On Hermetic Magic
From the ancient mystery schools to contemporary orders like The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, magic has ever been inseparable from Hermeticism. It is no accident, then, that Valentin Tomberg, in writing his magnum opus, Meditations on the Tarot, chose to unite esoteric Christianity with the stream of Hermeticism. For Hermeticism has always been a magical path.
But why have humans been fascinated by magic from time immemorial? At the risk of oversimplification, I believe it is a longing for power—power over the elements, over spiritual beings, over our own destiny.
We are divine spiritual beings. As the psalmist says, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Ps. 82:6). Jesus quotes this Psalm in defense of his claims of divinity in John 10:34, “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”
Now, while it is true we humans possess this great dignity, it is also true that we are fallen. Our high spiritual state as partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) has been hidden, cloaked, and veiled. We have, to quote Genesis, been exiled from our original paradisal state and taken on “garments of skins” (Gen. 3:21).
In our enfleshed and fallen state, nature has gone from an intimate friend, in which we called everything by name, to a feared enemy. No longer tame, nature can destroy us and our labors in the blink of an eye. One violent storm, one flood, one fire, and all we hold dear can be brought to nothing.
Nevertheless, we remember. The memory of paradise, in which we were one with nature and loving lords and caretakers of it, has faded from our consciousness—but not entirely. The echoes of memory reverberate within us, and we long to return to this paradisal state of mastery, when nature was not a threat to us, but rather subservient to our commands.
Deeply aware of our helplessness before the world, humans have always turned to magic in various forms. In and through magical power, magicians both ancient and modern shook off the frail bonds and limits of human being and once again regained mastery over the world. Magical power ensures one is no longer impotent before the forces of the universe, spiritual or material, but can exert one’s will over them.
Modern science, of course, is a magical system no less than Hermeticism. It has one and the same goal, mastery over the forces of the world and the erasure of our vulnerability. It, too, promises invincibility and supreme power. It, too, has its magical talismans, its ceremonies, and even its potions in the form of modern pharmaceuticals.
But, as with all forms of power, magic is a dangerous game. Tomberg warns many times against seeking personal magical power, warning that it is the path to egoism and even self-destruction. Not because magic does not work, but because it does.
For the quest for power, as countless stories and myths have cautioned, is often deceptive. What perhaps starts as well-intended mission of self-preservation or intervention can quickly develop into a game of forcing one’s will upon the world. This tragic mistake often lies in thinking one knows what is good for oneself and others. In ignorance, the personal magician seeks to bend reality to his will, engaging with forces that in truth have a will of their own. What often results is catastrophic unintended consequences.
Gandalf, in the Lord of the Rings films, articulates this principle exactly when Frodo offers him the Ring of Power: “Don't tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
The truth is, we do frequently do not know what is good for us and for others. Our best intentions go awry. We think we know how to solve problems and how to machinate our destiny. But, like the bearers of the Ring in Tolkien’s mythology, we are easily deceived and our will corrupted.
It is this very deception of self-willed power against which Tomberg warns. He contrasts the self-willed magician, incanting, fiat voluntas mea, “my will be done,” with the sacred magician, practicing divine magic, who says, fiat voluntas tua, “thy will be done.”
In Tomberg’s teaching, Christian Hermetic magic can only be the result of authentic mysticism and gnosis. That is, far from executing one’s own will, the divine will must be revealed to the sacred magician first through mystical revelation and gnostic reflection. Only when divine will has been revealed does the sacred magician act through divine magic.
Love is active wherever it exists. It is everyone’s vocation; it is no one’s prerogative.
Thus, it is clear from the preceding that gnosis due to mystical experience must precede sacred magic. This is the meaning of the crown that the Empress wears. Sacred magic is the child of mysticism and gnosis.
If it were not so, magic would be the putting into practice of occult theory. This applies only to personal or usurpatory magic. Sacred or divine magic is the putting into practice of mystical revelation. The Master revealed to Peter what he had to do—inwardly and outwardly—in order to heal Aeneas at Lydda. It is here that the order of things in sacred magic is given: firstly, real contact with the Divine (mysticism), then the taking into consciousness of this contact (gnosis), and lastly the putting into operation or the execution of that which mystical revelation has made known as being the task to accomplish and the method to follow.
Personal or usurpatory magic follows, in contrast, the reverse order. Here it is the magician himself who studies occult theory and decides when and how to put it into practice. If he does so following the advice given by a master in magic, someone who has experimented in magic more than he has, the principle remains the same: it is always the human personality who decides the “what” and the “how”.
(Pg. 56, Kindle version, Letter: The Empress)
Thus, the sacred magician avoids the deceptions of self-will, executing only the life-giving will of the divine. Magic severed from the unity of mysticism and gnosis is not life-giving. It only destroys. For every problem it solves, it creates several more, not the least of which is wounding the soul of its practitioner.
The saints, on the other hand, were the greatest magicians imaginable because they were sacred magicians. They did return to the paradisal innocence in which the forces of nature and supernature obeyed them. St. Rose of Lima made peace with the mosquitos in the swamp in which she lived. St. Francis tamed ferocious wolves and St. Anthony preached to an audience of fish. St. Padre Pio transcended space and time, levitating and bilocating effortlessly. The list goes on.
The saints had emptied themselves of self-will, and thus the divine will expressed itself through them like a blazing fire. Their inner cry was fiat voluntas tua, thy will be done, and thus, they possessed godlike power magicians both ancient and modern could only dream of.
Like these saints, the Christian Hermeticist must not seek to further one’s own agenda, no matter how good and innocent it may appear. We must renounce personal initiative. Through the stillness of contemplation, we must seek to listen inwardly and receive the will of the divine. Only then can one engage in inspired magical action. For sacred magic is the vau in the mystical unity of the tetragrammaton: yod (mystical insight) he (gnostic reflection) vau (sacred magical action).
When this sacred order is preserved, we become magicians in service of the tree of life. We become powerful beyond limits, for we act not with personal initiative, but with divine power.
Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10
While Tomberg has a good point—namely, that magic relies on valid and true gnosis in order to qualify as sacred magic—there is another facet of the entire relationship between magic and gnosis, religion and esotericism or mysticism that must be addressed.
Magic is a tool that when success is given, serves as a tremendous proof for the existence of God. How? Through the very fact that any magical operation, properly performed, will be successful, which indicates that there is a metaphysical, invisible, framework of cosmic law that guides and moves everything in the Created universe. Whether this is something as simple as utilizing folk magic cures for warts and fevers, or the crafting of perfectly elected astrological talismans, or experiments such as Trithemius performed by invoking angels to visible appearance, all of these operations clearly exhibit the existence of Order and Reason—which, as we know from our studies, are manifestations of Christ the Logos. Even the forbidden works of goetia, practiced according to the old grimoires, bear testimony to this fact. The sorcerer calls, and they come.
Essentially, there are two paths into magic: the first (and common) is through beginning to experiment in an attempt to gain some advantage in life when none is seen; the second (far less common) comes from a deep-seated urge in the would-be magician to attain unity with God, and to set the world right in alignment with His will.
While the first path may seem ignoble on the face of it, it is no different than attempting to get a college degree or some sort of extra education to get a leg up in life, to get a better job, nicer house, attractive spouse, etc. The main difference between going to a university and carving a Jupiter astral talisman in a good election is that college doesn't serve as a point of gnostic realization, where the Divine reveals Himself to the operant through the operation. The issue with gaining new, secret, knowledge is that responsibility is enjoined upon the practitioner.
So the practitioner of magic, who begins his practice without necessarily having the experience of personal knowledge of God, enters the state of gnosis through his experiences. He now has a choice: whether to follow this knowledge to its logical conclusion and to accept the faith the Logos taught humanity, that is the Orthodox and Catholic Faith—to embrace a Christian life of morality, prayer, and proper belief—or to remain 'free' in the World, 'doing whatever is right in his own eyes' like Israel in the time of the Judges when they had no king. The key difference is that we do have a king, that is Christ the Lord, and to reject Him is treason against God, and the Royal Art the magician practices.
We must be so careful to always avoid prelest, and to remember where our fealty lies. It isn't a blind, strictly material Nature who renders us these favours and accomplishes wonders. It is the Logos, who establishes the Law that all Nature must obey, Who draws all Creation unto Himself, into proper Order and Holiness. With loving prayer and cultivating humility, we can be sure that we remain in the practice of sacred magic, rather than succumbing to the evils of remaining self-willed and worldly when we attain glimpses of the Truth.
Well said! Tomberg is close by here. Who else do you like to work with?