Post #31. The Magical Battle of Britain: Occultism and Espionage in Mid-20th Century London

 

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The death of Aleister Crowley in 1947 did not mark the end of occultism in London. In fact, the mid-20th century was a period of intense and often hidden magical activity. While the world was convulsed by two world wars and the rise of new political ideologies, the magical life of the city continued, adapting to the new realities and, in some cases, playing a secret and surprising role in the great events of the day. This was a world of literary occultists, of secret magical societies, and of a new, pagan religion that was about to emerge from the shadows.

The Magical War: Did British Magicians Stop Hitler?

One of the most intriguing and persistent stories of this period is the claim that British occultists, including the novelist Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley himself, waged a magical war against Nazi Germany. The Nazis were known to have a deep interest in the occult, and some historians have argued that the inner circle of the Nazi party, including Hitler and Himmler, were practising black magicians.

In response to this magical threat, it is said that a group of British occultists, organised by Dion Fortune, performed a series of rituals designed to protect Britain from invasion. They met at key magical sites around the country, including Glastonbury Tor, and performed powerful invocations, calling on the ancient gods and guardian spirits of Britain to rise up and defend the land. They visualised a magical barrier around the coast of Britain, a wall of spiritual force that the German armies could not penetrate.

Crowley, it is claimed, also played his part. He is said to have created the famous "V for Victory" sign, a magical symbol designed to counter the power of the swastika. The two-fingered salute, he argued, was a powerful magical gesture, a sign of the god Horus, which could be used to invoke the forces of light against the forces of darkness.

Whether these magical workings had any real effect on the outcome of the war is, of course, impossible to prove. But the story of the magical Battle of Britain is a powerful testament to the enduring belief in the power of magic to influence the course of history, even in the midst of the most modern and mechanised war the world had ever seen.

The Literary Occultists: The Inklings and the Supernatural

While some occultists were fighting a magical war, others were exploring the spiritual world through the medium of literature. In Oxford, a group of writers known as the Inklings, which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, were creating some of the most beloved fantasy literature of the 20th century. Their work, while overtly Christian, is saturated with magical and mythological themes. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a vast and complex magical epic, a story of the struggle between the forces of light and darkness, of the power of magical objects, and of the importance of courage and sacrifice in the face of overwhelming evil. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia is a Christian allegory, but it is also a story of a magical world, a world of talking animals, of witches, and of a divine lion who is both a Christ-figure and a powerful pagan deity.

In London, other writers were exploring the darker side of the supernatural. The novelist and magical practitioner Dion Fortune, in books like The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, wrote about the re-emergence of the ancient pagan gods in the modern world. Charles Williams, a friend of Lewis and Tolkien and a member of the Fellowship of the New Life (a successor to the Golden Dawn), wrote a series of strange and powerful "spiritual thrillers," in which the mundane world of 20th-century London is suddenly invaded by powerful spiritual forces.

The Birth of Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age

The most significant magical development of the mid-20th century was the emergence of a new, pagan religion: Wicca. In 1951, the last of the old witchcraft laws in Britain were repealed. Shortly afterwards, a retired civil servant named Gerald Gardner went public, claiming to have been initiated into a coven of traditional, hereditary witches in the New Forest. In his books, Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft, Gardner laid out the basic beliefs and practices of this new religion, which he called Wicca or the Craft.

Wicca was a nature-based religion, a worship of the Horned God and the Triple Goddess. It was a religion of magic, of ritual, of the celebration of the seasons. It was also a religion that was deeply influenced by the ceremonial magic of the Golden Dawn and of Aleister Crowley. Gardner had been a friend of Crowley’s and had been initiated into the O.T.O. He incorporated many elements of Crowley’s magic into the rituals of Wicca, creating a powerful synthesis of ancient folk magic and modern ceremonial magic.

Gardner’s new religion would prove to be immensely popular. It tapped into a deep-seated desire for a more earth-centred, more feminist, and more magical form of spirituality. From its origins in the quiet countryside of the New Forest, Wicca would spread across the world, becoming one of the fastest-growing religions in the West.

The mid-20th century was a time of immense change and turmoil, but it was also a time of great magical creativity. The old orders were dying, but new ones were being born. The black magic temple of London was once again reinventing itself, adapting to the new realities of the modern world and finding new ways to express its ancient and enduring power.

In our next post, we will explore the counter-culture of the 1960s, a time of psychedelic drugs, of rock and roll, and of a new and explosive interest in all things magical and mystical.

Even in the darkest of times, the magic finds a way. Follow the Secret City series.