Most people today don’t understand magic. That much became abundantly clear when I began studying it seriously. Magic is nothing like most people imagine it to be.
But that’s not what I’m talking about here.
What if we have misunderstood something too?
Those of us who study it.
Those of us who practice it.
Those of us who have shelves groaning under the weight of grimoires and occult texts.
What if we’ve inherited a set of assumptions that would have seemed utterly foreign to an ancient Egyptian...or even to a Renaissance magus?
I mean, honestly...
Would that really be so surprising, living as we do in the Kali Yuga?
What if the very way we understand magick has changed throughout history?
Does that change how it is practiced?
Does it change how effective it is?
These were the questions dancing around in my head as I sat, deep in the Kali Yuga, surrounded by material reductionism, preparing to speak with John Michael Greer for the first time in more than twenty years.
Now, John is one of the most astonishingly learned human beings I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. His knowledge of the esoteric traditions is vast from decades of practice, scholarship, and lived experience. There are very few people alive today with that kind of depth.
When we first met, I was little more than a neophyte. I recognized greatness. I just didn't yet understand its depth. Now I have a better idea and so I wanted to ask a really good question : )
And so I asked him one that has been brewing inside me for quite some time, but it took a while to formulate : )
You all know how much I bang on about material reductionism. You know my fascination with Ancient Egypt and the fact that the Egyptians inhabited a completely different relationship with reality than we do today.
So I asked him…does any of that matter as far as magick is concerned?
John’s answer was not what I expected.
Because rather than pointing me toward ancient Egypt, he drew a different line in history.
A very bold line.
On one side was the magick of the ancient world, the Renaissance, and arguably even ancient Egypt itself. On the other...
was the magick almost all of us have inherited.
That line has a name.
Éliphas Lévi.
Now, even though I still stumble over pronouncing his name, Lévi is hardly a stranger to me.
One of the very first books Chance and I ever bought was Transcendental Magic. It’s one of the cornerstone texts of modern occultism.
Now, confession time...
I’ve skimmed it far more than I’ve studied it.
Other magi have simply spoken to me more fluently over the years, and if I’m being completely honest, Qabalah just urks me. (I know...I know...don’t hate me.) So I knew Lévi was important, and I knew he was revered.
What I didn’t know...
was that, according to John, Lévi didn’t simply revive Western magick.
He changed what magick WAS.
And if John is right...that is absolutely enormous.
Because it means that almost every modern discussion of magick—Crowley, Dion Fortune, Israel Regardie, modern ceremonial magick, manifestation, even Neville Goddard, is built upon a way of understanding magick that is only about 170 years old.
That HAS to be a thing!
I enjoy watching channels like Esoterica as much as the next magick nerd. Dr. Sledge’s scholarship is extraordinary. But if I’m being honest, what really interests me isn’t simply the history of magick, it’s becoming more proficient at it : )
Knowing what a medieval magickian believed is fascinating.
Knowing how to become a better magickian is something else entirely.
Which is why this felt like such an important revelation.
If John is right, then understanding whether a magickal tradition is pre- or post-Lévi isn’t just an interesting historical footnote. It may tell us something fundamental that has enormous implications for how we practice today.
As you know, I have long suspected that the ancient Egyptians were exceptionally proficient at magick. They relied upon it. They built an entire civilization around it. And, of course, they were firmly pre-Lévi.
Which raises a rather provocative possibility.
If the ancient Egyptians were practicing a form of magick that existed long before Lévi, could we be making a fundamental mistake by assuming we’re all talking about the same thing?
Because if this is not just an interesting piece of occult history, it has the potential to change the way we think about magick itself, and so suddenly the conversation became far bigger than I expected.
John summed up the difference in the simplest possible way.
Before Lévi...
Magick came from the cosmos.
Power descended.
The magickian aligned himself with larger forces.
Timing mattered.
Astrology mattered.
The universe acted.
After Lévi...
Magick became something rooted in the individual.
The will became central.
Imagination became creative.
Power arose from within.
Now that’s not simply a different technique. That’s an entirely different metaphysics. And suddenly, ancient Egypt began making a great deal more sense to me.
Offerings.
Ma’at.
Temple geometry.
Sacred architecture.
Planetary timing.
These weren’t merely symbolic acts designed to alter human psychology.
They were technologies of alignment, ways of bringing human consciousness into right relationship with an already existing cosmic order.
If Greer is right, perhaps they were also technologies for aligning ourselves with the very source from which magical power flows.
Which, interestingly enough, is exactly where Occult Technology of Ancient Egypt has been taking me.
Anyhoo, if John is correct; if Éliphas Lévi fundamentally changed where Western magick understands magickal power to come from, then it doesn’t simply change how we practice magick.
It changes what we mean by magick itself.
Dion Fortune famously defined magick as:
“Magick is the art and science of causing changes in consciousness in accordance with will.”
But if the underlying premise changes...
...if the source of magickal power changes...
...then the definition suddenly becomes a lot more complicated, doesn’t it? Like now…
Whose will?
Whose consciousness?
And if the premise changes...
...which magick am I actually trying to get better at?
That, for me, became the real heart of my conversation with John.
And I have to say...
His answer surprised me!
The film has been a tremendous success. Even Robert Temple loved it, which absolutely tickled Chance beyond belief.
But we’re not done yet.
The Living Inquiry is still in full swing, and there are some truly extraordinary conversations still to come, and honestly, more than you can imagine.
So if you’d like to join us live, ask questions, and be part of these remarkable discussions, grab yourself a pass.
You’ll get the film, support independent creators, and, most importantly, join us for what has become a genuinely magical journey.
We’d love to have you with us. ❤️
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