“Try!”

One of the things that makes the magical history of America so, well, magical is the number of astonishing individuals who have played a central role in it. Even among the extraordinary gallimaufry of figures who are part of our story, though, the subject of this week’s post stands out. His name was Paschal Beverly Randolph, and he was an American original:  the first internationally famous African-American occultist, the creator of traditions of magic and occult wisdom that remain active today,...