''The Magical Revival'' is a nonfiction book written by British

occultist The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

Kenneth Grant Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

, first published in 1972. It is the first of his "Typhonian Trilogy", which comprises this work and two others—''Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God'' (1973) and ''Cults of the Shadow'' (1975). In this work, he first introduced his theory that American horror author H. P. Lovecraft's

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first introduced in his short story " The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the p ...

mythos was psychic revelation presented as fiction, an idea which he would elaborate and extend further in his later works. Grant claimed in this book that there was an unconscious connection between Lovecraft and occultist

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, arguing that both of them channeled their work from the same occult forces although Lovecraft was not consciously aware of the alleged otherworldly sources of his literary inspirations. This idea—that what is ostensibly presented as fiction is often a vehicle masking deeper realities—has precedence in the inclusion by Crowley of many works of fiction in the official reading syllabus of his magical order, the

A∴A∴ The A∴A∴ ( ) is a magical organization described in 1907 by occultist Aleister Crowley. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of universal initiation ...

Reception

According to Professor Joshua Gunn of the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, ''The Magical Revival'' has been criticised by many occultists and historians alike for its "creative history making". On the other hand, British author

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

gave a far more favourable review in his biography of Crowley, praising that ''The Magical Revival'' is "probably the best history of modern magic in existence". ''Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology'' called it "a very informative survey of occult theory and practice in modern times". ''Routledge Library Editions: Occultism'' listed it as one of the source books in its chapter on

sexual magic Sex magic (sometimes spelled sex magick) is any type of sexual activity used in magical, ritualistic or otherwise religious and spiritual pursuits. One practice of sex magic is using sexual arousal or orgasm with visualization of a desired re ...

, commenting: "A survey of the subject from a distinctly Crowleyan viewpoint, this includes very interesting and significant material on Crowley,

Austin Spare Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist and occultism, occultist who worked as both a draughtsman and a painter. Influenced by Symbolism (arts), symbolism and art nouveau his art was known for its clear use o ...

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, novelist and author. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted ph ...

and

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

Translations

In 1983, the Japanese edition of ''The Magical Revival'', translated by Professor of

Tohoku Gakuin University is a private university in Sendai, Japan. It was founded under a Christian background (specifically the German Reformed Church, which later was known as the Reformed Church in the United States. A large part of the Reformed Church in the United S ...

, was published under the title ''Majutsu no fukkatsu'' (; ).

References

Notes

a. ;

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magical Revival, The 1972 non-fiction books History books about the occult British non-fiction books