The New ”Old School” Magical Revival

The Hermetic Hour for Thursday the 13th of October, 2011, with host Poke Runyon, will be a lively and controversial discussion on a recent aspect of the magical revival called "Old School Magic(k)." This is a development that came about after the 1990s revival of Solomonic Magick following the publication of Donald Kraig's "Modern Magick," and our book and video on the source of the evocation methods Craig described. Steve Savedow's "Goetic Evocation" came out at the same time, representing a more medieval approach to the same operation. In very simple terms we  can say that we were reviving Solomon's ceremonial magick on a Renaissance neo-Platonic Hermetic model, whereas Steve Savedow, Stephen Skinner, and Joseph Lisiewski seemed intent on reviving it on a Judeo-Christian model, attempting to recreate a medieval dualistic mindset. You will super naturalize yourself in the course of this work, but you can choose 500 years ago, or 1000 years ago. We should recall that the Hermetic writings were not available to the medieval magicians -- and yet Renaissance magicians, steeped in Hermetic monist-solipsistic philosophy, were intent on reviving medieval ceremonial magick, but  where the medievalists had conjured in smoke, the Renaissance magi preferred crystals and dark mirrors. We are going to delve into these different approaches and perhaps discover that "The Old School" has a good point to make: in the middle ages they believed in God, and miracles. So that is a very effective mindset for ceremonial magick. You might also join the SCA and enjoy an idealized revival of medieval culture, otherwise we'll see you at the Renn Faire. Good morrow, Lords and Ladies!