The Victorian Era

The Victorian Era was an age of scientific development in Western society, relying on something other than Church and God to explain how life works and why things exist.

With the development of Natural History and Biology came an interest in another field: The Occult. Séances, ghosts, psychic powers, secret societies, and metaphysical publications rose in popularity. This was the origin of many Western metaphysical practices we see today.

However this cultural shift didn’t change the racism of the time. Victorian occultists fetishized non-European practices and flocked to Eastern Mysticism, Kabbalah, and even long-dead practices like Egyptian spirituality to lend credibility and exoticism to their bourgeoning philosophies. This also gave rise to racially-motivated occultism, like the Norse- and Germanic-inspired Ariosophy.