Magic is an awkward term, conjuring up images of card tricks and stage antics, or worse sorcerers evoking spirits, desecrating graves and undertaking unspeakable rites with hints of dark forces and Satanism. Yet the term itself has an admirable origin coming from the Persian astrologers known as the Magi.

Versluis takes a traditionalist view of magic and explores what could be best described as high magic or theurgy. He sees magic as representing the esoteric core of traditional spirituality. He places it in the context of societies in which religion, spirituality and the social order are interwoven.

The central nexus of this approach is the great chain of being where all things, physical, psychological and spiritual are interconnected and hence through a change in one form a corresponding transformation in another can be achieved.

This model of an interdependent omniverse including many layers or levels of being is central to the esoteric worldview. Versluis offers an erudite outline of this philosophical position and then explores the way in which various practises developed throughout history from Alchemy and Kabbalah to medieval forms of magic.

The key to his interpretation is that magic works when rooted in the worldview or gestalt of a traditional society. So, for example, Inuit shamanism works because it is part of the holistic nature of the Inuit way of life. If taken out of this context, it is of questionable value and use.

Therefore, magic works (or more accurately worked) because of the traditionalist worldview held by its practitioners, ceremonial or ritual magic succeeded because of the medieval worldview it was part of.

While Versluis doesn’t explicitly say so, it could also be postulated that modern magic does not work exactly for the same reason. One cannot extract an esoteric praxis like shamanism or magic from its traditional context and expect it to work in the same way, or indeed at all, in a culture with an alien mindset.

Such a process produces such aberrations as weekend shamans, New Age syncretism, and the Western Mystery
tradition.

In some sense magic ceased to be a viable spiritual path as soon as the industrial revolution and later scientific advances changed the very fabric of society.

We may agree with Rene Guenon that the later so called Western Mystery tradition as marked by Eliphas Levi, the Golden Dawn, Thelema, etc. cannot be seen as part of the legacy of high magic as described by Versluis, but latter Kali Yuga degenerations.

The question, of course, arises as to how can magic be practised in a primarily secular post modern society? While this is not an issue Versluis
handles – and many traditionalists seem intent on the impossible, i.e. returning to early post modern ways of thinking – the question needs to be considered.

This is an excellent short introduction to high magic or theurgy and one that gives insight into the philosophy of traditionalist esotericism and an overview of its traverse through history in such forms as Alchemy and so on.

– Reviewed by Robert Burns in New Dawn No. 91