Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries: Recovering the Sacred Mystery at the Heart of Reality

by Sebastian Morello, Charles Coulombe (foreword)

“If the hierarchy spent only half the time on disseminating the mystical and liturgical tradition of the Church that it does on destroying our own liturgical inheritance, it could drag us out of the nihilism of the secular age in the flash of a moment.”

According to Sebastian Morello, the Church possesses the most potent resources for mystical transformation, with the event of the Incarnation and the outpouring of grace it entailed radically altering the cosmic order. But we would hardly know it today. A leaden blanket of rationalism, materialism, reductionism—all that goes by the name of modernity—has descended over this ancient treasury of divine wisdom, and myopic pastoral programmes which only intensify the despoilment and quashing of the Lord’s Kingdom have eclipsed its innate appeal to the searching heart of modern man. In this ambitious and at times unconventional book, Morello proposes a pathway of escape from what he calls the “hex,” toward a rediscovery of the Sacred Mystery at the heart of reality.

Genres: Religion, History, Christianity, Mysticism, Theology, Philosophy, Catholic

204 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2024

About the author

Sebastian Morello is a lecturer, public speaker, and writer. He has published books on philosophy, religion, politics, history, and education. He lives in Bedfordshire, England, with his wife and children, and is contributing editor and editorial board member of The European Conservative magazine.

Reviews

[Ryan Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many are writing about these same things these days. I myself have entered the “re-enchantment” conversation in my own small way. Morello does so with perhaps the most passion and intellectual force of any others I have read yet. His contention that the meaning crisis, which has uncertain but often fairly intuitive solutions (to a traditional and faithful Christian), won’t truly be solved without a better understand and living of the operation and interaction of nature and super-nature (ie grace) is the most intellectually serious contribution to the discussion I have ever read. I agree with it wholeheartedly.

At times this book is a bit repetitive without further development of its thesis. I often wondered if each new chapter was primarily written as an opportunity to advance arguments and cutting turns of phrase against modernity, rather than truly necessary expositions on the topic at hand. I get the impulse, I do the same thing in my own discussions and writing, but either way, there were times I figured I’d be giving this book a lower review because of how much time was spent trashing on modernity vs truly advance the positive argument of the book. I am very much on the same page as Morello, but still, it can be tiring to read yet another lament of modernity after you’ve already agreed with the idea.

Overall, a short and therefore worthwhile book getting into a neglected piece of the path forward. Few are thinking seriously enough about these topics to get into the fundamental theology of it, and do so with such a breadth of knowledge. I look forward to seeing history prove Sebastian Morello right.

P.S. any book endorsement by Charles Coulombe (who wrote the forward) is almost certainly worth reading

[Evan Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sebastian Morello has quickly become one of my favorite authors to read. As an American who has had virtually no contact with The European Conservative before reading this book, I was amazed to discover such a thoughtful, well-read, and interesting thinker whose thought helped make sense of my own circumstances. Before encountering this book, Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries, published in 2024 by Os Justi Press, I had never even heard of Sebastian. I must admit that after reading this book (which only took a few days to finish even amidst work and raising small children—simply because it was such a delight to read), I quickly searched for further publications from Sebastian and found myself spending even more time reading his delightful insights. Sebastian is a unique thinker, having studied under the ever-readable and insightful Sir Roger Scruton, he has somehow maintained his discipleship to his teacher and His Lord. His interests are diverse, yet well researched on his part. Somehow he has cultivated, in a short period of time, a trilogy of books I recommend to all my friends (first being the book of our current discussion, followed by his book on political traditionalism, Unto the Ages of Ages, and then his quiet personal book on the intersection of nature, grace and culture, titled Woodland Philosophy). For lay people trying to understand how they ought to live, his books provide much food for thought. That is no small achievement. Sebastian has, successfully, opened the collective minds of his readership with this volume in particular to think about the crisis of modernity as a crisis of losing the sacred vision which the life of grace in the Church gives us. In fact, he has done this so successfully that he had his own witch hunt against him from the Christians who have a different preference for how to get out of the crisis. To write in such a way that your “opponents” feel they must destroy your reputation, rather than your arguments, is a sign you are a clear and powerful author. I believe Os Justi Press will have a follow-up volume addressing such criticisms, which I look forward to reading.

Each chapter of Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries is a delight to the mind, this includes the appendices of the conversation with Peter Kwasniewski and Sebastian’s engagement with Rod Dreher’s recent book Living in Wonder. Though the contents of the book might seem odd to some, I think many will feel a sympathy with the author that they would not initially expect to have. Sebastian writes with such eloquent and engaging rhetoric and prose that he is able to convey sophisticated philosophical critiques alongside engaging personal anecdotes all while letting each piece feel like a legitimate, organic whole. The author has the rare humane quality of writing in a manner that is as engaging as his thought. I believe this only shows the degree of integration, clearly hard-fought, which the author has been able to maintain during these disintegrating times. This also shows the clear editorial capacity of Os Justi Press who is able to find and publish authors previously obscure to me yet brimming with clear and engaging writing that is not only intellectually robust but spiritually humble. Sebastian stands as one of many worthwhile authors in their increasingly golden catalogue.

The book has many enchanting topics, such as the chapters on the Magi and Christmas or the very entertaining (yet insightful) concluding chapter on exercising with a mace. Though I haven’t yet adopted such medieval disciplines, I have strongly considered, for various reasons that might become clear to the careful reader of this book, practicing Historical European Martial Arts. I can thank Sebastian for planting such a seed. As someone now well acquainted with Sebastian’s work, these engaging and chuckle-inducing images are the sorts of things that are a feature rather than a bug of his authorship. The humble humor of each piece, as well as the biting insights, are not mere ornamentation but a core aspect of the very fiber of each thought. One gets the impression from reading Sebastian that he actually likes his life. In fact, he seems to love his life. Sebastian sees clearly the crisis we find ourselves in and the spell that must be broken. That is to say, Sebastian seems to be more free than the average man from the spell he accurately diagnoses, which, again, is a sign in his favor. Before saying anything else, I ought to say: buy this book. If you care about the crisis we find ourselves in and desire a work that will help you think more clearly and creatively about what the malaise is which actually befalls us, read this book. If you are a normal person who is spiritual but not religious, but see there is clearly something wrong with the world right now, read this book. If you are a Catholic lamenting secularism and modernity’s fruits, read this book. If you are an intelligent person seeking something thought-provoking and delightful, strange yet wholesome, I say again with all my breathe, read this book.

With that heartfelt endorsement being clearly said, there are a few quibbles and disagreements I have with Sebastian. At certain points in the book Sebastian takes a polemical axe against the managerialism within the Church that is at once refreshing, but could also easily be taken by many to be spiteful. I don’t disagree with any of the critiques Sebastian levels in this department that I can recall. Certainly managerialism is killing the Church with a vigor no Christ-hating tyrant could muster. Death by a thousand paper cuts, so they say. Similarly, I don’t disagree with his call toward restoring monasticism as a core aspect of Christian culture and life. I was privileged for two years of my life to live next to a Benedictine monastery and the effects of the monks was visceral. This call to restoring monasticism and its intrinsic connection to Christian culture ought to be further articulated, and my critique here is mostly that I wanted even more, perhaps a follow-up volume! I understand that someone had to re-orient the “Benedict Option” conversation in a way many would read, and I am glad Sebastian has. I wholeheartedly agree that we need not only a call for something like monasticism, but the real thing. Sebastian makes clear that we, as a culture, truly need what monasticism was and still is if we are to have a deep-rooted experience of the re-enchantment which a sacred theurgical life entails.

My main disagreements with the contents of the book are twofold and somewhat pedantic. Sebastian, I think in a rather oversimplifying manner, denigrated the influence of St. Ignatius of Loyola as that of taking too subjective a turn for the Church’s understanding of the spiritual life, another nail in the coffin of Cartesian dualism which negatively enchants us all. This I think is unfair to St. Ignatius, his Spiritual Exercises, and the Jesuits following him. Certainly these things are not above dispute, but I simply think the cursory remarks made by Sebastian obscure this great book’s point and make a straw man out of these truly great gifts the Holy Spirit brought to the Church through what we now call “Ignatian spirituality.”

My second quibble has to do with an area for which I am more well read than the average Joe: Hans Urs von Balthasar. Balthasar is mentioned in this book four times, which is somewhat surprising given that most platform-wielding traditionalists seem reticent to read or refer to him in any way. For most, usually one simple strawman will do. The first two mentions are where my quibbles mainly lay. Sebastian, rather flippantly, oversimplifies Hans Urs von Balthasar’s understanding of hoping for the dead’s salvation on page 52. There, after mentioning Karl Rahner’s concept of Anonymous Christians, he simply states Balthasar was a universalist, which is false and can be demonstrated through multiple citations in Balthasar’s work which state rather clearly his belief in the possibility of damnation. This possibility is not a mere technicality for Balthasar but a dramatic aspect of the Christian experience contained in the very tensions of Scripture and the words of Christ. I will give a few citations for the careful reader to digest in the footnotes.¹ The point is that Balthasar clearly believes in the Christian’s capacity to make a “No” to God with eternal consequences. The second time Sebastian mentions Balthasar it is to casually disparage him in the context of Sebastian’s own defense and veneration of Valentin Tomberg. This is bizarre given that Balthasar has been criticized from traditionalists for having written an afterword to Tomberg’s magnum opus. Beyond the straw-man of Balthasar being a dogmatic universalist (Which he wasn’t. Balthasar wrote a scathing critique of Karl Rahner’s concept of Anonymous Christians in his book The Moment of Christian Witness along these lines.), the second line of attack from traditionalists is usually that Balthasar was an occultist, this is “substantiated” through his having written the afterword to Tomberg and then given narrative flesh through falsely characterizing his relationship with Adrienne von Speyr and her mysticism. I mention these in detail not because I know Sebastian holds to the second critique, I have no reason to believe that given his admiration for Tomberg, but because Sebastian seems to be an otherwise careful reader of sources frequently caricatured. This is one of his most admirable qualities as an author. I think these two cursory criticisms, once again, undermined his otherwise good work in this volume, which I still recommend. Truth loving minds can come to different assessments of influential thinkers. The other two times Balthasar is mentioned in the book are reasonable criticisms and points of disagreement since they have to do with Balthasar’s unique place on the contemporary discussion of the nature/grace debate— a topic worth fierce disputation and continued reflection. I might add that Sebastian has made a modest contribution toward this dialogue with his book published by Angelico Press, The World As God’s Icon. I believe that if he and I were to have a drink we could have a worthwhile discussion on this area of Balthasar’s thought that would be charitable and more deep than the surface-level points typically made.

With those quibbles overbearingly noted, I can now say once more: read this book. If you are just now considering reading it, don’t delay on discovering a more vibrant and living possibility of re-enchantment that goes beyond the occasional YouTube video discussing symbolism (no offense to Jonathan Pageau) or the meme encouraging one to put down the screen and “touch grass.” I believe Sebastian encourages both of these things, and the various others that come in tow (such as reading fairy tales, telling folk stories, hugging and delighting in your children, and spending time in nature), but Sebastian offers much more. He calls for nothing other than a full-throated Catholic conception of living. Sebastian believes in grace’s effects on this world. He believes that the sacraments of the Church and the prayers of the saints have weight, that they have a certain palpability that transforms and permeates the world we live in. In each twig and folk practice, all things considered equal, Sebastian sees something pointing to God. This is not sentimental but rooted in his notion of creation and of the religious aspirations of man. I believe the same, and, perhaps, if you are struggling toward understanding why someone might think that, even today given science and empiricism, you should give this book a try and see why Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries are still important realities to consider.

To echo the children that brought Augustine’s heart to bow down to Christ: tolle, lege.

1
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. IV: The Action (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994), 182, 350; also Theo-drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. V: The Last Act, 285-90, 297; Glory of the Lord, Vol. VII: Theology: The New Covenant, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), 233-34, 291-92, 402 and 417; Epilogue, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), 118-19; Engagement with God: The Drama of Christian Discipleship (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008), 31; Love Alone is Credible (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 77; Prayer (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 50; Mysterium Paschale (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 177; “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis,” in Communio 9 (1980), 34; Does Jesus Know Us—Do We Know Him? (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983), 40, 81; and Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved”? (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), 16-28.

These citations are taken from Margaret Turek’s Atonement, to which the chapter containing the citations was published by Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal as “Hans Urs von Balthasar on Forming Missionary Disciples.”

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morello’s little masterpiece (clocking in at under 200 pages, its length is concise and accessible) offers a fascinating glimpse of how to recover natural wisdom in a world gone mad. He aims to help us regain a “conception of the world as a realm that, when known properly, reveals itself to be a cathedral” (10).

The book’s insights and prescriptions ring with humility, and Morello himself insists upon not only his personal insufficiency, but the insufficiency of all mankind apart from divine grace. This recognition infuses the book with epistemic humility, even in its occasional and well-placed complex sentences. As Roger Buck recently shared in his wonderful YouTube reflection on the book (titled “Roger Buck—Ep 45: Valentin Tomberg, Sebastian Morello—& the Machine”), he has already read through it two or three times, and he was delighted to discover new insights during each read.

Is this book accessible? Yes; it is not written for the scholar but for any inquiring person, anyone who has already begun down the path of wisdom and is willing to dive further up and further in—not toward gnostic knowledge but toward the mystical life that our forerunners in the faith already possessed. In other words, “embodied induction into shared life with a personal God who meets us in the world” (11).

Is this book easy? No; and that’s a very good thing! Morello aims to rattle us out of our modern stupor so that we may regain a liturgically-charged vision of reality. Anyone who has benefited from John Senior's “The Restoration of Christian Culture” and Natalia Fenollera's “The Awakening of Miss Prim” ought to read “Mysticism, Magic, & Monasteries” as well. All three books challenge the reader to directly confront his compromised metaphysical assumptions, albeit in different ways. What makes Morello stand apart is his deep familiarity with Christian mysticism, which inspired such saints as St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas More, and St. John Fischer. As a result, he offers a fresh perspective that is important because it is traditional and earnestly engages with the modern mentality. Since we all share this modern mentality to greater or lesser degrees, we all need what Morello offers: an invitation to return to our mystical and incarnational Christian heritage, and tools for doing so in 2025 and beyond.

A final word about the presence of the word “Magic” in the title. Some might object to it, or at least might be a little suspicious at first (understandably so—I was as well). However, Morello is entirely orthodox in his approach to the topic, as the testimony of saints and the following snippets of text make clear: “Part of adopting a premodern mind is first acknowledging that every people in history has accepted that our world is a world pregnant with magical forces and the activity of spiritual beings. And Christianity has never denied that curses, hexes, and many kinds of evil spells exist. . . . So too, Christians—alongside their practices of meditation and contemplation—have ever believed in sacred magic, or “theurgy,” but they have believed that such magic possesses the power to conquer demons and sacralise the world only when united to the eternal and singular priesthood of Jesus Christ, and to this baptised theurgy Christians have given the name of liturgy” (4). So it turns out that the kind of magic Morello advocates is not subversive of orthodoxy but of modernity: it is the Christian life understood as “absorption into the cosmic liturgy of the created order, reflected and redeemed by the bridal liturgy of the Church” (12).

Let us heed Morello’s call: “I invite the reader, then, to join me in re-enchanting the world; not by projecting some romantic and vague notion of spirituality onto the world by an act of sheer will, but by genuine liberation from the black magic of modernity” (12). Here, here!

[Robert Keim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book by a bold and insightful scholar.

Morello says things that others are afraid to say, or unwilling to know, or unable to find. He doesn't fit neatly into any of the pre-approved Catholic categories—liberal, conservative, traditional, etc.—and neither does this book. And that only adds to its extraordinary power to open the mind and cast light on the dark, disordered landscape of postmodern spirituality.
One of the throughlines in Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries is the notion that Catholicism has become largely an "Internet genre." This assertion is very unpleasant, and very true. Furthermore, it serves as an emblem of the larger problem that Morello so insightfully and cogently explores: Christianity has long been drifting away from the embodied realities, symbolic modes of thought, and authentic communities that vivified the Faith for centuries.
Unconventional ideas, such as Morello's ideas about magic or the religious life, can be unsettling. But when unconventional ideas are backed up by solid research, keen historical awareness, and abundant erudition, they deserve our attention and careful consideration. Morello's book—written, by the way, in dynamic, well-crafted prose—is a treasure of modern scholarship for those who are serious about understanding and improving the current state of the Christian religion.

[Almachius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morello's Magic Mushroom is, for some reason, controversial. If that means more people have read it, then that's good news for everyone. The book is a splendid series of full-fat and thoroughly readable meditations on all things re-enchanting-y which I started, by chance (chance? What is that?) on the Feast of the Epiphany and finished today, Easter Sunday (Alleluia, Alleluia). I shouldn't be on a computer, really, but had to get my thoughts down. There were a few moments where - I kid you not - I had one of those nearly-actually-crying-for-the-third-time-in-adulthood moments just because of that light-bulb-recognitiony thing you get when a writer just keeps piling on you stuff that is true and beautiful, one after another, layered up like tiramisu or something but already somehow there in your mind at the same time. I can't overdo my praise enough and look forward to more. It's quite funny in places, by the way, but I won't spoil anything for you my mentioning the mace-wielding in underpants bit. The appendices alone - an epistolary exchange between Morello and Kwasniewski (what a pair!) and a sympathetic response to Rod Dreher's work - are alone worth the price of the book. So was the description of a certain News Statesman journalist. Bravo.

[T.]

Very much looking forward to discussing and contemplating this for a good while.

[Jose Luis]

Just over a week ago Catholic Culture published an articled titled "Hermetic Tradition or Catholic Tradition? A Critique of Sebastian Morello" in response to this book. A simple Google search should lead to you to it. A few other articles along the same vein might come up as well.

In the author's defense, I think it fair to also point out his own article written in response to related criticisms, "To Achieve Clarity, to Avoid Scandal: Some Statements on Christian Re-Enchantment" published on OnePeterFive. It's also a Google search away.

I do not pretend to have any expertise in Catholic philosophy, but even before reading the above mentioned articles, these were my primary concerns with the book:

1. The use of unorthodox terminology to describe what on the surface seem like common-sense Catholic viewpoints. It doesn't take much basic exposure to mainline/orthodox Catholic philosophy and theology to do some double-takes while reading this book. Also bringing in flashy names, and then make sweeping claims along the lines of "well if St. Hildegard did it, then it mustn't be that bad," is just bogus and fallacious writing.

2. Morello's overall disdain for the hierarchical church, the papacy, most religious orders, the Novus Ordo, the documents of Vatican II, etc. I'm all for tradition and reverence and rekindling the Catholic imagination. In fact, I truly value and enjoy the traditional form of the mass. But in real-life interactions when I meet people who express themselves as Morello does in this book on these topics, I proceed with caution. I mean, he in-writing, for-posterity called Pope Francis a gangster. I concede that concerns around authority in the Church are quite valid, but as a Catholic you need to be careful about the way you express those concerns.

The tone of this book is not formal or academic. It's almost like a rant, and this is not what I was expecting from this publisher.

Overal we have a mixed bag. The book is full of ideas - a man's ideas - many of which I vibe with and, I'd like to assume, are well-intentioned. But it's all muddled by the aforementioned issues and can lead to confusion. Honestly, I had no idea this book was so controversial. I thought the title was interesting when I ordered it months ago. It was sitting on my shelf for the longest time until I picked it up quite randomly.

A good book that I read in the past that I remember addresses a similar idea of "re-enchanting" the Christian mind is: Rekindling the Christic Imagination: Theological Meditations for the New Evangelization by Robert P. Imbelli.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

A remarkably unserious book. I, along with philosopher Matthew Minerd and historical researcher Matthew Scarince, wrote a 33-page essay refuting some of Morello's central claims - especially about the supposed Catholic pedigree of Hermetic magic.

https://www.catholicculture.org/comme...