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ESOTERICA

Volume VIII (2006)
Contents
Introduction . . . 5
Folk Magic and Protestant Christianity in Appalachia by John
Richards . . .7
The Dionysian Body: Esotericism in the Philosophy of Norman O.
Brown by Melinda Weinstein . . . 58
Hermetic Melancholia and The Suffering Androids
by Eric G. Wilson . . . 83
Magical Dream Provocation In the Later Middle Ages by Frank
Klaassen . . . 111
Christian Theosophy by Arthur Versluis . . . 136
Book Reviews: Gösta Hedegård, ed. Liber Iuratus Honorii: A Critical
Edition of the Latin Version of the Sworn Book of Honorius, and of
Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the
Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century . . . 180-188
and “Journey to the East” by James G. Cowan . . . 189-196
†°¢

ESOTERICA
Editor-in-chief: Arthur Versluis
Associate Editor: John Richards
Technical Editor: Kirsten Partyka
Copyright for all articles, reviews, or other materials published in Esoterica is
held by the respective authors. The journal itself and all its contents in this form
are copyright of Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. All rights
reserved.
ISSN: 1523-1224
Volume VIII (2006)
Images are reprinted by permission of Roger Manley for the photo of Howard Finster’s
“Seppent Garden” sculpture; by permission of the British Library for the image from MS
30024 f.1.v; by permission of Toyota Corporation for the android photo.

Esoterica Mailing Address:
Esoterica
235 Bessey Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
USA
[email protected]
www.esoteric.msu.edu
ESOTERICA
VIII (2006)
Articles
Introduction . . . 5
Folk Magic and Protestant Christianity in Appalachia
by John Richards . . .7
The Dionysian Body: Esotericism in the Philosophy of Norman O.
Brown by Melinda Weinstein . . . 58
Hermetic Melancholia and The Suffering Androids
by Eric G. Wilson . . . 83
Magical Dream Provocation In the Later Middle Ages
by Frank Klaassen . . . 111
Christian Theosophy by Arthur Versluis . . . 136
Book Reviews
Hedegård, Gösta, ed. Liber Iuratus Honorii: A Critical Edition of
the Latin Version of the Sworn Book of Honorius . . . 180
Reviewed by Claire Fanger
Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and
the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century . . . 184
Reviewed by Arthur Versluis
and
Journey to the East by James G. Cowan . . . 189
Introduction
This new issue of Esoterica features as its lead article John
Richards’s extensive and groundbreaking analysis of Appalachian
folk magic in relation to Protestant Christianity. A professor at
West Virginia State University, Richards, in “Folk Magic and
Protestant Christianity in Appalachia,” not only surveys the
literature in the field, and the primary forms of folk magic in the
Appalachian region, but also offers a compelling and innovative
thesis about folk magic as intimately bound up with regional forms
of American Christianity.
Yet this is not the only important new article in this issue. In
“The Dionysian Body: Esotericism in the Philosophy of Norman
O. Brown”, Melinda Weinstein offers the first full-length article on
this well-known scholar, showing how much Brown was indebted
to and drew on Western esoteric traditions. Despite Brown’s
reputation and influence as author of books including Life Against
Death and Love’s Body, this is the first article to analyze his work
in depth.
Still another innovative article is Eric G. Wilson’s “Hermetic
Melancholia and the Suffering of Androids,” in which he explores
themes very prevalent in contemporary films—the themes of
androids or puppets—and he reveals their hidden relationship to
Western esotericism, in particular to the work of philosopher and
magus Marsilio Ficino.
What’s more, in “Magical Dream Provocation in the Later
Middle Ages,” Frank Klaassen explores the complex topic of
medieval dream literature and its relationship to visions as well
as to dream divination as a form of medieval magical practices.
Finally, this issue also features book reviews, including Claire
Fanger on a new critical edition of the Sworn Book of Honorius,
and Arthur Versluis on Mark Sedgwick’s Against the Modern
World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the
Twentieth Century. This is one of our richest issues yet.
With this, its eighth volume, Esoterica is significantly changing
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its format. This current issue will be available in pdf download
format via a secure server through Michigan State University’s
Office of Research and Graduate Studies. We preserve our practice
of offering illustrated color covers for each article, but we have
switched from html to pdf format because the journal requires at
least some modest revenue stream. Initially, the journal will be
available only in electronic format as pdf files that you can print
out, but presently we hope to announce a professionally printed
book version of the journal as well. In the past, we have made do
through University support, but it is time for the journal to support
itself. By purchasing a copy of Esoterica, the entirety of your
contribution will support the journal and thus research in the field
of Western esotericism. These are important new developments,
and we trust that our readers will join us in supporting these new
endeavors as well as this field of study more broadly. And we
encourage you to consider donating to the journal via the link on
our website. Your donation is tax-deductible if you’re a United
States citizen, and like the subscription revenue, your donation will
be used in its entirety to support the journal and related endeavors
in this new and growing field of study. We thank you for your
encouragement, very much appreciate your support, and hope you
enjoy this new issue of the journal.
—Arthur Versluis, Editor
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7
Folk Magic and Protestant Christianity in
Appalachia
John Richards
West Virginia State University
Introduction
The mountains of rural Appalachia have long been regarded as
a land of mystery and magic. In many ways, it is a place frozen in
time. Omens, ghost stories, portents, superstitions, curses, cures,
and protections are simply a part of everyday life. The people
of rural Appalachia, however, rarely use terms like “folklore”
or “folk magic” to describe their beliefs and practices. Instead,
these beliefs and practices are merely regarded as “the old ways.”
They represent the inherited knowledge and wisdom from past
generations. For the rural Appalachian, there is nothing odd or
unusual about these practices; they are just the way certain things
are done.
Although most research has focused on cataloging and
preserving Appalachian folklore and folk magic, there have been
a few attempts to explain and interpret the origins and purposes
of this tradition.1 Fischer (1989), for example, claims that much
of the folklore was brought from Ireland, Scotland and the north
of England, while the folk magic was an eclectic body of beliefs
constantly growing by borrowings from Indians, Africans,
Germans, and other cultures. According to Fischer, the magic
of this region was remarkably secular in its nature and purposes.
Cavender (2003), who largely concentrated on the study of
Appalachian folk medicine, agrees with Fischer’s analysis as to
the origins of Appalachian folk magic and medical knowledge.
However, Cavender, in discussing the Southern Appalachian folk
medical belief system, recognizes the existence of two domains
of knowledge in the more traditional sense: a naturalistic domain
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and a magico-religious domain. Butler (1990) proposes that the
origins and development of folk magic in Appalachia can be traced
to the folklorization of magic and the development of popular
religion in early American society. A more recent interpretation of
Appalachian folk magic, made popular by McCoy (1997), is that it
is a true surviving remnant of ancient European religions. Strivelli,
for example, who runs a website called “Pagan Traditions,”
designates Appalachian folk magic as the “Appalachian Granny
Magic Tradition.” And, in so doing, she defines Appalachian folk
magic as a “denomination of the ancient religion of Witchcraft.”2
In addition to folk magic, the Appalachian region has been
long associated with the values and beliefs of conservative
Protestant Christianity. In fact, religion is such a pervasive
part of Appalachian culture that it has been said that “One must
understand the religion of mountaineers before he can begin to
understand mountaineers.”3 Considering the importance of the
relationship between religion and magic in general, and religion
and the worldview of the Appalachian people in particular, it is
surprising how little attention the above interpretations have paid
to the relationship between Protestant Christianity and Appalachian
folk magic. The purpose of this article is to examine some of the
parallels between religious and magical beliefs and practices in
Appalachia. I argue that the Protestant Christians and folk magic
practitioners of Appalachia do not form two separate communities.
Instead, they form a single community with the same history,
shared values, and a common worldview. As such, the central
theme of this paper is that Appalachian folk magic cannot be
understood apart from the Protestant beliefs and practices that
characterize Christianity in the Appalachian region. To this end,
I first define the Appalachian region, then examines the history,
beliefs, and practices of Appalachian folk magic and several
interpretations that have been made of these beliefs and practices.
Finally, it examines the major characteristics of Protestant
Christianity in Appalachia and concludes with a comparison of the
history, beliefs, practices and practitioners of religion and magic in
Appalachia.
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The Appalachian Region
Before we can discuss the folk magic and religion of
Appalachia, it is necessary to define what is meant by the
Appalachian region both geographically and culturally.
Appalachia, as defined by the 1965 federal legislation that
established the Appalachian Regional Commission, is a 200,000
square mile region that follows the ridge of the Appalachian
Mountains from southern New York to Northern Mississippi. It
includes all of West Virginia and parts of twelve other states:
Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee,
and Virginia.
However, when one thinks about the Appalachian culture, this
is not the geographic region that usually comes to mind. Using
both topographic and socioeconomic criteria, Raitz and Ulack
(1984) define the boundaries of Appalachia differently than
the Appalachian Regional Commission. They found that “the
mental maps of Appalachia among “insiders” (native residents),
“cognitive outsiders” (those who lived in Appalachia but did not
consider themselves “Appalachian”), and “residential outsiders”
(those who lived outside the region) varied.”4 As defined by
Raitz and Ulack, and many of the insiders queried in their study,
Southern Appalachia includes much of the middle and all of
eastern Tennessee, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah
Valley of Virginia, much of western and all of eastern Kentucky,
western North Carolina, southern West Virginia, northern Alabama,
northern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, and much of the
Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia.
According to McCauley (1995), Campbell’s 1921 “map of
the region best represents the geographic range, especially the
central areas, in which we find mountain religious culture at its
most pronounced.” Campbell’s map extends from northern West
Virginia to northern Alabama and includes parts of Virginia,
Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia. This same region also best exemplifies the geographic
area most associated with traditional Appalachian folk magic.
European settlers first started arriving in the Appalachian
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