{"id":903,"date":"2007-07-08T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-08T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=903"},"modified":"2007-07-08T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-08T15:39:00","slug":"occult-renaissance-nears-its-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=903","title":{"rendered":"Occult Renaissance Nears its End (?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dump your Llewellyn<\/a> stock*\u2014the occult renaissance is about to end.<\/p>\n

Or so wrote the ceremonial magician<\/a> Louis T. Culling in his booklet Occult Renaissance 1972-2008<\/em><\/a>, published in 1972 (suprise) by Llewellyn Publications, price one dollar.<\/p>\n

He explains his chronology like this:<\/p>\n

[T]he entire field of the Occult had a tremendous upsurge of activity and interest beginning roughly in the year 1894 and lasting roughly to 1936. In that year the doors to the “mysteries” were closed and Occultism has been in the “dark ages” though 1971.<\/em><\/p>\n

That golden era, Culling claims, produced the Theosophical Society and the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn, while a silver era from 1900-1936 produced Aleister Crowley’s post-GD work as well as that of Dion Fortune<\/a>, Paul Foster Case<\/a>, Marc Edmund Jones<\/a>, and many others. After 1936 came “low-grade claimants and tricksters.”<\/p>\n

Oddly, Culling avers that “the wave of popular interest in astrology and the various occult subjects occuring from 1968 to 1971 really has no part in the genuine Occult Renaissance<\/strong> that starts in 1972″ (emphasis in the original). <\/p>\n

It’s all based on a 72-year astronomical cycle, with each 72 years representing one degree in the precession of the equinoxes.<\/p>\n

The 1972 renaissance was supposed to bring increased understanding of sex magick<\/a>, a more “receptive and sustaining, hence feminine,” version. (Not what you read in Crowley’s magickal notebooks, which Culling calls “projective.”) <\/p>\n

What interests me is that Culling interrupts his discussion of sex magick to talk about ecology, which he defines as “preseving all forms of life for Man’s SPIRITUAL TRANSCENDENCE.” He illustrates spiritual growth through contact with nonhuman life by a story he wrote for the Defenders of Wildlife magazine in 1966 called “The Trader Coyote.” He writes that people who observe Nature closely “study and observe the manifestations of Divine Inteligence operating in Nature so that consciously (and unconsiously, subconsciously) they may make spiritual rapport with nature and become true NATURE WORSHIPPERS.” (Capitalization in the original.)<\/p>\n

And, yes, he puts in a good word for Wicca, quoting from the Grimoire of Lady Sheba<\/em><\/a>, which Llewellyn had published about the same time.<\/p>\n

As an occultist and magician, Culling rejects explanations of the universe as operating by chance. He expects that the great new understanding of the 1972-1998 period will be that a “Directive Intelligence” drives evolutiion and that by understanding this intelligence, we will learn what Man is slated to become.<\/p>\n

Here is the irony of prophecy. Indeed, today more and more people reject evolution-by-chance. Instead, they turn to a heavy-handed, literal-minded evangelical Christian version of “intelligent design.” Rather than seeking any occult purpose inevolution, they wish to reject it altogether<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In their psyches, advocates of intelligent design feel that there must be something moe than a mechanical universe. So did Culling the occultist. But he wished to proceed with an attitude of exploration and learning, whereas theirs is an attitude of rejection and deliberate ignorance. They have their own low-grade claimants and tricksters.<\/p>\n

*That is a joke. Llewellyn is a privately held company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dump your Llewellyn stock*\u2014the occult renaissance is about to end. Or so wrote the ceremonial magician Louis T. Culling in his booklet Occult Renaissance 1972-2008, published in 1972 (suprise) by Llewellyn Publications, price one dollar. He explains his chronology like this: [T]he entire field of the Occult had a tremendous upsurge of activity and interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[39,59,12],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-occultism","tag-prophecy","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-ez","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7237,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7237","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":0},"title":"Call for Papers: The Occult Imagination in Britain","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Christine Ferguson and Andrew Radford, both of the University of Glasgow, seek contributors for an edited collection, The Occult Imagination in Britain, 1875-1947. We seek proposals for an essay collection entitled The Occult Imagination in Britain, 1875-1947, to be proposed to Ashgate\u2019s new Among the Victorians and the Modernists series.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"esotericism\"","block_context":{"text":"esotericism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=esotericism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13015,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13015","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":1},"title":"CFP: Design and the Occult","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After my various posts on the Pagan-ish presentations by the House of Dior in particular (such as \"The Tarot of Dior\" and \"Dior Dresses the Fair Folk\" and \"I Want to Call Dior's Cruise Collection Pagan-ish Too\") Although study can be a expensive case for previous medicines, there are some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/dior-2-300x157.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/dior-2-300x157.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/dior-2-300x157.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4685,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4685","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":2},"title":"The ‘Occult Chicago’ Event","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking forward to this event a lot. It should fortify me for the hard business of a confrontation with a certain publisher's editorial director. And keep an eye on Rik Garrett's Occult Chicago blog. Why don't you start one for your town?","rel":"","context":"In \"Chicago\"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=chicago"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":390,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=390","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":3},"title":"Some Pagan Publishing Gossip","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Pike's new book, New Age and Neopagan Religions in America, just landed on my desk with instructions to review it for Nova Religio. Given that many contemporary Pagans are ambivalent at best about the \"New Age\" movement, it will be interesting to see how she sorts out and categorizes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/BARBIE.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7581,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7581","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":4},"title":"The Passing of Carl Weschcke","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"First, the official announcement from Llewellyn, then my comments. It is with profound sadness we share the news of Carl Llewellyn Weschcke\u2019s passing. He passed peacefully on Saturday, November 7 surrounded by family. He was 85. Carl Llewellyn Weschcke was Chairman and the driving force behind Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"weschcke","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/weschcke-219x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8278,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8278","url_meta":{"origin":903,"position":5},"title":"Pentagram Pizza: Toppings Begone!","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 The Roman Catholic Church in the United States reports a shortage of exorcists, says a British newspaper. In lengthy interviews with The Telegraph, the two exorcists discuss how the increase in drug and pornography addiction, failure of the mental healthcare system and a rise in popularity of \"pagan activities\",\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=christianity"},"img":{"alt_text":"pentagrampizza","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/pentagrampizza.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}