Notes on Sex Magic from Academic sources

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Notes on Sex Magic from Academic sources

Postby Pushkarev » Tue Mar 11, 2014 7:38 am

This is my first post on this forum. Hopefully y'all are ok with me doing info dumps like this.

There a bunch of books out there on the practice of sex magic in esoteric traditions. While not strictly "satanic" I still think these sources could shine some light on sex magic in general. This thread will start from some notes from Hugh Urban's Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism published by University of California Press. Each post will have notes from a chapter (I'll try to do one each week). The first up is the introduction, so below is the notes I made from just the introduction.

Different terms that seem to be synonymous or close/related to the term "sex magic": magia sexualis, affectional alchemy, magical eroticism, love magic, ritualised sex, sexual ritual.

Urban conceptualizes sex magic as the following: "the use of physical intercourse and genital orgasm as a source of magical power believed to have real effects in the material world." Another larger quote:

"But why sexual magic? What is the special appeal of this particular form of magical operation? Well, the logic behind it is really quite natural and self-evident; beyond its mere pleasure principle, sexual magic might be said to be the simplest, even quintessential form of “sympathetic magic.” For if ordinary, natural, undirected sexual intercourse can give birth to a new living being—a fairly miraculous thing in itself—then it is not terribly difficult to imagine that ritualized, intentional, willfully directed intercourse might give birth to effects of a supernatural, magical, divine (or demonic) character. As Crowley put it, “the root idea is that any form of procreation other than normal is likely to produce results of a magical character.” As we will see, many practitioners of sexual magic would also turn to explicitly nonreproductive and—by the standards of their surrounding society—morally deviant and socially transgressive acts such as homosexual intercourse, masturbation, sadomasochism, and bestiality as the most powerful means to unleash a supernatural source of power. "


Link to "Sympathetic magic" mentioned above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic

Urban identifies four dimensions of "modern" sexual magic:

(1) "... the literature on sexual magic typically places supreme emphasis on the individual self and the power of the individual will as the ultimate creative force in the universe."

(2) "... the literature on sexual magic also identifies sex as the innermost secret or “hidden truth” of the self, the most powerful force in human nature, and the key to understanding the mysteries of human existence ... the moment of orgasm is the most critical, most powerful moment in human life, when the soul is suddenly opened to both divine and demonic influences, and can therefore accomplish any worldly or otherworldly aim."

(3) " ... the literature on sexual magic also reflects the modern emphasis on science as the most appropriate and effective means to uncover the hidden secrets of nature and the human self. As Crowley put it ... sexual magic is in fact a “scientific secret,” one that requires years of study and experiment, and one that when mastered, holds the ultimate technological power to produce anything the magus desires."

(4) "the advocates of sexual magic were all in one way or another in search of radical freedom and an extreme, often utopian form of liberation on all levels—sexual, religious, and political alike ... As one recent female author named “Tara” enthusiastically proclaims in her 'Sex Magick: The Key to Personal Liberation,' this is the key to liberation from the oppression of all outdated social norms and the means to absolute spiritual freedom: 'Why sex magick? One word expresses it: liberation.' For 'the ecstasy of sustained continuous orgasm is the vehicle of freedom for both men and women.' Some recent authors
have even proclaimed sexual magic an 'engine of political change' whose liberating effect can help create a 'new spiritual democracy.'"

"Authors like Randolph, Crowley, and their disciples would take the modern emphasis on sex as the defining element in human nature to its furthest extreme; sex now becomes not only the most powerful force in life and the secret of human nature but also the most intense source of spiritual power and the key to superhuman abilities ... I will suggest that Crowley found in sexual magic the most intense experience of transgression, the overstepping of conventional taboos, as a means to unleash an ecstatic, liberating power and thereby herald the dawn of a whole new era in human history."


Primary source quotes

"If this secret [of sexual magic], which is a scientific secret, were perfectly understood, as it is not by me after more than twelve years’ almost constant study and experiment, there would be nothing which the human imagination can conceive that could not be realized in practice." Aleister Crowley.

"The nuptive moment, the instant wherein the germs of a possible new being are lodged or a portion of man’s essential self is planted within the matrix, is the most solemn, serious, powerful and energetic moment he can ever know on earth." Paschal Beverly Randolph.

"Sex is one of the most (some say the most) powerful energies on the planet....Within our loins lies an energy that has the potential to create any reality we want....Religion has done much to suppress our divine sexual nature and has kept the masses ignorant of the potential uses of sexual energy....Sex Magic is based on the belief that the most powerful moment of human existence is the orgasm. Sex Magic is the art of utilizing sexual orgasm to create a reality and/or expand consciousness." Jeffrey Tye.

"Man, being the chief creature of Nature, allied to all that is...and copulative union being the crowning act of his being—it follows that his moment of greatest power is that in which Love unlooses the doors of his Spirit and all his energies are in highest action; whence it happens that they who unitedly Will a thing during copulative union and its mutual ending possess the key to all possible Knowledge, mighty wand of White Magic—may defy disease, disaster, keep Death itself at bay, regain lost youth and wasted power, challenge permanent defeat, gain all good ends, reach the ultimate Spaces, commune with highest Seraphs, bathe in the crystal seas of God’s Infinite Love and be in truth Sons and Daughters of the Ineffable Lord of glory!" PB Randolph.

"The science of the sexual magic is the key to the development and the underlying secret of all Masonic symbols ... It is certain that the sexual question has become the most burning question of our time." Theodor Reuss.

"The limit God had once provided could now be found in sexuality. Sexuality, especially since Sade, is demarcated by limits: the limit of consciousness in the face of unconscious desire; the limit of law in light of universal taboos ... These limits mean it is still one of the few areas “in a world which no longer recognizes any positive meaning in the sacred,” where profanation and desecration can occur ... Sexuality and the death of God are thus intrinsically connected, tied together at the limits of human thought." Michel Foucault.

"The moment when a man discharges his seed—his essential self—into a ...womb is the most solemn, energetic and powerful moment he can ever know on earth; if under the influence of mere lust it be done, the discharge is suicidal ... At the moment his seminal glands open, his nostrils expand, and while the seed is going from his soul to her womb he breathes one of two atmospheres, either fetid damnation from the border spaces or Divine Energy from heavens. Whatsoever he shall truly will and internally pray for when Love ... is in the ascendant, that moment the prayer’s response comes down." PB Randolph.

Sources Found

Here are some other sex magic primary sources or secondary source papers found while reading the text, or googling various terms. I will endeavour to take notes of these some time down the track.

Primary Sources (books, papers, etc by magic practitioners)

Conjugial Love by Emanuel Swedenborg: http://www.sacred-texts.com/swd/cjl/cjl10.htm

Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left-Hand Path Sex Magic: http://into-thedarkness.tripod.com/site ... eflesh.pdf

Sexual Magic by PB Randolph. Links:

https://archive.org/stream/SexualMagic/ ... c_djvu.txt

http://www.golden-dawn.com/goldendawn/U ... xualis.pdf

Academic Papers on Sex Magic

Excerpts from Paschal Beverly Randolph’s Eulis!, and an Introduction to His Work by Teresa Burns. Link: http://www.jwmt.org/v2n14/randolph_article.html

Sorcery and Eroticism in Love Magic: http://www.uned.es/fac-histo/personal/pdf/sorcery.pdf

Under the Mantle of Love: The Mystical Eroticisms of Marsilio Ficino and Giordano Bruno: http://www.academia.edu/1170605/Under_t ... runo_2008_

Challenging the Morals of Western Society: The Use of Ritualized Sex in Contemporary Occultism: http://www.academia.edu/237471/Challeng ... _Occultism

Academic Books on Sex Magic

Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Sexual Basis of Spiritual Vision by Marsha Keith Schuchard. Link: http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeII/BlakeFull.html

Hidden intercourse: eros and sexuality in the history of Western esotericism by Hanegraaff and Kripal.

Paschal Beverly Randolph: A nineteenth-century black American spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and sex magician by John Patrick Deveney.

Transgressive Sex: Subversion and Control in Erotic Encounters by Donnan et. al.

That is it for the introduction. The next chapter is entitled "The Recurring Nightmare, the Elusive Secret: Historical and Imaginary Roots of Sex Magic in the Western Tradition."
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Re: Notes on Sex Magic from Academic sources

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Tue Mar 11, 2014 1:59 pm

We hugely encourage information dumps, don't worry about the noise in GD.

Thank you for this!
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Re: Notes on Sex Magic from Academic sources

Postby semper occultus » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:21 pm

…..sex-magick to me I immediately think Tantra….to that end some superficial digging does throw up some interesting points :

“…..all mystical and magical techniques can be divided into two broad categories, the cathartic and the hedonistic…”

mainstream exoteric “religion” tending towards the cathartic – control & denial wheras the esoteric, the underground, subversive , the cult, left-hand path / satanism etc cleaves to the other road…

…..the old issue of whether commonalities arise from a process of East to West cultural diffusion or reflect common origins….& independent spontaneous irruptions....

Western ( pg 11 )

“….believed that there could be no barriers of rank or wealth between “brothers and sisters in Christ”….

Eastern ( pg 6 )

“…a strong theme in Tantrism is a rejection of the caste system…”

Western ( Crowley - after Rabelais )

…do what thou wilt…

Eastern ( pg 6 )

“….and the principle of Svecchacharya - a Sanskrit term which means to act according to one’s own will (i.e. independently)….”


Tantra for Westerners : Francis King

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Aspects of Tantra – Phil Hine

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Re: Notes on Sex Magic from Academic sources

Postby lunarmoth » Thu Dec 31, 2015 12:13 pm

Since Crowley's been coming up lately in connection with 'sex magic' I decided to google and find out what he meant by that, and this was the first article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eroto-comatose_lucidity

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