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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 1 of 8

Die Geschichte der Seele
  • Volume 1
  • Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1850
  • This is the fourth, revised and expanded 1850 edition of an influential two-volume work originally published in 1830 by the German scientist and philosopher Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert (1780–1860). Schubert studied theology and medicine, and taught natural history at Erlangen and Munich, specialising in botany, forestry and mineralogy. He also lectured on topics including animal magnetism, clairvoyance and dreams, and attempted to reconcile Enlightenment philosophy with Christian faith. This book presents Schubert's views on human nature as body, soul and spirit, and on humankind's place in the natural order. Volume 1 introduces Schubert's ideal of a harmonious balance between opposing forces, contrasting the animate and the inanimate and describing the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms and their interactions. It then focuses on human anatomy and physiology, and discusses the senses, heredity, sleep and death, and the differences between humans and other animals.

Bibliographie der Freimaurerei und der mit ihr in Verbindung gesetzten geheimen Gesellschaften
  • Systematisch zusammengestellt
  • Georg Kloss
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    28 June 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • The Frankfurt physician Georg Kloss (1787–1854) was an avid bibliophile and a Freemason. In 1835 his large collection of early printed books was sold by Sotheby's in London, as his extra-curricular interests had shifted from incunabula to the history of freemasonry. He went on to publish several scholarly books on the subject, of which this bibliography (Frankfurt, 1844) was the first. Mentioned by Frederick Leigh Gardner in 1911 as 'excellent though exceedingly scarce', it records over 5,000 books, documents and references relating to freemasonry. These date from 1723 to 1835, and many are very rare, having been printed in tiny quantities. Kloss's bibliography is organised thematically, with sections devoted to topics including Masonic history, ritual, rules and regional jurisdictions (notably France), and related movements including theosophy, kabbalah, the Templars and the Rosicrucians. It also contains indexes of lodges and of authors, translators and composers.

Transcendental Magic
  • Its Doctrine and Ritual
  • Éliphas Lévi
  • Translated by Arthur Edward Waite
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1896
  • Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His hugely popular Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, published in French in 1854, was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1942) in 1896. In the present work, Waite condenses Lévi's two volumes into one. The first part outlines Lévi's theory of the doctrine of transcendent magic and discusses a wide range of magical phenomena, including bewitchment, Kabbalah and alchemy. The second part focuses on the practical aspects of ritual and ceremony in Western occult philosophy. Waite, a mystic and occult historian, edited several alchemical and magical texts for publication in the wake of the mid-nineteenth century occult revival. His translation is accompanied by a preface outlining Lévi's colourful career. The original two-volume French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Der Occultismus des Altertums
  • Volume 1, Akkader, Babylonier, Chaldäer, Assyrier, Meder, Perser, Inder Ägypter, Hebräer
  • Karl Kiesewetter
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    24 May 2012
    First published in:
    1895
  • A leading German theosophical writer, Karl Kiesewetter (1854–95) published several influential works in the years just before his early death. They included a history of modern esotericism (1891), a biography of Mesmer (1893, also reissued in this series), studies of John Dee and of the Faust legend (both 1893), and this two-volume account of occult beliefs and practices in the ancient world (1895), which was completed by Ludwig Kuhlenbeck (1857–1920), a scholar of ancient philosophy and law. Volume 1 focuses on the civilisations of the ancient Near East, including Babylon, Persia, Egypt and Israel, and also contains a chapter on South Asia. Each general description is followed by more detailed investigations of particular aspects of that community, such as individuals (Zoroaster), practices (divination, healing and magic), teachings and texts (the Kabbalah and the Bundehesh), together with textual excerpts (in German translation).

The Book of Wonderful Characters
  • Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries
  • Henry Wilson, James Caulfield
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    16 February 2012
    First published in:
    1869
  • Printmaker James Caulfield (1764–1826) spent much of his career publishing illustrated books about 'remarkable persons'. He began his first series around 1788 and continued it sporadically from 1790 to 1795, with books on a similar theme continuing to appear in the first decades of the nineteenth century. More than forty years after his death, this collection of biographies (produced in collaboration with Henry Wilson (fl. 1820–30)) was republished in 1869. The edition's introduction explains that the renewed interest in these characters comes from the fact that 'we have nearly lost all, and are daily losing what little remains of, our individuality'. The vignettes, accompanied by engravings of each individual, describe a wide-ranging group - from the man who died aged 152 to a 'remarkable glutton' to a woman who lived on the smell of flowers - their only common factor being that they were in some way 'wonderful'.

Die Geschichte der Seele
  • Volume 2
  • Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1850
  • This is the fourth, revised and expanded 1850 edition of an influential two-volume work originally published in 1830 by the German scientist and philosopher Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert (1780–1860). Schubert studied theology and medicine, and taught natural history at Erlangen and Munich, specialising in botany, forestry and mineralogy. He also lectured on topics including animal magnetism, clairvoyance and dreams, and attempted to reconcile Enlightenment philosophy with Christian faith. This book sets out Schubert's views on human nature as body, soul and spirit, and on humankind's place in the natural order. Volume 2 focuses mainly on the 'soul', which Schubert differentiates from the 'spirit' that clothes and feeds it. The discussion ranges from hypnosis and clairvoyance to moods and feelings, passions and affects, the unconscious and personality disorders. Schubert refers frequently to Classical and early Christian philosophers as he probes phenomena now assigned to psychology, including cognition and discernment.

Der magnetismus im verhältnisse zur natur und religion
  • Joseph Ennemoser
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1842
  • Joseph Ennemoser (1787–1854) was born in Tyrol and, after fighting in the Tyrolean rebellion and the Napoleonic wars, qualified as a physician in Berlin. He later became professor at the recently founded University of Bonn, and eventually opened a successful medical practice in Munich. Ennemoser was a leading figure in the then highly fashionable field of 'animal magnetism' (popularised by Mesmer in the later eighteenth century) and hypnosis, and his emphasis on the connection between the mind and physical health foreshadowed Freud's development of psychoanalysis. The holistic views of the mesmerists incorporated ideas both from natural philosophy and from German Romanticism, and Ennemoser and his contemporaries wrestled with the problem of integrating materialist and mystical viewpoints. In this 1842 publication, Ennemoser analyses the relationship between 'animal magnetism', nature and religion, focusing on phenomena including visions, their physiological and psychological explanations, and the application and effects of 'magnetic' treatments.

Mesmerismus
  • Oder, system der wechselwirkungen, theorie und anwendung des thierischen magnetismus als die allgemeine heilkunde zur erhaltung des menschen
  • Franz Anton Mesmer
  • Edited by Karl Christian Wolfart
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1814
  • Early in his career, the German doctor Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) became fascinated by the concept that the invisible natural forces or 'magnetism' exerted by planets, minerals and animals (or humans) could produce physical effects including healing. His influential 'discoveries' were highly controversial, and Mesmer tried persistently but unsuccessfully to obtain scientific recognition for his theory of 'animal magnetism'. This book, published in 1814, was edited by Mesmer's friend J. C. Wolfart, also a medical doctor and a former sceptic. Its scope goes far beyond the mere question of healing individuals. Mesmer proposes a system that he claims would both improve the physical and mental health of individuals and promote the ethical ordering of society. Mesmer appeals to future leaders to develop his blueprint of a more 'natural' and balanced world order, based on his understanding of Enlightenment science and his observations of human physiology, psychology, education, government and justice.

Geschichte des neueren Occultismus
  • Geheimwissenschaftliche Systeme von Agrippa von Nettesheym bis zu Carl du Prel
  • Karl Kiesewetter
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1891
  • A leading German theosophical writer, Karl Kiesewetter (1854–95) produced a number of works on esotericism and occult beliefs and practices. This book, first published in 1891, remains one of the most extensive histories of modern esotericism. In his account of its development, Kiesewetter focuses on a number of historical figures who were, in his opinion, highly influential in the field. He discusses the Renaissance esotericism of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) and devotes much consideration to Paracelsus (1493–1541), whom he considers to be 'the Luther of medicine'. He also engages with the system of pneumatology developed by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and quotes extensively from the works of Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) and other German writers on pneumatology. Also included in this historical overview of modern occultism is the work of Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910), who was a leading figure within nineteenth-century American spiritualism.

Der Occultismus des Altertums
  • Volume 2, Griechen, Römer, Alexandriner, Neupythagoräer, Neuplatoniker, Gnostiker, Manichäer, Germanen und Kelten
  • Karl Kiesewetter
  • Edited by Ludwig Kuhlenbeck
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    24 May 2012
    First published in:
    1895
  • A leading German theosophical writer, Karl Kiesewetter (1854–95) published several influential works in the years just before his early death. They included a history of modern esotericism (1891), a biography of Mesmer (1893, also reissued in this series), studies of John Dee and of the Faust legend (both 1893), and this two-volume account of occult beliefs and practices in the ancient world (1895), which was completed by Ludwig Kuhlenbeck (1857–1920), a scholar of ancient philosophy and law. Volume 2 focuses on the civilisations of the Mediterranean (Greece, Alexandria, Rome) and northern Europe (the Germanic and Celtic peoples). Each general description is followed by more detailed investigations of particular aspects of that community, such as individuals (Socrates, Philo and Pythagoras), practices (divination, healing and oracles), and teachings (gnosticism, Manicheanism and creation, the afterlife), together with textual excerpts (in German translation).

Über die Überreste der Altbabylonischen Literatur in Arabischen Übersetzungen
  • Daniil Avraamovich Khvolson
  • Published online:
    05 July 2015
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1859
  • Daniel Chwolson (or Khvolson) was born in Vilna in 1819 and educated for the rabbinate. He attended universities in Breslau (Wroclaw) and Leipzig and became a professor of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg in 1855. This important monograph, originally published in German in 1859, was a milestone in the scholarly understanding of the ancient Near East. Chwolson argued, controversially, for the existence of a highly developed civilisation in Babylon long before the rise of the Greeks. His hypothesis was based on Arabic texts, preserved in several manuscripts, which the Muslim author (working in the early tenth century C.E.) claimed to have translated from ancient sources. In this volume Chwolson discusses three complete texts (a 1300-page treatise on agriculture, a medical work on poisons, and an astrological work) and a number of fragments. For each text, he considers the date and context of its composition, its authorship and its content.

Ghost Land
  • Or Researches into the Mysteries of Occultism
  • Edited by Emma Hardinge
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • A lecturer and writer on spiritualism, Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–99) acted as a medium in both England and America. Allegedly written by an enigmatic nobleman, 'Chevalier Louis de B.', Ghost Land was prepared for publication by Britten in 1876. The author's real identity is unknown, and scholars have attributed the work to various personalities, including Ernest de Bunsen, Britten's husband William, and Britten herself. The book is divided into two parts, 'The Neophyte' and 'The Adept'. Each part includes a series of sketches from the life of the author, who was initiated into the ancient mysteries of the occult. The book also describes the spiritual encounters of an Englishman referred to as 'John Cavendish Dudley'. Britten claimed to have translated the French parts of the manuscript and edited the English sections. Of enduring interest in the history of spiritualism, the work reflects a strong theosophical influence.

The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah
  • Arthur Edward Waite
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
    First published in:
    1902
  • Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1942), mystic and historian, was an influential figure in the occult revival of the nineteenth century. Brought up a devout Catholic, he became increasingly involved in spiritualism in his late teens following the death of his sister. Choosing not to enter the priesthood, he pursued instead his interests in occult philosophy. A translator and editor of several alchemical texts in the 1890s, Waite also wrote several histories of magic in his later years. First published in 1902, the present work establishes Kabbalah's significant influence on nineteenth-century occultism. The book chronicles the history of Kabbalist practice from its ancient Hebrew origins to its effect on other branches of the occult, including Rosicrucianism, freemasonry, hermeticism and tarot. Waite also connects noted occultists to Kabbalah, including Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Eliphas Lévi.

The History of Magic
  • Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of its Procedure, its Rites and its Mysteries
  • Éliphas Lévi
  • Translated by Arthur Edward Waite
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
    First published in:
    1913
  • Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His Histoire de la magie was first published in 1860. In it, Lévi recounts the history of the occult in Western thought, encompassing its biblical, Zoroastrian and ancient Greek origins, various magical practices of the medieval and early modern periods - including hermeticism, alchemy and necromancy - and the role of magic in the French Revolution. The last section of the book describes nineteenth-century magical practices and includes details of Lévi's own occult experiences. Prepared by Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1942), this English translation was first published in 1913. An editor and translator of numerous magical texts, Waite includes here a preface comprising an eloquent defense of Lévi and intellectual magic. The original French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus
  • Volume 2, Orientalische Quellen zur Geschichte der Ssabier und des Ssabismus
  • Daniil Avraamovich Chwolson
  • Published online:
    05 July 2014
    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 2 introduces the main sources and presents selections from forty-five texts, with variant readings, German translations and detailed notes. They include a wide variety of genres, ranging from religion, philosophy, literature and autobiography to historical, geographical, legal and lexicographic works.

Franz Anton Mesmer's Leben und Lehre
  • Nebst einer Vorgeschichte des Mesmerismus, Hypnotismus und Somnambulismus
  • Karl Kiesewetter
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1893
  • Karl Kiesewetter (1854–1895) was the most influential German theosophical writer of his time, and wrote several books on the history of esotericism and occultism. This biography of Mesmer (1734–1815) was first published in Leipzig in 1893. It begins with two very substantial historical chapters. The first discusses practitioners of 'animal magnetism' before Mesmer, citing evidence dating back to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Babylonian cuneiform records. The second discusses the history of visions, dreams, trances, soothsaying and divination, referring to the Greeks and the Gnostics. The second half of the book focuses on Mesmer himself. It describes his childhood near Lake Constance, his university education in philosophy and medicine, his medical practice in Vienna and his interest in 'cosmic magnetism'. It documents his treatments and the controversies they caused, his travels, his benefactors and detractors, and ends with a summary of his theories including extracts from his work.

The History of Magic
  • Volume 1
  • Joseph Ennemoser
  • Edited by Mary Howitt
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1854
  • Joseph Ennemoser (1787–1854) was an Tyrolean doctor and scientist, noted for his use of magnetism and hypnosis. He was a forerunner of Freud in his belief in the connection between the mind and physical health, and his interest in psychology led to investigations into the paranormal and magic. He became well known for his presentations about magic, delusions and apparently supernatural occurrences. He suggested that most of these phenomena appeared miraculous only because of a lack of understanding of the laws of nature. The History of Magic was published in Leipzig in 1844, and translated into English in 1854 by William Howitt, a leading Spiritualist writer. Volume 1 deals with the different categories of magic and mysticism, and how they were viewed in ancient times. He discusses visions, dreams and soothsaying, and miracles in the Bible, and the link between classical medicine and oracles.

Clairvoyance
  • Charles Webster Leadbeater
  • Published online:
    05 February 2014
    Print publication:
    04 January 2011
    First published in:
    1899
  • Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934), ordained an Anglican priest in 1879, developed interests in spiritualism and occultism (then highly fashionable), and by the mid-1880s was a leading figure in the recently-founded Theosophical Society. He travelled to India, North America and eventually Australia on the Society's business, his influence only temporarily dented by a furore in 1906–8 involving allegations of child abuse. Leadbeater believed he was clairvoyant, and his many writings include this book, first published in 1899 and reissued here in a fifth edition marking the Theosophical Society's Diamond Jubilee in 1935. Leadbeater primarily addresses readers convinced of the existence of clairvoyance and familiar with theosophical terms. He argues that the 'power to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight' is an extension of normal perception, and describes a wide range of phenomena including intentional and unintentional clairvoyance, premonitions, telepathy, and 'seeing' the past and the future.

Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes
  • Volume 2, E–L
  • Albert Louis Caillet
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1912
  • It was only in his forties that civil engineer Albert Louis Caillet (1869–1922) decided to abandon his career to devote himself to the study of psychic sciences. From 1912, he wrote several publications on occultism and created the Société Unitive, whose goal was 'to improve life through a reasoned system of mental, psychic and physical hygiene'. This three-volume compendium, first published in 1912, is an essential reference tool on the literature of the occult. The extensive bibliography lists hundreds of books on subjects as diverse as magic and witchcraft, mythology, divination, the Kabbalah, sects and secret societies, alchemy, ancient medicine, anthropology and philosophy. It includes detailed book descriptions, critical and historical notes, brief biographies of obscure authors and multiple editions of texts. Organised alphabetically, Volume 2 lists authors from E to L.

Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes
  • Volume 1, A–D
  • Albert Louis Caillet
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1912
  • It was only in his forties that civil engineer Albert Louis Caillet (1869–1922) decided to abandon his career to devote himself to the study of psychic sciences. From 1912, he wrote several publications on occultism and created the Société Unitive, whose goal was 'to improve life through a reasoned system of mental, psychic and physical hygiene'. This three-volume compendium, first published in 1912, is an essential reference tool on the literature of the occult. The extensive bibliography lists hundreds of books on subjects as diverse as magic and witchcraft, mythology, divination, the Kabbalah, sects and secret societies, alchemy, ancient medicine, anthropology and philosophy. It includes detailed book descriptions, critical and historical notes, brief biographies of obscure authors and multiple editions of texts. Organised alphabetically, Volume 1 lists authors from A to D.

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