Magic and Mysticism (1920) by H. Stanley Redgrove is a pioneering work that bridges the esoteric and the empirical, examining ancient occult traditions through the lens of early 20th-century science. Redgrove—a chemist and ardent student of hermetic philosophy—approaches alchemy, astrology, and ritual magic not as mere superstition, but as symbolic systems that prefigured modern psychological and physical theories. With meticulous detail, he explores the Hermetic principle of correspondence, the spiritual dimensions of alchemical transformation, and the mystical underpinnings of numerology, arguing that these traditions reveal an intuitive grasp of universal laws later articulated by quantum physics and depth psychology.
Though tinged with the spiritualist enthusiasms of its era, the book remains a compelling artifact of the occult revival, offering a unique synthesis of rational inquiry and metaphysical wonder. Redgrove’s vision of magic as a “proto-science” influenced later thinkers like Carl Jung and Aleister Crowley, while his insistence on the interconnectedness of matter and spirit resonates with contemporary holistic paradigms.
A must-read for historians of esotericism, this rare text rewards those who seek the hidden threads between laboratory and temple.