This edition had all images removed.
LoC No.: 21004489
Title: Occultists & mystics of all ages
Alternate Title: Occultists and mystics of all ages
Original Publication: London: William Rider & Son, 1920.
Contents: Apollonius of Tyana -- Plotinus -- Michael Scott -- Paracelsus -- Emanuel Swedenborg -- Count Cagliostro -- Anna Kingsford.
Credits: Mairi, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
Summary: "Occultists & mystics of all ages" by Ralph Shirley is a collection of biographical essays written in the early 20th century. It examines the lives, legends, and philosophies of notable figures associated with occultism and mysticism, weighing primary sources against later myth and religious polemic to distinguish history from fable. The volume ranges from Apollonius of Tyana and Plotinus to Michael Scot, Paracelsus, Emanuel Swedenborg, Count Cagliostro, and Anna Kingsford. The opening of this volume lists its seven subjects and then launches into extended portraits. First comes Apollonius of Tyana, where the author sifts Philostratus and Damis against Christian polemics (Hierocles versus Eusebius), recounting emblematic episodes—reviving a Roman bride, foreknowing imperial events, and advising emperors—while stressing his Pythagorean asceticism, travels (including India), and teaching on reincarnation. Next, Plotinus is set in the Alexandrian milieu, his life (Ammonius Saccas, Rome, Porphyry’s editing) sketched before a clear outline of Neoplatonism: the One, Intellect, and Soul; matter as privation; the universe as a living, sympathetic organism; mystical union; and the perennial puzzles of evil, time, and creation. The section on Michael Scot intertwines border-ballad legend (Melrose Abbey’s “Book of Might”) with history—his Toledo translations of Arab science, colorful alchemical and hypnotic feats, service to Frederick II, medical reforms, frustrated church preferment, and death lore—and the next chapter opens by framing Paracelsus as a defiant reformer against entrenched orthodoxy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Author: Shirley, Ralph, 1865-1946
EBook No.: 77108
Published: Oct 22, 2025
Downloads: 330
Language: English
Subject: Mysticism
LoCC: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis
Category: Text
Rights: Public domain in the USA.
This edition has images.
LoC No.: 21004489
Title: Occultists & mystics of all ages
Alternate Title: Occultists and mystics of all ages
Original Publication: London: William Rider & Son, 1920.
Contents: Apollonius of Tyana -- Plotinus -- Michael Scott -- Paracelsus -- Emanuel Swedenborg -- Count Cagliostro -- Anna Kingsford.
Credits: Mairi, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
Summary: "Occultists & mystics of all ages" by Ralph Shirley is a collection of biographical essays written in the early 20th century. It examines the lives, legends, and philosophies of notable figures associated with occultism and mysticism, weighing primary sources against later myth and religious polemic to distinguish history from fable. The volume ranges from Apollonius of Tyana and Plotinus to Michael Scot, Paracelsus, Emanuel Swedenborg, Count Cagliostro, and Anna Kingsford. The opening of this volume lists its seven subjects and then launches into extended portraits. First comes Apollonius of Tyana, where the author sifts Philostratus and Damis against Christian polemics (Hierocles versus Eusebius), recounting emblematic episodes—reviving a Roman bride, foreknowing imperial events, and advising emperors—while stressing his Pythagorean asceticism, travels (including India), and teaching on reincarnation. Next, Plotinus is set in the Alexandrian milieu, his life (Ammonius Saccas, Rome, Porphyry’s editing) sketched before a clear outline of Neoplatonism: the One, Intellect, and Soul; matter as privation; the universe as a living, sympathetic organism; mystical union; and the perennial puzzles of evil, time, and creation. The section on Michael Scot intertwines border-ballad legend (Melrose Abbey’s “Book of Might”) with history—his Toledo translations of Arab science, colorful alchemical and hypnotic feats, service to Frederick II, medical reforms, frustrated church preferment, and death lore—and the next chapter opens by framing Paracelsus as a defiant reformer against entrenched orthodoxy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Author: Shirley, Ralph, 1865-1946
EBook No.: 77108
Published: Oct 22, 2025
Downloads: 330
Language: English
Subject: Mysticism
LoCC: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis
Category: Text
Rights: Public domain in the USA.