Chthonic Arthurian mysteries

“The UnderWorld Initiation” is one of the most peculiar works I read, or rather tried to read (I´m still trying to process it). It was originally published in 1985. The author, Robert John Stewart, is a Scottish composer and esotericist. “The UnderWorld Initiation” is considered to be his magnum opus. Stewart has also written on the faery – I haven´t read that material yet. At least broadly, his work seems to have tie-ins to Gareth Knight, Rudolf Steiner and even C S Lewis at his nature-venerating and paganizing best. I admit that I found it quite bewildering! The book is highly recommended by John Michael Greer, whose esoteric path combines Revival Druidry with Golden Dawn ceremonial magic. “Chthonic King Arthur mysteries” is the best shorthand I can come up with for Stewart´s system. It also has a “folkish” trait, since the author believes that old folk songs and ballads from the British Isles encode important esoteric truths.

Stewart describes a magical system he believes is both Celtic and ancient. It´s real provenance is unknown to the present reviewer. There do seem to be similarities with real mystery religions. The system also has certain Christian traits, but the author freely admits that most Christians would find it “heretical”. The initiation could be described as chthonic, but Stewart believes that the earthly or sub-earthly aspects esoterically reflect heavenly realities, so there is no contradiction between the two perspectives. The goal of the initiation is to shatter the old personality (this takes much fear and trembling) and replace it with a “resurrected” ditto, both spiritually and bodily. Most magical systems only work on the non-material parts of man, while the underworld initiation also transforms his physical body, presumably into an immortal state. This explains Stewart´s interest in parts of the Christian religion. 

The “earthly” character of this mystery cult can be seen in the idea that the initiators are referred to as the Ancestors, and that the Guardian on the Threshold is the lord of animals (complete with two horns on his head). Animal archetypes are important, including the Crow and the Pig. A successful initiation can only take place at the locality of your birth. Only there can you meet the various magical entities which will guide you through the initiatory process. This would presumably leave out most city people from participation, unless “Land” could refer to your entire ancestral homeland. Naturally, the author condemns modern destruction of the living environment.

Sex is part of the initiatory process, but since the path is solitary, it´s not entirely clear who the practitioner has a sexual relation with. One of the initiatory spirits? Stewart seems to believe that the female power is stronger than the male, and that the male is therefore saved by a female spirit. While this sounds “feminist”, the entire book is really written from a male perspective, where Woman comes across as the usual belle dame sans merci or dark muse. It would be interesting to know how the mystery initiation works for, say, gays or women... Part of the initiation is to realize that the forbidden fruit from the Tree, offered to man by woman, must be alchemically transmuted by the magician into something life-affirming and non-poisonous. The book contains complex speculations about how the Tree of Life associated with Qabalah can be extended into the UnderWorld.

The author is “Celtic” and Arthurian in his orientation. The Holy Grail and the Fisher King play important parts in his mythology. He tries to find parallels with Jesus Christ´s descent to Hell and harrowing thereof. The peculiar legends about Jesus visiting Britain during his “lost years”, especially Glastonbury, are interpreted literally. This isn´t surprising, since the author emphasizes that the spirit-beings encountered by the magician are very real indeed, not some kind of allegories or psychological archetypes (neither individual nor collective). As already pointed out, the resurrection of the Christ in a perfected physical body is seen as the central similarity between pre-creedal Christianity and esoteric paganism. Otherwise, the author is extremely critical of really existing Christianity, which he associates with a dread of nature, sex and everything “evil”. He also criticizes the obsession of Western esoteric thinkers with the Qabalah, Hebrew letters, the Hebrew name of God, etc. Why should we expect names and formulas developed by one tribal confederation in the Middle East to be privileged above all others? Why do we expect them to work for Europeans?

An intriguing idea found in “The UnderWorld Initiation” is that time moves in an ascending spiral. For this reason, the future can be in our “past”, which presumably makes prophecy possible! A lot to meditate on here…

The book ends with a retelling of a visionary experience the author had at Les Montz Grantez at the island of Jersey. At an ancient archeological site, R J Stewart encountered the spirit of an ancient tribal King who was voluntarily sacrificed here to the gods. Stewart believes that the entire solar system and the stars were somehow “inside” the ancient rocks. The old temple was used as a point of contact between the otherworld and our world, through which energies could flow mediated by the sacrificial victims, who were a kind of guardian-spirits. The King also acted as a guide, since he told the author how to change certain aspects of his magical ritual! Ten years later, when Stewart returned to the site, the Sacred King was gone.

In a foreword to the 1998 edition, the author reveals that his understanding of these issues have deepened since he first wrote “The UnderWorld Initiation”. He has written several books on the role fairies play in the initiation process. Also, he has realized that working with spirit-entities “awakes” them and “liberates” them, which could explain why the King had left Les Montz Grantez…

There seems to be more to explore here.