Main Page
Welcome to the Esoteric Archive of Rochester,
The Rochester-based library and archive of Western Esotericism.
Explore the Archive
Join us collecting and studying the esoteric, both near and far! At the moment, the collection is split into two main branches:
Online Branch
The Esoteric Archive is a free wiki-based project aimed at cataloguing esoteric, occult, spiritual, and generally weird files. Each object has its own page where you are free to add research to contextualize the piece of work in history and within the esoteric movement of its time.
That's what differentiates this archive: historical context and research that is aimed at understanding a given work within a larger snapshot of the time and place. This is a massive undertaking and your help is deeply appreciated!
Suggested Categories
Spiritualism | Mormonism | The Millerites | The Roycroft Movement |Rosicrucianism | Alchemy | Religious Studies | Philosophy | Occultism | Mysticism | New Thought | Hermeticism | Grimoire | Egypt | Christian Mysticism | Aleister Crowley | Max Heindel | Magic | Spiritualism | Arthur Edward Waite | Demonology | Kabbalah | Astrology | Theosophy | Witchcraft | All Categories | Browse by Year
Link Collection
An ever-growing list of resources, orders, education, and initiation.Offline Branch
We're really excited to invite you to our space, and more information on the small, independent, guerrilla library is coming soon. In the meantime, you can still borrow actual physical books from the collection! Curbside pickup and drop-off are available as of June 21, 2023. Click here to learn how to borrow a book.
Explore the Collection via TinyCat
Featured Object
Christian Science, Medicine, and Occultism
"Christian Science, Medicine, and Occultism" by Albert Moll is a short 1902 London publication that lightly investigates the craze of Christian Science in the United States. Moll wrote the original text in his native German, and the work was translated by F. J. Rebman.
Despite having a fairly heft table of contents for such a small work (the PDF has 50 pages, including blank pages and covers), the work is actually a single essay. The table of contents is, then, a pretty informal way to let the reader know what subject will begin on a given page. That being said, the essay covers a variety of topics including "Mrs. Eddy," "Her Competitors," "Christian Science and the Bible," "Failures," and "Intellectual Level of Spiritualists."
The author muses on the dangers of trusting any 'therapy' that requires the patient to avoid traditional medicine:
"So far as the physician is concerned, the doubtful and critical element
of treatment by Christian Science is not so much to be found in what it accomplishes, but in what it omits. This, however, may be said of every quack treatment. Certain it is that cancer, for instance, may become incurable if timely operation is delayed. Appendicitis, like other suppurations, may lead to the gravest complications unless it is taken in hand promptly and by the proper authority. No matter how sceptically medical skill and science may be regarded, there are doubtless many cases in which neglect and delay will aggravate the disease and surely bring about a fatal issue. For which reason it behoves the medical profession to stigmatize as dangerous any method by which diseases are treated without preceding proper diagnosis, no matter whether it is a Kneipp cure, or treatment by animal magnetism, or Christian Science."
Christian Science was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 19th century in New England. The church runs quite a few "Reading Rooms" around the country, one being right here on Monroe Avenue in Rochester. The religion does not actually tell members to avoid modern medicine completely; there are many exceptions specifically given (one of which, that you should see a doctor when giving birth, came about after a church member died during labor. Only a Christian Science practitioner was present at the time). However, the religion does work from the belief that the manifestation of illness (the symptoms) are not real and that the best way to deal with them is to convince oneself that one is not sick, actually. While many people understand Christian Science to be a branch of Christianity, it actually has more in common with other New American religions like Spiritualism and Mormonism.
Written by The Archivist
To submit a blurb for the Featured Object panel, please fill out this form.
To see past Featured Objects, click here.
Esoteric Archive of Rochester News
News
- NEW: Manual Account Creation
- Due to ongoing spam attacks, users will not be able to create their own accounts for the foreseeable future
- However, The Archivist can now manually create account for users!
- Please fill out this simple form to get started
- The form will require a valid email address, a desired username, and you can optionally add your real name. This information will be used to create an account for this website for you. You will, once the account is created, receive an email with your temporary password. Please then log in to your new account and change your password to one you will remember.
- The Archivist (talk) 13:54, 9 October 2023 (UTC)
- Follow our Newsletter on Substack!
- The EAR is now on substack and we'd love for you to follow us there
- The intention here is to post/email regular EAR updates (maximum once monthly) that details new acquisitions and other pertinent news
- More regular, but not emailed, updates will be posted on our substack page that will include reviews of books, musings on esotericism and local history, and more!
- If you signed up for our newsletter via MailChimp, your subscription has been moved to substack.
- You can subscribe to our substack to get regular email updates, but you don't have to. You can feel free to visit our substack page whenever you'd like to see what's up.
- The Archivist (talk) 15:19, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
As Above, So Below
ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣEΑΥΤΟΝ
Know Thyself
ΜΗΔΕΝ ΑΓΑΝ
Nothing in Excess
ΕΓΓΥΑ, ΠΑΡΑ ΔΑΤΗ
Surety Brings Ruin