Occult History & Secret Societies
59 guides · newest first
Order of the Eastern Star in occult history: meaning, history, symbols and practices
A woman in a white robe stands before an altar shaped like a five-pointed star.
2026-08-25Freemasonry and the occult: connections
A French police raid in 1894 seized a set of Masonic rituals from a lodge in Paris.
2026-08-23History of runes: meaning, history, symbols and practices
In 1865 a worker in a Danish bog pulled a bone comb from the peat.
2026-08-23Éliphas Lévi history: meaning, history, symbols and practices
A defrocked deacon sat in a Paris garret in 1854, writing a book that would change the course of occultism.
2026-08-23Magic in ancient Egypt: meaning, history, symbols and practices
Ancient Egyptian magic, called heka, was the primordial energy that created the universe — not a superstition or separate craft, but a neutral power that g
2026-08-23Magic in the Renaissance: meaning, history, symbols and practices
A scholar sits at a candlelit desk, the ink still smelling of the press.
2026-08-23The European witch hunts: causes and scale
What Were the European Witch Hunts? Between 1450 and 1750, somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people were executed for witchcraft in Europe.
2026-08-23The history of runes: origins and evolution
A Roman historian watched Germanic tribesmen cut a branch from a fruit tree, slice it into slips, carve marks into each one, then scatter them on a white c
2026-08-23The history of spiritism: Allan Kardec and the movement
A Parisian schoolteacher sat in a darkened room in 1854, watching a table lift itself off the floor.
2026-08-23The occult in the Renaissance: key figures
A scholar sits in a Florentine villa, translating a Greek manuscript that had been lost to the West for over a thousand years.
2026-08-23Arthur Edward Waite: key facts
In 1909, a tarot deck appeared in London with a minor arcana no one had seen before.
2026-08-20Burning witches in the Middle Ages: myth versus reality
A historian once asked a classroom how many women were burned as witches in the Middle Ages.
2026-08-20Dion Fortune vs Aleister Crowley: Key differences in occult philosophy
Answer-first intro: Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley are the two most influential figures in modern Western occultism, each shaping distinct traditions fr
2026-08-20Edward Kelley: Dee's scryer
On a spring afternoon in 1582, John Dee sat in his study at Mortlake, a polished obsidian shewstone on the table.
2026-08-20Edward Kelley's pardon: why was he released?
Edward Kelley, the convicted English alchemist and scryer, was freed from prison in 1595 not because the law found him innocent but because Emperor Rudolf
2026-08-20Eliphas Levi: the father of modern occultism
On a winter evening in 1854, a defrocked French deacon sat in a Paris garret and wrote a book that would rewire the Western esoteric tradition.
2026-08-20European witch hunts and trials: an overview
A woman in a German village accused her neighbor of stealing milk through witchcraft.
2026-08-20Folk magic: history and traditions
A farmer in the Scottish Highlands, 1730, carries a stone with a natural hole through it.
2026-08-20Freemasonry history in America
A printer's apprentice named Benjamin Franklin walked into a Philadelphia tavern in 1731 and paid fifteen shillings to be made a Freemason.
2026-08-20Giordano Bruno vs Galileo: key differences in their fates
On February 17, 1600, Giordano Bruno was led to the Campo de' Fiori in Rome, stripped naked, tied to a stake, and burned alive.
2026-08-20History of astrology in India
A Roman priest once told a Greek colleague that his gods had no myths, only rituals.
2026-08-20History of magic: meaning, history, symbols and practices
A clay tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, inscribed around 650 BCE, lists spells for love, curse, and healing.
2026-08-20How did the pharaoh's magicians in the Bible compare to Egyptian priests?
A serpent writhed on the tiles of Pharaoh’s court.
2026-08-20Knights Templar vs Teutonic Knights: key differences in mission and legacy
A wooden castle on the frozen Baltic coast.
2026-08-20Magic in ancient Egypt: history
A lector priest in the temple of Amun at Karnak unrolled a papyrus scroll.
2026-08-20Magic in the Middle Ages: church and folklore
A scribe in 1317 copied a letter from a French bishop who had just heard a troubling confession.
2026-08-20Manly P. Hall: his life and works
Hall was already a lecturer with a following across California.
2026-08-20Mason vs Freemason: is there a difference?
A man in a lambskin apron stands before a lodge of fifty brothers.
2026-08-20Modern day witch hunts compared to historical ones
A woman in Salem, 1692, accused her neighbor of floating on a board across the river.
2026-08-20Moses and the magicians of Egypt: a biblical comparison
Answer-first intro (40-60 words): The biblical showdown between Moses and the magicians of Egypt is the oldest recorded comparison of two kinds of magic: o
2026-08-20Occult history: meaning and key events
A Roman senator in 186 BCE watched as seven thousand followers of the Bacchanalia were executed for conspiracy.
2026-08-20Occult orders: history of secret societies
A candidate stands blindfolded in a darkened chamber.
2026-08-20Occultism and science: a troubled history
A Victorian chemist once kept two notebooks on his desk.
2026-08-20Salem witch trials timeline: key events from 1692
The Salem witch trials of 1692 remain the most infamous outbreak of witch-hunting in American history.
2026-08-20Salem witch trials vs European witch trials: key differences
A red January dawn over Gallows Hill, 1693.
2026-08-20Salem witch trials vs McCarthyism: what are the parallels?
A young woman in Salem Village, 1692, points a trembling finger at her neighbor.
2026-08-20Sorcery in the Middle Ages versus witchcraft
In 1324 the Irish woman Alice Kyteler stood before a bishop on charges that included sacrificing cocks to a demon named Robin, digging up consecrated host,
2026-08-20Tarot vs psychic reading: how their histories differ
Tarot is a fixed symbolic card system originating as a 1440s Italian trick-taking game, while psychic reading is an umbrella term for claimed extrasensory
2026-08-20The burning times: myth and history
A woman named Walpurga Hausmännin was burned at the stake in Dillingen, Germany, in 1587.
2026-08-20The Burning Times Testament: what is it?
A Roman soldier stationed in Gaul around 58 BCE wrote home that the local druids kept no written records.
2026-08-20The Eye of Providence: history and symbolism
The eye stares out from the center of a triangle, enclosed in a burst of light.
2026-08-20The Golden Dawn manuscripts: contents
A magician in London, 1888, copied the same diagrams by candlelight that an Egyptian priest had drawn on papyrus fifteen centuries earlier.
2026-08-20The history of alchemy: key periods and figures
In a sun-baked workshop outside Alexandria, around 300 AD, a man named Zosimos watched a copper vessel turn black, then white, then red.
2026-08-20The history of witchcraft
In the spring of 1662, a Scottish woman named Isobel Gowdie sat in the parish church of Auldearn and confessed.
2026-08-20The history of witchcraft: from antiquity to today
A Roman senator once wrote that a woman in Thessaly had been caught drawing down the moon.
2026-08-20The Knights Templar: history and legends
The Knights Templar were a Catholic military religious order founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem.
2026-08-20The Malleus Maleficarum: the witch hunter's manual
A papal bull arrived in the Rhine valley in 1484, authorizing two Dominican friars to prosecute witchcraft wherever they found it.
2026-08-20The Salem witch trials: a complete history
On a cold February morning in 1692, a group of girls in Salem Village sat in the kitchen of Reverend Samuel Parris, listening to stories told by his slave,
2026-08-20What era were the witch trials? A comparison with other historical periods
In 1597, King James VI of Scotland published Daemonologie, a treatise that would fuel the North Berwick witch trials.
2026-08-20What is the difference between Masons and Freemasons?
The terms "Mason" and "Freemason" refer to the same fraternal organization, with "Mason" being the older, shorter form and "Freemason" the formal title tha
2026-08-20What is the difference between the tribe of Levi and Éliphas Lévi?
A visitor once asked our librarian whether the biblical Levites had any connection to the French occultist whose name sounds nearly identical.
2026-08-20What is the relationship between Christianity and ancient Egyptian magic?
A Christian monk in the Egyptian desert once carved a cross over a pre-Christian inscription of Thoth, the ibis-headed god of writing and magic.
2026-08-20What is the relationship between Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry?
A French archbishop once received a sealed letter from Paris.
2026-08-20Women in occult history: key figures
A medieval abbess writes the first grimoire attributed to a woman.
2026-08-20Knights Templar esoteric history: meaning, history, symbols and practices
The Arrest of the Knights Templar: What Really Happened On a Friday the 13th of October 1307, the French king’s men arrested every Templar in the kingdom.
2026-08-18John Dee: the queen's astronomer and magician
In 1583, a Polish nobleman watched the most learned man in England kneel before a crystal ball and ask an angel named Madimi whether he should abandon his
2026-08-17Helena Blavatsky: founder of Theosophy
A small group gathered in a New York apartment on November 17, 1875.
2026-08-17Witch trials history: meaning, history, symbols and practices
In 1597, a Scottish woman named Christiane Grieve was strangled and burned at the stake for confessing to flying through the air with the Devil.
2026-08-17Arthur Edward Waite vs Aleister Crowley: Key Differences in Occult Thought
She could buy the deck designed by Arthur Edward Waite, with its gentle pastoral scenes and a High Priestess who sits veiled between the pillars of Solomon
2026-08-15