INTRODUCTION

This bibliography is an effort to share something that has been central to my search for ultimate meaning: the idea there is an aspect of sentience,of awareness,that cannot be accounted for purely in terms of mind as conventionally understood,as evident in daily intercourse;that this form of sentience is pervasive throughout the cosmos,in animate and inanimate forms.One aspect of this idea,the idea of a pervasive force or agent in the universe  is summed up by John Mbiti in African Religions and Philosophy as  characteristic of Classical African thought,even though it occurs globally, with some variations,across history: “…there seems to be a force,power or energy permeating the whole universe.God is the Source and ultimate controller of this force[ known as ase by the Yoruba as expounded in Yoruba:Four Centuries of African Art and Thought and ike by the Igbo as described by Chinua Achebe in “The Igbo World and is Art” ] but the spirits have access to some of it.A few human beings have the knowledge and ablity to tap,manipulate and use it,such as the medicine men,witches,priests and rainmakers,some for the good and others for the ill of their communities”. In another context,the English occultist Dion Fortune elaborates in The Training and Work of an Initiate on a similar concept in terms of what she describes as the "mind side of nature".

Within the various traditions that postulate this conception, which can be related to the concept of spirit in English, it can be argued that the most important spirit is the human being.The human being is described as embodying the non-material sentience that might be the essence of spirit,as well as the material form that enables perception and action in a concrete environment,thereby particpating in both worlds,an opportubity not shared by all spirits.

Does an ontological category consistent with what is described as spirit exist?I think the question can only be answered for each person through experiment.

One aspect of such exprimentation is theurgy,which can be  described as the deliberate interaction with non-human spirits.

My understanding of theurgy is that it is a structure of techniques used in conjunction with conceptions of spirits.My understanding is that the essence of theurgy is invitation, forms of invitation at different levels of elaboration or simplicity.

Most of my knowledge of theurgy comes from Israel Regardies The Tree of Life:A Study in Magic,the work of Dion Fortune and a little of Aleister Crowley,and the European magical order the Golden Dawn,its  rituals and their explanatory notes as published by Regardie.I have adapted   their  theories and methods with interesting results to  the African-Yoruba Orisa tradition.

I have also learnt that theurgic techniques can be distinctive to an individual.Along those lines,I have come to the conclusion that as useful as the elaborate theurgic paraphernalia represented by the ceremonial magic of the Golden Dawn and its students is,one might not need them.Some of the best results I have got,although admittedly achieved involuntarily or with what looks like an initiative from the spirits themselves,has been through reverie and meditation.These approaches seem more in line with an aesthetic approach to theurgy as well as approaches in some forms of Hinduism and Buddhism,which use mandalas and yantras,geometric diagrams for focusing the mind.This may also be related to the use of sigils in the Western tradition as in the work of Austin Osman spare and the more recent work of Mark Dunn.

I would have liked to correlate ideas of human and non-human spirit interaction as this affects the human spirit,ideas of the ethics of theurgy,conceptions of relationships between theurgy and philosophy,the latter  understood as critical, ratiocinative thinking,ideas of relationships between theurgy and mysticism,the latter understood as a conception of experience of the ground of being,but that might be another day’s work.

 My practical and even theoretical knowledge of theurgy is quite limited but this bibliography demonstrates some breadth in pointing out the significance for theurgy of works from various disciplines.

In all,one would benefit from a thorough study of theories and techniques of theurgy in different systems and as these are implicit or explicit in other cultural contexts. I have used as my foundation for research   the Golden Dawn students'  impressive conceptions emphasising the value of imagination and  insisting on ritual as a  vehicle for imagination.

f I might suggest some reading,keeping in mind that the study is actually a life time endeavour,I would suggest the following from my limited knowledge:

THE ARTS

The study of and familiarity with the arts,particularly poetry,drama,the visual arts,music,the use of smell,dance,among others,is to me,very useful,if not priceless..As far as I know,most theurgy,from Western ceremonial magic to shamanic technique,is based on ideas and techniques central to the arts,particularly  artistic techniques of manipulating meaning and human expectations of reality.For me,these parallels between artistic and magical techniques of shaping meaning and reality are centred in  what the English literary critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes about the necessary attitude of mind in engaging with what the Nigerian literary  critic Biodun Jeyfo describes as the "truthful lie" that is imaginative literature.Coleridge describes this mental attitude as  "the willing suspension of disbelief  that constitutes poetic faith".To me,it is in or through that suspension of the gap between what can be seen and what can not be seen,that theurgic contact take places,a situation superbly summed up by Paul in his Letter to the Hebrews in the Bible,where he describes  faith as the "substance of things hoped for,the evidence of things not seen" making possible the emergence of "things which are seen" from things which are not seen.

EXORCISM LITERATURE

MALACHY MARTIN.Hostage to the Devil. A Christian work of exorcism.,not a theurgic text,but with what I  consider a very good section on the nature of spirit,which to me,is what theurgy is essentially centred in.Non-fiction but demonstrates the narrative,linguistic and imaginative power of a very good work of fiction.Also useful in suggesting the dangers of theurgy since it deals with banishing evil spirits from people they have possessed.

                 FICTION-NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES

FRANK PERETTI. Piercing the Darkness and This Present Darkness,bigoted but well written works of Christian fiction which depict all non-Christian spirituality as evil but which I find enlightening on ways of   relating to spirits.Peretti on Christian angels in relation to prayer I see as being in alignment with Crowley's conception of theurgy in his autobiography  as intimately related to imaginative identification with the spirits being called upon ,a goal facilitated by the performative dimension of ritual,in other words,to me,a form of prayer since one is reaching out to something unseen,not fully understood.

J.K ROWLING. Harry Potter novels.Like a good number of works of magical fantasy,these works,to me,encapsulate much of what I understand as central to theurgy and are  brimful of a range of techniques which I expect will prove efficacious, if one adapts them imaginatively.Along with Dion Fortune,Regardie,Crowley,and Dunn,I see imagination as a crucial key.

HOWARD PHILIPS LOVECRAFT. Short stories and novellas.Lovecraft seems to be the premier imaginative writer on the psychology of magic,even though he is described as not believing in it.For evoking  mental states related to encounters with the numinous [ generally described using Rudolf Otto's characterisation as  "an unseen but majestic presence,inspiring both dread and fascination, which constitutes the non-rational element in vital religion-Webster's Third New International Dictionary] ,he is unequalled in my experience.Note,though,that his cosmology is centred in beings whose relationship with humanity is often destructive of the people who encounter them on account of the disjunction between the limitations of human consciousness and the unusual ontologies[nature of being] embodied by these beings.When the person does not become mad or destroyed,a transformation takes places into a non-human or quasi-human form that would not be desirable to many,if not most people.His work seems to have provided inspiration for the anti-social anarchism of Anton Long in relation to his role in the Order of Nine Angels which is centred on making way for the entry of certain non-human forms on earth through disruptive social activity such as murder,invocations which must be carefully managed lest they lead to madness,and other intriguing but controversial  perspectives.The fact that Lovecraft's work is also the centre of a scholarly industry in literature and esoteric thought indicates that he is many things to different people.He is also crucial to the reimagining by Mark Dunn,of the medieval magical grimoire of the Key of Solomon the King.

ERIC ERICCSON.The Sorcerer.Strong description of techniques of sexual magic.Powerful and perplexing conclusion that highlights the question of the relationship between good and evil in a universe where such distinctions are challenged by an exalted level of awareness.

ERIC ERICCSON.The Master of the Temple.Develops an impressive depiction of the concept of interconnection of being and the effects on the self of using magic to harm through the adventures of a businessman/magician.

ERIC ERICCSON.The Woman who Slept with Demons.The only work I know,fiction or non-fiction,that addresses the possiblity of evil in nature spirituality.

JONATHAN STROUD.The Bartimaeus  Trilogy.Spirits as servants and friends.

JOHN RONALD RUEL TOLKIEN. The Lord of the Rings trilogy.Powerfully evocative on nature spirituality,particularly on the characterisation and poetry of the Elves and the descriptions of the Elvish enclave of Lothlorien.

JOHN RONALD RUEL TOLKIEN.The Silmarilion.Strong, original mythology.Very useful for creating imaginative forms.

MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY.The Darkover Series particularly The Heritage of Hastur and The Forbidden Tower.Superb on psycyhology, epistemology and metaphysics of magic.

MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY.The Avalon Series.Evokes a strong imaginative world in terms of natrual forces and the borders of being exemplified by the doorway between Avalon and the ordinary world.Similar to the entry and exit of the magician between worlds.

URSULA LE GUIN'S.The Earthsea Trilogy.Wonderful on cosmisc law in relation to magic.

LOUISE COOPER.The Time Master Trilogy.Built on the subject of the various possisblities of the self in relation to cosmic forces.

BEN OKRI.The Famished Road.Great on passage between dimensions.The journey of Azaro to the world of the dead while his parents try to revive his body at home is a great visulisation of interplay between dimensions,spiritual and material, and  provides superb material for visualisation directed at achieving a similar goal.

ALGERNOON BLACKWOOD. "Secret Worship".Very,very strongly evocative and precise on relationships between imagination,space,time,human and non-human forms of being.

DAVID ZINDELL.Neverness and A Requiem for Homo Sapiens Trilogy.Cybernetic animism. Articifial intelligence and neurology.Speculative mathematics.Cosmology. Cyborgean deity forms-galactic intelligences  constituted by the fusion of human and computing intelligence.

MOYRA CALDECOTT.Guardians of the Tall Stones.Interesting  techniques of utilising sacred space for amplifying psychic powers.Valuable conceptions on the metaphysics of energy.
 

   POETRY

JOHN KEATS. "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion".Keats is a master of techniques of association through reverie,a vital theurgic technique.Each ode demonstrates the evocation of reverie through one of the senses,from hearing to sight and taste.

WOLE SOYINKA. A Shuttle in the Crypt. A master of invocation.Demonstrates a hierophantic[one who brings others to the presence of the holy:priest-Wikipedia] sensitivity  to  different traditions.His incantatory poetry depicts the building up of   imaginative associations which relate to the character of what is being invoked,moving towards an imaginative and emotionally powerful  climax at which point the invocation takes place.Shows the value of theurgy for sustaining the mind in difficult situations since the work was written in many months of mostly solitary confinement in prison.

CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO. Labyrinths.A great work in the field of animistic mysticism,developing a conception of the ground of being,of the unification of existence through  a focus on the water spirit,Idoto,of a river in the village of Ojoto in Nigeria,who becomes to the poet "the water spirit that nurtures all creation".In his own innimitable way,Okigbo  takes us through the standard stages of magical and mystical technique and aspiration,from invocation to journey to consummation.

   DRAMA

A rich field for theurgy,since ceremonial magical is based on dramatic  role playing and spectacle  but one in which I have very little exposure.

WOLE SOYINKA. Death and the King's Horseman.At the heart of this  work is a superb ritual.

    DRAMATIC THEORY

JERZY GROTOWSKI.  Towards  a Poor Theatre.Describes an intense method of emptying the self in order to assume an imaginative character.A technique used in different ways  by different religions and a vital theurgic technique.To be used with care in the light of the extension of the self through integrating oneself with a spiritual Other,and even then keeping in mind Dion Fortune's theory in The Mystical Qabalahof the necessary relationship between good and evil,in relation to the side effects  of invoking even good spirits into oneself.

PETER BROOK. The Empty Space. Has a beautiful chapter on theatre and the sacred.Explores the relationship between the dramatic use of space and psychological transformation,a subject at the heart of ceremonial magic.

WOLE SOYINKA. "Morality and Aesthetics in   the Ritual Archetype","Drama and the African World View", "The Fourth Stage",essays in his Myth,Literature and the African World. Wonderful on the development of drama as a means of relating with what is beyond the visible world and beyond human conceptualisation,but which engages with the human being.Develops a concept of a state of being or zone of ontological and psychological transformation and of passage between human and spiritual worlds,the "abyss of transition", which can be profitably correlated with similar conceptions in Western theurgy,particularly Crowley's interpretations of the Kabbalistic abyss in Jewish and Hermetic mysticism and more down to earth understandings of transitions between states of being in relation to the Kabalah.

     THE VISUAL ARTS

ULLI BEIER. The Return of the Gods:The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger, presents theurgic technique from the perspective of artistic practice.Very down to earth and priceless in showing how one can move across cultures,invoking spirits  from different cultures using similar techniques.Excellent in terms of both theory and technique.

SUSANNE  WENGER. A Life with the Gods.A very rich exploration of an African cosmology in terms of artistic techniques of theurgic interaction.

SUSANNE  WENGER. The Sacred Groves of Osogbo.

SUSANNE  WENGER. The Timeless Mind of the Sacred

ROLF BROCKMANN AND GERD HOTTER.Adunni.

  These works elaborate on Wenger's vision in relation to the shrine sculptures of her school,New Sacred Art.The conceptual sophistication they develop as they reinterpret Orisa theory and practice make them some of the world's greatest  spiritual literature..

 MARK DUNN. wwww.goetia-girls.com.An amibitious cosmography developed through a reinterpretation of the medieval text for spirit invocation,the Key of Solomon the King.Very impressive in terms of Dunn's deployment of various forms of visual art,including video,in developing a cosmography that is woven from an amazing range of sources,including modern Western popular culture,UFO conceptions,Siberian shamanism,Norse mythology and shamanism,physics,speculative science,science fiction,theories of consciousness,erotica,Hermetica,Tibetan Buddhism,Western fantasy literature,as Alice in Wonderland and the Harry Potter series,Western history and conspiracy theory and Native American and African thought.  Dunn is galanvanised by the concept of a Feminine Inorganic Intelligence or Intelligences which he engages with through dream,synchronicity,imagination and art.The array of sources that give form to his reimagining of the Solomonic forms demonstrates his conception of the malleablity of spirit to human imagination.

AUSTEN OSMAN SPARE. A pioner in the effort to relate to spirits through art.His work depicts a phantamagoric universe which the artist is able to interact with  through his art.

     MAGICAL PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNIQUE:Works directed at teaching theurgy directly.

BILL WHITCOMB. The Magician's Companion and The Magician's Reflection are impressive and more conceptually expansive than the Golden Dawn students on the philosophy and techniques of theurgy.

ALEISTER CROWLEY. Autohagiography and Book Four:Magic in Theory and Practice.Anything by Crowley is important and is marked by his critical and broadly  grounded mind.I expect he is one of the greatest magicians of all time and most likely one of the world's greatest religious figures. He is very good on psychology and philosophy of magic,on his practical experience,and in demonstrating the tenacity in  cultivating a relationship with   the unseen and unconventional realities vital to practitioners of magic

ISRAEL REGARDIE. The Tree of Life:A Study in Magic.Lucid,broad.A  range of ancient references,illuminated by the very contemporary insights emerging from wonderful synthesis.A priceless book.

ISRAELREGARDIE.  The Complete Rituals and Teachings of the Golden Dawn.A work that,in its inspirational power and symbolic density equals,to me the Bible,the Koran,the Gita,the In the Light of Truth scriptures of the Grail Message,the Shariyat ki-Sugmad scriptures of Eckankar.But unlike all these works,which are limited to evoking inspiring visions and often downplay actual guidance on how to actualise those visions in relation to making contact with spirit,the Golden Dawn text is also a detailed,encyclopaedic and most powerful work of practical magic and spiritual work.I expect its value is inexhaustible.

DION FORTUNE. Works of exposition of magical theory,particularly The Training and Work of an Initiate, Applied Magic,Sane Occultism,Practical Occultism,The Mystical Quabalah.Excellent on philosophy, psychology and ethics of magic.

MARK DUNN. www.goetia-girls.com.Excellent description of a minimalist technique of theurgy,focusing on invocation through sigil meditation and mantra chanting represented by the spirit's name.His bold and culturally wide ranging reinterpretation of the Key of Solomon the King demonstrates par excellence the flexibility of dealing with spirit,as demonstrated in the need to create forms that enable the manifestation of spirit,forms dependent on what inspires the magician and  the magician's range of knowledge and capacity for association.His vigorous visual art brings these conceptions vividly alive.

      SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS

     CHAOS MAGIC.

The Wikipedia entry on Chaos Magic is a good start.It focuses on magic as a heuristic practise-something that depends on adaptation and improvisation.Very liberating since it clears away the structure of traditions to get at the core issues of human mental and  non-human reconfiguration.

   TANTRA

A superb body of theory and technique in Hinduism and Buddhism that sums up much of what is known about theurgy.

AJIT MOOKERJEE and MADHU KHANNA'S The Tantric Way:Art,Science,Ritual

MADHU KHANNA'S Yantra:The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity.

Both works are detailed and rich in verbal and visual descriptions of theurgic theory and technique.Richly illustrated with the visual accompaniments so useful to giving imaginative form to the invisible being of spirits ,a central practice in theurgy.

       HERBALOGY

Along with dreams,herbalogy might be one of the earliest facilitators in theurgy.

PIERRE VERGER. Ewe:The Use of Herbs in Yoruba  Tradition

JOAN HALIFAX.Shamanic Voices

 GRAHAM HANCOCK.Supernatural.

These works demonstrate the use of herbs in relating with spirits.Hancock examines it at length  and concludes that that practice is central to the roots of many religions.

     HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

MIRCEA ELIADE. Theory of hierophany and of ritual,as exemplified,among other works,by Patterns in Comparative Religion,  Myth of the Eternal Return and The Sacred and the Profane are insightful on how magical thinking transforms the ordinary into the magical and on the relationships between time and experience,conventionally understood,and as participation in a larger than human reality,effected through ritual.The Wikipedia entry on him is a useful beginning.

KAREN ARMSTRONG. A History of God and The Great Transformation.Centred on a conception of religion as mental transport facilitated by a range of means.

RUDOLF OTTO.The Idea of the Holy.A book that needs to be experienced in its depiction of what Dion Fortune describes as “travelling in thought beyond the skyline,where the strange roads go down”.An effort to characterise the essence of religion as an encounter with the numinous, that which cannot be reduced to the rationactive,the logical and mentalistic or even the emotional: mysterium tremendum et fascinans "an unseen but majestic presence,inspiring both dread and fascination, which constitutes the non-rational element in vital religion-Webster's Third New International Dictionary.

IMMANUEL KANT.Critique of Practical Reason.Kant  is superb on the tension between the human self and the encounter with aspects of being that transcend the self.The section that frames my understanding of efforts to relate with spirit,an experience an aspect of which is described by a Yoruba ritual artist in the expression: “Ille n  mi,Ori mi wu…”,The earth was breathing deep,rhythmic breaths,my head expanded in awe and dread…[Please forgive inadequacies in spelling  and translation] is the section in the last chapter on human finitude and smallness in cosmic terms,contrasted with and complemented by the stamp human perception and action make on the cosmos.

IMMANUEL KANT. Critique of Judgement. The evocation of the aesthetic category of the Sublime here,along with Otto’s conception of the numinous,are the summation,for me,of the aspects of nature that inspire the conception of nature as more than matter,leading to efforts to relate to divine forms in nature.

I think I will rest here.These works reflect my own  interests,which have not been developed in a systematic manner but in terms of what I liked.

All in all,I think the key is do what works for you and continue to experiment,keeping in mind that the mind  is often the key and every other aspect of technique is meant to aid the mind to enter into states of consciousness that make possible relationships with what is not visible but which is sentient.

“The path has crossed the path,the river  has crossed the path.

   Which is the elder?

We made the path and found the river.The river is from long ago.The river is from the creator of the universe”.

Akan (Ghana)drum poetry translated by Kwabenia Nketia in  An Introduction to African Literature,ed.by Ulli Beier.