Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic: Invoking Tradition

240 Pages·2011·10.465 MB·English

by  Alison Butler

Victorian Occultism and the
Making of Modern Magic
Invoking Tradition
Alison Butler
Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic
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Victorian Occultism and the
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Invoking Tradition 1
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Alison Butler ct - 2
Lecturer in History, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada ne
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© Alison Butler 2011
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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Amnayy pbeer slioanb lwe htoo dcroimesi naanly p uronsaeuctuhtoiroinze adn adc ct iivnil rcellaaitmiosn f otor dthaims apguebsl.ication ct - 2
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The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work on
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. e
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First published 2011 by algr
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi 9
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Introduction viii 1-
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1 A New Order 1 ect -
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2 A New Magic 17 C
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3 Resurrecting the Past: Hiram, Isis and the Rosy Cross 62 algr
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4 Preservation and Improvisation: Nineteenth-Century o -
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Magicians 99 o
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5 Magical Libraries: What Occultists Read 125 et i
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6 Revolutionizing Magic: The Will Conquers the Spirit 138 bliot
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7 Middle-Class Magic 162 ets
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Conclusion 180 er
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Notes 183 d t
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Bibliography 204 ce
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Index 213 o
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Acknowledgements
Most of the research for this book was conducted in England between 9
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2000 and 2007. Further research took me to Ireland, while the actual 03-
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written product took shape in Canada. I am therefore extremely grateful 01
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for the support and encouragement from individuals and institutions ct -
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in all three countries. First and foremost, I would like to thank Ronald nn
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Hutton for his critical supervision of the initial stages of this project eC
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and for his continued advice and encouragement. Owen Davies and gr
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James Thompson offered invaluable help by encouraging me to clarify o - P
my arguments and flesh out key points. David N. Bell set me upon this ms
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fascinating path of research and I am indebted to him for his generous Tr
guidance and support. ket i
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My work on this project was initially funded by the Social Sciences ot
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and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Rothermere Trust. bi
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I would also like to acknowledge St Francis Xavier University for pro- sit
viding me with the funding that enabled me to share my research and ver
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receive critical feedback at various national and international confer- o U
ences in 2007–10. ed t
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Some sections of this book began as conference papers and selected e
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material from the fourth and seventh chapters was first presented at the m - li
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, London, co
ct.
Ontario, in 2005; the Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of ne
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the Western United States, Boulder, Colorado, in 2007; the Northeast co
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Victorian Studies Association, Toronto, in 2007; and the first interna- gra
tional Societas Magica conference, Waterloo, Ontario, in 2007. I was pal
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fortunate to have the opportunity to avail myself of the scrutiny of my w
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work and the subsequent encouragement and beneficial suggestions m
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offered by colleagues at these meetings. al fr
Portions of the sixth chapter originally appeared in ‘Making Magic ateri
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Modern: Nineteenth-Century Adaptations’ in The Pomegranate: The ht
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International Journal of Pagan Studies 6, II, 2004: 212–30. I gratefully yri
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acknowledge the permission of Equinox Publications to reprint some of Co
this material. Some of the material in the fourth chapter also found ini-
tial form in journal publications and I wish to thank the following for
permission to reproduce copyright material: Limina Collective for ‘The
Intellectual Origins of the Victorian Occult Revival’ in Limina 9, 2003,
78–95; Mandrake of Oxford for ‘The Importance of Barrett’s Magus’ in
vi
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Acknowledgements vii
Journal for the Academic Study of Magic 1, 2003, 7–32; and Anthem Press
for ‘Anna Kingsford: Scientist and Sorceress’ in David Clifford et al. (eds)
Repositioning Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-Century
Scientific Thinking 2006, 59–69.
Research for this book was carried out at the Bodleian and Radcliffe
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Science Libraries at Oxford University, the British Library, the Warburg 3-1
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Institute, the Wellcome Institute, the University of London Library, the 1-
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National Library of Ireland, the University of Toronto and the Bristol ct - 2
Central Library. I greatly appreciate the helpfulness of the staffs at e
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these libraries, particularly the Bristol Central Library and the National Co
e
Library of Ireland. I am also indebted to R.A. Gilbert for his generos- av
gr
ity in sharing his research and for some enlightening conversations. al
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I would also like to thank the people at Palgrave Macmillan who have o -
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helped bring this research to publication; they include Owen Davies, o
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Ruth Ireland and Sally Daniell. et i
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Throughout this project, friends and family have been unstinting in ote
their help. I am grateful to Emma Butler for her constant encourage- bli
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ment. Finally, my thanks and more go to John Cook for his selfless et
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support and to Stella and Russell for their patience and inspiration. er
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Introduction
In 1887 the famous microbiologist and chemist, Louis Pasteur, was 9
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recovering on the French Riviera from an unknown illness. What he 03-
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did not know was that he was actually recovering from an attempt on 01
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his life. The would-be assassin was hundreds of miles away in London ct -
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celebrating the partial success of her occult efforts to murder the s cientist. nn
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By Anna Kingsford’s reckoning, Pasteur would have been victim number eC
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three in her mission to rid the world of what she called ‘those demons gr
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of vivisection’. Her method? Magic. Kingsford, in two of her previously o - P
successful attempts, and in her attack on Pasteur, projected a magical ms
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force of destruction against her victims. Tr
Two questions emerge upon hearing of this incident. Why did Kingsford ket i
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want to kill Pasteur and why did she use magic? The first is easy to answer. ot
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Kingsford was obviously violently opposed to the practice of vivisec- bi
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tion and believed that by silencing the scientists engaged in this form sit
of experimentation she could also stop the practice itself. It would seem ver
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logical to conclude that if enough people died while experimenting on o U
live animals, other vivisectors might hesitate to continue this practice and ed t
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such ‘demons’ might hold back on using this form of experimentation. e
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The second question, however, ‘Why use magic?’ is a far more compli- m - li
cated one that requires much examination and explanation. Why would co
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a student of medicine, in an age of progress, scientific advancement and ne
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secularization, rely upon such seemingly supernatural means to produce a co
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very physical effect? gra
Kingsford represents a marginalized segment of Victorian society pal
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involved in occultism. This book is about people like her and about the w
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literature they relied upon and created in their magical endeavors. Despite m
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Kingsford’s position as a scientist, her scientific activities and beliefs in al fr
no way conflicted with her magical beliefs. This conflation of science ateri
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and sorcery is characteristic of Victorian occultists and is a key feature in ht
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the nineteenth-century revival of magic. Kingsford, as a scientist, mystic, yri
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spiritualist, and social activist was one of the most remarkable individu- Co
als responsible for the emergence of a new occultism in Victorian Britain.
In her various roles and interests, however, she was quite typical of the
thousands of men and women dabbling in esoteric interests during the
period. Nineteenth-century science and magic were not exclusive of
each other, much like in any other historical period. Rather they enjoyed
viii
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Introduction ix
or endured a completely complicated relationship. Many scientists in
fact straddled the realms of science and the occult with little difficulty.
Much recent scholarship has demonstrated the readiness of nineteenth-
century scientists to investigate the s eemingly supernatural. Historian
Alex Owen situates medical psychologists including Pierre Janet, Charles
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Richet, Albert Freiherr von Schrenk-Notzing, William James and Freud, at 3-1
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séances, either as participants or observers.1 In her book on the German 1-
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occult, Corinna Treitel exposes the strong ties between experimental ct - 2
psychology and occultism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth e
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centuries and identifies several famous scientists from the fields of astro- Co
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physics, mathematics and psychology as occult particpants.2 Despite the av
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ability by some Victorians to traverse both the realms of science and al
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the occult, not all Victorians were able to reconcile the scientific with o -
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the spiritual so easily. Many turned either to science or to certain esoteric o
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forms of belief to make sense of this new age of secularization. It was a et i
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marginalized minority, however, that turned to occultism and applied ote
scientific method to their experiments. As one of the more influential bli
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individuals belonging to this minority, Kingsford believed that through et
sit
magic she could direct her will to produce physical results. This magic er
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relied upon the notion of correspondences between the visible and Uni
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the invisible – a notion fully developed much earlier by Renaissance d t
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scholars and magicians. Kingsford was also influenced by the French ns
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othcec uinltdisitvsi dwuhaol swe iwllo wrkh henel pcoedu ptloe dd ewvietlho pt hthate oimf ap odritvainnec eo onfe t.h Teh piso wpoewr oerf om - lic
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would come to be a signature feature of British occultism in the late ct.
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nineteenth century. n
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As a middle-class Victorian woman with both a scientific and spiritual ve
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background, influenced by Renaissance and French occultism, Kingsford algr
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embodies the key features of the dominant occult organization of the w.
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era, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The men and women who m w
belonged to this society practised a unique form of cer emonial magic, al fro
one which drew upon an established magical tradition yet incorporated eri
new elements resulting in a transformation of Western magic, the effects mat
of which are still felt today. ght
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The so-called revival of occultism at the end of the nineteenth-c entury p
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has been explored from other angles. Most of these examinations have
taken the form of concentrated histories of specific secret societies
and certain key individuals while others have focused on examining
this ‘revival’ as a departure from secularization and rationalism. More
recently, scholarly examination has focused on the role of occultism in
the development of modernity.
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