music and tales
When Helena Blavatsky died in 1891, she left a strong movement. Her last book, the massive 2 volume The Secret Doctrine contained an enormous amount of deep thinking, wild assertions, challenging revelations and talking points to last for years. Indeed, […]
With her massive, two volume book Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky not only discusses close to the entirety of Western Occultism and Spiritualism, but all out attacks the scientific materialism and religious orthodoxy of her day. Few Victorian views on these […]
“We assert that the divine spark in man being one and identical in its essence with the Universal Spirit, our “spiritual Self” is practically omniscient, but that it cannot manifest its knowledge owing to the impediments of matter. Now the […]
By the beginning of the 20th century Spiritualism was being attacked rabidly by skeptics. To Spiritualism’s credit, it claimed to be a scientific religion, not asking its followers to take anything on pure faith but offering direct experience of communication with the […]
By the end of the 1850s Spiritualism was in full swing and seances were all the rage. Prior to the Fox Sisters (see yesterday’s post) two other key people had set the stage for Spiritualism’s rapid rise. One was Emanuel […]
Probably the biggest new religious/occult movement to arise in the Victorian era was Spiritualism. Certainly several new offshoots of Christianity formed during this period, particularly in the US where due to The Second Great Awakening a number of new Christian […]
And thus we come to our finale post on one of the most interesting secret societies to grace the stage of Victorian England. For those who are curious what the heck a group like this DOES or why they do […]
By the late 1890s The Golden Dawn was the premiere occult society in England. Their membership included all classes of Victorian society and they had no qualms admitting women, which was a very big deal in those days. It offered […]
It’s a story as old as time: 3 strapping chaps find an old manuscript (in cipher) hidden in the shelves of an old bookstore which outlines rituals for a secret magical Rosicrucian society originating in Germany, and gives a contact address. They contact […]