Peter Haining – The Magicians

[dem bones]

Peter Haining (ed) – The Magicians: True Stories Of The Occult By Author-Magicians (Pan, 1975)

Alan Lee

Peter Haining - Foreword
Colin Wilson - Introduction

Joris-Karl Huysmans – The Black Mass
Eliphas Levi – The Magus
Madame Blavatsky – A Story Of The Mystical
Aleister Crowley – An Experiment In Necromancy
W. B. Yates – Rosa Alchemica
Arthur Machen – Strange Occurrence In Clerkenwell
Dion Fortune – Return Of The Ritual
Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle – Playing With Fire
Sax Rohmer – Breath Of Allah
Lewis Spence – Lucifer Over London
Algernon Blackwood – With Intent To Steal
Gerald Gardner – The Witch Cult

Peter Haining – Afterword

Blurb;
The astonishing world of the occult revealed in twelve true tales by famous writers, all with a particular interest in the supernatural
With an introduction by Colin Wilson.

"In this volume, you will find stories and extracts which cover virtually every aspect of the occult and are truly remarkable in that in each case the author is a person with practical experience of his subject.
" ... If you have ever shuddered over purely imaginary tales of magic and mystery, read now a group of stories that provide for even more surprises, yet are authentic in almost every detail."

From the Foreword by Peter Haining

Austin O. Spare

Lewis Spence - Lucifer over London: (London Mystery #1, Dec. 1949). German Nazi occultists, sore at losing WWII, convene at a Satanic chapel near Kempton Park. They are intent on summoning Lucifer to unleash lightening bolts on Nelson's Column, reduce it to rubble as a preliminary for the Reich's vengeance on England (not Britain ?), Russia and America. To do so, they must mentally enslave an avowed anti-Nazi, the brilliant scientist-turned-fledgling Magus, Dr. Ludwig Lehmann, an Austrian refugee who has yet to recover from a serious nervous breakdown ...

Madame Blavatsky - A Story of the Mystical: (The New York Sun, December 26, 1875: The Theosophist, Jan. 1883, as Can the Double Murder?). A seance to identify - and strike dead - those who assassinated Prince Michael Obrenović III and the Princess Katrina in a Belgrade park on 10 June 1868. A Romanian gypsy girl proves better than equal to the task. 'True' - whatever anyone says.

Algernon Blackwood - With Intent to Steal: (The Empty House & Other Ghost Stories, 1906). "I do not mean physical fear ... for that is more or less a question of nerves and will, and it is imagination that makes men cowards. I mean an absolute fear, a physical fear one might call it, that reaches the soul and withers every power one possesses."

A barn haunted by the evil spirit of a Black Magician (and superb gardener) who entices those who fall under his influence to follow his example, hang themselves from the rafters. There have been three such fatalities this summer alone - even Jim Shorthouse was driven to abandon his initial vigil. Now he returns with a sceptical companion [Blackwood] ....

[humgoo]

The Austin O. Spare illustration is very attractive. And is "Lucifer over London" one of the first Nazi occultist stories?

[Dr Strange]

Jan 29, 2020 12:07:43 GMT humgoo said:

And is "Lucifer over London" one of the first Nazi occultist stories?

Very probably - and Spence was also the author of the "non-fiction" book Occult Causes of the Present War, first published in 1940.

Maybe the very first work of fiction to link the Nazis with occultism would be Dennis Wheatley's Strange Conflict (1941)?

[helrunar]

That's a gorgeous cover. Great scan Kev!

I don't think either Conan Doyle or Sax Rohmer ever actually practiced magic, but who knows. Rohmer's book The Romance of Sorcery is a fun read, especially if you can find the complete original edition--there's an abridged version that circulates widely. I can't recall if it was cut for American consumption or just what the story was.

The Gardner piece is mostly likely an excerpt from Gardner's novel High Magic's Aid.

Interesting selection!

cheers, Steve

[dem bones]

Jan 29, 2020 17:54:09 GMT helrunar said:

That's a gorgeous cover.

Couldn't agree more. I adore his work. Here's a mini-gallery: Alan Lee

Arthur Machen – Strange Occurrence In Clerkenwell: (The Three Imposters, 1895). Dramatic end sequence of the episodic novel, incorporating History of the Young Man With Spectacles and Adventure of the Deserted Residence. James Walters is befriended by a fellow scholar in the reading rooms of the British Museum. Dr. Lipsius casually invites the young man into what at first appears to be a harmless club for sensualists. There is more to it than that, of course, and "after a time it was pointed out to me that I must take my share of the work, and so I found myself in my turn a seducer."

James Walters' first simple task is to waylay Mr. James Headley, author, and lure him to an address off Oxford Street. Headly has come into possession of a magical coin, the gold Tiberius, and Lipsius and his agents will stop at nothing to relieve him of same. Walters completes his mission and, when next he sets eye upon Headley, the poor old fellow is laid out in a sarcophagus having been mummified alive. Walters takes flight, but Lipsius has a Satanist in ever port and surely it is only a matter of time before he, too, is apprehended and torture-murdered.

By a fortunate coincidence, Mr. Dyson chances upon Walters' testimony and he and Mr. Phillipps follow the trail to a decrepit, horribly haunted mansion on the outskirts of London. But will our medium paced action antiquarians reach Walters in time?

Arthur Conan Doyle - Playing With Fire: (The Strand, March 1900). It is the contention of M. Paul de Duc, seer, medium and mystic, that one can "create a thing that never existed by merely thinking about it. " To prove as much, he materialises a mythological creature during a seance. Story is unique in that it prominently features one of those things while remaining within the bounds of the tolerable.

Dion Fortune - Return of the Ritual: (The Secrets of Dr. Taverner, 1926). An ancient ritual falls into the hands of Peter Robson, a London clerk. Taverner is desperate to retrieve it before the Chelsea Black Lodge can do so - there is really no telling what horrors they might unleash upon us were that to be the case! Having prepared us for something potentially exciting, author veers off into a meditation on past lives, reincarnation, a chance of redemption, etc. Who knowsif it would have made for a more interesting story had Taverner the good grace to slip up and allow the Diabolists to claim the prize?

Yet another Haining anthology that seems much better second time around - or maybe I've not yet come to the duller pieces. The Machen, Spence, Blackwood and (all things considered) Conan Doyle are super and Madame Blavatsky's contribution is all the more chilling because - we can't stress this enough - it really happened.

[dem bones]

Jan 29, 2020 17:54:09 GMT helrunar said:

I don't think either Conan Doyle or Sax Rohmer ever actually practiced magic, but who knows.

"There are one or two stories in this volume which must be regarded as pure entertainment. I find it difficult to agree with Peter Haining that Arthur Machen, Conan Doyle and Sax Rohmer were real 'occultists,' rather than literary men who dabbled in the subject. Madame Blavatsky was an old charlatan ...." - from Colin Wilson's Introduction.

Gerald Gardner – The Witch Cult: (Extract from High Magic's Aid, 1949). "It is the fashion today to laugh at the Magus and his pretensions, to picture him as either a charlatan or a doddering old fool, and bearing the slightest resemblance to the men who were in fact, the scientists of the day, who gave us alcohol, but not the Atom bomb.".

Jan approaches Morven and her husband, Thur, with a view to becoming a witch. He has plenty of questions.

"What, though, of the devils? Is it true that I must worship them before I can join your number?"
"No! they are not devils, Jan, that is a priestish lie, they are but the old gods of love and laughter and peace and content."
"Do we ride broomsticks?"
"No, that is but silly chatter, too ..."

Thus satisfied, Jan undergoes initiation. This involves nudity, bondage, mild flagellation, and mumbo jumbo. Somehow it still makes for desperately dull reading.

The following day, Thur performs an elaborate ritual to consecrate the pentacles for use in the Great Circle.

Now this is more like it;

Aleister Crowley – An Experiment In Necromancy: (Extract from Moonchild, 1929). To be specific, the first half of 'Chapter XV: Of Dr. Vesquit And His Companions, How They Fared In Their Work Of Necromancy,' though it functions perfectly as a stand alone story. Dr. Vesquit, assisted by Arthwait and Abdul Bey, conduct a vile and dangerous ritual incorporating demon-raising, cat torture, and goat-sacrifice, in an attempt at reviving a corpse. Sadly for them, they succeed. "And the old Doctor saw in that instant that his life had been an imbecility, that he had taken the wrong path." A gleefully unpleasant cautionary tale.

Eliphas Levi – The Magus: (Extract from The Key of the Mysteries, trans Aleister Crowley, The Equinox # 10, Autumn 1913). A young priest requests urgent audience with the Magus. He is desperate to obtain a copy of 'the Grimoire of Honorious,' and is willing to pay 100 francs for the privilege. The Magus assures him; "The work itself is worthless. It is a pretended constitution of Honorius II, which you will find perhaps quoted by some erudite collector of apocryphal constitutions. You can find it in the library." The Priest thanks him, heads off for the library with the ominous parting shot, "Before long, you will hear something. You will hear me spoken of." He is good as his word. Some months later Paris is in mourning for a popular Archbishop, stabbed to death during a religious festival. The maniac responsible takes the death sentence in his stride, safe in the knowledge that, having performed the infernal evocation in the bogus Grimoire, there is not the slightest possibility of his ever being killed ....

[dem bones]

Sax Rohmer - Breath of Allah: (Premier Magazine, Feb. 1918). Over-long comic fantasy, set in Cairo during the days of Empire. The dishonourable Hon. Neville Kernaby is tasked by his employers to learn the composition of supremely exclusive perfume, 'the Breath of Allah.' To do so requires his infiltrating the shop of he-who-alone-knows-the-secret, Mohammed er-Rahmân, as he performs the required magical ritual to prepare the fabulous fragrance. The dastardly Brit gains nothing for his efforts save an unsought hashish trip.

[helrunar]

"Breath of Allah" is one of the "Tales of Abu-Tabah" which comprises half of Rohmer's short story collection, Tales of Secret Egypt. I have a sentimental fondness for that book in part because the reprint edition of it from the 1920s "Masterpieces of Oriental Mystery" is one of the few books from my teenhood days still to be in my possession--I am really not clear how that occurred, but there seems to have been one box of books from the old house in Maryland I managed to salvage, and this book must have been in that box.

This story illustrates the fact that in a lot of Rohmer's tales, the supposed Brit protagonist is either inept or dishonest or both. Wonder-worker Abu-Tabah, an Egyptian "man of mystery," is the real hero of the tales. Each of the stories provides a variant on the theme of how he saves Kernaby's arse as the latter bungles his way through various "intrigues" in Old Cairo.

I saw online recently that somebody has suggested in the vein of Philip Jose Farmer that Abu-Tabah was 'really Sherlock Holmes in disguise"--no comment.

cheers, Hel

[dem bones]

Joris-Karl Huysmans - The Black Mass: (Extract from chapter XIX of Là-Bas, 1891). On learning that his lover is a Devil Worshipper, Durtal, who is researching the life and alleged crimes of Gilles de Rais, prevails upon her to let him sit in on a Black Mass. Mme. Chantelouve duly escorts him to the chapel of a disused Ursuline convent in Paris, there to witness the foul antics of Canon Docre and his depraved congregation. "It is interesting to note," writes Colin Wilson in the introduction, 'that until this volume no full and complete translation of this Black Mass scene existed in English, various details having always been omitted." Haining thanks him for restoring the missing passages.

W. B. Yeats - Rosa Alchemica: (Stories of Red Hanrahan, 1914). Yeats' successful initiation into the Order of the Alchemical Rose is achieved via the scenic route and accompanied by cosmic visions. Beautifully written, heavy going for spiritual vacuums likes of self.

[andydecker]

Here is the old German edition. Going the classical way with a classic painting as a cover

Wanted to re-read this for ages. I just remember that it is at times kind of a chore to read, especially if you don't know nothing about the historical culture struggle which is the background for the protagonist. It needs a lot of patience, especially at the beginning. But the parts about Gilles are very well done, considering this was written in 1890.