The Occult Metaphor of Electricity

trons in the anode. Since electrons repel one another, they move—toward the protons in the cathode. Upon reaching the cathode, the electrons are neutralized.

Batteries produce power by placing something that uses the electrical charge between the anode and the cathode. As the electrons move from anode to cathode, they move through the (flashlight bulb, toothbrush, vibrator, etc.), charging it. A battery is dead when the chemical is used up—no more reaction, no more electron buildup, no more charge.

Since this is the metaphor that has been used for centuries to explain magical polarity, let’s compare and contrast.

The Occult Metaphor of Electricity

Dion Fortune’s The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage is a little-known but highly influential7 book that is essentially an extended metaphor about how electricity and the life force are alike, and what that means about sex. She says:

It is well known that for electricity to become active, it must flow in a circuit….So it is with the life-force. It flows into each monad from the Divine source, and, having passed through that monad and energised it, flows forth into circumambient space; then…it is finally reabsorbed by the Divine….If, however, it is desired to perform any work with this force, it must not be allowed to radiate into space and so become unavailable; it must be concentrated into a definite channel, and…be converted into pressure and thus made a source of energy.8

Fortune then goes on to describe two types of “monads,” with different energy flows, then defines those monads as negative/female and positive/ male, and describes the magical function of sex as the creation of a circuit of life-force energy for the purpose of magical work, which she calls “cosmic

7. By which I mean, many, many commonplace ideas in the occult can be traced back to this book, yet few people have read it or realize it is the source of such ideas. 8. Fortune, The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage, 40–41.