{"id":4750,"date":"2011-01-01T01:10:27","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T06:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2010-12-29T12:28:34","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T17:28:34","slug":"book-review-isaac-bonewits-real-magic-and-real-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/01\/01\/book-review-isaac-bonewits-real-magic-and-real-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Isaac Bonewits’ Real Magic and Real Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Double-feature review of Isaac Bonewits\u2019 Real Magic<\/em> and Real Energy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bonewits, Philip Emmons Isaac. Real Magic: an introductory treatise on the principles of yellow magic.<\/em> First published 1971. Revised edition, 1978, Weiser Books. Paperback, 282 pages.<\/p>\n

Bonewits, Phaedra and Isaac. Real Energy: systems, spirits, and substances to heal, change, and grow.<\/em> New Page Books, 2007. Paperback, 287 pages.<\/p>\n

These works represent, in some ways, the bookends of Isaac Bonewits\u2019 life writing for the Pagan community at large. His impressive bibliography is filled with works on specific topics, and his biography with work on the ADF, which he founded and shaped, among many other efforts. But these books are the most widely addressed of all his texts; in fact, one could argue that these aren\u2019t aimed directly at the Pagan community at all, but at the public at large, in an effort to promote interest in, and provide a primer on, the meta-physical forces.<\/p>\n

Bonewits\u2019 introduction to the revised edition of Real Magic<\/em> indicates how much change had taken place in the few years since he had written the first edition: \u201cThere are few experiences in the life of an author more embarrassing and sobering than the rereading of a work written by him or her several years previously.\u201d (vii) In an even greater sense, Real Energy<\/em> is the work written by an Isaac who is older, more sober, and has had a lifetime\u2019s worth of experience with the forces he\u2019s discussing. The contrasts are fascinating, and indicate how much his thinking evolved from the young, brash newly-minted college graduate with a degree in magic, to the wiser, widely-respected teacher and leader he became. Certainly his idealistic focus on theory was tempered by a great deal of practical experience, a process familiar to anyone who has spent more than a few years in any field of study.<\/p>\n

His introduction goes on to point up how his initial writing has been revised to become more sensitive to gender and other identity politics and language. He remains, however, ardently defensive of the scientific grounding of his book. Indeed, his original introduction firmly explains his great desire to approach magic in a scientific fashion, and includes some of the experts who reviewed his book. I have not done sufficient research to fully understand how Bonewits\u2019 approach to parapsychology and related fields evolved over his lifetime, including, in particular, the exposes of certain scandals involving physical manipulation to purport parapsychological results. It suffices to say here that his tone was quite tempered by the time Real Energy<\/em> came into being.<\/p>\n

The greatest achievement of this book is the image opposite page 1: Bonewits\u2019 depiction of The Laws of Magic. Available on his website is a lovely version of the chart<\/a> with key explanations of each law, some of them updated since Real Magic<\/em> came out. This diagram neatly summarizes several of the ways of thinking that are important to magic and shows where one law is a subset of another, where two overlap, and where things get incredibly tangled, like in the section about how we with finite senses interact with an infinite universe. Anyone who is interested in magic would do well to learn Bonewits\u2019 layout of the laws. This is much, much more important than any table of correspondences you will ever come across. These ideas are the roots of all tables of correspondences, and when you understand the roots, you can grow your own \u2013 you can construct your own correspondences that will be the most effective tools for you use. For example, the Law of Similarity states, \u201cLookalikes are<\/em> alike.\u201d This is the law (or way of thinking) behind an act like using the color green to represent money. In the US, our money is primarily green, and that has entered our cultural subconscious as a fact of life. Thus, for us, green is very effective at resembling money, and makes a good correspondence. Magically, green is \u201clike\u201d money, according to the Law of Similarity. But for others, another color entirely might be more appropriate; EU money has many shades of blue and purple in it, or someone else might like to think in terms of big gold coins (Galleons, anyone?). The point is, knowing the Law of Similarity lets you get into your own head and figure out what the best tool is because you understand the principle linking the tool and the intent in the real world.<\/p>\n

Bonewits then spends a chapter arguing that magic is scientific but hasn\u2019t yet been discovered by science, and another chapter on what parapsychology has investigated, including different kinds of \u201cpsi\u201d talents, which he catalogues extensively. After a chapter delving into Tantra, with an attempt to de-sensationalize it, he gets to what may be the second most interesting chapter of the book: \u201cBlack Magic, White Magic, and Living Color.\u201d Bonewits dances through a cultural history of color, detours into the history of Wicca, and comments briefly on his experiences with groups supposedly working with \u201cblack magic.\u201d (More on that topic can be seen on his site; it suffices to say here that Bonewits had his wild young days and managed to learn from them, which is more than most people do.) He concludes that black magic users and white magic users tend to say exactly the same things about themselves, except for the trappings, when broken down to their core approaches, and stripped of moral overtones or religious theories. Bonewits sums up by concluding that \u201cThere is nothing we as scientists (and all magicians are scientists) can label \u201cBlack Magic\u201d or \u201cWhite Magic\u201d just as we cannot as scientists label anything \u201cGood\u201d or \u201cEvil.\u201d That is the job of ethics, not science.\u201d (116)<\/p>\n

This focus on the magician as scientist \u2013 scientist of the occult, the previously hidden, but definitely a scientist \u2013 is Bonewits\u2019 fundamental approach to magic throughout this work. It\u2019s why this work is closely related to another of his titled Authentic Thaumaturgy<\/em>. Thaumaturgy is magic for the purpose of \u201cwonder-working,\u201d or creating real, measurable change in the physical world. Theurgy is the practice of magic for purposes related to a god or religion; for drawing closer to a god, invoking a god, connecting to one\u2019s higher self, or whatever. Bonewits is quite clear that he has nearly no interest in theurgy, and in fact wants to separate out a scientific approach to magic from any particular religious context. This approach can be liberating or somewhat annoying, depending on the reader\u2019s take on magic and deity. Bonewits\u2019 review of colors proposes that we ought to describe magical work by colors based on the magic\u2019s intended purpose: yellow for rational endeavors, hence the subtitle of his book; green for what we would now call ecology or earth-based work; blue for emotional pursuits and theurgy, etc.<\/p>\n

Bonewits\u2019 focus on the scientific roots of magic culminates in his Switchboard Theory. This is a bit like the idea of the Akashic Records, a bit like the idea of the Collective Unconscious, but attempts to be purely materialistic in its methods of explanation. Bonewits\u2019 metaphor, in the great tradition of magical metaphors, draws on one of the more advanced technological systems of his time. He uses the terms \u201cmetapattern\u201d for something akin to a person\u2019s state of being, particularly mentally and emotionally, and argues that each metapattern exists within the Switchboard, which is a sort of global pan-unconscious, with particular \u201ccircuits\u201d that represent patterns or connections that have been made repeatedly. The connection of money and green in the US could be a simple circuit, for example. Bonewits wants very badly to think that the Switchboard will be validated by scientific research, particularly on ESP as electromagnetic, but accepts that it must be modified if the data do not bear it out. He uses it, provisionally, based on his Law of Pragmatism: if it works, it\u2019s true enough.<\/p>\n

His work on ritual I will skip, since it was also more fully developed in another book later, and likewise his brief overview of fortune-telling methods. His conclusion is primarily a plea for more research in the areas of science so that magicians can get on building a framework of theory for understanding magic that is not bound up with religion or mysticism.<\/p>\n

Since this is turning out even longer than I expected, I\u2019ll split the two-part review up into two parts, and post this as-is. Part II will be tomorrow!<\/p>\n

Edited to fix typo \u2013 thanks, Grafton! Also, h\/t to my friend Sherrian for background about Isaac Bonewits\u2019 youth and his youthful approach to magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Double-feature review of Isaac Bonewits\u2019 Real Magic and Real Energy Bonewits, Philip Emmons Isaac. Real Magic: an introductory treatise on the principles of yellow magic. First published 1971. Revised edition, 1978, Weiser Books. Paperback, 282 pages. Bonewits, Phaedra and Isaac. Real Energy: systems, spirits, and substances to heal, change, and grow. New Page Books, 2007. Paperback, 287 pages. These works represent, in some ways, the bookends of Isaac Bonewits\u2019 life writing for the Pagan community at large. His impressive bibliography is filled with works on specific topics, and his biography with work on the ADF, which he founded and shaped, among many other efforts. But these books are the most widely addressed of all his texts; in fact, one could argue that these aren\u2019t aimed directly at the Pagan community at all, but at the public at large, in an effort to promote interest in, and provide a primer on, the meta-physical forces. Bonewits\u2019 introduction to the revised edition of Real Magic indicates how much change had taken place in the few years since he had written the first edition: \u201cThere are few experiences in the life of an author more embarrassing and sobering than the rereading of a work written by him or her several years previously.\u201d (vii) In an even greater sense, Real Energy is the work written by an Isaac who is older, more sober, and has had a lifetime\u2019s worth of experience with the forces he\u2019s discussing. The contrasts are fascinating, and indicate how much his thinking evolved from the young, brash newly-minted college graduate with a degree in magic, to the wiser, widely-respected teacher and leader he became. Certainly his idealistic focus on theory was tempered by a great deal of practical experience, a process familiar to anyone who has spent more than a few years in any field of study. His introduction goes on to point up how his initial writing has been revised to become more sensitive to gender and other identity politics and language. He remains, however, ardently defensive of the scientific grounding of his book. Indeed, his original introduction firmly explains his great desire to approach magic in a scientific fashion, and includes some of the experts who reviewed his book. I have not done sufficient research to fully understand how Bonewits\u2019 approach to parapsychology and related fields evolved over his lifetime, including, in particular, the exposes of certain scandals involving physical manipulation to purport parapsychological results. It suffices to say here that his tone was quite tempered by the time Real Energy came into being. The greatest achievement of this book is the image opposite page 1: Bonewits\u2019 depiction of The Laws of Magic. Available on his website is a lovely version of the chart with key explanations of each law, some of them updated since Real Magic came out. This diagram neatly summarizes several of the ways of thinking that are important to magic and shows where one law is a subset of another, where two overlap, and where things get incredibly tangled, like in the section about how we with finite senses interact with an infinite universe. Anyone who is interested in magic would do well to learn Bonewits\u2019 layout of the laws. This is much, much more important than any table of correspondences you will ever come across. These ideas are the roots of all tables of correspondences, and when you understand the roots, you can grow your own \u2013 you can construct your own correspondences that will be the most effective tools for you use. For example, the Law of Similarity states, \u201cLookalikes are alike.\u201d This is the law (or way of thinking) behind an act like using the color green to represent money. In the US, our money is primarily green, and that has entered our cultural subconscious as a fact of life. Thus, for us, green is very effective at resembling money, and makes a good correspondence. Magically, green is \u201clike\u201d money, according to the Law of Similarity. But for others, another color entirely might be more appropriate; EU money has many shades of blue and purple in it, or someone else might like to think in terms of big gold coins (Galleons, anyone?). The point is, knowing the Law of Similarity lets you get into your own head and figure out what the best tool is because you understand the principle linking the tool and the intent in the real world. Bonewits then spends a chapter arguing that magic is scientific but hasn\u2019t yet been discovered by science, and another chapter on what parapsychology has investigated, including different kinds of \u201cpsi\u201d talents, which he catalogues extensively. After a chapter delving into Tantra, with an attempt to de-sensationalize it, he gets to what may be the second most interesting chapter of the book: \u201cBlack Magic, White Magic, and Living Color.\u201d Bonewits dances through a cultural history of color, detours into the history of Wicca, and comments briefly on his experiences with groups supposedly working with \u201cblack magic.\u201d (More on that topic can be seen on his site; it suffices to say here that Bonewits had his wild young days and managed to learn from them, which is more than most people do.) He concludes that black magic users and white magic users tend to say exactly the same things about themselves, except for the trappings, when broken down to their core approaches, and stripped of moral overtones or religious theories. Bonewits sums up by concluding that \u201cThere is nothing we as scientists (and all magicians are scientists) can label \u201cBlack Magic\u201d or \u201cWhite Magic\u201d just as we cannot as scientists label anything \u201cGood\u201d or \u201cEvil.\u201d That is the job of ethics, not science.\u201d (116) This focus on the magician as scientist \u2013 scientist of the occult, the previously hidden, but definitely a scientist \u2013 is Bonewits\u2019 fundamental approach to magic throughout this work. It\u2019s why this work is closely related to another of his titled Authentic Thaumaturgy. Thaumaturgy is magic for the purpose of \u201cwonder-working,\u201d or creating real, measurable change in the physical world. Theurgy is the practice of magic for purposes related to a god or religion; for drawing closer to a god, invoking a god, connecting to one\u2019s higher self, or whatever. Bonewits is quite clear that he has nearly no interest in theurgy, and in fact wants to separate out a scientific approach to magic from any particular religious context. This approach can be liberating or somewhat annoying, depending on the reader\u2019s take on magic and deity. Bonewits\u2019 review of colors proposes that we ought to describe magical work by colors based on the magic\u2019s intended purpose: yellow for rational endeavors, hence the subtitle of his book; green for what we would now call ecology or earth-based work; blue for emotional pursuits and theurgy, etc. Bonewits\u2019 focus on the scientific roots of magic culminates in his Switchboard Theory. This is a bit like the idea of the Akashic Records, a bit like the idea of the Collective Unconscious, but attempts to be purely materialistic in its methods of explanation. Bonewits\u2019 metaphor, in the great tradition of magical metaphors, draws on one of the more advanced technological systems of his time. He uses the terms \u201cmetapattern\u201d for something akin to a person\u2019s state of being, particularly mentally and emotionally, and argues that each metapattern exists within the Switchboard, which is a sort of global pan-unconscious, with particular \u201ccircuits\u201d that represent patterns or connections that have been made repeatedly. The connection of money and green in the US could be a simple circuit, for example. Bonewits wants very badly to think that the Switchboard will be validated by scientific research, particularly on ESP as electromagnetic, but accepts that it must be modified if the data do not bear it out. He uses it, provisionally, based on his Law of Pragmatism: if it works, it\u2019s true enough. His work on ritual I will skip, since it was also more fully developed in another book later, and likewise his brief overview of fortune-telling methods. His conclusion is primarily a plea for more research in the areas of science so that magicians can get on building a framework of theory for understanding magic that is not bound up with religion or mysticism. Since this is turning out even longer than I expected, I\u2019ll split the two-part review up into two parts, and post this as-is. Part II will be tomorrow! Edited to fix typo \u2013 thanks, Grafton! Also, h\/t to my friend Sherrian for background about Isaac Bonewits\u2019 youth and his youthful approach to magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}