Chronology · Timeline
Chronology
Nineteenth Century
26 moments, 1801 to 1899.
- 1801
Barrett's The Magus
Francis Barrett compiles Agrippa, the Heptameron and other sources into an English handbook that kept ceremonial magic alive in Britain.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1801
Scottish Rite Supreme Council in Charleston
The first Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is formed, organising the higher Masonic degrees up to the 33rd.
Liber XXIV · Secret Societies - 1848
The Fox sisters and Spiritualism
Rapping sounds at Hydesville, New York, launch modern Spiritualism, a mass movement of séances that paved the way for Theosophy.
Liber VII · Divination - 1849
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
Johann Scheible prints this German grimoire of seals and conjurations, which later became influential in African American hoodoo and Caribbean practice.
Liber XXVII · Solomonic Magic - 1854–56
Lévi's Dogme et rituel de la haute magie
Éliphas Lévi's two volumes recast magic as a science of will, light and correspondence; the second carries his famous image of Baphomet.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1857
Kardec's Spirits' Book
Allan Kardec codifies Spiritism, teaching reincarnation and moral progress through communication with spirits; it thrives especially in Brazil.
Liber VII · Divination - 1861
Lévi's Key of the Great Mysteries
La Clef des grands mystères completes Lévi's main cycle on magic (the date 1897 sometimes given is too late).
Liber XII · High Magick - 1866
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
Freemasons including Robert Wentworth Little found an English Rosicrucian society, later a recruiting ground for the Golden Dawn's founders.
Liber XXIV · Secret Societies - 1871
Pike's Morals and Dogma
Albert Pike issues a sprawling commentary on the Scottish Rite degrees that borrows heavily from Lévi.
Liber XXIV · Secret Societies - 1875
Theosophical Society founded
In New York, Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott and William Quan Judge found a society to study occult science and comparative religion.
Liber XXXII · Theosophy - 1875
Death of Lévi, birth of Crowley
Éliphas Lévi dies in Paris in May; Aleister Crowley, who would claim to be his reincarnation, is born that October.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1877
Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled
Blavatsky's first major work argues for an ancient wisdom tradition behind all religions and sciences.
Liber XXXII · Theosophy - 1882
Theosophical headquarters at Adyar
After moving to India in 1879, the Society settles near Madras, linking Western occultism with Hindu and Buddhist revival.
Liber XXXII · Theosophy - 1885
Death of Frederick Hockley
The English collector and crystal-gazer dies, leaving manuscripts of magic that passed to the next generation of occultists.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1887
Mathers's The Kabbalah Unveiled
S. L. MacGregor Mathers englishes part of Kabbala Denudata, giving Victorian occultists a Kabbalistic foundation (often misdated 1889).
Liber XIX · Kabbalah - 1888
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded
Westcott, Mathers and Woodman open the Isis-Urania temple in London, creating the template of modern initiatory ceremonial magic.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1888
Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine
Blavatsky's magnum opus lays out cosmic cycles, root races and the evolution of consciousness, claiming to rest on the Stanzas of Dzyan.
Liber XXXII · Theosophy - 1888
Papus's Traité élémentaire de science occulte
Gérard Encausse ('Papus') publishes his primer in Paris; Anna Kingsford, Christian esoteric reformer, dies the same year.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1889
Mathers's Key of Solomon
Mathers publishes an English Key of Solomon from British Museum manuscripts, the version through which most English readers knew the Clavicula.
Liber XXVII · Solomonic Magic - 1890
Yeats joins the Golden Dawn; Ouija marketed
W. B. Yeats is initiated into the Golden Dawn, and the Kennard Novelty Company begins selling the Ouija talking board.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1891
Death of Blavatsky; Martinist Order
Blavatsky dies in London; in France, Papus and Augustin Chaboseau organise the Martinist Order's supreme council.
Liber XXXII · Theosophy - c. 1892
Golden Dawn's inner Second Order
The Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis is established for practical magic, giving the Golden Dawn its working inner order.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1893
Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions
Swami Vivekananda's addresses in Chicago introduce Vedanta and yoga to a broad Western audience; his Raja Yoga follows in 1896.
Liber VIII · Eastern Mysticism - 1896
Berlin Codex acquired
A Coptic codex containing the Gospel of Mary and Apocryphon of John reaches Berlin, though publication is delayed until 1955.
Liber IX · Gnosticism - 1898
Abramelin published; Crowley initiated
Mathers publishes The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, and Crowley enters the Golden Dawn.
Liber XII · High Magick - 1899
Leland's Aradia
Charles Godfrey Leland publishes what he presents as the gospel of Tuscan witches, a key influence on later Wicca.
Liber XXXIV · Witchcraft & Wicca