[Occult America The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation] EBOOK READ
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Occult America The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation Read & Download ✓ 104 It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass Franklin Roosevelt and Mary Todd Lincoln who once convinced her husband Abe to host a séance in the White House Americans all they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early US history this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still young nation and through it much of the Western worldYet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold Now a leading writer on the subject of alternati. Having studied esoteric and occult culture for well over half my life this book doesn t contain anything that I hadn t already read about However the author s treatment of his subject matter is a refreshing change from either the condescending manner of skeptical writers or the credulous tone of New Age proselytizers While the book itself is a slim volume its pages are full of characters and their exploits woven together uite skillfully into a concise history of the main esoteric belief systems and trends from the earliest days of America down to the Auarian revolution of the late 60 s and 70 s As this is the author s first book I m willing to overlook its brevity and somewhat superficial treatment of the individual subjects contained therein Hopefully Occult America will be a basic introduction in a series of works that explores American esoteric practices with depth The author s top notch research along with his sensitivity passion and respect for the subject makes this a fantastic stepping off point and leaves me wanting
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Occult America The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation Read & Download ✓ 104 The black nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey•The Idaho druggist whose mail order mystical religion ranked as the eighth largest faith in the world during the Great Depression Here too are America’s homegrown religious movements from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today A feast for believers in alternative spirituality an eye opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history Occult America is an engaging long overdue portrait of one nation under many gods whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the glob. This is a fascinating book that describes the history of the spiritualist movements in America Too many details to recount here but here s a few choice tidbits that I enjoyed hearing about1 Spiritualism was associated with the womens suffrage movement in the early 20th century Most of the mediums were women Apparently the same kind of crazy idea that suggested women should vote were then able to conceive of a spirit world2 The eye over the pyramid on the one dollar bill was proposed by Henry Wallace FDR s first vice president Of course both he and FDR were Masons and the imagery is a Masonic representation of The Great Architect of the Universe3 In the thirties many of the occult organizations in America were racist and fascist some openly supported Hitler FDR through J Edgar Hoover raided the Silver Shirts in 1942 and the leader of that organization William Dudley Pelley was sentenced to 15 years for seditionMy conclusion The notion that this is a Christian nation is uestionable We certainly are Christian ish but the roots of spiritualism which is expressly forbidden by the Bible run deep
Read & Download ì PDF, DOC, TXT or eBook à Mitch Horowitz
Occult America The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation Read & Download ✓ 104 Ve spirituality brings it out of the shadows Here is a rich fascinating and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history From the meaning of the symbols on the one dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes including•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776 •The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith •The rural Sunday school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age •The prominence of mind power mysticism in. I found Occult America to be an absolutely engaging historical account of the spiritual leaders and movements that helped pave the way for Mysticism in the world today Many people were brought to my attention that I had never before heard of but have played such a pivotal role in the spiritual movements such as Johannes Kelpius Ann Lee and Jemima Wilkinson to name just a fewOccult America also discusses well known historical figures such as Mary Todd Lincoln Abraham Lincoln s wife and her fascination with the occult and occult practices often getting her husband involved in White House seances Lincoln was well known for her involvement in Occult matters especially after the assassination of her husband the President Another interesting celebrity involved in the occult so I have found through Occult America is Sylvia Plath who used the Ouija board along with her husband Ted Hughes This is to believed to have been the inspiration for her poem Ouija It is eerily said that the Ouija predicted fame for Plath which would cost her both her life with her husband and her own life It is a little spooky if you ask meHorowitz s brief history of the Ouija that both thrilled and terrified me The account taken from an excerpt in the 2001 International Journal of Parapsychology of an 18 year old s experiences with the Ouija is enough to give you nightmares for a day or twoAlthough Occult America is brief in the subjects it does introduce the reader to and that is my only true complaint Horowitz did a wonderful job of introducing subject matters not before heavily discussed However because of this I really felt as if this was almost of an introductory book about the history of the occult rather than any sort of true detailed literature Because Occult America freuently jumped from subject to subject it did have the potential to cause headaches in some readers who really wish to get involved in one topic at a time before transitioning to the next Because of Horowitz obvious amount of time spent in research I hope that this is only a sign of to come from Horowitz and am hoping he ll continue to delve deeper into detailed historical accounts in future books so readers can gain a better understanding of each subject matterAs there were so many peopled discussed I felt that there were many sections in Occult America that could truly be its own standalone book I feel it is important that Horowitz takes the introductory information presented in Occult America and use that information as a skeleton for his next books adding a little bit meat to the bones so that the reader may truly gain an in depth understanding of the history of Mysticism