Reddit reviews Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation
We found 9 Reddit comments about Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
My Notes on Western Esotericism
Even though my wife isn't saying anything I know she is unnerved by some of the books I am reading that have the worlds "Occult" on the front with pentagrams and all seeing eyes. We were at a book store and I brought her a book on the symbology of the Tarot and she looked at me like I was going to bring an evil spirit home with us. I do not know why this stuff fascinated me when most of the major religions have just as fantastic and mystic properties as some of the fringe beliefs. From what I am understanding a lot of what is listed below was proto-christianity, first drafts of major religions, or just splinter groups from major beliefs. It is just fascinating to me that we can think of one belief system as true, others as not true but understandable, and others as fucking crazy. What seems to separate the things below is the belief of secret knowledge as well as the use of symbols.
So here I am still making my way through a range of topics that seem to fit unsorted in a drain basin at the bottom of religion, science, philosophy, mythology, and straight up conspiracy theory. If /u/raoulduke25 or /u/padsboltssaints15 has anything to add or correct me in my understanding with some of these topics, I would be happy to listen and talk with a cup of coffee in some shed int he woods.
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What I think I know -- and I am sure I am wrong about most things.
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The Occult - An umbrella term for esoteric philosophy with a shared belief of secret and hidden knowledge. Includes things ranging from Magic, Alchemy, Spiritualism, Mysticism, Divination, and any other philosophy that has a secretive or hidden truth for believers.
Gnosticism - A proto / splinter Christian philosophy where by the world was created by a false god and existence is a horrid simulacrum of the true way of thinking. Christ was given to the world as sort of a treasure map for followers to eventually realize the truth and escape the false existence.
Alchemy A mixture of proto-science / philosophy / mysticism which was one of the front runners for technological development in an age where that thing wasn't really supported. Involved the transmutation of elements but also involved the transmutation of the soul from lesser states to pure states. Now is used as a placeholder for mystic sciences and making health potions.
Kabbalah - ???? / Jewish mysticism?
Hermeticism - ???? / I should really figure this one out since this name appears over everything I read.
Freemasonry - an ancient order of thinkers / builders that used mysticism and intrigue to spread their prestige thought but is now just a fraternity of people who love the idea of being apart of a secret order that probably does nothing more than eat dinner once a month.
The Illuminati - See Freemasonry above but even less of an organization. Now more a meme than anything substantial.
Rosicrucianism - ????? / Mystic Christianity with some weird looking cross that would probably give my father a heart attack if he saw I was reading about it.
Magic - ???? I have seen it referenced and people been referenced as magicians but I do not know what this means. From what I understand it could mean a leader of an esoteric philosophy or practitioner of ritual magic.
Divination - The practice of making predictions about the future using material objects. Tarot, augury, scrying all fit into here. I listened to a conspiracy podcast (don't ask) and an idea was raised about how companies use big data from your browsing history as a form of divination to commercial habits.
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Books I am reading or have read:
Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll - Interesting book on the occults influence on 20th century rock music. Not to terribly in depth for anyone who knows some of the more famous stories of Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger, and David Bowie.
Occult America - A really cool and also focused view on mysticism in the foundations of American history. Western esoterisimc is huge with the Dark Ages, rEnaissance, Enlightenment but this books starts in the 1700's and works its way slowly though the centuries examining the foundations of spiritualism, Mormonism, The Shakers, and all manner of christian sects that mixed with esoteric philosophy.
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EDIT: I think it is hilarious to mention that it was heavy metal's use of occult images that led me to investigate the meaning behind them. I guess my youth group pastor was right.
Sounds like you might want to check out this book. I can't vouch for its accuracy but it sounds like exactly what you're looking for, and you can further research how accurate it is. The guy who wrote it is not some random crackpot; he's editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin, the metaphysical division of Penguin Books, so that's a good sign.
https://www.amazon.com/Occult-America-Seances-Circles-History/dp/0553385151
And here's an article about it, by him:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitch-horowitz/the-occult-in-american-history_b_774765.html
Also, read up on Spiritualism. It started in America about a decade before the Civil War.
> …the occult concept of the egregore. That's one example.
You might like a book I'm reading. Check out Occult America. It details an absolute "wall of weird" that occurred in the US in the 19th century in the "Burned-over district" of New York state. It's a crazy read.
The book list just keeps growing in so many different directions that it's hard to identify which I want to tackle next (I also have a tendency to take meticulous notes while I read and that slows the process down even further!). Some of the topics I intend to read about once I'm done with the books mentioned:
Plus a bunch of books by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Carl Sagan, and others. There are way too many. And all the fiction books I want to read too! It's not that I didn't read books before, but my faith transition has sparked an intense desire to study and learn far greater than I ever experienced before.
I've been reading these new writings by JK Rowling and the excitement over the new Magical Beasts movie made me remember a book I read a few years back.
There is a book called Occult America (http://www.amazon.com/Occult-America-Seances-Circles-History/dp/0553385151)
It talks about the lesser known occult origins of the United States and all the strange magical religions that come over from the old country and/or sprang up in the early history of the USA. It's fascinating that the majority of the things that book talks about have roots in upstate NY which is close to where it seems Ilvermorny is on the map. Interestingly enough, in another magical fiction, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, the magical school called Brakebills is in upstate New York, and in real life, in almost the same place is the real life magic wizard school called Omega Institute (eomega.org). I lived at the Omega Institute for a year and have gone back as a teacher several times, teaching psychic meditation, energy healing, and other magical things including once, a Harry Potter guided meditation! It's the real deal for staff and when you work there, people regularly refer to it as the "real life hogwarts"
Anyway, I love the magical world of Harry Potter, but it's really cool when it overlaps the real life world of real witches and wizards and upstate NY is a HOTBED of magical history!
After I finished reading the fourth new story on Pottermore, I was reminded me a lot of some more real life wizardry that I learned about this past summer.
During World War 1, there was this semi secret thing going on called The Magical Battle of Britain, where Dion Fortune (famous occultist of the early 1900's England) was living at the bottom of the Glastonbury Tor (famous magical power spot) and doing regular rituals and meditations with a local group and correspondences all over the world to try and use magic to help win the war. I met a guy who is writing a book on it.
Check out the photo for this event about the book. Archangel Michael using the power of the holy grail and the Tor in the background to fight Nazi SS "Knights" ! : https://www.facebook.com/events/220966324915854/
Also there is a book about this that Dion Fortune wrote back in the day
For more interesting real life info check this link: http://godsandradicals.org/2015/07/27/the-magical-battle-of-britain/
Seems like JK Rowling's newest article "1920's Wizarding America" is somewhat based on true events! :0
Everything covered in Mitch Horowitz's "Occult America"
That was almost as good as the Ramsey Dukes.
Unlike the Ramsey Dukes this one added to my ToReadPile:
Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation;
Upstate Cauldron: Eccentric Spiritual Movements in Early New York State.
Practical tidbit: if you have a kindle, you can promote books to your friends with no risk of adding to your store of lent and then lost books. I had never thought about that before but I really like this idea.
The idea that more resources for paranormal research would be beneficial is almost totally debunked by Michael Polanyi Personal Knowledge. Polanyi does not explicitly state that the secrets protect themselves, but they do.
One of these days Gordon is going to ask somebody if they were a weird kid and his guest is going to say their father was an abusive monster and their childhood and youth are too painful for podcast discussion material.
You may dig Occult America, though the author doesn't really explore deeply into any one subject. More of a surface-level overview, but it gives you a sense of what's evolved in esoteric and occult study/practices over the last 200+ years (though he doesn't get into secret societies).
I've been playing around the with idea of doing a project (series of articles, book, whatever) about the influence of occult groups and Alternative Religious Movements on contemporary right-wing politics, inspired by both Dark Money and Occult America. Mitch Horowitz's book is great, but I feel like it tapers off after the 60's and focuses heavy on East coast history. There are a ton of interesting, obscure tangents and threads of inquiry between the two coasts that are often ignored, and the effect some groups have had on right-wing politics is a story worth telling.
As an example, Charles Koch funded an organization in Colorado Springs during the 60's/70's called the Freedom School, which was ran by self-described "autarchist" Robert LeFevre. Lefevre was heavily involved with the I AM Activity movement in Chicago, a Theosophy-inspired group that derived their teachings from Ascended Masters. Around the same time in Colorado Springs, another theosophy derivative called the Summit Lighthouse was also running pretty hot and heavy. They would eventually change their name to the Church Universal & Triumphant and become a relatively spooky doomsday cult in Montana that became embroiled in an illegal gun purchasing scandal in the 80's.