A Short History of Modern Occultism in three lectures, each lecture will be sold separately, see below for details of the other lectures in the series (if missed, these will be available on demand)

1. Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society – 11 Jan 2022

2. Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Magician in the World – 8 Mar 2022

3. C.G. Jung, Lord of the Underworld – 27 Mar 2022

 

Crowley wasn’t the only mystical face on the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s. Another figure with whom he shared space among “the people we like,” was the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, who died in 1961, just on the cusp of the 60s revolutions. With Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, Jung was one of the Big Three of modern psychology, and throughout his career Jung presented himself as a scientist and empiricist, mapping out the contours of the psyche. But Jung had the occult in his DNA. His mother spoke in tongues and held seances in which she communicated with her dead father, and Jung started his career with a study of the paranormal performances of his cousin. Jung broke with Freud because of his occult beliefs – at one point scaring the wits out of Freud by manifesting a poltergeist – and his “descent into the unconscious” following their split revealed to him the secrets of the “collective unconscious,” the reservoir of ancient symbols and images whose archetypes come alive each night in our dreams. As early as 1940, Jung was talking about a coming Age of Aquarius,and anyone who knows they are an introvert has Jung to thank for that. UFOs, out of the body experiences, Near Death Experiences, the I Ching and the “meaningful coincidences” he called synchronicities are only some of the unusual phenomena that the”sage of Kunsnacht” explored in his long life.

 

Gary Lachman is the author of many books about consciousness, culture, and the Western esoteric tradition, including The Return of Holy Russia, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump, Lost Knowledge of the Imagination, and Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson. He writes for several journals in the US, UK, and Europe, lectures around the world and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. In a former life he was a founding member of the pop group Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before moving to London in 1996 and becoming a full time writer, Lachman studied philosophy, managed a metaphysical book shop, taught English literature, and was Science Writer for UCLA. He is an adjunct professor of Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He can be reached at www.garylachman.co.uk, www.facebook.com/GVLachman/ and twitter.com/GaryLachman

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