Oliver St. John has dedicated his life to the seeking out of spiritual truth and knowledge. The quest began with the theory and practice of magick and the occult, including related sciences of Tarot, Qabalah, ritual, astrology and divination. More lately, he has applied the metaphysics of Advaita Vedanta to construe the doctrinal knowledge of all traditions. This includes an adaptation of Raja Yoga that does not denature, reduce or over-simplify it. This is essential to preserving initiatic possibilities. It also provides a means of transcending the limitations imposed through the over-reliance on psychism that typifies occultism and neo-spiritualism.
St. John has written more than twenty books and is the Director of Studies of Ordo Astri, Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake. He is also a musician, creates his own podcasts, including the music for them, and writes and edits the periodical House of the Net Journal. His Egyptian Tarot and book is now published by Crossed Crow Books, Chicago.
There are two distinct phases to his life’s work. The first was focussed on developing a cohesive initiatic system of magick out of the considerable legacy of the Golden Dawn, as conveyed to him by its heirs among the previous generations of occultists. This meant taking a synthetic and more unified approach as opposed to the syncretism that sometimes renders disparate elements ineffective. Greater and ‘real’ emphasis is placed on the pre-religious Egyptian deities so they become central within a mandala of study and practice. Meditation is integral to operative theurgy and is not regarded as separate or mere adjunct. A high level of technical accuracy is encouraged; theoretical knowledge is indispensible, as is concentration of the mind. The second and more recent phase concerns the universal and primordial gnosis; Raja Yoga and Advaitan Jnana Yoga are the means of self-realisation. Devotional Bhakti Yoga is an essential support to knowledge.
Born in London, Oliver St. John currently lives near the rugged coastline of the Land’s End Peninsula, Cornwall. His background includes training and working with Mary Long, author and student of Dion Fortune, the late Gareth Knight and Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, co-founder of Servants of the Light Association. He was one of the very few persons to complete a five-year course in Applied Qabalah then delivered by the latter group. He was also at one time active in the neo-pagan Fellowship of Isis, enjoying a voluminous correspondence with Olivia Robertson, the co-founder. He is a member of the Typhonian Order (Ordo Typhonis) since over twenty years, and has contributed articles, including a short story within the Lovecraft genre, to Starfire Journal. He continues to teach students around the world and is working on several new book projects.
Prototype for the four Princes from the Egyptian Tarot (Crossed Crow Books), designed and drawn by Oliver St. John. The figure is modelled on the ancient Egyptian high priest of Thebes, named Ankh-af-na-khonsu on his funeral stele.
Books by Oliver St John
Oliver St. John YouTube Channel