The Magical Revival

The Magical Revival is a book written by British occultist Kenneth Grant, first published in 1972. It is the first of his Typhonian Trilogy, which comprises this work and two others—Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God (1973) and Cults of the Shadow (1975). In this work, he first introduced his theory that American horror author H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos was psychic revelation presented as fiction,^[1] an idea which he would elaborate and extend further in his later works. This idea - that what is ostensibly presented as fiction is often a vehicle masking deeper realities - has precedence in the inclusion by Aleister Crowley of many works of fiction in the official reading syllabus of his mystical and magical order, the Argentum Astrum ; Grant's recognition of Lovecraft's value may be seen as simply a detailed continuation, an "updating" of this basic idea using material which Crowley simply hadn't had the opportunity to read. Grant also claimed in this work that there was an unconscious connection between Lovecraft and occultist Aleister Crowley, arguing that both of them channeled their work from the same occult forces, although Lovecraft was not consciously aware of the alleged otherworldly sources of his literary inspirations.^[1][2]

According to Professor Joshua Gunn of the University of Texas, The Magical Revival has been criticised by many occultists and historians alike for its "creative history making".^[3] On the other hand, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology gave a more favourable review, calling it "a very infomative survey of occult theory and practice in modern times".^[4]

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