January 1935, Maria de Naglowska--Russian mystic, esoteric high priestess, and self-styled “Satanic Woman” of 1930s Paris--published 20 issues of her newspaper, La Flèche, which she sold on the streets of Montparnasse and by mail-order subscription. Bought by many now famous people, including André Breton and other Surrealists, the newspaper served as an introduction to Naglowska’s revolutionary religious system called the Third Term of the Trinity, which considered the Holy Spirit of Christianity to be feminine and taught the importance of sex for the upliftment of humanity. Available for the first time in English, this complete anthology of articles from all 20 issues of La Flèche includes an introduction and notes by translator Donald Traxler, who contextualizes Naglowska’s life and teachings within the larger occult systems of the time, such as Julius Evola’s Group of Ur. He explains how most of the articles were written by Naglowska herself, often under pseudonyms because of the controversial nature of her ideas. In addition to writings on sacred sexuality and religious philosophy, this collection includes essays on feminism and on other esoteric thinkers, such as René Guénon and Krishnamurti, as well as two never-before-published essays by Julius Evola on the magic of creation, the special power of symbols, and the march of progress and materialism.




Esotericism and Deviance


Book Description

The concept of deviance has been central to the academic study of (Western) esotericism since its inception. This book, being the proceedings of the 6th Biennial Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), explores the relationship between esotericism and various forms of deviance (as concept, category, and practice) from antiquity until late modernity. The volume is the first to combine incisive conceptual explorations of the concept of deviance and how it informs and challenges the study of esotericism alongside a wide range of empirically grounded case discussions.




Pagan Portals - Sexual Dynamics in the Circle


Book Description

One of the most significant social changes in the 20th-century was the wedge driven between the males and females of Craft as a result of social media and political feminism. From a purely magical point of view the battle of the sexes has been one of the most negative crusades in the history of mankind since everything in the entire Universe is made up from a balance or harmony of opposite energies. Men and women are different as night and day but still part of the same homo sapiens coin, regardless of their individual sexuality.




Sex Magicians


Book Description

• Explores the background and sexual magical beliefs of Paschal Beverly Randolph, Ida Craddock, Aleister Crowley, Maria de Naglowska, Austin Osman Spare, Julius Evola, Franz Bardon, Jack Parsons, William S. Burroughs, Marjorie Cameron, Anton LaVey, and Genesis P-Orridge • Details the life of each sex magician, how they came to uncover their occult practice, and, most importantly, how the practice of sex magic affected their lives Offering a fascinating introduction to the occult practice of sex magic in the Western esoteric tradition, Michael William West explores its history from its reintroduction in the early 19th century via Paschal Beverly Randolph to the practices, influence, and figureheads of the 20th and 21st century such as Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, and Genesis P-Orridge, founder of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth. Focusing on 12 influential sex magicians, some well-known and some who have remained in obscurity, West details the life of each sex magician and how the practice of sex magic affected their lives. He explains how most of the figures presented in the book used sex magic as a means rather than an end, utilizing their practice to enhance and enrich their life’s work, whether in the arts, sciences, or as a spiritual leader. He examines what is known about Paschal Beverly Randolph, the founding father of modern sex magic, explores the tragic and mystical life of Ida Craddock, and discusses, in depth, iconic figures like Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, who saw sex magic as a source of artistic power and is now seen as a prophet of the chaos magick movement. Other sex magicians explored deployed magic to drive themselves to the highest echelons of achievement: in literature, William S. Burroughs; in music, Genesis P-Orridge; and in science, Jack Parsons, who openly used magic while making unconventional breakthroughs in rocket science. The author also examines Maria de Naglowska, Julius Evola, Franz Bardon, Marjorie Cameron, and Anton Szandor LaVey. While these sex magicians each followed a different spiritual path and had varying degrees of notoriety and infamy, one common thread emerges from looking at their interesting lives: utilizing magic to know thyself and change your reality is a journey that requires imagination, creativity, and self-awareness to the quest for enlightenment.




Essays on Women in Western Esotericism


Book Description

This book is the first collection to feature histories of women in Western Esotericism while also highlighting women’s scholarship. In addition to providing a critical examination of important and under researched figures in the history of Western Esotericism, these fifteen essays also contribute to current debates in the study of esotericism about the very nature of the field itself. The chapters are divided into four thematic sections that address current topics in the study of esotericism: race and othering, femininity, power and leadership and embodiment. This collection not only adds important voices to the story of Western Esotericism, it hopes to change the way the story is told.




Satanism


Book Description

Satanism is a phenomenon that has existed as a prominent trope since very beginning of Christianity, when the Church Fathers entertained fantasies about people worshipping the Devil and indulging in macabre rituals. In the early modern period, similarly unfounded ideas led to the infamous witch trials which transpired primarily between 1400 and 1700. In the 1980s and 1990s, what has been labelled a "Satanic Panic" swept the United States and parts of Europe, with again, unfounded rumors about secret Satanist networks committing gruesome murders, kidnappings and ritualistic child abuse. Today, the so called Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracy theories in the United States again draw on these motifs, this time postulating that left-wing Satanists are secretly manipulating politics and doing nefarious deeds in the shadows. This book, however, is only indirectly concerned with the purely fictional Satanism of such paranoid fantasies. It does not deal directly with the literary tradition of Satanism either, where Satanists can appear as antagonists (or, more rarely, protagonists) in the plot of a story, or authors express Satanic sympathies in a poem or two. Rather, our selection of source texts focuses on actual, existing Satanic groups, and thinkers of importance to the emergence of a Satanic milieu that forms part of a broader landscape of alternative religion. Some of the texts do in a sense belong to the above-mentioned categories, e.g., Léo Taxil's spoof on conspiracy theories, or the quite literary pseudo-histories of Satanism - in fact Satanic tracts in disguise of Jules Michelet and Stanislaw Przybyszewski, but we have aimed to concentrate on 1. self-designated Satanic groups and ideologists, 2. groups and ideologists who prominently revere a figure they identify with Satan, even though they may not self-designate as Satanists, and 3. groups and ideologists mostly excluding, however, literary texts and conspiracy theories whose re-interpretations of Satan were crucial to the growth of such ideas--




The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of the Tarot and Kabalah (Bilingual)


Book Description

This is the definitive Gnostic text on Kabalah. This Book consists of 7 parts: -Prologue -Esoteric Study and Description of the Tarot -Initiation through the Arcana of the Tarot -Kabalah -Numerology and Esoteric Mathematics -The Kabalah of Predition +Editor's Appendix Este es el texto definitivo Gnóstica de Kábala. Este Libro consta de 7 piezas: -Prologo -Descripción y Estudio Esotérico del Tarot -La Iniciación a través de los Arcanos del Tarot -Kábala -Numerología y Matemáticas Esotéricas -Kábala De Predicción +Apéndice del Editor




Urkommunismus. Fear of the Word


Book Description

The Urkommunismus (the ideal place, the common place, the utopia, the pure place of origin) presides over every mysterious, therefore political, penal, social, financial, institutional, corporate doctrine, and dictates its canons, formulas, algorithms. It is the reference of every bureaucracy in its sacrificial, penal ceremonial. On the principle of nothingness, every regime unravels the fear of the word, to confiscate life. Ideally and really. Both “to the East” and “to the West”. In this book the analysis and reading are performed of the writings called “founding”, which mark our age, weighing down, in its models and its offices. The result is the text of the word, as well as the absolute novelty. And here we also discuss the letters of Aldo Moro, the letters of the Red Brigades, the writings of Paul VI, of “Clean Hands”, the European and Italian legislation, the writings of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, of Giordano Bruno, of Eckhart, of Dante Alighieri, the Rigveda, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishad, the Avesta, the I Ching, Lao Tzu and Tao Te Ching, Lie Zi, Chuang-Tzu, the Bible, Buddha, the Qur’an, Antigone, Medea, the classics of tragedy, the classics of epics, of lyrics, of philosophy, of science, of mathematical logic, Confucius, Mencius, Ma gcig, the Sixth Dalai Lama, Mao, Khomeini, Gandhi, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping.




Studies on Western Esotericism in Central and Eastern Europe


Book Description

These papers examine how occult and esoteric themes appear in visual and verbal media, connecting to intellectual history, literature, the arts, present day pop culture, and religious practices. The topics range from the witchcraft motives in the love poetry of the 15th-century Humanist poet, Conrad Celtis; through the activities of Polish and Russian theosophists; Croatian, Greek, Polish painters of the spiritual; the philosophy of wine by the Hungarian esoteric philosopher Béla Hamvas; to contemporary Serbian magic and neo-shamanism. Two studies touch upon the influence of Freemasonry and the Kabbalah in Western esotericism, and, although these are not specifically Central European topics, they provide parallel perspectives to what the other papers of the collection are investigating.




Sacred Eroticism


Book Description

Sacred eroticism has been an important if neglected feature of Western esotericism from the early modern era down to the present day. Founded in Romania, the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) turned sacred esotericism into the central feature of a mass movement, gathering some 30,000 students worldwide. Based on extensive fieldwork and interviews, the book explores the history of MISA from its origins to the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting in detail its ideas about Tantra and eroticism. It also discusses MISA’s approach to visual arts and cinema, including some of its members’ early incursions into the slippery world of adult movies. The study concludes with a look at hostile reactions to MISA, which have led to the issuing of arrest warrants against its founder amid a series of criminal accusations, which the movement rejects as fabricated by opponents.