Ramsey Dukes is the best known pen name of Lionel Snell, known since 1976 for his radical and influential books about occult philosophy and rationalism, chaos magic, the virtual universe, and magical thinking. Described by Alan Moore, author of Jerusalem, V for Vendetta etc, as "...the most lucid, coherent and insightful intellect to emerge from British occultism for some several decades".

Educated at Clifton College, Bristol, where his interest in alchemy and science history was fired by access to the EJ Holmyard collection, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied the extensive works of Aleister Crowley an he took a Diploma in Education and taught at Eton College and later at The New Waldorf School, Kings Langley. Subsequent work includes aircraft stressman, technical author and freelance ghost writer for the ICT sector.

Other associations include membership of the London Magic Circle, the Caliphate OTO, the IoT and other occult groups and in 1977 he performed the Abramelin retirement. Ramsey Dukes has a popular YouTube channel featuring short discussions on magic and related topics.