Spiritualism and the nineteenth-century revival
Paschal Beverly Randolph
An African-American Spiritualist, medium, physician and occultist who moved from passive mediumship toward a magic of deliberate will.
- Dates
- 1825 – 1875
- Dating
- documented dates
- Born
- New York City
- Died
- Toledo, Ohio
The life
He travelled in Europe and the Near East, participated in abolitionist and Freedmen-related activity around the Civil War era, and gradually moved away from passive mediumship toward a theory of active magical will.
Place in the tradition
His teachings on magical mirrors and sexual magic entered later Western occultism decades before Crowley.
a note on the record
History and later legend
His death was caused by a gunshot wound and was officially treated as suicide, although controversy subsequently surrounded the event.
the written record
Principal works
-
1874
Eulis!
An explicitly occult work developing his theories of love, sexuality, magic and spiritual transformation.