The Magical Cosmology of Rosaleen Norton
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v12i2.208Keywords:
Paganism, Western magic, Occultism, Australia, WitchcraftAbstract
This article explores the magical cosmology of the controversial Australian witch and trance artist Rosaleen Norton (1917-1979). Within the social context of post-World War Two Australia, Norton was unquestionably an unconventional figure at a time when the local population was approximately 80 per cent Christian. Norton claimed to be an initiated follower of the Great God Pan and also revered Hecate, Lilith and Lucifer. Norton claimed to encounter these mythic beings as experientially real on the ‘inner planes’ which she accessed while in a state of self-induced trance. Many of her most significant artworks were based on these magical encounters. Influenced by a range of visionary traditions, including Kundalini Yoga, Kabbalah, medieval Goetia and the Thelemic magick of Aleister Crowley, Norton embraced a magical perspective that would today be associated with the so-called ‘Left-Hand Path’, although this term was not one she used to describe her work or philosophy. Norton’s artistic career began in the 1940s, with publication of some of her earliest occult drawings, and reached a significant milestone in 1952 when the controversial volume The Art of Rosaleen Norton – co-authored with her lover, the poet Gavin Greenlees – was released in Sydney, immediately attracting a charge of obscenity. Norton rapidly acquired a media-led reputation as the wicked ‘Witch of Kings Cross’, was vilified by journalists during the 1950s and 1960s, and was branded by many as demonic. But Norton’s magical approach was not entirely ‘dark’. Her perception that the Great God Pan provided a source of universal vitality led her to revere Nature as innately sacred, and in many ways she can be regarded as a significant forerunner of those Wiccans and Goddess worshippers from a later generation who would similarly embrace the concept of sacred ecology and seek to ‘re-sacralize’ the Earth.References
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———. “Origins of the Temple of Set.” In The Crystal Tablet of Set: Selected Extracts, 5-10. San Francisco: Temple of Set, 1986.
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———. ‘I am a Witch’, Australasian Post (Sydney), 20 December 1956.
———. Confessions of a Witch’, Australasian Post (Sydney), 15 June 1967.
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Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality, New York: Routledge, 1997.
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Crowley, Vivianne. Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Millennium. London: Thorsons, 1996
———. A Woman’s Guide to the Earth Traditions. London: Thorsons, 2001
Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: the Voodoo Gods of Haiti. London: Thames and Hudson, 1953.
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———. Inner Visions: Explorations in Magical Consciousness. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.
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———. “The Modern Magical Revival.” In Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, edited by James Lewis and Murphy Pizza, 13-80. Leiden: Brill, 2009. doi:10.1163/ ej.9789004163737.i-650.7
———. Stealing Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Modern Western Magic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
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———. Nightside of Eden. London: Muller, 1977.
———. Outside the Circles of Time/ London: Muller, 1980.
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———. The Art of Rosaleen Norton. Syndey: Walter Glover, 1952.
———. “Hitch-hiking Witch.” Australasian Post (Sydney), 7 February 1957.
———. ‘Inside Rosaleen Norton.” Interview. Squire (Sydney), April 1965.
———. “I was born a Witch.” Australasian Post (Sydney), 3 January 1957.
———. Supplement to The Art of Rosaleen Norton. Sydney: Walter Glover, 1984.
———. ‘Witches want no Recruits.”Australasian Post (Sydney), 10 January 1957.
———. ‘Witch Was No Class At School.” Australasian Post (Sydney) 24 January 1957.
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———. The Middle Pillar. Chicago: Aries Press, 1945.
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———. ‘”The Goddess.” In A New Creation: America’s Contemporary Spiritual Voices, edited by Roger Gottlieb, 213-14. New York: Crossroad, 1990.
——— The Spiral Dance. Harper San Francisco 1999 [1979].
Sutcliffe, Richard. “Left-Hand Path Ritual Magick.” In Pagan Pathways: A Guide to the Ancient Earth Traditions, edited by Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman, 109-37. London: Thorsons, 2000.
Turner, Patricia, and Charles Russell. Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Urban, Hugh. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Von Rudloff, Robert. Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion. Victoria, B.C.: Horned Owl Publishing, 1999.
Wallis, Robert. Shamans / Neo-Shamans. London: Routledge, 2003
Zimmerman, John, ed. Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
———. The Crystal Tablet of Set. San Francisco: Temple of Set, 1983.
———. “Origins of the Temple of Set.” In The Crystal Tablet of Set: Selected Extracts, 5-10. San Francisco: Temple of Set, 1986.
Barnes, D. “Rosaleen Says She Could be a Witch.” Australasian Post (Sydney),9 October 1952.
———. ‘I am a Witch’, Australasian Post (Sydney), 20 December 1956.
———. Confessions of a Witch’, Australasian Post (Sydney), 15 June 1967.
Blavatsky, Helena P., The Secret Doctrine, fifth edition. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1962.
Broughton, O.M. “The Art of Rosaleen Norton.” Arna: Journal of the Sydney University Arts Society, 1948.
Budapest, Z. The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries. Los Angeles: Wingbow Press, 1989.
Butler, William E. Magic: Its Ritual Power and Purpose, second edition. London: Aquarian Press, 1958.
Christ, Carol P. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality, New York: Routledge, 1997.
Crowley, Aleister. Magick in Theory and Practice . New York: Castle Books, 1964 [1929].
Crowley, Vivianne. Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Millennium. London: Thorsons, 1996
———. A Woman’s Guide to the Earth Traditions. London: Thorsons, 2001
Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: the Voodoo Gods of Haiti. London: Thames and Hudson, 1953.
Drury, Nevill. Homage to Pan: The Life, Art and Sex-Magic Of Rosaleen Norton. London: Creation Books, 2009.
———. Inner Visions: Explorations in Magical Consciousness. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.
———. Pan’s Daughter: the Strange World of Rosaleen Norton. Sydney: Collins, 1988.
———. “The Modern Magical Revival.” In Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, edited by James Lewis and Murphy Pizza, 13-80. Leiden: Brill, 2009. doi:10.1163/ ej.9789004163737.i-650.7
———. Stealing Fire from Heaven: the Rise of Modern Western Magic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Flowers, Stephen. Lords of the Left-Hand Path. Smithville, Texas: Runa-Raven Press, 1997.
Fortune, Dion. The Mystical Qabalah. London: Benn, 1957 [1935].
Grant, Kenneth. The Magical Revival. London: Muller, 1972.
———. Nightside of Eden. London: Muller, 1977.
———. Outside the Circles of Time/ London: Muller, 1980.
Guiley, Rosemary. The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, New York: Facts on File, 1989.
Harrison, Paul. The Elements of Pantheism. Shaftesbury: Element, 1999.
Hume, Lynne, Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1997.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: a History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Javes, N. “Witches of Sydney.” The Sun (Sydney), 7 February 1969.
Johnson, Marguerite. “The Witch of Kings Cross: Rosaleen Norton and the Australian Media.” Paper presented at Symbiosis: Institute for Comparative Studies in Science, Myth, Magic and Folklore, University of Newcastle, 2002.
———.”The Witching Hour: Sex Magic in 1950s Australia.” Paper presented at the University of Melbourne, 2004.
Jung, Carl. The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959.
———. Man and his Symbols. New York: Dell, 1968.
———. Psychology of the Unconscious. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1919
——— Symbols of Transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956.
Levi, Eliphas. The History of Magic. London: Rider, 1913.
———. The Key of the Mysteries. London: Rider, 1959.
Lewis, James, and Murphy Pizza, eds. Handbook of Contemporary Paganism. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Marquardt, Patricia. “A Portrait of Hecate.” American Journal of Philology 102, no. 3 (1981): 243-60. doi:10.2307/294128 Norton,
Rosaleen. “The Art of Rosaleen Norton.” Melbourne: Rowden White Library, University of Melbourne, 1949.
———. The Art of Rosaleen Norton. Syndey: Walter Glover, 1952.
———. “Hitch-hiking Witch.” Australasian Post (Sydney), 7 February 1957.
———. ‘Inside Rosaleen Norton.” Interview. Squire (Sydney), April 1965.
———. “I was born a Witch.” Australasian Post (Sydney), 3 January 1957.
———. Supplement to The Art of Rosaleen Norton. Sydney: Walter Glover, 1984.
———. ‘Witches want no Recruits.”Australasian Post (Sydney), 10 January 1957.
———. ‘Witch Was No Class At School.” Australasian Post (Sydney) 24 January 1957.
Patai, Raphael. The Hebrew Goddess, third edition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.
Rabinowitz,Jacob. The Rotting Goddess: The Origin of the Witch in Classical Antiquity. New York: Autonomedia,1998.
Regardie, I., The Tree of Life: A Study in Magic. London: Rider 1932.
———. ed., The Golden Dawn, vols 1-4, Chicago: Aries Press. 1937-40
———. The Middle Pillar. Chicago: Aries Press, 1945.
Roderick, Timothy. Wicca: A Year and a Day. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2005.
Salter, David. “The Strange Case of Sir Eugene and the Witch.” Good Weekend / Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 1999.
Sarmiala-Berger, Kirsti. “Rosaleen Norton—a Painter of Occult and Mystical Pictures.” Overland 162, Autumn 2001. Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark, Beacon Press, Boston 1982.
———. ‘”The Goddess.” In A New Creation: America’s Contemporary Spiritual Voices, edited by Roger Gottlieb, 213-14. New York: Crossroad, 1990.
——— The Spiral Dance. Harper San Francisco 1999 [1979].
Sutcliffe, Richard. “Left-Hand Path Ritual Magick.” In Pagan Pathways: A Guide to the Ancient Earth Traditions, edited by Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman, 109-37. London: Thorsons, 2000.
Turner, Patricia, and Charles Russell. Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Urban, Hugh. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Von Rudloff, Robert. Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion. Victoria, B.C.: Horned Owl Publishing, 1999.
Wallis, Robert. Shamans / Neo-Shamans. London: Routledge, 2003
Zimmerman, John, ed. Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
Published
2011-06-05
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Drury, N. S. (2011). The Magical Cosmology of Rosaleen Norton. Pomegranate, 12(2), 208-238. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v12i2.208
