42 American occult writers

Stephanie Adams was an American model, author, and murderer. She was the November 1992 Playboy Playmate.

William Walker Atkinson was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q. Dumont and Yogi Ramacharaka.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a controversial Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy, the esoteric movement that the society promoted.

Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits was an American Neo-Druid who published a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic. He was a public speaker, liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founder of the Neopagan organizations Ár nDraíocht Féin and the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League. Born in Royal Oak, Michigan, Bonewits had been heavily involved in occultism since the 1960s.

Baba Raul Canizares was a Cuban Oba, a Santerían priest, an author, an artist, a musician, and a professor of religion who founded the Orisha Consciousness Movement.

George Washington Carey (1845–1924) was an American homeopath and occultist known for a number of 1910s ‘chemistry of life’ publications, a subject which he referred to as biochemistry, particularly his 1919 The Chemistry of Human Life, all generally using a mixture of religion, astrology, physiology, anatomy, and chemistry, themed particularly with a mineral-based theory of human disease. Carey is popular among homeopathic and new age circles. In the context of a person viewed as a "human molecule", Carey was the first to state that a person's body is a “chemical formula in operation.”

Hereward Carrington was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, and he wrote over 100 books on subjects including the paranormal and psychical research, conjuring and stage magic, and alternative medicine. Carrington promoted fruitarianism and held pseudoscientific views about dieting.

Paul Foster Case was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum or B.O.T.A. The knowledge lectures given to initiated members of the chapters of the B.O.T.A. were equally profound, although the limited distribution has made them less well known.

William John Warner, popularly known as Cheiro, was an Irish astrologer and colorful occult figure of the early 20th century. His sobriquet, Cheiro, derives from the word cheiromancy, meaning palmistry. He was a self-described clairvoyant who learned palmistry, astrology, and Chaldean numerology in India during his stay there. He was celebrated for using these forms of divination to make personal predictions for famous clients and to foresee world events.

Charles "Chic" Cicero is a well-known author in the esoteric community. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He has been a practicing ceremonial magician for the past forty years.

Reuben Swinburne Clymer was an American occultist and modern Rosicrucian Supreme Grand Master of the FRC, perhaps the oldest continuing Rosicrucian organization in the Americas. He practiced alternative medicine, and wrote and published works on it as well as the teachings of Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875), alchemy, nutrition, religion, sex magic and spiritualism. This led to a number of conflicts with Harvey Spencer Lewis (1883-1939) and the AMORC, FUDOSI, Aleister Crowley, and even the American Medical Association.

Scott Douglas Cunningham was a U.S. writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects.

L. W. de Laurence was an American author and publisher on occult and spiritual topics.

Lon Milo DuQuette, also known as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, is an American writer, lecturer, musician, and occultist, best known as an author who applies humor in the field of Western Hermeticism.

Selena Fox is a Wiccan priestess, interfaith minister, environmentalist, pagan elder, author, and lecturer in the fields of pagan studies, ecopsychology, and comparative religion.

Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian-born author, lecturer, astrologer and mystic. He is best known for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Over his 70 year career, he gave thousands of lectures, including two at Carnegie Hall, and published over 150 volumes. In 1934, he founded The Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, which he dedicated to the "Truth Seekers of All Time", with a research library, lecture hall and publishing house. Many of his lectures can be found online and his books are still in print.

Thomas Lake Harris (1823–1906) was an Anglo-American preacher, spiritualistic prophet, poet, and vintner. Harris is best remembered as the leader of a series of communal religious experiments, culminating with a group called the Brotherhood of the New Life in Santa Rosa, California.

Max Heindel was a Danish-American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic.

Mitch Horowitz is an American writer in occult and esoteric themes. He is the former editor-in-chief of TarcherPerigee.

Florence Huntley was a 19th-century American journalist, editor, humorist, and occult author from Ohio.

Paul Huson is a British-born author and artist currently living in the United States. In addition to writing several books about occultism and witchcraft he has worked extensively in the film and television industries.

Christopher Hyatt, born Alan Ronald Miller, was an American occultist, author, and founder of the Extreme Individual Institute (EII). He is best known as president of New Falcon Publications.

Alcinous Burton Jamison was an American physician, inventor of medical devices, socialite, and occultist.

William Quan Judge was an Irish-American mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States. He became a naturalized citizen of the USA at age 21 and passed the New York state bar exam, specializing in commercial law.

Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and occultist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of LaVeyan Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.

Harvey Spencer Lewis F.R.C., S:::I:::I:::, 33° 66° 95°, PhD, a noted Rosicrucian author, occultist, and mystic, was the founder in the USA and the first Imperator of the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC), from 1915 until 1939.

Leo Martello was an American Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, and author. He was a founding member of the Strega Tradition, a form of the modern Pagan new religious movement of Wicca which drew upon his own Italian heritage. During his lifetime he published a number of books on such esoteric subjects as Wicca, astrology, and tarot reading.

Ormond Dale McGill was a stage hypnotist, magician and instructor who was considered to be the "Dean of American Hypnotists". He was also a writer and author of many books including Hypnotism and Mysticism of India (1979) and The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism.

Sylvan Muldoon was an American esotericist who promoted the concept of astral projection. According to Muldoon, astral projection is an out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an astral body separate from the physical body and is capable of travelling outside it. A 2012 Princeton University Press publication by Hugh Urban asserted that one of Muldoon’s most popular books formed the basis for theories of the Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard which he claimed were his own.

John Whiteside Parsons was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets.

Paschal Beverly Randolph was a mixed race medical doctor, occultist, spiritualist, trance medium, and writer. He is notable as perhaps the first person to introduce the principles of erotic alchemy to North America, and, according to A. E. Waite, establishing the earliest known Rosicrucian order in the United States.

Louis William Rogers, commonly known as "L.W.," was an American teacher, railway brakeman, trade union functionary, socialist political activist, and newspaper editor. Rogers is best remembered in this context as one of the key officials of the American Railway Union jailed in conjunction with the Pullman Strike of 1894. After more than two decades in and around the labor movement, Rogers shifted his activity to mysticism as a prominent lecturer, writer, and long-time President of the Theosophical Society in America.

Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott was one of the best-known mediums of the Spiritualism movement of the last half of the 19th century. Most of her work was done as a trance lecturer, though she also wrote some books whose composition was attributed to spirit guides rather than her own personality.

William Buehler Seabrook was an American occultist, explorer, traveler, cannibal, and journalist, born in Westminster, Maryland. He began his career as a reporter and City Editor of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia and later became a partner in an advertising agency in Atlanta.

Phyllis Evalina Seckler, also known as Soror Meral, was a ninth degree (IX°) member of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Gnosis of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and a lineage holder in the A∴A∴ tradition. She was a student of Jane Wolfe, herself a student of Aleister Crowley.

José Silva was an American self-taught parapsychologist and author of the "Silva Method" and the "Silva UltraMind ESP System", intended to help people increase their IQ, develop psychic skills, and to develop the ability to heal both themselves and others remotely, using forces unknown to science.

James Wasserman was an American author and occultist. A member of Ordo Templi Orientis since 1976 and a book designer by trade, he wrote extensively on spiritual and political liberty.

Peter Lamborn Wilson is an American anarchist author and poet, primarily known for his concept of temporary autonomous zones. He is a controversial figure in anarchist circles due to his pedophilia advocacy.

Robert Anton Wilson was an American author, futurist and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized by Discordianism as a Pope and saint, Wilson helped publicize the group through his writings and interviews.

Catherine Anna "Cat" Yronwode is an American writer, editor, graphic designer, typesetter, publisher, and practitioner of folk magic with an extensive career in the comic book industry.

Julius and Agnes Zancig were stage magicians and authors on occultism who performed a spectacularly successful two-person mentalism act during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Julius Zancig (1857–1929) – born Julius Jörgensen in Copenhagen, Denmark – and his wife Agnes Claussen Jörgensen – also born in Copenhagen, and known as Agnes Zancig – were the originators of the routine.

Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, born as Diana Moore, subsequently known as Morning Glory Ferns, Morning Glory Zell and briefly Morning G'Zell, was a Neopagan community leader, author, lecturer, and priestess of the Church of All Worlds. An advocate of polyamory, she is credited with coining the word. With her husband Oberon Zell-Ravenheart she designed deity images.