The Myth of the Magus

by Elizabeth M. Butler

The Magus, a legendary magician of superhuman powers, is an archetype central to myth and religion across many cultures. Identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed by a shaman or wizard to ensure the prosperity of his tribe, E.M. Butler goes on to trace its subsequent development in pre-Christian religious and mystic philosophers, in medieval sorcerers and alchemists, and finally in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century occult revival. From Zoroaster to Solomon, Merlin to Faust, Cagliostro to Rasputin, legends of the Magus are explored and where possible compared with the historical record in this fascinating account, first published in 1948, of one of the major figures in religious and occult mythology.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Magic, Mythology

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Eliza Marian Butler was born in Lancashire England in 1885. She was a professor at Cambridge University. Her most famous books were The Myth of the Magus (1) & Ritual Magic. (2) She briefly cites the Great Beast, Aleister Edward Crowley. In her first book she casually mentioned him simply as "the amanuensis of Aiwaz." (3) She does not give any indication that she ever actually met or personally knew him. However, Butler did know Crowley & often used the name "Old Crow" when discussing him in her 1959 autobiography Paper Boats (4) which contains priceless stories which no biography on Crowley, to date, has ever bothered to review. She admits that she "cavalierly treated" him in her books & claims, "I have been blamed for this; but somehow, one way & another, I could not take him seriously." (5)
How did the two first meet? Well, it all began with her desire to visit Hastings & interview Crowley on the subject of magic while she was writing her first book, The Myth of the Magus. A friend who openly admired Old Crow gave her Crowley's address so that she could write him a letter. Crowley briefly mentions these letters in his diaries as "Chit from Prof Butler." (6) After corresponding she finally decided "to go down to Hastings & see what I could learn." (7)
On January 1st 1946, Butler found herself setting off from London by train to the Beast's lair at Netherwood. Upon arriving at Crowley's boarding house, a "small dark man, announcing himself as the manager, greeted me in the hall; & as we were exchanging banalities a seedy figure in light tweed knickerbockers materialised on the stairs & a grating voice was heard to utter: 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law'." Butler claims that her direct response to Crowley's statement was an unspoken comment which immediately ran through her mind: "In that case...I'm for the next train back"-but somehow she decided to stay. (8)
Her initial reaction to Crowley was that "he was more repulsive than I had expected, & his voice was the ugliest thing about him: thin, fretful, scratchy-a pedantic voice & a pretentious manner." (9) Unfortunately Crowley didn't give her time to get a second impression due to the fact that he quickly ran back upstairs to get an injection of heroin for his asthma.
Later they shared lunch together with Crowley discussing at length numerous theories regarding magick & "quoting grandiloquently from his own works." (10) While this was going on she states that "I began by detesting, loathing & abominating Old Crow, not so much on ethical as on aesthetic grounds." (11) After all the stories, rumors & horrendous things that Crowley had supposedly done throughout his life this woman simply didn't like his appearance! She describes Crowley as having "thick eye-glasses, a perpetual tear in the corner of one eye & a flattish yellow face." (12) During the meal she began to wonder what kind of pressure had been brought upon the management of such a nice, clean, cheerful little place as Netherwood which would have persuaded them to allow Crowley to establish residency there. His occult rambling attracted much attention in the commonplace British dining room, to the point of discomfort for Butler who watched several guests leave, wishing she could follow them.
Still, she stuck to her interview & after lunch she "followed the magus & the brandy-bottle up to his room." (13) As to Crowley's apartment, Butler states it had a feeling of "squalor, airlessness & indefinable atmosphere of pollution...it would need a Kafka to describe it." However, she later admitted she learned quite a lot from Crowley. All in all, Butler conducted four interviews that day from noon until 9:30pm with small breaks in between for Crowley to inject himself with heroin & for herself to clear her head & stiffen her morale.
At one point he tried to convince her that he was an instrument of Higher Beings & in order to prove this, he offered to make himself invisible on the spot! In some

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but dense! The author is writing at a level that made me feel like the audience she wrote for needed a masters degree in both classics and religion. She barely puts things in context, or gives any overview so I couldn’t give it a 5 star, despite it being very interesting and well written.

[Thomas Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to the mage role in the Western mind from its apex in antiquity forming the foundations of Judaeo-Christian belief (Solomon/Christ/magi) to descent into fraud and a rogues gallery of charlatans (Faust/Blavatsky/Rasputin). All this is underpinned by "ten stock features" of the magus biography.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unmemorable book. Introductory level. The first of a trilogy focusing ultimately on the Faust legends.

Note that Elizabeth M. Butler usually published as E.M. Butler and that her actual name was Eliza Marian Butler.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting, though very heavy history of the lore of magic and the historical figures attributed magical powers. It made a good case for several of the required events for the archetype, as well as talking about how the story figure of the wise magician won't be vanishing from the collective consciousness anytime soon. Though it would probably be more apt for a student in a master's program, I found it enlightening. Due to readability and requirements of previous knowledge I am giving this three stars.

[Sergio Mollinedo · Rating 3 out of 5]

De lectura no muy liviana, ideal para acompañar con un café cargado. En él se expone de una manera muy completa las fascetas relevantes de ciertos personajes históricos y mitológicos que han dado pie a las creencias vigentes en relación a la magia. Si habla de ficción y fantasía es en función a lo que esta generó en el mundo, tiene una visión crítica sobre las creencias y aporta mucha bibliografía para complementar su investigación. Es un buen libro que, aunque no era lo que buscaba (¿qué buscaba?), da un marco de referencia para otros.