Forbidden Histories

Greetings from Basel! Picture obviously taken from a safe distance... 😅

Hello!

In case you don't know me, I'm a freelance editor, translator, and humanities scholar, specializing in TTRPGs, as well as magic and the occult.

My research reconstructs the cosmologies, epistemologies, and practices of historical individuals who engaged with various esoteric disciplines.

Nice: a major exhibition on #ghosts & #spirits in western #art is coming to the #KunstmuseumBasel in my current home town. It’s supposed to kick off on 20 September, so expect to see a brief report & pics.

Chasing the Dark by Ben Machell review – the original ghostbuster An entrancing biography of Tony Cornell, who displayed a scientist’s commitment to impartiality as he investigated the paranormal

The Guardian reviews the recent biography of legendary British ghost-hunter, Tony Cornell (the co-author, with the late Alan Gauld, of a classical study of poltergeist cases): www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

YouTube video by Forbidden Histories Ancient Magic and the Unconscious Mind

New podcast episode: Forgotten pioneers of the subconscious mind (Carl du Prel & Frederic Myers) on temple sleep, oracles, and other ancient magical practices. youtu.be/Cgr0cDxxmGE?...

If you enjoyed the episode, please remember to like, share and subscribe! 🙏🥹

Thanks for the update, Emma! Good to know he apparently wasn't into spiritualism, though it would have been cool & not particularly surprising.

In case you guys know something - or know someone who knows something about Hans Christian Andersen & #spirittualism. 🧐

Very cool video! #psychicalresearch #apparitions #spiritphotography #hauntings

YouTube video by Forbidden Histories Ancient Magic and the Unconscious Mind

New podcast episode: Forgotten pioneers of the subconscious mind (Carl du Prel & Frederic Myers) on temple sleep, oracles, and other ancient magical practices. youtu.be/Cgr0cDxxmGE?...

If you enjoyed the episode, please remember to like, share and subscribe! 🙏🥹

This is insane! I just wrote to Yvette Cooper, please consider doing the same.

Forbidden Histories - YouTube Deep-dive conversations about the hidden history of science & magic, curated by Dr. Andreas Sommer. Episodes in English and German. Dialoge über die verborge...

Oh look, the FH podcast is now also on Youtube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Uhm, this. 👇

Honk if you miss the good old days, when academic publishers still had the decency to at least send a complementary hardcopy of the journal issue with your article. 📯

4 episodes (each in English & German) already available. Would be keen to hear what you lovely people think! 🥹

James also thinks inquiry needs to be conducted in a scientific fashion, but especially in philosophical inquiry, he doesn't think this should be done using jargon, in a technical fashion. James's outlook here is evolutionary… amphilos.blogspot.com/2025/07/an-i...

August is the time for reaping.
#medievalcalendar
Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 939; Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces; 14th century; England; section 2ar @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social

The latest addition to the FH multimedia universe: The podcast, where contents are discussed in an entertaining dialogue format.

Each episode can be streamed & downloaded in English & German. Here is the introduction (in English): forbiddenhistories.podbean.com/e/introducti...

Enjoy!

A circular disk made of wax, about 5 inches across in diameter and half an inch in thickness. It has an outer circle around its diameter, with inscribed writing between the edge and the circle, and then a heptagon inscribed within the circle with the points touching the circle. Again, writing is inscribed around the heptagon. Within this is a 7-pointed star, and within that is a hexagon, and withing the hexagon is a pentagram.

Happy 498th birthday to English mathematician, occultist, and court astronomer/advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, John Dee.

Here's one of the wax seals (in the British Museum) used in the 'Enochian magic' practiced by Dee and his scryer Edward Kelley, through which they (apparently) spoke with angels.

Pinker has been a loud-and-proud voice for anti-intellectualism and a promoter of chin-stroking race-science platforms such as Quillette for a decade.

This isn't lack of awareness. It's an attempt to protect his extremely lucrative brand from association with the causes that helped build it.

Living in Switzerland now, I thought it was high time to produce more output in my German mother language. If you read German, or know folks who may be interested, feel free to share zis: @andreassommer.bsky.social

...oh, and zis: www.facebook.com/profile.php?... 🫣

Handwritten testimony in fading black (or possibly brown) ink on a half of a sheet of parchment.

Original testimony of Abigail Williams from the Salem Witch Trials, 1692.

Now located in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

Mario Biagioli (1955–2025) Over the years I have gained a reputation for being extremely negative about Galileo Galilei and his supposed achievements and contributions to the evolution of science. As I point out from time to…

Some personal thoughts on the recent death of the historian of science, Mario Biagioli #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2025/05/23/m...

YouTube video by Fave Movie Clips Raiders of the Lost Ark face melting scene

Make Nazis Melt Again

youtu.be/FfQWz4gVcP8?...

...oh, and zis: www.facebook.com/profile.php?... 🫣

Living in Switzerland now, I thought it was high time to produce more output in my German mother language. If you read German, or know folks who may be interested, feel free to share zis: @andreassommer.bsky.social

This Friday, please join us in Paris (or online) for a workshop on my book *Consciousness Is Motor: William James on Mind and Action* (Oxford UP). The book examines James’s evolutionary theories of consciousness and action, with special attention to experimental work in nonhuman animals…

Beliefs in spirits, afterlife are popular across religiously diverse countries, new study finds (RNS) — The survey marks the first time Pew Research Center asked people outside the United States and Asian countries about practices related to Buddhism, Asian folk religions and New Age spiritualit...

Recent Pew Survey "Beliefs in spirits, afterlife are popular across religiously diverse countries." I used to tag this kind of thing with #TheWorldofEnchantment on the old platform. Might be time to bring that back.
religionnews.com/2025/05/08/b...