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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 7 of 8

Letters on Natural Magic, Addressed to Sir Walter Scott
  • David Brewster
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1832
  • Intended as a supplement to Sir Walter Scott's 1830 Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, this 1832 publication seeks to explain and expose the science behind the alleged 'magic' of spiritualists and conjurors. David Brewster (1781–1868), a Scottish natural philosopher and historian of science, was highly regarded in his lifetime but has since faded into obscurity. Penned at the request of Scott, Brewster's friend and neighbour, this book follows an epistolary structure, consisting of thirteen letters each addressing and exposing different aspects of the alleged supernatural activity, in keeping with the format of Scott's publication. Brewster's subject matter includes optics, magic lanterns, automata, alchemy, fire-breathing, spontaneous combustion, spectral illusions and various other phenomena. In each case he carefully outlines how this 'magic' is created with optical illusion, narcotic drugs, gas inhalation, and chemical tricks. The book offers an intriguing insight into nineteenth-century attitudes towards the supernatural.

Science and a Future Life
  • with Other Essays
  • Frederic William Henry Myers
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1893
  • Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901) was a classical scholar who in mid-career turned to the investigation of psychic phenomena. After studying, and later teaching, Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge he resigned his lectureship in 1869, became an inspector of schools, and campaigned for women's higher education. With the encouragement of former colleagues he began a scientific investigation of spiritualism and related phenomena, and in 1882 he helped to found the Society for Psychical Research. This volume, first published in 1893, is a collection of essays that Myers had previously published in journals. Their topics include Charles Darwin's religious beliefs, the capacity of contemporary scientific methods to investigate the existence of the soul after death, and an unusual interpretation of Alfred Tennyson's poetry. These fascinating essays show how Myers engaged with the scientific developments and intellectual currents of his time as he developed his theory of the 'subliminal self'.

D. D. Home
  • His Life and Mission
  • Madame Dunglas Home
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1888
  • First published in 1888, this biography relates the remarkable life of Scottish-born medium Daniel Dunglas Home (1833–1886). Descended from a long line of reputed seers, Home was easily the most well known and sought-after of the spiritualists of his day. Famous for his ability to levitate and communicate with the deceased, Home carved out an illustrious career for himself, conducting séances for Napoleon III, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (whose husband Robert lampooned Home as 'Mr Sludge the Medium'), Tolstoy, and Queen Sophia of the Netherlands among others. Written by Home's second wife, Julie de Gloumeline, this book seeks to set the celebrated medium apart from his contemporaries by outlining the truth and purpose behind Home's supernatural exploits. D. D. Home provides a fascinating and personal insight into an enigmatic figure who, in the twenty-five years he worked as a medium, was never exposed as a fraud.

Mystic London
  • Or, Phases of Occult Life in the Metropolis
  • Charles Maurice Davies
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1875
  • The Anglican clergyman and founding member of the Society of the Holy Cross, Charles Maurice Davies (1828–1910), published Mystic London in 1875. The work is a collection of Davies' observations and researches into urban spiritualism. It includes descriptions of London mesmerists, mediums and séances, and discussions of Darwinism, secularism and the non-religious. Davies, who discovered spiritualism in Paris in the mid-1850s, and became a committed spiritualist after the death of his son in 1865, argued in this work that the principles and practices of spiritualism did not pose any threat to Christianity and that the two movements had much in common and could peacefully coexist. The work is an indispensable source on the presence of alternative religion in London and for the beliefs and practices of nineteenth-century spiritualists. It offers a fascinating insight into Victorian experiences and attitudes towards the occult and the supernatural.

Mesmeric Experiences
  • Spencer Timothy Hall
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1845
  • Spencer Timothy Hall (1812–1885) was a writer and practitioner of mesmerism. He grew up in rural Nottinghamshire, apprenticed himself to a printer, and in 1836 he started his own printing business. He later became co-editor of the Sheffield newspaper The Iris, and published several books describing the countryside. After watching a demonstration of mesmerism in 1841 Hall became a practitioner himself, demonstrating mesmerism throughout Britain and offering treatment. His most famous patient was Harriet Martineau, who became an enthusiastic supporter of the technique. This book, first published in 1845, describes Hall's first encounter with mesmerism and explains his decision to become a mesmerist. He discusses thirty-four cases in which mesmerism apparently cured medical problems and describes the treatment he gave to Harriet Martineau. This fascinating book provides valuable insights into both the practice and theory of mesmerism in the early Victorian period.

Letters on Mesmerism
  • Harriet Martineau
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1845
  • Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) was a British writer who was one of the first social theorists to examine all aspects of a society, including class, religion, national character and the status of women. Seriously ill in the early 1840s, she turned to alternative remedies, and underwent a course of mesmerism, to which she attributed her remarkable restoration to health. She published her account of the treatment in a series of letters in the Athenaeum in December 1844, and subsequently in book form, and her cure caused a sensation, adding greatly to public interest in mesmerism. To her fury, her doctor (and brother-in-law) T. M. Greenhow defended his own treatment of her in a remarkably detailed account of her illness, which she regarded as a serious breach of patient confidentiality, and his pamphlet is appended to Martineau's work in this reissue.

The Perfect Way
  • Or, The Finding of Christ
  • Anna Bonus Kingsford
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1882
  • Anna Kingsford (1846–1888) published her first book at the age of 13. A passionate anti-vivisectionist, she also championed womens' rights and vegetarianism. Leaving behind her husband and daughter, she travelled to France to study medicine, accompanied by the writer Edward Maitland. The pair shared a fascination with the spiritual and became leading members of the Theosophical and Hermetic societies. This book, first published anonymously in 1882, is a collection of lectures on theosophical topics delivered to a private audience in summer 1881. It explores the basis of all religions, the nature of the soul, spiritualism and the feminine aspect of the divine, and also discusses blood sacrifice, vegetarianism, pantheism and the teachings of the Kabbalah and the Bhagavad Gita. The author hoped this wide-ranging study of allegories, symbols and myths would 'restore and rehabilitate the truth', reconciling mind and heart, religion and science, and promoting liberty and reason.

Corneille Agrippa
  • Sa Vie et ses Oeuvres
  • Volume 2
  • Auguste Prost
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1882
  • Described by one modern scholar as a 'classic biography' of Agrippa, Prost's two-volume work (1881–1882) charts the life of one of the most renowned humanists of Renaissance Europe. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535) was a prolific author, best known for two popular, significant, and contradictory books: De occulta philosophia libri tres and De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium. Auguste Prost (1817–1896) established his reputation as an antiquarian and a historian of the French city of Metz. Volume 2, covering the period 1520–1535, is organized around Agrippa's travels and teaching across Europe. This volume also includes an appendix, which returns to a range of subjects touched on in the work as a whole, including Agrippa's name, family life, and academic achievements and works. These volumes would greatly interest historians and historiographers of Agrippa and of Renaissance magic and the occult.

Modern Spiritualism
  • A History and a Criticism
  • Volume 1
  • Frank Podmore
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1902
  • Frank Podmore (1856–1910) published Modern Spiritualism in two volumes in 1902. It was the first comprehensive history of the Spiritualist movement. Podmore traces the historical development of Spiritualism from its earliest origins in animal magnetism and alchemy, to its apogee in the early nineteenth century and through to its decline from 1870 onwards, which Podmore associated with the growth of professional psychics and an increase in fraud. Volume 1 covers the key figures of the movement: Paracelsus, Mesmer, Bertrand, Esdaile, and Andrew Jackson Davis. Book 1 focuses on French, English and German Spiritualism and Book 2 on American Spiritualism and its beginnings in Arcadia. The volume includes invaluable accounts of scientific investigations into possession, poltergeists, clairvoyance, and trances. Podmore was a leading member of the Victorian Society for Psychical Research and his work remains an indispensable source for the modern-day historian of nineteenth-century Spiritualism and occult practices.

A Catalogue Raisonné of Works on the Occult Sciences
  • Rosicrucian Books, Astrological Books, Freemasonry
  • F. Leigh Gardner
  • Introduction by William Wynn Westcott
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    14 June 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Frederick Leigh Gardner (1857–1930) was a well-known British occultist who belonged to societies including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Freemasons, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and the Theosophical Society. Born to spiritualist parents, Gardner worked as a stockbroker and later became an antiquarian bookseller. He planned a detailed catalogue of books on the occult sciences to cover Rosicrucian, astrological, Masonic and alchemical writings. Volume 4 was never published; the others were printed privately between 1903 and 1912 in runs of 300 copies each, and reprinted in 1923. This single-volume reissue of Gardner's important reference work contains the first editions of all three volumes, including the now extremely rare Volume 3. Introductions by Gardner's friend William Wynn Westcott (1848–1925), coroner, ceremonial magician, and Supreme Magus of the Rosicrucians of England, respectively cover the history of the Rosicrucians, the history of astrology, and English Masonic Lodge histories.

From Matter to Spirit
  • The Result of Ten Years’ Experience in Spirit Manifestation
  • Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1863
  • Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan (1809–1892) was the wife of the mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan and mother of the celebrated ceramicist William De Morgan. In this book, published in 1863, De Morgan, writing as 'CD' – with a preface by her husband signed as 'AB' – acknowledges that alleged spirit manifestations have faced much criticism and scepticism, but argues that it was a little-understood phenomenon that merited further investigation. She spent a decade on this research, and focused on the role of the mediums, people who were believed to communicate with the spirit world. She was aided in this by the arrival of a medium who lived with the De Morgan family for six years. Her chapters also examine in depth the process of dying and ideas about the afterlife. A first-hand account of the nineteenth-century spiritualist world, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into Britain's changing religious landscape.

Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus
  • Volume 1, Die Entwickelung der Begriffe Ssabier und Ssabismus
  • Daniil Avraamovich Chwolson
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1856
  • The Ssabians were a Middle Eastern community (or possibly two separate communities) mentioned in the Qur'an and early Islamic writings, and categorised variously as 'people of the book' or 'heathens'. They are documented almost exclusively in Arabic sources, and this rare 1856 book, published in German in St Petersburg, remains an invaluable reference work about them, and includes substantial extracts from the early sources. The book aroused the interest of the theosophists in the 1890s owing to its portrayal of a mysterious and secretive Syriac- or Aramaic-speaking pagan sect, accomplished in astronomy and medicine, that functioned as an intellectual intermediary between the Greek and Arabic worlds. Volume 1 discusses the evidence for the Ssabians in localities such as Phrygia and Mesopotamia, including their relations with Islam, and provides biographical information about important Ssabian leaders. It then focuses on Ssabian cosmology and religion, including creation, deities, worship, and the soul.

Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie
  • Volume 1, Dogme
  • Éliphas Lévi
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1861
  • Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. This highly popular two-volume treatise on practical magic attempts to initiate the reader into the mysteries of occult philosophy. Identifying magic as the 'nurse or godmother' of all intellectual forces, Lévi proclaims his firm belief in man as microcosm of the universe, the strength of human willpower and the effectiveness of sympathetic magic. This first volume, 'The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic', establishes Lévi's own philosophical approach to the theory of magic, detailing the various methods of accessing esoteric knowledge of the universe through supernatural methods. Beginning with the ancient origins of occult philosophy and influence, Lévi chronicles the history of magic, including transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, divination and alchemy.

Cosmic Consciousness
  • A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind
  • Edited by Richard Maurice Bucke
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1901
  • This work, published in 1901, is the culmination of a lifetime of research and contemplation in which Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) expounds his theory of the development and evolution of consciousness in living things. He uses his own experiences, those of contemporaries such as Tennyson, and of historical figures such as Francis Bacon, as evidence for moments of higher consciousness and intellect known as 'cosmic consciousness'. Bucke's theory is of three states of progressive consciousness, attained through evolution. The Simple Consciousness of animals, Self Consciousness of man to understand his place in the universe, and Cosmic Consciousness, where man might grow to understand the life and order of the cosmos. This pinnacle of understanding is a progression assisted by evolution that Bucke hopes will one day come to all men. A thought-provoking book at any time, full of optimism for the intellectual future of the human race.

Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie
  • Volume 2, Rituel
  • Éliphas Lévi
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1861
  • Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. This highly popular two-volume treatise on practical magic attempts to initiate the reader into the mysteries of occult philosophy. Identifying magic as the 'nurse or godmother' of all intellectual forces, Lévi proclaims his firm belief in man as microcosm of the universe, the strength of human willpower and the effectiveness of sympathetic magic. Taking a more practical focus than the first part, this second volume, 'The Ritual of Transcendental Magic', focuses on the rituals and ceremonies of Western occult philosophy, offering explanations for magical equilibrium, the use and consecration of the pentagram, talismans, necromancy, transmutations, the Sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft, and the alchemical work of Nicholas Flamel and Raymond Lull.

Esprits et Médiums
  • Mélanges de Métapsychique et de Psychologie
  • Théodore Flournoy
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1911
  • Written by renowned Swiss physician and experimental psychologist Théodore Flournoy (1854–1920), this 1911 publication offers a scientific treatment of nineteenth-century spiritual interests and beliefs. Dedicating his work to the Swiss scientist and psychical researcher Marc Thury and to the American psychologist and philosopher William James, Flournoy approaches the subject of 'spiritism', or communication with the dead, with great caution, claiming that it had never been adequately proven and that such practices could most likely be explained as mental processes inherent in the mediums themselves. While recognising and offering validation of the existence of phenomena such as telekinesis, clairvoyance and telepathy, as well as the survival of the soul after death, in this book Flournoy casts doubt on the living human's ability to contact the spirits of the deceased.

Corneille Agrippa
  • Sa Vie et ses Oeuvres
  • Volume 1
  • Auguste Prost
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1881
  • Described by one modern scholar as a 'classic biography' of Agrippa, Prost's two-volume work (1881–1882) charts the life of one of the most renowned humanists of Renaissance Europe. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535) was a prolific author, best known for two popular, significant, and contradictory books: De occulta philosophia libri tres and De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium. Auguste Prost (1817–1896) established his reputation as an antiquarian and a historian of the French city of Metz. The first volume includes a comprehensive introduction to the occult arts and sciences, addressing their geographical and philosophical origins. In broad strokes, it covers the life and works of Agrippa before turning to specific periods in his life when he travelled to Cologne, Paris, Spain, Bourgogne, and Italy. This work will greatly interest historians and historiographers of Agrippa and of Renaissance magic and the occult.

Histoire de la Magie
  • Avec une Exposition Claire et Précise de ses Procédés, de ses Rites et de ses Mystères
  • Éliphas Lévi
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1860
  • First published in 1860, Éliphas Lévi's history of magic follows in the wake of his enormously successful Dogme et Ritual de la Haute Magie, which first appeared in 1854. In this book, the French occultist and alleged magician offers a thoroughly comprehensive survey of the idea of 'magic' in Western history, from its origins in Indian, Greek, cabalistic and hermetic traditions to the latest developments in nineteenth-century occult philosophy, as well as his own private recollections of his experience with magic. Lévi is adamant in his treatment of magic as a serious science and one compatible with Christianity, encouraging his readers to see magic as the reconciliation point between faith and reason, science and belief, authority and liberty. Extending to almost six hundred pages and with numerous illustrations, this book should appeal to those interested in the nineteenth-century obsession with mysticism and the occult.

Human Personality
  • And its Survival of Bodily Death
  • Volume 1
  • Frederic William Henry Myers
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901) was a classical scholar who in mid-career turned to the investigation of psychic phenomena. After studying, and later teaching, Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge he resigned his lectureship in 1869, became an inspector of schools, and campaigned for women's higher education. With the encouragement of former colleagues he began a scientific investigation of spiritualism and related phenomena, and in 1882 he helped to found the Society for Psychical Research. This two-volume work, first published posthumously in 1903, contains the fullest statement of Myers' influential theory of the 'subliminal self', which he developed by combining his research into psychic phenomena with his in-depth reading about the latest advances in psychology and related fields. His deeply intellectual approach is evident throughout the book, which analyses a huge amount of interesting data. Volume 1 introduces his theory and discusses dreams and sensory automation.

Das Altjüdische Zauberwesen
  • Lajos Blau
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • Lajos (Ludwig) Blau (1861–1936) was a professor at the Landesrabbinerschule (Hungarian rabbinical seminary) in Budapest. His published work covers biblical studies, Masoretic studies and the Talmud, but his interests in Jewish history also extended to archaeology and folklore. This book, originally published in Strasburg in 1898 but reissued here in its second edition (Berlin, 1914), was the first comprehensive study of Jewish magic from the biblical period to the early middle ages, and is still regarded as an authoritative guide. Blau discusses who practised magic, its beneficial and destructive purposes, and magical techniques and objects including herbs, amulets, spells, the tetragram, and the evil eye, as well as methods for counteracting their effects. He supports his arguments by extensive references to early sources. The material he presents is essential for an understanding of the medieval Kabbalah, and is also relevant to comparative work on ancient Egyptian magic.

Page 7 of 8