The Occult in Narnia, Part 7 - C.S. Lewis Promotes the Occult in His Books

The Occult in Narnia, Part 7 - C.S. Lewis Promotes the Occult in His Books

C.S. Lewis claimed to be a Christian, but does his fruit show it? What themes and beliefs do Lewis' Narnia books promote? In this article, we will look at a few excerpts from some of his Narnia stories. What messages do they tell us, and what are they teaching children?

The "Deep Magic"

We start with a scene from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After Edmund betrays his family and friends to the White Witch, he felt bad about what he did. Aslan, the lion, sends a rescue party to snatch Edmund out of the witch's hands. Aslan then confronts the witch over her right to hold Edmund under her power. C.S. Lewis writes:

[The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]

"Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?" asked the Witch.

"Let us say I have forgotten it," answered Aslan gravely. "Tell us of this Deep Magic."

"Tell you?" said the Witch, her voice growing suddenly shriller. "Tell you what is written on that very Table of Stone which stands beside us? Tell you what is written in letters deep as a spear is long on the trunk of the World Ash Tree? Tell you what is engraved on the sceptre of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea? You at least know the magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill." [A.]

Notice that this law set up by the "Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea" (who is supposed to be God the Father) is called "magic"? In Prince Caspian, we learn that Aslan is the son of the Emperor-over-Sea. Lewis writes: "And if Aslan himself comes, ... he is the son of the great Emperor-over-Sea, ...." [B.]. C.S. Lewis said that Aslan was a type of Christ [C.]. For this "Father God" character to use magic goes against God's own holy Word, the Bible. Deuteronomy 18 says...

Deuteronomy 18:9-11 (underlining added)

"[9] When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. [10] There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, [11] Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

The Magic Spell Book

But, Aslan promotes occult magic to the children reading the Narnia books. From The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we have this short dialogue between Aslan and Lucy. Lucy had just used a magic spell book to cast a spell to turn everything that is invisible visible. As you read, pay attention to how Lewis describes the spell book to his young audience (i.e. curious children). C.S. Lewis writes:


[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]

'For the Book, the Magic Book, was lying on a reading-desk in the very middle of the room. ... And what a book it was! ... Lucy could hardly tear herself away from that first page, but when she turned over, the next was just as interesting.

... she began looking at the pictures. And all at once she saw the very last thing she expected—a picture of a third class carriage in a train, with two schoolgirls sitting in it. ... They were Marjorie Preston and Anne Featherstone. Only now it was much more than a picture. It was alive. ... She could see the two girls laughing and talking. Then gradually ... she could hear what they were saying.' [D.]

Lucy is actually practicing a type of 'crystal'-gazing called scrying, but she is using a magic spell book to do it. This is a type of divining (or divination). After she watches the magic images, Lucy finds "A Spell to make hidden things visible". C.S. Lewis writes:

"She turned on and found to her surprise a page with no pictures at all; but the first words were A Spell to make hidden things visible. She read it through to make sure of all the hard words and then said it out loud. And she knew at once that it was working..."' [D.]

Aslan then appears, to Lucy's surprise. Lewis writes:

'"Oh, Aslan," said she, "it was kind of you to come."

"I have been here all the time," said he, "but you have just made me visible."

"Aslan!" said Lucy almost a little reproachfully. "Don't make fun of me. As if anything I could do would make you visible!"

"It did," said Aslan. "Do you think I wouldn't obey my own rules?"' [D.]

Aslan is saying that the magic Lucy used in that magic spell-book can cause Aslan to appear, because he obeys his own "rules." For a Christ-like character to obey the rules of a magic spell-book is very alarming, because children are being taught (by Aslan) that magic spells and spell-books agree with Christ and with Christianity. Nothing can be further from the truth. Magic and sorcery are real, and real witches use actual magic spell-books today. God forbids this in His holy Word, the Bible. 

Aslan Speaks of "Dark Magic"

Aslan also promotes an occultic teaching that there are two sides to magic: "good" ("white") magic and "dark" magic. Listen to what Aslan says about the witch, Jadis in The Magician's Nephew:

"Son of Adam," said Aslan, ".... The Witch ... has fled far away into the North of the world; she will live on there, growing stronger in dark Magic. ..." [E.]

David J. Meyer, a former witch, who left witchcraft and became a born-again Christian, wrote: 

"Witches believe that there is good witchcraft and bad witchcraft, and the good always triumphs over evil! Witches also teach that battles are fought in the Middle Earth and in the astral plane causing upheavals both above and below. Thus, witches emphasize that good must triumph over evil, but it is all witchcraft." [F.] (emphasis added)

The Magician's Nephew (Exposed)

Aslan is promoting a teaching of witchcraft that magic has two sides. Not only that, but he promotes a fantasy form of 'astral projection' or 'astral travel.' In The Magician's Nephew, Digory, the main character, is skeptical of magic, but he accepts it when he sees it happen before his eyes, as his neighbor Polly vanishes into thin air. She had just touched a yellow, magic ring that brought her into an alternate universe. Digory reluctantly follows her to this magical place by way of another magic ring. Today, magic rings are used by witches for controlling what they call "the force" [F.]. 

Real witches today also go into a trance-like state where they feel that they have left their bodies to travel in a supernatural realm called the "astral plane." This is called astral projection. It is a diabolic deception that the devil and his minions conduct on those who open up themselves to it. In reality, the witches are still in one location, having vivid, demon-controlled visions of other worlds, populated by so-called "astral beings." During these 'trips,' they have 'magical' experiences. 

The Bible forbids this practice in Deuteronomy 18. It is a type of divination. 

In the last chapter of The Magician's Nephew, Aslan takes Digory and Polly to the "Wood between the Worlds," where the children had first arrived at by use of magic rings. (Astral projection is taught here.) Digory and Polly were in the newly created land of Narnia, and wanted to return home. Lewis writes:

[The Magician's Nephew] 

'"Please," he [Digory] said, "may we go home now?" ... Aslan understood.
...

"You need no Rings when I am with you," said the voice of Aslan. The children blinked and looked about them. They were once more in the Wood between the Worlds; ... Aslan stood beside them.
...
Both the children were looking up into the Lion's face .... And all at once ... the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating.... Next minute all three of them (Uncle Andrew now awake) came tumbling into ... London.' [E.] 

This scene shows how Aslan used his magic to move the children from an alternate universe into our universe. Is this teaching children about the danger and bondage of witchcraft? Or, is it subtly teaching them that witchcraft is 'okay,' as long as you don't use it for 'evil' (i.e. to harm others, like Jadis, the evil witch, had)? 

The late David J. Meyer, a former witch, who became a Bible-believing Christian and a pastor, wrote that as a witch he had traveled in the 'astral plane.' Meyer said: 'By means of spells and magic, I was able to invoke the powers of the "controlling unknown" and fly upon the night winds transcending the astral plane.' [I.]. 

What is the Astral Plane?

What is the astral plane? Witches and sorcerers believe that there is a mystical realm beyond our dimensions, in which there are supposedly other worlds and realms populated by 'astral beings.' Sorcerers and witches believe that they can visit these places by way of magical practices. 

This is a type of divination because it is obtaining 'hidden' knowledge by occult means. God forbids divination in Deuteronomy 18 and elsewhere, in the Bible. C.S. Lewis is promoting occult practices through his fantasy books, which purport to have a Christ-like lion character (Aslan).

C.S. Lewis' Experience at a Boarding School

We need to ask -- Was C.S. Lewis only briefly or somewhat interested in the occult? Let's look at his non-fiction writings to answer this question. The occult aspect of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books is due to more than just a passing interest in magic. Lewis writes that he had a "lust" for the occult ever since he was introduced to the it as a boy while attending a boarding school. 

A certain matron at the school introduced it to him. C.S. Lewis writes about his fascination for the occult in his book Surprised by Joy: 

"I must begin with dear Miss C., the Matron. No school ever had a better Matron, more skilled and comforting to boys in sickness, or more cheery and

companionable to boys in health. She was one of the most selfless people I have ever known. We all loved her; I, the orphan, especially. ... She was (as I should now put it) floundering in the mazes of Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Spiritualism; the whole Anglo-American Occultist tradition. ... she could not tell that the room into which she brought this candle was full of gunpowder. I had never heard of such things before; never, except in a nightmare or a fairy tale, conceived of spirits other than God and men. I had loved to read of strange sights and other worlds and unknown modes of being, but never with the slightest belief; even the phantom dwarf had only flashed on my mind for a moment. ... But now, for the first time, there burst upon me the idea that there might be real marvels all about us, that the visible world might be only a curtain to conceal huge realms uncharted by my very simple theology. And that started in me something with which, on and off, I have had plenty of trouble since--the desire for the preternatural, simply as such, the passion for the Occult." [G.]. [End quote] (emphasis added)

C.S. Lewis' "passion for the Occult"

Lewis is writing from the standpoint of an alleged Christian author, who is telling the story of his own life. He admits that this "Miss C." was "floundering" in Theosophy and other occult beliefs. But, Lewis confessed that he had an "on and

off ... passion for the Occult." Clearly, Lewis doesn't want to make his readers believe he was an actual occultist, because he is writing to a Christian audience. But, he admitted in this book that he had a lust for the occult. C.S. Lewis wrote:

"Not everyone has this disease; those who have will know what I mean. I once tried to describe it in a novel. It is a spiritual lust; and like the lust of the body it has the fatal power of making everything else in the world seem uninteresting while it lasts. It is probably this passion, more even than the desire for power, which makes magicians. But the result of Miss C.'s conversation did not stop there. Little by little, unconsciously, unintentionally, she loosened the whole framework, blunted all the sharp edges, of my belief. The vagueness, the merely speculative character, of all this Occultism began to spread--yes, and to spread deliciously--to the stern truths of the creed. The whole thing became a matter of speculation: I was soon (in the famous words) "altering 'I believe' to 'one does feel'". And oh, the relief of it! Those moonlit nights in the dormitory at Belsen faded far away. From the tyrannous noon of revelation I passed into the cool evening twilight of Higher Thought, where there was nothing to be obeyed, and nothing to be believed except what was either comforting or exciting." [G.] [Surprised by Joy] (emphasis added)

Lewis is saying that his lust for the occult weakened his belief in Christianity, and brought comfort and excitement to him. He also said that it is the lust for the occult that makes "magicians" (or sorcerers) what they are. Now, did Lewis lose his interest in the occult after supposedly "converting" to Christianity, as an adult? 

C.S. Lewis and Apollo 

Some years after his "conversion", while C.S. Lewis was visiting Greece, he felt a strong desire to worship the Greek god Apollo. Lewis wrote:

"I had some ado to prevent Joy and myself from relapsing into Paganism in Attica! At Daphni it was hard not to pray to Apollo the Healer. But somehow one didn’t feel it would have been very wrong — would have only been addressing Christ sub specie Apollonius. We witnessed a beautiful Christian village ceremony in Rhodes and hardly felt a discrepancy." [End quote] [H.]


The false god Apollo was a Greek god of the sun. Sun-worship and any worship of idols or of interests is forbidden in God's word (in Exodus 20). It is idolatry!

Final Thoughts

As Christians, we have the obligation to ask God what we should do with the information we now have. Should we keep our C.S. Lewis books and the Narnia movies and books? {See 'Note' (1)}. Should we let our children read and watch Narnia stories? Or, should we get rid of them? What about other fantasy stories? What would God have us do about them? 

God desires us to have deep fellowship and intimacy with Him. The occult (and its fantasy forms) are meant to keep us from the deep fellowship and intimacy with God that He longs to have with us. Why go after occultic fantasy when we have a loving God, Who said in His Word that He shall meet our deepest needs? Look what Psalm 36 says about God.

Psalm 36:5-9

[5] Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. [6] Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

[7] How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. [8] They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. [9] For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

God draws us to Himself with lovingkindness, and God loves us with everlasting love.

Jeremiah 31:3 says: "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

God wants us to walk in the light of His Word, with Him, and have intimate fellowship with Him.

1 John 1:5-10

[5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 

[8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.


If you are coming here as a non-Christian, I encourage you to read this. God desires to have fellowship with you, as you make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior.



_______________

References:

[A.] Lewis, C.S. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." gutenberg.ca. 
[B.] Lewis, C.S. "Prince Caspian." gutenberg.ca. 
[C.] "Allegory and Symbolism: Deciphering the Chronicles." narniaweb.com.
[D.] Lewis, C.S. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." gutenberg.ca. 
[E.] Lewis, C.S. "The Magician's Nephew." gutenberg.ca. 
[F.] Meyer, David J. "A Former Witch Looks at The Lord of the Rings." lasttrumpetministries.org.
[G.] Lewis, C.S. "Surprised by Joy." gutenberg.ca.
[H.] (From: crossroad.to --) Roger Lancelyn Green, C.S. Lewis: A Biography, Revised Edition (Orlando, FL: Harcourt Inc., 1974), page 30, 274.
[I.] Meyer, David J. "Harry Potter? What Does God Have To Say?" lasttrumpetministries.org.

(1) Note: I have no Narnia or C.S. Lewis books. For this and other articles, I have referenced websites and looked at small portions of some Narnia books on gutenberg.ca. But, I have no desire to read them. I used to read Narnia, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings books, as a boy. But, I have gotten rid of all of them. I encourage you to seek God about what He would show you to do with anything in your home you are not completely sure about.