The Occult by Peter Forshaw

Those who have more than a passing interest in the occult are bound to have the late Colin Wilson’s excellent treatise on the subject – The Occult – in their book collection. Forshaw’s Occult is a superb companion to place alongside that work. Thames & Hudson is known for quality illustrated books and here it turns its attention to a highly visual subject. The result was always going to be impressive.

While I do have two small criticisms, they do not lessen the impact of this superb book. The first is that there was a style decision made to have the right-hand running feet flush left, which just looks like a mistake. The second is that there are breakout double pages that ‘decode’ the aspects of interesting and, often famous, occult images (indeed, the subtitle for the book is ‘Decoding the visual culture of mysticism, magic & divination’) – this, regrettably, means there isn’t much space for explaining very complex ideas. However, Peter Forshaw is a scholar with a knack for breaking complicated things down for the general reader, so you get a wonderful overview of subjects as diverse as alchemy, masonic thought, divination and popular culture – all generously illustrated with iconic imagery. As a child, there were a couple of weighty illustrated titles about mythology or ghosts that I would surreptitiously take from my father’s library and pore over the images before I understood the text. I believe this beautiful book is also destined to ignite the imagination of many future occultists.

Occult by Peter Forshaw (Thames & Hudson, 2024) is available at all good bookshops.