Occult Paris

The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque

Inner Traditions 2016 Hb, 493pp, $29.95, illus, colour plates, notes, bib, ind, ISBN 9781620555453

Tobias Churton, a scholar of the Western Occult tradition, paints a vivid and detailed portrait of Paris during the Belle Époque (1871–1914), when it was the fertile medium for many cultural, artistic and esoteric movements that had considerable influence upon the greater world.

Here is all the background you could wish for about the prime characters – from Blavatsky and Levi, Érik Satie and the Peladians, to Papus and d’Aveydre; priests and painters; musicians and magicians; alchemists and artists; Gnostics, Theosophists and Masons; Surrealists and Decadents – their lives, works, interactions and scandals.

It is dense in detail, but the writing conveys the excitement of an author who savours every aspect of his topic. Reading this almost makes you want to reread Pauwels and Bergier’s Morning of the Magicians, this time with greater understanding.