How to Become a Mage

Book excerpt: A Vital Work in the History of Occultism From the Notorious Provocateur Joséphin Péladan How to Become a Mageis the first English translation of the enormously influential occultist Joséphin Péladan. This book is a fascinating display of nineteenth-century French thought, sharing audacious ideas on overcoming the pitfalls of status-quo society while perfecting and purifying one's own soul in preparation for transcendence and sacred transformation. Péladan was committed to the belief that the best way to enter into communion with the divine was through magic and the arts. He played a key role in fin-de-siècle culture, expounding upon the spiritual weight of physical, intellectual, familial, and creative pursuits while guiding young seekers toward a radical reassessment of the values and activities of contemporary life.