I find the occult very intriguing because it was something they thoroughly believed in during the 18th century. Is there anyone who could recommend some occult literature from that time (or older) or if there've been some expert that has written about the subject in earnest? Thanks.
Do you mean fiction about the occult, or actual guides to magic (then again, it's all fiction when you break it down)? If it's the latter, there's no shortage, and you can find information on them all over the internet. What part of the occult are you interested in learning about, as it covers a wide range of topics (demon summoning, wicca, witchcraft, kabbalah, divination, and way more than I can mention)?
I'm not sure what I want; all I know is that there are a ton of occult stuff published in the 18th century and I don't know where to begin. I suppose rituals could be interesting, or alchemy, because people genuinely believed this stuff as it provided an explanation to questions raised by science that it in turn hadn't been able to give answers to.
I suppose a good place to start would be researching actual occultists, and reading their work. People like Aleister Crowley, John Dee, and countless others (really there's too many of these people to count). You can find a whole list of these people on Wikipedia. That, or you could just research a topic (alchemy for instance) and see what people thought of it, and how it was practiced. Hope this helps.
John Dee was involved in the craziest shit. The wife swap. Maybe turning led into gold. Spying. Truly wild.
I know Carl Jung published works like "Psychology and Alchemy" and "Alchemical Studies", but I have absolutely no idea if that relates to the occult. Otherwise, yeah, check out Aleister Crowley and John Dee.
The Magician, by Somerset Maugham. The titular character was based on Aleister Crowley, with whom I believe Maugham was acquainted.
Rudolf Steiner is particularly interesting though in my view massively flawed. Look into the theosophists, Gnosticism, hermetic order of the golden dawn, obeah, kabbalah, etc. It's endless.
As far as I am concerned, Jung is the real deal and his work reflects truth, in my view. Agreed not sure if his work could be classified as occult or not.
These are the works I've chosen to delve into the Occult: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35430013-a-thousand-beginnings-and-endings https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31923.Three_Books_of_Occult_Philosophy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/766938.The_Magus https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145562.Cunningham_s_Encyclopedia_of_Magical_Herbs https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302614.Transcendental_Magic
I thought you were looking for stuff written in the 18th C. That would be far harder to come by and probably cost you a pretty penny.
Not too well. Got about a dozen books floating around, but they mainly cover early periods than what you are looking for. Does it help that I have a Witches Bible?
