Occulture: The Unseen Forces That Drive Culture Forward

Written by Carl Abrahamsson and Gary Lachman

Narrated by Micah Hanks

Explores the role of magic and the occult in art and culture from ancient times to today

• Examines key figures behind esoteric cultural developments, such as Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner

• Explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture

• Reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end and offers strategies to rekindle intuitive creativity

Art, magic, and the occult have been intimately linked since our prehistoric ancestors created the first cave paintings some 50,000 years ago. As civilizations developed, these esoteric forces continued to drive culture forward, both visibly and behind the scenes, from the Hermetic ideas of the Renaissance, to the ethereal worlds of 19th century Symbolism, to the occult interests of the Surrealists.

In this deep exploration of “occulture”--the liminal space where art and magic meet--Carl Abrahamsson reveals the integral role played by magic and occultism in the development of culture throughout history as well as their relevance to the continuing survival of art and creativity. Blending magical history and esoteric philosophy with his more than 30 years’ experience in occult movements, Abrahamsson looks at the phenomena and people who have been seminal in modern esoteric developments, including Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner.

Showing how art and magic were initially one and the same, the author explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture. He reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end--if it is intense, emotional, violent, and expressive--and offers strategies for creating freely, magically, even spontaneously, with intent unfettered by the whims of trends, a creative practice akin to chaos magick that assists both creators and spectators to live with meaning. He also looks at intuition and creativity as the cornerstones of genuine individuation, explaining how insights and illuminations seldom come in collective forms.

Exploring magical philosophy, occult history, the arts, psychology, and the colorful grey areas in between, Abrahamsson reveals the culturally and magically transformative role of art and the ways the occult continues to transform culture to this day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inner Traditions Audio
• Release date: Jan 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781620559468

Carl Abrahamsson

Carl Abrahamsson is a writer, publisher, magico-anthropologist, filmmaker, and photographer. Since the mid-1980s he has been active in the magical community, integrating “occulture” as a way of life and lecturing about his findings and speculations. The editor and publisher of the annual anthology of occulture, The Fenris Wolf, and the author of Reasonances, he divides his time between Stockholm, Sweden, and New York City.

Reviews for Occulture

[Home Alone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved some parts of it. Some of them not so much. A good listen anyhow.

[Helio Omar Benavides Sanchez · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are very good thoughts and references in this book, it is entertaining content

[Cypress Butane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read several great books of the writer who provided the forward for this and this book did not disappoint based on that. Great series of papers on magick and art and the social admixture with relevant references and great insights into where we are today, and where we might like to go - Cypress Butane thehauntedtypewriter dot com August 2022

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I requested this book, I thought it was an exploration of how occult beliefs have infiltrated our culture- things like why we have a pyramid topped with an eyeball on our basic currency. Turns out, that’s not what this is, even though the description on the Amazon page makes it sound that way. There are some references to that- like how the first art that we know of, cave paintings, were of magical intent. But the ‘occulture’ that is referred to is a post-modern movement, not the spiritualists of yore- but I had to look elsewhere for this explanation as it’s not laid out explicitly in the book.

It wasn’t an easy read for me. I didn’t understand an awful lot of it, and because of that it bored me and I almost didn’t finish it. YMMV. Also, it’s wasn’t written originally as a book; the chapters are conference papers given at various events in the last few years, which results in chapters not flowing into each other. Three stars.

[annarellix-322425 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was expecting a book not and series of conference papers. Some chapters are interesting some are not. Not easy to read and sometimes it suffers from the content source.
I was really curious and had some expectations. Not all of my expectations were met.
Many thanks to Inner Traditions and Netgalley