Significant Occultists

In occultism, there are several people who have demonstrated skills beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or experience. In no specific order of importance, BWC will share some of these people whom we feel are true occultists.

Aleister Crowley

John Dee – Queen Elizabeth 1’s Sorcerer

Before common era and Common era

Middle Ages

  • Abraham Abulafia, kabalist “messiah”
  • Albertus Magnus, had many magical texts attributed to him
  • Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, associated with the goddess Áine
  • Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, shapeshifter skilled in the black arts
  • Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, alchemist thought to have magical powers
  • Jābir ibn Hayyān, Persian alchemist that influenced all Medieval alchemy
  • Joachim of Fiore, Christian esotericist who founder his own group called the Joachimites
  • John of Nottingham and Robert Marshall, accused of attempting to kill Edward II with magic
  • Merlin, Arthurian wizard
  • Morgan le Fay, witch sister of King Arthur
  • Nicolas Flamel, considered one of Europe’s greatest alchemists
  • Pietro d’Abano astrologer and purported author of the Heptameron
  • Ramon Llull, syncretic mystic
  • Roger Bacon, philosopher accused of magic
  • Michael Scot, Magician
  • Ímar Ua Donnubáin, Norse-Gaelic navigator and sorcerer

Renaissance

Seventeenth century

  • Isobel Gowdie, self-confessed witch
  • Margaret Matson, New Sweden (colony) witch
  • Sir Isaac Newton, renowned physicist and alchemist
  • “La Voisin”, French sorceress

Enlightenment

Nineteenth century

  • Evangeline Adams, astrologer to the famous
  • Francis Barrett, wrote a book on magic
  • Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier de Terre-Neuve du Thym, French demonologist
  • Algernon Blackwood, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
  • Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy
  • Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, author of several occult novels
  • Constant Chevillon, the head of FUDOFSI
  • Aleister Crowley, English occultist and ceremonial magician, founder of Thelema religion
  • Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes
  • Robert Felkin, medical missionary and explorer, member of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Stella Matutina, author on Africa and medicine
  • Henri Gamache, authority on the Evil Eye
  • A. Frank Glahn
  • Rudolf John Gorsleben
  • Stanislas de Guaita, occult author
  • John George Hohman, American wizard
  • Allan Kardec, founder of Spiritism
  • Giuliano Kremmerz alchemist and occult author
  • Marie Laveau, American New Orleans Voodoo practitioner
  • Marie Anne Lenormand, fortune-teller favoured by Joséphine de Beauharnais
  • Eliphas Lévi, French occult author and ceremonial magician[15]
  • Harvey Spencer Lewis, founder of AMORC
  • Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, Austrian occultist and pioneer of Ariosophy
  • Arthur Machen, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
  • Friedrich Bernhard Marby
  • Moina Mathers, first initiate in Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, wife of S.L. MacGregor Mathers, and Imperatrix of the Alpha et Omega
  • Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers, founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
  • Paul Foster Case, Founder of BOTA, Adept of the Western Mystery Tradition, Teacher, Occult author,
  • Paschal Beverly Randolph, American physician and sex magician
  • Pamela Colman Smith, Golden Dawn member, artist, designed the Waite-Smith tarot deck
  • Austin Osman Spare, author, painter, magicia
  • Arthur Edward Waite, occult author and member of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
  • William Wynn Westcott, cofounder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
  • Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian occultist and philosopher
  • Swami Vivekananda Indian mystic who supposedly possessed all occult powers known and also, was a chief disciple of Ramakrishna

Twentieth century