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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge

Magic, superstition, the occult sciences and esoteric knowledge appear regularly in the history of ideas alongside more established academic disciplines such as philosophy, natural history and theology. Particularly fascinating are periods of rapid scientific advances such as the Renaissance or the nineteenth century, which also see a burgeoning of interest in the paranormal among the educated elite. This series provides primary texts and secondary sources for social historians and cultural anthropologists working in these areas, and all who wish for a wider understanding of the diverse intellectual and spiritual movements that formed a backdrop to the academic and political achievements of their day. It ranges from works on Babylonian and Jewish magic in the ancient world, through studies of sixteenth-century topics such as Cornelius Agrippa and the rapid spread of Rosicrucianism, to nineteenth-century publications by Sir Walter Scott and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Subjects include astrology, mesmerism, spiritualism, theosophy, clairvoyance and ghost-seeing, as described both by their adherents and by sceptics.

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145 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge

Page 6 of 8

The Naturalisation of the Supernatural
  • Frank Podmore
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1908
  • A founding member of the Fabian Society and a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research, Frank Podmore (1856–1910) occupied a unique position in British political and scientific society. From his undergraduate days at Oxford until his untimely death in 1910, he harboured a fascination for the supernatural, hallucinations and mesmerism. Published in the final years of his life, during a period of prolific writing and introspection, this 1908 work was the result of exhaustive personal research and first-hand observation. Although fascinated by his chosen subject, Podmore never abandoned his scientific stance and demonstrates a level of scepticism rarely found among the more committed Victorian spiritualists. The result is a scholarly but entertaining series of case studies, which remains one of the most authoritative works on the phenomenon of spiritualism.

Die Symbolik des Traumes
  • Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1814
  • The German scientist and philosopher Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert (1780–1860) studied theology and medicine, but gave up his medical practice to teach natural history at Erlangen and Munich, specialising in botany, forestry and mineralogy. He also gave public lectures on topics including animal magnetism, clairvoyance and dreams, and strove to develop an understanding of the cosmos that could reconcile Enlightenment philosophy with Christian faith. This 1814 study of the symbolism of dreams was highly regarded in its day, and its influence extended to the works of Freud and Jung nearly a century later. Schubert considers the working of the mind in the state between waking and sleeping, and proposes that dreams and their symbols, not being bound by language, are universally comprehensible. His book focuses mainly on those dreams that, in his view, lead to prophetic insights and an experience of the divine presence.

Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians
  • Iamblichus
  • Translated by Thomas Taylor
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1821
  • This translation from the Greek by Thomas Taylor (1758–1835) was first published in 1821. Taylor's early writings and translations into English influenced such romantic poets as Blake, Coleridge and Keats. Iamblichus is thought to have been born in Syria in the middle of the third century and is regarded as one of the great Neoplatonist philosophers. He founded a school in which he taught 'white magic' or 'theurgy'; he sought to uncover the invisible side of nature and to give Man the means to effect the union of the divine spark with its parent-flame within him. In this work, divided into ten sections, he gives a complete canon of pagan religious thought and belief and explains their background. The Neoplatonist Porphyry's Letter to Anebo, in which he criticises religious rituals and practices, and Iamblichus' response to this criticism, and defence of these traditions, are included.

Nature and the Supernatural, as Together Constituting the One System of God
  • Horace Bushnell
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1862
  • Horace Bushnell (1802–1876) was a minister in the Congregational church. A prolific author, his Christian Nurture established his reputation, and some scholars have asserted the work's singular importance to American Protestant Liberalism and Christian education in the nineteenth century. This work, first published in 1858, exemplifies Bushnell's importance and influence in nineteenth-century Protestantism and discusses 'the great question of the age'. Controversially defining the supernatural as extant outside the realm of the divine, Bushnell argues that the human is an example of the supernatural, human freedom which makes this so: man acts both within and without the chain of cause and effect; mankind is part of both nature and supernature. Controversially, then, Bushnell places the supernatural within 'the one system of God'. For theologians and scholars of religious history and the history of ideas, this work will be of great interest.

The Rosicrucians
  • Their Rites and Mysteries
  • Hargrave Jennings
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1870
  • Hargrave Jennings' 1870 work joins the debates of the nineteenth century that sought to determine the relationships between modern science, religion, and the supernatural. A prolific writer and an occultist, Jennings (1817–1890) had previously published on the religions of India. He spent two decades researching and writing this work, which is the first history in English of the Rosicrucians. As he states, his 1858 Curious Things of the Outside World first asserted the ideas he elaborates in this text, and he is not a member of the Rosicrucian sect, simply a historian of it. This was his best-known book, in which the discussion extends to the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, the Druids, and ancient and medieval cultures; five editions were subsequently printed, and it was translated into German in 1912. It will interest scholars of the history of ideas, of the relationship of science and magic, and of the occult.

Theosophy
  • An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man
  • Rudolf Steiner
  • Translated by Elizabeth Douglas Shields
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1910
  • Austrian philosopher, playwright, and artist Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) is perhaps best known as an educational philosopher and reformer, the founder of Steiner (or Waldorf) schools located around the world. These schools' philosophy represents the priorities Steiner discusses in Theosophy: the development of body, soul, and spirit. Goethe was an important influence on Steiner, and he edited the poet's scientific works (1889–1896). Steiner was an active member and leader of the German branch of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, eventually broke away from theosophy, as he developed his own spiritual philosophy termed 'anthroposophy'; this philosophical movement asserted the potential of realizing a spiritual reality through cognition. This 1910 translation by Elizabeth Douglas Shields is of the book's third German edition; it was first published in 1904. This work will be of particular interest to historians of philosophy, of spiritual movements and of education.

The Gay Science
  • Volume 1
  • Eneas Sweetland Dallas
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1866
  • Eneas Sweetland (E. S.) Dallas (1828–1879) was a journalist who worked for The Times among other publications and whose interest in psychology and love of poetry led to his writing the two-volume – though he originally intended four – The Gay Science, published in 1866. The work takes its title from an expression used by Provençal troubadours to describe the art of composing poetry, and the volumes are concerned with the unclear and often shifting boundaries between art and science and whether they can be reconciled. Volume 1 examines the wider issue of the practice of artistic criticism itself, and 'to show how alone it can be raised to the dignity of a science'. Dallas reaches back to classical times, examining Plato and Aristotle in this context before considering differing schools of criticism within Europe. The final chapters examine the role of imagination and the 'secrecy' of art.

Natural Causes and Supernatural Seemings
  • Henry Maudsley
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1886
  • First published in 1886, this comprehensive analysis of nineteenth-century spiritual experiments questions our long tradition of encounters with the supernatural, and why it appeared to have declined in influence in the writer's era. Maudsley (1835–1918), a medical psychologist and pioneer psychiatrist, sets out to bring such alleged spiritual phenomena under scientific investigation. Emphasising the natural defects and errors of human observation and reasoning, as well as the prolific activity of the imagination, this inquiry into the causes of belief in the supernatural suggests that much of it can be explained though hallucination, mania, and delusion. The book is divided into three parts: the first section concentrates on the causes of fallacies in the sound mind, while the second considers unsound mental action. The focus of part three is theopneusticism, or the attainment of supernatural knowledge by divine inspiration. This second edition appeared in 1887.

The Gay Science
  • Volume 2
  • Eneas Sweetland Dallas
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1866
  • Eneas Sweetland (E. S.) Dallas (1828–1879) was a journalist who worked for The Times among other publications and whose interest in psychology and love of poetry led to his writing the two-volume – though he originally intended four – The Gay Science, published in 1866. The work takes its title from an expression used by Provençal troubadours to describe the art of composing poetry, and the volumes are concerned with the unclear and often shifting boundaries between art and science and whether they can be reconciled. Volume 2 considers this question in relation to pleasure: what it is, the historical and philosophical understanding of this emotion and sensation, whether it should be pursued, and its relation to artistic production. The remainder of the book looks at the issue of the ethics of art and the nature of artistic enterprise, as well as the changing stance of the viewer.

Cock Lane and Common-Sense
  • Andrew Lang
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1894
  • Written by folklorist Andrew Lang (1844–1912), this 1894 publication examines the ambivalent relationship the living have attempted to forge with the dead throughout history. Nicknamed 'the Wizard of St Andrews', this prolific polymath also worked as an anthropologist, classicist, historian, poet, mythologist, essayist and journalist, producing over a hundred publications in his lifetime. Largely ignored by scholarship, this book suggests expanding the study of folklore to include contemporary narratives of supernatural events. Taking its title from the legends of the notorious Cock Lane ghost, the work considers the survival of ancient beliefs such as hauntings, clairvoyance, and other phenomena believed to transcend the laws of nature, and how such beliefs have persisted through great social upheaval and change. It includes chapters on savage and ancient spiritualism, comparative psychical research, haunted houses, second sight, crystal gazing, and Presbyterian ghost hunters, among others.

Hallucinations and Illusions
  • A Study of the Fallacies of Perception
  • Edmund Parish
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1897
  • The psychologist Edmund Parish makes a valuable contribution to the study of the psychology of perception as well as introducing a theory of insanity in this 1897 work. The author tells the reader that it grew out of an examination of the German 'International Census of Waking Hallucinations in the Sane', the results of which he had analysed. Rather than merely translating the German original, Parish has added new information and considered criticism of his own previous work. The book is a sustained effort to define 'the common organic principle which, under whatever diversity of conditions, underlies alike normal and fallacious perception', by incorporating the most recent psychological and neurological research. Parish is especially interested in casting light on the waking hallucinations of healthy persons, as he regards this phenomenon as having been largely ignored by previous research.

Physical Theory of Another Life
  • Isaac Taylor
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1836
  • The philosopher and literary author Isaac Taylor (1787–1865) published this book anonymously in 1836. The work is a development of two earlier works: Saturday Evening (1832) and Natural History of Enthusiasm (1829), all three attempts to provide a philosophy to deal with the major problems and spiritual questions of the day. The popularity of Physical Theory led to Taylor relinquishing his previous anonymity. The work is a religious and philosophically speculative exploration of the possible paths of knowledge to information regarding the future existence of human beings. Taylor believed that knowledge of the human physical constitution could be used to conjecture information about the modes of human eternal life and eternity's scheme of moral duties. The work was very popular among contemporaries and offers today an important insight into Victorian intellectual life. It is a rich source for historians of nineteenth-century religious philosophy.

Outline of Occult Science
  • Rudolf Steiner
  • Edited by Max Gysi
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • Austrian philosopher, playwright, and artist Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) is perhaps best known as an educational philosopher and reformer, the founder of Steiner (or Waldorf) schools located around the world. Steiner was an active member and leader of the German branch of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society before forming his own Anthroposophical Society. His engagement with the occult stems from his work in theosophy and anthroposophy, philosophies invested in reaching and understanding the 'supersensible' world that relies on a cultivation of body, spirit, and soul. This anonymous translation of the fourth German edition was published by the Theosophical Publishing Society in 1914; the first edition was published in Germany in 1909. Steiner asserts in this work the necessary and intrinsic connection between what is possible through cognition with the power of the soul and the spirit. It will be of interest to scholars of spiritual philosophy, spiritual movements, and social psychology.

A Magician among the Spirits
  • Harry Houdini
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1924
  • Harry Houdini (1874–1926), whose real name was Erik Weisz, was one of the most famous magicians and escapologists of all time. He was highly sceptical of the many claims made concerning psychic and paranormal phenomena, which were very popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He attended hundreds of séances for the purposes of his study, and never experienced one he believed genuine. In this book, published in 1924, he described the mediums and psychics whom he revealed as fraudulent, exposing the tricks which had convinced many notable scientists and academics. These included spirit writing, table rapping, spirit manifestations, and levitation. Among those he revealed as frauds was the famous medium Mina Crandon, and his exposures led to a public split with his former friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a firm believer. The book is a fascinating account of superstition and gullibility.

Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions
  • Or, an Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to their Physical Causes
  • Samuel Hibbert
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • In this book of 1825, Samuel Hibbert (1782–1848) attempts to uncover the physical or physiological causes which might account for claims of seeing ghosts and other apparitions. Hibbert trained as a doctor, and uses anecdotal and case-study evidence to show that external physical circumstances - such as the use of stimulants, brain inflammation, hallucination during fever, or alcohol withdrawal - are most likely to be the causes of apparent sightings of supernatural phenomena. He explores the power of suggestion, whether derived from superstitions, folk tales or biblical imagery, on the imagination of the impressionable. Using the idea that the train of thought can be stimulated or depressed, and that different levels of semi-consciousness can admit of different levels of contemplation and concentration, Hibbert hypothesises that for each apparition or ghostly spectre there is a rational explanation.

The Night Side of Nature
  • Or, Ghosts and Ghost Seers
  • Volume 1
  • Catherine Crowe
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1848
  • The novelist and children's author Catherine Crowe (c.1800–1876) published The Night Side of Nature in two volumes in 1848. This lively collection of ghostly sketches and anecdotes was a Victorian best-seller and Crowe's most popular work. Sixteen editions appeared in six years, and it was translated into several European languages. The stories are intertwined with Crowe's own interpretations and commentaries which attack the scepticism of enlightenment thought and orthodox religion. Crowe seeks instead to encourage and re-invigorate a sense of wonder and mystery in life by emphasising the supernatural. The stories in Volume 1 centre on dreams, psychic presentiments, traces, wraiths, doppelgängers, apparitions, and imaginings of the after-life. Crowe's vivid tales, written with great energy and imagination, are classic examples of nineteenth-century spiritualist writing and strongly influenced other authors as well as providing inspiration for later adherents of ghost-seeing and psychic culture.

The Night Side of Nature
  • Or, Ghosts and Ghost Seers
  • Volume 2
  • Catherine Crowe
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1848
  • The novelist and children's author Catherine Crowe (c.1800–1876) published The Night Side of Nature in two volumes in 1848. This lively collection of ghostly sketches and anecdotes was a Victorian best-seller and Crowe's most popular work. Sixteen editions appeared in six years, and it was translated into several European languages. The stories are intertwined with Crowe's own interpretations and commentaries which attack the scepticism of enlightenment thought and orthodox religion. Crowe seeks instead to encourage and re-invigorate a sense of wonder and mystery in life by emphasising the supernatural. Volume 2 probes the mysterious phenomena of troubled spirits, haunted houses, spectral lights, apparitions and poltergeists. Crowe's vivid tales, written with great energy and imagination, are classic examples of nineteenth-century spiritualist writing and strongly influenced other authors, including Charles Baudelaire, as well as providing inspiration for later adherents of ghost-seeing and psychic culture.

Facts in Mesmerism, with Reasons for a Dispassionate Inquiry into It
  • Chauncy Hare Townshend
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    24 February 2011
    First published in:
    1840
  • Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798–1868), poet and collector, was a well-connected friend of Robert Southey and Charles Dickens. He became fascinated with Mesmerism while in Germany and went on to popularise it in England. This book, first published in 1840, was his passionate defence of Mesmerism. Developed in the late eighteenth century by Franz Mesmer, Mesmerism was a kind of hypnosis based on the theory of animal magnetism. With its spiritual associations and uncanny effects, it was an extremely controversial topic in the nineteenth century and its practitioners were widely considered fraudsters. Townshend describes in detail the mental states Mesmerism induces, which he identifies as similar to a state of sleepwalking. Perhaps most fascinating are the eye-witness accounts describing experiments carried out by Townshend on the continent, in which he hypnotised his subjects into feeling his own sensations and knowing things they could not know.

Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation
  • Biographical Sketches
  • Anna Mary Howitt Watts
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1883
  • Anna Mary Howitt Watts (1824–1884) was a painter and writer, and the daughter of William Howitt (1792–1879), one of the subjects of this double biography. Justinus Kerner (1786–1862) was an inspiration to both Howitt and his daughter. A German poet, trained as a doctor, he became famous both as a patron of the arts and an early pioneer of the spiritualist movement. This account of Kerner's life is full of vivid descriptions of ghostly apparitions and supernatural events. Howitt, a popular writer and radical local politician who was raised a Quaker, became increasingly attracted to spiritualism after the deaths of two of his sons. Watts' book, written after her father's death and first published in 1883, is more than a memoir of a beloved parent. As a record of the beliefs of the spiritualists it provides essential information about early Victorian attitudes to this world and beyond.

Incidents in My Life
  • Second Series
  • Volume 2
  • Daniel Dunglas Home
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    10 March 2011
    First published in:
    1872
  • In 1872, D. D. Home (1833–1886), the famous spiritualist and medium, published this sequel to his controversial autobiography Incidents in My Life (1863). In it, Home responds to the criticism levelled at him by reviewers, sceptics and detractors including William Thackeray and Robert Browning. He describes his expulsion from Rome in 1864 owing to the authorities' fear of 'sorcery', opposition from French and American clergy in 1865, a visit to Russia, and the opening of the 'Spiritual Athenaeum' in London in 1867. He also reports numerous séances and spiritual manifestations. The book ends with documents relating to an 1868 lawsuit over a large sum of money given to Home by a wealthy widow, Jane Lyon. Although a promised third volume never appeared, the present book provides fascinating insights into the phenomenon of spiritualism and its attendant controversies during the Victorian period.

Page 6 of 8