Occult Paris

The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque

Tobias Churton

$49.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Inner Traditions Bear and Company
03 November 2016

European history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Social & cultural history; Mysticism, magic & ritual

During Paris's Belle Epoque (1871-1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished - Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents - all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time.

Exploring the magical, artistic, and intellectual world of the Belle Epoque, Tobias Churton shows how a wide variety of Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Martinists, Freemasons, Gnostics, and neo-Cathars called fin-de-siecle Paris home. He examines the precise interplay of occultists Josephin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, and founder of the modern Gnostic Church Jules Doinel, along with lesser known figures such as Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Paul Sedir, Charles Barlet, Edmond Bailly, Albert Jounet, Abbe Lacuria, and Lady Caithness. He reveals how the work of many masters of modern culture such as composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, writers Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire, and painters Georges Seurat and Alphonse Osbert bear signs of immersion in the esoteric circles that were thriving in Paris at the time. The author demonstrates how the creative hermetic ferment that animated the City of Light in the decades leading up to World War I remains an enduring presence and powerful influence today. Where, he asks, would Aleister Crowley and all the magicians of today be without the Parisian source of so much creativity in this field?

Conveying the living energy of Paris in this richly artistic period of history, Churton brings into full perspective the characters, personalities, and forces that made Paris a global magnet and which allowed later cultural movements, such as the "psychedelic 60s," to rise from the ashes of post-war Europe.

By: Tobias Churton
Imprint: Inner Traditions Bear and Company
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 882g
ISBN: 9781620555453
ISBN 10: 162055545X
Pages: 528
Publication Date: 03 November 2016
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface Acknowledgments ONE Memories Weigh More than Stone : Edmond Bailly's Bookshop 1888 Victor-Emile Michelet at Bailly's Bookshop TWO The Build Up Politics and Power Decadence Recovering Lost Powers THREE Meetings with Remarkable Men St. Martin Fabre d'Olivet Eliphas Levi FOUR Theosophy and the Tradition Lady Caithness Saint-Yves d'Alveydre Agarttha FIVE Stanislas de Guaita Abbe Lacuria SIX The Sar The Peladans SEVEN The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross Vicomte Louis Charles Edouard de Lapasse and the Rose-Croix of Toulouse Peladan and the Templars De Guaita and Boullan The Order Paul Adam Barlet EIGHT Papus Paul Sedir and Marc Haven NINE Rosicrucial Differences The Order of the Catholic Rose-Croix, the Temple and the Graal TEN The Salon of the Century The Manifestation ELEVEN The Boullan Affair TWELVE Satie and Debussy: Moved by the Gnosis Gnossiennes--Erik's Gnostic Twist The Way Out The Esoteric Debussy The Magic in Music THIRTEEN The Gnostic Church Jules Doinel Leonce-Eugene Joseph Fabre des Essarts (1848-1917) Developments within the Gnostic Church--the Palladium Controversy FOURTEEN How to Become a Magus: The Rose-Croix Salons 1893-1897 The Salon of 1893 The Rose-Croix Salons of 1894 and 1895 FIFTEEN The Martinist Order SIXTEEN The Boys Move In Joanny Bricaud (1881-1934) Deodat Roche The Ancient & Primitive Rites of Memphis and Misraim Theodor Reuss, Ancient & Primitive, and the Universal Gnostic Church SEVENTEEN To the End with Papus EIGHTEEN The Legacy: A Forgotten Dream Extramural Synarchy Notes Bibliography

Tobias Churton is Britain's leading scholar of Western Esotericism, a world authority on Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Rosicrucianism. An Honorary Fellow of Exeter University, where he is a faculty lecturer, he holds a master's degree in Theology from Brasenose College, Oxford, and is the author of many books, including Gnostic Philosophy and Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin. He lives in England.

Reviews for Occult Paris: The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque

No one can evoke the feel of a place and an era like Tobias Churton! This is Paris in the Belle Epoque, but behind the city of the can-can, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the Moulin Rouge, Churton shows us a Paris of seekers in mysterious worlds--magic, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, alchemy--and of artists, writers, and composers who were also drawn to those realms. The spirit of their compelling quest is stamped on every page of this book. Christopher McIntosh, Ph.D., author of Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival ...a massive, focused exploration of the relatioship between the mystical and the creative...This entertaining volume will please fans of esoterica and the City of Light. Publishers Weekly With Tobias Churton as the cicerone--or dare I say psychopomp?--the reader is expertly guided in the labyrinthine world of the Occult Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871-1914). This is the best introduction to the French occult revival ever written in English. Henrik Bogdan, professor of religious studies at the University of Gothenburg Music, art, literature, mysticism--fin-de-siecle Paris had it all in great abundance, and in Tobias Churton's latest tome he uncovers the hidden and not-so-hidden connections between Satie, Debussy, Redon, Rops, Khnopff, Gauguin, Crowley, Levi, Papus, Mathers, Peladan, Michelet, Blavatsky, Reuss, Huysmans, Breton, and countless others... Eminently readable and filled with meticulous historical details, this is a fabulous depiction of one of the most exciting and fervent periods of creativity in modern times. John Zorn, composer-performer A tour de force. A stunning account of fin-de-siecle Occult Paris and its lasting influence on the counterculture... Churton gives comprehensive portrayals of such occult luminaries as Peladan, Papus, and de Guaita as well as a portrayal of their movements and a seminal analysis of esoteric art--in particular the 'Rosicrucian' art of the salons--locating its place in the intellectual, cultural, and political milieu of the Belle Epoque. Tobias is as erudite as he is excited and exciting. His scholarship is alive with passion, imagination, humor, and, most of all, humanity. A must-read for students of European history, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Idealism, Surrealism, and the Decadents as well as for neo-Rosicrucian, Templar and Gnostic esotericists, and modern-day alchemists and magicians. Stephen J. King (Shiva X ), Grand Master, Ordo Templi Orientis