19 May Sasha Chaitow
Sasha Chaitow
LECTURE
Modern Greek Goētia: Syncretism, Integration, Evolution
Tracing tangled, yet continuous threads from theurgy to liturgy, and from ancient goētia to living folk magic, this presentation shows how magical practices remain integral to modern Greek culture. Drawing on artefacts, textual records, and ethnographic fieldwork, Dr Chaitow challenges assumptions of the demise of magic in a culture that was never disenchanted.
While core elements of pagan ritual were subversively integrated into the official religion, with saints becoming avatars for the old gods and icon animation central to its practice, folk tradition remained more blatant. Ritual timekeeping, ritual meals, necrolatry, folk medicine, divination, amulets, incantations, spells, vocal calls – and ritual sacrifice – remain common knowledge and widespread lay – and sometimes liturgic – practice. Recorded in folk grimoires transmitted by women – and monks – many such texts remain in broad circulation and can be traced to late antique magical manuscripts.
Folk Orthodoxy is akin to Santeria or Candomblé. Neither a pristine continuity nor a modern revival of ancient magic, yet containing many of its traces, it represents an organically evolving, entangled living tradition that is practically unknown in the West. Resting on textual evidence, material culture, and first-hand accounts, this lecture argues for a fresh understanding of Greek magical traditions, obscured by linguistic and scholarly blind spots. Dr Chaitow offers a nuanced perspective on the ubiquity of enchantment in living, modern Greece.
Image info:
Pots: A huge public ritual unique to Corfu and nearby regions, every Easter Saturday locals hurl ceramic pots from windows in a tradition believed to exorcise evil and signify rebirth. Originating in funeral practices it echoes the ancient Anthesteria (vessels are smashed once libations are poured). Photo taken just before throwing the pot from the window in 2019.
Snakes: Several churches consecrated to Panagia (Mary), these snakes (Mediterranean cat snake, harmless to humans) appear around her icon. Their arrival is announced through the jubilant ringing of bells, and locals flock to worship and petition them as they are believed to have miraculous healing powers. Legend has it that they are nuns transformed into snakes to guard the churches.
Bio
Joining us from a Greek forest guarded by Medusa, Dr Sasha Chaitow is a British-Greek lecturer, author, and artist specialising in Western Esotericism, Greek folk magic, and sacred art. Her early book, Atalanta Unveiled, explores alchemical initiation, while her acclaimed Son of Prometheus unravels the Platonic-Promethean cosmology of French Rosicrucian visionary Joséphin Péladan. Her forthcoming English translation of Horapollon’s Hieroglyphica, the first in 75 years, contextualises this mysterious late antique manuscript for modern readers and reveals undiscovered esoteric content. Currently she is writing a book on Greek she-demons, another on Greek magicoreligious practices, alongside an annotated anthology series on French occultism. She has exhibited her art internationally, exploring esoteric and mythological themes, and is a former gallerist and curator. Dr Chaitow teaches internationally, with long-running outreach courses on Western Esotericism, Greek myth, and Greek sacred art.
