The Dancing Sorcerer has been a term used for the past half-century to describe the iconic figure of a 15,000-year-old work of cave art found in present-day southern France. This image, of a man dressed up in animal skins, who appears to be performing a ritual dance, has been offered up by anthropologists as an example of how the real oldest profession has always been that of the shaman, magician, or sorcerer.

The present book offers a series of essays commenting on the purpose and function of the magician archetype, using as a focal point what the author broadly defines as the Solomonic and Faustian approaches. The essays herein are concerned mainly with psychological themes, based principally on what Jung termed the mysterious conjunction, the idea that no movement into higher realities is possible without first unifying our lower nature. For this, it is necessary to investigate and even embrace the dark side – which can include such powerful archetypes and themes as dragons, vampires, Goetic demons, pharaonic curses, Enochian spirits, and occult literary frauds – all with the ultimate purpose of redeeming both the personal and collective psyche.