List of occultists

Updated on Dec 14, 2023

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Notable people, whether contemporary, historical or legendary, who are or were involved in any of the following practices and traditions:

occult science

paranormal magic, "black" or "white"

witchcraft

sorcery

wizardry

astrology

alchemy

practical mysticism

West African Vodun, Haitian Vodou, or Louisiana Voodoo

divination and fortune-telling

theurgy.

For a list of sleight of hand artists and practitioners of stage magic, see: List of magicians.

Classical mythology

Cassandra, oracle

Circe, legendary sorceress

Hecate, goddess of witchcraft

Medea, often identified with Angitia, she had fled to Italy in her dragon chariot

Melampus, soothsayer and magician

Semiramis, semi-legendary queen and sorceress.

Vegoia, legendary inventor of Etruscan divination

Ancient world

Abaris the Hyperborean, a legendary sage, healer, and priest of Apollo

Alexander of Abonoteichus, founder of Glycon-worship and oracle

Apollonius of Tyana, wizard

Apuleius, author of a magical novel

Apsethus the Libyan, magician who attempted to prove he was divine

Atomus, Magus who worked for Antonius Felix at Caesarea

Elymas, Jewish Magus who opposed Paul on Cyprus

Gyges of Lydia, king said to possess magical artifacts

Heraclitus, philosopher important in occultism

Hermes Trismegistus/Thoth

Iamblichus, neo-platonist philosopher, espoused theurgy

Iannes and Mambres, magicians at Pharaoh's court mentioned in the New Testament

Julian, practiced occult theurgy

Mary the Jewess, 4th century alchemist

Plato, philosopher

Plotinus, neo-platonist philosopher important in occultism

Pythagoras, Greek mathematician, numerologist, philosopher important in occultism

Ptolemy, astrologer

Simon Magus, magician mentioned in New Testament

Solomon, reputed inventor of the Seal of Solomon and supposed author of the Testament of Solomon, Key of Solomon, Magical Treatise of Solomon, Lesser Key of Solomon

Virgil, subjected to magical legends

Vyasa, author and character of Mahabharat

The Witch of Endor, witch and spirit medium of King Saul in the Old Testament

Zhang Jiao, leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion

Zhuge Liang, advisor to Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period

Zoroaster, founder of the order of the Magi

Zosimos of Panopolis, Egyptian alchemist and gnostic mystic

Medieval Europe

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

Gilles de Rais, serial killer accused of sorcery

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

Abramelin the Mage, Egyptian sage

Ali Puli, anonymous author of seventeenth-century alchemical and hermetic texts

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, occult philosopher, astrologer

Roger Bolingbroke, astrologer and alleged necromancer

Olaus Borrichius, Danish alchemist

Thomas Browne, hermetic philosopher

Giordano Bruno, occult philosopher

Benevenuto Cellini, sculptor whose diary relates experience summoning spirits

Christina of Sweden, abdicated Queen who dabbled in alchemy

Arthur Dee, hermetic author, and son of John Dee

John Dee, occult philosopher, mathematician, alchemist, Queen Elizabeth's advisor

Gerhard Dorn, Belgian follower of Paracelsus

Faust, made a pact with the Devil, also see Doctor Faustus

Marsilio Ficino, astrologer and translator of the "Corpus Hermeticum"

Robert Fludd, occult philosopher and astrologer

Edward Kelley, spirit medium and alchemist who worked with John Dee, founder of Enochian magic

Athanasius Kircher, Jesuit priest, wrote on magical subjects

John Lambe, astrologer to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Nostradamus, one of the world's most famous prophets

Paracelsus, medical pioneer and occult philosopher

Henry Percy, "Wizard Earl"

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, humanist and Neoplatonist

Sir Walter Raleigh, practiced alchemy

Johannes Reuchlin, German cabalist magician, summoned angels

Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, patron of alchemists

Ursula Southeil

Johannes Trithemius, cryptographer and magical writer

Johann Weyer (aka Johannes Wierus), German physician, occultist and demonologist

Seventeenth century

Isobel Gowdie, self-confessed witch

Margaret Matson, New Sweden (colony) witch

Françoise Athenaïs Rochechouart, marquise de Montespan, royal mistress

Sir Isaac Newton, renowned physicist and alchemist

"La Voisin", French sorceress

Enlightenment

Ulrica Arfvidsson, politically influential Swedish fortune-teller.

Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist

Antoine Court de Gebelin, connected tarot and esotericism

Etteilla, fortune-teller

Marquis de Sade, the 18th aristocrat,writer and libertine.

Jacques Collin de Plancy, French occultist, demonologist and writer

Count of St. Germain, alchemist and occultist

Höffern, German-Swedish fortune teller

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, founder of Martinism, writer known as the Unknown Philosopher

Emanuel Swedenborg, alchemist, founder of Swedenborgianism

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

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

William Lyon MacKenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada

Siegfried Adolf Kummer

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

Harvey Spencer Lewis, founder of AMORC

Ralph Maxwell Lewis, Imperator of AMORC

Guido von List

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

Evan Morgan, poet and aristocrat Lord Tredegar

Papus, pseudonym for Gérard Encausse, occult author

Paul Foster Case, Founder of BOTA, Adept of the Western Mystery Tradition, Teacher, Occult author,

Paschal Beverly Randolph, American physician and sex magician

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic and healer

Carl Reichenbach

Theodor Reuss

Arthur Rimbaud, visionary poet, adventurer

Pamela Colman Smith, Golden Dawn member, artist, designed the Waite-Smith tarot deck

Austin Osman Spare, author, painter, magician

Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, author of books on Esoteric Nazism

Ludwig Straniak

August Strindberg, dramatist, alchemist

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

Karl Maria Wiligut, Austrian occultist and SS-Brigadeführer

Hellmut Wolff

William Butler Yeats, poet, Golden Dawn member, astrologer

Twentieth century

Margot Adler, witch and NPR reporter

Antero Alli, author, artist, teacher

Kenneth Anger, disciple of Crowley.

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, occultist, occult author, teacher

Franz Bardon, occult author, magician

Michael Bertiaux, author of the Voudon Gnostic Workbook, occult artist

Mort Garson, esoteric electronic music composer.

Brother XII, mystic and founder of Canadian cult

Ray Buckland, author, teacher

William S. Burroughs, author, Beat writer.

W. E. Butler, esoteric author

Laurie Cabot, witch, high priestess, author

Christopher Penczak, author

D. J. Conway, author

Marjorie Cameron, Scarlet Woman of Jack Parsons' rituals, artist, actress

Peter J. Carroll, occultist, author, founder of Chaos magic

Carlos Castaneda, sorcerer, writer, anthropologist

Jean Chevalier, occult author, philosopher, theologian

Jinx Dawson, ceremonial magician, artist, founder of rock band Coven (band), recording artist

Samson De Brier

Maya Deren, filmmaker and Haitian Vodou priestess

Ramsey Dukes, occult author

Gerina Dunwich, witch and occult author

Lon Milo DuQuette

Julius Evola

Dion Fortune, considered one of Great Britain's most famous occultists

Fulcanelli, French alchemist and esoteric author

Gerald Gardner, author and founder of the religion of Wicca

H. R. Giger, artist, designer, member of the O.T.O.

Kenneth Grant, occultist, author, pupil of Crowley

Eugen Grosche (known as Gregor A. Gregorius), German occultist, author, founder of the lodge Fraternitas Saturni

Manly Palmer Hall, occult author, teacher

Frieda Harris, occultist, artist

Max Heindel, author

Heinrich Himmler, Nazi Reichsführer SS

Phil Hine, occult author

Murry Hope, occult author

Christopher Hyatt, author, teacher, publisher

Alejandro Jodorowsky, filmmaker, comic book writer, autor and teacher on 'Psychemagia'.

Gareth Knight, occult author

Kurt E. Koch

Dora van Gelder Kunz, occult author

Roger de Lafforest, occult author

Anton LaVey, occult author, founder of the Church of Satan

Timothy Leary, psychologist, member of the Illuminates of Thanateros

Sybil Leek, witch and occult author

Martinus, Danish occultist

Alan Moore, magician and comic creator

Grant Morrison, comic writer and magician

Erwin Neutzsky-Wulff, occultist, science fiction writer

Tommaso Palamidessi, Christian Occultist, founder of the Archeosophical Society

Jim Morrison, musician, occultist, member of rock band The Doors

Jimmy Page, musician, occultist, member of rock band Led Zeppelin

Jack Parsons, occultist, author, and rocket scientist

Genesis P-Orridge, of Psychic TV video group and TOPY chaos magician

Israel Regardie, occult author, magician, pupil of Aleister Crowley

Jane Roberts, author

Robin Skelton, British-Canadian witch, poet

Stephen Skinner, Australian author

Starhawk, witch and occult author

Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy

Gerald Suster, occult author

Ralph Tegtmeier aka Frater U∴D∴, occultist, author, founder of Pragmatic Magic, Cyber Magic and Ice Magic

Mellie Uyldert, occult author

Doreen Valiente, priestess and author

Hannes Vanaküla, mage

Leila Waddell, mystic and muse

Robert Anton Wilson, author

Catherine Yronwode, occult author

Rosaleen Norton, self-proclaimed Australian witch

References

List of occultists Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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