In the 4th century BC, a Greek citizen of Antioch commissioned a tablet invoking a god "who hurled thunder and lightning" to "strike and bind Babylas the greengrocer." Some 1,400 years later, a Saxon incantation was recited to protect a cursed land. In the 17th century, the journalist Samuel Pepys cured his stomach ailment by buying a hare's foot. In the 19th century, Marie Laveau became known in New Orleans for her practices as a Voodoo priestess, and at the end of that century, Aleister Crowley created a magical system called Thelema, which, along with Wicca, the "religion" of witches, conceived by Gerald Gardner in the mid-20th century, continues to exert a great influence on current occult practices.

These are some of the many examples that appear in this book, which presents a complete overview of Western occult practices—from divination, rituals, the use of spells and amulets to issues of witchcraft, druidism and demonology, as well as the birth of secret societies—and, together with extracts from historical and magical texts, as well as a wide repertoire of images, contextualizes this magnificent introduction to understanding "the occult."