The Western Esoteric Traditions offers a concise history of a distinct form of philosophical spirituality extending from Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up until the present. New paradigms in medicine and science attest to the continuity of esoteric ideas into the twenty-first century.

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is Professor of Western Esotericism at the University of Exeter, and Director of its Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO).

• 1: Ancient Hellenistic Sources of Western Esotericism


• 2: Italian Renaissance Magic and Kabbalah


• 3: Planetary and Angel Magic in the Renaissance


• 4: Alchemy, Paracelsus and German Naturphilosophie


• 5: Jacob Boehme and Theosophy


• 6: Rosicrucianism


• 7: High-Grade Freemasonry and Illuminism in the 18th Century


• 8: Emanuel Swedenborg


• 9: Mesmerism and Spiritualism


• 10: Ritual Magic from 1850 to the Present


• 11: Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society


• 12: Modern Esotericism and New Paradigms