Since the publication of The Western Way in the early 1980s, there has been an immense explosion of interest in the spiritual path. Weekend courses, books, and training programs proliferate wherever we look. They range from the earth-based Pagan and shamanic to the mystical and magical, including a fusion of ancient and modern traditions termed, sometimes opprobriously, New Age. Most interest, however, remains in the popular middle ground. Traditional esoteric discipline and progressive training tend to take second place to self-improvement and self-help that may pave the way to spiritual development, but which can just as easily remain complacently self-serving. As the results of a number of self-improvement plans illustrate, concern with physical health and well-being sometimes displaces care of the soul or a sense of service.
The post-religious twenty-first century is in a spiritual muddle. Having thrown out orthodoxies as outmoded and restrictive, dubiously condemned most mystical methods as “cults,” and cast doubt on the sanity of any spiritual practice, we in this century nevertheless aspire to see ethical standards reflected in our society, then wonder where the standards went and why no one is upholding them! Instead of religions, mystical orders, and ordinary spirituality to inspire and guide us, we now have politically correct watchdogs, governmental bodies, and Big Brother surveillance cameras to police our lives. The Orwellian state is no substitute for the Republic of the Spirit.
Many people are now born and brought up with no spiritual focus at all, but they still yearn for the nurture of soul food that gives true life. Hugh Paston, the dilettante hero of Dion Fortune’s esoteric novel The Goat-Foot God, perfectly expresses this yearning: “I don’t want anything spiritual, it isn’t my line, I had an overdose of it at Oxford. What I want is that something vital which I feel to be somewhere in the universe, which I know I need, and which I can’t lay my hand on.”(163)
How we lay hands on the vitality of life itself—which has been called the Pearl, the Hidden Stone, the Grail, or life eternal—is what the Western mystery traditions are all about. There are many paths toward it, many approaches, and every one of them is valid. Instead of looking for a way of entry, we may do better to look within, considering our needs, motivations, and aspirations. Where our heart’s desire leads us is usually a good starting-off point for our spiritual journey.
Whatever it is that draws our deep interest and stimulates our yearning, whenever and where our soul goes out to be met, then and there we will find the markers for our path. Though these may not take the orthodox or esoteric forms found in textbooks, they will act as stations along the way, assuming forms that may change and mature as our understanding matures. The louche young musician who drew our eyes as a teenager may lead us to the powerful voice of Orpheus in our adulthood; the tree that we leaned against in the wood months or years ago may at a later date show us the verdant mysteries of the Green Man; the alluring portrait of a woman in a gallery may, on second or third study, reveal the way to the altar of the Goddess of Life. Such simple, unremarkable beginnings can lead us to the spiritual path beneath our feet. We will find our treasure wherever our heart is. The more we meditate upon our heart’s core desire, the closer we are to finding our spiritual path.
Beauty draws us, but spiritual practice will maintain our journey. The Corpus Hermeticum (Book 7, verse 5) tells us, “If you seek after God, you also seek after beauty. There is one way leading to that beauty: devotion with knowledge.” (640)
Shamans, magicians, and mystics gain spiritual knowledge through soul craft and practical application. Transformative change and patience are the means of devotion. In this study of the Western Mysteries we hope that you may follow the way of beauty, by devoted service, to arrive at the knowledge that you seek. As thrice greatest Hermes says, “Knowledge . . . provides the origin of what is to be known. Let us therefore take hold of the origin, and pass over everything else with speed; for it is a path full of tangles, when leaving the familiar and present, to return to the ancient and original.” (640) We hope that by returning “to the ancient and original,” you may find your way through the tangle of our present time to discover and understand your spiritual inheritance that is the Western Mysteries.
Twenty years have passed since this book first appeared and much has changed in our world in that time. This new edition has been recrafted, rewritten, and updated to make a more communicative text for this era, although we have changed little of the central drive of our argument. In addition, while those who heard we were making these changes to the text were most afraid that we would lose the practices at the end of each chapter, instead we have edited them to reflect the fruits of our own increased experience and to clarify and open the paths leading to the Western Way. In fact, two new practices have been added to create a sequence of twenty-one “steps” that can help you find and walk the Way. Like the Fool in the Tarot who journeys through the Major Arcana from Magician to the World, may your feet be led to experience the rich spectrum of this ancient tradition.