ABSTRACT

This volume presents students and scholars with a comprehensive overview of the fascinating world of the occult. It explores the history of Western occultism, from ancient and medieval sources via the Renaissance, right up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and contemporary occultism. Written by a distinguished team of contributors, the essays consider key figures, beliefs and practices as well as popular culture.

Introduction, Christopher Partridge; Part I Ancient and Medieval Sources; Chapter 1 Ancient Esoteric Traditions, Dylan M. Burns; Chapter 2 The Occult Middle Ages, Peter J. Forshaw; Part II The Renaissance; Chapter 3 The Hermetic Revival in Italy, György E. Szönyi; Chapter 4 Alchemical Hermeticism, Florian Ebeling; Chapter 5 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Wouter J. Hanegraaff; Chapter 6 Paracelsus, Andrew Weeks; Chapter 7 John Dee, Glyn Parry; Part III Seventeenth Century and Eighteenth Century; Chapter 8 Jacob Böhme and Christian Theosophy, Wouter J. Hanegraaff; Chapter 9 The Rosicrucian Manifestos And Early Rosicrucianism, Hereward Tilton; Chapter 10 Emanuel Swedenborg, Jane Williams-Hogan; Chapter 11 Freemasonry, Jan A. M. Snoek, Henrik Bogdan; Chapter 12 Illuminism, Andreas Önnerfors; Chapter 13 Martinism in Eighteenth-Century France, Christian Giudice; Chapter 14 Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism, Adam Crabtree; Part IV Nineteenth Century; Chapter 15 Spiritualism, Cathy Gutierrez; Chapter 16 New Thought Traditions, Jeremy Rapport; Chapter 17 Eliphas Lévi, Christopher McIntosh; Chapter 18 Paschal Beverly Randolph, Hugh Urban; Chapter 19 William Wynn Westcott, Francisco Santos Silva; Chapter 20 The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Robert A. Gilbert; Chapter 21 Samuel Liddell Mathers, Francisco Santos Silva; Chapter 22 Theosophy, Olav Hammer; Chapter 23 Frederic W. H. Myers, Jeffrey J. Kripal; Chapter 24 The Society for Psychical Research, Egil Asprem; Part V Twentieth Century and the Contemporary World; Chapter 25 Ordo Templi Orientis, Christian Giudice; Chapter 26 Arthur Edward Waite, Alison Butler; Chapter 27 Charles Fort, Jeffrey J. Kripal; Chapter 28 Aleister Crowley, Henrik Bogdan; Chapter 29 Austin Osman Spare, Phil Baker; Chapter 30 René Guénon and Traditionalism, Peter King; Chapter 31 Dion Fortune and the Society of the Inner Light, Alison Butler; Chapter 32 John Whiteside Parsons, Nicholas Campion; Chapter 33 Kenneth Grant and the Typhonian Tradition, Henrik Bogdan; Chapter 34 Robert Anton Wilson, Erik Davis; Chapter 35 Nazism and the Occult, Julian Strube; Chapter 36 The Theosophical Current in the Twentieth Century, Olav Hammer; Chapter 37 Contemporary Paganism and the Occult, Graham Harvey; Chapter 38 New Age, Olav Hammer; Chapter 39 Contemporary Ritual Magic, Egil Asprem; Chapter 40 Contemporary Satanism, Jesper Aagaard Petersen; Chapter 41 Chaos Magick, Colin Duggan; Chapter 42 Vampirism, Lycanthropy, and Otherkin, Jay Johnston; Chapter 43 Hakim Bey, Christian Greer; Part VI Popular Culture and the Arts; Chapter 44 The Occult and the Visual Arts, Tessel M. Bauduin; Chapter 45 The Occult and Film, Brian Baker; Chapter 46 Kenneth Anger, Deborah Allison; Chapter 47 Dennis Wheatley, Phil Baker; Chapter 48 The Occult and Modern Horror Fiction, Douglas E. Cowan; Chapter 49 The Occult and Science Fiction/Fantasy, Brian Baker; Chapter 50 H.P. Lovecraft, Erik Davis; Chapter 51 The Occult and Comics, Kennet Granholm; Chapter 52 The Occult and Popular Music, Christopher Partridge; Chapter 53 The Occult on the Internet, Douglas E. Cowan; Part VII Beliefs, Practices, Issues, and Approaches; Chapter 54 Kabbalah, Peter J. Forshaw; Chapter 55 Alchemy, Georgiana D. Hedesan; Chapter 56 Sex Magic, Hugh Urban; Chapter 57 Tarot, Helen Farley; Chapter 58 Scrying, Angela Voss; Chapter 59 Astrology, Nicholas Campion; Chapter 60 Grimoires, Owen Davies; Chapter 61 Orientalism and the Occult, Christopher Partridge; Chapter 62 Occult War, George J. Sieg; Chapter 63 The Counterculture and the Occult, Erik Davis; Chapter 64 Intermediary Beings, Egil Asprem; Chapter 65 The Body in Occult Thought, Jay Johnston; Chapter 66 Drugs and the Occult, Dan Merkur; Chapter 67 Gender and the Occult, Jay Johnston; Chapter 68 Crime, Moral Panic, and the Occult, Jeffrey S. Victor; Chapter 69 Conspiracy Theories and the Occult, Michael Barkun; Chapter 70 Science and the Occult, Egil Asprem; Chapter 71 Sociology and the Occult, Kennet Granholm; Chapter 72 Psychology and the Occult, Roderick Main; Chapter 73 Opposition to the Occult, Douglas E. Cowan;