The Library of Esoterica - Spirit Worlds (English)

Crossing the Threshold

Stepping Through into the Realms of Spirits

A voyage through mysterious and haunted lands, the sixth volume of The Library of Esoterica delves into the art, rituals, and global mythologies of the spirit realms. Unearthing complex beliefs around death, rebirth, and resurrection, Spirit Worlds explores the art, traditions, and ancient stories of the afterlife.

Through interviews with scholars and practitioners, insightful essays, and more than 400 works of visionary art, Spirit Worlds moves through the shadows of the supernatural, from dark domains of ghosts and demons to the light-filled lands of angels and celestial beings.

Across more than 500 pages, the book celebrates the ways in which we connect with our ancestors and with ourselves as we worship, mythologize, and honor our dead. It studies rites of death around the globe, highlighting the ancient monuments and sacred temples we build out of sorrow, the altars we create, and the communities we nurture as we share our grief with our gods.

The volume explores rituals that connect us to those we have lost and the messages communicated from other worlds by mediums and prophets, through the elaborate séances of the Spiritualists and the storied words of oracles and fortunetellers bent over their crystal balls. It also showcases artworks that channel not only the muse, but the unknown, eloquent voices and visions from the other side. In this expansive volume, we board the ferry across the storied river and enter the gloomy passages between lands, stepping across the threshold to part the most sacred of veils.

The editor and author

Jessica Hundley is an author, filmmaker, and journalist who has written for Vogue, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. She has authored books on artists including Dennis Hopper, David Lynch, and Gram Parsons. Hundley often explores counterculture in her work, with a focus on metaphysics, psychedelia, and magic.

About the series

The Library of Esoterica explores how centuries of artists have given form to mysticism, translating the arcane and the obscure into enduring, visionary works of art. Each subject is showcased through modern and archival imagery drawn from private collectors, libraries, and museums around the globe. The result is an inclusive visual history, a study of our primal pull toward dream and nightmare, and the creative ways we strive to connect to the divine.

Series: The Library of Esoterica, Vol. 6

Format: Hardcover, quarter-bound

Edition: English

Dimensions: 6.7 × 9.4 in.

Weight: 3.41 lb

Page count: 520 pages

ISBN: 978-3-8365-9061-7