Strange Bedfellows: politics and the occult

Strange Bedfellows: politics and the occult

Gary Lachman

Many of us may think that politics and the occult are an unlikely couple, but the truth is that the two have had a long and remarkably influential relationship involving some of the key turning points in western history. It is true that for some, the notion of an occult politics may not be entirely alien. Yet most accounts of the connection between these two seemingly radically different pursuits tend to focus on the dark side of occult politics, i.e., the links, real or imaginary, between occultism and far-right, fascist politics, specifically Hitler and the Nazis.

While it is true that some forms of far-right political philosophy have had some links to occultism, most of the stories about the dark forces and "black brotherhoods" who were behind the rise of National Socialism are merely that, stories, fun to read and highly exciting, but in reality based more on fantasy and conjecture than on any hard facts.

Yet having said this, what I found in researching my book is that, in the last few centuries, there have been real links between occult thought and more conservative forms of politics, but that this coupling isn’t the whole story. There has also been what we can call a "progressive" occult politics, although to be sure, its presence and influence have received less attention than the more sensational tales of mystical Nazis using magic powers to conquer the world.

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