The Western Occult

The learning path

Go in order: each step uses the ones before it. Read the old texts alongside a good historian, and keep notes on what you read and practise.

1. Get the lay of the land

   "The occult" means hidden knowledge. Scholars call the whole tradition Western esotericism: Hermeticism, astrology, alchemy, magic, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and more. Start with a map before diving into any one part.

   • BookWestern Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Wouter Hanegraaff, the best short introduction
   • BookThe Western Esoteric Traditions by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
   • VideoEsoterica, a YouTube channel by Dr. Justin Sledge, a scholar of the history of esotericism
   • FreeThe Secret Teachings of All Ages, a big illustrated overview to browse

2. Read the Hermetic roots

   Almost everything in the tradition goes back to the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus: a living cosmos, the divine mind, and the idea that the human being mirrors the universe ("as above, so below").

   • FreeCorpus Hermeticum, start with the first treatise, the Poimandres
   • FreeThe Emerald Tablet
   • BookHermetica, Brian Copenhaver's scholarly translation
   • TipThe Kybalion is fun, but read it knowing it's from 1908, not ancient Egypt.

3. Learn the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life

   The Tree of Life, with its 10 spheres and 22 paths, is the filing system of Western magic. Planets, tarot cards, Hebrew letters and colours are all mapped onto it.

   • BookThe Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune
   • FreeThe Kabbalah Unveiled by S. L. MacGregor Mathers
   • BookMajor Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershom Scholem, for the Jewish tradition it comes from
   • LinkAstrology: each sphere of the Tree is tied to a planet, so your astrology studies carry straight over

4. Study Renaissance magic and correspondences

   In the Renaissance, Ficino, Pico and Agrippa joined Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, Kabbalah and astrology into one system of "correspondences": every planet linked to metals, plants, stones and colours.

   • FreeThree Books of Occult Philosophy by Agrippa, the central text
   • BookGiordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition by Frances Yates
   • BookPicatrix, the Arabic source for much of this astrological magic

5. Learn the tarot as a symbol system

   The occult tarot links the 22 Major Arcana to the paths of the Tree of Life and the Hebrew letters. Working with a deck is a practical way to learn all the symbols.

   • FreeThe Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A. E. Waite
   • BookMeditations on the Tarot, for depth once you know the cards
   • TipDraw one card a day and write down what it means to you before reading about it.

6. Ceremonial magic and the Golden Dawn

   The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (1888) organised everything above into a single course of study and ritual. Most modern Western magic, including Thelema, descends from it.

   • BookModern Magick by Donald Michael Kraig, a step-by-step course
   • BookThe Golden Dawn and The Tree of Life by Israel Regardie
   • BookMagick: Liber ABA by Aleister Crowley
   • FreeThe Book of Abramelin and The Key of Solomon, the grimoires the Golden Dawn drew on
   • TipKeep a magical diary: date, time, what you did, and what you noticed. It's the one habit every school agrees on.

7. Mysticism: the inner path

   Mysticism is the search for direct experience of the divine. It runs through the whole tradition, from Plotinus and the Christian contemplatives to modern meditation.

   • FreeMysticism by Evelyn Underhill
   • FreeThe Cloud of Unknowing
   • VideoLet's Talk Religion, clear videos on mystics from many traditions
   • PracticeTen minutes of quiet meditation a day does more than any book.

8. Keep learning

   Read primary texts, then read what historians say about them. It keeps you curious without being fooled by made-up lineages and "ancient" claims.

   • Free siteTwilit Grotto (Esoteric Archives), Joseph Peterson's carefully edited grimoires and magic texts
   • Free siteSacred Texts: Esoteric and Grimoires
   • CommunityESSWE, the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, with lectures and conferences
   • LibraryMy library has large Golden Dawn, Qabalah, Alchemy, Rosicrucian, Thelema and Grimoire collections

A short history

The Western occult is less one tradition than a long conversation, passed from Roman Egypt through the Islamic world and Renaissance Italy to the lodges and orders of the modern West.

1. 2nd–3rd c. CE

   The Hermetica

   In Roman Egypt, Greek texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus are written: the Corpus Hermeticum, alongside works on astrology and alchemy.

2. 2nd–3rd c.

   Gnostics & Neoplatonists

   Gnostic Christians teach salvation through secret knowledge (gnosis). Plotinus teaches the soul's return to the One, and later Iamblichus defends ritual "theurgy" as a path to the gods.

3. 8th–11th c.

   The Arabic sciences

   Alchemy, astrology and astral magic flourish in the Islamic world. The Emerald Tablet appears in Arabic, and the Picatrix collects astrological magic.

4. 12th–13th c.

   Kabbalah & the grimoires

   Kabbalah emerges in Provence and Spain; the Zohar appears around 1280. Arabic magic is translated into Latin, and the first European grimoires circulate.

5. 1463–1486

   Florence: the Hermetic revival

   Marsilio Ficino translates the Corpus Hermeticum for Cosimo de' Medici. Pico della Mirandola joins Kabbalah with Christian thought.

6. 1533

   Agrippa

   Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa publishes the full Three Books of Occult Philosophy, the summary of Renaissance magic.

7. 1582–1589

   John Dee & Enochian

   Queen Elizabeth's advisor John Dee and the scryer Edward Kelley record conversations with angels and a new "Enochian" language.

8. 1614

   Rosicrucians & the dating of Hermes

   The Rosicrucian manifestos announce a secret brotherhood of sages (see Waite's history). The same year, Isaac Casaubon shows the Hermetica were written in the Christian era, not in ancient Egypt.

9. 18th c.

   Lodges & visionaries

   Freemasonry spreads after 1717 and esoteric rites multiply. Emanuel Swedenborg describes visits to heaven and hell, and Mesmer's "animal magnetism" becomes a craze.

10. 1856

    Éliphas Lévi

    Lévi's Transcendental Magic starts the modern occult revival and links the tarot to Kabbalah.

11. 1875

    Theosophy

    Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott found the Theosophical Society, mixing Western esotericism with Hindu and Buddhist ideas (Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine).

12. 1888

    The Golden Dawn

    The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is founded in London. Its members include Mathers, Waite, W. B. Yeats and, briefly, Aleister Crowley.

13. 1904–1910

    Thelema & the tarot

    Crowley receives The Book of the Law (1904). The Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck and Waite's guide are published in 1909–10.

14. 1930s

    Inner-plane magic

    Dion Fortune (The Mystical Qabalah) and Israel Regardie, who publishes the Golden Dawn's secret rituals, open the teachings to the public.

15. 1954

    Modern witchcraft

    Gerald Gardner publishes Witchcraft Today, and Wicca grows into a new religion (Hutton's history).

16. 1960s–80s

    Occult revival & New Age

    The counterculture brings tarot, astrology and magic into the mainstream. Chaos magic begins in the late 1970s (Liber Null).

17. 1990s–today

    Esotericism in the university

    Paris, Amsterdam and Exeter create posts for its study, and historians like Hanegraaff and Goodrick-Clarke make it a serious academic field.

Books on the history

Written by historians, these explain where the ideas came from and how they changed. Roughly in order of period.

Books to read & download

The classics below are in the public domain. Read online opens a free copy; Find downloads searches Internet Archive for PDF and EPUB copies (use the download options on the right of a book's page). In my library means a copy is already on Kavita.

Free classics

Modern books worth buying or borrowing

These are still under copyright. Borrow free opens Open Library, where many can be borrowed as ebooks with a free account. Buy opens Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores.