Paracelsus born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He was a pioneer in several aspects of the "medical revolution" of the Renaissance, emphasizing the value of observation in combination with received wisdom. He is credited as the "father of toxicology". Paracelsus also had a substantial impact as a prophet or diviner, his "Prognostications" being studied by Rosicrucians in the 1600s. Paracelsianism is the early modern medical movement inspired by the study of his works. Arthur Edward Waite was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider-Waite-Smith or Waite-Smith deck). As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion."

An exhaustive guide to the occult, featuring passages on folklore, occultist history, and magic ceremony.

First published in 1898, The Book of Black Magic and Pacts contains a large number of magic spells and occult writings taken from a variety of sources. This volume is one of the greatest overviews of the occult. Written by Arthur Edward Waite, influential scholarly mystic and co-creator of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck.

The contents of this volume feature:

- The Literature of Ceremonial Magic

- The Antiquity of Magical Rituals

- The Rituals of Transcendental Magic

- The Rituals of Black Magic

- The Initial Rites and Ceremonies

- Concerning the Descending Hierarchy

- The Mysteries of Infernal Evocation According to the Grand Grimoire

- The Method of Honorius

- Miscellaneous and Minor Processes

- Concerning Infernal Necromancy

The Real History Of The Rosicrucians is a book by British mystic Arthur Edward Waite, first published in 1887. Waite provides complete translations of all the texts associated with the Rosicrucians, including the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio Fraternitatis, and the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. The Chemical Wedding, the most extensive of the texts, is an alchemical allegory that reads like a fever dream. Although the authorship of these documents is uncertain, they are believed to have been written by Johann Valentin Andreas, a German theologian and writer. Waite also examines Rosicrucian literature from various centuries, including the works of authors like Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, and John Heydon. Heydon's work, Voyage to the Land of the Rosicrucians, which describes an expedition to a far-off land inhabited by Rosicrucians, is included in its entirety. Waite concludes his study with a look at a 19th-century organization that claimed to be affiliated with the Rosicrucians, a group that included Hargrave Jennings as a member. Jennings wrote a book titled The Rosicrucians, their Rites and Mysteries, which Waite critiques thoroughly, given its misleading title and focus on phallicism. Jennings' work contradicts the notion of the Rosicrucians being celibate, a fact that Waite highlights. Additionally, Waite debunks two 'historical' stories cited by Jennings, namely the subterranean sepulcher and the immortal Venetian, which have been used by other authors as factual accounts.