Patrick Harpur
Encyclopedia
Patrick Harpur is an english writer. He lives in Dorset
, United Kingdom
. He is best known for the work Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld which deals with the paranormal
in a similar way that Jacques Vallee
, Allen Hynek and John Keel
have done in the past.
, Neoplatonism
, Hermeticism
, and Depth Psychology
.
In his book, Daimonic Reality, Harpur argues that the human psyche
extends beyond the confines of the physical human body, and that it may in fact be a part of our reality
. He also notes that during most of human history, civilization
have had another, "shadow reality" of folklore
, except the current society which is strongly attached to the material. The following is a quotation from Daimonic Reality:
His follow up The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A history of the Imagination Harpur traces the evolution of the Imagination
in the west, and how ideas of reality have been shaped over time using this faculty. Starting with the shamanistic traditions on to modern science. He claims that not only myths, poetry, and religions rely on the imagination for new concepts of reality to be created, but even even modern scientific methods and models.
His fictional work Mercurius: The Marriage of Heaven and Earth has been called, "the most explicit account of the alchemical art ever published" by the Literary Review
.
Non-fiction
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He is best known for the work Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld which deals with the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
in a similar way that Jacques Vallee
Jacques Vallée
Jacques Fabrice Vallée is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California....
, Allen Hynek and John Keel
John Keel
John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.-Biography:...
have done in the past.
Theories
Harpur's topics deal with forteana and folklore, Daimonic Reality, traditions of Western religion—AlchemyAlchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
, Hermeticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
, and Depth Psychology
Depth psychology
Historically, depth psychology, from a German term , was coined by Eugen Bleuler to refer to psychoanalytic approaches to therapy and research that take the unconscious into account. The term has come to refer to the ongoing development of theories and therapies pioneered by Pierre Janet, William...
.
In his book, Daimonic Reality, Harpur argues that the human psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
extends beyond the confines of the physical human body, and that it may in fact be a part of our reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
. He also notes that during most of human history, civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
have had another, "shadow reality" of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, except the current society which is strongly attached to the material. The following is a quotation from Daimonic Reality:
Hitherto, I have taken "soul" to refer to two distinct, but unrelated, images. Firstly, soul is synonymous with the daimonic realm itself, the realm of Imagination, and is really an abbreviation for the collective Anima Mundi, or World-Soul. Secondly, soul refers to whatever images the World-Soul itself uses to represent itself. Archetypally, this image is usually feminine and appears, for example, as a female daimon or goddess who, as Jung would say, "personifies the collective unconscious." Now the third use of "soul" refers to the image by which we, as individuals, are represented in the World-Soul.
Traditional views of human nature have always allowed for (at least) two "souls" of the latter kind. In ancient Egypt, for instance, they were known as the ka and the ba; in China, hun and p'o. One of these souls inhabits the body and is the equivalent of what, faute de mieux, we call the ego. I will call it the rational ego to distinguish it from the second soul, variously called, in other cultures, the shadow-soul, ghost-soul, death-soul, image-soul and dream-soul, for which our culture has either the word "soul" or else no word, because it is not generally believed to exist. However, it does exist and can be thought of as an ego, in the sense that it confers identity and individuality. It enables us, that is - like the rational ego - to say "I." But it is an ego, not of consciousness, but of the unconscious; not a waking, but a dream ego; not a rational ego, but an irrational ego. I will call it the daimonic ego. Like the rational ego, it has a body - not a physical one but a dream-body, a "subtle" body such as daimons are imagined as having, an "astral" body as some esoteric doctrines say: in short, a daimonic body.
His follow up The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A history of the Imagination Harpur traces the evolution of the Imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
in the west, and how ideas of reality have been shaped over time using this faculty. Starting with the shamanistic traditions on to modern science. He claims that not only myths, poetry, and religions rely on the imagination for new concepts of reality to be created, but even even modern scientific methods and models.
His fictional work Mercurius: The Marriage of Heaven and Earth has been called, "the most explicit account of the alchemical art ever published" by the Literary Review
Literary Review
Literary Review is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at Edinburgh University. Its offices are currently on Lexington Street in Soho, London, and it has a circulation of 44,750. Britain's principal literary monthly, the magazine was...
.
Works
Fiction- The Serpent's Circle (Macmillan 1985)
- The Rapture (Macmillan 1986)
- Mercurius: The Marriage of Heaven and Earth (Second Edition in 2007), Blue Angel Gallery (ISBN 9780980286588)Third Edition, Squeeze Press, UK 2008.
Non-fiction
- Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld (1995), Penguin (ISBN 0-937663-09-3)
- The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A history of the Imagination (2002), Penguin (ISBN 9780980286526)
- A Complete Guide to the Soul (2010), Rider & Co (ISBN 9781846041860)
- The Secret Tradition of the Soul (2011), Evolver Editions (ISBN 9781583943151)
External links
- "Soul and Body" a chapter excerpted from Daimonic reality at deoxy.org
- "Personal Daimons" An excerpt from Daimonic Reality at deoxy.org
- "The Otherworld as the Unknown" An excerpt from Daimonic Reality at deoxy.org
- 'The Animated World', interview with Patrick Harpur
- Daimonic Reality on Pagan Book Reviews
- Dreamflesh.com review of Mercurius
- http://www.blueangelonline.com/mercurius.htm Reviews.