From its earliest days, America served as an arena for the revolutions in alternative spirituality that eventually swept the globe. Esoteric philosophies and personas--from Freemasonry to Spiritualism, from Madame H. P. Blavatsky to Edgar Cayce--dramatically altered the nation's culture, politics, and religion. Yet the mystical roots of our identity are often ignored or overlooked. Opening a new window on the past, Occult America""presents a dramatic, pioneering study of the esoteric undercurrents of our history and their profound impact across modern life.

The power of positive thinking. It is an idea deeply rooted in American culture, from Oprah to The Secret to the mass-media ministries of Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes. Yet no one has examined how this one simple idea to think positively has morphed from metaphysics into mass belief. In One Simple Idea, Mitch Horowitz tracks the history of the positive-thinking movement from its pioneers to its most dramatic personalities, including Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale. Positive thinking has been the root of studies on the placebo effect, the 12-step approach to overcoming addition, and the mind-body connection in treating illness. And it is central to the American idea of success, as seen in political messages like Ronald Reagan's "Nothing is impossible" or President Obama's "Yes, we can" and slogans such as the U.S. Army's "Be all you can be" and Nike's "Just do it." This paperback edition includes new exercises and methods, which readers can use to test the validity of positive-mind mechanics in their daily lives. One Simple Idea answers the age-old question Does it work? and shows that, yes, positive thinking can change the world.

An exploration of our extraordinary shift away from materialism toward renewal of the numinous, mysterious, and uncertain * Examines topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, out-of-body experience, and the contemporary war on witches * Looks at the influence of the founding lights of modern occultism, including mystic Neville Goddard, occult scholar Manly P. Hall, and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, and debunks famous pseudo-skeptics such as the Amazing Randi * Explores magickal practices, including Anarchic Magick, mind metaphysics, the Law of Attraction, and Ouija boards, and upends hallowed spiritual concepts like forgiveness All of us today dwell in uncertain places--realities in which thoughts make things happen, ESP is provable by the scientific methods once used to debunk it, UFOs are mainstream, and magick no longer requires rite and ritual but is as near as your own mind. Today's leading voice of esotericism and the occult, Mitch Horowitz explores topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, the relevance of Gnosticism, and the slender but authentic connection between today's spiritual culture and antiquity, including in areas of Hermeticism, deity worship, out-of-body experience, and magick. He demonstrates the occult roots of wide-ranging facets of modern culture, including politics, abstract art, mind-body healing, self-help, and breakthrough scientific fields such as quantum physics and neuroplasticity. He looks at the influence of the founding lights of modern occultism, including mystic Neville Goddard, occult scholar Manly P. Hall, and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, and provides a magnificent take-down of famous debunkers and pseudo-skeptics such as the Amazing Randi. He explores magickal practices, including Anarchic Magick, mind metaphysics, the Law of Attraction, and the history of Ouija boards and questions time-honored spiritual values like forgiveness. Mitch also examines the contemporary war on witches around the world and what it is like to be blacklisted. Offering a thought-provoking investigation of the spiritual, the occult, the magickal, and the extra-physical, Mitch lays the groundwork for readers to continue their own journeys into these esoteric streams of consciousness.