A magical organization or magical order is an organization or secret society created for the practice of initiation into ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.
Spiritualism is a social religious movement primarily popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries according to which an individual's awareness persists after death and may be contacted by the living. The afterlife, or the "spirit world", is seen by spiritualists not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to the belief that spirits are capable of providing useful insight regarding moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists speak of a concept which they refer to as "spirit guides"—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance. Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of spiritualism.
A séance or seance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word séance comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma". In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance.
Coitus reservatus, also known as sexual continence, is a form of sexual intercourse in which a male does not attempt to ejaculate within his partner, avoiding the seminal emission. It is distinct from death-grip syndrome, wherein a male has no volition in his emissionless state.
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis is a Rosicrucian fraternal organization established in the United States by Paschal Beverly Randolph in 1856, and is the oldest Rosicrucian Order founded in the US. They also operate Beverly Hall Corporation and the Clymer Health Center in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
Reuben Swinburne Clymer was an American occultist and modern Rosicrucian Supreme Grand Master of the FRC, perhaps the oldest continuing Rosicrucian organization in the Americas. He practiced alternative medicine, and wrote and published works on it as well as the teachings of Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875), alchemy, nutrition, religion, sex magic and spiritualism. This led to a number of conflicts with Harvey Spencer Lewis (1883-1939) and the AMORC, FUDOSI, Aleister Crowley, and even the American Medical Association.
Joscelyn Godwin is a composer, musicologist, and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism, and music in the occult.
Sex magic 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 result. A premise posited by sex magicians is the concept that sexual energy is a potent force that can be harnessed to transcend one's normally perceived reality.
Carl Kellner was a chemist, inventor, and industrialist. Born in Vienna, Austria, he made significant improvements to the sulfite process and was co-inventor of the Castner-Kellner process.
Ira Erastus Davenport and William Henry Davenport, known as the Davenport brothers, were American magicians in the late 19th century, sons of a Buffalo, New York policeman. The brothers presented illusions that they and others claimed to be supernatural.
Max Théon perhaps born Louis-Maximilian Bimstein, was a Polish Jewish Kabbalist and occultist. In London while still a young man, he inspired The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in 1884, but seemed to have little to do with the day-to-day running of the organisation, or indeed its actual teachings.
Alma Théon (1843–1908), born Mary Chrystine Woodroffe Ware, was an occultist and wife and co-worker of Max Théon. According to Max Théon, his wife was the driving force behind the Cosmic movement or Cosmic Tradition that he taught.
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was an initiatic occult organisation that first became public in late 1894, although according to an official document of the order it began its work in 1870. According to this document, authored by Peter Davidson, the order was established by Max Théon, who when in England was initiated as a Neophyte by "an adept of the serene, ever-existing and ancient Order of the original H. B. of L."
Eroto-comatose lucidity is a technique of sex magic known best by its formulation by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1912, but which has several variations and is used in a number of ways by different spiritual communities. A common form of the ritual uses repeated sexual stimulation to place the individual in a state between full sleep and full wakefulness as well as exhaustion, allowing the practitioner to commune with their god.
Kenneth Robert Henderson Mackenzie was an English linguist, orientalist, autodidact and member of the S.R.I.A.
Arthur Arnould was a French writer, and journalist.
Maria de Naglowska was a Russian occultist, mystic, author, journalist, and poet who wrote and taught about sexual magical ritual practices while also being linked with the Parisian surrealist movement. She established and led an occult society known as the Confrerie de la Flèche d'Or in Paris from 1932 to 1935. Naglowska's occult teaching centered on what she called the Third Term of the Trinity, in which the Holy Spirit of the classic Christian trinity is recognized as the divine feminine. Her practices aimed to bring about a reconciliation of the light and dark forces in nature through the union of the masculine and feminine, revealing the spiritually transformative power of sex.
The Church of Light was incorporated November 2, 1932 in Los Angeles, California. Its mission is “to teach, practice, and disseminate The Religion of The Stars, a way of life for the Aquarian Age, as set forth in writings of C.C. Zain.” The Church is the continuation of an earlier initiatic organization, the Brotherhood of Light, established in the same city in 1915. The 1932 reorganization as The Church of Light was a response to ordinances passed that year by Los Angeles County “prohibiting both the teaching and practice of astrology.”
Jules Denis, Baron du Potet or Dupotet de Sennevoy was a French esotericist. He became a renowned practitioner of mesmerism—the theories first developed by Franz Mesmer involving animal magnetism.
John Davenport was a British orientalist and writer. He is best known for his book An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran.
