An extraordinary exploration of the forgotten history of the esoteric and its unexpected possibilities in our time. In these talks, written and presented to a variety of audiences between 2001 and 2010, John Michael Greer explores the forgotten history of occultism and its unexpected possibilities in our time. From practical methods of occult training to the politics and metapolitics of magic, from the shadowy world of Victorian sex magic to the alchemy of initiatory ritual, from the complex origins of modern Neopaganism to the approaching twilight of Neopagan pop culture and what comes next, the talks collected in this book seek to inspire curiosity and reflection, not to set out an ironclad case for this or that point of view. This book is an extraordinary insight into the life and work of a working magician and occultist. John Michael Greer  is the award-winning author of more than fifty books, including T he New Encyclopedia of the Occult, The Druidry Handbook, The Celtic Golden Dawn  and C ircles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic.  An initiate in Freemasonry, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Martinist Order, and three Druid traditions, Greer served as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) for twelve years. He is also the author of seventeen fantasy and science fiction novels and ten nonfiction books on peak oil and the future of industrial society. He lives in Rhode Island and blogs weekly on politics, magic, and the future at www.ecosophia.net. A Magical Education Talks on Magic and Occultism By John Michael Greer Aeon Books Ltd Copyright © 2019 John Michael Greer All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-912807-02-4 Contents ABOUT THE AUTHOR, FOREWORD, CHAPTER ONE A magical education, CHAPTER TWO Magical ecology, CHAPTER THREE The secret history of Neopaganism, CHAPTER FOUR Victorian sex magic, CHAPTER FIVE Understanding Renaissance magic, CHAPTER SIX Magic, metapolitics, and reality, CHAPTER SEVEN Alchemical initiation, CHAPTER EIGHT Healing through the elements, CHAPTER NINE Paganism and the future, INDEX, CHAPTER 1 A magical education I'd like to thank all of you for being here. We have a lot of stuff to cover, and probably everybody in this room will be offended by at least one thing I say during the next hour and a half. That can't be helped. I've studied and practiced magic for thirty years now and taught it for nearly twenty; I've seen a lot of very capably done magic during that time but a lot more that was, well, pretty feeble. I've drawn a few conclusions from my experiences, but of course, your mileage may vary. Take what follows for whatever it's worth. In a world that's still giddy over J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, talk about a magical education carries a certain amount of baggage but it also has an important lesson to teach. Rowling's tales of young witches and wizards at school have reminded a lot of people in the magical scene that magic is something that has to be learned. This is a point that some mages these days have tried to avoid facing since it's a lot easier to decide that you already know it all, or that your inborn magical talents are all you need. Sounds great, but as any craftsperson can tell you, raw talent isn't worth all that much unless it's developed through training and practice, and the people who think they know everything are generally those who know the least. It's a mark of people who actually know something about magic — or any other craft — that they're aware of just how little they actually know. For that reason, I don't think it's out of line to talk here about how to get a magical education. I want to stress the last word. Today's magical community has plenty of technically competent mages. I'm also going to talk about how to become one of those, in case you don't happen to be one already. But we have a shortage of educated mages — mages who can not only do magic, but who understand what they're doing and can not only teach it to others by rote but explain it to them so they can understand what they're doing. We do have some. Given the obstacles in the way of getting a real magical education these days, it speaks very well of the passion and commitment with which so many of today's mages pursue their art. But we don't have as many as we ought to, and some of the barriers that interfere most with the growth and development of the magical community come from that fact. If our society were less terrified of magic, there would be schools of magic in every large city, and people who wanted to become mages could register for classes and come out the other end as competent and well-educated practitioners of the magical arts. There are some projects heading in that direction right now, and some people are hard at work trying to make that vision a reality. For the time being, though, most of us who want to become competent and well-educated practitioners of the magical ar