"Of Monks, Mystics and Magic" by the Rt Revd Dom Alistair Bate OSBA (Tau Blaise)
“All rituals and ceremonies, whatever explanations of their efficacy may be offered by their official apologists have, and must have, as the rationale of their existence, a magical, i.e. a hypnotic, character, and all persons who are naturally drawn towards ceremonial religion are in this respect really devotees of magic.” Evelyn Underhill
For the average 21st century Christian the idea that monasticism and magic can be meanfully connected is fairly absurd. Of course evangelicals assume that Romish superstitions and occult superstitions are much the same sort of thing, and in a sense they are correct, as we shall see, however, the majority of Christians, if they can admit that magic exists at all, probably still think of it as the antithesis and opponent of Christianity.
Firstly, let me say that I know from personal experience that magic, both good and bad, is very real. There are those who consciously work against the Light as Black Magicians and many more people who unconsciously and unwittingly do the same. In fact, the powers of darkness at this present time are as strong, yet just as elusive, as ever they were. Recently in Europe, a traditionalist Old Catholic bishop died, with whom I had crossed swords about a decade ago. For me, the world feels like a safer place without him, for he was in fact, at least at one point in his life, a practising Satanist. I know of a few others who lean in the same sinister direction, all of whom bring the the Old Catholic, Esoteric Catholic and Gnostic communities into disrepute. It is hard to fathom the attraction for such pursuits, but sometimes an individual is compelled towards the left hand path by a demonic infestation and sometimes he may be a casualty of fundamentalist Christianity, who then turns to the dark side in the misguided hope of finding relief for his psychological wounds. Such, I believe, was the case with Aleister Crowley, who struggling to process his Plymouth Brethren upbringing, rebelliously immersed himself in occultism and the pursuit of supernatural power for its own sake (Grey or Black Magic) rather than for the ultimate goal of reintegration with the Divine (White Magic).
Firstly, let me say that I know from personal experience that magic, both good and bad, is very real. There are those who consciously work against the Light as Black Magicians and many more people who unconsciously and unwittingly do the same. In fact, the powers of darkness at this present time are as strong, yet just as elusive, as ever they were. Recently in Europe, a traditionalist Old Catholic bishop died, with whom I had crossed swords about a decade ago. For me, the world feels like a safer place without him, for he was in fact, at least at one point in his life, a practising Satanist. I know of a few others who lean in the same sinister direction, all of whom bring the the Old Catholic, Esoteric Catholic and Gnostic communities into disrepute. It is hard to fathom the attraction for such pursuits, but sometimes an individual is compelled towards the left hand path by a demonic infestation and sometimes he may be a casualty of fundamentalist Christianity, who then turns to the dark side in the misguided hope of finding relief for his psychological wounds. Such, I believe, was the case with Aleister Crowley, who struggling to process his Plymouth Brethren upbringing, rebelliously immersed himself in occultism and the pursuit of supernatural power for its own sake (Grey or Black Magic) rather than for the ultimate goal of reintegration with the Divine (White Magic).
White Magicians, like the Blacks and Greys, have always been around, from the earliest times, and right through the middle ages. At that time monastic libraries were, of course, the repositories of ancient classical magical texts and many notable monks also contributed to the evolution of high magic with the study of astrology, alchemy, occult herbalism and the Kabbala. On the more mundane level, operative magic usually required a knowledge of Latin and the power to sacramentally bless people and objects, therefore the role of operative magician was often also embraced by monks, who were both literate and had the time and space for such arcane pursuits. In Britain, after the dissolution of the monasteries, much of this monastic magical tradition passed from the forcibly retired monks into the hands of the village cunning men and women, where it has survived, in part, to this day.
The stated purpose of monasticism, as the Rule of St Benedict tells us, has always been to “seek God” and when He is found to unite with him for all eternity, a foretaste of heaven here on earth. This trajectory, from a sense of separation from God as a result of our fallen (i.e. imperfect) human nature, through the mystical stages of Purification and Illumination, leading to eventual Union, is theoretically achieved by the monk through a disciplined prayer life, meditation/contemplation and participation in the rituals of the church. In its own way, all of these too may be considered magical, for as Brother ADA writes in “Ritual Magic for Conservative Christians”, “By your baptism you have already been initiated into one of the greatest magical orders in history” and “Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are pretty much pre-packaged magical systems in a state of denial”.
Happily we Liberal Catholics, coming from Theosophy as we do, have never been in a state of denial about the magical nature of our sacramental system, and for the last hundred years have actively engaged in magical pursuits alongside our more apparently conventional Liberal Catholicism.
Happily we Liberal Catholics, coming from Theosophy as we do, have never been in a state of denial about the magical nature of our sacramental system, and for the last hundred years have actively engaged in magical pursuits alongside our more apparently conventional Liberal Catholicism.
It would be a mistake to assume that monastic and clerical interest in magic ebbed at the dawn of the modern era. The revival of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and Druidism in the 17th and 18th centuries, each with their own clerical initiates, would suggest otherwise, whilst in the 19th century we have the example of the renowned ceremonial magician and author, Eliphas Levi, who was a Roman Catholic cleric before devoting himself permanently to the occult. Amongst the 19th century French Gnostics, I must also mention the Abbé Julio, a fine magician, from whom I have lines of apostolic succession. His “True Pentacles and Prayers” are immensely useful for various operations of White Magic, as indeed are the 18th and 19th century Theurgical Operations we have inherited from the Elus Cohen/Martinist tradition.
Magicians turn up in the most unlikely of places. For instance, who today could ever imagine that several members of the Community of the Resurrection (the "Mirfield Fathers" - an Anglican monastic community) were also members of the Order of the Golden Dawn, but such we now know to be the case, through the ground breaking research of Dr Anthony Fuller. (see "Anglo-Catholic Clergy and the Golden Dawn: The Ritual Revival and Modern Magical Orders 1887 - 1940" by Anthony Charles Fuller)
Photos above: left - Walter Frere CR, Bishop of Truro, & right, Timothy Rees CR, Bishop of Llandaff, both sometime members of the Order of the Golden Dawn
Personally, I look to the great 20th century magician Dion Fortune, for inspiration in blending the monastic with the mystical and magical. In her beautiful little book “Glastonbury: Avalon of the Heart” DF wrote chapters on the Abbey, Chalice Well, and the Tor, amongst other themes and places, and anyone who has read the book can be in no doubt that she believed and taught that the Christian tradition is just as inherently and potentially magical as the Druidism which preceded it. For DF Glastonbury (Avalon) is always the place where “Two traditions meet .........., the ancient faith of the Britons and the creed of Christ” and her magical workings reflected these two threads, as well as a third thread, drawn from the Hermetic magical tradition.
In my own inner planes landscape, therefore, the Benedictine monastic charism symbolised by Glastonbury Abbey, lives in a creative tension with the virile Druid energy of the Tor, the two coming together harmoniously through the reconciling energy of Chalice Well, which looks to the Grail as both the ancient cauldron of regeneration and the salvific cup of Christ. (I am indebted to James North for this particular insight.)
I would even venture to suggest, though neo-pagans for the most part are loathe to hear it, that to be a true Avalonian magician, the monastic devotional aspect is as essential as the Divine Feminine energy of the Wells and the Old God energy of the Tor. It is one of the challenges of contempory religion to reconcile the mystical Christian and magical Pagan as different sides of the same coin, and for this task we may draw inspiration from the precedent set by those monastic occultists who have pioneered the way. Deo Gratias!
In my own inner planes landscape, therefore, the Benedictine monastic charism symbolised by Glastonbury Abbey, lives in a creative tension with the virile Druid energy of the Tor, the two coming together harmoniously through the reconciling energy of Chalice Well, which looks to the Grail as both the ancient cauldron of regeneration and the salvific cup of Christ. (I am indebted to James North for this particular insight.)
I would even venture to suggest, though neo-pagans for the most part are loathe to hear it, that to be a true Avalonian magician, the monastic devotional aspect is as essential as the Divine Feminine energy of the Wells and the Old God energy of the Tor. It is one of the challenges of contempory religion to reconcile the mystical Christian and magical Pagan as different sides of the same coin, and for this task we may draw inspiration from the precedent set by those monastic occultists who have pioneered the way. Deo Gratias!
Foe further reflections on the Avalonian tradition please see this page and follow the links.