Social - Spiritual Activism

By Rhys

For what purpose do we use our magic, tools, tarot, and astrology?  Since the rise of the new-age spiritualism in the 1970s, and (what Kenneth Grant called) The Magical Revival, our spiritual practices have largely focused on self-improvement.  These practices help us become more self-aware and raise our consciousness, which, in turn, can manifest in our material lives.  Yet, now some now are wondering how in the world can personal enlightenment, so focused previously on the individual, affect social, political, and economic change?

This is not a rhetorical question.  You might have heard of the WITCH protest in 1968, which may have been the first overt, public demonstration of integrating esotericism with social/political protest.  More recently, over the past few years, many authors have started to redefine the methods, tools, and practices of spiritual development.  They are turning our attention, for example, to how we can use our tarot to confront racism, how myths about Eve can challenge hierarchical systems of power, how we can use magic for troubled times, how astrology can undermine institutions of capital and power, how the tarot can be used as a tool for decolonization, or how to use magic for activism and resistance.  These authors are seriously pushing esoteric spiritual practices from individual development towards exoteric social, political, and economic change.  And this doesn't even get to the other recent and significant trend of queering the tools and practices.

We've organized these new works and others into a new esoteric social activism collection.  Check it out.  Thanks.