Release year: 2024
Publisher: Basam Books
Original title: High Magick – A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row
Available in: multiple languages
The name of Damien Echols might be familiar to you not only if you have an interest in magick and esotericism, but also popular culture and/or true crime. You see, as a teenager, Echols was sentenced as part the West Memphis Three for the murder of three young boys in a “satanic ritual.” Twenty years later he was released from death row due to a lack of evidence: one of the most lamentable tragedies and excesses the so-called satanic panic.
This is not mere marketing fodder for this book, but of quintessential importance to it. It was during his time in prison, where he was kept in isolation much of the time, that Echols dedicated himself to the study of magick and the pursuit of magickal power. As the subtitle of the book implies – “opas niihin henkisiin harjoituksiin joilla vältin kuolemantuomion” aka “A guide to the spiritual practices that saved my life on death row” – contained herein is an introduction to Magick as perceived by Damien Echols, and learned during his time on death row.
Translator Matti Rautaniemi has in the context of this work described High Magic as a Western form of Yoga. This may help to properly contextualize what this book is primarily about: practical excercises in the form of meditations, visualizations and rituals. If your idea of Magick is theatralic ceremonial magic involving complex ritual chants and ornate props, or even the fantasy boom magic of fireballs shooting out of a wand, you might be a bit stumped by the simplicity of Echol’s High Magic.
And no, it’s not about weirdly named poses that are hard to get into done in spandex gear one hour a week. Not that kind of Yoga; rather, what Echols writes about and Rautaniemi refers to is something akin to the spiritual aspect of Yoga, not postmodern, secular Western conceptions. But in some other ways, Echols’ book fails to escape the banality of the postmodern West. We’ll get to that in a while.
In essence, Echols is a modern exponent of Western Esotericism in the shape it took during the 19th century. This means his concept is based heavily on Kabbalism, christian Kabbalism and older strands of Western Esotericism as filtered through authorities such as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Echols is quite upfront about all of this, too. One of the ritual practices presented in the book is his take on the Lesser ritual of the pentagram, which is originally one of the rituals of the Golden Dawn. It, like many of the other rituals, is full of judeo-christian symbolism and Hebrew terminology.
The book does explain that the use of judeo-christian terminology is not mandatory, and that with experience and understanding, one can swap out judeo-christian names for something one relates to better. But, writes Echols, it’s best to start out with the rituals as he presents them.
And now that while I mentioned above has gone, and we return to where I think Echols errs. In a nutshell, what Echols suggests is that the reader delve head first into magic through practical exercises. The book is very thin on theory, explaining only in passing rudiments of magical concepts, and encourages people to engage in the ritual practices presented in the book instead.
I think of Rene Guénon and his The Crisis of the Modern World, which I wrote about some time ago (read here). In the book, Guénon discusses the relationship between action and contemplation, and finds that one of the symptoms of the crisis of the West and the modern world lies in how action has supplanted contemplation, when it should be subordinate. People act before pondering and understanding the consequences, ramifications, reasons and larger context of their actions.
Is this not exactly what Echols encourages us to do?
In my opinion, the proper way to approach Magick is to first truly understand something about it, about theory, cosmology and concepts – then engage in putting it to practice. Yes, even when this means you can’t just jump headfirst into your first attempts at practical Magick. Echols advocates just this dive into magical work on essentially his terms, in a judeo-christian context many might struggle to understand or even relate to. (To Echols’ credit, he does encourage people to progress through the exercises with a slow pace, stopping at each for weeks at a time before proceeding to the next.)
Another thing I object to in this book is how Echols at times banalizes Magick. Especially his constant mentions of using magic for wealth and other profane personal gain (success in love, studies, work etc.) is very distasteful to me; the apex of which is his recounting of an episode in a casino. Call me elitist, aristocratic or evolian for all I care, but: to me Magick, the Great Work and in general the pursuit of esoteric wisdom should aim for the sacral and the transcendent, not something as mundane as wealth.
Again, I think of René Guénon: ’tis truly a sign of the times, when transcendent practices are used in the increase of quantity – material wealth.
Whilst I object to some aspects of Echols’ portrayal and attitude towards Magick, there are also positive remarks to be made. In his descriptions of rituals and and exercises, Echols is clear and his instructions are easy to understand. The steps are easy to follow, and certainly: with a bit of understanding of the internal logic of these rituals, and proper understanding of some myth cycle and/or esoteric tradition that appeals to oneself, these can be adapted to suit practically whatever system.
I’m a bit unsure what I think of the books’ and Echols’ stated intent of “de-mystifying” Magick and making it more accessible. On the one hand, I can agree with the desire to strip away layers of elitist pretentiousness; but on the other, does it risk making Magick too mundane, comfortable and banal? Some passages of the book come dangerously close to trite, cosy New Age stuff, so I don’t think you can entirely rule out the latter happening.
All things considered, High Magick is nonetheless an interesting read, not least because of the background to the practices described herein. If you’ve an interest in Magick and are in need of an accessible, entry level guide (which is Echols’ stated intent for this book), then this certainly fits the bill. But I do think you should pay heed to my reservations above and consider them carefully.
Matti Rautaniemi’s Finnish translation is a job well done for the most part. However, the constant use of the very English “passive you” (sinä-passiivi) is something that rubs me the wrong way. True, Echols does direct his text very directly to the reader, but especially when overused, it is still a mode of expression that doesn’t sit well with the Finnish language. Apart from that, I’ve no significant complaints in the direct and well flowing translation. Visually, too, the book is very nice – from the cover to the illustrations inside the book.
It’s also interesting to see a serious book on High Magic being published by a non-niché publisher in Finland. This may not be entirely unheard of, but it is rare. Interest in the spiritual and the esoteric has been on the rise in recent years – I suppose we can read this as a sign of the times?
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