I think we need to avoid generalizations about Greeks, Roman, Persians, Jews
and Egyptians as if they inhabited entirely separate universes, and as if
one particular form of practice or text can be characterised as belonging
exclusively to one culture rather than another.

Nick


-----Original Message-----
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jake Stratton-Kent
Sent: 05 February 2010 12:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] On Nature Mysticism

On 4 February 2010 08:44, mandrake <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Friends
>
> As a magician & amateur Egyptologist I don't find it surprising that
> Egyptian magic is
> so influential on the western mystery tradition.
> I suppose I'd also say its figures muchly in GD* because it is so
effective.
> Not surprisingly Egypt was famous in the classical world as the "most
> advanced" of magical cultures
> and internal evidence backs this up.

really this is more a case of an exotic culture receiving projections
- the Greeks and Romans 'projected' magical virtues onto Persian and
Jewish culture in the same way, but the elements of magical practice
were not necessarily even foreign.

> There is hardly any technique in magick of the modern period that doesnt
> have a precedent in Egypt eg: wax image spell, encircling,
> cardinality, importance of colours especially red,

 I've not seen a definitive case of a magic circle in Egyptian lore;
as there is in Akkadian tablets etc.. OTOH circular processions, with
holy water sprinkling etc. were a long established part of Greek
sacrificial ritual.

> The earliest "graded course of magick" / the Corpus Hermetica - is
essential
> a summary of the Egyptian magical religion of its time -

Arguable, there is a lot of Astrology (Greco-Babylonian) and other
lore in there too. Much more like a synthesis than an indigenous
system.

> and has an Egyptian context - for example Hermetic texts found at Nag
> Hammadi (in Egypt)

> and the earliest grimoires have an Egyptian connection (See Testament of
> Solomon)

which has more marked Greek and Semitic elements.

> and often continue to make reference to their source eg Goetia says the
> spirits speak in the Egyptian tongue,

as a compilation grimoire of 1640 this doesn't establish anything
other than Egyptian origins were part of the mythos of later magic.

> Abramelin has Egyptian authorship etc

but is essentially Jewish.

> The origins of Kabbalah are in Alexandria, an Egyptian city, KBL also
> incorporates many Egyptian religious concepts.

Arguable again, Kabbalah - which is medieval - involves many
Neoplatonist concepts.

> Some of this is obscured by the fact that Egypt was colonised by Greece
and
> later Rome.

or, the reputation of Egypt as a magical culture actually exploded at
that time because of the cosmopolitan synthesis made possible by a
Greek library etc.

The magical papyri of the time show highly syncretic tendencies,
Jewish, Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian (probably in that order). Most
common god name in the texts is  IAO (Grecized Jehovah), followed by
Helios. There are some impressively archaic Egyptian elements too, but
on the other hand bowl divination - a very major technique in the
Demotic and Greek - has been argued to be of 'Persian' origin.

> It is also the historical "contrary" of Israel which perhaps contributes
to
> its > erasure from intellectual history, the famous closure of its temples
and
> suppression of its ancient language -

exactly the same could be said of the Greco-Roman elements of magical
tradition, since Kabbalah entered Western Magic in 1495 its importance
has been progressively exaggerated. It has also been artificially
back-dated, thus  obscuring or even erasing important older strata
(Neoplatonism, Orphism and Greco-Roman syncretism). This should be a
matter of concern for 'academic occultists'.

Since the C19th many 'traditional occultists' have developed myopia
and see only Cabala in Agrippa, when it is stacked with Neoplatonist
and Orphic elements. The real Agrippa - a Christian Neoplatonist
seeking to inject a bit of Cabala into the system - has been replaced
by an imaginary Agrippa the Cabalist.

ALWays

Jake