The Occult Underground

by James Webb

THE DAWN OF THE NEW AGE
Just when it seemed that Science and Reason had scored their greatest triumphs, the mid-nineteenth century witnessed an astonishing rebirth of occultism and the beginnings of the movement we now call New Age. A secret tradition of knowledge rejected by the Christian or Scientific establishments suddenly became emboldened to seek publicity and converts.

Webb's painstaking researches carry him into the undergrowth inhabited by such illuminated personages as Madame Blavatsky, the Reverend Leadbeater, the Brotherhood of Luxor, Annie Besant, Krishnamurti, Swami Vivekananda, Spiritualists, Rosicrucians, Vegetarians, Mithraic cults, and all manner of occult propagandists.

Genres: Occult, History, Nonfiction, Religion, Esoterica, Magick

387 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1974

About the author

James Webb, from Perthshire, Scotland, was schooled at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a ghost-writer, television producer-trainee, and schoolmaster before turning fulltime to writing in 1969. He specializes in all aspects of the irrational, especially in Celtic areas. He is a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, and has contributed to Man, Myth and Magic, and The Encyclopaedia of the Unexplained.

Reviews

[Bill Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was just out of grad school a long time ago and it produced a tremendous, lasting influence on my interests. I revisited it looking for some context and history on the Theosophists and their place in history, which it provided abundantly. Webb's style is a little off-putting, academic but somewhat disorganized, mixing speculation (footnoted but still...) with history and I had some difficulty with the introduction. Once past that, however, I found it every bit as much a cabinet of wonders as I did decades ago.

This is a stunning history of "occult" thought and practice in the 19th Century, pursuing the thesis that times of intellectual and material stress -- Darwin, war, etc. -- produce a flight from reason and the embrace of other realities. Webb is always neutral on the question of the actuality of belief, sticking strictly to historical and material evidence and touching on occult or religious dogma only as matters of influence, which makes him a perfect chronicler from either a materialist or a Fortean viewpoint.

I am far more familiar now with much of the history touched on in this encyclopedic volume than I was in 1974, but Webb's perspective presents many surprises. For example, the chapter on the French Symbolists as occultists and the chapter on the occult movements that arose in Poland after its dissolution by the Congress of Vienna, produce the effect of viewing familiar history in a magic mirror, a truly unique perspective on the personalities and events of the period.

This is an essential book for anyone who wants an overview of the stranger beliefs of the 19th Century and an understanding of how they fed into the nationalist, reformist, and progressive movements that shaped the 20th Century. Webb's sequel, The Occult Establishment, carries that theme forward and is the next book on my reading list. Both volumes deserve new editions, preferably affordable electronic ones.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book mainly concentrates on various occult movements and figures in 19th century Europe. Blavatsky, Theosophy, Eliphas Levi, Gnosticism, the occult scene in Paris during that era, and apparently there were a lot of non Jews in Poland that got into the Cabbalah in the 19th century also. These are some of the main topics covered in this book although other things are covered. The author is very objective and academic so he doesn't muck it up by sticking his own biases into the mix. The drawback to that is, although there is lots of good info in Occult Underground, that it is a little bit on the dry side.