File 353371

Franz Bardon and Dion Fortune: Man, Woman and Mastery of the
Universe in Modern Occultism
Fig.1 Bardon (ca. 1930) and Fortune (ca. 1911), both around the age of 20.
MA Thesis Mysticism and Western Esotericism

Wouter J. Hanegraaff & Marco Pasi (Supervisors)
By Maia Daw, Willemsstraat 65-3a, 1015HX, Amsterdam
Student 6248500, tidalspectrum@gmail.com
Table of Contents
Introduction
Bardon and Fortune: Historical Figures in Magical Realities
Platos Long Arm of Influence: Ideas Rooted in Mythology
From Theory to Practice: The Birth of Sexual Magic
Sexual Magic, Feminism and Gender: Social Transformation and Liberation
Fortunes Cosmology: The Male-Female Circuit
Bardons View of the Human: Electro-Magnetic Entities
Becoming Divine: The Ultimate Goal of Magical Development
Neopaganism and Contemporary Occultists
Conclusion: Old Ideas, New Understandings
Appendix
Bibliography
Franz Bardon and Dion Fortune: Man, Woman and Mastery of the Universe
in Modern Occultism
It must not be thought that occultists dwell intemperately upon the subject of sex, or that they
are in any way more sensual than their fellow men who follow other lines of study, but, as their
researches are into the very foundations of human nature, they must take the sexual forces into
their calculations, or else they would run the risk of being caught unawares by the tides they
have ignored. Occultists deal with the forces of life itself, and one aspect of life-force is certainly
sex-force. 1
Introduction
Franz Bardon and Dion Fortune were two highly influential late modern Occultists who
developed elaborate practical esoteric systems. They both incorporated Neoplatonic inspired
cosmologies and philosophies, developing these ideas with their own peculiar emphases. In
exploring and analyzing their thought and practice many interesting and interconnected issues
come to light, and in this paper I will focus on dissecting and weaving these together to expose
some profound underlying insights. One aspect I will emphasize is the point of gender, as this oft
overlooked area in the field of Western esotericism provides an opening into new ways of
understanding the significance of occult thought in the progress of Western culture.
To begin I will outline the biographies and works of our main protagonists, and endeavour to
uncover the real people behind their mythical personas. I will discuss certain parallels between
their systems, and offer an initial introduction into their magical worldview by exploring the idea
of the astral. To place their ideas in context I will briefly trace the history of Neoplatonic
thought in esotericism back to its roots in mythology. Further to this, I will explore the crossinfluence of factors accompanying the shift from Neoplatonic theorizing to practical Occultism
in the 19th century, and how this can be interpreted as being part of a subversive rebellion against
1
Fortune Esoteric Philosophy p.92, originally published in 1924.
societal oppression resulting in the first inklings of feminism and sexual liberation. Borne out of
these esoteric movements are the systems of Bardon and Fortune incorporating sexual magic in
the path of refining ones soul to become Divinity. I will look at the significance of Fortunes
influential ideas concerning the male-female magical circuit, and discuss the radical shift in the
understanding of sex and gender with Bardons occult perception of the human. Further to this I
will investigate how their magical practices reinforce or subvert gender norms and how their
ultimate aim of becoming a God or Goddess relates to this. I will then go on to explore how
their ideas were adapted by Neopagans and contemporary occultists, linking this to the
interconnected issues of gender, feminism, sexual liberation and rebellion against oppressive
traditional modes of being in our Western patriarchal culture.
Through this perilous journey teetering between the mytho-magical and the socio-historical I
hope to demonstrate the continued relevance and significance of the ideas developed by Bardon
and Fortune. I will argue that the idea of the masculine and feminine principles, sought to be
deconstructed and abolished by contemporary gender philosophy, can be re-conceptualized by
taking direct inspiration from these Occultists interpretations. In fact, I will suggest that one can
transcend the notion of gender altogether. A final insight to be gleaned from this curious history
is the impact of mythology on the individual and society, and how new mythologies can counter
rigid traditional constructs determining our experience of reality.
Bardon and Fortune: Historical Figures in Magical Realities

Franz (Frantisek) Bardon was born on December 1st 1909 in Opava (Troppau in German),
Czechoslovakia, the first of twelve children by Viktor and Hedwika Bardon. He was a prominent
occultist who has been completely neglected by contemporary academic research, and wrote a
number of fascinating works in German outlining his occult system that have remained popular
and in print since his death in 1958. 2 After graduating from school he worked as an apprentice
sewing machine mechanic, and it is claimed that at some point in his teens he started exhibiting
clairvoyant abilities. He became popular in this regard and started giving public lectures and
demonstrations of these supernatural abilities, adopting the stage name Frabato for these
He died on July 10th 1958 in the prison ward of a Brno hospital. Bardon Frabato (2002) p.5, Bardon & Kumar
Memories p.78
sessions. 3 He married a woman called Marie and had two children, Marie and Lumir Bardon, the
latter of which published biographical details of his fathers life. Bardon was also known for his
abilities as a naturopathic healer, graduating from the Naturopathic College in Munich,
concocting various herbal remedies and curing friends, acquaintances and others of ailments. 4
During the second world-war he was detained in a concentration camp for over three years,
although the details of where and why are unclear. 5 After his release at the end of the war he
continued his work as a naturopathic healer and practical magician, and began writing his occult
works and supervising students of his system in Prague. 6 He was arrested in April 1958 at his
home in Opava by the secret Czechoslovakian police on the charge of treason and the illegal use
of alcohol in his herbal remedies. All his belongings were confiscated by the state, and he died
soon after whilst still in custody. 7
His works include Frabato: Ein Okkulter Roman von Franz Bardon, which was published in
1958 by Hermann Bauer Verlag in Germany. It was greatly revised by Dieter Rggeberg 8 and
republished in 1979, with an English translation appearing in 2002. It is an occult autobiography
in novel form, and was intended to provide an introduction to Bardons occult reality preparing
the reader for his three following works on the Hermetic path. It is certainly in the tradition of
modern occult novels such as Emma Harding Brittens Ghost Land; Dion Fortunes The GoatFoot God and The Sea Priestess etc.; Zanoni: A Rosicrucian Tale by Edward Bulwer-Lytton;
Ravalette and Tom Clark and his Wife by Paschal Beverly Randolph; and Aleister Crowleys
Moon Child amongst others, aiming to give veiled insights into occult wisdom. These novels are
mostly about secret societies disguising real people and places under pseudonyms weaving
Bardon & Kumar Memories pp.9, 16, 51. Frabato is an abbreviation of Franz, Bardon, Opava and
Troppau.
4
Ibid. pp.14-17, 19, 24-25, 46-48. However, I recently contacted the Josef Angerer Heilpraktiker-Schule in Munich
(est. 1936) and was informed that they have no record of a Franz Bardon having attended their institute.
5
Ibid. pp.12, 63. His student and secretary Otti Votavova also verifies this in Frabato (2002) pp.4, 144.
6
Ibid. pp.43, 55. Among his group of students was his secretary Otti Votavova.
7
Ibid. pp.27,29, 33, 63-64. In Fig.2 in the Appendix I have included a picture of Bardons grave, courtesy of Martin
Faulks.
8
Dieter Rggeberg claims in the 1979 introduction to his revised edition of Frabato to be a close acquaintance of
Bardons secretary Otti Votavova, who had been the writer of the 1958 edition. She had based her interpretation on a
framework of facts left to her by Bardon and fleshed it out to a full story at his request, as he did not have the
opportunity to complete it himself. However, this initial version had been rushed (it was published in the year of
Bardons death) and therefore Rggeberg determined, apparently with the approval of Votavova, to revise it. The
original 1958 publication consists of 12 chapters spanning 275 pages, whereas Rggebergs publication consists of
11 chapters with a short epilogue spanning 142 pages.
mythologies and mysteries around existing characters. 9 However, anything elusive that the novel
Frabato may have represented was cleared up in Bardons three core works on practical magic in
which he is clear, systematic, precise and lucid in conveying the essential fundaments of his
occult reality and subsequent system. His first book Der Weg zum Wahren Adepten (Initiation
Into Hermetics) was published in 1956 with the first English edition appearing several years later
in 1962. This work is based on the first Tarot card of occult Qabalah, the Magician, in which
Bardon devises an elaborate system comprised of a Theory section of around 40 pages and a
Practice section of just under 300 pages. It emphasizes a step-by-step progress of development of
the initiates Body, Soul and Spirit and insists on constant testing and verification on the part of
the practitioner. The initiate must develop and learn to master the Elements 10 in a ten-step
process which culminates in an ascent to Divinity. His second work Die Praxis der Magischen
Evokation (The Practice of Magical Evocation) was published in the same year and represents a
detailed elaboration of the second Tarot card, the High Priestess. For Bardon this represented the
Temple of Initiation analogous to the microcosm of the human, 11 and in it he explains in
incredible detail how an adept can invoke spirits and intelligences in order to master them. It
is divided into three parts entitled Magic, Hierarchy, and Illustrations, with practical descriptions
of tools and methods of evocation. It includes a detailed overview of the hierarchy of the spirits
and intelligences and for each of these their sigil or sign is depicted in the final section. His
third volume of practical occultism entitled Der Schlssel zur Wahren Quabbalah (The Key to
the True Kabbalah) was published in 1957 and is made up of a Theory and a Practice section. It
deals with a thorough explanation of the knowledge of the word, which for Bardon was the true
Qabalah 12 being a universal language representing universal laws. 13 He writes that the
practicing Quabbalist is a theurgist, a God incarnate, being able to apply the universal laws in
the same way as the macrocosmic God 14: through completing the process of his previous two
works the adept can now wield the knowledge of the word. Fragments from an incomplete
fourth volume, The Golden Book of Wisdom, are included as a supplement in the 2002 edition of
Frabato.
9
Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment p.253.

Something akin to the Elements of which all things are comprised in Greek natural philosophy.
11
Bardon Die Praxis (1956) p.286. Bardon The Practice (1975) pp.276-79.
12
I revert here to the usual spelling of Qabalah in occultism.
13
Bardon The Key (1975) pp.21-22.
14
Ibid. p.20.
10
The second figure to be covered in depth in this paper is Dion Fortune. This is the pen-name of a
certain Violet Firth, born in Llandudno, North Wales on January 6th 1890. 15 A significant
experience recounted by her of her early life is that she was the victim of a psychic attack that
occurred around 1910 and she subsequently became fascinated with the workings of the mind.
She had engaged in a dispute with an authoritarian employer who had then allegedly hypnotized
her and left her seriously mentally and physically disturbed for a year thereafter. 16 She sought to
unravel this experience and became interested in psychology, which eventually led her to the
study of occultism. 17 This early interest is significant as she is notable for continuously drawing
parallels between magic and psychology. Theodore Moriarty (1873-1923), a free-mason and
acquaintance of Fortune, is reputed to have been her first teacher in occult matters, although very
little is known about their relationship. Her first book, a collection of short stories called The
Secrets of Dr Taverner (published 1922/1926), is said to be largely inspired by him. 18
Theosophical literature was also a significant early influence, although she did not formally join
the Theosophical Society until 1924, becoming the president of the Christian Mystic Lodge. The
main influence, however, on her occult practices was the magic system developed by The
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, itself an amalgamation of doctrines and rituals from
Masonic and western esoteric sources. 19 She was initiated into the Golden Dawn in 1919 and
acquired her magical name, Deo Non Fortuna, 20 adapted to Dion Fortune for her publications.
Unhappy with certain aspects of the Order, she founded the Fraternity of the Inner Light in 1927,
initially as an outer court of the Golden Dawn, but in 1929 becoming an independent and
thriving Order in its own right. 21 After her marriage to Dr. Thomas Penry Evans (1892-1959) in
1927 she entered her most prolific phase of writing, publishing numerous books on occult
techniques, philosophy and a number of works of occult fiction. The last years of her life found
her greatly involved in an occult battle for Britain during the second world-war, performing
rituals to stave off the Nazi forces. Until, in failing health, she became convinced she was under
psychic attack from a black magician, and subsequently developed leukemia of which she died in
15
Fielding and Collins The Story of Dion Fortune p.19.

Fortune Psychic Self-Defense pp.xxii-xxiii.
17
Fanger Fortune, Dion p.1.
18
Ibid. p.1.
19
Gilbert Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn p.1.
20
Meaning God not Luck.
21
Richardson Priestess p.121, Greer Women of the Golden Dawn pp.355-57.
16
London in 1946. 22 Fortune was described as being a practical independent-minded character with
a strong presence and an inherent mannishness. 23 She is claimed to have harboured exclusive
dedication to the world of magic, showing little interest in the seductive aspects of the material
world and bequeathing her small fortune to her Order after her death. 24
Fortune and Bardon were of the same period and developed systems born out of the postEnlightenment context of an increasingly disenchanted West with a diminishment in power of
institutionalized religion. Their systems can be interpreted as a reaction to this, creating a sacred
space in their realities where the unfathomable and the mysterious could still operate.
25
They
have in common an animal magnetic worldview, certainly as it relates to the idea of the astral
or subtle fluid. This includes the idea of the astral plane, accessible through astral projection
by inducing altered states of consciousness through meditative imaginative techniques. Both are
scathing about the use of drugs in this delicate process. Both claimed access to a perennial
spiritual wisdom and in this regard drew greatly from preceding Western esoteric currents.
Both employed the occult Qabalic system in their practice, wrote occult novels, and were greatly
influenced by Western fantasy conceptions of certain Oriental mystical traditions. Their
occultism was highly rationalized, with Fortunes highly psychologized interpretations of
esotericism, and Bardons preference of practical rather than philosophical magical pursuits with
a great emphasis on verifying ones results before moving onto the next step in his system.
To provide an introduction to their magical reality I will give a brief overview of the history of
the idea of the astral and how it is connected to the altering of consciousness through magical
techniques. The astral relates to the mysterious fluids Franz Bardon alludes to and is one of the
higher realms they claim one travels to when engaging in practical magic. The astral is
described by Fortune as a subtle plane of reality hidden behind the physical plane which one can
travel to by shifting ones consciousness through certain magical methods. Inducing altered
22
Richardson Priestess pp.230-41.

Knight Forward p.vii, Richardson Priestess p.151.
24
Richardson Priestess p.14.
25
Owen The Place of Enchantment pp.238-57, Hanegraaff New Age Religion pp.421-3.
23
states of consciousness is for her the function of working ritual magic, and she claims to
experience higher levels of awareness fully directed by her conscious will. 26
Astral journeys are really lucid dreams in which one retains all ones faculties of choice, willpower and judgment.()There are certain meetings which take place on the Astral Plane, and
many occultists attend them out of body. In order to do this, one has to throw oneself into a
trance and then the mind is free to travel. She further adds that: The method of making astral
journeys is highly technical (). In the language of psychology, it is auto-hypnosis by means of a
symbol. The symbol acts as a door to the Unseen. According to the symbol chosen will be the
section of the Unseen to which access is obtained. The trained initiate, therefore, does not wander
on the astral like an uneasy ghost, but comes and goes by well-known corridors. 27
The idea of astral realms is traceable to the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical system, 28and is
a common theme in Western esotericism. 29 Israel Regardie (1907-1985), the errant former
member of Stella Matutina and publisher of the Golden Dawn rituals 30 claims that the astral
light of the occultists is the equivalent of the concept of the collective unconscious. He explains
that through training and intensive concentration one can contact and consciously experience the
astral plane and thereafter easily retain all memories and awareness of the journey once one has
reentered normal consciousness. 31 In other esoteric currents it is also known as the body of
light which one may reach through ones imaginative faculty. The astral body is not seen as the
soul itself but as a link between this and the physical body, and it is this astral body that can be
loosened. In the Golden Dawn they named the travel of the astral body to the astral world astral
projection and it was central to the practices undertaken by those initiated into the Inner Order. 32
Initially it is traceable to Eliphas Lvi (1810-1875), quoted by Regardie as saying that the astral
light is an agent which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic
mediator, a common receptacle of the vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid and a
force, which may be called in some way the imagination of nature. 33
26
Richardson Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune p.17.

Fortune Psychic Self-Defense pp.161-62.
28
Fanger Fortune, Dion p.1-2, Hanegraaff New Age Religion p.260.
29
Hanegraaff New Age Religion p.433.
30
Gilbert Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn p.7.
31
Regardie Foundations of Practical Magic p.51.
32
Bogdan Women and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn pp.259-60.
33
Regardie Foundations of Practical Magic p.50.
27
The roots of this Neoplatonic concept of the astral body lie in the idea of a subtle agent also
propounded by Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), and prior to this by Paracelsus (1493-1541), 34
and originate in the Platonic concept of ochma and the Stoic and Aristotelian pneuma. 35 The
occultists adapted this concept into that of a magical plane and it became a standard element of
their practice and worldview: a magical reality existing parallel to that of the world of the senses
with its own rules. 36In this sense they live in two worlds, each with their own distinct sets of
governing laws which the initiate has access to. Furthermore, through the idea of a separate-butconnected magical plane the occultists sought to rationally legitimate magic. 37
The relevance of the idea of shifting ones consciousness I will return to later but in another
sense than how the occultists conceptualized it. I will address it in the manner in which
mythological maps we have inherited through the evolution of religious ideas in the history of
Western culture influence and shape our psyche. Adopting new mythologies can thus cause
radical shifts in the way we conceptualize reality, and can affect the individual in real and
practical ways on a day to day level. When an individual has experienced such a shift in
consciousness he or she can affect society at large by communicating and acting upon these new
ways of being and understanding.
Platos Long Arm of Influence: Ideas Rooted in Mythology

To unravel the notions that Bardon and Fortune expounded it is crucial to have a thorough
understanding of the historical context and various evolutions of the ideas before the form they
took in these two highly elaborate late modern occult systems. There are an infinity of voices and
currents to consider, but I will briefly highlight some of the most crucial and influential over the
course of history and in the period leading up to Bardons and Fortunes systems. The historical
analysis of the various figures covered here reveal some clear conclusions about the intrinsic
importance and reverence for the sexual forces in Western esoteric currents. Many prominent
esoteric thinkers throughout history held the view that in the depths of human sexuality lies
34
Hanegraaff and van den Doel Imagination pp.614-15.

Hanegraaff New Age Religion p.433.
36
Hanegraaff and van den Doel Imagination pp.614-5.
37
Hanegraaff How Magic Survived the Disenchantment of the World pp.370-71, Luhrmann Persuasions of the
Witchs Craft pp.297-306.
35
10
hidden the secret of religion, occultism, magical power, spirituality, transcendence, life, God,
Being itself. This astonishing connection, such figures would insist, is not metaphorical, or
rhetorical, or symbolic, as some would prefer to have it. It is fundamental, cosmic, ontological,
religious. We are not dealing here, then, with a politics or sociology or anthropology of sex. We
are dealing with a metaphysics of sex, itself intimately entwined with the destiny of the soul. 38
The contemporary categories of gender and sexual orientation are continuously evoked by the
numerous erotic languages, mythologies and symbolisms in the history of Western esotericism.
Interestingly, some suggest that mystical systems incorporating homoerotic sexual symbolism
between Man and the male Godhead were often traditions that integrated successfully in their
surrounding orthodox religious cultures. However, esoteric systems incorporating a hetero-erotic
emphasis were regarded as heterodox and heretical, the hidden intercourse of the male-female
symbolic elements of the Divine being regarded as shocking and explicit. 39 Questions abound
as to why the feminine principle has been reduced to the margins of culture in the last couple of
millennia in the West, but I would suggest it is simply the result of competing mythologies. The
Western subjugation of the feminine is certainly a direct result of Biblical thinking associating
women with the Fall from Eden. The alternative mythology inherited from the Greco-Egyptian
pantheistic cultures provided very different models in this regard, and was adopted and adapted
by marginal streams of Western thought. This was often done in secrecy, as the carriers of these
ideas knew their heretical nature in the face of rigid and monolithic Christian doctrine.
Tracing the earliest representations of these thoughts, we find in Platos (ca. 424BCE 348BCE)
Symposium (385-380BCE) the idea of the two halves of a male and female having originally
been part of one androgynous unity. The story tells of Zeus cutting the three sexes of male,
female and the androgyne in half out of anger after being attacked by them, leading to each
separated half yearning to be united with its other half. The two halves of the split male would
yearn for other males, the two halves of the split female would yearn for other females, and the
split androgyne would yearn for a partner of the opposite sex. 40
38
Kripal & Hanegraaff Introduction p.xiv.

Ibid. pp.xviii-xix.
40
Plato Symposium 189-193d.
39
11
The modern distinction between Platonism and Neoplatonism is that the latter is a substantial
development from Platos original ideas and writings. 41 They were developed and altered by
thinkers such as Iamblichus (ca. 245-325CE) who put forward the idea of the souls development
being aided by magical practices and theurgy as part of the process of its return to the original
Divine source. The Neoplatonic idea of the abstract and ontological categories of Emanator and
Recipient or Intellect and Begetter are independent of any question of gender or sex, as
these qualities are deemed present in both men and women. Further to this the idea that
frequently reoccurs is that of the lower human love being able to evolve and transmute into a
more spiritual love, with the loving partners becoming a single entity harbouring divine love.
In this manner they understood the human experience as leading to the Divine experience.
In Hermes Trismegistus Asclepius (ca. 348CE) we also find references to androgyny being the
perfect form of sexuality as the highest God is seen as bisexual and in this sense androgynous.
God, the only and the All, completely full of the fertility of both sexes and ever pregnant with his
own will, always begets whatever he wishes to procreate. 42 The sexual union between a man
and a woman was represented as sacred and to be praised as the ultimate representation
emulating the divine androgynous nature. 43 Further to this appraisals of the sexual element can
be found in many of the significant thinkers in the history of Western esotericism such as
Marcilio Ficinos (1433-1499) homoerotic mysticism and Giordano Brunos (1548-1600)
heteroerotic frenzies 44 and all these figures have a role to play in the development and
transference and evolution of these ideas into the present. The idea of the Sophia feminine
principle is a prominent theme in theosophical literature being greatly elaborated in Jakob
Bhmes (1575-1624) visions and writing and can be traced back to the alchemist Heinrich
Khunraths (ca. 1560-1605) interpretation of Sophia in his Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
(1595, elaborated in1609). 45 Also in alchemic imagery sexual and erotic language is ubiquitous,
with the very substances of the alchemic process being gendered. 46 Sulphur was associated with
heat and dryness and the male, and mercury with cold and wetness and the female, and the
41
Remes Neoplatonism p.18.

Asclepius p.20 quoted in Van den Broek Hermetic and Gnostic Thought pp.4-5.
43
Van den Broek Hermetic and Gnostic Thought pp.4-5.
44
Hanegraaff Under the Mantle of Love p.204.
45
Faivre Sensuous Relation pp.281-2.
46
Principe Reviewing Analogies p.209.
42
12
alchemic process was to unify and fix these two opposing substances with the goal of obtaining
the mysterious Philosophers Stone. 47Hermaphrodites, androgynes, and figures in the act of
procreation were frequently depicted, such as the personified sun and moon in copulation and
emblems of the chemical wedding. 48 In Michael Maiers (1569-1622) Atalanta Fugiens (1617)
we see many examples of such emblematic depictions, a major trend in 17th Century alchemic
publications. 49
The mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) also explored the metaphysics of sex 50 and the
transmission of Neoplatonic ideas can be discerned in his writings. He concludes from his
mystical visits to Heaven, which is mirrored the lower world in an elaborate system of
correspondences, that when God created the male and female this was a reflection of the primal
androgyne and that the mating couple reflect the image of God. 51 In his work Love in Marriage 52
he relates that he has been told that the divine union of marriage is prevalent in all creation from
the highest angelic entities to the lowest and simplest creatures on earth and that in sexual love
one finds the concrete expression of the uniting of the feminine truth with the masculine
good. 53 Swedenborg was one of the most influential direct predecessors to the spiritualists, who
in turn influenced the occultists, and for him sexuality was linked to the emulation of the primal
androgynous whole: this emulation could restore humans to their original Divine state of oneness
transcending separate sexes. 54 An influence from Kabbalic thought on Swedenborg could be the
worship of the distinct feminine power, with the doctrine of Divinity being composed of sexual
affinities which they sought to unite. One half was composed of the Divine Power understood
as male, and the other as theDivine Presenceor Shekinah, understood as female. 55
Pagan art and myth went through several revivals, for example in the pagan sympathies of Sir
Francis Dashwoods Dilettanti of the 18th century, known for contrasting Christian and pagan
47
Ibid. pp.216-7.
Ibid. p.211.
49
de Jong Michael Maiers Atalanta Fugiens p.120. Fig.3 in the Appendix shows an emblem from Michael Maiers
Atalanta Fugiens depicting a copulating Sun and Moon.
50
51
Gutierrez Deadly Dates p.309.
52
1768, Sections 90 and 92.
53
Gutierrez Deadly Dates p.314.
54
Ibid. p.331.
55
Idel Taanug: Erotic Delights p.146.
48
13
views of sex and love with an obvious preference for the latter. 56 This society published a quarto
expounding their views and attitudes towards religion, notably including Richard Payne Knights
(1750-1824) A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and its Connection with the Mystic
Theology of the Ancients in 1786. Knight was much inspired by Plutarchs (ca. 46-120 CE) Isis
and Osiris, Homers Odyssey (ca. 12th-6thCenturies BCE) and the Vedic Bhagavad Gita
formulating a metaphysical system founded on the worship of the generative powers. 57 He
believed the generator of the universe was the God of Nature or the Intellectual, symbolized
by the phallus. From this supreme force arises all formation and dissolution in a cyclical process
of emanation and absorption. He thus characterizes his Deity as having active and passive
functions as it is both male and female in one, linked to the ideas of force and form, energy and
matter. In Priapus the images of copulating couples symbolized the sacred and powerful
universal process of Nature, thus arousing not shame but joy. 58 Although Knight was not an
initiate, harbouring no specific esoteric aspirations on a practical level or for personal growth, he
is an example of someone during this period reappraising and reinterpreting concepts elaborated
in ancient myth. His works remained popular and his Priapus was reissued in 1865 with a
blossoming of interest in pagan art and myth in Western Freemasonic groups, who in turn
influenced the later practical occult groups. 59
What we can see from this brief overview is the evolution of Neoplatonic thought from its
mythical origins, being elaborated on by mystics, alchemists and theorizers. But the second half
of the19th century saw an incredible shift in attitudes resulting in the practical application of
Neoplatonic thought in Western esoteric currents. New appraisals of sexuality countered the
prevalent prudery of the period and in the mushrooming occult systems women were granted a
status unheard of theretofore. Women were generally not admitted into Masonic orders up until
the late 18th century, with the first being the Masonic order of the Egyptian Lodge founded by
Alessandro Cagliostro (1743-1795) in Warsaw, Poland. 60 But with the rise in popularity of
practical occultism and various forms of sexual magic the inclusion of women became essential.
56
Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment pp.4-6.

Ibid. pp.9-10.
58
Knight A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus pp.75,48,43 (Secausus, NJ: University Books 1974 (First ed.
1786)) cited in Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment pp.9-10.
59
Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment pp.22-24.
60
Ibid. p.99.
57
14
From Theory to Practice: The Birth of Sexual Magic

A system of practical magical techniques is not found earlier than the Paschal Beverly Randolph
(1825-1875), an American spiritualist and occultist. 61 Randolphs influence was profound, taking
the ideas that his predecessors had only theorized about, applying them practically and through
this inspiring many of the occultists after him. 62 Although Lvi and other earlier esotericists did
employ forms of practical magic, they relied on seeresses and scryers as passive mediums of
interpretation. The kind of secondhand experience gained thus became transformed into direct
personal practical magic with Randolph. 63 He was initially a spiritualist, a tradition popular in
the 18th and 19th centuries in which people believed themselves to be mediums for the spirits,
but he later denounced it and formed The Brotherhood of Eulis: a practical occult order entirely
devoted to his esoteric fascination with sex.64 Many adherents of spiritualism elaborated on the
idea of spiritual affinities believing that souls could couple divinely and eternally and sexual
union was seen as symbolic of the wholeness exemplified by the primal androgyne. 65 But
Randolph took this further and developed a complete system of theory and practice elaborated in
his various works such as Physical Love, Eulis and The Golden Secret. His basic idea was that of
there being a Divine Central Sun from which myriads of Divine Monads manifest and these
Monads incarnate as humans and aspire to become Divine individuals. He believed this goal of
becoming Divine could be realized by magical practices, especially magico-sexual operations
with the belief that the spiritual energies of the cosmos could enter the soul during orgasm. 66
This was the key to sexual magic for Randolph: at the instance of intense mutual orgasm the
souls of the partners are opened to the powers of the cosmos, and anything then truly willed is
61
Urban The Yoga of Sex p.415.

Ibid. p.418.
63
Deveney Paschal Beverly Randolph pp.356-57.
64
Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor p.43.
65
Gutierrez Deadly Dates pp.323-4.
66
Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor pp.40-1.
62
15
accomplished. 67 This development of sexual magic was certainly a novel phenomenon

characteristic of occultism in the late nineteenth century. 68
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxors (founded ca. 1884) main works were directly derived
from Randolph and his system and concepts 69 with many of his ideas being adopted by Thomas
Henry Burgoyne (ca. 1855-1895) in his The Light of Egypt (1889). In this the idea was forwarded
again of the Monad and its split into a male and a female half that transmigrate through various
planes of existence constantly seeking a reunion with their separated soul partner as they
wander incarnate. It also includes the idea of a human being composed of a trinity of Body, Soul
and Spirit, and this we can find again in a more elaborate form in the works of Franz Bardon. 70
In the manuscript The Mysteries of Eros 71 one finds a systematic overview of the H.B. of L.s
teachings on practical sexual magic, 72 and they believed it was sexual union that enabled the
souls progress, encouraging couples to join their order as partners. 73 So the H.B. of L.
elaborated these Neoplatonic ideas with practical rituals following the example of Randolph, the
beginning of a trend moving away from all the philosophizing about the worship of the
generative powers by earlier esotericists. 74
Another take on these ideas can be found in the writings of the spiritualist and occultist Emma
Hardinge Britten (1823-1899), who was also symbolically in accord with this doctrine of a soul
affinity between a physically manifested male and female body. 75 In her book The Place and
Mission of Woman (1859) she says that woman isthe half which must complete the angel; the
dual principle which makes our God, our Father and our Mother 76 She believed that in this
affinity the souls of two people are exact compliments of each other, the manifestations of an
original Monad that was divided and have the opportunity to progress spiritually by reuniting and
forming but one Angel. Dion Fortune later elaborated in detail on this idea, which I will cover in
67
Urban The Yoga of Sex p.416. quoting Randolph in Deveney Paschal Beverly Randolph pp.218-9.
Pasi The Knight of Spermatophagy p.370.
69
Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor p.44.
70
Ibid. p.51.
71
Ibid. pp.213-78.
72
Ibid. p.81.
73
Ibid.pp.71-2.
74
75
Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor pp.58-9.
76
Hardinge (Britten) The Place and Mission of Woman (Boston: Swett 1859) quoted in Owen The Darkened Room
pp.13-14.
68
16
the discussion of her cosmology. In Max (and Una) Thons (1848-1927) Philosophie Cosmique
they also accepted the notion of beings as dual, the idea being that of soul Monads travelling in
pairs and progressing through the soul worlds in company with a partner of the opposite sex. In
the founder of the Theosophical Society Helena Petrovna Blavatskys (1831-1891) early writings
such as Isis Unveiled (1877, incidentally largely derived from Lvi) she also concurred with
certain points of this doctrine such as the goal of human evolution being to transform into
Divinity. 77
The most prominent ritualistic occult order of the period, the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn, was founded in 1888 and catered for the demand of those who preferred more practical
rather than Theosophic occultism in the wake of demise of the H.B. of L. Its principal founders
WilliamWynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918) were previously
members of the Hermetic Society founded by Anna Kingsford (1846-1888), and she is said to
have exerted a certain influence on them with regard to the equal admittance of both sexes into
the Golden Dawn. 78 The running of the Golden Dawn was taken over by MacGregor Mathers
wife Moina Mathers (1865-1928) after his death, and the esoteric philosophies and practices of
this order greatly influenced the system developed by its later member Dion Fortune.
Another line of evolution in the history of sexual magic is the influence of the theories of
spermatophagy as a prominent hidden religious practice throughout the ages by Chevalier
Georges Le Clment de Saint-Marcq (1865-1956), who most likely had an influence on Theodor
Reuss (1855-1923): the founder of the Ordo Templi Orientis, and later Aleister Crowley (18751947). 79 This was a very different stream of sexual magic than that of Randolph and the H.B. of
L., as the O.T.O. diverged from other groups by incorporating the ingestion of sexual fluids,
masturbation and homosexual practices in its system. 80 Western fantasy conceptions of Eastern
traditions such as Indian Tantra were also a prominent influence and were fused with established
methods of sexual magic. 81 The function of women in this stream of sexual magic could be seen
as merely that of a dispensable tool, with the male practitioner being the primary beneficiary of
77
Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor p.59-60.

79
Pasi The Knight of Spermatophagy p.381.
80
Ibid.p.395.
81
78
17
the rites, 82 but this changed again with the various currents of magic becoming conmingled in the
Neopagan movement that sprung up in the second half of the 20th century. 83 I will touch upon
this point in more detail in due course.
Before moving on to examine Bardon and Fortunes adaptations of Neoplatonic ideas in their
practical magical systems I would like to examine how the rise of sexual magic in occultism
links to the birth of a phase of revolt against oppressive societal structures and modes of being.
The shift towards sexual liberation that this embodied is intimately linked to the courage to go
against tradition, having faith in ones own experience as an individual to make up ones own
mind about ways of living and being, instead of adhering to the norms and standards of the
dominant societal system. This is important as I will return to this subject in the formulation of
my argument about why Bardon and Fortune can provide fresh insights into ways of overcoming
the binding and limiting constructs of gendered identities and the roles they force us in to.
Sexual Magic, Feminism and Gender: Social Transformation and Liberation

It is significant that both Reuss and Randolph linked their sexual magical practices to ideas of
social transformation. Reuss envisioned the creation of an ideal and radically liberated
civilization with an advanced morality moving away from the shackles of sexual guilt and
original sin. 84 Randolph advocated the cause of equality between the sexes by encouraging
women to regard themselves as equals to men in his system, and he voiced his views on this
cause openly. 85 He directly linked sexual freedom with a shift in social norms, ushering in a new
age of equality, justice and liberation. 86 These ideas of sexual magic as a path to social and
political liberation was a certain foreshadowing of the 1960s sexual revolution, a term coined
by the neo-Freudian Wilhelm Reich, known for his practical sexual theories involving orgone
energy. 87 But this was way before Sigmund Freud or Wilhelm Reich had even begun to exert
their influential theories on the significance of sex in the human psyche. Sexual magic certainly
linked to the increasing call for sexual freedoms, and with a complex criss-cross of historical
82
Ibid. p.436.
Urban Magia Sexualis p.162.
84
85
86
87
83
18
factors issues of feminism and gender became increasingly urgent topics as the 20th century
rolled in. Feminist issues and sexual liberation linked together tightly88 in the process of the
upheaval of traditional and oppressive structures leading to gradual social transformations as the
20th century wore on. Exploring issues of gender in the contemporary Neopagan movement also
throws up some insights with regard to the links between sexual magic, sexual liberation and
feminism, but also presents some problems by a continued adherence to restrictive binary gender
roles. 89
Understanding the contemporary notion of gender and how this concept evolved throughout
history is necessary if we are to find ways of transcending the limitations it imposes on our very
being. With gender I understand a term supplementing biological sex, referring to any social
construction that separates male and female bodies and behaviours. In this manner biological sex
is understood to be subsumed under gender, as the site upon which gender is constructed. 90 It is
used for the conceptualization of self-identity and refers to the social constitution of human
character, the norms of personality and behavior imposed by society upon our identities. These
factors must always be taken into consideration as part of a social discourse. Throughout history
there have been sweeping assumptions made about the body and its relation to character, and the
resulting stereotypes within various systems have led to unequal power relations between the
sexes. To explore the historical context of sex identity allows us to penetrate it for what it is, and
can weaken its hold on our fixed or rigid conceptualisation of it. Further to this, recognising it as
the product of belief systems specific to our modern Western society sheds light on the diversity
of the ways in which people conceptualize the male-female distinction. Understandings of selfidentity shifted immensely over time: prior to the 18th century the one-sex view of the body
prevailed stretching right back to antiquity, the female body always being regarded as an
inadequate version of the male body. Whereas from the 18th century onwards the female became
regarded as a different creature altogether, so in the earlier view female organs were seen as less
developed male organs, whereas later they were regarded as distinct. 91 In the 18th century
identity was directly linked to the physical body with the rise in popularity of materialistic
metaphysics which linked physical characteristics directly to character. Thus these notions of
88
See bell hooks Talking Sex for discussions on sexual liberation and feminism.
Urban Magia Sexualis pp.179-89.
90
Nicholson Interpreting Gender pp.187-9.
91
Ibid. pp.191-4.
89
19
identity caused a strict binary male-female distinction. Interestingly, the manifestation of this
two-sex view had an impact on the concept of the hermaphrodite, which prior to this had been a
popular one, but was rendered incompatible to this strict binary system. 92 In the 20th century the
strict notions of masculinity and femininity and their authoritative connotations were sought
to be deconstructed and reformulated, with some philosophers such as Simone de Beauvoir 93
seeking to abolish them altogether, and some arguing that femininity is a useless category as it
only exists in relation to masculinity and entails subordinance. 94
There are many conflicting views in the feminist debates but what I seek to do here is to
reevaluate the history of the notions of masculine and feminine, and try to discover their
applicable utility in contemporary Western culture and the psyche of the individual. I would
suggest that if we look to the Neoplatonic inspired occult systems of Bardon and Fortune,
keeping in mind that these ideas rest on a mythological patchwork of metaphors, we can shift our
understanding of the masculine and feminine principles as symbolizing a dynamic process
occurring in each individual regardless of sex. In this manner these concepts can be embraced as
ones own personal Intellect and Begetter, to be nurtured in the process of becoming ones
full potential.
Fortunes Cosmology: The Male-Female Circuit

The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage is a book that covers Fortunes views on the
esoteric teaching concerning sex. She explains that when one interprets the sex-forces in a
symbolic sense they can be powerfully regenerative in the world of mind and spirit. 95 She
stresses the reasons why esoteric sexual knowledge is important for occultists:
It must not be thought that occultists dwell intemperately upon the subject of sex, or that they are
in any way more sensual than their fellow men who follow other lines of study, but, as their
researches are into the very foundations of human nature, they must take the sexual forces into
their calculations, or else they would run the risk of being caught unawares by the tides they have
92
Ibid. p195.
Brison Beauvoir and Feminism pp.198-9.
94
Butler Gender Trouble p.13.
95
Fortune Esoteric Philosophy p.1-2.
93
20
ignored. Occultists deal with the forces of life itself, and one aspect of life-force is certainly sexforce. 96
To try to understand what exactly she means by this we must at first unravel her complex
cosmology and how it relates to her idea of the soul.
Her worldview holds as a premise the existence of the Great Unmanifest which she describes
as a sea of limitless but latent force which underlies all things and whence all things derive their
substance and draw their life, 97 and that this source corresponds to the popular notion of
God. Out of this Great Unmanifest pours forth a kind of esoteric energy which forms a multitiered reality of Seven Planes of Manifestation. She explains that Magic is a practice with the
aim of obtaining control of conditions upon one of these seven manifested planes by acting
upon the forces of the plane immediately above it, which acts as a causal plane to the lower one.
She also elaborates her conception of the development of the soul through this system: after the
first outpouring of the Great Unmanifest a Monad develops, which she characterizes as a spark
of Divine consciousness, and in its evolution it develops into a human soul. 98 Working up
through the planes from the lowest she describes their inherent characteristics. The First plane of
manifestation known as the Physical Plane is the material world and is the coarsest emanation of
the Great Unmanifest; The Second Plane is the lower astral or psychic plane, the realm of
instincts and passions; The Third Plane is the upper astral plane, the realm of the emotions; The
Fourth Plane is the lower mental plane, the realm of concrete thought and memory; The Fifth
Plane is the upper mental plane, the realm of the abstract mind, and upon this plane Life or
the original Monadic life-nuclei transform into individualized human lives; The Sixth Plane is
the lower spiritual plane of concrete spirit, where the Monadic essence is organized into its
evolutionary tendency or ray colour 99; The Seventh and primal plane is the upper spiritual
plane of pure spirit, being not the Great Unmanifest itself but rather the initial phase of
manifestation of its infinite potential force. It is the beginning of the evolution of the Monadic
essence which develops as it works its way down from the Seventh Plane to the First Plane. 100
96
Ibid. p.92.
Ibid. p.10.
98
Ibid. p.12-13.
99
Gareth Knight elaborates on Fortunes notion of ray colours as spiritual paths that a person can follow according
to their spiritual evolution in his work Dion Fortune and the Three Fold Way.
100
Fortune Esoteric Philosophy pp.17-19.
97
21
So let us examine how Fortunes esoteric understanding of sex fits into her seven-fold reality.
She believes sex does just not have a physical aspect, but emotional, mental and spiritual aspects,
finding expression on every plane of existence and functioning according to the laws of the
respective plane. Fortune explains that: The esotericist does not use the term sex as we do; he
speaks of life-force, which he conceives to be an energy of an electro-hydraulic type, a
radiating and magnetizing vibratory activity, similar to electricity, to which it is very closely
related. 101 Because she regards life-force as Divine in origin it must be revered as sacred, and
understood in its symbolic sense. She describes its crucial function as the preserver and begetter
of forms, and how it relates to sex:
The life-force maintains in existence all that is, and preserves living forms from the
disintegrating forces that constantly seek to reduce all specialized substance to its common root;
this is the first function of the life-force - to maintain in manifestation that which has achieved
form, and to hold it at the level to which it has evolved. When functioning thus it is known as Life
the Preserver, and is conceived of as a unity. It has a second task, however, in the creation of new
forms, and for this it has to function in polarity as a duality with a positive and negative aspect,
and it is to this phase of life-activity that the exoteric concept of sex is related. 102
Furthermore, she explains how the esoteric conception of male and female relates to this:
For the maintenance of life a single force is sufficient, but for any form of creation two forces
are necessary, one of which shall be actual and one inertly potential; that is to say, the first force
shall be a velocity and the second shall be a force locked up in form which shall be set free by the
stimulus and velocity. We have, then in these two forces, one that is seeking to expend itself and
so arrive at a state of equilibrium, and the other that is inert, potential, and awaiting a stimulus.
The latter or female-force may be compared to a charge of dynamite in whose particles chemical
energy is stored up, latent; and the former or male-force to the electric shock, or blow of a
hammer, which releases that latent energy. These two forces are spoken of by the esotericist as
being positive and negative, male and female- the positive or male force being the stimulator, and
the negative or female force, by means of latent energy, performing the actual work of creation
under the influence of the male stimulator, and immediately becoming impotent when the impulse
of his stimulation is withdrawn. Wherever such action or reaction is at work the esotericist
101
102
Ibid. pp.30-31.
Ibid. pp.31-33.
22
considers the relationship of sex is present, whether in the mineral kingdom or the world of
mind. 103
These symbolic energies can be compared to a latent charge and an active volt, but what is
significant is that they are not independent of each other: they exist only in a form of dynamic
interaction. With regard to her view of the human being, she writes that they may have a distinct
biological sex on the physical plane, but on all other levels they are bi-sexual or complete in
themselves. Thus each individuality is made up of the two parts of force and form
characterized as positive and negative, male and female, kinetic and static. The individuality is
distinct from ones personality: the former is the soul part of a human lasting for an entire
evolution through many incarnations and is androgynous; the latter is imposed upon the soul
lasting only for one physical incarnation and is one-sided, hence the body having a defined sex.
She explains that biological sex is determined on the physical plane by structural form, but on
the inner or higher planes sexual polarity shifts constantly with the individual being more
male or female depending on forces of influence in a continuous balancing act. 104
Fortune repeatedly emphasizes the importance of sex throughout her work as for her it forms a
fundamental part in the advancement of the soul: When the individuality with its relationship to
evolution and the cosmos as a whole began to function it required mating for its full development
and expression. 105 She regarded mating as an activity taking place not only on the physical
plane, but on the higher planes as well in accordance with the soul-evolution of the particular
individual and the capacity with which they can function on certain higher planes. Fortune
stipulates that if one does not mate with a partner that is of the exact same esoteric evolution
and capacity as oneself that this will result in destructive imbalances. 106 It is a kind of composite
mating, and she devotes a chapter to the laws of mating on each plane, where the interlocking
act of physical sex corresponds to what has the potential to happen on each higher plane between
two individuals if they have the capacity to master each plane in their own personal spiritual
development. An outline of the characteristic affinities of the higher planes is as follows: the
second plane is that of mutual desire; the third plane is that of emotional sympathy; the fourth
103
Ibid.
Ibid. pp.34-35.
105
Ibid. p.104.
106
Ibid. pp.67.
104
23
plane is that of common content of consciousness and interest; the fifth plane is that of
intellectual sympathy; the sixth plane is that of mutual spiritual ideals; and mating on the seventh
plane is regarded as a return to source, in which the All are One and the One is All, no closer
union being possible than that which has existed from the dawn of manifestation., 107a clear
Neoplatonic understanding. In this her version of the doctrine of soul affinity comes into play,
for when two people have extended their mating up until the fifth plane in which they bond their
ideals and principles, they strike another kind of bond, forming twin souls.
it (the mating) has come into the sphere of individuality which endures for an evolution, and
for the remainder of that evolution will the bond continue, the souls waiting for each other and
finding each other in life after life, and making that wonderful tie which, when once formed, will
bring them together from the ends of the earth and break all other chains. When union is
confirmed on the spiritual plane, the pair become one in actual fact and substance, and entering
the Light, return not again. 108
It is a rather romantic interpretation of the Monad myth, and she further envisions the scenario of
the perfect union between two people, though admitting to her readers that this is a rarely
occurring ideal. However, it seems that it is an ideal that the esotericist must strive for on the
path of refining ones soul and becoming Divine. The perfect union of souls she imagines
elaborately in the following:
In perfect marriage, however, the same pair mate with each higher body as it comes into
function, experiencing with each mating new depths of love. Physical union in mutual desire will
give harmony and poise to their nervous system; love will blend desires and aims into one and
bind the personalities together; the acquisition of a common fund of knowledge will make
companionship closer; belief in similar concepts and principles direct their lives into the same
channel; spiritual aims and ideals of the same order complete their union; until, consciousness
having arisen to the level of pure spirit, this great love engendered between two souls will
overflow all limitations and draw the whole universe into the bounds of their union. When this is
achieved, it is held by the esoteric philosophers that the greatest stimulus which it is possible to
give from the physical plane is applied to evolution. These two, thus mated upon all planes,
enter into the light and go not forth again as separate individuals, but become one individual
107
108
Ibid. pp.71-5.
Ibid. pp.73-4.
24
with a two-sided nature, complete in itself and self-fulfilling. Such beings, however, have passed
to a higher order of life than ours and are unrecognizable by our senses. 109
Further to this, she understands the Seventh Plane as the beginning but also the final destination
of all evolution, harbouring all entities of potential having not yet achieved Form, and those
who have returned having learnt all that Form could teach them and thus abandoning it. This is
her ultimate aspiration, a realm of perfect harmony beyond all conception of dual forces. She
imagines it as being comparable to an eternal ecstatic sexual union:
All are one upon this plane, we are told; the relationship existing between each unit and the rest
of the plane far exceeds in intimacy and completeness the highest that is ever attained by earthly
lovers in their most ecstatic moments of union; this state is the permanent, normal condition of
the seventh plane, which may well be called the kingdom of heaven, for it is a state of perfect love
and perfect harmony. Human lovers fear that they may lose each other in what they conceive to
be a vacant formless Nirvana; on the contrary, the perfection of union, which has hitherto only
been possible at rare moments between rare persons, there becomes the normal state of whole
creation. (..) Upon the seventh plane only there is no differentiation into positive and negative
force. 110
Her elaboration of the Monad myth goes into incredibly complex detail, adding her own
peculiarities and variations, and her systematic outline was certainly unsurpassed by preceding
occultists. What is different between her interpretation of this doctrine and that of others is that
she believes humans are conceived as individual Monadic emanations evolving into souls
which, in uniting with any other soul of a high spiritual evolution, can reenter the Divine sphere
abandoning the world of Form altogether. The other popular variation is that individuals start off
as a Monad and are split into two parts always trying to find their original counterpart. It is not
clear whether she considers this sexual magical union as the absolute condition for achieving
the goal of spiritual ascent, or whether, like Bardon, this is imagined to be done on an individual
basis where the practitioner needs only to develop him or herself to commune with the Divine.
She refers to the possibility of solitary development in the following, but concludes that it
remains less potent than a pair consisting of a male and female working in polarity. If an
individual is sufficiently evolved to have any of the levels of his individuality in function and fully
109
110
Ibid. pp.69-70.
Ibid. pp.37-8.
25
correlated with his consciousness, he can cause the flow and return of cosmic force to take place
within his own organism, and thereby attain a considerable degree of power and
enlightenment. 111 However, she states clearly that she believes that the most important work is
done by the pair, not by the solitary worker, who is always more or less unstable, and nothing in
occultism is more undesirable than instability.112 In the later discussion of Bardon we will
discern that his leaning is more towards solitary magical operations handling this dual cosmic
force, and that his specific manner of conceptualizing these masculine and feminine forces
will play the most crucial role in my suggestion of how to transcend contemporary notions of
gender.
But to return to Fortune, her most influential idea is of how a male and female partner form an
ideal circuit for magical operations, bringing her Neoplatonic philosophies in to action. The
male vehicle is positive and the female negative, and therefore the practical occultist finds that
for certain types of work it is necessary to function in partnership or polarity, for only thus can a
circuit be set up and a flow of cosmic force be induced. 113 In this quote we can see how
unfortunate language colours her otherwise progressive views on gender and sex, the terms
positive and negative as linked here to the male and female body resonating with the implicit
gendered roles of active and passive.
Fortune insists that with regard to sexual magic, which adepts can work with on the astral planes
using their techniques of controlled imagination and making use of the sex-force and its
principles, a high moral standard is imperative to refrain from carnal lust. 114 For her the practice
of physical sex in her sexual magic is something rather distracting that should preferably be
avoided.
union upon the physical plane need not take place, and, in fact, will not take place while the lifeforces are being used upon other levels; but when that work is not going on, and few have the
stamina to keep it up continuously and without respite, then the forces will tend to follow their
natural channel, and if that channel is not open, trouble may ensue. Moreover, should certain of
the operations of practical magic not be entirely successful, then it is very advantageous to be
111
Ibid. p.90.
Ibid. p.94.
113
Ibid. p.90.
114
Ibid. p.50.
112
26
able to run the unutilized forces off through the ordinary channels of nature upon the physical
plane. It is possible for a man and a woman to work together for a life-time without having
recourse to the physical plane, but it is only highly evolved and disciplined natures that are
capable of such restraint, and people who undertake a partnership that cannot, if necessary, be
placed upon the basis of legal marriage, should realize that they have set themselves no light
task. 115
So what she is basically saying is that most practitioners will end up uniting on the physical
plane nonetheless, but that this must not be the initial intention, and preferably it should take
place within the context of a union sanctioned by society, which she considered to be marriage. It
is interesting that despite her progressive attitudes in considering humans as spiritually bisexual
entities and all the implications of equality between the sexes that this connotes, she was
certainly heterosexist in her assertion that only a male and a female body form a perfect magical
circuit together. Further to this, one can discern further gender prejudices colouring her
philosophies, despite her intention of advocating equality between the sexes. In the following
curious and rather inaccurately fanciful statement on the position of women in the history of the
West one can see that she certainly sought to emphasize the importance of women, yet she
singles them out as having vague special potencies and special lessons to learn.
European civilization has always valued women highly, holding that if one-half of the citizens of
a country is in a retrograde state the standard of evolution for the whole race must be lowered.
The general attitude of the white races is reflected in their esoteric tradition, wherein it is held
that souls, while incarnated in the negative or feminine vehicle, have not only got special lessons
to learn, but also special potencies, and the greatest importance is attached to the cooperation of
male and female forces in any work involving practical occultism. In certain orders it is the
custom to keep the lodge-membership evenly balanced between the two sexes, and not to allow
the predominance of either sex to go beyond a certain proportion. 116
Fortunes elaboration of the idea of the magical circuit has proven incredibly influential on the
Neopagan movement in the second half of the 20th century, with these ideas being fused with
others elaborating on sexual energy and its magical uses. This movement can be linked to
feminism in its search for liberation and new ways of affirming and celebrating the female body
115
116
Ibid. pp.94-5.
Ibid. pp.89-90.
27
and sexuality. However, the problem that arises is that instead of transcending gender
stereotypes, these are in fact reinforced by rituals that emphasize the binary male-female
distinctions. Old-fashioned models and roles of manhood and womanhood are in fact
exaggerated by essentialist understandings of gender embodied in these magico-sexual rituals. 117
But with Bardons closely related philosophies we can distinguish a certain slant that causes him
to bypass certain problems that Fortunes ideas were prone to in this regard.
Bardons View of the Human: Electro-Magnetic Entities

In his relatively short Theory section in Initiation into Hermetics Bardon outlines his cosmology
and esoteric interpretation of reality, emphasizing the intrinsic importance of the five Philosophic
Elements of Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Akasha, 118 and the Magnetic and Electric
fluids of which all things are composed. His esoteric view of the human is that they are made
up of these principles and in this sense they are genderless, being composed of nebulous subtle
fluids akin to Mesmeric ideas of animal magnetism. Bardon believed that because human beings
are the only entities composed of all the Philosophic Elements they are unique in the universe.
He explains that:
A human being incorporates all four elements and, in addition, the fifth element, the principle of
God or the Divine Principle, and he will now begin to properly understand why the Bible states
that a human being is the most perfect among all beings and creatures, and that a human being
has been created in the image of God. 119
This quote is also an example of how throughout his work Bardon continuously counters the
Biblical understanding of the human being with his Neoplatonic inspired esoteric philosophies,
yet he also continuously refers to Biblical notions as an authority which he reinterprets to support
his ideas. His course of instruction encourages the adept to perfect the balance of all the
Philosophic Elements in him or herself throughout their three interconnected bodies of Body,
Soul and Spirit, leading to a refinement of their soul allowing them to become one with Divinity
and thus master their universe. If one analyses the emblem which forms the very window into his
book and worldview, his interpretation of the Magician Tarot card (Fig.4), one can decipher a
117
Urban Magia Sexualis pp.180-88.

This is traceable to alchemy and Greek natural philosophy, see Lindon The Alchemy Reader p.14. Akasha can
be understood as analogous to Ether.
119
Bardon Initiation p.320.
118
28
symbolic synopsis of his understanding of the cosmos. First of all he outlines his conception of
the Magnetic and Electric forces and how they symbolically relate to the masculine and
feminine principles. These dual forces can be found in every person irrespective of sex:
The woman on the left and the man on the right are the plus and minus in a human being. The
hermaphrodite being in the middle, man and woman in one persona, is symbolic of the
equilibration between the male and female principle. The electric and magnetic fluids are shown
in a red and blue color, the electric fluid in red and the magnetic fluid in blue. The head region of
the woman is electric; therefore it is red. The area of the genitals is magnetic and therefore blue.
In the man this is reversed; the head region is magnetic and therefore blue and the genitals are
electric and therefore red. 120
For him the esoteric difference between men in women is that their inner polarity is reversed,
with the male having a magnetic head and electric genitals, and the woman having an electric
head and magnetic genitals. Apart from this he mentions no fundamental differences between the
sexes. Here again we see this esoteric idea of the potential of human bodies to form a circuit as
Fortune elaborated, but Bardons emphasis is on solitary magical work in which these dual
principles are nurtured within oneself and have no further bearing on ones sex.
In his Magician emblem he also relates the Philosophic Elements to these Magnetic/ Electric
or passive and active forces and links them to the symbols of the Moon and Sun:
Above the man are the active elements, the Fire element in a red color and the Air element in a
blue color. Above the woman are the passive elements, the Water element in Green and the Earth
element in yellow. () In the background on the right is the sun, golden yellow, and to the left the
moon, silvery white, as the plus and minus in the macrocosm and microcosm, the electric and
magnetic fluids. 121
What we can understand from this is that the Feminine principle symbolized by the woman
refers to the passive Elements of Water and Earth and the Magnetic fluid, the minus pole.
The Masculine principle symbolized by the man refers to the active Elements of Fire and
Air and the Electric fluid, the plus pole. But I would suggest that the androgyne in the middle
represents how Bardon conceives these forces to be present in every human being. Further to
120
121
Bardon Initiation pp.20-21, Bardon Der Weg pp.16-17.

Ibid.
29
this, in this depiction the fundament of his conception of the cosmos rests in the symbol of the
copulating couple as a unity in a sphere at the top of the emblem. This unity embodies and
emanates the wheeling Electric and Magnetic forces. Creation is symbolized by a sphere,
which in its interior represents the symbol of the procreative plus and minus powers, the act of
creation, the act of procreation of the universe. 122 With more common depictions of the
Magician Tarot card, such as in the Rider-Waite deck, one sees the magician wielding the
Elemental forces symbolized by a disc, cup, wand and sword on his table. 123
Although Bardons course of instruction focuses on individual development, in his section on the
magical charging of talismans he reveals the importance of the interaction of the male and
female in certain practical magical operations and the fundamental sacredness of the sexual act.
It involves the transference of magical currents generated by the circuit of a copulating couple
into a gemstone, thus loading it with power.
Loading Through Magico-Sexual Operations: ()
In this instance the male magician works with a like-minded female, preferably a female
magician. The male magician represents the active, procreative principle, whereas the female
magician represents the passive, birth-giving principle. The female magician must possess the
ability to control the electric and magnetic fluids and in this particular instance must change her
polarity so that her head becomes magnetic and her genitals electrically fluidized. The reverse is
the case with the male magician; his head remains magnetic and his genitals remain electric. His
polarities remain unchanged. An exceedingly strong bipolar tension of power is produced
through the union of the male and female magician which creates an enormous effect. This act of
love does not create new life, but instead produces the desired cause together with its effect. Here
the lower as well as the upper double pole is set into motion, here the tetrapolar magnet is in
effect, the Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh, the highest mystery of love, the highest mystery of creation. 124
The female in this ritual takes on the role of a passive, birth-giving principle, and although this
is purely for symbolic purposes we again have here the problem of the reinforcement of the
stereotypical gender roles of the male being associated with power and strength, and the female
122
Ibid.
The Rider-Waite deck was developed by the occultist Arthur Edward Waite and published in 1909, greatly
inspired by the ideas of Eliphas Lvi.
124
123
30
being associated with passivity and fertility. But apart from this symbolic role she is essentially
equal in the act. The bodies form a circuit emulating what he describes as the highest mystery of
love and creation, depicted in his Magician emblem as the act of procreation of the universe.
But Bardon stresses that physical magico-sexual practices need not be resorted to, as in his work
he offers many alternative magical techniques resulting in the same outcome. This is because he
regarded love as a high power emulating Divinity itself, and evidently thought that most
practitioners of his system could not handle this responsibility.
A magico-sexual operation, for whatever purpose it is undertaken, is a holy or sacred act, a
prayer, where the love-act of creation is emulated. Everything that has been created in the
universe has come into being through the act of love. Sexual magic is based upon this universal
law. () Only an ethical, highly developed magician can venture to practice this method,
because with the pure, everything remains pure. In the hands of an immoral person these
practices could cause more harm than benefit. And a great deal of mischief could be committed
with this knowledge, and high powers such as love should never be misused. 125
He is reticent on this matter, and refuses to elaborate on it further in his works. He states that this
is for a good reason, as he feels that such information could easily be profaned if the practitioner
was not fully in control of their carnal instincts. This certainly echoes Hermes Trismegistus
Asclepius which includes Hermes giving graphic descriptions of sexual intercourse, yet
emphasizing the sanctity of this act as a Divine mystery on a path to Divinity needing to be
approached with secrecy and respect. 126
How easily could this act of creation, the highest that exists in the world, be reduced to carnal
desire and lead to perdition? The expulsion of the biblical Adam and Eve from paradise finds in
this its highest symbolism. () If the magician were to dishonor this sacred act through carnal
desires, he would meet with the same fate as Adam and Eve, who lost the privilege of enjoying the
fruits of paradise. The intuitive magician will easily understand how great this symbolism is, and
will consider it justified as to why I will not break silence when it comes to the highest of all
mysteries. 127
125
Ibid.
Van den Broek Hermetic and Gnostic Thought pp.9-10.
127
126
31
It is interesting how he endeavours to marry his Neoplatonic idea of the copulating creative force
of Divinity with the Biblical symbolism of Adam and Eve, resulting in some jarring associations.
For me they are competing mythologies in every sense, but I would suggest that he most likely
had his own curious understanding and interpretation of Biblical myth, and it certainly serves as
a potent metaphor of sorts to illustrate his point.
The most elaborate exposition of his understanding of the symbolic masculine and feminine
principles can be garnered from his exploration of Eastern Yogic symbolism which he relates
directly to his own system. In drawing these parallels he provides an excellent insight into the
Oriental influences on his system and his ingrained perennialist attitudes towards esotericism as
all paths that lead to the truth must be the same. 128 But more crucially he provides an
interpretation of the way in which the magician must harness and develop these intertwined
masculine and feminine forces within oneself, and I will argue that these ideas can be
significant for a radical shift in our conceptualization of gender. Bardon explains that in the
Kundalini Yogic system concerned with the serpent power the initiate is encouraged to
meditate on his muladhara chakra (Fig.5) located in the coccyx, which contains certain symbols:
() This center has the shape of a square which is yellow in color; contained therein is a red
triangle, and in the midst thereof the phallus the male penis entwined three and half times by
a snake. The muladhara center is the first, most primitive and most material center, which is
symbolized by one elephant with the respective goddess located in one corner.()There are of
course different interpretations of this symbol, but this is the correct one: the square represents
the earth, the three points of the triangle represent the three kingdoms the material, astral and
mental worlds the phallus represents the power of procreation, the imagination, whereas the
snake represents the path and the knowledge. 129
He explains that meditation on this symbol is the first step of this Yogic system, and it
corresponds directly to his Magician Tarot card, communicating the same ideas in another form.
The phallus here corresponds with the Electric fluid and the masculine principle, and the
snake corresponds to the Magnetic fluid and the feminine principle in his system. Further to
this, the intertwining of the phallus and the snake represents their inseparable interdependence as
Imagination and the Practice of Imagination, or Idea and Form, in the same manner as
128
129

Ibid.
32
Bardons depiction of a copulating couple in a sphere. The mythology of Brahma and Shakti that
he outlines in the following serves to illustrate this further:
There is a good reason why the muladhara center is called the Brahma center, because at this
stage of development the Yoga student will recognize Brahma, the deity, in the most stable
manifestation. Brahma is the eternal, the unexplorable, the universal, the indefinable, the
perpetual and calm, that is, the positive part. Brahma does not create out of himself; instead
everything created is accomplished by his Shakti, the female principle. In the muladhara center,
Shakti is represented as the snake who entwines the phallus; she avails herself of the power of
creation symbolized by the phallus or, in other words, by the imagination. ()Therefore,
imagination is the Shakti or Kundalini power, which the magician must develop systematically.
The magician will realize, when viewing our entire ten-step system in retrospect, that this power
of creation, this phallus power which in our system is called the imagination, as well as the
practice of imagination, plays the greatest part in the development. 130
Brahma and Shakti again represent two parts of one dynamic force ebbing and flowing in an
eternal creative current. This is a radical and positive reconceptualization of the function of the
masculine and feminine. By abstracting them and locating them as crucial to the function of
our very being we can reclaim them from their stereotyped historical connotations and false
colouring of ones biological sex. In this manner the symbolic masculine and feminine
principles work together and are mutually dependent in the creative process, symbolizing the
Intellect and Begetter, Imagination and Practice, or even Growth and Decay in a
necessary process of shedding skins and casting off outdated modes of being. Bardon and
Fortune developed new mythological maps by their radical shift in their understanding of sex and
gender, going very much against the grain of the dominant mainstream views of society on these
matters. But I believe we can take this further by employing these concepts and applying them as
maps for the understanding of our very self. In this manner we can completely deconstruct
gendered identities and their inherent limitations on our very being in their arousal of gendered
expectations forcing us into rigid patterns of behaviour.
In the Bardons conception of theurgy, this being the ultimate goal of his magical path, we can
also find useful metaphors to challenge restrictive ways of structuring our realities in the way
130
Ibid.
33
that his system provides guidelines for the male or female to develop themselves regardless of
restrictive gender norms imposed by society upon our identities. And Fortunes ideas
exemplified in her occult rites of becoming God and Goddess also have some interesting
insights to offer on changing attitudes women over time, but can be said to ultimately reinforce
certain gender stereotypes which is something we see continued in Neopagan practices.
Becoming Divine: The Ultimate Goal of Magical Development
After following all the steps in Bardons occult system, he claims the initiate can realize the
ultimate goal of the Hermetic path, that of becoming God. The concept of God as understood
by him is clothed with the four Philosophic Elements in their purest form embodying four
fundamental attributes or virtues: 1) Omnipotence, corresponding to the Fire Element; 2)
Wisdom and Omniscience, corresponding to the Air Element; 3) Immortality, corresponding to
the Water Element; and 4) Omnipresence, corresponding to the Earth Element. Bardon claims
that when the adept meditates on these refined aspects of the Elements they will propel him or
her into an ecstasy in which they become one with that specific virtue. Bardon states thatin due
time these meditations have the effect of deifying the magicians spirit and soul, and eventually
they also have an analogous effect upon his physical body, and they enable the magician to make
contact with his God, which is the purpose and goal of this developmental course of
instructions. 131
The whole path is seen as a penetration into Gods workshop in which the adept becomes
complete master of his own fate, and the only thing that remains above the magician is Divine
Providence: only Divine Providence in Its highest aspect can influence his (the adepts) will
after this point. 132 His path is the process of purification and refinement of the Body, Soul and
Spirit, enobling oneself to such an extent that Divinity can dwell within you. To the magician
God is seen as the Highest, the ultimate Truth and Lawfulness in existence. The concept of
Divinity can be imagined in any symbolic way preferable to the individual adept, as long as it is
linked to the four fundamental virtues outlined before. Through a magical-active invocation, the
magician who has reached this level is said to enter an ecstatic state in which their spirit ascends
131
132
Bardon Initiation pp.290-92.

Ibid. pp.310, 313.
34
and God descends and they meet half-way. This is a theurgic magical method and the beginning
of becoming one with God. Although Bardon believes there are other gods, none of these are
above the God in possession of the four virtues, they are merely pantheistic emanations of
this. 133 Through various further exercises the adept summons a living deity, a manifestation of
his personal God, which enters his body and occupies his soul.
The magician should repeat this procedure until he feels the deity within himself to such a
degree that he loses his personal consciousness and perceives himself to be the imaginary deity.
The magician assumes the concretized attributes of his imaginary picture through frequent
repetition of becoming one with his deity; at this point his deity acts through him and he is no
longer his personal self. Thereby the magician experiences the concrete communion with his
personal God; no longer does his consciousness, his soul, or his spirit speak through his mouth,
but instead Gods manifested spirit. Here the magician unites with his God, and as a result of this
communion he assumes all the divine fundamental attributes of his deity. ()The communion
with God must be so profound that God is neither within nor without the magician during the
meditation; instead, subject and object must merge into the other, to the extent that nothing else
exists except I am God. 134
At this point the magician has completed the process of the refinement of his or her soul, and
becomes master of their own destiny with the option of being completely reabsorbed into
Divinity. Bardons ideas here are extremely progressive in the sense that his system was open to
anyone: any initiate whether male or female could develop and harness these esoteric forces
within to become their full potential. Although he means it in the sense of spiritual development,
I think it is a powerful metaphor that can be applied in other senses to our advancement as
individuals. Franz Bardons elaboration of Neoplatonic ideas into his intricate system is
fascinating and unique. It is rather inconceivable how such a prominent thinker in the history of
Western culture has received no acknowledgement for his contribution to the evolution of
esoteric ideas in the 20th century, with his voice being entirely muted from the discussion until
present.
133
134
Ibid. pp.322-25.
Bardon Initiation pp.327-28, Bardon Der Weg pp.305-7
35
Dion Fortune concurs with Bardon in her statement that The Way of Initiation is not a scientific
pursuit but a religion, and only the pure in heart can know God. 135 In her system we can discern
a very different method for conveying her practical magic, namely veiled as scenarios and plots
woven in to her many novels. In these she elaborates on details of ritual ideas and techniques,
claiming that all her books taken together form a complete course in occult practice. 136 She
indulges her imagination and takes us on journeys through works of practical magic, something
she found it only possible to explain veiled in the context of fiction, as exact magical techniques
were bound by secrecy according to the rules of the occult circles. 137 The Sea Priestess is a story
of a mysterious and ageless female magician who entices an unwitting and lonely English
provincial gentleman to become her accomplice in achieving a work of High Magic by
performing rituals and invoking old sea goddesses and gods in a self-constructed temple, the
centrepiece being The Rite of Isis with its celebration of the divine archetypal feminine. 138
Fortune certainly has some things in common with her main protagonist in the story, Miss Le
Fay Morgan, who, like Fortune, dedicates her life wholly to the pursuit of magical practice and is
described as an esoteric power dresser and seductress. I would suggest that here we can see
Fortune envisioning her ideal higher self, herself at her full potential. 139 In the The Sea
Priestess as in its sequel Moon Magic the heroine is portrayed as dominant and assertive,
whereas the leading male characters or counterparts are initially portrayed as weak-willed and
lost. In the Rite of Isis the female character was transformed into a Sea Priestess through
singing and chanting invocations and performing certain gestures. In preparation for this she
encouraged the male character to construct a Sea Temple and meditate on the sea and the moon
through imaginative techniques involving painting certain images. This culminated in the male
being transformed into a Priest of the Moon and in the rite they became God and Goddess in
eachothers eyes. 140 Further to this, in The Goat-Foot God she includes rituals in praise of Pan,
revering the male aspect of Divinity. The stories come across as somewhat of wish-fulfillment
fantasies, but one could argue that this is the point of a magical technique. To formulate and
visualize her greater intentions in detailed prose is a form of magic in itself as defined by the
135
Fortune Esoteric Philosophy p.123.

Fortune The Sea Priestess p.xiii.
137
Knight Forward p.x.
138
Fortune The Sea Priestess pp.139-40.
139
Knight Forward p.vii, p.xii.
140
Fortune The Sea Priestess pp.161-70.
136
36
imaginative techniques utilized by the occultists. 141 Further to this the vision is affirmed by the
attention of the readers of the publication whom she tries to influence by subconsciously planting
thought-seeds in their minds relating to her greater agenda. 142
Interestingly, The Sea Priestess links to Fortunes work The Mystical Qabalah, in that the
practical magical operations demonstrated in the story are those supposed to invoke the powers
of the Sphere of Yesod. 143 The Sphere of Yesod is significant in the occultists interpretation of
the Tree of Life, as it is, she claims, the first area one reaches when one can elevate their
consciousness above Malkuth and rise on the planes. 144 The ideas outlined in The Mystical
Qabalah are drawn from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawns interpretation of the
Christian Qabalah, itself a reinterpretation of the original Judaic mystical Kabbalah. 145 The Sea
Priestess and Moon Magic 146 give us an inkling of Fortunes underlying motives in her
occultism, although the Rite of Isis described in the story was not of Fortunes own imagining, as
some would suggest, 147 but can be traced back to the Golden Dawn. The Rite was apparently
staged by Moina and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers publically in Paris. They sought to
celebrate the female aspect of Divinity based on their belief that the Divine is composed of a
male and female aspect, together forming a monism. They considered both to be of equal
importance, all balance being lost if one was neglected. This is emphasized in their esoteric
teachings, and in the Rite of Isis the feminine aspect of the Divine must be personified by a
woman for the magical work to be completed. 148 The occultists interpreted the Tree of Life as
divided into a masculine and a feminine side with the middle being neutral, and the Golden
Dawn system aimed at the initiate finding an equilibrium as they moved up through the Spheres
on the Tree. 149 So here again we find another ritualistic interpretation and celebration of the
masculine and feminine side of Divinity. In the Golden Dawn women were regarded as
equals and complimentary to men, though they were considered to have differing qualities. 150
141
Hanegraaff How Magic Survived the Disenchantment of the World p.368.

Fortune The Sea Priestess p.xiii.
143
Knight Forward p.xii.
144
Fortune The Mystical Qabalah p.258.
145
King Ritual Magic in England p.156.
146
Fielding and Collins The Story of Dion Fortune pp.154-5.
147
Knight Forward p.ix.
148
Bogdan Women and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn pp.258-9.
149
Ibid. p.261.
150
Ibid. pp.258-9.
142
37
Because of these fundamental beliefs it was thus essential to include women in the Order and its
ritual practices. 151 Fortune embraced the opportunities afforded to her by the lack of sexual
discrimination in occult milieus, 152 and her work The Sea Priestess was a direct call for the
reintroduction of the worship of the sacred archetypal feminine principle. Fortune envisioned
that the way this could be practically achieved was by a reappraisal of the old gods in society
and she sincerely believed that they would be revived in the new aeon. 153 By emphasizing the
importance, relevance, and sacred reverence for the feminine principle it certainly seems her
intention was the development of a balanced and harmonious society and way of being. She saw
the emphasis on the old gods of pagan pre-Christian traditions as a way to initiate this,
especially for the common people who she encouraged to follow the Green Way or pagan
path of development. Although certainly progressive for her times, the problems invoked by
gender issues in the Neopagan adaptation of these occult ideas show that they can only be taken
up to a point in their goal of liberating the idea of the feminine from its oft sordid status in the
history of Western culture.
Neopaganism and Contemporary Occultists

It is interesting how these Neoplatonic ideas were again adopted and adapted in Neopagan
traditions. Gerald Gardner (1884-1964) drew greatly from occult magical practices in his Wiccan
system, with his Great Rite of ritualized sexual intercourse being directly inspired by Aleister
Crowleys system, and we can trace a confluence and revival of various occult ideas as
Neopaganism blossomed during the 20th century. 154 A further example is Vivian Crowleys
outline of the contemporary British Wiccan system. It includes an interpretation of soul affinity
ideas in its Sacred Marriage, which is a sexual reenactment of the creation of the universe
between an initiated Wiccan couple. 155 There is no doubt that the practitioners themselves find
their rituals and mythologies empowering on a personal level. Further to this, if a woman feels
empowered by taking inspiration from ideas of the Goddess and all the connotations of earth,
mother and fertility, it doesnt necessarily entail a feminine subordinance if its her choice. But
151
Ibid.
153
Fanger Fortune, Dion pp.1-2.
154
Urban Magia Sexualis pp.162-67, Bogdan Western Esotericism p.167.
155
Crowley Wicca pp.220-22.
152
38
on a societal level these typical gender roles do create real problems in the manner that they
reinforce the structure of the male-female binary upon which patriarchy is founded. 156 However,
the Neopagan movement does contribute to the upheaval of tradition in the manner in which it
introduces counter-Christian mythologies into mainstream consciousness, resulting in different
avenues for one to explore living and being. 157
In the appendix I have included interviews I conducted in July 2011 with Gareth Knight, a
contemporary follower of Fortunes system, and Martin Faulks, a contemporary follower of
Bardons system. I decided to interview these contemporary practitioners to glean insights into
the personal and practical application of these modern occult doctrines in this day and age. I feel
these opinions are essential and relevant to include as they show the transference of ideas from
adept to initiate, and their insider perspectives are an important voice to include in the
overview and discussion of the topic dealt with. Also, it shows how these systems and ideas are
very much alive, yet how they are modified to suit contemporary ways of being and
understanding, exemplified by the manner in which each practitioner interprets and adapts them
differently. Interesting is how both Knight and Faulks assert that their Hermetic worldview is
indubitably real, as an unshakable premise underlying their whole conception of reality and how
to function in the world. It seems their notions of gender, although seemingly a little confused as
to the exact definition of this category, are partly informed by the occultists symbolic
interpretations of masculine and feminine principles, but certainly also coloured by their own
experiences and judgments of gendered differences. With regard to sexual magic, Faulks
experiences it as integral to his magical practices linking it to Divine forces. Knight condemns it
as a distraction, but suggests that the most effective way to practice magic is with a partner of the
opposite sex, echoing Fortune. However, he praises contemporary practical esotericism,
especially in the form of Neopaganism, as he says it allows one to appraise the importance of the
world we inhabit in the general metaphysical scheme of things.
156

For an in depth anthropological overview of the inner workings of contemporary esoteric orders one should
consult Tanya Luhrmanns unmatched study Persuasions of the Witchs Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary
England.
157
39
Conclusion: Old Ideas, New Understandings

So to conclude, what is revealed is that once Neoplatonic ideas were actually brought into
practice this created new opportunities for women, at least in these occult micro-societies,
confirming their status as equals by adhering to the principles intrinsic to their cosmology.
Fortune herself was a product of this whole movement of the practical application of Neoplatonic
ideas in the context of occult orders. We can see that as soon as women entered this discourse on
equal footing new dialogues and power relations were born, as whenyou alter one of the
variables in the nexus of power relations, you will change the type and the form of the speech
which is produced. 158This shift also sheds light on the complexities in the history of power
relations between men and women. Once women were welcomed into the mix, as esoteric
societies developed and revised their practices as they stretched into the modern period, the stage
was set for a dialogue between the sexes heretofore unknown, resulting in more cooperative
speech patterns and revising the norms of discourse. Fortune, having been fledged in the milieus
of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society, broke away and formed her own system and
society. She took the role of power afforded to her by this context and embraced it. In her work
she certainly constructed scenarios advocating social change, in which women are valued and
active agents. But we have also seen how her ideas and practices could never be enough to
transcend restrictive gendered identities, as these conceptions of the feminine, though revered,
only reinforce and exaggerate the essentialist male-female distinction upon which gender rests.
But with Bardons specific articulation of an abstracted idea of the masculine and feminine as
Imagination and Practice that exist as potentials inside every person I think we have a
profound model with which to reconceptualize these categories. I want to reclaim these notions
from their historical perversions and abandon the oppressions of gendered identities linked to
biological sex. I do not claim that there exists such a thing as a masculine and feminine
principle out there or even within as an absolute truth, but these categories are so ingrained in
our psyches that overthrowing them altogether is simply not an option. As humans these ideas
are fundamentally internalized in our understanding of reality, and the manner in which we
158
See Mills Discourse pp.98-9.
40
anchor concepts by splitting them into dualistic opposites is something too fundamental to the
nature of human methods of conceptualizing to be abandoned. Gender binaries will forever
remain part of the history of the discourse of our identities as contemporary humans in the West
and we cannot ignore or erase the part it has played in our history. But if we are to ever transcend
the notion of gender we must reclaim and reconceive the very principles it has been built up off:
the binary distinction of male and female. By imbuing the masculine and feminine principles
with the occultists Neoplatonic conception of twin forces within a unity that can be found in
every human psyche irrespective of sex, race or class there is no need for gendered identities.
Every person is thus whole in themselves if one conceptualizes it in such a manner and there is
no need for distinctions implying inequality. Further to this by striving to perfect and nurture the
qualities implicit in the twin forces of Intellect and Begetter in oneself one can enter the path
towards becoming ones full potential, a mirroring of the goal of occultism in fact. Other
variations we have come across in the overview of this history have been the Truth and the
Good, the Emanator and the Recipient, Power and Presence, the Force and the Form.
Thus this alternative map for the psyche provides a new framework for conceptualizing reality
that is useful in an essential manner, but it requires a definite shift of consciousness to rise above
set modes of constructing and categorizing our world.
I think it is crucial here to re-emphasize that the occult systems discussed rest on mythologies,
and what we can glean from these Platonic mythological ideas and their evolutions is that the
different interpretations throughout history provided maps for peoples psyches, anchoring one in
reality. Mythologies in this sense are crucial for determining and unlocking new mindsets and
modes of being. New mythologies can be sculpted to suit the needs of the times, but I would
suggest that in certain old Neoplatonic ideas there is a lot room for reinterpretation. When we
begin to understand the world through the lens of new mythologies, new concepts, and new
relations to being and reality, our consciousness is shifted and we can live in a new mind-reality,
opening windows for ourselves to sustainable harmony of experience. This is what can be
achieved by throwing off the cloak of rigid, stagnant traditional structures and modes of being.
41
Appendix
Fig.2 Franz Bardons grave
Fig.4 The Magician Tarot card from

Franz Bardons Initiation Into Hermetics
Fig.3 Copulating Sun and Moon, Emblem XXXIV from

Michael Maiers Atalanta Fugiens
Fig.5 The Muladhara Chakra symbol
42
Gareth Knight Speaks

Gareth Knight (1930), self-proclaimed occult adept and author of many books and articles on
esotericism and Dion Fortune and longtime member of her Society of the Inner Light, spoke to
me in July 2011, giving his point of view when questioned on aspects of my thesis.
On occult systems and his involvement:

Systems evolve, they are not static, but grow and flow like anything else in life. As to my own
record, all is concerned with group ritual work. I worked in Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner
Light, 1953-1965, and then set up on my own order with W.E. Butler in what developed into the
Servants of the Light until 1973 when I branched off to found the Gareth Knight Group. I handed
this over in 1998 when I returned to help out the Society of the Inner Light again until 2009, and
finally I decided to retire from active group engagement as I approached by 80th birthday. With
the early S.I.L. we would convene about once a week, and with the later S.I.L. it would be
fortnightly. With G.K. Group (now The Avalon Group) it developed into five or six weekend
meetings a year each with about three ritual workings.
I am currently not active in any order since I have retired, but I advise old colleagues running
theirs, if and when requested. I am still nominally a member of the Society of the Inner Light.
On gender in occultism:
One likes to try for an even balance of male and female. Soul monad/affinity ideas are mostly
wish fulfillment fantasies of those outside of practical occultism. One to one working seems to
work best with partners of opposite sex/gender, but sex plays no part in this - as a general rule if
sex walks in the door magic goes out of the window. There is the record of a series of workings I
did with my wife in The Wells of Vision, a collection of journal articles of mine. 159 Gender is not
important. I don't think that men and women are superior to each other but have their strengths
and weaknesses which are generally speaking complementary. I think Dion Fortune was a bit
simplistic in her analysis of the difference between the sexes back in 1923 which was generally
159
For a good record of this kind of working he recommends Alan Richardson's book Dancers to the Gods based on
the work of two of Dion Fortune's old colleagues C.R.F. Seymour and Christine Campbell Thomson.
43
that women were stronger on the spiritual and emotional levels, and men stronger on the
intellectual and physical levels. I think there are positive and passive poles in all aspects of life,
but sexual difference generally seems to be on a spectrum between the two - all men have a
feminine side, all women a masculine side, in various proportions.
On the ultimate goal of esoteric practice:

The ultimate goal is the marriage of heaven and earth, individually and collectively. Is it
reachable? Probably not - at any rate in your or my life time - but it is the aspiration that counts.
Changes made in the microcosm (of oneself) can reflect in the macrocosm (of society at large).
But it is difficult to know if one is the causation of the other or that one is simply and
unconsciously surfing a general trend. It occurs more often in odd coincidences, what Jung calls
synchronicities. For a more general appreciation of what it is all like in practice you could do no
better than to study my volume of selected letters recently published by Skylight Press Yours
very truly...Gareth Knight which records actual work and things as they happened.
On whether his esoteric worldview is real or symbolic:

Real. Symbolism is of course important but not if used as an intellectual cop out rather than
getting to the reality behind it. In this I would include the psychological approach - for I regard
Jungian psychology in much the same way: as subjectively cramming a great reality into one's
cranium. Of course this raises big philosophical questions on the nature of subjectivity and
objectivity but I speak merely as a working occultist. To my mind, as explained at length in my
History of White Magic the human imagination is the vehicle for organs of inner perception of a
great supernatural reality.
On the relevance of practical esoteric systems in this day and age:

They raise a greater awareness of the importance of the Earth in the general metaphysical
scheme of things as opposed to trying to scale remote mystical heights or attain largely illusory
"grades". Current neo-paganism is a reflection of this although strictly speaking it is more of a
religion than an occult system.
44
Martin Faulks Speaks

Martin Faulks (1977), Freemason and author of many books on martial arts, 160 came to my
attention because of his interviews with Franz Bardons son Lumir (as yet unpublished) in 2010,
and spoke to me in July 2011 giving his insider point of view on topics covered in this thesis.
On occult systems and his involvement:

I practice the Franz Bardon system exclusively but because his system is the underlying system
behind all traditions it is extremely easy to be at one with whatever traditional surroundings you
find yourself. For example I have also traveled to Japan to train with the Buddhist Yamabushi
monks. The truth is that a true magus follows a universal religion, that relating to the divine laws
underlying everything. I practiced the Franz Bardon system of magic for 17 years without
missing a single day of practice. This consists of 40 minutes of Hermetic practice twice a day,
the first session being at seven o'clock in the morning the second being seven o'clock at night.
I don't belong to any magical orders but I am a Freemason. At present I don't believe there is a
magical order which consists of members which have a high enough degree of dedication
required to practice group magic in existence in the West.
On gender in occultism:
I have found the attraction of the Masters teachings to be more or less equal between the
genders/sexes although I have noticed that it seems that men struggle less with the discipline
required. I'm not sure whether this is to do with gender specific differences or more to do with
the cultural pressures on women in our society. There are some spiritual workings which do
require different sexes to take part and these are mostly to do with the practice of alchemy. Yes,
there are inherent differences between the occult abilities of the sexes: if you look at the first
tarot card in the book Initiation into Hermetics you will note that the sexes have different
polarities in their bodies. The woman's head being Electric and the mans being Magnetic. For
this reason the man will find it easy to control the posture of elements both in his personality and
magically and the woman is the negative.
160
See http://www.martinfaulks.com
45
However, the sun and the moon are in balance and the positive and negative forces of the
genders/sexes must be equal or there is no divine balance.
If you take time to disguise yourself and watch the spirits at work you will find that gender
appears to be a distinctly human or rather animal gift. The elementals do not have gender
because they consist of only one element and for this reason there are unable to reproduce which
is why they seek contact with humans. Gender seems to exist in our souls below the Akasha, the
divine aspect of the human is beyond gender.
Many of the mysteries are sexual in nature and people really dont understand if you explain it to
them. Its far more beautiful than a group like the O.T.O make it: love is a connection and a
sexual act is an amazing act of connection and creation. And it is the only way you can directly
change the spiritual working of another on a large scale. Imagine how much force you would
need to project to change someones mood or bring them back to health. Lots of the energy you
use is to get the force into them and boost their natural defences: you are working from the
outside in. It can be a healing practice from one person to another or to affect any form of
influence: you could be charging them with an element or bring about a certain change.
Incidentally, the Magic Flute deals with the mysteries of magical love.
On the ultimate goal of esoteric practice:

The aim of Hermeticism is to transcend the limitations of the human state by becoming a godman. This is achieved through the union of the elements in the body and the transference of the
consciousness into the immortal soul so that one may continue on beyond death of the physical
body. I believe it is possible in one lifetime but it does require a complete dedication and the
willingness to get rid of every vice and cultivate virtue. I don't believe many people have the
dedication or quiet to achieve this in the modern materialist world. I have noticed is that there is
a reflection between changes in myself and changes in the external world but it is a very subtle
thing. I think it is very important to remember that we are making the changes in ourselves in
order to hold the world, and it is important to keep the focus on treading the path for others and
not for your own selfish aims. Also I believe the reverse is true (the world affects changes in the
individual) and it is extremely hard to cultivate tranquility when there was so much turmoil in the
world around you.
46
On whether his esoteric worldview is real or symbolic:

I believe the magical path to be literally real. There is an actual force that we can apply Will to,
which in turn can change the physical world around us. This force is not symbolic and is not
some form of reflection through the subconscious or suggestion through the group mind, but it is
a literal force like electricity or heat.
On the practical esoteric systems in this day and age:

Occultism has devolved into a meaningless, unconstructive, unworkable chaos. The modern
practitioners are not basing their practices on a genuine workable tradition and feel free to make
up practices drawing from different traditions without understanding the underlying principles or
having a sufficient level of Hermetic maturity.
47
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52

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Franz Bardon and Dion Fortune: Man, Woman and Mastery of the

Universe in Modern Occultism

MA Thesis Mysticism and Western Esotericism

Fortune Esoteric Philosophy p.92, originally published in 1924.

Bardon and Fortune: Historical Figures in Magical Realities

Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment p.253.

Fielding and Collins The Story of Dion Fortune p.19.

Richardson Priestess pp.230-41.

Richardson Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune p.17.

Platos Long Arm of Influence: Ideas Rooted in Mythology

Hanegraaff and van den Doel Imagination pp.614-15.

Kripal & Hanegraaff Introduction p.xiv.

Remes Neoplatonism p.18.

Godwin The Theosophical Enlightenment pp.4-6.

From Theory to Practice: The Birth of Sexual Magic

Urban The Yoga of Sex p.415.

accomplished. 67 This development of sexual magic was certainly a novel phenomenon

Godwin, Chanel & Deveney The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor p.59-60.

Sexual Magic, Feminism and Gender: Social Transformation and Liberation

Fortunes Cosmology: The Male-Female Circuit

Bardons View of the Human: Electro-Magnetic Entities

Urban Magia Sexualis pp.180-88.

Bardon Initiation pp.20-21, Bardon Der Weg pp.16-17.

Bardon Initiation pp.329-30, Bardon Der Weg pp.307-9.

Becoming Divine: The Ultimate Goal of Magical Development

Bardon Initiation pp.290-92.

Fortune Esoteric Philosophy p.123.

Hanegraaff How Magic Survived the Disenchantment of the World p.368.

Neopaganism and Contemporary Occultists

Urban Magia Sexualis p.189.

Conclusion: Old Ideas, New Understandings

See Mills Discourse pp.98-9.

Fig.2 Franz Bardons grave

Fig.4 The Magician Tarot card from

Fig.3 Copulating Sun and Moon, Emblem XXXIV from

Fig.5 The Muladhara Chakra symbol

Gareth Knight Speaks

On occult systems and his involvement:

On the ultimate goal of esoteric practice:

On whether his esoteric worldview is real or symbolic:

On the relevance of practical esoteric systems in this day and age:

Martin Faulks Speaks

On occult systems and his involvement:

On the ultimate goal of esoteric practice:

On whether his esoteric worldview is real or symbolic:

On the practical esoteric systems in this day and age:

Frabato Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann Bauer Verlag, 1958

The Key to the True Quabbalah Wuppertal: Dieter Rggeberg Publishing,

The Practice of Magical Evocation Wuppertal: Dieter Rggeberg

Die Praxis Der Magischen Evokation Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann

Der Schlssel Zur Wahren Quabbalah Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann

Der Weg Zum Wahren Adepten Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann Bauer

Bardon, Lumir &

Memories of Franz Bardon Wuppertal: Dieter Rggeberg Publishing,

Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation Albany: State University of

Women and the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn: Nineteenth

Beauvoir and Feminism: Interview and Reflections in The Cambridge

van den Broek, Roelof

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity New York:

Wicca: A Comprehensive Guide to the Old Religion in the Modern World

Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth-Century American Spiritualist,

Paschal Beverly Randolph and Sexual Magic in Hidden Intercourse:

Sensuous Relation with Sophia in Christian Theosophy in Hidden

Fortune, Dion in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism