Stephen Skinner

Dr Stephen Skinner (born 22 March 1948) is an Australian author, editor, publisher and lecturer. He is known for authoring books on magic, feng shui, sacred geometry and alchemy. He has published more than 46 books in more than 19 languages.

Born in Sydney, Australia in March 1948, he lived there till 1972. He attended Trinity Grammar Preparatory School (Strathfield) and Sydney Grammar Secondary School from 1959 to 1964, matriculating with First Class Honors in English, and honors in Geography. He earned his BA (Arts) at Sydney University from 1965 to 1968, majoring in English Literature and Geography, plus Philosophy (Greek Philosophy and formal Logic). In 1967 he edited an underground magazines in Sydney, titled Chaos. He worked for one year in the Intelligence section of the Department of Trade & Industry (1969), before an interest in the stock market lead to working full-time as a portfolio manager. From there he moved to teaching as a Geography Master at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, Sydney (1970), followed by Geography Lecturer at Sydney Technical College (now called the University of Technology) in 1971-72.

He received his Ph.D. from the School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle in 2014 for a thesis on the transmission of magical techniques and equipment from the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri (1st-5th century C.E.) via the Byzantine Magical Treatise (Hygromanteia) to the 16th-18th century grimoires of Western Europe, specifically the Clavicula Salomonis. The thesis was later developed into two books: Techniques of Graeco-Egypyian Magic and Techniques of Solomonic Magic.

He migrated to London in December 1972, where his career alternated between book and magazine publishing and computer programming. In 1973, he founded Askin Publishers Ltd, and became its Managing Director, in order to print editions of the magical writings of Dr. John Dee, Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley. In 1976 he helped in the production of the Crowley Thoth Tarot card pack by arranging the re-photography of the original paintings in the Warburg Institute, which were later used in the revised edition published by U.S. Games Inc in that year. In 1998 he launched and published Feng Shui for Modern Living magazine.

Skinner organised and ran the London International Feng Shui Conference (co-sponsored by the Daily Express newspaper) at the Islington Exhibition Centre, London on 21–23 May 1999. In 2000, he was nominated for Publisher of the Year at the PPA Awards in London for the magazine Feng Shui for Modern Living.

Before leaving London, Skinner founded Golden Hoard Press Pte. Ltd, a book publishing company specializing in the publication of the classics of magic and feng shui, and began publishing the Source Works of Ceremonial Magic series with co-author David Rankine.

Writing

Skinner is an author of books on the Western Esoteric Tradition, magic and feng shui. His first book (with co-author Nevill Drury) was Search for Abraxas published in 1972, and subsequently re-published in 2013 and 2016. With the publication of the Living Earth Manual of Feng Shui in 1976, the first book on feng shui in English written in the 20th century Skinner was "credited with bringing feng shui to the West".

In 2006, he published The Complete Magician's Tables which contains tables on Magic, Kabbalah, Angels, Astrology, Alchemy, Demons, Geomancy, Grimoires, Gematria, I Ching, Tarot, Pagan pantheons, Plants, Perfumes and Character correspondences in more than 800 Tables, four times as many tables as Aleister Crowley's Liber 777. In 2008, he completed the Guide to the Feng Shui Compass, the most detailed study of the rings of the Chinese luopan in any language. A review of this book in a recent sinological academic journal, the reviewer stated "Stephen Skinner is probably the most important Western scholar taking the science of Feng shui seriously. In the past few decades he has made important contributions to clarifying the rather vague image from which Feng shui suffers in the West". This was followed by the publication of Feng Shui History: the story of Classical Feng Shui in China and the West from 221 BC to 2012 AD in 2013.

In 2011 he completed the editing and rectification of the text (using the original manuscripts) of Dr John Dee's A True & Faithful Relation of what passed for many years between Dr. John Dee...and some Spirits. This was published as Dr John Dee's Spiritual Diaries(1583-1608) in 2011. As well as original works he edited a number of 16th-18th century manuscripts on magic, making them available in print for the first time in the Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic series. He has written over 34 full length published books, with a further 12 edited and introduced, making a total of over 46 books mainly on magic and feng shui, but with a few others on alchemy, astrology and sacred geometry.

His publishers include Periplus, Routledge, Tuttle, Salamander, Llewellyn Worldwide, Sterling, Nicholas Hayes, Ibis Press, Simon & Schuster, Inner Traditions, Golden Hoard, Haldane Mason, Parragon, Cico, Trafalgar, etc.

His books have been translated into more than 20 languages and appear in many separate English editions in UK, US, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Singapore, making a total of over 90+ different editions. His books have had introductions written by such diverse people as Colin Wilson, and Jimmy Choo.

In 2003 he migrated to Johor Bahru in Malaysia, to facilitate his research into feng shui. There he continued writing books on magic, and publishing the Source Works of Ceremonial Magic series. The first volume of this series was The Practical Angel Magic of Dr. John Dee's Enochian Tables, opening the doors on 17th century angel magic. This was followed by The Keys to the Gateway of Magic and then The Goetia of Dr Rudd, a 17th-century version of the four books of the Lemegeton otherwise known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. The next volume in the series was an edition of three manuscripts of one of the most famous grimoires, the The Veritable Key of Solomon. In 2004 Skinner helped found the International Feng Shui Association in Singapore. He subsequently gave a number of lectures at their annual conventions. At the 27th International I-Ching Conference 2015 in Singapore, Skinner gave a lecture on the Hexagrams and Song Dynasty Feng Shui (14 November 2015). In 2010 he married Navaneeta Das, and moved to Singapore, where he currently lives.