---
title: "Sam Webster on Magic, Theurgy, and the Path of the Mage"
url: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/post/sam-webster-on-magic-theurgy-and-the-path-of-the-mage/
date: 2025-02-17
modified: 2026-07-03
lang: en
author: "Perseus Arcane Academy"
description: "Introduction Magic isn’t just about rituals and books—it’s about understanding the forces at work, both seen and unseen. In this interview, we are grateful for Sam Webster for sharing about..."
categories:
  - "Eastern Traditions"
  - "Interviews"
  - "Thelema"
  - "Western Traditions"
tags:
  - "Bon Tradition"
  - "Golden Dawn"
  - "Magic"
image: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Sam-Webster.jpg
word_count: 1523
---

# Sam Webster on Magic, Theurgy, and the Path of the Mage

## Introduction

Magic isn’t just about rituals and books—it’s about understanding the forces at work, both seen and unseen. In this interview, we are grateful for Sam Webster for sharing about their journey through magic, academia, and initiation. From their time at Starr King School for the Ministry to earning a PhD in Pagan history, they’ve worked to uncover what really lies beneath Western esotericism.

There’s a lot here for anyone serious about their practice, whether you’re just starting out or deep in the work. If you enjoy this interview share it with others and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

You can visit the website of Sam Webster [here](https://samwebstermage.com/).

---

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/banner-1-cropped-color.png)

# Background and Education

**PAA: How has your education at Starr King School for the Ministry influenced your approach to magic and spirituality?**

Upon completing my Golden Dawn work to become an adept and a Hierophant, I realized I did not have the skills to care for souls. For this, and a somewhat vain hope to get hired as a minister by the Unitarian Universalists, I entered [Starr King School for the Ministry](https://www.sksm.edu/). There I discovered the true western esotericism, the difference between those who know the ‘higher criticism’ (contemporary biblical scholarship) and those who only know what is taught in church. Let’s just say that if more folks knew what we know about the Bible and its characters, the fewer people would be Christians. This fully empowered me to abandon any Christian or even Yahwistic elements in my spirituality and teaching. My focus became the pre-Christian practices of the Mediterranean basin. Also, it was during this time that I was exposed to the [Buddhadharma](https://tricycle.org/), which clarified what we were doing spiritually and has deeply informed my practice ever since.

**PAA: What motivated you to pursue a PhD in Pagan history, and how does this academic work inform your magical practice?**

A variety of factors in my life left me with the opportunity to get a doctorate and on examination, I realized that all of my data was coming through historical channels and I did not have the tools to evaluate what I was looking at. Now I do. By studying the ancient methodologies as preserved in the very limited record, I was able to reconstruct the practice of [theurgy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theurgy), which underlies all western magic.

## Initiatory Traditions

**PAA: Can you discuss the significance of your various initiations across different traditions and how they contribute to your identity as a mage?**

Each of the various traditions that have welcomed me contribute a different part of my overall understanding. Each initiation brought me into the current of that tradition, and it empowers and illuminates my work from a specific angle. A short summary would include:

- **[Wicca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca)** instructed me in the pedagogy of theurgy, which I then discovered was widespread.

- **[Druidry](https://druidry.org/)** gave me a home while in England and helped me tie to land and place.

- **Buddhism** showed me the deeper aspects of what we have been trying to achieve and many fixes for the damaging parts of our practice.

- **Hinduism** taught me [Raja Yoga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C4%81ja_yoga) and meditation, and recovered for me the heart of play.

- **Freemasonry** ([Grand Lodge of California](https://freemason.org/)) gave me a place to be junior when I was leading the [Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn](https://osogd.org/), and taught me the ritual basis for the Golden Dawn initiations.

All of these boons have been invaluable in forming me as an initiator, hierophant, and a priest, which all together is the way of the magi.

## Magical Practice and Philosophy

**PAA: You describe yourself as a practitioner of theurgy; can you elaborate on what that means in the context of your work?**

Theurgy is the underlying God-Working that illuminates and empowers our practices. It was the secret kept very quiet while displaying it publicly. Those who understand can easily interpret it, and it goes right over the head of those who can’t. My favorite example of this is in [Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s "Three Books of Occult Philosophy"](https://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/threebo/index.htm), where he hid his meaning in diverse places where only the “sons of the wise” could find them. In other words, look for when he is quoting the Greeks and assemble that into a set of practices. Those practices are theurgy.

## Community and Leadership

**PAA: As a cofounder of the Chthonic-Ouranian Templar order, what vision did you have for this organization, and how has it evolved over time?**

Originally the **Chthonic-Ouranian Ordo Templi Orientis (C-OTO)**, we formed during a collapsing time for the Caliphate OTO partly as a way to preserve the current. The **C-OTO** survived its crisis, and so we changed the name on the outer to not cause confusion. The function of the **CO-TOT** is to transmit the Templar or ‘warrior’ lineage in Thelema in a non-linear, collectivist way, appropriate to Thelemic antinomian principles. It was created so that no one could control it, and so it is still out there being used by those who need it. We who started it moved on to other work, leaving the Order to self-govern, as we intended from the start.

**PAA: What motivated you to establish the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn, and what impact has it had on practitioners?**

To a certain extent, it was an accident. I taught a class on the Golden Dawn at **PantheaCon 2001** and offered more if anyone desired. Seventeen people showed up at my house a few weeks later and the Order got started. It was intended from the beginning to be Thelemically inflected, Buddhist-informed, non-Christian, and non-Yahwistic. We’ve initiated well over 100 people, and about 10% made it to adeptship. We’ve shown that good scholarship can improve our practices and that chops are more important than lineage. We demonstrated the compatibility of the Buddhadharma with western practice. Some folks have followed in our path, others reject it.

## Publications and Contributions

**PAA: Can you share the inspiration behind your book *Tantric Thelema* and its significance within the broader context of magical literature?**

When studying the Buddhadharma in seminary, I learned first that my understanding of it was quite wrong (the focus is not really on suffering as it appears). Then I learned that the monks had a number of the same problems we have with our practices. Then I learned how they fixed them with means that make perfect sense to a Pagan. So, in 1992, I began building out a practice based in the Yoga-Tantra methods to invoke Ra-Hoor-Khuit by reading *[The Book of the Law](https://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/engccxx.htm)* as a tantra. The practice is very powerful and an amazing support in life. Most magical literature today is old, vague, incomplete, or out-and-out fantasy. Meeting the clarity of purpose and practice in the Tibetan contemplative tradition inspired me to attempt to upgrade our work by learning from our elders. Now, some thirty years later, I am pleased with the impact this work has had on all those I’ve taught it to.

More about *Tantric Thelema* can be found [here](https://samwebstermage.com/books/tantric-thelema/).

**PAA: In what ways do you hope to contribute to the ongoing discourse about magic through both academic research and public teaching?**

On the one hand, I firmly believe that Pagans have the possibility of saving this civilization, or priming the next one to be harmonious with the planet we live on. That said, the Pagan community seems to be either self-destructing or rendering itself trivial. My task is to help Pagans realize our place in the world, and to strengthen the spiritual power of our practices and to sharpen them to enable more to achieve adeptship and mastery

## Personal Reflections

**PAA: What advice would you give to those who are exploring their own paths in magic but feel overwhelmed by the variety of traditions available?**

Find people to work with in person. Most of what we can really do only works that way. That will also limit your choices. Then, study, but more importantly practice! Ask always, what is in this for you. If you are unclear on what or why you are doing it, stop. Figure that out and get to work. Also, find elders and learn from them. They may not see the world or operate as you think they should, but they are still at it, and their depth of knowledge is precious.

**PAA: Looking ahead, what goals do you have for both your personal practice and contributions to the field of magic?**

I’m not so goal oriented as strategic, so I figure things to do and get to work, then evaluate if I like the results. Right now, I’m studying and practicing in the [Bon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon) tradition of Tibet. They are a kind of ‘pagan’ Buddhist, so I’m finding many congenial elements. I’m also being tapped to run a center for spiritual exploration here in Berkeley, so I’ll have a community to teach. Further, I am continuing to publish others’ work as well as my own. My hope is to improve the quality of our practices and scholarship. We have so much, and so much to grow. Even in the fading light, I have hope for us.

**PAA: Thank you very much for your time in answering our questions.**

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