The Invisible World

A small book by Jules Bois with the unremarkable title "The Invisible World" is known to many. Arriving in Russia in 1902, it was translated into Russian but did not gain wide circulation, remaining in the shadow of more massive... works written in a more serious and scientific style. Meanwhile, the manuscript's text is strongly recommended for reading to anyone interested in classical occultism of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. "The Invisible World" is not, as the title promises us, a story about occultism from the perspective of its symbolic components. You will find nothing unique here about Kabbalah, the Golden Dawn, or spiritualism. Jules Bois undertakes a completely different mission on these pages, no less, perhaps even more dangerous, exciting, and intriguing. "The Invisible World," in its essence, is a door to the backstage of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Bois speaks of his contemporaries, who practiced Magic and Science - not as figures standing on pedestals in the black earth of Père Lachaise, but as acquaintances, friends, and living people of flesh and blood. The book is divided into several sections. From the sharp pen of Jules Bois, everyone comes in for their due: both alchemists, and luciferists, and spirits, and Stanislas de Guaita, and Peladan... Topical notes, a brief base of occult sciences, correspondence with astrologers and palmists - all this fits wonderfully into just under 200 pages of the book. Closer to the end, you really begin to understand the meaning of the title - such a world is indeed invisible to most followers of occultism. Read in the book:  - Why Papus fought with Jules Bois in a duel;  - Stories about the philosopher's stone;  - What luciferists and satanists really advocate;  - The practice of Sigmund Freud's teacher;  - The surge in popularity of cards;  - Allan Kardec, the Fox sisters, and the Lynch court