Peter Forshaw – författare

A clear, concise and detailed historical analysis of the eclectic and arcane visual and material culture of the occult. Focusing on a carefully curated selection of esoteric art and artefacts, this book explains the meaning and mystic power of occult ritual objects and symbols from around the world. The author identifies four key elements of occultism – mysticism, alchemy, magic and divination. Key symbols are identified and examined close up, and key rituals and practices are explained to provide new insights into the philosophies and beliefs of occultists from antiquity to today.Occult begins with an introduction that clarifies what we mean by ‘occult’. It traces the pre-Christian origins of esotericism in Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Neoplatonism, and its development as the occult sciences during the Renaissance to its rebirth in the 19th century with spiritualism, theosophy and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the 20th-century’s anthroposophy, ‘New Age’ and occulture movements. The book is then organized into three sections exploring Occult Foundations, Occult Philosophy and Occult Revival – each one containing three themed chapters.For each of the nine chapters, illustrated narrative text is interspersed with double-page presentations decoding the key practices, figures and symbols relevant to that theme. From rare, ornate tarot decks to the paintings of Leonora Carrington and Ernst Fuchs, artworks and artefacts are examined in detail: the practices depicted are identified and explained and the hidden symbolism decrypted. As the book progresses, readers will not only come to understand the mysterious practices and secret ciphers of the occult but will also discover the beliefs, philosophies and rituals of occultists around the world, from their origins in the early esoteric traditions of the ancient Greeks to their reinterpretation in modern occultism.

Few fields of academic research are surrounded by so many misunderstandings and misconceptions as the study of Western esotericism. For twenty years now, the Centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (University of Amsterdam) has been at the forefront of international scholarship in this domain. This anniversary volume seeks to make the modern study of Western esotericism known beyond specialist circles, while addressing a range of misconceptions, biases, and prejudices that still tend to surround it. Thirty major scholars in the field respond to questions about a wide range of unfamiliar ideas, traditions, practices, problems, and personalities that are central to this area of research. By challenging many taken-for-granted assumptions about religion, science, philosophy, and the arts, this volume demonstrates why the academic study of esotericism leads us to reconsider much that we thought we knew about the story of Western culture.