Advent and Arcana: Christian Mysticism and Magic

Yesterday was Advent, the first day of the first season of the Christian year. Why do Sorcerer’s care? Well, if you do the Cyprian novena in September, meet the Devil during the years walk on Christmas eve, get consecrated chalk on Epiphany, gather with Witches on Walpurgisnacht, or just like to get shit faced on Mardi Gras: this is the start of that calendar.

Last week Frater Acher made a great post about repatriating Christian magic. The simple fact is that Christianity has had an iron grip on the west, and a good bit of the east, for a long time, and so when you go looking for traditions of mysticism, folk magic, or other esoterica there is a good chance it is going to be intermingled with Christianity at some level.

Some people feel the need to de-Christianize whatever they can, feeling that any hint of Christianity does nothing but sully whatever magic passes through it. That is a fair enough view, and I won’t ague against it. There has been a lot of evil carried out in the name of Christianity and anyone that wants to cut and run from that mess has my support. Even if it is the religion of your birth, you are under no standing orders to make peace with a Church that has caused you trauma, or which you hold to do far more evil than good in the world.

Other people, and obviously I am in this camp, feel that Christianity is not much different from any other religion and that any religion or organization that large is bound to be used to justify evil, not because of the religion itself, but because of humans. As an occultist I am not particularly interested in any of the outer forms of Christianity, but in the esoteric and mystical traditions. The leaves the question then: What positive message does Christianity have for the mystic?

In a word: Incarnation.

When I look at the baby Jesus in a Nativity, I don’t see a god you must fear in order to be good. I see God incarnating into physical form to bridge the gap between what is heaven and what is earth. Between the highest heaven and the hard-edged world. Not incarnated as a King, mind you, but as the child of people who are not of any special caste. In fact the circumstances were so low, that God had to come into this world in a space that wasn’t even made for people, it was made for animals. The light of the Shekhina, which formerly appeared only in the holy of holies to designated priests, now appeared in the sky to shepherds. The kingdom of heaven that Christianity is supposed to be about is not some sublime spiritual wonderland, its here. Right here.

When I look at any of the Crucifixes that I have in the house, I don’t see a Jesus that demands you believe he is here to save you, lest you burn in hell. I see God sacrificed unto God. If you understand most of religion up to this point as a practice of people making sacrifices to gain the favor of gods or at least stave off their wrath, this is a radical thing. No more sacrifice needed; this one stands. You can’t buy grace. I don’t particularly see anything in scripture that leads me to think you need to accept it or believe in it either. Jesus didn’t quiz people on their beliefs, and it should be embarrassing that has become the major pre-occupation of his church.

Do I believe these things literally, factually, and historically? Frankly no. I don’t.

Remember what I said about the Head, the Heart, and the Hand? The head wants to nail down the facts, the heart wants to nail down the meaning. Facts and meaning are not the same thing. Stories need not have happened in order to hold truth. As for the hand, the hand wants to know how something is useful, and so whatever you believe or don’t believe about Christianity, the hand is happy to put the Magic and Sorcery to use!