THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL TRENDS IN OCCULTISM TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE ALCHEMY: THE ART OF TRANSMUTATION ▸ Experimental alchemy ▸ Transmutation of material, usually metal, in to another material, usually gold ▸ The creation of the homunculus ▸ Spiritual alchemy ▸ The transmutation of the believer or the soul TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE A HISTORY ▸ 1140s: Robert of Chester translates the “Liber de compositione alchimiae” into latin. ▸ 1250s: Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon getting interested. The great demonology debate. ▸ 1317: Papal injunction agains alchemy ▸ mid-14th century: Alchemy becomes infused with spirituality and a means through which to bring about the end of times ▸ 15th century onwards: alchemy becomes a personal spiritual journey in some interpretations, a science in others. ▸ 17th century: Alchemy comes more and more under fire and ends up a delusion from our ignorant past TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE ALCHEMICAL PROCEDURES AND BASIC THEORY: ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE THE PROCESS ▸ Nigredo (Destruction, chaos) ▸ Albedo (Purification, washing away of impurities) ▸ Citrinitas (Transmutation) ▸ Rubedo (the end stage) TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE IMPORTANT CONCEPTS ▸ Philosopher’s stone ▸ Composed of mercury and sulphur (Paracelsus adds salt) TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE IMPORTANT SYMBOLS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCETEXT ILLUSTRATIONS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCETEXT ILLUSTRATIONS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCETEXT ILLUSTRATIONS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCETEXT ILLUSTRATIONS TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE ALCHEMY VS ASTROLOGY ▸ Unified data sets ▸ Barnum statements ▸ Chaotic datasets ▸ Sporadic results (Behaviourism) TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL THE POPULAR IMAGE OF ANY OCCULT RITUAL IS THAT IT INVOLVES LOTS OF: SEX DRUGS SACRIFICE (INCLUDING HUMAN) DEVIL WORSHIP TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL 19TH & 20TH CENTURY COUNTER-CULTURE ▸ The occult revival saw the rise of the occult as a countercultural current. As a result, it came to include practices which the general public would disapprove of. These rituals became based on: ▸ Reinterpretations of authentic sources ▸ Reinterpretations of contemporary commentaries (Medieval descriptions of witch craft by inquisitors) ▸ New materials (often masquerading as originals TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL THE MAGIC OF ABRAMELIN; THE FOREWORD BY MCGREGOR MATHERS “[…] in order to control and make service of the Lower and Evil, the knowledge of the Higher and the Good is requisite (i.e., in the language of the Theosophy of the present day, the knowledge of the Higher Self)” TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL NEWLY INTRODUCED THEMES: THE OCCULT GOES PSYCHOLOGICAL ▸ The self, and magic as an extension of the self. ▸ The will; Magic as a means to influence and if possible dominate, ones surroundings ▸ Magic as a window into the psyche (it all happens in your head) ▸ Magic as a means to destroy the ego and rise above ourselves TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL FORBIDDEN RITUAL IN THE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN ▸ An actual injunction against certain rituals, pertained in the introduction to the ritual, because of the extreme, often material, effects the preforming the ritual can have. ▸ Coming under the influence of the Devil ▸ Irreversible changes in the natural order of things TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCETEXT ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ▸ Altered states of consciousness (ASC) are states in which the mind perceives reality in a radically different way from normal perception. ▸ Drugs, usually hallucinogenics ▸ Mental exercise such as meditation, hypnoses, etc. ▸ Deprivation (food, impulses, sleep, water, etc.) ▸ Psychological disorders (Schizophrenia, sleep paralysis, etc. ) TRENDS IN OCCULTISM: THE FORBIDDEN RITUAL HALLUCINOGENIC & OTHER DRUGS ▸ Voluntary consumption ▸ As part of a ritual ▸ The drug as a window into higher worlds (A dynamic which changed with the demystification of mind altering substances) ▸ Involuntary consumption ▸ Through fungi on bread, the accidental consumption of certain mushrooms, etc.