magia naturalis | Heterodoxology

ESSWE Thesis Workshop at the Warburg Institute (July 7, 2016)

This summer, ESSWE organizes its fourth biannual Thesis Workshop – a one-day event where MA and PhD candidates get together with established scholars to discuss papers on a given topic as well as research strategies and career advice. (For a basic idea, check out what I’ve said about the 2010, 2012, and 2014 workshops) This year’s topic is “Magical Traditions and Medieval Religions of the Book”. Unlike earlier years, when this event took place in Amsterdam, this year’s workshop will be hosted by the Warburg Institute in London, on July 7.

As in previous years, the day has two main sessions: an “oratory” (lectures by specialists), and a “laboratory” (group-based discussions of MA/PhD research related issues, divided by period and/or thematic focus based on what people are working on). In addition, this year there will be a round table discussion following the oratory, and an “early career advice” session (which will be lead by Liana Saif and myself).

The oratory will feature papers by Siam Bhayro, Liana Saif, and Adelina Angusheva-Tihanov, with a keynote by Jean-Patrice Boudet. These scholars will be available to participants in the laboratory session, as will the chairs Yuri Stoyanov, Charles Burnett, organizer Sophie Page, and most of the board members of ESSWE.

Check out all the details in the programme. And, please note that this is a free event with a limited number of places. Questions and reservations should be addressed to the organizer Sophie Page (see the programme).

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on April 23, 2016 at 3:05 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Adelina Angusheva-Tihanov, Charles Burnett, ESSWE thesis workshop, Jean-Patrice Boudet, Liana Saif, magical traditions, Middle Ages, Siam Bhayro, Sophie Page, Warburg Institute, Yuri Stoyanov

Patterns of Magicity: A review of Defining Magic: A Reader (eds. Otto & Stausberg; Equinox, 2013) – part 2

[This is the second part of my longish review of Otto and Stausberg’s Defining Magic: A Reader. This part focuses on the introductory chapter. For part one of the review, focusing on the selection of texts, please go here.]

Magicians?

Patterns of Magicity: A Review of Defining Magic (part 2)

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on February 2, 2014 at 9:22 am Comments (3)
Tags: Ann Taves, Bernd-Christian Otto, building block approach, coercive magic, comparativism, Defining Magic: A Reader, discourse analysis, discursive approach, efficacy, illusionism, magic in sport, Magic Johnson, Michael Stausberg, patterns of magicity, polythetic definition, prototype, ritual, stage magic

Patterns of Magicity: A review of Defining Magic: A Reader (eds. Otto & Stausberg; Equinox, 2013) – part 1

[This blog post is a little milestone: it is the first official review of a book sent to me by the publisher for being reviewed directly at Heterodoxology. (Yes, publishers, I am open to suggestions like that!) Since the book was of great interest to me, and touches on issues that occupy me at the moment – and since the blog format allows me to say whatever I want and as much of it as I’d like – it has ended up more like a review article than a book review. Hence I will publish it here in three parts. The full pdf version (only slightly modified) is available from my Academia page. For convenience and ease of sharing. So on we go!]

Review: Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg (eds.) Defining Magic: A Reader. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2013. 281 pages.

[Part 1 of 3]

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on February 1, 2014 at 8:27 am Comments (4)
Tags: academic publishing industry, Agrippa, Ambrose Bierce, Apollonius of Tyana, Aquinas, Bernd-Christian Otto, Byzantine Empire, Chaldean Oracles, copyright, Defining Magic: A Reader, definitions, E. B. Tylor, Enlightenment, Equinox Publishing Ltd., Ernesto de Martino, Ficino, Freud, Gerardus van der Leeuw, goeteia, Goetia, grimoires, Henri Hubert, hermetica, Horton, Iamblichus, J. G. Frazer, John Dee, Lazzarelli, Lévi-Strauss, Leach, Liber Iuratus, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, mageia, magic, Malinowski, Marcel Mauss, Mary Douglas, Michael Stausberg, neoplatonism, oracles, pharmakeia, Pico, Proclus, Reformation, Rodney Stark, Suda, Tambiah, The Devil's Dictionary, Theurgy, Weber, witchcraft

Up for review: Discernment of Spirits, Soviet New Age, and Magic

I’ve received three books for review over the last few weeks, making for a hectic book review phase (I’m not gonna mention the ones I’m already late with). They are three fascinating collections, dealing with very diverse material. Here’s a quick preview.

Angels of Light? (2012)

Clare Copeland and Jan Machielsen’s Angels of Light? (Brill, 2012) is a collection of essays dealing with that delicious problem of Christian theology and practice: how to discern real sanctity from demonic trickery? If an angel appears in all its splendour – whether in a dream, a vision, or in front of your bare eyes – how do you know that it is not the devil masquerading to lure the devout to the dark side? This, in a nutshell, is the problem of discernment. It has had consequences not only on the abstract level of theological philosophizing, but also on the social level. Above all during the tumultuous reformation era, when new reformers led to the emergence of new sects with new creeds, new leaders, and new lines of authority. The devout had to fear not only false angels, but false prophets as well. From the blurb:

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on July 29, 2013 at 9:25 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Agrippa, Angels of Light?, Augustine, Bernd-Christian Otto, Bernice Rosenthal, Birgit Menzel, Blavatsky, Catholicism, Clare Copeland, cognitive theory of magic, Correspondences, cosmism, Defining Magic, discernment, Frazer, Jan Machielsen, Jesper Sørensen, Malinowski, Michael Hagemeister, Michael Stausberg, Plato, Preternature, Protestantism, Reformation, Science Fiction, shamanism, Soviet, The New Age of Russia

On Enoch reception and Dee reception

There has been some debate about aspects of my book the last couple of days, following Dan Harms’ review, and my own response. Sarah Veale joined in with a post over at Invocatio, and today Dan responded once more on his blog. The debate has revolved around the Enoch figure, and the role of this figure in understanding Dee’s angel conversations. I argued that too much importance has typically been attributed to the patriarch in accounts of the angel diaries, and that the term “Enochian magic” may itself be somewhat misleading in this regard. I still stand by this claim, but I must also guard against a misunderstanding that seems to creep up.

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on July 18, 2012 at 4:58 pm Comments (5)
Tags: Book of Enoch, Dan Harms, Edward Kelley, Elias Ashmole, Enoch, Enochian magic, Golden Dawn, John Dee, language of Adam, Meric Casaubon, Necronomicon

Magic and how to write about it – 2nd ESSWE thesis workshop, July 6, 2012

This summer the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism is hosting its second Thesis Workshop in Amsterdam. Participation is free, and the intention is to provide a one-day platform for people involved with academic research in western esotericism on the MA and PhD levels to get together, discuss ideas and research challenges, make connections with other students, and with established scholars in the field. The workshop coincides with the ESSWE board meeting, which means that a number of senior scholars will be present and approachable.

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on June 10, 2012 at 2:13 pm Comments (3)
Tags: Bernd-Christian Otto, ESSWE, György Szőnyi, Henrik Bogdan, magic, Thesis workshop

Arguing with Angels – another book you should get next year

A bit of shameless self-promotion: A pre-production description has recently been released by State University of New York Press, announcing the publication of my first book, Arguing with Angels: Enochian Magic and Modern Occulture. It is due in May 2012. As SUNY’s summary states, the book is an exploration of the Elizabethan philosopher John Dee’s system of angel magic, but in particular its reception history and various reinterpretations in modern times. It follows the creation of what is usually known as “Enochian magic”. Since 19th century occultism, and continuing in 20th century and contemporary occulture, this system has been understood in a variety of ways as it has become embedded in a number of different occult currents and practices.

The book pays special attention to the discussions and quarrels among occultist groups and practitioners over the “right” interpretation, and discusses the various claims that are made to legitimise such positions – vis-a-vis competing occultist interpretations on the one hand, and a generally perceived “disenchanted” modern society on the other. Among the main protagonists we find the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, Paul Foster Case, Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, Michael Aquino and the Temple of Set, the obscure Order of the Cubic Stone, the Aurum Solis, and scores of cyber-age ritual magicians, debating the nature of angels and magical ritual online.

The book will appear in the SUNY series on Western Esoteric Traditions, which has previously published such classics in the field as Antoine Faivre’s Access to Western Esotericism, Joscelyn Godwin’s Theosophical Enlightenment, and Wouter Hanegraaff’s New Age Religion and Western Culture. There is no cover art up yet (this should be in place soon, my editors say), but below is the full publisher’s description:

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on August 16, 2011 at 9:50 am Comments (9)
Tags: Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey, Arguing with Angels, Aurum Solis, Church of Satan, Edward Kelley, Enochian magic, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Israel Regardie, John Dee, Michael Aquino, Order of the Cubic Stone, Paul Foster Case, Temple of Set

Aries 11.1

Heterodoxology has aimed to establish the practice of reviewing new publications and releases in the field of esotericism, particularly notifying about current issues of the journal Aries. Aries 11.1 has been out for a couple of months already, so this comes somewhat late.

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on June 3, 2011 at 11:53 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Andrei Scrima, Aries, Ben Kadosh, Claire Fanger, Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, György E. Szőnyi, Johann Valentin Andreae, Leigh Penman, Marco Totti, Marina Warner, Mark Morrisson, Matteo Soranzo, Nadya Q. Chishty-Mujahid, Per Faxneld, perennialism, Roland Edighoffer, Stuart Clark, Traditionalism

Giants’ Shoulders #29: Esoteric Science Special

Athanasius Kircher's museum

Heterodoxology is proud to present the twenty-ninth installment of your favourite History of Science Blog Carnival: The Giant’s Shoulders. This time featuring an Esoteric Science Special, dedicated to all those esoteric pursuits of superior knowledge; a celebration of all strange, alien, and counterintuitive methods that have been attempted to dissect, read, or tame nature’s secrets, from renaissance natural philosophy to present-day Grand Unified Theories – from the cleverly inventive, through the hopelessly megalomaniac, to the simply misguided.

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