Forthcoming Volume: Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism

My Australian colleague, Philip Johnson, made me aware of an intriguing forthcoming volume in the study of the Western esoteric tradition. It is an edited, multi-contributor volume titled Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism (Oxford University Press, September 2012). The volume brings together a number of scholars who look at various facets of the influence of Crowley on religion from Mormonism to Scientology to Wicca.

Description

This volume is the first comprehensive examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive iconoclasts. Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was a study in contradictions. Born into a fundamentalist Christian family and educated at Cambridge, he was vilified as a traitor, drug addict, and debaucher, yet revered as perhaps the most influential thinker in contemporary esotericism. Moving beyond the influence of contemporary psychology and the modernist understanding of the occult, Crowley declared himself the revelator of a new age of individualism. Crowley's occult bricolage, Magick, was an eclectic combination of spiritual exercises drawn from Western European magical ceremonies and Indic sources for meditation and yoga. This journey of self-liberation culminated in harnessing sexual power as a magical discipline, a "sacrilization of the self" as practiced in Crowley's mixed masonic group, the Ordo Templi Orientis. The religion Crowley created, Thelema, legitimated his role as a charismatic revelator and herald of a new age of freedom. Aleister Crowley's lasting influence can be seen in the counter-culture movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s and in many forms of alternative spirituality and popular culture. The essays in this volume offer crucial insight into Crowley's foundational role in the study of Western esotericism, new religious movements, and sexuality.

Table of Contents

ContributorsList of Figures
List of Tables

Foreword - Wouter J. Hanegraaff
1. Introduction - Henrik Bogdan and Martin P. Starr
2. The Sorcerer and His Apprentice: Aleister Crowley and the Magical Exploration of Edwardian Subjectivity - Alex Owen
3. Varieties of Magical Experience: Aleister Crowley's Views on Occult Practice - Marco Pasi
4. Envisioning the Birth of a New Aeon: Dispensationalism and Millenarianism in the Thelemic Tradition - Henrik Bogdan
5. The Great Beast as a Tantric hero: The Role of Yoga and Tantra in Aleister Crowley's Magick - Gordan Djurdjevic
6. Continuing Knowledge from Generation unto Generation: The Social and Literary Background of Aleister Crowley's Magick - Richard Kaczynski
7. Aleister Crowley and the Yezidis - Tobias Churton
8. The Frenzied Beast: The Phaedran Furores in the Rites and Writings of Aleister Crowley - Matthew D. Rogers
9. Aleister Crowley: Freemason! - Martin P. Starr
10. ''The One Thought that was not Untrue'': Aleister Crowley and A. E. Waite - Robert R. Gilbert
11. The Beast and the Prophet: Aleister Crowley's Fascination with Joseph Smith - Massimo Introvigne
12. Crowley and Wicca - Ronald Hutton
13. Through the Witch's Looking Glass: The Magick of Aleister Crowley and the Witchcraft of Rosaleen Norton - Keith Richmond
14. The Occult Roots of Scientology? L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley and the Origins of the World's Most Controversial New Religion - Hugh Urban
15. Satan and the Beast. The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Modern Satanism - Asbjørn Dyrendal

"One would be hard-pressed to put together an assemblage of people to equal the scholars included in this collection-the cream of the crop of those esoteric scholars who have studied Crowley. The volume makes a significant contribution to esoteric studies and will set future debates about Crowley. It will be a must-read text for all esoteric scholars in the next generation."
--J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University 

Sections of the book can be previewed at Amazon.com.

From Political to Religious Finger Pointing in Tucson

The nonstop news cycle continues to grind on with its coverage of the Tucson shooting tragedy. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for various individuals to begin pointing fingers of blame and assuming an understanding of influences if not causation.

While the rhetoric continues in terms of blaming political ideologies, a new wrinkle was added today as reported by The New York Daily News. They have obtained photographs from the accused shooter's backyard, including what the media is describing as an "occult shrine or altar". It is visible in the photograph accompanying this post where an artificial skull (possibly a Halloween decoration), some decayed fruit, and candles are visible alongside a bag of potting soil. What can we determine from this? Not much. The potting soil indicates an interest in gardening, and the candles an interest in a light source (with a measure of ambiance), while the artificial skull may reflect an interest in decorating from the recent Halloween holiday. We surely cannot ascribe this to our stereotypes of "evil occultists" usually formed by horror films and television, and my hope is that few in the media will pick up on this in continuing media coverage of the crime. But with the prevalence of alleged "occult experts" out there, it may have a little more life left in it. Here's to also hoping that some might gain a more academically informed awareness of Western esotericism.

Update: For good Pagan perspectives on this see Star Foster's "Tragedy in AZ: Candles and Oranges Do Not an Occultist Make", and Peg Aloi's "Why must the occult be seen as evil?".

Evangelicals and Western Esotericism

At the Trinity Consultation on Post-Christendom Spiritualities held at Trinity International University last month, one of the plenary sessions addressed developments in the "New Age movement" as part of a broader history of Western Esotericism. This session involved a paper presented by the noted new religions scholar J. Gordon Melton of the Institute for the Study of American Religion. (This session and others can be viewed at Sacred Tribes Journal for those who create a user ID and then Login and click "Course Lectures.") During his presentation Dr. Melton reminded evangelicals that Western Esotericism is a significant religious tradition no longer relegated to the margins of popular culture that needs to be taken seriously and interacted with more positively. This positive engagement involves a number of areas, including a more informed and accurate understanding of the tradition, respect for its adherents, and in engagement with its growing numbers of practitioners.

I was fortunate to be the respondent to Dr. Melton's paper, and among other things I shared the following:

"[W]hile evangelicals have tended to marginalize and dismiss those involved in Western Esotericism with simple labels like “the occult,” often followed by simplistic responses that involve denunciation through biblical proof-texting, Dr. Melton reminds us that “we are not dealing so much with a marginal phenomenon, but a significant aspect of the popular culture.” Although the numbers of people involved directly with Western Esotericism remains small, as Dr. Melton himself has discussed, nevertheless the impact of Western Esotericism in popular culture is significant, so much so that scholars like Christopher Partridge refer to “popular occulture.” In Partridge’s discussion of this he states “(1) that occultural worldviews have been an important source of inspiration for popular culture, (2) that popular culture has in turn been an important source of inspiration for the formation of occultural worldviews, and consequently, (3) that popular culture is beginning to have a shaping effect on Western plausibility structures.” Western Esotericism represents a respectable and enduring religious phenomenon that must be taken seriously by evangelicals in the twenty-first century.

".. near the end of his paper in his brief sketch of an initial Christian response to Western Esotericism Dr. Melton includes several helpful thoughts, including the need to conceptualize it as “a distinctive religious tradition analogous” to various world religions rather than as a deviant tradition to be marginalized, the call for the Christian community to own up to and move beyond its unloving and unChristian responses to esotericists that fall far short of the divine calling to love our neighbors as ourselves, and the reminder that in our daily experience we are likely to live and work with esotericists and thus new ways of living the Christian faith must be developed that move us positively into the future."

It is my hope that viewpoints like those expressed at the recent conference at Trinity, the Trinity conference itself, and volumes like Gus diZerega and Philip Johnson's Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue (Lion, 2008), represent new and increasingly influential senses of understanding of the new religions, including Western Esotericism, and a new ways of interacting with its practitioners. Even so, while a new evangelical model is gaining strength it does so against the backdrop of more traditional evangelical treatments of the new religions and the Western Esoteric tradition as evidenced by new books appearing this year, including those commented on previously on this blog: Dillon Burroughs and Marla Alupoaicei's Generation Hex (Harvest House, 2008), and Linda Harvey's Not My Child: Contemporary Paganism and New Spirituality (Living Ink Books, 2008). A new book has recently been released that adds to the evangelical literature from this perspective, the late Walter Martin, Jill Martin Rische, and Kurt Van Gorden's The Kingdom of the Occult (Thomas Nelson, 2008). I have high expectations for this recent volume in that I hope it rises above the recent volumes on Western Esotericism that operate from a confrontational tone. In addition, I hope that this new book engages the growing body of academic literature on Western Esotericism, and compliments more informed understandings of this religious tradition with more positive aspects of engagement such as interreligious dialogue.

Christian-Pagan Intolerance, and the West Memphis Three

In posts on this blog, as well as TheoFantastique, I have commented on my ongoing research project related to Western esotericism and Neo-Paganism, and how film and television in horror and fantasy help shape popular conceptions of these spiritual pathways. One of the issues that I am passionate about that relates to this is that of intolerance. I note that it takes place in the Christian community in relation to Pagans and other esotericists, but it also takes place on the other side of the coin as directed at Christians and Christianity. In my recent reading of the Pagan site Witchvox, I was therefore pleased to read the article "Anti-Christian Prejudice in the Pagan Community" by Pax. At least if we recognize that it exists in both communities, and we talk about it publicly, perhaps some of us can begin to deal with these issues. I know that I try to do my part with my dialogue with Pagans, and in my participation in the list for the Alternative Religions Educational Network, where the motto is "Freedom for religion means all religions."

Beyond this, my research project also made me aware of an interesting case that I am surprised I had not been aware of until just last week. I refer to the infamous West Memphis Three. As the WM3.org website describes the case:

Shortly after three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, local newspapers stated the killers had been caught. The police assured the public that the three teenagers in custody were definitely responsible for these horrible crimes. Evidence?

The same police officers coerced an error-filled "confession" from Jessie Misskelley Jr., who is mentally handicapped. They subjected him to 12 hours of questioning without counsel or parental consent, audio-taping only two fragments totaling 46 minutes. Jessie recanted it that evening, but it was too late— Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols were all arrested on June 3, 1993, and convicted of murder in early 1994.

Although there was no physical evidence, murder weapon, motive, or connection to the victims, the prosecution pathetically resorted to presenting black hair and clothing, heavy metal t-shirts, and Stephen King novels as proof that the boys were sacrificed in a satanic cult ritual. Unfathomably, Echols was sentenced to death, Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley got life plus 40.

For ever 14 years, The West Memphis Three have been imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Echols waits in solitary confinement for the lethal injection our tax dollars will pay for. They were all condemned by their poverty, incompetent defense, satanic panic and a rush to judgment.

I have done enough reading on the satanic panics of the 1980s and 1990s, and the various historic witch-hunts to know that this case may be a tragic legacy of these strange socio-cultural phenomena. In addition to these considerations, "according to the DNA Status Report filed on July 17, 'none of the genetic material recovered at the scene of the crimes was attributable to Mr. Echols, Echols co-defendant, Jason Baldwin, or defendant Jessie Misskelley.'" For further information on this case see the WM3 website, and pick up copies of the documentary on the case on DVD titled Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, as well as the book Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that something is very wrong with this case, and this may indeed be an instance of gross misjustice that Christians should be involved in just as much as Pagans. Perhaps we can work together to overcome our intolerance toward each other, and to right a social and judicial injustice.

New Interview on TheoFantastique: Esotericism and Witchcraft in Entertainment and Commodification

Readers might be interested in a new interview posted on my other blog, TheoFantastique, titled "Jason Winslade Interview: Esotericism and Witchcraft in Entertainment and Commodification." The interview touches on Western esotericism and Wicca and how these topics are portrayed in popular culture. The interview can be found here.