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.
Table of Contents:
Introduction Christopher Partridge
PART I: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL SOURCES 1. Ancient Esoteric Traditions: Mystery, Revelation, Gnosis / Dylan M. Burns 2. The Occult Middle Ages/ Peter J. Forshaw
PART II: THE RENAISSANCE 3. The Hermetic Revival in Italy / György E. Szönyi 4. Alchemical Hermeticism / Florian Ebeling 5. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa / Wouter J. Hanegraaff 6. Paracelsus / Andrew Weeks 7. John Dee / Glyn Parry
PART III: SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 8. Jacob Böhme and Christian Theosophy / Wouter J. Hanegraaff 9. The Rosicrucian Manifestos and Early Rosicrucianism / Hereward Tilton 10. Emanuel Swedenborg / Jane Williams-Hogan 11. Freemasonry / Jan A. M. Snoek and Henrik Bogdan 12. Illuminism/ Andreas Önnerfors 13. Martinism in Eighteenth-century France / Christian Giudice 14. Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism / Adam Crabtree
PART IV: NINETEENTH CENTURY 15. Spiritualism / Cathy Gutierrez 16. New Thought Traditions / Jeremy Rapport 17. Eliphas Lévi / Christopher McIntosh 18. Paschal Beverly Randolph/ Hugh Urban 19. William Wynn Westcott/ Francisco Santos Silva 20. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn/ Robert A. Gilbert 21. Samuel Liddell/ Mathers Francisco Santos Silva 22. Theosophy / Olav Hammer 23. Frederic W. H. Myers / Jeffrey J. Kripal 24. The Society for Psychical Research / Egil Asprem
PART V: TWENTIETH CENTURY AND THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 25. Ordo Templi Orientis/ Christian Giudice 26. Arthur Edward Waite / Alison Butler 27. Charles Fort / Jeffrey J. Kripal 28. Aleister Crowley: A Prophet for the Modern Age / Henrik Bogdan 29. Austin Osman Spare / Phil Baker 30. René Guénon and Traditionalism / Peter King 31. Dion Fortune and the Society of the Inner Light / Alison Butler 32. John Whiteside Parsons / Nicholas Campion 33. Kenneth Grant and the Typhonian Tradition / Henrik Bogdan 34. Robert Anton Wilson / Erik Davis 35. Nazism and the Occult / Julian Strube 36. The Theosophical Current in the Twentieth Century / Olav Hammer 37. Contemporary Paganism and the Occult/ Graham Harvey 38. New Age / Olav Hammer 39. Contemporary Ritual Magic / Egil Asprem 40 Contemporary Satanism / Jesper Aagaard Petersen 41. Chaos Magick / Colin Duggan 42. Vampirism, Lycanthropy, and Otherkin / Jay Johnston 43. Hakim Bey / Christian Greer
PART VI: POPULAR CULTURE AND THE ARTS 44. The Occult and the Visual Arts / Tessel M. Bauduin 45. The Occult and Film / Brian Baker 46. Kenneth Anger / Deborah Allison 47. Dennis Wheatley / Phil Baker 48. The Occult and Modern Horror Fiction / Douglas E. Cowan 49. The Occult and Science Fiction/Fantasy / Brian Baker 50. H.P. Lovecraft / Erik Davis 51. The Occult and Comics / Kennet Granholm 52. The Occult and Popular Music / Christopher Partridge 53. The Occult on the Internet / Douglas E. Cowan
PART VII: BELIEFS, PRACTICES, ISSUES, AND APPROACHES 54/ Kabbalah / Peter J. Forshaw 55. Alchemy / Georgiana D. Hedesan 56. Sex Magic / Hugh Urban 57. Tarot / Helen Farley 58. Scrying / Angela Voss 59. Astrology / Nicholas Campion 60. Grimoires / Owen Davies 61. Orientalism and the Occult / Christopher Partridge 62. Occult War / George J. Sieg 63. The Counterculture and the Occult / Erik Davis 64. Intermediary Beings / Egil Asprem 65. The Body in Occult Thought / Jay Johnston 66. Drugs and the Occult / Dan Merkur 67. Gender and the Occult / Jay Johnston 68. Crime, Moral Panic, and the Occult / Jeffrey S. Victor 69. Conspiracy Theories and the Occult / Michael Barkun 70. Science and the Occult / Egil Asprem 71. Sociology and the Occult / Kennet Granholm 72. Psychology and the Occult: Dialectics of Disenchantment and Re-Enchantment in the Modern Self / Roderick Main 73. Opposition to the Occult / Douglas E. Cowan
About the Author :
Christopher Partridge is Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, UK. His research and writing focuses on alternative spiritual currents, countercultures and popular music.
Review :
"Partridge’s book should prove particularly valuable to undergraduate and graduate students, as the volume’s entries on their given subjects are in and of themselves scholarly treatments of the topics in question and also gateways to further and more in-depth research."
- Christopher A. Plaisance, University of Groningen
"Many of the essays include black-and-white illustrations that further elucidate the material. Written by international experts in religious and cultural studies, all the essays include comprehensive bibliographies for the benefit of those wishing to pursue topics in depth. Summing Up: Recommended."
- S. P. Beiting, University of Notre Dame in CHOICE
