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Modern exponent of ceremonial magic. Crowley was a product of the late- 19th-century magic revival which assumed that there was an invisible power, analogous to the “magnetic” power discussed by the mesmerists, that was the agent of magical operations. He later developed his own system of magical theory and practice, which he termed thelema (from…

A French psychologist often held responsible for the frequent misuse of intelligence measurements and to that extent a pseudoscientist, but that is unjust. Binet originally intended to become a lawyer, but switched to medicine. Put off by the horrors of the operating theater, he became a psychologist. By the end of the 19th century, he…

The supporter of politically radical causes atheism, the National Secular Society, birth control, the Fabian Society who later espoused mystical religious cults. In the 1890s Annie Besant came under the influence of Madame Blavatsky and in 1897 joined the Theosophical Society, in which she became a very active leader. She was elected president of the…

A small village in Wiltshire, southwest of England; the site of the Avebury Circle, the largest ancient stone circle in the world. The circle was built around 2000 B.C.E. at about the same time or perhaps a few years earlier than stonehenge, a smaller but better-preserved monument of a different type that is located 17…

Writing accomplished without the writer’s effort or consciousness, sometimes with the aid of an instrument such as a planchette. Often the writer is in a trance state; sometimes he or she has simply “emptied” his or her mind in order to be receptive to messages that allegedly come from the spirit world, with the writer…

Nonexistent archipelago of islands in the seas surrounding Antarctica, reported and charted by early explorers. According to several historians of exploration, 18th-century explorers discovered several islands to the southeast of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands were first sighted in 1762. In 1774, they were named the Aurora Islands after the…

Colorful but invisible fluctuating bio-magnetic or psychic energy fields said to emanate from and surround all living things. Auras are perceptible only to those with the gift of clairvoyance or with special equipment. Through their colors and intensity, the auras supposedly indicate the mental and physical state of the being emitting them. The colors range…

The theory that the universe consists of tiny, invisible particles that cannot be destroyed. In Classical Athens (461-429 B.C.E.), the idea of atomism was part of the great philosophical debate over the nature of the matter that makes up the universe. The followers of Pythagoras, a philosopher of the previous century, declared that the essence…

Speculation regarding the origins of Native Americans. As early as the 1590s, a Spanish Jesuit proposed an Asian origin for the Native American tribes. In the early 17th century, Englishman Edward Brerewood drew parallels between the Indians and the inhabitants of Northeast Asia. Other early writers speculated that the Native Americans were descended from the…

A small British psychical research organization founded specifically to develop a mechanical apparatus for communication with the spirits of the dead. It was named for the founders A. J. Ashdown, B. K. Kirby, and George Jobson, who were somewhat obsessed with scientifically proving survival of bodily death and made a pact that whoever passed away…