The Occult
A Library of Western Esotericism
Fifty essays on the hidden traditions of the West — divination and ritual magic, astrology and witchcraft, Kabbalah and Hermeticism, the symbols they share and the history that binds them. Serious, sourced, and written for the curious.
The Ten Branches
Every article on the site, gathered by tradition.
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History of the Occult
From the mystery cults of antiquity to the magical orders of the modern age — how the hidden traditions of the West were formed, suppressed, and revived.
5 articles -
Divination
Tarot, runes, scrying, and the older oracles — the methods, the theories behind them, and how readings are actually done.
5 articles -
Ritual Magic
Ceremonial magic, the grimoire tradition, sigils, and circles — the structure and history of the Western magical ritual.
5 articles -
Astrology
Planets, signs, houses, and the ascendant — the celestial art from its Mesopotamian origins to the modern natal chart.
5 articles -
Witchcraft & Wicca
The origins of modern witchcraft, Wiccan belief and practice, the Book of Shadows, and the eight sabbats of the wheel of the year.
5 articles -
Kabbalah
The Tree of Life, the ten Sephirot, and the Hermetic Qabalah that carried Jewish mysticism into Western esotericism.
5 articles -
Hermeticism & Alchemy
The Hermetic tradition, the seven principles, the alchemical journey, and the long pursuit of the Philosopher’s Stone.
5 articles -
Sacred Symbolism
The pentagram, the Flower of Life, and the geometry of the sacred — what the symbols of the Western tradition mean and where they come from.
5 articles -
Spirit Communication
Mediumship, the séance, the Ouija board, and automatic writing — the practices and the questions they raise.
5 articles -
The Occult in Culture
How the occult shaped music, film, art, and popular imagination — and the figures, from Crowley onward, who carried it there.
5 articles
Start with the Overviews
Each branch begins with a comprehensive survey of its territory.
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History of the Occult
Western esotericism, the long and uneven attempt to grasp hidden causes behind visible events, to communicate with non-human intelligences, and to…
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Divination Practices
Divination is the practice of discerning hidden information, future possibilities, or underlying patterns by means other than ordinary sense perception.…
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Ritual and Ceremonial Magic
Ritual magic, often called ceremonial magic, is a disciplined technology for working with symbols, names, and carefully constructed actions in order to…
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Astrology
Western astrology is a symbolic system that relates the positions of the planets, the Sun, and the Moon against the backdrop of the zodiac to events and…
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Witchcraft and Wicca: A Complete Overview
The word "witch" has carried radically different meanings across the centuries: cunning villager, church-sanctioned villain, Romantic visionary, and, in…
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Kabbalah and the Mystical Tree of Life
Kabbalah is the principal mystical tradition of Judaism, and over the centuries it has become one of the most influential currents in Western esotericism.…
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Hermeticism and Alchemy
The Western esoteric tradition has often been described as a single "long conversation" running from Hellenistic Egypt to the present day, but that figure…
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Sacred Symbolism and Geometry
Human beings have used marks to point beyond themselves for at least a hundred thousand years. The engraved ochre from Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated…
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Spirit Communication and Mediumship
Few practices in the history of religion have provoked such a sustained, multi-disciplinary argument as the attempt to communicate with the dead. The…
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The Occult in Popular Culture
Esoteric ideas have circulated in the popular imagination of Europe and North America for at least two centuries, and in the last hundred years they have…