Revolutionizing Magic: The Will Conquers the Spirit

Abstract

Victorian magic relied heavily on nineteenth-century occult and esoteric developments as well as upon an invented tradition of Western magic. The significance of these origins is demonstrated in the lasting status of the final creation. Victorian occultism was no passing fad. Its creative and odd conglomeration has resulted in a most enduring and suitable magical system; one that has been found appropriate and efficacious to occultists of the past two centuries. The Golden Dawn took this particular Victorian synthesis and moulded it into an instructional format that has proved to have both great appeal and applicability for modern magicians. There are some spécific changes which Victorian magic made to the magical tradition it inherited that are responsible for its subsequent popularity.