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Sexuality, Magic(k) and the Ritual Body: A Phenomenology of Embodiment and
Participation in a Modern Magical Ritual

Author(s): Damon Lycourinos
Source: Journal of Ritual Studies , 2017, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2017), pp. 61-77
Published by: Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew J. Strathern
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44988498
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JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 31 (2) 201 7 61
Sexuality, Magic(k) and the Ritual Body:

A Phenomenology of Embodiment and Participation in
a Modern Magical Ritual
Damon Lycourinos
Abstract
In this paper I investigate how a modern Western magical ritual can be represented and interpreted as a series
of ritual practices seeking to produce an experiential event of participation in a magical worldview. The data
used to support this study derives from participant observation of a male and female magician associated with
a modern expression of Western ritual magic - Thelemic magick - invoking a goddess through ritualised sexual
intercourse. Rather than just discussing the logic of this magical ritual as a means of summoning and manipu-
lating "spiritual or occult natural forces and entities," I argue from a phenomenological perspective that its logic
should be identified in terms of how it aspires to generate the subjectivity of 'being-in-the-worlď as a 'magician*
by constructing a psychophysical ritual body. To speak of the body as a critical interface for the study of magic,
therefore, is to comprehend how the ritual body is successfully created to alter the phenomenal properties of the
ritual setting to produce and embody the canonical sources and cosmological aspirations that inform the objec-
tives and nature of the magical ritual.
to draw on certain distinctions separating "manipulations

In their introduction to The Metamorphosis of Magic:
From Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Periods, Jan of
N. spiritual or occult natural forces and entities that are
Bremmer and Jan R. Veenstra define 'magic' as a category
deemed appropriate and approved from those considered
sinister and illicit" (2006:9). Whether defined in terms of
of identification and field of inquiry "commonly used to
designate a whole range of religious beliefs and ritual
foreign rites of 'otherness',1 or, private and clandestine
rituals as opposed to public and communal ceremonies,
practices, whereby man seeks to gain control over his fate
magical beliefs and practices comprise "a shadowy and
and fortune by supernatural means" (Bremmer 2003:viiii).
However, as Michael Bailey indicates in his paper 'The
tenuous, but still often carefully constructed, realm that
Meanings of Magic': helps shape a society's basic conceptions about both spir-
itual and natural forces that imbue the world with mean-
Magic is a profoundly unstable category. In most
ing" (Bailey 2006:6).
circumstances it has typically been defined by au-
To approach magic as a systematic worldview, includ-
thorities of various sorts (religious, legal, intellec-
ing how it might inscribe with meaning and power the
tual) who are either opposed to or at least conde-
material and physical dimensions of its practice, I pro-
scending toward the practices and beliefs they see
pose that rather than simply studying magic "in terms of
it entailing (Bailey 2006:2).
how it is understood and reacted to" scholarly focus
Furthermore, Bailey recognises that: should shift to "how it is enacted" (2006:17) and may
become a meaningful 'lived phenomenon' for practi-
In many contexts people have self-designated as
tioners. This implies that the objectives, methods, and
magicians, and continue to do so (again, regardless
experiential claims of practitioners seeking to commune
of the actual terminology). Some readily confess to
and/or manipulate forces and entities presented in mag-
magical crimes when questioned by authorities. ical narratives as decisive and effective over the mecha-
Others promote their image as a practitioner of nisms of nature and the universe should become the
powerful rites or a possessor of occult knowledge
focus of analytical interrogation. This approach requires
as a social identity (2006:9-10).
the practitioners themselves as embodied agents to be-
Despite problems in terminology and representation,
come the focus of inquiry, as it is their inclination to cer-
tain narratives objectified by acting in certain ways that
Bailey argues that historical and anthropological evidence
demonstrates that most cultures have drawn and continue produces the conditions for participating in magic as a

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62 JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 31 (2) 201 7
systematic worldview. This entails that the body as a sym-

the modern resurgence of interest in Western ceremonial
bolic and experiential medium should become a critical
magic took place primarily in Europe during the mid to
focus for the study of magic. late nineteenth century as a renegotiation of a worldview
The primary research question that I aim to address,
of 'mysterious powers' with the prevailing 'rational' and
therefore, is how the practitioner by means of distinct
'scientific' sentiments of that period (Owen 2004:8). Seek-
modes of embodiment and consciousness produces, rep-
ing to conjoin anew the spiritual and the material, this
resents, and experiences magic as a participatory processresurgence is described by Owen as an attempt to redis-
transferring the practitioner from an 'ordinary' to a 'mag-
cover a participatory worldview of 'enchantment', evoking
ical' worldview of meaning and effect. As a process of
"the sense of the magical, the numinous, and a state of
self-transformation, whether temporary or permanent, mind
I seemingly at odds with the modern outlook"
propose to examine how this process produces the sub-
(2004:12). Owen explains that the incentives of these
jectivity of the 'magician' as a 'ritual body', constructed early
in modern magicians were reactionary to "what they
reference to magical narrative and ritual instruction saw
in as the dead hand of traditional religious observance,
and
order to be able to participate in a magical worldview. the scientism and materialism of Victorian culture"
(2004:8).
This will call for an investigation into how the magician's
ritualised body serves as the production and locus of in- Formative to the development of modern Western
magic was the esoteric society known as the Hermetic
teraction with the various 'occult' yet 'natural' forces and
entities posited by magical rhetoric, thus expandingOrder of the Golden Dawn, which synthesised, and at
scholarly knowledge regarding the use of the body in times reinterpreted, preexisting Western magical formu-
magical ritual. las within a modern esoteric context.2 The Golden Dawn
To investigate the relationship of ritual and the bodywas also responsible for introducing and instructing one
as a critical interdisciplinary interface for the study of
ofthe most influential embodiments of modern Western
magic - Aleister Crowley.
magic, I will present an ethnographic case study of a con-
temporary Western magical ritual referred to as the 'In- Crowley was first initiated into the Golden Dawn in
1898, but his relationship with the Order ended in tur-
vocation of Babalon'. This case study will be supported by
an introduction to the historico-cultural factors, esoteric
moil and controversy (Kaczyński 2010:56-80). From 1899
philosophy and worldview, and ritual techniques that le-onwards he travelled to India and Ceylon, where he stud-
ied Hinduism, Buddhism, and Yoga, and was exposed to
gitimise it as a paradigm of modern Western ritual magic.
Following this, I will discuss the anthropological con-
Tantra. Although he approached these religious systems
from an ethnocentric perspective characteristic of the
struction of the category of ritual to introduce a theoret-
ical model for the examination of the interrelationship of
orientalist attitudes of his day and age, it fuelled his in-
ritual and the body. This discussion will enable me to
terest in combining his vision of 'magick'3 with Yoga,
present my theoretical and methodological approach mysticism,
to and sex. In 1904, whilst in Egypt, Crowley
the ethnographic study of modern Western magic asreceived
a a revelation from an entity called Aiwass, which
Crowley claimed was his Holy Guardian Angel. Aiwass
participatory worldview produced through a genre of rit-
ual narrative and performance, which creates a ritual
appeared and dictated to him Liber AL vel Legis, or oth-
body as a transformational mode of embodiment and erwise known as The Book of the Law, proclaiming that
consciousness. In the following, I will evaluate this ritualCrowley was to be the herald of the Third Aeon of hu-
body from a phenomenological perspective as the em- mankind, the Aeon of Horus. From this event, Crowley
bodied experience of ritualisation constructing the phe-began to develop his own esoteric religio-philosophical
nomenal properties of the ritual setting representing the
system of Thelema, which derives from the Greek word
participatory worldview of my ethnographic case study.for 'will', and is the systematic and initiatory framework
for the ideas and practices referred to in Liber AL vel
Legis.
Sex, Magic(k), and "Do What Thou Wilt": Central to Thelema is Crowley's definition of magick
A Historical Background of Sexuality andas the "Science and Art of causing Change to occur in
conformity with Will" (Crowley 2004:126). Crowley un-
Modern Western Magic derstood magick as being primarily a technique for
The worldview and performances that constitute the achieving both spiritual and material goals through
Invocation of Babalon derive from a distinctive expres-
means that remain unknown to materialism and positiv-
sion of modern Western magic. According to Alex Owen,ist explanations, yet did not retract from being tested in

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an empirical fashion. Despite Crowley's definition point

of the divine is allowed to enter into the ritually in-
magick implying that any act could be reduced to theduced state of the magician. The paradigmatic philosophy
mechanisms of magick, he formulated his definitionofinCrowley's system of sex magick focuses on the magi-
reference to ideas and practices based mostly on tradi-
cian's efforts to eliminate through ritualised sexual inter-
tional ceremonial magic taught by the Golden Dawn.course the boundaries between the 'self' and 'nothing-
Correlating with Crowley's definition of magick, ness',
the allowing the self to dissolve into the infinite with
notion of Will is of paramount importance for the an-
the intent of tapping into the primordial source of mag-
ical power, unleashing it, and subduing all of reality to
thropocentric ethos of Thelema in terms of how humans
may relate to and attract the universe: the magician's Will (Crowley 1996:40-41, 65).
Man is capable of being, and using, anything which

he perceives, for everything that he perceives is in a
The Invocation of Babalon: An
certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subju-
gate the whole Universe of which he is conscious to Ethnographic Study of a Modern Western
his individual Will... Every force in the Universe is Magical Ritual
capable of being transformed into any other kind of
The ethnographic inquiry of this study4 is a Western
force by using suitable means... He may attract to
magical ritual culminating with a sex rite for the purpose
himself any force of the Universe by making himself
of summoning a Thelemic goddess referred to as 'Baba-
a fit receptacle for it, establishing a connection with
lon'. 5 According to Hugh Urban's research on Crowley
it, and arranging conditions so that its nature com-
and the history of sexual occultism:
pels it to flow toward him (2004:129-130).
Babalon is a key figure throughout Crowley's mag-
Although Crowley developed the theory and practice of
ical writings, described variously as "Earth, the
magick in reference to traditional ceremonial magic, he
Mother of us all" and as "the Womb wherein all
also adopted certain ideas and techniques from Yoga. As-
men are begotten and wherein all shall rest"; she is
sessing the nature and legacy of Yoga in Crowley's system
also identified as the Scarlet Woman, the embodi-
of magick, Hymenaeus Beta explains Crowley's preference
ment of female sexuality, lust, and fertility (Urban
for sex magick:
2012:342).
Like its ceremonial counterpart, sexual magick en-
The origins of Babalon seem to derive from the Book of
gages all of the senses, and these too may be aes-
Revelation, which inspired substantial elements of Thel-
thetically "programmed" in accordance with the
emic cosmology with references to the unholy and licen-
doctrine of correspondences that governs tradi-
tious nature of Babalon in Revelation 17: 3-6. Also, the
tional ceremonial work. Fired by "energized enthu- resemblance of the name Babalon to the ancient Meso-
siasm" and focused by the "one-pointedness" of
potamian city of Babylon, which itself is referred to in a
invocation and yogic discipline, these practices re-
biblical context as a paradisiac city condemned to ruin
quire what Crowley terms "the art of uniting the
due to its indulgence in sin, is also mentioned in Revela-
mind to a single idea" both for safety and successtion 18: 1-5.
(2004: lviii).
In the first chapter of Liber AL vel Legis , Babalon is
Crowley's implementation of sex and magick had identified
an as the 'Scarlet Woman' and the consort of the
'Beast' (Crowley 2004:494):
impact on how he began to radically view the nature and
practice of traditional ceremonial magic. Influenced by
Now ye shall know that the chosen priest 8c apostle
notions of subtle body types from Indian esoteric ideas
of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and
and practices, (Djurdjevic 2012:108) Crowley began to
in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power
emphasise the primary role of the body as a tool for sex
given. They shall gather my children into their fold:
magick. Through sex magick, Crowley believed that he
they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts
had discovered a method for inducing at the supreme
of men (Liber AL vel Legis 1:15).
moment of orgasm a sense of natural trance and spiritual
The mystical nature of Babalon was further revealed to
clarity not confined by the restrictions of mundane cog-
nition. Crowley described the effect of this method as Crowley
"a through a series of visionary ritual operations
spasm analogous to the mental spasm which meditation
referred to as 'Calls of the Aethyrs'.6 In the Call of the 12th
gives," (Crowley 2007:622-623) and at this climaxing
Aethyr, Babalon is unveiled as the Grail:7

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Let him look upon the cup whose blood is mingledand entities through using certain gestures, symbolic ob-
therein, for the wine of the cup is the blood of the jects, and linguistic formulas; and visionary work through
saints. Glory unto the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the meditation and travelling on the astral planes. According
Mother of Abominations, that rideth upon the to the Magus, many of these ritual techniques required
Beast, for she hath spilt their blood in every cornerthe use of the 'subtle body'. Referring to Crowley's expo-
of the earth and lo! she hath mingled it in the cup sition of the 'astral body' (Crowley 2004:241-249), the
of her whoredom (Crowley 2007:506-507). Magus described the subtle body as something akin to an
'energetic body' that surrounds our physical body and can
Her aspect as the 'Great Whore' and 'Mother of Abomi-
be used to attract forces and entities from the astral
nations' who denies no one is further illustrated in the
planes, but can also travel unto the astral plane as an
Call of the 12th Aethyr:
energetic body double guided by the practitioner's con-
sciousness.
This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of
Abominations, and this is the mystery of her adul- These ritual practices, discussed as means of navigat-
teries, for she hath yielded up herself to everything ing the ritual setting to achieve a certain result, derive
that liveth, and hath become a partaker in its mys- from both Thelemic primary sources on ritual magic and
tery... Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desir- esoteric correspondences, and from my informant's past
able, for thou hast given thyself to everything that ritual experiences and personal insights. Regarding some
liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their of his past ritual experiences, the Magus confirmed that:
strength. For in that union thou didst understand. There is a huge difference between experiencing
Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Baby- the euphoric sensation of invoking a god friendly
lon, Lady of the Night! (2007:507). to you and the fear that sometimes gets hold of you
My research informants who performed the Invoca- when evoking an angry demon. But on the whole,
I would say that these experiences are normally vi-
tion of Babalon were a middle-aged man and woman "in
an intimate relationship," and were adamant about re- sionary or sensing the presence of a spiritual being
maining completely anonymous and their location dis- in your ritual space. Also, you even realise that your
closed.8 Despite being accustomed to working with each magick has 'worked' in more practical ways, such as
other, my informants self-identified as solitary practi- getting the job promotion you did a ritual for.
tioners of Thelemic magick. During the primary inter- My informants explained that the focus of the ritual
view stage I was informed that they see themselves as was to summon forth Babalon into the female ritualist,
practitioners of Thelemic magick because they both con- who I shall refer to as the 'Priestess'. Regarding her role
duct rituals to "bring about change occurring in confor- as the receptacle of Babalon, the Priestess conveyed:
mity of Will and Imagination,9 both on the astral and the
I have been working with Babalon for the past few
physical planes," and that the sources that inform their
months, receiving revelations either through vi-
ritual practices employ the term 'magick'. According to
sionary experience or dream work. My relationship
my informants, "magick is essential for one's spiritual de-
with her is more mystical. In this ritual I will in-
velopment, and works both with hidden powers within
voke Babalon by visualising her, creating a kind of
us and spiritual beings that exist outside of us."
avatar. I will then attract her to this visualisation
Having discussed the objectives of my study regarding
through chanting her name and hymns. Through
the relationship between ritual and the body in modern
my devotion I will then summon Babalon and act
Western magic, the male informant, who I shall refer to
as a vessel for the goddess. When I feel that she is
as the 'Magus', was adamant about the importance of the
entirely willing and present, I will invoke her into
body in ritual:
me, allowing her to possess me. I basically wish to
My body is constantly 'doing* something through- become one with her in body, mind, and soul.
out my rituals, placing my body in certain ways to
Some of the defining aspects of Thelemic magick relate
attract certain spiritual powers and beings, and also
to the ceremonial magic as taught by the Golden Dawn.
to change my state of consciousness.
William Wynn Westcott, one of the founders of the
Regarding the ritual techniques he employed, the Magus Golden Dawn, informed members of the Order that one
identified these as rites to banish negative spirit forces of the most important aims of the magician is "the exten-
and entities; invocations and evocations of spirit forces sion of our powers of perception so that we can perceive

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ess, was the Altar of Babalon.12 This was an old wooden

entities, events and forces upon the super-sensuous
dressing table adorned with roses, red and black candles,
planes" (Westcott 1987:1 15). The visualisation techniques
and reception of impressions from these super-sensuous and a censer from which clouds of sweet burning incense
drifted into the air. In addition, there was a chalice and
planes are articulated in one the instructional manuals of
the Golden Dawn: the Thoth tarot card of Lust.
Clad in a black robe, the Magus placed his hand upon
When a man imagines he actually creates a form
Liber AL vel Legis reciting, "do what thou will shall be the
on the Astral or even some higher plane; and this
whole of the law." The Magus then began to perform a
form is as real and objective to intelligent beings on
Thelemic banishing rite - 'Liber XXV, The Star Ruby'.13
that plane, as our earthly surroundings are to us
The motions consisted of the Magus performing a ban-
(Berridge 1987:47-52).
ishing gesture with a sudden sweep of his hand declaring,
This also underscores that such forms are constructs
"APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS."14 After making a
of the individual magician's Will, for "to practice magic,
gesture similar to the Sign of the Cross touching his fore-
both the imagination and the Will must be called intohead, genital member, his right and left shoulder, and
action, they are co-equal in the work" (1987:47). An then
ex- vibrating "IAO,"15 the Magus began to visualise red
emplar of this formula is found in the Order's 'Ritual for
pentagrams before projecting them at each cardinal point
Transformation^ where the magician is instructed to build
by extending his arms and right foot swiftly, and then
an imaginary image of the goddess Isis, petition herempowering
to each pentagram with the intonation of the
godnames of Therion, Nuit, Babalon, and Hadit.16 Re-
descend into this image, and then assume this image into
him/herself, thus 'becoming' the goddess for a time (Re-
turning to the centre of the ritual setting, the Magus en-
gardie 1987:47). acted a series of symbolic bodily gestures representing
Crowley insisted that the object of all magical ritualvarious
is Thelemic principles of esoteric initiation relating
the unification of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm,
to the cycle of creation/dissolution, and ending by chant-
where the magician represents the Microcosm and the
ing "IO PAN," an invocation of the great All. The banish-
deity one particular portion of the Macrocosm (Crowleying rite reached its end with the Magus calling upon spe-
2004:144). For a more precise manner of invoking a deity,
cific entities from The Chaldean Oracles 17 as guardians at
Crowley further suggested, "the First Method consists the
of quarters. The Magus later described this rite as:
devotion to that Deity;' followed by a straightforward cer-
Clearing the space from unwanted energies. After it
emonial invocation to the deity. This is to be accompa-
you can feel the air around you lighter and fresher,
nied by the exhibition and use of symbolic bodily gestures
with only the smell of burning incense, the echo of
and material objects, incense, and prayers suitable for the
the divine names, and yourself still remaining. If
deity, which Crowley understood as being highly effective
successful, I can sense and 'kind of see', as if look-
for both the magician's state of concentration and the de-
ing out from the corner of my eye, the pentagrams
ity's attention. However, to assume the godform through
flaming and burning away all negative influences in
invocation, the development of the astral body is essential
the air before me. After this, the godnames I in-
as "the third method is the assumption of the form of the
toned reveal themselves in symbolic forms, such as
God - by transmuting the Astral Body into His shape"
Nuit being a vast starry nighttime sky, and I can
(2004:232).
sense and at times their presences as if appearing
The ritual setting of the Invocation of Babalon was a
briefly and moving back into being invisible pres-
candlelit room, which on mundane occasions acted as my
ences.
informants' living room. I made my way through smoke
of burning incense and quietly adjusted myself on the Standing before the altar, the Magus burnt frankin
floor in a corner of the room where I began to read the cense and began tracing in the air a hexagram visualis
ritual text that my informants had printed out for me. in gold to invoke the powers of the sun chanting "ARAR
Observing the ritual setting, I identified a black table ITA."18 He then traced at the centre of the hexagram th
piece acting as the altar. Upon the altar rested the Stele of astrological symbol of the sun intoning the pronunciatio
Revealing,10 a copy of Liber AL vel Legis, an incense of the Qabalistic name for the sun, "YEHOVAH ELOA
burner, some candles, and a bell. The Priestess was busy VA-DAATH."19 He repeated the same in the south, west,
spreading out a white bed sheet across the floor depicting north, and then retired to the east. In the Magus' tes
a large Seal of Babalon painted in red.11 At the western mony, these symbols became visible to him "in the form
point of the living room, as I was informed by the Priest- of golden energy radiating heat and shining." He al

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professed, "at times I felt the temple space becoming inquiry was about the effects of the rites. The Magus ex-
brighter and warmer." pressed that he felt exhausted, but simultaneously em-
powered. Furthermore:
Wearing a red dress, the Priestess sat at the centre of
the Seal of Babalon. She arose and began the invocation
At times I even felt the ritual space expanding into
of Saturn in the same fashion as the Magus' solar invoca-
infinity and at other times contracting, and every-
tion.20 Obscured amidst a heavy cloud of burning myrrh21
thing that was called upon I could sense and see,
and dim candlelight, the Priestess began reciting an in-
sometimes briefly in the room and sometimes as
vocation of Babalon:
mental images. I felt that I was a magician in some
O thou my Queen, marvel beyond imagination, small private part of the universe, partaking in an-
soul of infinite space, before whom time is cient mysteries with my partner as the goddess
ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the under- Babalon. The part of the ritual that you observed
standing dark, not unto thee may we attain unless went fine, and from my partner's reactions I could
thine image be love. Therefore by sevenfold adora- tell that she had successfully invoked Babalon. I felt
tion of thy name, Babalon in your continuity and her presence before she was invoked into my part-
your finality, Babalon I invoke thee! ner through some spontaneous visions I was hav-
ing of her and the sound of a mantra which none
The Magus then chimed the bell following a pattern of
three sets of seven chimes22 and consecrated the Priestessof us was chanting.
with burning myrrh. The Priestess continued the invoca-
The Magus confessed that the element of sex magick was
tion by arching back in a dramatic expression of ecstatic
intoxicating and "as if in a dream," with the Priestess pos-
abandon crying, "10 BABALON." She then recited: sessed by Babalon and the Magus sexually engaged with
both his partner and the goddess.
Babalon beloved, come now, partake of the sacra-
In further communication, the Priestess confessed that
ment, and possess this shrine. Take me now! Let me
during the sex rite she was invoking Babalon, and at the
be drunken on the wine of your fornifications; let
right moment24 she lost all sense of consciousness allow-
your kisses wanton me to death. Glory unto the
Scarlet Woman, BABALON, the Mother of Abom- ing her visualisation of the godform of Babalon to take a
life form of its own and unite with her. This experience
ination, that rideth upon the Beast, for She hath
she described as, "feeling that something else greater than
split their blood in every corner of the earth, and
me was in me, sexually charged, and free and powerful.
lo! She hath mingled it in the cup of Her whore-
dom. I could hear a soft female voice speak to me from within
myself revealing what I asked for. Her Seal25 felt very
Kneeling and facing the Altar of Babalon, the Priestess
warm, and I felt as if I was being swallowed into it."
began to utter the name of the goddess whilst swaying
and groaning, as if intoxicated and entranced. At this
The
point, as informed by my copy of the ritual text, the Participatory Worldview of Modern
Priestess was to begin assuming the god-form of Babalon.
Magical Ritual: Ritual Alteration of the
The Magus then proclaimed:
Properties of the Phenomenal Field
Beautiful art thou O BABALON, and desirable, for
From my informants' testimonies, the successful sum-
thou hast given thyself to everything and liveth,
moning of Babalon consummated the ritual. This acted
and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For
as the experiential confirmation of the nature and objec-
in that union thou didst understand. Therefore art
tives of their ritual practices.26 The experiential events of
thou called Understanding, O BABALON, Lady of the Invocation of Babalon manifested in the sense-field
the Night.
of their ritual setting as the successful outcome of their
Hearing the chiming of the bell I knew that this was the ritual practices. These dimensions were experienced by
signal for the initiation of the sex magick act, at which my informants through the intermixing of sensory per-
point 1 went into the kitchen and waited until the end of ception of physical phenomena, and their claims of affec-
this phase of the ritual.23 tive and visual perception of immaterial phenomena.
After some time, the Magus entered the kitchen. The From both an anthropological and phenomenological
Priestess remained in the ritual setting not wanting to be perspective, the Invocation of Babalon can be seen as a
distracted from her meditations. My first ethnographic series of constructive acts seeking to produce the experi-

157.181.112.148 on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:48:56 UTC
of embodiment and consciousness by eliminating the

ential event of participation in a worldview defined by
distinctive cosmological narratives and performances 'mundane'
of perceptions of their embodied cognitive pro-
Thelemic magick. To cite Robert Innis, these experientialcesses and attain a state of ritualised trance for the invo-
events can be further defined as the 'self-referential' "con-
cation proper of Babalon.
stituted by the experiential qualities that define the exis- Despite criticisms of this model of participation,27
some contemporary anthropologists, such as Tanya Luhr-
tential state of being (meaning-being) of the ritual par-
ticipant," and the cosmological narrative as: mann, have revised the concept of participation to study
magic within modern Western contexts. Unlike Lévy-
The canonical stream [that] carries the articulate
Bruhl who postulates the operation of two divergent
formal (interpretative) frame that informs - in-
modes of mentality, Luhrmann allocates a cognitive pro-
deed, defines - the 'point' of ritual, distinguishing,
cess through which these two different mentalities may
say, a Quaker meeting from a Buddhist meditation
converge in a participatory worldview. Using ethno-
session (Innis 2005:200).
graphic data, Luhrmann refers to this process as the 'in-
The concept of participation as an anthropological cat-terpretive drift' to demonstrate how 'rational' individuals
egory of representation and analysis originating from
in England during the 1980s self-legitimise themselves as
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl's contrast of Western 'scientific men-magical practitioners with apparently 'irrational' beliefs
tality' and collective representations of non- Western through magical ritual, which her informants claim have
'primitive' mentality described as 'mystical' (Levy-Bruhl an effect (Luhrmann 1989:10). Luhrmann describes the
1985:38), interprets events of participation as essentiallyinterpretive shift as "the slow shift in someone's manner
affective in nature. In relation to the forces and corre- of interpreting events, making sense of experiences, and
spondences that define the experience of participation asresponding to the world" (1989:12) in the form of per-
mystical, Lévy-Bruhl argues that they are represented as
sonal truths deriving from the effects of magic as a pro-
being imperceptible, hence mystical, yet considered 'real'
cess of altering perceptions from a 'mundane' to a 'mag-
ical' worldview.28 In her ethnographic analysis, the
but 'unclear'. Furthermore, they are indifferent to the rule
of non-contradiction: boundaries of 'mundane' and 'magical' worldviews be-
come affixed through imagination and ritual perfor-
In the collective representations of primitive men-
mance. Here, as Luhrmann argues, the magician may
tality, objects, beings, phenomena can be, though
come to participate in a magical worldview by intention-
in a way incomprehensible to us, both themselves
ally altering normal states of consciousness to formulate
and something other than themselves. In a fashion
'contact' with other pre-existing dimensions of the mag-
no less incomprehensible, they give forth and they
ical worldview.
receive mystic powers, virtues, qualities, influences,
which make themselves felt outside, without ceas-
Despite the theoretical and methodological signifi-
cance of Luhrmann's approach to understanding how
ing to remain where they are (1985:76-77).
'rational' individuals come to terms with what may be
perceived as 'irrational' beliefs and practices within a
According to Stanley Tambiah, this traditional formula
of participation signifies "the association between mate-secular Western context, Luhrmann does not clarify what
rial and immaterial phenomena, which "western thoughtshe means by altering normal states of consciousness. In
would think to be logically distinct aspects of reality...
my opinion, it appears that Luhrmann makes reference
fused into one mystic unity" (Tambiah 1990:86). From to standard descriptions of altered states of conscious-
my informants' testimonies, the participatory nature ofness, with a characteristic example being Charles Tart's
the Invocation of Babalon was translated as the experi-definition:
ence of a physical and subtle union of the ritualists' state
Qualitative shift in [the practitioners'] pattern of
of being and corresponding sense-field with the cosmo-
mental functioning, that is, he feels not just a
logical narrative of a Thelemic worldview of Babalon.
quantitative shift (more or less alert, more or less
Upon further analysis, the ritualists' account of partici-
visual imagery, sharper or duller, etc.), but also that
pation can be illustrated as intermixing sensory percep-
some quality or qualities of his mental processes
tion of physical things and affective perception of imma-
are different (Tart 1969:1).
terial forces and entities. As seen from the ethnographic
account, the experiential events of participation were Tart's definition indicates that when "people are con-
actualised through carefully designed and orchestratedscious, they are always conscious of something" (Benja-
combinations of ritual acts to initiate a necessary mode
field 1992:58). This 'something' is normally projected as

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the awareness of internal and/or external events. In con-

pation in this magical worldview was experienced
through certain ritualised modes of embodiment and
trast, though, 'states of consciousness' are seen as mental
consciousness, configured by distinct actional and lin-
episodes resulting in awareness of subjectivity. As Adam
Rock and Stanley Krippner observe: guistic processes engaging all senses. The successful
transformation from ordinary to ritualised modes of em-
While definitions of consciousness typically distin-
bodiment and consciousness was presented in my infor-
guish consciousness from the content of conscious-
mants' accounts as perceiving and sensing subtle phe-
ness, the preceding definition of SoCs represents a
nomena associated with the successful outcomes of their
theoretical confusion of consciousness and its con-
rites in their phenomenal fields. Furthermore, the culmi-
tents by explicitly stating that a SoC is the content
nating rite of sex magick, employed as the definitive tech-
(i.e., mental episodes) available to conscious aware-
nique for invoking Babalon, created the necessary em-
ness... Consequently, the term states of conscious-
ness rests on a conflation of consciousness and bodied and cognitive for a physical, emotional, and
imaginative experience of the invocation.
content whereby consciousness is erroneously cat-
egorized in terms of content rendered perceptible,
presumably, by itself (Rock 2007:34-35). Thelemic Ritualisation and the
Accepting consciousness as being conscious of Worldview of Babalon: Ritual as the
some-
thing, therefore, presents the proposition that during an
altered state of consciousness it is not the 'state' of con-
Embodiment and Knowledge of
sciousness being altered, but rather the awareness
Cosmological Narrative
in
change of phenomenal properties, described as "abso- In his book Women , Fire and Other Dangerous Things,
George Lakoff demonstrates how conceptual categories
lutely anything that is in the total momentary experienc-
ing of a person, including the experience of the self" that organise knowledge are culturally defined without
(Reber 2001:532). This assessment illustrates all modes being
of independent of the body and are from the outset
phenomenal transformation as an altered pattern of phe-'embodied' (Lakoff 1987:xiv-xv, 12, 56, 112-113). Lakoff's
nomenal properties automatically rendering the con-
argument casts the body as a sociobiological entity in the
scious awareness of the privileged observer during these attempt to not distinguish or neglect both the social and
biological experiences of the body, with an embodied
altering states of perception. Hence, one may then rec-
ommend that the term 'altered state of consciousness' bepre-conceptual structuring of experience that in turn
supplanted by a new term - 'altered pattern of phenom- structures conceptual categories. Catherine Bell adopts
enal properties' (Rock 2007:36). this critique of disembodied objectivism in her study of
In the context of the ethnographic study of the Invo-ritual as a notion of practice that she refers to as 'real-
cation of Babalon, the altered patterns of phenomenal ization':
properties were perceived and sensed in terms of trans-
In a very preliminary sense, ritualization is a way of
formations of the phenomenal properties of the ritual
acting that is designed and orchestrated to distin-
setting, marking a transition from the 'mundane' to par-
guish and privilege what is being done in compar-
ticipating in a 'magical' worldview through specific ritual
ison to other, usually more quotidian, activities. As
practices. The experience of these practices produced the
such, ritualization is a matter of various culturally
participatory worldview of Thelemic magick for the pur-
specific strategies for setting some activities off
pose of invoking Babalon. This event, along with the
from others, for creating and privileging a qualita-
events of the other preliminary rites, was witnessed in
tive distinction between the 'sacred' and the 'pro-
terms of altering the phenomenal properties of the ritual
fane' (Bell 1992:74).
setting, which in turn constituted the participatory expe-
rience of Thelemic magick as an immediate and irreduc- Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's ideas as outlined in his
ible datum of ritual experience and knowledge. text Outline of a Theory of Practice, Bell's theory of ritu-
alisation articulates the notion of 'practice' as fundamen-
The experiential events of the Invocation of Babalon
tal to understanding ritual. Bell refers to Bourdieu's "di-
manifested in a ritual setting that symbolically repre-
alectic of objectification and incorporation" in relation to
sented the cosmology of the ritual. These elements also
assisted in the stimulation of the ritualists' senses and his notion of the habitus. In Bourdieu's theory, the habitus
coordination of gestures to produce and participate in is construed as the induction of practice within a dialec-
their magical worldview. The production of and partici- tic relationship between a structured environment and

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people's habitually informed dispositions that enable However, to deconstruct this experience as a false as-
them to reproduce an environment of practice (Bourdieusumption of reality is to ignore that transformation in
1977:3-5). subjectivity as a result of altering patterns of the phenom-
Bell observes that a distinct feature of ritualisation is enal properties of the ritual setting is an immediate and
how the body as a socio-cultural entity interacts with a irreducible datum of human experience that produces,
symbolically constituted spatial-temporal environment. confirms, and acquires new meanings of cosmological
Bell argues that it is through this interaction that ritual narrative. This position implies that human agency, ex-
strategies of action become rooted in the body. As par- pressed through embodied and cognitive gestures and
ticipants come to master the ritual and internalise these responses, is always a form of interaction with one's per-
schemes, their bodies come to appropriate the ritual ceived situation. From this perspective, I argue that ritual
world in their habits, dispositions, and gestures. This pro- is a self-referential and embodied method for exploring
cess is also experienced as liberating from ways of living and seeking meaning from the canonical streams of cos-
that are not authorised by the true nature of things, and mological narrative that appeal to certain existential as-
which allows the participants to partake in a "sense of pirations of its participants.30
integrated totality and embracing holism" (Bell 1992:207). The Magus and Priestess produced the necessary em-
Thus, ritual participation serves to "impress these bodied and cognitive conditions for participating in a
schemes upon the bodies of participants" (1992:98-99). worldview to witness a certain dimension of Thelemic
Ritualisation, therefore, can be understood as bringing cosmological narrative. As a result, this enabled them
the individual body and the larger community into a through successful ritualisation to perceive their lives as
sense of continuity with the "largest image of reality" Thelemic magicians in an alternative meaningful fashion.
(1992:115) represented in the ritual narratives and per- Through this process, the ritualists inscribed their psy-
formances. chophysical bodies with the knowledge of bringing
Disregarding inquiries whether ritual interacts with "change occurring in conformity of Will and Imagina-
metaphysical dimensions objectively existing beyond the tion," and the experience of conjoining the spiritual and
ritual setting, Bell maintains that the ritually instructed material, shaping them as the embodiment of Thelemic
nature of the world is generated and projected by the rit- cosmological narrative.
ualists onto the realm of human experience. Bell argues Interpreted as experiencing and acquiring ritual
that the notional characteristics pertaining to external knowledge, these states may illuminate from a Thelemic
realities are never true.29 For Bell, the ritually accessible perspective how the mundane restricts further 'spiritual'
world is always generated through the participants' pro- illumination regarding the realisation of the self, which
jections onto self-referential dimensions, constructed and in Thelemic literature is presented as True Will, in a
then objectified by the ritualists. Although Bell does not vaster cosmological scheme. In addition, the performance
explicitly state that the participants' perceptions of the of the cosmological narrative of Babalon merging the
external reality are artificial (Bell 1992:99), she concludes spiritual and material through an alternative sexual inter-
that the process of ritualisation reappropriates the partic- course enabled the participants to experience the trans-
ipants' perception of reality under the false assumption formative effects of sexuality resulting in states natural
that the experience derives from an external reality trance and spiritual clarity. By invoking Babalon through
(1992:99). sex magick, the participants confessed to realising the
As evident, the very nature of the Invocation of Baba- nature and purpose of the esoteric references to Babalon
lon was emphatically corporeal. Using their bodies in as a sexually charged and liberating Thelemic goddess,
distinct ways through meditative exercises, invocatory and more importantly, Crowley's belief that:
practices, sex magick, and the Priestess' assumption of
As man loses his personality in physical love, so
the godform of Babalon, the ritualists transformed their
does the magician annihilate his divine personality
bodies into experiential embodiments of the Thelemic
in that which is beyond.
worldview of Babalon. From this perspective, one could
argue that the experiential factors of the ritual did not
derive from an external reality, but were generated and In love the individuality is slain... Love death there-
sustained by the ritualists in a sexually charged and lib- fore, and long eagerly for it.
erating fashion, creating the effect of participating in a

Thelemic worldview of esoteric sexuality embodied by Love destroyeth self... Love breedeth All and None
Babalon. in One (Crowley 1996:40-41, 65).

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The existential impact of this experience may, therefore,

consciousness, and thus creating a ritual body to embody
and explore their cosmological aspirations as Thelemic
confirm and direct the ritualists towards an eschatologi-
cal aspiration of Thelemic magick, conceptualised in magical
the practitioners. To evaluate, though, how my in-
writings of Crowley and the cosmological narrative formants
of employed their bodies as 'magical tools', I will
examine how rituals maybe interpreted as what Marcel
Babalon as attaining a sense of mystical union with the
universe through the dissolution of the finite ego and
Mauss refers to as 'body techniques', and then present a
merging with the Macrocosm (Kaczyński 2009:96-98). critical examination of ritual as 'body techniques' in ref-
erence to Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of
By realising through their ritual bodies Thelema's em-
phasis on the primary role of the body for uniting the perception and embodiment.
Microcosm and Macrocosm through sex magick, the rit- In his discussion of the habitus (Mauss 1979:101),
Mauss argues for a sociological methodology that treats
ualists as Thelemic practitioners may come to adopt alter-
systems as wholes, where the concepts of body, mind,
native perspectives on human embodiment. Speculating
society, culture, laws, economy, and religion all merge,
in close reference to informal discussions with my infor-
proposing that "it is only by considering them as wholes
mants, these different perspectives could consist of a more
that we have been able to see their essence, their opera-
inclusive approach to magick in their lives, adopting a far
more positive and constructive attitude to their bodies tion
as and their living aspect" (Mauss 1967:77-78). Central
to his perception of sociological holism are 'body tech-
the focal point of this interaction conjoining the spiritual
niques', which he defines as socio-culturally specific uses
and the corporeal. This in turn could generate self-reali-
sations of how their 'mundane' lifestyles may restrict
of the body by which people within specific socio-cultural
settings discover how to employ their bodies and embody
meaningful effects of alternative spiritual practices, alter-
correlative socio-cultural discourse within particular con-
ing their perceptions on the constructive use of the body,
and even challenge and introduce new attitudes to sexu-texts. From this, Mauss concludes that:
ality as a healthy and liberating exercise for this process.
The body is man's first and most natural instru-
Regardless of whether this knowledge was the product
ment. Or more accurately, not to speak of instru-
of their own ritualisation, my informants witnessed the
ments, man's first and most natural technical ob-
cosmological narrative of a Thelemic worldview as the
ject, and at the same time technical means, is his
reality of their phenomenal field. From their perspective,
body (Mauss 1979:104).
this event confirmed the reality of the cosmological struc-
ture of Thelemic ritualisation through the performance Mauss, though, fails to elaborate on whether his claim
that "the body is man's first and most natural instrument"
of sex magick as transformative and liberating, generating
new meanings regarding their human condition and is a reference to the body as an 'object' or as a 'means'. To
ex-
dissect and unravel this query, I believe it is necessary to
istential aspirations. Rather than just postulate that ritu-
make critical reference to the phenomenology of Maurice
alisation generates and projects a false reality, I argue that
Merleau-Ponty to tap into a deeper corporeal basis of
ritualisation creates a ritual body as the necessary embod-
subjectivity to identify how the somatic foundation of
ied cognitive condition for producing the exploration of
experience is central to notions of human consciousness
cosmological narrative as a participatory worldview. This
and perception.
process is conceived in terms of altering the phenomenal
properties of the ritualised sense-field for the purpose ofMerleau-Ponty develops a sensuous phenomenology
of 'lived experience' through the body inhabiting an in-
gaining confirmation and knowledge of the ritualists' cos-
tersubjective space of perception and embodiment, and
mological aspirations, and depending on the ritual suc-
claims that this 'lived' or 'phenomenal' body is not the
cess, may or may not invest the ritualists' lives with mean-
ing and orientation. same thing as the 'objective' body of the physical sciences.
Therefore, Merleau-Ponty argues, "we must think of the
human body (and not consciousness) as that which per-
'Being-in-the- World' of Magic(k): ceives nature which it also inhabits" (Merleau-Ponty
1970:128).
Towards a Phenomenology of Ritual
This 'body' is neither subject nor object, purely mental
Embodiment and Perception
or purely physical. It is an active process relating to our
As documented, the Magus and Priestess employed ongoing embodied practices as 'being-in-the-world'. Con-
their bodies as 'magical tools' to invoke Babalon. This
sequently, this situates the body as inhabiting a field of
resulted in transforming their modes of embodiment and
space and time, accentuating how this is not a spatiality

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nomenal field, and this state of consciousness of the world

and temporality of 'position', but rather a spatiality and
temporality of 'situation': gives rise to a consciousness of the body derived from
"the idea of an organic thought through which the rela-
I am not in space and time, nor do I conceive space
tion of the 'psychic' to the 'physiological' becomes con-
and time; I belong to them, my body combines
ceivable" (1962:77).
with them and includes them. The scope of this
This notion of 'being-in-the-world' is both the out-
inclusion is the measure of that of my existence
come of physical necessity and agency acquired through
(Merleau-Ponty 1962:140).
one's own ownership of the body (1962:90-91), and "as a
Merleau-Ponty claims that we do not, in the first in-system of possible actions, a virtual body with its phe-
nomenal 'place' defined by its task and situation"
stance, experience our body as an external object. Rather,
the experience of our body is an embodied experience of (1962:250). Furthermore, the existential qualities of 'be-
the world that is beyond our own embodied being: ing-in-the-world' become defined during the dialectic
moments where phenomena becomes what it is by pre-
I am not in front of my body, I am in, or rather I
senting itself to the subject's perspective. Perceived as-
am it. . . We do not merely behold as spectators the
pects are associated with objects within the phenomenal
relations between the parts of our bodies and the
field if they are properties of that object perceived by the
correlations between the visual and tactile body:
subject from a distinct spatio-temporal location. For this
we are ourselves the unifier of these arms and legs,
act of perception to take place, though, bodily experience
the person who both sees and touches them
must be the foundation of the perspectivai view:
(1962:150).
At the root of all our experiences and all our reflec-
Upon further reflection, Merleau-Ponty clarifies that our
tions, we find... a being which immediately recog-
embodied habits force us to reacquaint ourselves with our
nises itself, because it is its knowledge both of itself
notion of the body, and thus we can say that "the body
has understood and habit has been cultivated when it has and of all things, and which knows its own exis-
tence, not by observation and as a given fact, nor
absorbed a new meaning and assimilated a fresh core of
by inference from any idea of itself, but through
significance" (1962:146). Furthermore, "to understand is
direct contact with that existence (1962:371).
to experience the harmony between what we aim at and
what is given, between the intention and the performance
- and the body is our anchorage in a world" (1962:144).
To know or understand, in this primary sense, is to be The Embodiment of the Magus and
able to do something, and that doing is necessarily a Priestess:Subjectivity and the Phenomenal
bodily doing: Field of Ritual
To learn to see colours is to acquire a new way of
From the phenomenological perspective thus pre-
seeing, a new use of one's own body: it is to recast
sented, body techniques can be interpreted as the embod-
the body image. Whether a system of motor or per-
ied experience of a 'lived' or 'phenomenal' body generat-
ceptual powers, our body is not an object for an 'I
ing a phenomenal field from a distinct spatio-temporal
think', it is a grouping of lived through meanings
location. Approaching the practice of ritualisation as
which moves towards its equilibrium (1962:153).
seeking to produce, embody, and acquire new meanings
Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body is an in- of cosmological narrative from this phenomenological
quiry into "the outcome or the meeting-point of numer- perspective, ritualisation can be understood as the pro-
ous causal agencies which determine my bodily or psy- cess for creating a ritual body as the symbolic and expe-
chological make-up" (1962:ix). Also, Merleau-Ponty riential foundation for participation in the ritual world-
argues that our world is shaped by the cultural and view. In the context of my study, the Magus and Priestess
human world of lived experience (1962:24), and read- created their ritual body by situating themselves in a
dresses the sense of our worldly existence by experiencing spatio-temporal setting symbolically representing and
the body not as an object of the world, but as a mode of physically stimulating a Thelemic worldview of Babalon.
communication with it (1962:92). For this reason, the Through stylistic adornments and postures, such as the
body should be approached as "a mode of inhabitation of Priestess' red dress and her postures of ecstatic abandon-
space and time" that defines its existence (1962:139). This ment, and preliminary ritual exercises, such as the Magus'
clarifies that the perceptual is always integral to the phe- opening rites, my informants created ritual personas to

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generate and orientate their ritual bodies as the somatic

As the faithful, in the Dionysian mysteries, invoke
foundation for witnessing the Invocation of Babalon.the God by miming scenes from his life, I call up
These ritual bodies, as I interpret them, are holistic modesthe visitation of sleep by imitating the breathing
of embodiment and consciousness that absorb the cos- and posture of the sleeper. The god is actually there
mologica! narrative of the ritual, and naturally reproduce when the faithful can no longer distinguish them-
this cosmological narrative as the phenomenal field of the selves from the part they are playing, when their
ritual setting. This in turn renders the reality of ritual body and their consciousness cease to bring in, as
intelligible, constituting it as a meaningful context for an obstacle, their particular opacity, and when they
action and reflection. are totally fused in the myth. There is a moment
The events that defined the Invocation of Babalon as when sleep 'comes', settling on this imitation of it-
meaningful and effective were the product of ritualisation self which I have been offering to it, and I succeed
exhibited as carefully designed and orchestrated body in becoming what I was trying to be (Mer-
techniques, and which were more reflexive than other leau-Ponty 1962:163-164).
body techniques that require a basic bodily knowledge of
From this observation it is evident how certain ritualised
practice. This was due to the fact that the ritualists acted
gestures and movements may induce specific self-reflec-
in a carefully constructed spatio-temporal setting to pur-
tions and emotional states, indicating that ritual uses the
posefully stimulate the senses, coordinate all gestures and
body to affect a transformation in subjectivity:
movements, and direct their esoteric perceptions of 'will'
and 'imagination'. Furthermore, inspired by Thelemic By performing "ecstatic rituals," that is, rituals
narrative and their past ritual experiences, the Magus and which mimic ecstasy, agents are able to tap into
the Priestess perceived Babalon as a transworldly agent31 their corporeal potential for ecstatic ways of being,
with her own esoteric correspondences and narratives putting themselves into an ecstatic state. And they
that demands specific actional and linguistic formulas to perform the ritual as a way of inducing the state
attract and establish communication with her. (Crossley 2004:43).
The ritualists confirmed the meaningful and effective
reality of their ritual as the result of the successful per- Crossley also observes that ritual invokes imaginative
formance of invoking Babalon experienced through phys- dimensions to generate what I identify as the properties
ical, emotional, and imaginative responses to certain al- of the phenomenal field of the ritual setting:
terations of the phenomenal properties of the ritual Ritual can invoke an imaginative intentionality, ef-
setting. As documented, my informants made reference fecting a "magical" transformation of situation. An
to these alterations as perceiving and sensing the cosmo- obvious example of this might be the Dionysian
logical narrative, which was initially represented by the worshippers discussed by Merleau-Ponty...
symbolic infrastructure of their rites, assume an affective, Through the power of ritual as an imaginative act,
yet subtle, presence in their phenomenal field. From this make-believe misrecognized as worship, they bring
I argue that the mediating logic of their ritual was to their God into being for themselves, experiencing
transform the phenomenal properties of ordinary space His existence intensely and acutely (2004:44).
and time into those of the ritual setting by intervening
with the ritualists' state of embodiment and conscious- Crossley's observation testifies to Merleau-Ponty's argu-
ness. Consequentially, this process transforms the subjec- ment that one's cognitive processes that constitute sub-
tive self into that of the ritual self, which in this study is jectivity are also consistent with the self being embodied,
defined by assuming the ritual subjectivity of the Magus yet not necessarily by direct observation, as this may in-
and Priestess as a result of participating in the Thelemic clude being "conscious of myself by inference from an
worldview of Babalon. idea of myself that I may have, so long as being conscious
In his paper 'Ritual, body technique, and (inter) sub- that I am may be constructed as a kind of self-conscious-
jectivity', Nick Crossley argues that transformations doc- ness" (Priest 1998:145). In this sense, subjectivity may be
umented as the product of ritual performances are "trans- defined as "a being which immediately recognises itself. . .
formations in our subjective and intersubjective states" through direct contact with that existence."32
(Crossley 2004:40). To support this, Crossley cites Mer- The ritual subjectivities of my informants as the em-
leau-Ponty's reflections on his nightly bedtime ritual to bodiment of the Magus and the Priestess were the prod-
understand how ritual can affect the physical, emotional, uct of the successful outcome of ritualisation, which was
and imaginative lives of its participants: confirmed by certain contextually meaningful physical,

157.181.112.148 on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:48:56 UTC
JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 31 (2) 2017 73
emotional, and imaginative transformations. Fromerential

the and canonical meanings of the ritual. The bodily
phenomenological perspective of my ethnographic anal-senses were stimulated through corresponding symbolic
objects and aromas, informed through distinct bodily
ysis, my informants' interactions with the carefully de-
signed setting and orchestrated gestures acted as
gestures and visualisations, and further implemented to
manifest the sexual nature of the ritual as the ultimate
sense-stimulants to affect their physical, emotional, and
imaginative states. These interactions were pursuedexperiential
to dimension required for the revelation of
Babalon. In terms of a phenomenology of embodiment,
embody the cosmological narrative of the ritual, thus
the ritual body was essential for receiving specific influ-
merging the canonical and the self-referential, and con-
firming: ences through the senses to stimulate a state of embodied
consciousness aligned with the nature and objectives of
Ritual participation sets up bodily reverberations
the ritual. These can customarily be presented as the ex-
in the participants, inscribing a set of meanings
ertion of visual imagery, sounds, aromas, mental concen-
into the psychophysical system of its performers
tration, and sexual intercourse to achieve at point of or-
(Innis 2005:201).
gasm a natural sense of trance. On all occasions, as a
Hence, I argue that the logic of modern Western magical result of these patterns of ritualisation, my informants
ritual is to produce and direct, in reference to cosmolog- confessed to experiencing meaningful physical, emo-
ical narrative of the ritualists' aspirations, modes of em- tional, and imaginative transformations, neutralising all
bodiment and consciousness required to alter the phe- sense of spatial differentiation from the proposed wider
nomenal properties of the spatio-temporal parameters of reality of the ritual.
ritualisation to form a ritual habitus as a participatory Viewing such events as transformations in subjectivity,
magical worldview of both canonical and self-referential these events unfold as the product of the ritual modifica-
meaning. tion of my informants' physical, emotional, and imagina-
tive ways of acting towards, embodying, and reflecting on
the cosmological narrative of the Thelemic worldview of
Babalon. This process of ritual modification producing
To Conjure a Ritual Body: The Embodied
the participatory worldview of the Invocation of Babalon
Logic of Modern Magical Ritual was configured and effectuated through the ritual prac-
As documented so far, the objective of the Invocation tices for constructing a symbolic and experiential ritual
of Babalon was to attract the attention and invoke through body informed by the narrative and objective of the rit-
ritual devotions and sexual intercourse a transworldly ual. With the careful construction of this ritual body, its
entity described as a Thelemic goddess to attain a certain corresponding sense-field generated and received the
end. However, rather than just citing this representation alterations of the phenomenal properties of the ritual set-
as a paradigm of Western magic defined as a ritual nar- ting as the manifestation of the cosmological narrative of
rative and performance of "manipulations of spiritual or the ritual.
occult natural forces and entities" to attain certain ends, Considering how the Invocation of Babalon as a par-
my discussion has focused on how this objective was en- adigm of modern Western magic derives from certain
acted. propositional narratives, I propose that the logic of ritu-
From this discussion, the Invocation of Babalon alisation as a typology of practice in my ethnographic
emerges as a meaningful participatory worldview in study was to intervene with the ritualists' modes of em-
terms of how subjectivity is transformed as a mode of bodiment and consciousness. The purpose of this inter-
participating in the cosmological architecture of ritual. vention was to prepare and direct the participants
Although from my informant's perspective this transfor- through successful ritualisation in the production of cos-
mation was effectuated and confirmed by the successful mological narrative to be experienced as a participatory
invocation of Babalon as an independently existing tran- worldview in a demarcated space and time identified as
sworldly entity, I argue that it was the experience of the the phenomenal field of the ritual setting. This interven-
body under ritual conditions reflecting the Thelemic tion then generated the properties of an 'alternative' phe-
worldview of Babalon that confirmed the narrative of my nomenal field and the 'alternative' experience of trans-
informants' cosmological aspirations. forming the perceptive, sensational, and cognitive aspects
The aesthetics of the Altar of Babalon, along with the of the ordinary self into that of the embodiment of as-
Priestess' saturnian invocations and visible acts of devo- pired ritual subjectivity. As a result, since this ritualised
tion, constituted a habitus suitable for both the self-ref- mode of embodiment both produces and is informed by

157.181.112.148 on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:48:56 UTC
its corresponding phenomenal field as an expansion nature

of of the magical ritual in its spatio-temporal param-
eters.
perception, sensation, and cognition of the self 'being-in-
the-world', an alternative sense of subjectivity emerged. As documented in the ethnographic case study of the
This transformation constituted the experience of Invocation
a of Babalon, the logic of magical ritual was to
create a certain sense of subjectivity, represented as the
meaningful and effective participatory worldview of ritual
for its participants by receiving and responding to 'act
all of becoming' the Magus and Priestess, by actively
participating in the transition from an 'ordinary' to a
meaningful alterations of the phenomenal field from the
perspective of 'being-in-the-worlď as the 'magician'. 'magical' worldview of meaning and effect. As this tran-
From this phenomenological perspective, it is clear sition generated the embodiment of the subjectivity of the
magician, receptions and responses to all meaningful al-
that modern magical ritual in the context of the Invoca-
tion of Babalon produced the necessary ritual experience
terations of the phenomenal field of the ritual setting were
and knowledge to constitute the subjectivity of the Magus
conceived from the perspective of 'being-in-the-world' as
and Priestess. This process of subjectivity formation was
the 'magician' providing meaning and orientation for the
ritualists in relation to their canonical sources and
accomplished by opening up 'alternative realities' for the
ritualists through their own productions of required
self-referential objectives. This in turn generated certain
modes of embodiment and consciousness necessary for
conceptions about both spiritual and natural forces that
transforming Thelemic cosmological narrative intoimbue a the ritualists' worldviews as Thelemic magicians
with meaning and experiential dimensions. By altering
meaningful and effective habitus by altering the phenom-
enal properties of their ritual setting. the properties of their phenomenal field through success-
Hence, rather than just speak of the logic of modern
ful ritualisation, the ritualists were capable of reinterpret-
magical ritual as a means of summoning and manipulat- ing reality in such as way as to experience and embody
alternative modes of subjectivity in accord with their
ing "spiritual or occult natural forces and entities," I pro-
pose that the logic of modern magical ritual should cosmological
be aspirations. Therefore, to call for an inves-
tigation into how the magician as a ritual body serves as
identified in terms of how it aspires to generate the sub-
the production and locus of interaction with various 'oc-
jectivity of 'being-in-the-world' as a 'magician'. To speak
cult' yet 'natural' forces and entities posited by magical
of the body, as a critical interface for the study of magic,
is to comprehend how the ritual body is successfully cre-
rhetoric is to acknowledge how the experience of magical
ated to alter the phenomenal properties of the ritual set-
ritual is the experience of the body itself producing and
ting to produce and embody the canonical sources and participating in cosmological narrative as the phenome-
cosmological aspirations that inform the objectives and
nal field of the ritual setting.
Notes
1. For how this process of exclusion and opposition developed Magic: Invoking Tradition . Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
historically in ancient Greece influencing consequent attitudes to 3. In his lengthy treatise Magicky Liber ABA, Book 4 discussing
magic, see Luck, Georg, 'Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Litera- elementary theory and practice of ceremonial magic, Crowley
ture'. In Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome> wrote that "The old spelling Magick has been adopted throughout
Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark (eds). Philadelphia: University of in order to distinguish the Science of the Magi from all its coun-
Pennsylvania Press, 1999, 91-158; Gordon, Richard 'Imagining terfeits."
Greek and Roman Magic' In Witchcraft and Magic in Europe : An- 4. This ritual study is one of a series of performances of mod-
cient Greece and Rome , Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark (eds). ern Western magic in Scotland, England, Greece, and the United
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999, 159-275. States that I studied as a participant observer for the ethnographic
2. The teachings and practices of the Hermetic Order of the section of my Ph.D thesis.
Golden Dawn consist of an operational blending of Western cere- 5. For a description and understanding of the identity and na-
monial magic, astrology, and alchemy deriving from a diversity of ture of Babalon within Thelema see 'Vision and the Voice', espe-
sources such as the Kabbalah; Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, and cially Aethyrs 2, 3, 12, and 15 in Regardie, Israel (ed.), Gems from
Greco-Egyptian theurgic godforms; grimoires such as The Key of the Equinox : Instructions by Aleister Crowley for his Magical Order.
Solomon and The Book of Abramelin; Renaissance magia ; and the San Francisco, CA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007; 'Chapter VII: The For-
Enochian system of the infamous Elizabethan magus John Dee. As mula of the Holy Graal, and of Abrahadabra' in Crowley, Aleister,
the scope of this study is not to present an in-depth analysis of all Magick: Liber ABA, Book Four, Parts I-IV. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/
Western esoteric historical elements that constitute the ideas and Weiser, 2004; 'Liber Cheth vel Vallvm Abiegni' in Crowley, Aleister,
practices of the Golden Dawn, for further scholarly inquiry see Magick: Liber ABA, Book Four, Parts I-IV. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/
Butler, Alison, Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Weiser, 2004; the forty-ninth chapter called 'Waratah Blossoms' in

157.181.112.148 on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:48:56 UTC
Crowley, Aleister, The Book of Lies. CA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2010. vided with, and my informants own accounts both before and after
the ritual about the nature and objectives of specific ritual tech-
6. The 'Calls of the Aethyrs' are a system of visionary explora-
niques, such as visualisations, the object of meditation, and how
tions of the astral realm implementing the Enochian language and
external gestures correspond with certain subtle impressions of
cosmology as revealed through the esoteric workings and writings
of the Elizabethan magicians John Dee and Edward Kelly. For sight, sound, and other bodily sensations
Crowley's exposition see 'Vision and the Voice', especially Aethyrs 17. The Chaldean Oracles are a collection of oracles in hexam-
eters,
2, 3, 12, and 15, in Regardie, Israel (ed.), Gems from the Equinox : which were probably composed during the late second cen-
tury CE. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic
Instructions by Aleister Crowley for his Magical Order. San Francisco,
CA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007. sources, and present a distinct cosmology of gods and daimons,
philosophical discourse, and esoteric anthropology.
7. In The Book ofThoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyp-
tians she is represented as the card of Lust: "Riding astride the 18. This word corresponds to the initials of the Hebrew Kab-
balistic verse translated as "One is His Beginning: One is His indi-
Beast; in her left hand she holds the reins, representing the passion
viduality: His Permutation is One." For an elementary exposition
which unites them. In her right she holds aloft the cup, the Holy
Grail aflame with love and death. In this cup are mingled the onof the importance of the Kabbalah, or the Hermetic Qabalah, for
the sacrament of the Aeon." See Crowley, Aleister, The BookThelema
of and modern Western magic in general, see Regardie, Is-
Thoth (Egyptian Tarot). York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1993, 94.rael, Cicero, Chic and Cicero, Sandra Tabatha (eds), The Tree of
8. For my unpublished Ph.D thesis I was permitted by my in- Life : An Illustrated Study in Magic. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications,
2002, 39-71.
formants to reveal their geographic location. However, both infor-
mants did not want me to reveal their location and identities if I 19. The signs and symbols were visible to the Magus' ritualised
perception and sensation, and appeared "in the form of golden
was to publish my ethnographic study of their ritual. This was due
energy radiating heat and shining. At times I felt the temple space
to their perception of the sensitive, and what some might consider,
becoming brighter and warmer."
controversial nature of the ritual, along with wanting to maintain
their identifications as magical practitioners a private affair outside 20. According to Thelemic esoteric attributions Babalon is as-
sociated with the Kabbalistic sephirah of Binah that is ruled by
of their small community of fellow magical practitioners. For this
Saturn.
reason I have deliberately obscured and withheld all personal in-
formation and their geographic location out of respect towards my 21. Corresponds to Binah and Saturn.
informants and my professional ethos of upholding ethnographic 22. Corresponding to the mystic number of Babalon.
confidentiality. 23. I was instructed to leave the ritual setting, as it was "a pri-
vate and sacred affair," though they would be willing to share in
9. From our discussion, 'Will' was referred to as something akin
to an inner force that can make things happen through determi- discussion the occultist experience and effects of the sex magick
nation and precise concentration activated through a varietyrite.
of
ritual methods. 'Imagination' I interpreted as a form of an internal 24. I interpret this as the orgasm but she did not clarify.
ritual activation of the imagination through symbolic meditations 25. From what I can gather, the sex magick rite was enacted
upon the Seal of Babalon.
and concentrations, and receiving both egocentric and allocentric
visionary revelations. 26. Apart from invoking Babalon, the specific objectives of the
rite seeking a certain end were not revealed to me, as they belonged
10. The Stele of Revealing is an offering stele historically known
as the Stèle of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu dating back to the 680-670 BCE to the private affairs of the ritualists.
Egypt. In Thelemic narrative, this stele is treated with reverence as 27. Lévy-Bruhl's ideas came under intense criticism though by
it is purported by Crowley to depict the three principle deities Bronisław
of Malinowski and Robert Lowie, compelling him to revise
parts of his theory to account for the co-existence of rational and
the worldview of Thelema as presented in Liber AL vel Legis - Nuit,
Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. irrational elements in humanity. See Malinowski, Bronisław, Magic ,
11. The Seal of Babalon was a large seven-pointed star painted
Science and Religion , and Other Essays. New York: Free Press, 1948,
in red. According to Thelemic canon, 111 is the mystic number 25-26;
of Lowie, Robert H., The History of Ethnological Thought. New
Babalon. York: Rinehart, 1937, 216-221.
12. The Altar of Babalon was placed in the West to correspond 28. For further elucidation see Luhrmann, 1989, 274-283.
with direction of Babalon from the opening banishing ritual per- 29. Bell holds, although not explicitly, that the ritually taught
formed by the Magus. nature of the world is always arbitrary and projected by the ritu-
13. According to Crowley: "The first task of the Magician alists
in onto the plane of human experience. This position follows
every ceremony is therefore to render his Circle impregnable... from her theory that "the redemptive hegemony of practice does
"The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram" is the best to use. Onlynot reflect reality more or less effectively; it creates it more or less
effectively." For further reference see Bell, 1992, 85 and chapter 2.
the Four Elements are specifically mentioned, but these Four Ele-
ments contain the Planets and Signs." See Crowley, 2004, 211,213. 30. For a similar argument from the perspective of a philoso-
14. This is translated as "Away every evil Spirit." phy of ritual and embodied metaphysics see Schilbrack, Kevin,
15. Golden Dawn literature describes the formula of IAO as 'Ritual Metaphysics'. In Thinking Through Rituals: Philosophical
Perspectives , Kevin Schilbrack (ed.). London: Routledge, 2004.
pertaining to the triune god of the Gnostics and the popular myth-
ical relationship of the Egyptian deities Isis, Apophis, and Osiris,31.1 intend with the prefix 'trans' to entitle Babalon as an oc-
cult force and entity that is revealed and experienced under occult-
signifying nature corrupted by evil but reborn through Osiris' res-
urrection. ist ritual conditions, yet which in ernie accounts she is construed
16. I was informed by the instructions in the corresponding as originally existing as an independent spirit agent originating
from beyond the ritual setting and the self.
Thelemic primary sources, notes on the ritual text that I was pro-

157.181.112.148 on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 11:48:56 UTC
32. Merleau-Ponty, 1962, 371. According to Priest "immedi-

sciousness is effectively being conscious of something through
ately" might either refer to 'unmediateď, 'instantaneous', or 'direct
direct experience and is aware of the process and content of con-
sciousness. See Priest, 1998, 146.
contact'. This further clarifies the empirical claim that self-con-
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Biographical Sketch
Damon Zacharias Lycourinos has an academic back- search covered the topic of the ritual embodiment of
ground in the fields of anthropology, religious studies,modern magicians, requiring a four-year detailed ethno-
and religious education from the University of Wales, graphic research project. His main areas of academic in-
Lampeter, the University of Oxford, and the University ofterest are the study of ritual from the perspective of em-
Cambridge. He recently completed his PhD thesis titledbodiment, subjectivity, and self-narrative, the
'Becoming the Magician: A Phenomenological Anthro-phenomenology of religious experience, and the forma-
pology of the Creation of the Ritual Body in Modern tion of European ethno-religious nationalism(s).
Western Magic' at the University of Edinburgh. This re-

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Sexuality, Magic(k) and the Ritual Body: A Phenomenology of Embodiment and

Participation in a Modern Magical Ritual

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44988498

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Sexuality, Magic(k) and the Ritual Body:

to draw on certain distinctions separating "manipulations

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systematic worldview. This entails that the body as a sym-

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an empirical fashion. Despite Crowley's definition point

Man is capable of being, and using, anything which

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ess, was the Altar of Babalon.12 This was an old wooden

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of embodiment and consciousness by eliminating the

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the awareness of internal and/or external events. In con-

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erating fashion, creating the effect of participating in a

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The existential impact of this experience may, therefore,

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nomenal field, and this state of consciousness of the world

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generate and orientate their ritual bodies as the somatic

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emotional, and imaginative transformations. Fromerential

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its corresponding phenomenal field as an expansion nature

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32. Merleau-Ponty, 1962, 371. According to Priest "immedi-

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on a Mistake". In International Journal of Tran-

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