Chilean Occultism: A Guide Through Its Caves and Graves (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798314643549)

This book presents a snapshot of contemporary Chilean esoterica and its roots through the lens of my own experiences, research conducted, conclusions reached, and field trips undertaken in the second semester of the year 2024.

• Discover the esoteric symbolism embedded in the design of the Chilean flag, which blends both Masonic and pre-Hispanic influences in a syncretism of both European and indigenous cosmologies and cultures that is the foundation not only of Chilean occultism but also of the national identity itself.
• Uncover Chile's tradition of cenotaphs and folk magic practices through the cults of its unlikely folk saints such as Chile's very own Count Dracula and an ill-fated former president, both of whom supposedly grant wishes from beyond the grave, and learn how these legends arose through the blending of fact, fiction, superstition and both Indigenous and Roman Catholic spiritual beliefs and practices to create figures of local devotion and veneration.
• Read about some of Chile's most infamous pacts with the Devil, including the tale of the provincial mayor said to have fathered over one hundred children and reputedly traded his soul with the Prince of Darkness for power and women, and a Basque-Chilean aristocrat who allegedly sold his soul to Old Nick for endless riches and fed on the blood of the local ladies of the night.
• Learn about how, in the caves of central Chile, witches used to "fly" and experience visions during deep ecstatic trance, how this state of intense frenzy and rapture was achieved through a combination of hallucinogenic potions and sexual stimulation applied simultaneously with their broomsticks, and how the cackling witches "riding" their broomsticks - unknown in Indigenous Chilean mysticism or Chilean witchcraft outside of central Chile - is a cultural legacy of colonial Basque immigration.
• Read about Miguel Serrano, the Chilean diplomat, writer, and occultist extraordinaire whose esoteric works masterfully blended indigenous Chilean myth, Jungian psychology, Western occultism and Eastern mysticism.
• Discover natural mysticism at Mount Melimoyu, the mystical antipode to the tantric Mount Kailash of the Himalayas and the muse of Miguel Serrano that is said to be an energetic portal to other realms.
• Explore the influences of both indigenous and Basque pre-Christian shamanism on contemporary Chilean witchcraft, as well as how the fusion of European and pre-Hispanic practices and traditions in general gave rise to a uniquely Chilean form of occultism, be it the folk magic of Chile's cenotaphs or the high magic of the likes of Miguel Serrano.

"Chile is a magical land of extremes, stark contrasts and polar opposites under not only the protection of the icy peaks and ominous rumbling volcanoes of the Andes but also an underlying but omnipresent tectonic tension. Ranging from the lunar landscapes and Mars-like badlands of the Atacama desert in the far north, to the dense and haunted Patagonian woodlands in the far south, beyond the Chilean mainland lie the mysterious moai of its Oceanic territory Easter Island and the bleak and frozen wastelands of its Antarctic claim.

Like anywhere, magic has probably been practised in some form or another since man first set foot here some 16,400 years ago at Pilauco, near the present-day southern Chilean city of Osorno. Each culture that emerged afterwards and each wave of settlers that arrived subsequently added their own particular fibre and texture to the unique and rich tapestry of Chilean occultism. This is just as true of the folk magic practices associated with Chile's miniature cenotaphs known as animitas, as it is with the high magic practised by both Chile's Mapuche shamans and its famed occultists and mystics of European origin such as Miguel Serrano and Alejandro Jodorowsky." (Excerpt)

Author: Brian O'Sullivan
ISBN-13: 9798314643549
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 03/21/2025
Pages: 170
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.52lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.36d