Papers by Francisco Santos Silva
Introdução Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) foi um anatomista e fisiólogo Inglês, conhecido hoje princip... more Introdução Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) foi um anatomista e fisiólogo Inglês, conhecido hoje principalmente como o "Pai da Fisiologia das Plantas". No entanto foi mais do que isto, era também um filósofo, teólogo e médico, numa conjugação de profissões que nos parece familiar quando falamos deste período histórico. No entanto, nos dias de hoje é conhecido, pelos poucos que o conhecem, quase exclusivamente pelo seu trabalho sobre a Anatomia das Plantas, particularmente com a obra The Anatomy of Plants begun as a philosophical history of plants, ou a Anatomia das Plantas, iniciada como uma história filosófica das plantas. A relevância desta obra pode ser facilmente vista por uma crítica contemporânea publicada nas Philosophical Transactions da Royal Society em 1675 que diz, e passo a citar:
O Esoterismo do mundo Ocidental é uma área particularmente interessante no que diz respeito às di... more O Esoterismo do mundo Ocidental é uma área particularmente interessante no que diz respeito às diferentes perspectivas que são utilizadas no seu estudo, porque muito embora possa parecer uma área do conhecimento com uma relevância mais histórica do que actual, a verdade é que é uma área ainda muito sensível para muitos estudiosos. Por Esoterismo, tomamos uma área de estudo que inclui não só a filosofia hermética desde o período helénico até aos dias de hoje, mas também práticas de carácter ocultista 1 , como sejam a alquimia, astrologia ou magia cerimonial, entre outras. Por Hermetismo entende-se uma sub-divisão do Esoterismo que está particularmente ligada à ideias Helénicas relacionadas com a figura de Hermes Trismegistus, bem como o redescobrimento destas ideias no período renascentista, redescobrimento este que veio a influenciar toda a área até aos dias de hoje. Esta é ainda uma área sensível visto o desenvolvimento do Esoterismo no período pós-Iluminismo, como reacção ao forte ênfase posto no racionalismo materialista neste período, levou a um número de fenómenos religiosos ou quasi-religiosos que têm ainda um número elevado de crentes e simpatizantes com toda a carga emocional que daí advém. O sufixo "ocidental" que é acrescido ao conceito de Esoterismo neste artigo tornou-se convencional de forma a distinguir uma tradição que tem as suas origens na antiguidade mediterrânica com o Hermetismo e Neoplatonismo de forma a distingui-lo de outros fenómenos análogos como o Tantra asiático, fala-se portanto de uma tradição delineada geograficamente por aquilo que é considerado o "ocidente" num sentido lato. O que se procura neste artigo é examinar as diferentes formas de olhar para estes fenómenos com que o investigador, estudante ou curioso se pode defrontar no seu processo de investigação, bem como as vantagens e desvantagens que advêm de cada uma destas modalidades metodológicas para o leitor inserido num contexto académico. Este artigo está dividido em três partes inter-relacionadas: em primeiro lugar, procura-se fazer uma análise do panorama geral da metodologia utilizada no estudo académico do Esoterismo e Hermetismo; em segundo lugar, passa-1 Ocultismo é uma palavra aqui usada como derivando da obra de Cornellius Agrippa De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres, na qual são descritas práticas como alquimia, adivinhação, astrologia, rituais cabalísticos e de magia cerimonial bem como procedimentos medicinais que derivam o seu sustentamento teórico de pensadores herméticos e neoplatónicos se ao campo mais específico da Historiografia do Esoterismo e Hermetismo e, em terceiro, analisa-se um exemplo específico nesta área, que respeita a obras sobre um texto mágico do séc. XIV-XV, a Clavicula Salomonis, e o seu tradutor para a língua inglesa, o ocultista Samuel Mathers. Esta estrutura -quase hermética em sipassando do macrocosmo para o microcosmo, permite ao leitor um entendimento de como as diferentes ideias de racionalidade, e de como esta deve ser usada no estudo de uma área em particular, acabam por afectar o estudo de qualquer assunto em particular sobe o qual o investigador se deseje debruçar. Esta é uma área de estudo que tem também impacto não só no estudo do pensamento religioso mas também no estudo das ciências, particularmente na primeira modernidade, naquilo que podemos considerar o início da ciência moderna, onde a "filosofia natural", tanto nas suas vertentes do estudo da natureza como do universo físico, inclusivamente no estudo da medicina, é frequentemente estudada por autores com um cariz esotérico ou hermético (como por exemplo Paracelsus ou Van Helmont).
In early modern Europe, the idea of occult qualities or properties was of great importance to the... more In early modern Europe, the idea of occult qualities or properties was of great importance to the medicine of the period. These were defined as qualities in things which were not manifestly apparent to the eye and hence occult or hidden. In this early period, it is dangerous to conflate the use of the word occult with the later 19th century use of the word, but much of that which was defined as occult qualities falls today in the purview of esotericism. While occult qualities of plants and animals have often been explained through toxicological science and have, therefore, become a part of the mainstream pharmacological practice, the same cannot be said about the occult properties of planets or talismans, for example. In early modern Europe, however, willow bark – which would end up being better known as the active principle in Aspirin – and planetary talismans would belong side by side in the same works, as for example in a medical treatise entitled De Occultis Proprietatibus by the Portuguese physician António Luís in 1540. Examining the idea of occult properties is particularly interesting when it comes to examining the process through which knowledge is rejected, and what was seen as medical knowledge becomes, in time, divided into science and esoteric practices under the post-enlightenment illusion that these are two opposite worlds, one ruled by reason and the other by superstition, while in fact their milieu was shared until what are, historically, quite recent times.
Neo-paganism, Wicca and their associated Pagan phenomenon have only developed quite recently in P... more Neo-paganism, Wicca and their associated Pagan phenomenon have only developed quite recently in Portugal. The growth of these movements can be traced to the mid to late 1990s when access to the internet allowed many, mostly young, people who lived in what has been a traditionally Roman Catholic country to know about and have access to alternative types of religious expression. Paganism in modern Portugal is therefore very much a foreign import, starting with the success of the Mists of Avalon novels translated into Portuguese and with authors such as Scott Cuningham and Silver Ravenwolf having particular appeal to a mostly young and isolated group of practicioners. As the phenomenon matured so did the community of practicioners and while the majority of Pagans in Portugal continued following the easy to access, internet fueled, "mainstream" Paganism, offshoots quickly started appearing. One of the most interesting of these offshoots is the adoption of the Pre-Roman Lusitanian pantheon of gods native to the region of what is today Portugal. This movement quickly became closely related to nationalist politics, something which is particularly strange in a country where fascism and nationalism have historically been deeply connected to the Roman Catholic church. In this presentation I will seek to compare and contrast the several different ways in which Paganism is experienced in Portugal from the mid 90s onwards, with particular focus on the ideas of technology and nationalism and how they shaped the present tradition.
Despite being identified as an overwhelmingly Catholic country, Brazil has always been a country ... more Despite being identified as an overwhelmingly Catholic country, Brazil has always been a country of sincretic religion, which has left its mind open to new religious ideas and to a very particular fluidity of belief. The same is true of esoteric ideas, which have found fertile ground in Brazil, particularly in the second half of the 20th century. In this paper I will be taking two quite famous
examples of Brazilian musicians dealing with esoteric themes and, at least in the case of Seixas,personally involved in Esoteric practice. The first of these is Jorge Ben Jor, who is most famous outside of Brazil, as the creator of "Mas que Nada" a song covered by the Black Eyed Peas and also as the composer of the song "Taj Mahal" which was the basis for Rod Stewart's "Do You think I'm Sexy". However, in the early to mid 70s the esoteric slant of his music starts to be noticeable with albums entitled "Tábua de Esmeralda" (Emerald Tablet) where the title song consists of the word of that hermetic text, or songs with the title "Os Alquimistas Estão Chegando" (The Alchemists
are Coming). While Jorge Ben was a more of a theoretical hermeticist, Raul Seixas was much more overtly not only an esotericist but particularly a Thelemite, known in Brazil as the "Father of Brazilian Rock" and famous enough to have a parade in his honor every year in downtown São Paulo, joined Marcelo Motta's OTO with his co-songwriter and now major bestselling author Paulo Coelho, taking into hands the mission of creating a new society which he entitled "Sociedade Alternativa" (Alternative Society) based on the ideals in Crowley's Liber OZ, therefore many of his songs are concerned with this subject, to the point of having a fully sung version of Liber OZ in Portuguese in one of his albums. What is interesting to explore here, but which there is no space to go into in this abstract, is how these ideas relate to the socio-political situation in Brazil in the 70s, under a military dictatorship, both Seixas' and Jorge Ben's music represent ideals of freedom and escapism under the guise of esoteric themes.
When creating a new edition of a grimoire, how does one go about selecting the correct sigil to i... more When creating a new edition of a grimoire, how does one go about selecting the correct sigil to include in the new version? Taking as an example Mathers' edition of the Clavicula, we can see that often the sigil that he includes does not correspond exactly to any of the sigils in the seven manuscripts that he used as the basis for his version. For Mathers, as an emic translator and editor, this decision is based on what he thought would be the correct image to be included. In a way, he was “correcting” the manuscripts which he believed were corrupted by medieval interpolations. However, for the etic researcher there are other problems present. In the absence of an Ur-text no sigil is more “authentic” than any other unless we are aware of the developing line from one edition to another. We can tell, for example, that Mathers' sigils are not “authentic” because he left us information on the manuscripts he used and we can see that the images are not direct correspondences, but neither are they between those seven manuscripts. Other than giving examples of several iterations of the same sigil in different sources, it is often impossible, therefore, for the etic editor to ever reach a conclusion in terms of “authenticity” or originality, a problem which Mathers, due to the emic nature of his work, and his attempt at “purifying” the text, seems not to have faced, but that scholars in the field should not take lightly.
Fifth Empire: Catholic Esotericism and Post-Colonial Politics in Contemporary Portuguese Pop-Cult... more Fifth Empire: Catholic Esotericism and Post-Colonial Politics in Contemporary Portuguese Pop-Culture.
The idea of Fifth Empire (Portuguese: Quinto Império) has been pervasive in Portuguese thought at least since Pe. António Vieira, a Jesuit Priest working in Brazil in the 17th century, first formulated the biblical basis on which this millenarian idea is founded. According to Vieira, Nebuchadnezzar's dream, in the old testament book of Daniel 2, represents four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) to which the Portuguese empire will succeed. The Portuguese empire is, thus, divinely ordained. Interestingly, Vieira is writing at a time in which the Portuguese empire is on a descending route, the country having been united with Spain in 1580 due to problems of dynastic succession and, when it manages to regain independence in 1640, having lost much of its international power. So when Vieira writes he is already doing an exercise in nostalgia, or the Portuguese "saudade" for a great empire which no longer exists. This idea is then conflated with another millenarian politico-religious belief, that of the return of D. Sebastião, the king who disappeared, leaving no issue, which then led to the Iberian Union between Portugal and Spain.
From its beginnings as the millenarian prophecy of a Jesuit priest, the twin ideas of fifth empire and Sebastianism would become pervasive in Portuguese culture and never more so than in the 20th and 21st centuries. The most important character in the reformulation of the idea of fifth empire in the 20th century was undoubtedly Fernando Pessoa, generally considered to be the greatest Portuguese poet of the 20th century and certainly the most popular - it would be hard to find any literate Portuguese person who cannot recite or at least immediately recognize a good number of poems by Pessoa. Pessoa was also an esotericist, having dabbled in Theosophy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and Astrology, defining himself as a Gnostic Christian and being a personal friend of Aleister Crowley with whom he corresponded, having translated some of Crowley's poetry into Portuguese. Pessoa reformulates the idea of the Fifth Empire as being relative not to a political empire but a cultural empire; as such he replaces Vieira's four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) with what he considered to be the most important "cultural empires" (Greece, Rome, Christianity and Europe), again with Portugal being the fifth empire, and the country's manifest destiny (having been predicted, according to Pessoa, by Bandarra and Nostradamus) being the cultural supremacy of Portugal in a worldwide context.
This ideology of the fifth empire seemed to be agreeable to the colonialist and fascist régime that would rule Portugal from the mid 1920s up until 1974. The régime's propaganda was full of imperial and catholic imagery which fitted perfectly the origins of the myth of the fifth empire. 1974 saw an end to the Régime and the independence of the remaining Portuguese colonies in a communist revolution, the empire was dead and the propagation of the myth of the fifth empire was seen as reactionary.
Portugal had to wait for the 1980s for the catholic symbols and millenarian ideas of the fifth empire to reassert themselves, not now in poetry but in the context of pop-culture, specifically popular music, as well as in the appearance of related phenomena in the 1990s, such as the re-constructionist Lusitanian Paganism, which retained the idea of Portuguese cultural supremacy while applying it to the pre-Roman religions of Lusitania. Extremely popular musical groups such as Heróis do Mar (Heroes of the Sea), in the mid 1980s, adopted clothing which hearkened back to the imperial past as well as writing lyrics which referenced that same past, while being one of the most popular New Wave bands in the country. On the Post-Punk scene and published by the same “Atlântic Foundation” record label which published Heróis do Mar there was Sétima Legião (Seventh Legion) named after the Roman legion sent to the province of Lusitania with songs such as Glória (Glory), Sete Mares (Seven Seas), Reconquista (Reconquest). More recently a new record label called Amor Fúria has again returned to these themes, mentioning António Vieira, Pessoa and Agostinho da Silva (one of the theorists of the Fifth Empire despite having been an opponent of the fascist régime) in the record label's own manifesto. The most famous band published by this label are Os Golpes (The Strokes) who again much like Heróis do Mar, which they openly admire, use militaristic historical clothing hearkening back to the idea of empire, as well as a plethora of crosses which can be seen in their videos. In fact the title of their first album is Cruz Vermelha sobre Fundo Branco (Red Cross over a White background).
The overt political position of these bands and those associated today with the Fifth Empire position is interesting in that it is not admiring of the pre-1974 fascist régime or the physical Portuguese empire, at least not overtly so. The underlying belief is in the Fifth Empire as reformulated by Pessoa, a spiritual and not a physical empire. In this sense, Lusophone people such as those from African ex-colonies and Brazil are seen as having been touched by this spiritual empire which remains in the language and Catholicism. As such, it is also not a racist movement but an acculturational and often deeply paternalist movement. It is marked by a sense of luso-tropicalism, an idea that Portugal extends far beyond its borders as a spirit even if not in a physical way. The millenarian, catholic idea of the Portuguese Fifth Empire of the spirit has become a mechanism for coping with the nostalgia and sense of loss by the more conservative sections of society, who still look back on the golden age of the Portuguese Empire (which they know can never be recovered) with longing.
Science as we know it today did not come about suddenly; the birth of modern science should be se... more Science as we know it today did not come about suddenly; the birth of modern science should be seen not as a 'scientific revolution' but as a scientific process, a process which starts long before modernity and which is in some ways still developing today. The idea that there is no such thing as a 'scientific revolution' -at least not in the modern sense of the word 'revolution' -is not a new one and here I follow the ideas of B.J.T. Dobbs in her Newton as Final Cause and First Mover, an article where she questions the use of the term, as this so called 'revolution' was exceedingly slow; old ideas were not completely left behind and the scientists of the time did not think like those of today. 1 There is, however, in a period which we call early modernity, a confluence of elements which leads to a more accelerated development of scientific thought, possibly related to a disintegration of Catholic hegemony in Europe, which, in turn, leads to a discussion of natural processes between scientists with differing religious opinions, leading to a need to separate itself from the socio-political background of each specific thinker. This will come to fruition in the stricter separation between religion, philosophy and mainstream science in the Enlightenment and posterior periods. However, this was a lengthy process and, as such, for much of modern history, different mixes between science, philosophy and religion can be found in ostensibly scientific works, not only in pre-and early modern though but up until today (as in the case of post-secularist science, intelligent design etc.). The early modern period is the time when we have scientist-mystics like Paracelsus, Newton and Van Helmont, for example. doing something we would definitely recognize as science in the 21 st century, while at the same time developing metaphysical theories, philosophical theories of non-empirical character concerning themselves with the nature of existence. Often, as in the case of Paracelsus or Van Helmont, this is expressed as atypical supernatural beliefs, reflecting the new openness of thought not only in the scientific field but also in the field of religious thought. As Margeret Oslet puts it: The traditional canonical figures often devoted themselves to noncanonical subjects and frequently resembled many of their contemporaries who have not found a place in the scientific hall of fame. Moreover, the subjects that engaged their attention do not readily map 1 Dobbs, BJT. 'Newton as Final Cause and First Mover' in Osler, M. Rethinking the Scientific Revolution Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000 1 onto the canonical list of modern sciences. 2
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Abstract: This article seeks to explore the usefulness of the word “magic” in the context of the ... more Abstract: This article seeks to explore the usefulness of the word “magic” in the context of the scientific study of religion and more broadly in the context of the humanities. As such, an attempt is made in this article to outline a short history of the use of the term so as to understand its political, social and historical baggage. As will be seen throughout the article, the word “magic” has historically been used consistently in a pejorative fashion as a way to describe “the religion of others”. This xenophobic charge and the fact that which is described as “magic” can easily be integrated in the phenomenon of religion, leads to the conclusion that the term “magic” is a term without etic usefulness in the study of the religious phenomenon.
Keywords: Magic, Religion, Methodology
In 1903, Aleister Crowley turns the ideas accepted by fellow ceremonial magicians on “how magic w... more In 1903, Aleister Crowley turns the ideas accepted by fellow ceremonial magicians on “how magic works” upside-down by writing an essay entitled The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic. Refusing the theurgic ideas, dating back to the 3rd century C.E. with Iamblichus, of magical practice as a way of contacting god by slowly achieving godhood through the practice of prescribed rituals, Crowley goes on to explain the effectiveness of magic through psychological terms.
In fact Crowley strips the miraculous from the religious experience, which was how magical practice was and is seen by a majority of practitioners, through the use of psychological explanations. Crowley fully believes in the effectiveness of magical ritual, but for him there is no God or miracle involved in the process, it works through physical means. Crowley is one of the first to put forward the idea that ritual magic might not work as stated in the ritual, but on a non-conscious level, having been clearly influenced by the ideas of Freud becoming popular at that time.
This essay is, therefore, a prime example of an attempt to reconcile religion, science and magic in the occultist revival of the late 19th and early 20th century. Crowley's utilitarian perspective on ritual and religious experience reflects a major contrast between him and his contemporaries and in certain aspects prefigures recent cognitive psychology of religion theories such as those by Pascal Boyer.
Monographs & Edited Books by Francisco Santos Silva
by Carole Cusack, Venetia Robertson, Raymond Radford, Bettina E Schmidt, Ryan M Wittingslow, Benjamin Zeller, Elisha McIntyre, Cato Christensen, George D Chryssides, Zoe Alderton, Ioannis Gaitanidis, and Francisco Santos Silva This edited volume for the BHCR series is focused on Contemporary Religion, Television, and Film.... more This edited volume for the BHCR series is focused on Contemporary Religion, Television, and Film. Chapters can be based on a theme and discuss multiple pieces of work: e.g., depictions of Mormonism in the television series Big Love, the animated comedy South Park, Mormon comedy Sons of Provo, and documentaries like Prophet’s Prey; or can compare depictions of de-programming in television series like Signs and Wonders (1995), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and films like Holy Smoke! (2000). Another approach might address genres, like the Christian Romantic Comedy, the Iranian Horror Film, evangelical talk shows; and reality TV series that seek to prove the existence of ghosts, cryptids, and paranormal phenomena. We also welcome chapters dealing with theoretical or methodological aspects of this area of study from any discipline as long as it remains relevant to the academic study of religion.
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Papers by Francisco Santos Silva
examples of Brazilian musicians dealing with esoteric themes and, at least in the case of Seixas,personally involved in Esoteric practice. The first of these is Jorge Ben Jor, who is most famous outside of Brazil, as the creator of "Mas que Nada" a song covered by the Black Eyed Peas and also as the composer of the song "Taj Mahal" which was the basis for Rod Stewart's "Do You think I'm Sexy". However, in the early to mid 70s the esoteric slant of his music starts to be noticeable with albums entitled "Tábua de Esmeralda" (Emerald Tablet) where the title song consists of the word of that hermetic text, or songs with the title "Os Alquimistas Estão Chegando" (The Alchemists
are Coming). While Jorge Ben was a more of a theoretical hermeticist, Raul Seixas was much more overtly not only an esotericist but particularly a Thelemite, known in Brazil as the "Father of Brazilian Rock" and famous enough to have a parade in his honor every year in downtown São Paulo, joined Marcelo Motta's OTO with his co-songwriter and now major bestselling author Paulo Coelho, taking into hands the mission of creating a new society which he entitled "Sociedade Alternativa" (Alternative Society) based on the ideals in Crowley's Liber OZ, therefore many of his songs are concerned with this subject, to the point of having a fully sung version of Liber OZ in Portuguese in one of his albums. What is interesting to explore here, but which there is no space to go into in this abstract, is how these ideas relate to the socio-political situation in Brazil in the 70s, under a military dictatorship, both Seixas' and Jorge Ben's music represent ideals of freedom and escapism under the guise of esoteric themes.
The idea of Fifth Empire (Portuguese: Quinto Império) has been pervasive in Portuguese thought at least since Pe. António Vieira, a Jesuit Priest working in Brazil in the 17th century, first formulated the biblical basis on which this millenarian idea is founded. According to Vieira, Nebuchadnezzar's dream, in the old testament book of Daniel 2, represents four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) to which the Portuguese empire will succeed. The Portuguese empire is, thus, divinely ordained. Interestingly, Vieira is writing at a time in which the Portuguese empire is on a descending route, the country having been united with Spain in 1580 due to problems of dynastic succession and, when it manages to regain independence in 1640, having lost much of its international power. So when Vieira writes he is already doing an exercise in nostalgia, or the Portuguese "saudade" for a great empire which no longer exists. This idea is then conflated with another millenarian politico-religious belief, that of the return of D. Sebastião, the king who disappeared, leaving no issue, which then led to the Iberian Union between Portugal and Spain.
From its beginnings as the millenarian prophecy of a Jesuit priest, the twin ideas of fifth empire and Sebastianism would become pervasive in Portuguese culture and never more so than in the 20th and 21st centuries. The most important character in the reformulation of the idea of fifth empire in the 20th century was undoubtedly Fernando Pessoa, generally considered to be the greatest Portuguese poet of the 20th century and certainly the most popular - it would be hard to find any literate Portuguese person who cannot recite or at least immediately recognize a good number of poems by Pessoa. Pessoa was also an esotericist, having dabbled in Theosophy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and Astrology, defining himself as a Gnostic Christian and being a personal friend of Aleister Crowley with whom he corresponded, having translated some of Crowley's poetry into Portuguese. Pessoa reformulates the idea of the Fifth Empire as being relative not to a political empire but a cultural empire; as such he replaces Vieira's four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) with what he considered to be the most important "cultural empires" (Greece, Rome, Christianity and Europe), again with Portugal being the fifth empire, and the country's manifest destiny (having been predicted, according to Pessoa, by Bandarra and Nostradamus) being the cultural supremacy of Portugal in a worldwide context.
This ideology of the fifth empire seemed to be agreeable to the colonialist and fascist régime that would rule Portugal from the mid 1920s up until 1974. The régime's propaganda was full of imperial and catholic imagery which fitted perfectly the origins of the myth of the fifth empire. 1974 saw an end to the Régime and the independence of the remaining Portuguese colonies in a communist revolution, the empire was dead and the propagation of the myth of the fifth empire was seen as reactionary.
Portugal had to wait for the 1980s for the catholic symbols and millenarian ideas of the fifth empire to reassert themselves, not now in poetry but in the context of pop-culture, specifically popular music, as well as in the appearance of related phenomena in the 1990s, such as the re-constructionist Lusitanian Paganism, which retained the idea of Portuguese cultural supremacy while applying it to the pre-Roman religions of Lusitania. Extremely popular musical groups such as Heróis do Mar (Heroes of the Sea), in the mid 1980s, adopted clothing which hearkened back to the imperial past as well as writing lyrics which referenced that same past, while being one of the most popular New Wave bands in the country. On the Post-Punk scene and published by the same “Atlântic Foundation” record label which published Heróis do Mar there was Sétima Legião (Seventh Legion) named after the Roman legion sent to the province of Lusitania with songs such as Glória (Glory), Sete Mares (Seven Seas), Reconquista (Reconquest). More recently a new record label called Amor Fúria has again returned to these themes, mentioning António Vieira, Pessoa and Agostinho da Silva (one of the theorists of the Fifth Empire despite having been an opponent of the fascist régime) in the record label's own manifesto. The most famous band published by this label are Os Golpes (The Strokes) who again much like Heróis do Mar, which they openly admire, use militaristic historical clothing hearkening back to the idea of empire, as well as a plethora of crosses which can be seen in their videos. In fact the title of their first album is Cruz Vermelha sobre Fundo Branco (Red Cross over a White background).
The overt political position of these bands and those associated today with the Fifth Empire position is interesting in that it is not admiring of the pre-1974 fascist régime or the physical Portuguese empire, at least not overtly so. The underlying belief is in the Fifth Empire as reformulated by Pessoa, a spiritual and not a physical empire. In this sense, Lusophone people such as those from African ex-colonies and Brazil are seen as having been touched by this spiritual empire which remains in the language and Catholicism. As such, it is also not a racist movement but an acculturational and often deeply paternalist movement. It is marked by a sense of luso-tropicalism, an idea that Portugal extends far beyond its borders as a spirit even if not in a physical way. The millenarian, catholic idea of the Portuguese Fifth Empire of the spirit has become a mechanism for coping with the nostalgia and sense of loss by the more conservative sections of society, who still look back on the golden age of the Portuguese Empire (which they know can never be recovered) with longing.
Keywords: Magic, Religion, Methodology
In fact Crowley strips the miraculous from the religious experience, which was how magical practice was and is seen by a majority of practitioners, through the use of psychological explanations. Crowley fully believes in the effectiveness of magical ritual, but for him there is no God or miracle involved in the process, it works through physical means. Crowley is one of the first to put forward the idea that ritual magic might not work as stated in the ritual, but on a non-conscious level, having been clearly influenced by the ideas of Freud becoming popular at that time.
This essay is, therefore, a prime example of an attempt to reconcile religion, science and magic in the occultist revival of the late 19th and early 20th century. Crowley's utilitarian perspective on ritual and religious experience reflects a major contrast between him and his contemporaries and in certain aspects prefigures recent cognitive psychology of religion theories such as those by Pascal Boyer.
Monographs & Edited Books by Francisco Santos Silva
examples of Brazilian musicians dealing with esoteric themes and, at least in the case of Seixas,personally involved in Esoteric practice. The first of these is Jorge Ben Jor, who is most famous outside of Brazil, as the creator of "Mas que Nada" a song covered by the Black Eyed Peas and also as the composer of the song "Taj Mahal" which was the basis for Rod Stewart's "Do You think I'm Sexy". However, in the early to mid 70s the esoteric slant of his music starts to be noticeable with albums entitled "Tábua de Esmeralda" (Emerald Tablet) where the title song consists of the word of that hermetic text, or songs with the title "Os Alquimistas Estão Chegando" (The Alchemists
are Coming). While Jorge Ben was a more of a theoretical hermeticist, Raul Seixas was much more overtly not only an esotericist but particularly a Thelemite, known in Brazil as the "Father of Brazilian Rock" and famous enough to have a parade in his honor every year in downtown São Paulo, joined Marcelo Motta's OTO with his co-songwriter and now major bestselling author Paulo Coelho, taking into hands the mission of creating a new society which he entitled "Sociedade Alternativa" (Alternative Society) based on the ideals in Crowley's Liber OZ, therefore many of his songs are concerned with this subject, to the point of having a fully sung version of Liber OZ in Portuguese in one of his albums. What is interesting to explore here, but which there is no space to go into in this abstract, is how these ideas relate to the socio-political situation in Brazil in the 70s, under a military dictatorship, both Seixas' and Jorge Ben's music represent ideals of freedom and escapism under the guise of esoteric themes.
The idea of Fifth Empire (Portuguese: Quinto Império) has been pervasive in Portuguese thought at least since Pe. António Vieira, a Jesuit Priest working in Brazil in the 17th century, first formulated the biblical basis on which this millenarian idea is founded. According to Vieira, Nebuchadnezzar's dream, in the old testament book of Daniel 2, represents four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) to which the Portuguese empire will succeed. The Portuguese empire is, thus, divinely ordained. Interestingly, Vieira is writing at a time in which the Portuguese empire is on a descending route, the country having been united with Spain in 1580 due to problems of dynastic succession and, when it manages to regain independence in 1640, having lost much of its international power. So when Vieira writes he is already doing an exercise in nostalgia, or the Portuguese "saudade" for a great empire which no longer exists. This idea is then conflated with another millenarian politico-religious belief, that of the return of D. Sebastião, the king who disappeared, leaving no issue, which then led to the Iberian Union between Portugal and Spain.
From its beginnings as the millenarian prophecy of a Jesuit priest, the twin ideas of fifth empire and Sebastianism would become pervasive in Portuguese culture and never more so than in the 20th and 21st centuries. The most important character in the reformulation of the idea of fifth empire in the 20th century was undoubtedly Fernando Pessoa, generally considered to be the greatest Portuguese poet of the 20th century and certainly the most popular - it would be hard to find any literate Portuguese person who cannot recite or at least immediately recognize a good number of poems by Pessoa. Pessoa was also an esotericist, having dabbled in Theosophy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and Astrology, defining himself as a Gnostic Christian and being a personal friend of Aleister Crowley with whom he corresponded, having translated some of Crowley's poetry into Portuguese. Pessoa reformulates the idea of the Fifth Empire as being relative not to a political empire but a cultural empire; as such he replaces Vieira's four empires (Assyro-Chaldean, Persian, Greek and Roman) with what he considered to be the most important "cultural empires" (Greece, Rome, Christianity and Europe), again with Portugal being the fifth empire, and the country's manifest destiny (having been predicted, according to Pessoa, by Bandarra and Nostradamus) being the cultural supremacy of Portugal in a worldwide context.
This ideology of the fifth empire seemed to be agreeable to the colonialist and fascist régime that would rule Portugal from the mid 1920s up until 1974. The régime's propaganda was full of imperial and catholic imagery which fitted perfectly the origins of the myth of the fifth empire. 1974 saw an end to the Régime and the independence of the remaining Portuguese colonies in a communist revolution, the empire was dead and the propagation of the myth of the fifth empire was seen as reactionary.
Portugal had to wait for the 1980s for the catholic symbols and millenarian ideas of the fifth empire to reassert themselves, not now in poetry but in the context of pop-culture, specifically popular music, as well as in the appearance of related phenomena in the 1990s, such as the re-constructionist Lusitanian Paganism, which retained the idea of Portuguese cultural supremacy while applying it to the pre-Roman religions of Lusitania. Extremely popular musical groups such as Heróis do Mar (Heroes of the Sea), in the mid 1980s, adopted clothing which hearkened back to the imperial past as well as writing lyrics which referenced that same past, while being one of the most popular New Wave bands in the country. On the Post-Punk scene and published by the same “Atlântic Foundation” record label which published Heróis do Mar there was Sétima Legião (Seventh Legion) named after the Roman legion sent to the province of Lusitania with songs such as Glória (Glory), Sete Mares (Seven Seas), Reconquista (Reconquest). More recently a new record label called Amor Fúria has again returned to these themes, mentioning António Vieira, Pessoa and Agostinho da Silva (one of the theorists of the Fifth Empire despite having been an opponent of the fascist régime) in the record label's own manifesto. The most famous band published by this label are Os Golpes (The Strokes) who again much like Heróis do Mar, which they openly admire, use militaristic historical clothing hearkening back to the idea of empire, as well as a plethora of crosses which can be seen in their videos. In fact the title of their first album is Cruz Vermelha sobre Fundo Branco (Red Cross over a White background).
The overt political position of these bands and those associated today with the Fifth Empire position is interesting in that it is not admiring of the pre-1974 fascist régime or the physical Portuguese empire, at least not overtly so. The underlying belief is in the Fifth Empire as reformulated by Pessoa, a spiritual and not a physical empire. In this sense, Lusophone people such as those from African ex-colonies and Brazil are seen as having been touched by this spiritual empire which remains in the language and Catholicism. As such, it is also not a racist movement but an acculturational and often deeply paternalist movement. It is marked by a sense of luso-tropicalism, an idea that Portugal extends far beyond its borders as a spirit even if not in a physical way. The millenarian, catholic idea of the Portuguese Fifth Empire of the spirit has become a mechanism for coping with the nostalgia and sense of loss by the more conservative sections of society, who still look back on the golden age of the Portuguese Empire (which they know can never be recovered) with longing.
Keywords: Magic, Religion, Methodology
In fact Crowley strips the miraculous from the religious experience, which was how magical practice was and is seen by a majority of practitioners, through the use of psychological explanations. Crowley fully believes in the effectiveness of magical ritual, but for him there is no God or miracle involved in the process, it works through physical means. Crowley is one of the first to put forward the idea that ritual magic might not work as stated in the ritual, but on a non-conscious level, having been clearly influenced by the ideas of Freud becoming popular at that time.
This essay is, therefore, a prime example of an attempt to reconcile religion, science and magic in the occultist revival of the late 19th and early 20th century. Crowley's utilitarian perspective on ritual and religious experience reflects a major contrast between him and his contemporaries and in certain aspects prefigures recent cognitive psychology of religion theories such as those by Pascal Boyer.