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Liber XXI · Occultism

Liber XXI

Occultism: The Occult Sciences and the Occult Revival

The hidden sciences, the occult philosophy of the Renaissance and the occult revival of the modern age.

'Occult' means hidden. In medieval and Renaissance learning the occult qualities of things were powers that could not be perceived directly, such as the pull of the magnet, and the occult sciences were astrology, alchemy and magic, which claimed to study and use them. In the nineteenth century the word took on a new life: Éliphas Lévi, Papus and the French occultists, the Theosophists and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn built an 'occultism' that promised a hidden knowledge older than religion and science. This section covers the idea of the occult, occult philosophy, the occult revival in France, Britain and Germany, mesmerism, clairvoyance and psychical research, occult literature and art, the occult and science, and the place of the occult in modern culture.

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Ansichten von der Nachtseite der NaturwissenschaftGotthilf Heinrich Schubert Ansichten von der Nachtseite der NaturwissenschaftGotthilf Heinrich Schubert Authors of the ImpossibleJeffrey J. Kripal Authors of the ImpossibleJeffrey J. Kripal Between Occultism and NazismPeter Staudenmaier Between Occultism and NazismPeter Staudenmaier Beyond EnlightenmentDavid Allen Harvey Beyond EnlightenmentDavid Allen Harvey Concerning the Spiritual in ArtWassily Kandinsky Concerning the Spiritual in ArtWassily Kandinsky A Confusion of ProphetsPatrick Curry A Confusion of ProphetsPatrick Curry Contemporary EsotericismEgil Asprem and Kennet Granholm Contemporary EsotericismEgil Asprem and Kennet Granholm Das Geheimnis der RunenGuido von List Das Geheimnis der RunenGuido von List Der GolemGustav Meyrink Der GolemGustav Meyrink Die Seherin von PrevorstJustinus Kerner Die Seherin von PrevorstJustinus Kerner The Discovery of the UnconsciousHenri F. Ellenberger The Discovery of the UnconsciousHenri F. Ellenberger Dreams of a Spirit-SeerImmanuel Kant Dreams of a Spirit-SeerImmanuel Kant Extra-Sensory PerceptionJ. B. Rhine Extra-Sensory PerceptionJ. B. Rhine The Fourth DimensionCharles Howard Hinton The Fourth DimensionCharles Howard Hinton The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern ArtLinda Dalrymple Henderson The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern ArtLinda Dalrymple Henderson From India to the Planet MarsThéodore Flournoy From India to the Planet MarsThéodore Flournoy From Mesmer to FreudAdam Crabtree From Mesmer to FreudAdam Crabtree Ghost HuntersDeborah Blum Ghost HuntersDeborah Blum Histoire critique du magnétisme animalJoseph Philippe François Deleuze Histoire critique du magnétisme animalJoseph Philippe François Deleuze A History of HypnotismAlan Gauld A History of HypnotismAlan Gauld Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily DeathFrederic W. H. Myers Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily DeathFrederic W. H. Myers The Interpretation of Nature and the PsycheC. G. Jung and Wolfgang Pauli The Interpretation of Nature and the PsycheC. G. Jung and Wolfgang Pauli La Langue hébraïque restituéeAntoine Fabre d'Olivet La Langue hébraïque restituéeAntoine Fabre d'Olivet Le Tarot des BohémiensPapus Le Tarot des BohémiensPapus