Customer Reviews

An Encyclopedia of Occultism: More Than 2500 Entries and Articles- This Classic Volume is the Most Famous Compendium of Information on the Occult ... Spiritism, Mysticism and Metaphysics

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Apparently published in 1920 or thereabouts, this very large volume contains a wealth of material. Lewis Spence was a prolific author and many of his books on Atlantis and various mythological traditions can still be obtained quite cheaply. Spnce was a contemporary of Crowley and th Golden Dawn and so this book contains no information on them. It is also hampered by Spence's limited knowledge and understanding of foreign cultures and their history. Spence was a product of his time, and so are his boks.

Nevertheless I keep finding myself coming back to this book. It has many excelent biographies of prominent occultists such as Cagliostro and Paracelsus, some running to 3 or 4 pages. Some major subjects, such as Astrology and Alchemy are also covered in lengthy sections. There are also many illustrations of varying quality. Also sometimes reprinted as "The Encyclopedia of the Occult", there are many very affordable editions available.

Definitely recommended.

Despite it's relative blandness (no illustrations and a boring font) This book is an interesting read (though some entries were not there i.e.: Glasya, troglodye, etc- but- you can't have it all).

Page after page you learn something new about your garden variety supaernatural occurences and characters and much more.

This volume has the advantage of not being corrupted by the mass media perception of the occult.

Definitely a book that I would not put down for a while.

THIS BOOK HAS INFO NOT FOUND IN OTHER OCCULT REFERENCE BOOKS. GOOD SOLID BOOK .

I cannot find the word "egregore"... and hence I doubt the book is good enough to be called an encyclopedia of occultism. Anyone who knows occultism well will find terms here and there missing in this so-called most complete encyclopedia.

I expect it to be comprehensive. After all, the title includes the word "Encyclopedia". Those that are knowledgeable in the occult will find this book incomplete.

I don't think it is worth even to call it a "dictionary".