by Dan Clore
From the Greek "watcher" — the angelic sentinels appointed over the earth in the Book of Enoch — the egregore passed through Éliphas Lévi's theory of the Astral Light into nineteenth-century occultism, where it became the name for a collective thought-form, a purposefully created entity sustained by group will. A.E. Waite queried the etymology; Blavatsky quoted Lévi back to him; a Russian experimenter in 1960 reported creating one in the shape of a cat with Russian boots. Dan Clore compiled these appearances in August 2005, noting that he had not much idea how the term had acquired its modern meaning — an honest uncertainty that makes his record all the more useful.
— Dan Clore, compiling sources, August 2005
[A note from the author: still pretty tentative, and information appreciated. I don't have much idea how the term acquired its current meaning.]
egregore, egregor, egrigor, n. [< Gr, "watcher"] In ancient religious texts such as the Book of Enoch, one of the Angels appointed to watch over the earth. In modern occultism and Chaos Magick, a thought-form similar to a tulpa (q.v.); a purposefully-created magical entity, generally by a group.
[Not in OED.]
The Astral Light warms, illuminates, magnetises, attracts, repels, vivifies, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks and conjoins everything, under the impetus of powerful wills. God created it on the first day when He said "Let there be light." This force of itself is blind but is directed by Egregores — that is, by chiefs of souls, or, in other words, by energetic and active spirits.
— Éliphas Lévi (trans. A.E. Waite), Introduction to The History of Magic
If the word is of Greek origin it seems to connect with the idea of watchers rather than leaders. Cf. [ho egrēgoros] = Vigil, in the Septuagint.
— A.E. Waite, note to Éliphas Lévi, The History of Magic
Speaking of it in his Preface to the "History of Magic" Eliphas Lévi says: "It is through this Force that all the nervous centres secretly communicate with each other; from it — that sympathy and antipathy are born; from it — that we have our dreams; and that the phenomena of second sight and extra-natural visions take place. . . . Astral Light, acting under the impulsion of powerful wills, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks, gathers in all things. . . . God created it on that day when he said: Fiat Lux, and it is directed by the Egregores, i.e., the chiefs of the souls who are the spirits of energy and action."
— H.P. Blavatsky, note to The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy (ellipses in original)
Egrigors are created by human thoughts. As we know, our thoughts consist of electric energy plus vital fluid or pranah, possessed by every living body.
— Nicholas Mamontoff, "Can Thoughts Have Forms?" (Fate, June 1960), as quoted in Hilary Evans, Visions, Apparitions, Alien Visitors: A Comparative Study of the Entity Enigma
Within a few minutes the features of the cat stabilized and on his hind feet was a pair of Russian boots. The egrigor was motionless and looked like a poorly developed photograph. "Do not think about the cat any more and watch what happens to it," ordered the guru. Sitting in the darkness the audience saw the form of the cat gradually melt and at last disappear completely.
— Nicholas Mamontoff, "Can Thoughts Have Forms?" (Fate, June 1960), as quoted in Hilary Evans, Visions, Apparitions, Alien Visitors: A Comparative Study of the Entity Enigma
The "Conjuration of the Watcher" follows the Fire God conjuration. The word "watcher" is sometimes used synonymously with "angel", and sometimes as a distinct Race, apart from angelos: egregori. The Race of Watchers are said not to care what they Watch, save that they follow orders. They are somewhat mindless creatures, but quite effective. Perhaps they correspond to Lovecraft's shuggoths, save that the latter became unwieldy and difficult to manage.
— "Simon", Prefatory Notes to Necronomicon
Azathoth is an egregore associated with the emergence of sentience from the primeval slime and the quest of sentience to reach for the stars. It is associated with these activities in star systems other than our own; the next nearest being apparently Deneb in Cygnus.
— Peter J. Carroll, Liber Kaos
Konstantinos, in his book Summoning Spirits, is equally frank. He warns his readers that, in order to evoke entities from the Necronomicon, they will probably have to create them themselves, as they would any egregore. (An egregore is a thought-form created by the magician by means of his/her will and visualization. It is a mental image solidified into astral substance. According to Konstantinos — and to Isaac Bonewits — it is much easier to use a preexisting egregore than one that the magician has to create.)
— John Wisdom Gonce III, "A Plague of Necronomicons" in Daniel Harms & John Wisdom Gonce III, The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft's Legend
Colophon
Compiled by Dan Clore and posted to the Usenet newsgroups alt.magick, alt.magick.chaos, alt.satanism, and alt.necronomicon on August 20, 2005. Clore was a scholar of occult literature and author of The Unspeakable and Others (Wildside Press, 2004). This essay is a lexicographic compilation tracing the term egregore from its appearance in Éliphas Lévi's foundational work on the Astral Light — where it denotes the directing intelligences of that occult medium — through A.E. Waite's philological gloss, Blavatsky's synthesis, and a 1960 Fate magazine account of a Russian experimenter creating a thought-form cat. The trajectory from Lévi's cosmic directrix to Peter Carroll's Chaos Magic entity associated with Azathoth and Deneb illustrates how thoroughly the term had been retooled by the late twentieth century. The spelling variant egrigor appears in the Mamontoff citations; egregor and egregori appear in Waite and "Simon."
Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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