occult

Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation
$27.00
Occult America looks at the people and movements that made magic, Spiritualism, self-help and secret societies part of American culture. It is well written, accessible and unusually fair about subjects that tend to inspire ridicule or paranoia. (Try mentioning the Freemasons in mixed company and see what happens).

What I liked best is the attention paid to overlooked areas, such as home-study courses in metaphysics, occult supply houses, and publishers that made esoteric books available to the general public. When discussing the development of magic in the black community, the author goes beyond traditional root-work or voodoo, and looks at people like Black Herman, a stage magician who was both an entertainer and sorcerer. In addition, there is some fascinating material about Henry Wallace, Manley P. Hall, and Edgar Cayce.

Among the gaudy birds in the psychic aviary, Cayce is a peahen. His trance-inspired hemorrhoid remedies and silly predictions about Atlantis have obscured a sophisticated and sensitive outlook that deserves more attention.

Mitch Horowitz offers a new perspective on familiar subjects and has flushed out enough topics to keep a dozen researchers busy. Let's hope it results in a shelf of fat new books.

The New Encyclopedia of the Occult
$32.95
This is handy reference, in case you are unfamiliar with things in the occult forum. Good information, and sources. Anyone interested in horror movies, psychics, demons, ghosts, whatever, would like this.

The Occult
$19.95
Let the title scare you off and you'll miss a fine volume on just about everything we have conjured up in our brief history. I particularly found the concept of 'Faculty X' (somewhat of a seventh sense) to be fascinating. Colin Wilson was a celebrated author in the sixties, with his popular work 'The Outsider'. Here, Wilson provides examples of everything from apparitions to physical transfer across continents of a person, to scientific study of unexplained phenomena. The book is quite long and must be digested over time. After all, the secrets of our time require plausible explanation. And even then, would you believe? Put yourself to the test...

griff

Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult
$24.95
It was not what I expected. It had one good article on the occult.
It made me feel like I was on target. But the rest of a disappointment. Some good history, which I did like. If you are looking for confirmation about the occult, it does not have enough of that. Mostly opinions of others.