Magic, Witchcraft & the Occult
How the world's religions and cultures have understood magic, witchcraft, spirits, demons, and the esoteric — and what these symbols can mean when they appear in dreams. Folklore and history, told with care.
Alchemy and the Great Work: Turning Lead into GoldWhat alchemists really meant by turning lead into gold — the Great Work, the Emerald Tablet, Jung's nigredo and rubedo, and what gold means in a dream.As Above, So Below: The Hermetic KeyThe history of "as above, so below" — from the Emerald Tablet and Hermes Trismegistus to Kabbalah, Tarot and dreams, told as folklore and symbolism.Demon Gods of the Ancient World: When Gods Became DevilsToday's demon is yesterday's god: how Baal, Astarte and the Persian daevas became devils — Pazuzu, Asmodeus, the Ars Goetia, and demon-gods in dreams.Demonology in History: How the West Imagined Its DemonsA sourced history of Western demonology - from the Greek daimon and the Watchers of Enoch to grimoire hierarchies, the witch trials, and demons in dreams.Demons in Dreams: A History of the Night VisitorWhy so many cultures placed the demon at the edge of sleep — Lamashtu, Lilith, the incubus and the mare, the Islamic hulm, and what a dream-demon really asks.Djinn in Islam: The Hidden Folk of FireNot the genie of the lamp: the Qur'anic djinn are a parallel creation of fire with free will and judgment — Iblis, the qarin, Solomon, and djinn in dreams.Dream Incubation: How the Ancients Summoned DreamsThe ancient art of dream incubation — the Greek Asclepieia, Egyptian Bes-beds, Jacob at Bethel and Islam's istikhara — and what it meant to summon a dream.Gematria: When Numbers Became a Language of CreationGematria treats letters as numbers and numbers as a language of creation. A sourced history of the art — from Sargon II to Kabbalah, Nero, and dreams.Kabbalah and Jewish Dream Mysticism: The Soul's Night JourneyBefore Freud, the rabbis said the riskiest thing in a dream was its interpreter — the Talmud, the Zohar's soul-journey, and Hayyim Vital's dream diary.Lucid Dreaming in the Western Occult TraditionFrom Synesius and Aristotle to Hervey de Saint-Denys and the Golden Dawn's "body of light" - the folklore, history and symbolism of the self-aware dream.Magic and Witchcraft in Christianity: The Quarrel Over PowerChristianity's quarrel with magic was never that it failed — but that it might work. Simon Magus, the demonic pact, and magic in Christian dreams.Magic and Witchcraft in Hinduism: The Spell and the SelfHinduism's oldest spellbook is scripture itself — the Atharvaveda's charms, the siddhis Patanjali warns against, maya, Tantra, and magic in dreams.Magic and Witchcraft in Islam (Sihr): The Limits of PowerIslam's deepest teaching on sihr: it is powerless 'except by God's permission' — Harut and Marut, Moses and the magicians, lawful ruqya, and sihr in dreams.Magic and Witchcraft in Judaism: Law, Golem and KabbalahJudaism banned magic most fiercely yet gave the world the Golem and practical Kabbalah — the Torah's bans, the Talmud, Maimonides, and magic in Jewish dreams.Scrying: Divination in Mirror, Water and CrystalThe folklore and history of scrying — gazing into mirror, water and crystal. From the Greek oracles and Nostradamus to John Dee's obsidian shewstone.Sigils & Seals: The Grammar of Magical SymbolsA folklore history of sigils and seals — from Solomon's ring and Agrippa's planetary squares to Spare's sleeping letters and the symbols of dreams.Tarot and the Dreaming MindThe real history of tarot — from a Renaissance card game to an occult dream-language — and why its 78 images surface so readily in the sleeping mind.The Evil Eye Across Cultures: Folklore, Symbolism and the Dreaming MindA deep, sourced history of the evil eye across cultures — its origins, symbolism, and what an envious gaze means when it surfaces in dreams. Folklore, not instructioThe Four Elements in Magic and DreamEarth, water, air and fire as the West has dreamed them: from Empedocles and the humours to alchemy, Kabbalah, the tarot and the dreaming mind.The Grimoire: A History of the Book of SpellsThe grimoire as folklore and history — from Solomon's legend and the medieval Clavicula to the Goetia, the Picatrix and the dream-book. Symbolism, not instruction.The Ouroboros: The Serpent That Eats Its TailThe Ouroboros, the serpent devouring its own tail, traced through Egypt, Greek alchemy, Norse myth, Gnosticism and Jung, and what it means in dreams.The Tree of Life: The Kabbalist Map of the SoulThe Kabbalist Tree of Life as folklore and history: the ten sefirot, the Zohar, Luria's shattered vessels, and what the diagram suggests about the soul and dreams.Witchcraft in World Folklore: The Healer and the MonsterHow the witch turned from village healer into the West's favourite monster — the night-flight, the trials, the Azande distinction, and witches in dreams.
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The full esoteric library, curated to your culture, with new lore each month.