On Sacred Magic

Part 1, Can Magic Be Christian?

I recently mentioned that I had been reading Valentin Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. I shared that I entertained doing a series on the book, but feared it would be a bit too much for many readers. A certain degree of cognitive flexibility would be required that I think is pretty rare. For example, I expect merely seeing the word "Tarot" in the title of Tomberg's book is probably too triggering for many. And if you can't make it past the title, there's not much hope in exploring the contents of the book.

Meditations on the Tarot is an exploration of esoteric and Hermetic traditions and how those can be integrated into Christian orthodoxy. Tomberg spent his youth immersed in esoteric traditions, eventually becoming a figure in Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophical movement, which was Steiner's break from the Theosophy movement. Tomberg eventually left Anthroposophy and converted to Catholicism. In Meditations on the Tarot Tomberg attempts a synthesis between his esoteric knowledge and his Catholic faith. And to be very clear, Meditations on the Tarot has nothing to do with divination. Tomberg approaches the Major Arcana of the Tarot as archetypes, so each chapter is just Tomberg reflecting on the symbolism of the card. For example, what is the symbolism of The Fool card or The Hermit card? And so on. Tomberg does all this within the guardrails of the Catholic faith, though he colors outside the lines here and there.

As you can imagine, this is a very eclectic brew which demands, especially from traditional and fundamentalist Christians, a more generous and curious posture than what is typically found in these audiences in regards to esoteric traditions. A collective freakout is, rather, the expected response. And it's that freakout that makes me hesitant to do an entire series on Meditations on the Tarot.

As I pondered the freakout that a series on Meditations on the Tarot would likely engender, I zeroed in on the issue I think is the big sticking point, a place where I think some productive and creative work could be done. Now, this will still be triggering! But I think, on the whole, constructive and edifying.

The issue concerns the prospect and legitimacy of "sacred magic." Tomberg talks a lot about sacred magic in Meditations on the Tarot, and those references to sacred magic, without some prior theological work, would be too upsetting for many Christian readers. The category of "magic" within Christianity is verboten, illicit, heretical, and taboo. Sorcery and magical practices are condemned in Scripture, and have been throughout the Christian tradition. Magic is, simply, anti-Christian. So how in the world can someone like Valentin Tomberg, and others within the Christian esoteric tradition, carve out a space for something called "sacred magic," a magic that fits within the safe territory of Christian orthodoxy?

For example, since writing these posts over three months ago, a freakout about sacred magic is currently occurring due to the publication of Sebastian Morello's book Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries. In a review of Morello's book, Michael Warren Davis sounded the heresy alarm. Morello responded and again here. (I don’t know either Sebastian or Michael.) Others have been pulled into their debate, on both sides. Reading those pieces you can get a sense of how the conversation about sacred magic is taking place online right now.

Stepping into these contentious and roiling waters is the subject of this series.

Here are the questions I'd like to explore in this series:

1. Can sacred magic be a legitimate expression of orthodox Christian belief and practice?

2. Even if sacred magic can be integrated into orthodox Christianity, does the category of "sacred magic" add anything new or of value to Christian belief and practice?

3. Even if sacred magic adds something of value to Christian belief and practice, does it bring along temptations, confusions, and potential for abuses that makes its inclusion into Christian belief and practice unwise?

These are different sorts of questions. Much of this series will be an investigation of Question 1, the theological legitimacy and orthodoxy of sacred magic. I'll share in this series a theological description of sacred magic that, I think, is orthodox. And yet, as you'll discover in this series, I'll do so by simply redefining and redescribing the vocabulary of Christian esotericism into more traditional Christian categories. For example, in this series we'll describe (or redescribe) liturgy, the sacraments, and prayer as practices of "sacred magic."

And yet, in offering such a redescription, haven't we just rendered the esoteric vocabulary obsolete? If we already have words and concepts for this stuff why resort to esoteric words and concepts? This is the issue of Question 2 above. Even if sacred magic can be given an orthodox Christian definition does the addition of sacred magic as a theological category add anything new or of value? If it doesn't, why mess with it?

Which brings us to Question 3. Let's say the category of sacred magic is both orthodox and brings some value. We still face the issue of risk. Is the purported value of inclusion worth the risk of misunderstanding, confusion, and abuse? We might conclude that the category of sacred magic is orthodox and valuable, but that its attendant risks are too great, mitigating against its wider introduction into Christian thought. The costs might exceed any benefits. If so, sacred magic might be legitimated but left on the shelf.

So, here at the start, let me lay my cards on the table. I think it's possible to give sacred magic an orthodox Christian definition (Question 1). I will also suggest that "sacred magic" can be useful in thinking about the spiritual life (Question 2), mainly in how it highlights ontological dynamics in the Christian life that are increasingly overlooked or denied. However, concerning the issue of risk and misuse (Question 3) I am undecided. As the recent social media dustups have illustrated, I cannot say for sure if the value of adding "sacred magic" into our theological conversations is worth the confusions, controversies, and attendant risks. And during this series you'll get to make your own determinations about Questions 1, 2 and 3.

To conclude this introductory post, why am I interested in a conversation about sacred magic?

First, the word "magic" is used in the title of my book Hunting Magic Eels. And in the book I use the words "magic" and "magical" to describe the spiritual life. In the paperback edition I also talk about Brandon Sanderson's theories about hard and soft "magical systems" in fiction to describe Christian enchantment as a "soft magical world." And as you might expect, conservative readers of Hunting Magic Eels have been put off by my use of the word "magic." For the same reason I'm hesitant to do a series about Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot given its references to magic. In defending my use of the word "magic" and "magical" in Hunting Magic Eels, I've mainly shared that I'm using those words in a allusive, poetic fashion. By "magical" I mean "supernatural," "miraculous," and something that goes beyond material, factual, scientific descriptions. I use "magical" to playfully and provocatively interrupt our default assumptions of causal closure, that the world is a deterministic machine.

In short, since the publication of Hunting Magic Eels I've spend a lot of time defending the world "magic" in relation to Christian belief and experience. For the most part my defense has been something like this, "By 'magic' I don't really mean 'magic,' I mean 'supernatural' or 'miraculous.'" To which a conservative critic rightfully responds, "Then why don't you just say that? Why flirt with the occult?" Which is a fair point to make, and it's caused me to ponder if there is any orthodox overlap between magic and Christian belief. Consequently, when I discovered Tomberg's vision of sacred magic in Meditations on the Tarot I was intrigued. Maybe sacred magic is a legitimate way to talk about magic from within the Christian tradition.

The other thing that interests me about this conversation concerns post-Christian evangelism and the need for spiritual formation efforts in the church to "Keep Christianity Weird" in order to push back upon the cultural forces of disenchantment. As I describe in Hunting Magic Eels, the Christian imagination, especially in Protestantism, has become excessively materialistic and moralistic. This creates a spiritual aridity that leads to disenchantment and deconversion. Keeping Christianity weird means leaning into the spooky, strange, supernatural, and miraculous in an effort to halt and reverse this drift into a skeptical disenchantment. Because of this, I'm interested in exploring anything that keeps Christianity weird. Which is what drew me to Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot. Because Christian esotericism is very weird! But weirdness might be valuable, it might be a resource. So that's why I'm interested in thinking about sacred magic. The weirding of Christianity.

Which is what I hope you'll find in this series, some real Christian weirdness. Not to be weird for its own sake, but weird in thinking outside our settled categories to encounter a Christianity stranger and more capacious than previously imagined. A faith that is enchanted, supernatural, miraculous, and...yes...perhaps even magical.