In a time when articles in the mainstream press highlight Steve Bannon’s occultism, what is the relationship between esotericism and politics? Can esotericism support human rights and social change, or is it inherently conservative — or inherently apolitical? Or does esotericism have the potential to undergird a liberating populist spirituality?
Notes on the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s statements on divination, astrology, and magic, and on how Christian theurgy is a licit form of spiritual practice.
The 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions was the birth of the modern interfaith movement. It was also a milestone in Western esotericism.
The relationship between monasticism and esotericism has been forgotten, but was an integral part of several historic moments of Western Esotericism.
Though I encourage occultists to #ExorciseTrump, I don’t agree with “binding” him. The reason requires some good theology, and less viral marketing.
How does my personal spirituality and esoteric practice align with Dion Fortune’s conception of the Threefold Way of the Western Mystery Tradition?
The first time I left my Golden Dawn temple to take the train back to New York City, I had just been initiated into the Neophyte Grade of the Order. It was a powerful spiritual experience. Though the details of the ceremony are easily available in this day and age, only a few Google searches …
“Follow the custom of the country…”: Reflections of a Nightwalking Occultist Read More »
For many orthodox Christians, the Bible is, of course, the largest hurdle to the idea of accepting occult practices and esoteric theories. I spent a long time reconciling my interest in the occult with my understanding of the Bible, only coming to a holistic view of Scripture and occultism in recent years. In this short post, I …
The Light Invisible is a blog that will touch on diverse traditions of Christian Esotericism — traditional Rosicrucianism, Christian mysticism, Christian Hermeticism and Cabala, European alchemy, Renaissance magic, the Golden Dawn tradition, the legends of the Holy Grail, and folk magical traditions. The lens through which I will reflect on these esoteric traditions is primarily …
The Light Invisible – Towards a Manifesto of the Church Magical Read More »
Originally posted as a part of my column, The Blooming Staff, on the Agora, the group blog of the Patheos Pagan Channel. — Next Sunday, a new show premieres on HBO — “The Young Pope.” The show stars Jude Law as an ultraconservative Archbishop of New York who is elected to the Papacy, and who …
On the Papal World-Tree, or, An Esoteric Meditation on the Papacy Read More »