Watkins Dictionary of Magic: Over 3000 Entries on the World of Magical Formulas, Secret Symbols and the Occult

557 Pages·2011·4.18 MB·English

by  Nevill Drury

Nevill Drury is the author or co-author of over sixty books and has been
published in seventeen languages. His work includes writings on shamanism and
the western magical traditions as well as contemporary art, holistic health and
ambient music. He is well known both as a lecturer and for his workshops on
magical visualization and shamanic drumming.
By the same author Witchcraft and Magic: from Shamanism to the
Technopagans The New Age: the History of a Movement Sacred Encounters:
Shamanism and Magical Journeys of the Spirit The Dictionary of the Esoteric
Pan’s Daughter: The Magical World of Rosaleen Norton Everyday Magic
The History of Magic in the Modern Age The Visionary Human
Exploring the Labyrinth
The Occult Experience
Echoes from the Void
The Elements of Shamanism
Inner Visions: Explorations in Magical Consciousness The Shaman and the
Magician Don Juan, Mescalito and Modern Magic The Path of the Chameleon
The Watkins Dictionary of
Magic
3,000 Entries on the Magical Traditions
Nevill Drury
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the pioneering work of scholars like A.E. Waite and
MacGregor Mathers who began the considerable task of documenting the
western magical tradition around a century ago. They were followed by other
major writers like Lewis Spence, Israel Regardie, Dion Fortune and Gareth
Knight – among many others – who then consolidated much of this earlier
material. In our own time writers like Francis X. King, Stephen Skinner,
Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Caitlin and John Matthews, Ronald Hutton, Vivianne
Crowley, Margot Adler, Janet and Stewart Farrar, Starhawk, Dolores Ashcroft-
Nowicki, Doreen Valiente, Kenneth Grant, Mircea Eliade, Gershom Scholem,
Aryeh Kaplan, Lyndy Abraham, Z. Budapest and many others, have added
enormously to our understanding of the western esoteric tradition. I salute them
all for their tremendous insights and understanding. Finally, I would like to
acknowledge the very helpful and well-informed comments provided by my
editor, Peter Bently.
This book is dedicated to the memory of the remarkable trance occultist and
artist Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956) who opened a new path to the
visionary world of magic.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Further Reading
Preface
The world of magic and the esoteric traditions is a source of endless fascination
and speculation although it invariably attracts a wide range of human responses.
For some people – wary, perhaps, of the often sinister overtones associated with
magic and the occult arts – this whole realm of enquiry can seem frightening,
potentially demonic, or simply irrational. To others it may seem remote or
irrelevant. The subject has attracted much shallow and sensational media
coverage, with its more superficial aspects such as fortune telling, horoscopes,
and superstitions receiving the most public attention.
However, in recent times there has been an increasing interest in alternative
religious and spiritual perspectives and, with the exception of the Kabbalah,
most of these alternatives have tended to lie outside the Judaeo-Christian
tradition. While many in contemporary western society have found a sense of
spiritual fulfilment in exploring eastern forms of mysticism and meditation, in
the West these spiritual alternatives have included revivals of various forms of
goddess worship, Celtic neopaganism, and shamanism, and metaphysical
frameworks like Gnosticism, alchemy, and the Tarot. There has also been
renewed interest in the mysteries of ancient Greece and Egypt and an ongoing
focus on Jewish mysticism – since the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life provide a
key spiritual framework for the expansion of magical consciousness.
There can be no doubt that in contemporary western society the rise of
rational and scientific thought has challenged the “divine-authority” base of
mainstream Christianity to such an extent that church attendance is now very
much on the decline. Indeed, it would seem that our society is at a type of
spiritual crossroads. Our western culture continues to perpetuate the enshrined
belief systems of our formal religious institutions but for many people the
prevailing religious orthodoxies have a hollow ring about them, and do not
reflect deeply felt personal experience.
So where does this leave the elusive and much misunderstood world of
magic and the occult? How do practitioners of magic, witchcraft, neopaganism,
and goddess worship respond to the modern world?
Ironically, although they may be reviving archaic belief systems and
practices, the majority of occultists today are supporters of the new technologies
– especially if they are seen to be helpful to the community at large. A
surprisingly high number of occult devotees and neopagans work in the
computer industry or in other areas of communication and information
technology. However, they tend to believe that the demands of urban existence
should be complemented by a sense of spiritual attunement to the broader world
outside. There is a general consensus that the cycles of nature and the universe
as a whole provide a broader scope for meaning than can be found in the daily
urban routines that most of us endure.
The perspective which emerges within this broad-based metaphysical
movement is a type of spiritual humanism – an approach based on the belief that
all human beings have within them an intrinsic spiritual connection with the
cosmos, an innate potential divinity which can be brought through into conscious
expression. The magical traditions recognize this potential, and invite us to
explore the visionary realms within our own being.
Another interesting aspect of the “occult” is that, increasingly, its so-called
magical “secrets” are no longer hidden. The really worthwhile aspects of occult
belief and practice are now very much out in the open – as more and more
people seek to explore the different potentials for visionary and spiritual
expression. This book is just one small example of that new openness – that new
and open access to previously “occult”, or “hidden” information.
This dictionary seeks to provide a wide range of cross-referenced listings
covering the diverse and exotic traditions that are now part of the magical world-
view. These traditions include Wicca, western ceremonial magic, alchemy,
astrology, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Tarot, shamanism, voodoo,
Macumba, and Santería. I have also included specialist listings related to
Enochian angelic magic, Goetia, and the left-hand path, and the Thelemic and
the O.T.O. cosmologies associated with such figures as Aleister Crowley and
Kenneth Grant. In addition there are listings for magical plants, stones, and
perfumes as well as important figures from Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, Greek, and
Roman mythology, and native and indigenous magical traditions. Finally, I have
included some listings from eastern mysticism where they relate specifically to
the western esoteric tradition – chakras, kundalini yoga, and the tattvas being
examples of eastern concepts that have entered the realm of modern western
magic.
Finally I must admit to writing this book as one who is basically sympathetic
to the western esoteric tradition. I know that I myself have benefited enormously
from its exploration over the last thirty years or so, and I value my personal