If you hear the word “occult,” you might imagine dark rooms, candles, and someone whispering Latin badly.
But in library science, the occult often sits quietly under LCC Class G — the section for Geography, Anthropology, and Folklore. Why? Because many occult works deal with myth, symbolism, ritual, cultural belief systems, and human attempts to understand the unseen.
In other words, they are less about flying broomsticks and more about how people make meaning.
Here are ten notable occult books that can reasonably fall under LCC G, especially within folklore (GR), customs (GT), or cultural anthropology.
1. The Golden Bough – James George Frazer
Frazer’s massive comparative study of myth and religion explores magic, ritual sacrifice, fertility rites, and sacred kings.
It is not a spell book. It is anthropology with a dramatic flair.
Why LCC G?
Because it analyzes myth and ritual across cultures. This comfortably sits in folklore and anthropology (GR).
2. The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell
Campbell discusses the “monomyth” — the hero’s journey pattern found across global mythologies.
Occult themes appear through symbolism, initiation, transformation, and archetypes.
Why LCC G?
It is fundamentally comparative mythology — a folklore study.
3. The Varieties of Religious Experience – William James
James examines mystical experiences, conversion, and altered states of consciousness.
He does not argue that spirits are real. He studies the experience of them.
Why LCC G?
It fits under religious customs and cultural expression, overlapping with anthropology of belief.
4. Witchcraft Today – Gerald Gardner
Gardner’s book helped popularize modern Wicca. It discusses ritual practices, covens, and pagan revival.
Why LCC G?
Because it documents contemporary folk religion and ritual practice — clearly within folklore studies.
5. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe – Margaret Murray
Murray argued that European witchcraft preserved a pre-Christian pagan religion.
Scholars debate her conclusions. Energetically.
Why LCC G?
It examines historical folk belief and ritual traditions.
6. The Masks of God – Joseph Campbell
A sweeping study of world mythology — from primitive myth to Western mythology. Occult elements appear through symbols, cosmology, and sacred narratives.
Why LCC G?
Comparative mythology squarely belongs to folklore classification.
7. Drawing Down the Moon – Margot Adler
Adler documents contemporary paganism, Wicca, and magical traditions in America. It is journalistic, not instructional.
Why LCC G?
It studies living folk religion movements.
8. Man and His Symbols – Carl Jung
Jung explores archetypes, the collective unconscious, and symbolic imagery. Many occult systems lean heavily on Jungian symbolism.
Why LCC G?
Symbolism and myth interpretation intersect with folklore and cultural studies.
9. The Secret Teachings of All Ages – Manly P. Hall
A grand tour of esoteric traditions, symbols, and secret societies. It blends scholarship and enthusiasm. Sometimes too much enthusiasm.
Why LCC G?
Much of it catalogs mythic symbolism and cultural traditions.
10. The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell
Based on interviews with Campbell, this book explains myth’s role in modern life.
Occult? Not exactly. Symbolic? Absolutely.
Why LCC G?
It analyzes mythology as cultural narrative.
Not every occult book belongs under LCC G. Practical magic manuals often fall under BF (Psychology, Parapsychology, Occultism).
But when a book examines:
Myth
Ritual
Cultural belief
Folk religion
Symbol systems
…it often finds itself resting comfortably among folklore and anthropology.
Which is fitting. Because what we call “occult” is often just humanity trying to explain the sky before we had weather apps. And libraries, being calm and patient institutions, understand that curiosity is not a crime.