Four words, four literatures
The four words in our description overlap, but they are not synonyms, and knowing which you mean will sharpen every search.
- Pagan refers to polytheistic and nature-centered religions: the old religions of Europe and the Mediterranean, and the modern religions inspired by them. See Pagan literature.
- Occult, "hidden", refers to practical arts that work with forces not evident to the senses: magic, astrology, alchemy, divination. See Occult literature.
- Esoteric, "inner", refers to teachings meant for the prepared or initiated, and to a family of Western currents from Hermetism to Theosophy. See Esoteric literature.
- Mystical refers to the direct experience of the divine or of ultimate reality, and to the writings that describe or prepare for it. See Mystical literature.
A person can be a mystic without any interest in the occult, a Pagan with no esoteric teaching at all, and an astrologer who is none of the other three. The glossary defines these and many other terms.
Ask a better question
"I want to learn about alchemy" will get you a shelf. A narrower question will get you an answer. Try adding a time, a place, a person, or a kind of evidence:
- What did alchemists in fifteenth-century England say they were doing?
- Where did the tarot trumps get their present names and order?
- Which parts of the Wiccan liturgy can be traced to earlier printed books?
- How did a reader in 1650 get hold of the Hermetic writings in English?
Three kinds of source
Historians divide sources into primary and secondary. In our fields it helps to recognize a third kind.
- Primary sources are the texts themselves: a grimoire, a hymn, a treatise, a trial record, a coven newsletter.
- Scholarly literature studies those texts from outside, cites its evidence, and can be checked.
- Practitioner literature is written from inside a tradition to teach or inspire. It is a primary source for the period in which it was written, whatever it says about earlier ones. A handbook of 1975 that describes "ancient Celtic rites" is evidence for 1975.
None of the three is better than the others. They answer different questions, and trouble begins only when one is mistaken for another.
Subject headings to search under
Most English-language library catalogs use a shared vocabulary of subject headings. These are the ones that open our fields. Search them as subjects, not as keywords.
- Occultism, Magic, Witchcraft, Demonology, Grimoires
- Alchemy, Astrology, Divination, Tarot, Geomancy, Oracles
- Hermetism, Gnosticism, Cabala, Rosicrucians, Theosophy, Neoplatonism
- Mysticism, Contemplation, Sufism, Spiritual life
- Paganism, Neopaganism, Wicca, Druids and druidism, Goddess religion, Mythology, Folklore
- Spiritualism, Parapsychology, Superstition, Curiosities and wonders
Headings can be narrowed by subdivisions. The most useful are History, Early works to 1800, Sources, Bibliography, Dictionaries, and Controversial literature, which is where catalogs file works written against a subject. Note that catalogs usually spell the Jewish mystical tradition Cabala whatever the title page says.
Five questions to ask of any book
- Who wrote it, and under what name? Much of this literature is pseudonymous. Solomon did not write the Key of Solomon, and that fact is the beginning of its history, not the end of its interest.
- When was it written, and how do we know? Prefer a date supported by manuscripts or printing records to a date claimed on the title page.
- What is it based on? A good edition says which manuscripts or printings it follows. A poor one is silent.
- Who translated or edited it, from what, and when? Many inexpensive editions reprint Victorian translations without saying so. See Choosing a Translation.
- What does it want from its reader? Belief, practice, purchase, argument, or understanding. Knowing the genre tells you how to weigh the claims.
Names, dates, and spellings
We give dates as BCE and CE. "About" or "c." marks an approximate date. "Attributed to" means that tradition assigns a work to an author who probably did not write it, and the prefix "pseudo-" means the same.
Names change as they cross languages, and catalogs do not always link the forms. A few pairs worth knowing:
| Original or modern form | Older Latin or English form |
|---|---|
| Jabir ibn Hayyan | Geber |
| Abu Bakr al-Razi | Rhazes |
| Abu Ma'shar | Albumasar |
| al-Qabisi | Alcabitius |
| Ghayat al-Hakim | Picatrix |
| Clavicula Salomonis | The Key of Solomon |
| Kabbalah | Cabala, Cabbala, Qabalah |
| Yijing | I Ching |
| Daodejing | Tao Te Ching |
Keeping notes
For every book you consult, write down the title, the author or attribution, the translator and editor, the year of the edition in your hand, and the page. Older works are reprinted under new titles so often that without the translator's name and the original date you may not be able to find your own source again.
Next steps
- Browse the subject tree for your topic.
- Read the research guide nearest to it.
- Place your texts in time with the chronology.
- Bring the question to the reading room.