Martial Magicians (Part 1 - History)
A rational, non-superstitious understanding of magic in the context of political and military machinations
Introduction
For most people today, magic is a term that is relegated to either stage entertainment or superstitious fantasy. The word evokes images of men in capes and top hats, sawing women in half or pulling rabbits out of hats– or teenagers sitting around chalk drawn pentagrams, chanting in latin in fruitless attempts to summon demons or ghosts. However, throughout history from modern times to antiquity, magicians and occultists have been used by political powers as preeminent spies and intelligence agents capable of executing elaborate conspiracies or providing indispensable strategic advice. This long standing relationship between "Intelligence" and magicians begs the question as to what rational, pragmatic application magic has had in real world political machinations.
The most common framing for this question is to simply assume that everyone was superstitious 'back in the day' and that sincerely credulous magicians, astrologers, alchemists, and occultists of all kinds were employed by sincerely credulous rulers. There was no deception involved, because nobody knew any better. This theory, however, is refuted by a logical evolutionary analysis of the issue. We know that anatomically modern humans have existed for over 100,000 years, which means our brains have been biophysically capable of "modern" intelligent, rational scientific thinking and analysis for at least that long. It is inconceivable to me that at least some people did not figure out rational thinking long, long ago… and it wouldn't take long for those rational thinking people to figure out that superstition could be used to exploit and manipulate people, and guard their knowledge from competitors. These people, armed with a grasp of 'cause and effect' and critical thinking, would have a considerable advantage over those who were still lost in the fallacies of magical thinking. This advantage would be multiplied by the intelligent elite if they put forward their skills and knowledge as divine or magical, as it would not only conceal their genuine methods, but would bestow upon themselves an awe-inspiring aura to the gullible commoners.
It is not my contention here that all magic, occultism, and religion in general was deceptive, but that men have existed for millenia who did use superstition for deception and exploitation, and that many historical instances can be found of magicians/occultists who did just that– especially those engaged in espionage and political advising. The idea that practical knowledge has been kept secret since antiquity by encrypting it in symbolism, riddles, allegories, etc. was taught by secret societies, such as the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, and here I am exploring how this principle applied in the specific context of Intelligence. In the words of master Freemason Manly P. Hall, "When the human race learns to read the language of symbolism, a great veil will fall from the eyes of men."
In this article, we will set the stage with a brief history of some noteworthy occultists and magicians who have been engaged in conspiratorial, political and military activity. After that, I will add more arguments for this "cynical" approach to magic, and address possible counter-arguments. Then, we will explore a rational scientific definition of magic and its real world application in this context. Finally, we will identify and speculate on the evolving role magic continues to play in politics today.
Magicians of History – Advisors of Kings and Commanders
To understand why this is such an intriguing question, let us begin with a look at a handful of remarkable examples of elite magicians and occultists who throughout the ages have been right hand men of political elites, and how they have been of service.
Oracles of Antiquity– The first fascinating example of a "magical" Intelligence Community in ancient times is that of the ancient oracles. These mythical seers are known to have been consulted regularly by ancient Mediterranean kings and warlords, and despite the myths about them suggesting that they only dealt in cryptic riddles, in his book The Craft of Intelligence, Allen Dulles, the first director of the CIA, states the following:
"What did make the oracle more of a secular institution… was the fact that the priests apparently had networks of informants in all the Greek lands and were thus often better apprised of the state of things on earth than the people who came for consultation. Their intelligence was by no means of divine origin, although it was proffered as such."
Their staff of undercover informants spanning a network that covered much of the ancient eastern Mediterranean, combined with covert means of quickly delivering messages over vast distances via techniques such as homing doves (pictured above on oracular Omphaloi), provided oracles with information that would appear positively supernatural to the average superstitious man of the ancient world. Without these physical mechanisms for obtaining and communicating important information, it is hard to imagine that oracles would have had the great strategic importance that they did in the ancient world. No man of power, no matter how superstitious, wastes time and resources on mere gypsy fortune-teller ambiguities… real strategic importance must have been found in the counsel of this intelligence gathering community.
The Witch of Endor– The Old Testament contains numerous examples of magicians in association with political elites. The book of Exodus tells us of Jannes and Jambres, the "wise men and sorcerers" employed by the Pharaoh of Egypt… and as a brief aside about ancient Egypt, a fascinating and very specific example of how magicians/priests occulted their true devices is found in nilometers. Nilometers were graduated columns that displayed the level of the Nile river and allowed the reader to predict with reasonable accuracy the coming yield of the crops grown upon the river's banks.
These remarkably simple technical instruments were entirely rational and scientific in their conception and application. Yet, the priesthood concealed them within exclusive temples, so as to present their foreknowledge of the coming harvest as divine in origin. A simple, yet effective means of increasing their mystique and power over the common folk of their country.
Returning to the Old Testament, we also hear of the Queen of Sheba, who is steeped in folklore and legends of being a demonic queen of the south. The three Magi who visited Jesus at his birth are also alternately known as three kings, implying an obvious connection between the two roles in the minds of those ancient people.
Most interesting to me, however, is the Witch of Endor. In the first book of Samuel, this witch/prophetess is consulted by king Saul about an upcoming battle with the Philistines. During their meeting, the witch allegedly summons an invisible spirit/demon which accurately foretells the downfall of Saul. This is interesting for the obvious reason of a King seeking advice from a witch on a question of military strategy, but also because of the subtle fact that early translators of the tale in the 2nd century BC believed that her act of ritual summoning was, in reality, mere ventriloquism. This rational explanation comes with other implications regarding how she obtained her information and what sorts of tricks and devices she employed to create the appearance of supernaturality. Was the Witch of Endor part of a spy network akin to the oracles? Was Saul being set up to be intentionally demoralized for his lack of faith in Yahweh? Any specifics about her covert craft beyond this are mere speculation, but assuming a rational scientific framework of this event opens up a number of interesting possibilities.
Atomus or Atomos was a jewish magician mentioned in the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus. He was employed by Antonius Felix, the Roman procurator of Judea in the 1st century AD, to execute a personal conspiracy against the client Priest-King of Syria named Azizus of Emesa. In order to improve his standing among the local unruly Jews in the region, Felix gave Atomus the assignment of influencing Azizus' wife, the daughter of Herod (the client King of Judea), to divorce Azizus and marry Felix instead. This apparently worked out in Felix's favor, for the two were indeed married and had a son named Marcus Antonius Agrippa.
Once again, we must assume that this real world political conspiracy was achieved by rational means. We can only wonder what sort of fascinating tricks and techniques were used by the jewish conspirator, Atomus, to accomplish this end. Specifics here are, again, a matter of pure speculation… but the story demonstrates the level of conspiratorial sophistication that ancient magicians were capable of.
Alexander of Abonoteichus also called Alexander the Paphlagonian (c. 105 – c. 170 CE), was an itinerant quack "doctor" and fortuneteller living in Greece. He is referred to as "Greek" but nothing of his early life is known, and he apparently traveled to the region of northern Anatolia specifically to exploit the superstitious gullibility of the natives there. His methods of deception were surprisingly sophisticated. First, he caused a rumor to be spread that the son of Apollo, Asclepius, would be born again. Then, he planted a doctored goose egg containing a live snake at the foundations of the local temple of Asclepius as proof. The snake was "found" before a bewildered crowd and presented by Alexander as the living embodiment of Glycon, a snake god that was meant to be the new incarnation of Asclepius himself. Within a week, this snake "grew" into a man-sized anthropomorphic snake with long blonde hair, which was, in actuality, just an elaborate puppet controlled by Alexander.
Following this successful psyop, Alexander created a highly organized mystery school akin to the Eleusian mysteries, and maintained the illusion of supernatural powers through the covert gathering of information by breaking sealed letters with heated needles, forging broken seals, and conducting blackmail schemes. Over time, his 'magic' gained him followers from Pontus to Rome– his influence became so great that apparently many notable individuals came to him for consultation. He was so politically successful, in fact, that the Roman governor of Asia, Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, took Alexander's daughter as a wife; and even the emperor Marcus Aurelius sent an oracle from Alexander to his army on the Danube to provide counsel. Coins were even minted to commemorate his Glycon cult.
It is hard to believe that Alexander gained acceptance among the ruling class as high as the emperor himself through mere charlatanry. The lower classes with whom he gained popularity could be fooled with hoaxcraft and deceptions, but I think the upper class was in on the con and employed Alexander as a real intelligence operative, using his widespread cult to gather information and influence the public in ways the elites found advantageous. One is led to wonder whether the entire cult was contrived by the elites from the beginning for just this purpose. The full story of Alexander is quite interesting, and I encourage you to research it yourself, but here I think I have sufficiently outlined how he is a perfect example of how magic is used by political elites for strategic purposes.
Merlin is the quintessential wizard advisor of medieval England, and although hard historical evidence or documentation on the figure is scarce, the legends of him that come down to us fit the pattern we have here been describing. Firstly, he was involved in the 'conspiracy' to raise Arthur to king. Then, his magical abilities were used to make predictions and advise King Arthur on political and military strategy. He is claimed to have used his magical 'shapeshifting' skills to disguise Uther Pendragon in order to infiltrate a castle. Overall, the legends about him are steeped in details presented as magic that could easily be reinterpreted as subtle–yet rational– covert techniques and devices.
Michael Scot (1175 – c. 1232) was a famous and powerful mathematician and alchemist of his time. Scot has been called the "prince of necromancers" and a "shape shifter"... terms which may hold hidden significance. He was truly a cosmopolitan man of his time, born in Scotland, but educated at Oxford and Paris, then going on to work in Bologna and Toledo, learning Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic along the way. The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II, took Scot as a personal advisor and court astrologer. Frederick's historical reputation for rational "secular" thought during a time dominated by the dogmas of the Catholic church, indicates to me that Scot's occult style of conduct was a strategic cloak for 'forbidden' knowledge and covert activities.
Folklore from the Scottish Borders region tells that William II de Soulis, a powerful Scottish lord, was schooled in the "black arts" by Michael Scot, who was in that region known as the "wizard of the North". Soulis went on to be involved in a conspiracy against the Scottish King Robert. One can only speculate what of Scot's "dark arts" may have been used in the creation of this plot, but I bet Scot's education was not useless or irrelevant in this regard.
Guido Bonatti was another 13th century astrologer and occultist advisor to Emperor Frederick II, as well as numerous Italian lords and military commanders of his day. Allegedly, he used "astrological midpoints" to predict the outcome of a battle for the Count of Montefeltro, securing for himself a role as military strategist/astrologer. Undoubtedly, his usefulness to the intelligent and shrewd rulers of Italy must have had its origin in secular, rational methods of knowledge and intelligence gathering. I once again find it hard to believe that these no-nonsense military and feudal lords would have kept as an advisor a mere charlatan; Bonatti must have had a proven track record of success that can only come from consistent, rational methodology.
Catharine de' Medici and the Alchemist Cosimo Ruggieri Tapestry by Jean Lulves
The Medici dynasty was an extremely powerful and wealthy family of Italian magnates that consistently worked with occultists for political and military purposes over multiple generations. This father of the Medici dynasty, Cosimo, was an immensely powerful banker and politician who was responsible for commissioning the translation of the famous work of esoteric Hermeticism, the Corpus Hermeticum, into Italian by renowned alchemist Marsilio Ficino. His descendent and duke of Florence, Cosimo I, was also an alchemy enthusiast who was well known to run a spy network which he put to use in his war against neighboring Siena. This family went on over the next couple centuries to achieve extremely high positions of international power, and I suspect their ability to conduct advanced intelligence operations was instrumental in gaining this power.
Roger Bolingbroke and Margery Jourdemayne were a magical, intel service duo active in 15th century England that fits our pattern. Both of these figures were essentially part of the elite ducal household of Humphrey of Lancaster. Bolingbroke was known in his time as a "gret and konnyng man" who was "renowned in all the world" for his abilities in astrology, medicine, and necromancy. Bolingbroke's associate, Margery, was well respected as a physician and fortune-teller herself. She provided a number of prominent noblewomen assistance with fertility treatments, and a number of high ranking noblemen with strategic military advice. This "witch" and "sorcerer" duo was so successful in their predictions and medical aid to their powerful patrons that one must assume, once again, that their occult mystique was merely a means of concealing their rational methods for obtaining useful knowledge.
The mystery of what plots they were executing behind the cloak of magic only increases when considering the conspiracy that led to their deaths. Their employer, Duke Humphrey, was the uncle of King Henry VI, and the death of Henry would likely have resulted in Humphrey's ascendance to the throne. For that reason, when King Henry received word that Bolingbroke produced a "horoscope" predicting his death, the King immediately arrested every "astrologer" involved in Humphrey's household and sentenced them to death. Their official charges were witchcraft and necromancy, but I believe Henry sensed a very real threat in Bolingbroke's horoscope that would have been carried out by way of much more practical assassination methods.
Ninjas or shinobi were spies and mercenary assassins active in feudal era Japan. These covert agents were masters of intelligence gathering, deception, infiltration, and assassination, with skills so great that a supernatural aura was created around them in the eyes of the common folk. Certain techniques of theirs, such as the ability to quickly start fires to aid in an escape, a team's use of identical outfits to create the illusion of one man being in multiple places at once, or the use of specialized kites to fly over walls or enemy terrain, provided them the appearance of having supernatural abilities. This supernatural appearance was even encouraged by the ninjas' own misinformation campaigns, such as in the writings of Nakagawa Shoshunjin, who claimed in his writings to be able to transform into birds and other animals. They even had an esoteric system of "divination" called Onmyōdō, much like those of their western magical counterparts, which they allegedly used to discern the ideal time to make certain strategic actions– but I would assume was a symbolic encrypted language used to conceal their rational methods.
Queen Elizabeth's Intelligence Network of the late 1500s contained a number of famous figures who blurred the lines between science, espionage, psyops, and magic, including John Dee, Edward Kelley, Francis Walsingham, and Francis Bacon, among others. John Dee is perhaps the most important and well known of the gang. He was responsible for helping Queen Elizabeth lay the ideological and economic foundations for transforming England into the British Empire. He was a master of spycraft and insinuated himself into the role of advisor for a number of European rulers, and even worked together with a "polish" (more than likely a polish Jew) nobleman named Olbrecht/Albertus Laski to take out King Stefan Batory and install the English-friendly candidate, Sigismund Vasa III to the Polish throne.
Bacon was another major figure in this era who was heavily involved in magic/occultism at the same time as Dee, and while he was himself closely connected with the espionage network of Walsingham and Dee (especially through his homosexual pedophile brother, Alexander), Francis Bacon's occult knowledge was applied more in the realm of cultural influence rather than covert spy activity. It has long been theorized that Bacon was the ghostwriter behind the works of Shakespeare, and his "Baconian method" and general philosophy of science was a huge inspiration behind the creation of the Royal Society– Great Britain's official state think-tank. So much can be said about this era and these figures, but this brief profile is sufficient, I believe, to show that the elite occultists of this age were operating under rational principles and engaging behind the scenes in conspiratorial "secular" activities that were obfuscated by their reputation as magical men.
Catherine Monvoisin, known as "La Voisin" (c. 1640 – 22 February 1680) was a 'magical fortune teller' who, in fact, operated a spy and assassination network, sold poisons, and conducted disturbing and deranged 'black masses' wherein infants were murdered for their blood. She was deeply connected with the French aristocracy of the time, including the inner circle of the King via his mistress, Madame de Montespan. Her associates gained valuable information through their 'fortune telling' and 'astrological consultations' for wealthy aristocratic clients, and also engaged in underhanded acts like forgery and blackmail. La Voisin's activities came to a head with the "Affair of the Poisons" where dozens of well-connected figures in the French upper class were exposed and indicted for their role in this network of 'magical' conspirators. The affair went so far up the chain of hierarchy that the King eventually had the investigation closed and testimonies sealed because it implicated people that were too close to his royal highness for comfort.
An eerily similar scandal occurred in Italy only a decade prior to the Affair of the Poisons in what is known as the Spana Prosecution where a network of female astrologer/fortune tellers were discovered to be engaged in poisoning and other conspiratorial activity in connection to wealthy Italian aristocrats. The methods and crimes committed were so similar and happened mere years apart from each other that one is led to wonder whether these two events were connected by some kind of international network of astrologer-spy-assassins that operated throughout Europe at that time.
Special thanks to @Airmanareiks on twitter for tipping me off to this guy.
Johann Georg Schröpfer (1738? – 8 October 1774) was an ex-military freemason operating in Germany who promoted himself among elite clients as an occultist who secretly used numerous techniques and devices to create the illusion of being able to summon and speak to the dead, among other charades. He was a well-connected man, with a banker brother and wife from a wealthy merchant family, and was also allegedly financially supported by local nobility and freemasonic lodges.
Schropfer provided 'occult' services to the German prince Karl von Sachsen in the hopes of gaining his confidence and scamming him of his wealth. With this aim, Schropfer used a number of tricks and devices, including camera obscura and magic lantern projections on smoke, ventriloquism, hidden speaking tubes, a hidden glass harmonica and artificial thunder, and others, to convince him and his entourage that he was able to summon the Prince's dead relatives.
His final swindle involved convincing a number of wealthy patrons to 'invest' in a share of a fictional bank security deposit box at Frankfurt am Main. After collecting what amounted to over 1 million modern Euros, he allegedly "committed suicide"... but I suspect he faked his death because immediately afterwards, his Rosicrucian associates went on to found multiple lodges across Germany and continued his scam occult practices.
The Theosophical Society, Ordo Templi Orientis, Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, and various Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Orders of the late 19th/early 20th centuries were led by and packed to the brim with military intelligence, high finance, industry, and government agents promoting various agendas under the guise of magic, astrology and occultism. Some key figures with deep state connections in these organizations were Aleister Crowley, Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, and Henry Steel Olcott. The web of connections between these players and their various socio-psychological designs is so vast that an article thrice the length of this one could be written about it and still barely scratch the surface, but I will attempt a couple rough outlines by providing important facts.
Let's look at Aleister Crowley first. Crowley is easily the most famous of this bunch, and for good reason– he was a lifelong agent of British Intelligence, and his occult operations were ostensibly part of social engineering projects coming from their direction. Crowley worked with Carl Kellner, a wealthy chemist and industrialist, as well as Theodor Reuss, a known spy for the Prussian Secret Police. A lesser known connection of Crowley's was with a famous American astrologer named Evangeline Adams.
Adams tied into the network of intrigue by way of Crowley "ghostwriting" books for her, but she had connections of her own, being a descendent of the American presidential Adams family. Adams, and therefore astrology, and therefore the radical lefty/marxist politics that were embedded in the pro-astrology movement of that time, were promoted via a number of obvious hoaxes and orchestrated events in her day. The mainstream press propped her up by saying she "predicted" the great Windsor Hotel fire in Manhattan, where she was a resident. She was again promoted to the public when she was "arrested" and then given a role in an obvious show trial where she was said, once again by the mainstream press, to have "proven astrology was a science". Perhaps Adams obtained her dramatic flair from her longtime companion, the wealthy famous actress and daughter of a Congressman, Emma Sheridan Fry. Regardless, Adams and the elite-connected network behind her were responsible for effectively promoting astrology to the masses.
Returning to Crowley, Reuss, and Kellner– these men and the organizations they spawned were also closely connected with the spookmother, Helena Blavatsky. Blavatsky was the face of the Theosophical Society, which had lurking behind the scenes the high ranking, well connected military officer, Henry Steel Olcott. Theosophy's occulted globalist/marxist ideology would go on to influence the likes of UNESCO through people like Beatrice Ensor, and therefore would influence the entire pedagogy and agenda of modern state education throughout the world.
For a brief overview on how radical leftism grew out of these occult schools, see:
It appears that this was the era when the occultists, via their elite connections, would be thrust into the mainstream, and their goals and methods began to shift to grand scale social engineering projects to capture and influence the minds of men en masse. Their organizations were always adjacent to or directly associated with so-called "modern progressive" leftist political organizations and it seems they were out to assault white European culture at its metaphysical roots– for example, by promoting degenerate sexual practices, ego-death via drug use, explicitly rejecting institutions such as patriarchy and even marriage, rejecting race as an essential aspect of identity, promoting a universal brotherhood of man, etc.. Like I said at the beginning of this section, this history is incredibly well documented and dense, and drawing all of the connections and exposing all of their projects is worth many more words than I have given here. However, I hope to have demonstrated that these influential figures in the history of 'magic and occultism' were, in fact, actors and government agents utilizing superstition as a tool for social engineering.
Louis de Wohl, John Mulholland, and Jasper Maskelyne were three magical men employed by British and American intelligence during and around WW2. Louis de Wohl was a Jew who apprenticed to be a banker but ended up deciding to become an astrologer working with British Military intelligence and worked in the Department of Psychological Warfare for the British army. He worked on propaganda projects during WW2 and used astrology magazines to further the agenda of British intelligence.
John Mulholland was an American from a wealthy family and worked as a professional magician for some time. During his time as a professional stage magician, he was the editor of the magical trade magazine, The Sphinx, which was deeply connected to the elite establishment through its founders and major contributors. In 1953, the CIA tapped Mulholland to work for them, so he faked an illness to discreetly excuse himself from his responsibilities at The Sphinx and went to work for the CIA. There, he was paid to write a manual for intelligence operatives called The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, which is available online for those interested. His practical knowledge of 'up close and personal' trickery and deception acquired through his training in magic was apparently of interest to the CIA and was used to train secret agents.
Jasper Maskelyne was another British magician from a wealthy magical dynasty family. Though there are some conflicting accounts as to the extent to which his magic aided the British during WW2, he was said to have been recruited to utilize his expertise in camouflage and illusion. Allegedly, he created the illusion of an entire city to divert Axis bombing efforts, and used elaborate set-ups with dummy tanks, aircraft, soldiers, and shell flashes for the same purpose.
I chose these three magical intel figures because the main techniques used by these three have, I believe, combined and evolved into the current class of 'magical' or 'occult' strategies and tactics used by military intelligence today. De Wohl co-opted mainstream media to produce propaganda narratives, Mulholland helped agents perfect their craft of direct interpersonal deception, and Maskelyne engineered large scale illusions and staged events. By integrating these crafts, as well as all the other historical crafts of deception and illusion practiced by every other figure in the above list, into a single discipline, the intelligence agencies of the world have succeeded in becoming the most effective masters of magic in the history of mankind. They have practically obtained the power of 'abracadabra' ("I will create as I speak").
I could go into other occult figures and their intel connections up into the present day, such as the MK Ultra programmer, psychological warfare officer, and founder of the Temple of Set– Michael Aquino… or, the spirit cooking, fake-art producing, pizzagate involved, friend of the Rothschilds– Marina Abramovic… and many others. But, I think you get the picture already. The consistent pattern throughout the ages of powerful magicians, occultists, astrologers, etc. who have worked at the cutting edge of clandestine political strategy and power demonstrates, in my opinion, my original thesis. Overcoming superstition and wielding its power over the credulous confers the conjuror with colossal conspiratorial capacities. Not every occultist then, as of now, is in on this secret… but I believe those who were, over time, obtained immense power behind the scenes of our visible political processes. Looking back on history, we can discard the two most common naïve positions– that the magicians and occultists were either genuinely capable of supernatural feats, or that they were complete quacks and charlatans. We now have what I believe is a more rational theory; one which respects and takes into account the intelligence of political elites going back to ancient times, as well as the capacity for superstitious gullibility among people from every tier on the social hierarchy.
In the next segment of this article, I will begin with a more abstract philosophical analysis of the concept of magic per se, and how it could fit into a rational understanding of reality. Then, we will use both this rational analysis and the historical facts outlined here in part 1 to identify, speculate, and reflect upon the current "state of the art" in this historical practice of magic.