Esoteric and Occult

Here is a smorgasbord of texts relating to esoteric and occult beliefs. Although miniscule in comparison to even the smallest of the world religions, or even of the Neopagan community with which they are often incorrectly grouped, these groups have a huge presence on the Internet. This page archives some of the best material in this category.

Some of these texts should be taken very seriously; others are completely farcical; we mostly leave it up to the reader to decide which is which.

Featured Books

The Divine Pymander
of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, translated by John Everard [1650]

The Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo
by W. Wynn Westcott [1887]
Is this mysterious ancient tablet the key to the Tarot?

The Art of Worldly Wisdom
by Balthasar Gracian, translated by Joseph Jacobs [1892]

The Chaldæan Oracles of Zoroaster
by W. Wynn Westcott [1895]

A Wanderer in the Spirit Lands
by Franchezzo (A. Farnese) [1896]
What lies beyond the land of the living?

Raja Yoga
by Yogi Ramacharaka (pseud. William Walker Atkinson) [1906]
An early 20th century book on mental focus, repackaged as Raja Yoga.

The Kybalion
by Three Initiates (pseud. William Walker Atkinson) [1912]

The Signature of All Things
by Jacob Boehme, translated by Anonymous [1912].
A Christian mystic explains the hidden meanings implicit in everything.

Comte de Gabalis
by Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars [1913]
An esoteric classic about the elementals.

Wisdom of the Ages
by Zertoulem, automatically transcribed by George A. Fuller [1916]
The testament of Zertoulem, prophet of Tlaskanata, produced by automatic writing.

Hidden Treasures of the Ancient Qabalah
by Elias Gewurz (pseud. William Walker Atkinson?) [1918]
A western occultist looks at the Kabbalah

Mysteries of the Qabalah
by Elias Gewurz (pseud. William Walker Atkinson?) [1922]
Theosophy infused with Jewish mysticism

The Human Atmosphere
by Walter J. Kilner [1920]
The first attempt at a scientific study of the human aura.

Paradoxes of the Highest Science
by Éliphas Lévi, translated by Anonymous [1922].
With comments by An Eminent Occultist. (H.P. Blavatsky?).

Tertium Organum
by P.D. Ouspensky [1922]
The Fourth Dimension as a key to spiritual existence.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages
by Manley Palmer Hall [1928]
A comprehensive introduction to the Esoteric, including the Qaballa, Tarot, Ceremonial Magic, Neo-Platonic Philosophy, Mystery Religions, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.

The Way of Power
by Lily Adams Beck [1928]

The Most Holy Trinosophia
by Comte de Saint-Germain and Manly Palmer Hall [1933]
A curious book by the supposedly immortal Rosicrucian master, St. Germain.

Mankind United
by Arthur Bell [1936]
A classic California cult.

Tilak of Tibet
by Ann Hackett [1944]
A long-forgotten esoteric novella.

Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment
by Rudolph Steiner, translated by George Metaxa [1947]
On the path to esoteric initiation: the subtle body, higher planes, and the mystical Guardians of the Threshold.

Alchemy

Americana

Americana Index
Texts from the American past with esoteric knowledge.

Atlantis

Chaos Magic

Chaos Magic Archives
A collection of Internet texts relating to Chaos Magic.

Erisian

This loosely affiliated set of anarchistic belief systems can best be described as a dadaist cult of the Goddess of Chaos, Eris. It is closely associated with the contemporary counter-culture, borrowing heavily from (or attributing its beliefs to) Paganism, Shamanism, Ritual Magic, and Cybernetics.

Principia Discordia
133,998 bytes.
A starting point for Erisianism, one of the first 'copyleft' documents.
Robert Anton Wilson had a hand in this text (going beyond just writing the introduction),

The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
by Hakim Bey 287,797 bytes
Hakim Bey's anarchistic-shamanistic-neotribal views greatly influenced rave culture and the tatooing/body piercing craze of the nineties.

The SubGenius Manifesto
Bob Dobbs,
The ultimate Dada religion, the Church of the SubGenius, the cult of 'Bob Dobbs', not for the irony-deficient. The entire body of SubGenius literature is now online here [External site].

Enochian Magic

Enochian Magic Archives
Enochian Magic was originally developed by Dr. John Dee, (1527-1608). This is a complex system of ceremonial magic, utilizing an otherwise unknown language chanelled by Dee.
The Calls of Enoch
These angelic invocations, the central text of Enochian Magic, are not to be taken lightly.

Fortean

The works of Charles Fort
Charles Fort's books were the original X-Files; he cataloged and attempted to explain all kinds of anomolous phenomena.

Freemasonry

There is now a separate Freemasonry index.

Golden Dawn

Historic Lecture by W. Wynn Westcott 10,291 bytes

I AM

Unveiled Mysteries
by Godfré Ray King, (pseud. Guy Warran Ballard) [1934]
A trip through time and space with St. Germain, Ascended Master.

New Thought

There is now a separate New Thought Index.

Nostradamus

The predictions of Nostradamus
The quatrains of Nostradamus are some of the most famous prophetic books in history. In French and English.

Piri Re'is Map

The Piri Re'is Map
The best known evidence for a global ice age civilization.

Oahspe

The Book of Oahspe
Oahspe is a 'channelled' 19th century book.

Rosicrucian

Rosicrucian Texts
One of the first secret societies, revived in modern times.

Tarot

Tarot Index
Read up on the Tarot, then get a tarot reading. Includes Waite's Pictoral Key and several other books on the Tarot, extensive images of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck (plus an extensive FAQ about the RWS copyrights).

Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth

TOPY is a chaos magic group with tantric and cybershamanistic beliefs founded by Genesis P-Orridge, of the groundbreaking 90s proto-techno music collective Psychick TV (although he is no longer directly associated with it).

An introduction to the Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth (the Greybook)
TOPY Manifesto (the Greyer book)
Thee Sigils Book (The Black Book)
TOPY FAQ
TOPY transmission #1
TOPY transmission #2
Interview with TOPY

The official website of TOPY is http://www.topy.net/ [External Site].

Thelema

Texts of Thelema
by famous occultist Aleister Crowley who founded the organization A.'. A.'. (Argentium Astrum -- the Silver Star) as well as others by members of the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis -- Order of the Eastern Temple) (founded by Theodor Reuss and Karl Kellner in 1895).

Theosophy

Theosophy Index Includes the full text of The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled.

UFOs

UFO Archives
A fascinating late twentieth century belief system, which eventually took on the aspects of a millenarian cosmic cargo cult.

Vampires

The Vampire Codex
by Michelle Belanger.
There are Vampires among us. Ms. Belanger has graciously donated this text which describes her beliefs on this topic.

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Links

Twilit Grotto: Esoteric Archives
This site has a massive collection of etexts on esoteric subjects, including many texts from rare manuscripts and public domain books. Numerous resources which dovetail with ISTA. Highly recommended.