Explores the function of magic and the occult in art and tradition from ancient situations to today

• Examines key numbers behind esoteric cultural advancements, such as Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner

• Explores the annals of magic as a source of genuine counter tradition and compares it with our modern soulless, digital monoculture

• Reveals the way the magic of art can be restored if artwork is employed as a means instead of an end while offering ways of about Occulture: The Unseen Makes That Drive Lifestyle Forwards rekindle intuitive imagination

Art, magic, and the occult have already been intimately linked since our prehistoric ancestors created the initial cave paintings some 50,000 years ago. As civilizations created, these esoteric causes continued to drive culture forwards, both visibly and behind the scenes, in the Hermetic ideas from the Renaissance, to the ethereal worlds of 19th century Symbolism, towards the occult interests of the Surrealists.

In this deep exploration of “occulture”–the liminal space where art and magic meet–Carl Abrahamsson reveals the integral role played by magic and occultism in the introduction of culture throughout history aswell as their relevance towards the continuing survival of art and creativity. Mixing magical history and esoteric beliefs with his more than 30 years’ knowledge in occult motions, Abrahamsson looks at the phenomena and folks who’ve been seminal in modern esoteric developments, including Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner.

Showing how art and magic were initially one and the same, the author explores the annals of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture. He reveals the way the magic of artwork could be restored if art is employed as a way instead of an end–if it really is intense, emotional, violent, and expressive–and offers approaches for creating openly, magically, even spontaneously, with objective unfettered by the whims of trends, a creative practice akin to chaos magick that assists both designers and spectators to live with signifying. He also looks at intuition and creativity as the cornerstones of legitimate individuation, explaining how insights and illuminations rarely can be found in collective forms.

Exploring magical school of thought, occult background, the arts, mindset, as well as the colorful grey areas in between, Abrahamsson discloses the culturally and magically transformative role of art and the methods the occult is constantly on the transform culture even today.