Theurgy by Mouni Sadhu

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to announce the reappearance of an occult classic:  Theurgy: The Art of Effective Worship by Mouni Sadhu. 

His real name was Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski.  (That's him below on the right.)  Born in Poland in 1897, he got involved in the thriving Polish occult scene after the First World War, and also studied in Paris with French occultists. After the Second World War he lived in Brazil for a while, then spent some time in India studying with the great Hindu teacher Sri Ramana Maharshi, before settling in Melbourne, Australia for the rest of his life. A lifelong Roman Catholic, he wrote a series of books on Christian occultism and mysticism that drew from Catholic and Orthodox traditions, as well as Hermeticism and Hindu traditions.  Most of these have been out of print for many years, but that's now changing. 

To my mind Theurgy is the most important of his books, simply because it's the only English-language work known to me that presents the 19th- and early 20th-century French tradition of Christian theurgy in sufficient detail for practical use. (Theurgy?  That's the practical art of invoking the divine to heal, bless, and protect human beings.)  There's been a promising revival of Christian occultism in recent years, but what I've seen has mostly derived from medieval, Renaissance, and early modern sources; the material in Theurgy is different. It starts by outlining the theory of Christian theurgy, goes from there to basic theurgic prayer, then to more advanced practices, and finally to theurgic ceremonies. Like most of his later books, it assumes you also have access to Concentration and The Tarot, his two most famous books -- but I'm glad to say those will also be back in print shortly. 

Interested?  You can order a copy here. I'll be discussing some of Mouni Sadhu's other works in a later post on this journal.  

Comments

[gullindagan]

Nice! I have two of his books, and always wanted to get this, but it was way too expensive.

[(Anonymous)]

What a surprise! I look forward to reading this, and to reading what more you have to say about it.

MILLICENTLY LURKING

Only available in the UK

[(Anonymous)]

Is it only available in the UK or is there a US based link?

Thank you

Steve C

Re: Only available in the UK

[ecosophia]

You can also get it here:

https://redwheelweiser.com/detail.html?id=9781904658085

Polytheism

[(Anonymous)]

Would Sadhu's system be of any use to polytheists, or is it too focused on the Christian god and severing ties to the material world to be adapted?

Re: Polytheism

[ecosophia]

It's pretty Christian, not so much about severing ties to the material world, but focused on repentance and salvation. You'd have to have a pretty fair collection of polytheist prayers to use.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow! You just made my day, JMG. Thanks so much!!!

Ron M

[jprussell]

Other than for its intellectual interest, how useful would you say this is for non-Christians? Specifically, I'm thinking of cases like William Gray's The Office of the Holy Tree of Life you mentioned a few posts ago, where techniques in a Christian context could be usefully adapted to other religious traditions.

[ecosophia]

It's a mixed bag. Most of the basic concepts could be reworked but of course all the prayers have to be replaced.

[claire_58]

Is there a similar text that would be appropriate for non-Christians?

Posts in relation to previous topics

[moops25]

Hi JMG,

Sorry, but this is just a general question and doesn't relate specifically to this recent post. If I have a question with regard to an older post or topic, say Radionics, do I just find it under the "Most Popular Tags" list and reply to the last entry ? Will you see it ?

Regards,
Steve

Re: Posts in relation to previous topics

[ecosophia]

I'd prefer that you post it on my weekly Magic Monday open post, where I'm certain to see it. The next one will be starting at midnight Eastern time tonight, if that's any incentive!

[brenainn]

Thank you for this! I had never heard of Mouni Sadhu before but I'll definitely be buying this book and seeing about acquiring the other ones you've mentioned. The more that I've studied Christian occultism, the more that I have realized there is a rich Catholic tradition of occult practice. In hindsight, I should not have been surprised. But the current situation in the Church is one of traditionalist/conservative Catholics who freak out if you read the newspaper horoscope and liberal Catholics who laugh anything remotely occult to scorn. I'll do my best to become a competent Catholic mage and pass some of these treasures onto the next generation. Thank you!

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome. Mouni Sadhu had quite a following in American occult circles in the mid-20th century, but his work dropped out of sight almost completely once Neopaganism became fashionable. I'm glad to see his work coming back in, not least because the Catholic occult revival can really benefit from his ideas (and from the French tradition more generally).

[brenainn]

I wonder if I should acquire a reading knowledge of French? I'm guessing there's a lot of great French Catholic occult material that hasn't been translated.

[ecosophia]

There's an enormous amount, though it's beginning to find its way into translation. Yes, French might be a very good choice.

[mo_drui_mac_de]

If you've not encountered him yet, Agostino Taumaturgo (aka Jason Spadafore) over at https://thavmapub.com/ is a former priest and consecrated Roman Catholic bishop and has been doing an awful lot to explore and publish as much traditional Catholic occultism as possible. Definitely worth checking out.

[ecosophia]

Do you happen to know whether he's familiar with the sort of French occult Catholicism MS teaches, with connections to Maitre Philippe, Paul Sédir, et al.? The only things even distantly related to that I've seen on his site are a few Martinist rituals.

[mo_drui_mac_de]

I honestly couldn't say. I do know most recently he's been digging into an awful lot of medieval - pre-Enlightenment Latin ritual and spell-texts and researching an awful lot of deep-sixed man-on-the-street exorcism techniques (his most recent publication is entitled The Big Book of Exorcisms: Diagnostics, Masses, Litanies, Exorcisms, and Field Advice for Priests, with Copious Methods for Use by the Laity.) I've not seen any evidence that he's familiar with Mouni Sadhu or French traditions more generally, but I'll keep an eye out.

[ecosophia]

Fair enough. I'm delighted that he's reviving the medieval material -- there was a fantastic amount of that back in the day, and having a lot of people familiar with spells that can banish malign spirits and bring healing and blessing to people and places will be a plus for everyone, Catholic or not. I was simply curious.

[brenainn]

I've been reading a lot of his work and have recently begun watching his livestreams on Facebook (he does an evening prayer service on Wednesdays and another on Sundays). I can't recall him mentioning anything like MS or French occult Catholicism. However, if one of his talks presents an opening for me to ask him about MS, I'll definitely ask. I'll let you know what he says.

[brenainn]

Do you happen to know if his works are in the public domain? I just found a free pdf copy of his book, "Concentration." I'll only use it if someone doesn't own the copyright to it. Thanks.

[ecosophia]

As far as I know they are not in the public domain. Concentration will be back in print later this year, for whatever that's worth.

[brenainn]

Thank you. After I posted my question, I did a little more digging and found a used copy for about $10, so I'll order that. His book on the tarot, though, fetches a much higher price, and I might need to wait for it to be republished.

[ecosophia]

Thank you for doing the right thing! As for The Tarot, I've written the introduction for the new edition, and it should be out along with Concentration later this year.

[brenainn]

I look forward to getting a copy!

Interesting (No text).

[(Anonymous)]

:-)