James Bond Is Occult As F*ck

The James Bond franchise is not something we typically associate with the occult or magic. But the two are completely intertwined on various levels internally, externally and for many reasons. The occult influenced James Bond and in turn James Bond has influenced the occult right back.

Let’s begin with the fact that James Bond was not the original 007. The original 007 and source of inspiration for James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, was a man named John Dee.

A 15^th century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. Dee also coined the term ‘British Empire’, so needless to say his words and his work are infinitely weaved into human consciousness regardless of whether we are aware of their origin or not. Many historical scholars believe that Dee himself was a spy for Queen Elizabeth and that his travels to study abroad were actually covert spy missions to gather information for her. This being the reason he signed off on all correspondences with ‘007’ when communicating with Queen Elizabeth. The two 0’s represented eyes, being for the Queen’s eyes only (Ha!) and the 7 is thought to be a magical number that offered protection.

James Bond author, Ian Fleming was a massive consumer of occult knowledge and philosophy. Psychologist and fellow magic enthusiast Carl Jung even gave Fleming permission to translate his lecture on occult philosopher Paracelsus into English. Ian Fleming was also a great admirer of British occultist Aleister Crowley. During Flemings time working with counterespionage unit of the MI5 in World War II he rallied for Crowley to be the person to interrogate Rudolf Hess if they ever caught him, due to Hess’s avid interest in the occult. Crowley corresponded and said he would do it but the plan was vetoed by higher ranked officials. Though Fleming and Crowley never officially met in person (that we know of) it is speculated that Bond villains Le Chiffre and Blofeld are loosely based on Crowley.

 A lot of the names of characters and places in Bond stories are also subtle nods to secret societies and alchemy. Take for instance the character ‘Bill Templar’, this is an obvious homage to the Knights Templar and the ‘Ouroboros Worm and Bait Company’ in Live and Let Die quite obviously a reference to the Ouroboros alchemical symbol of a snake eating its own tail.

The creation and inspiration for the James Bond stories as well as the personal life of its creator, Ian Fleming is incredibly and unequivocally influenced by the world of the Occult and James Bond influenced the world of the Occult right back when in 1973 the official James Bond tarot cards were released. The same tarot cards used in the Live And Let Die movie. This is  is one of the biggest ways in which James Bond has influenced the Occult right back because for many young, budding mystics and magicians in the early 70's these were the first deck of tarot cards they ever owned and many of these people later went onto be a part of the chaos magic movement of the late 70’s. Like a feedback loop of influence… or a snake eating its own tail.