Timeline of Esoterica

Compiled by Joseph H. Peterson. Updated Feb 8, 2022.


13th century BCE? Zarathushtra founds Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Magi;
Moses founds Judaism;
mythical date of Hermes Trismegistus.
10th century BCE Solomon, son of David, King of Israel flourished
300-200 BCE (?)Earliest parts of 1 Enoch composed
c 20 BCE - c 50 CE Philo of Alexandria flourished
4? BCE-33 CE Jesus founds Christianity
1st century CE Apollonius of Tyana flourished
1st to 3rd CE (?) Testament of Solomon composed
100-300 CE composition of Corpus Hermetica
204-270 CE Plotinus, Neoplatonic philosopher and mystic (born in Egypt)
233-305 CE Porphyry, Neoplatonic philosopher and mystic (born in Phoenicia)
250-325 CE Iamblicus, Neoplatonic philosopher (was born in Chalcis, Coele-Syria)
411-485Proclus, Neoplatonic philosopher (born at Constantinople, Byzantium)
500 CE (circa) Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite flourished, probably a native of Syria
6th CE Sefer Yetzirah edited
10th CE Sword of Moses composed
1004-1007 (?) al-Majriti, purported author of Picatrix, dies
1054 Rome splits from orthodox church, forms Catholic church
1017?-1078 Michael Psellos, Byzantine philosopher and historian
1089-1164Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr (Avenares)
1126-1196 CE Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
1175?-1235 Michael Scot (Scottish)
1220?-1292 Roger Bacon (English)
1227 Pope Honorius III dies
1232 Ramon Llull born (Majorca)
1240Abraham Abulafia, Sicilian Kabbalist, founder of ecstatic Kabbala, born in Saragosa
1248Joseph Gikatilla, Spanish Sephardic Kabbalist, born
1250?Liber Juratus (Sworn Book of Honorius) compiled by Honorius of Thebes, son of Euclid
1200-1250 ?Latin version of the Clavicula Salomonis ("Key of Solomon") likely composed then. (cf Weill-Parot in Fanger et al 2012 p. 223)
1257-63"The book of Solomon which is called Ars Notoria and Liber Semamphoras mentioned mentioned in a correspondence attributed to Roger Bacon (cf. Véronèse 2019 p. 188.)
1259Peter de Abano [Pietro d'Abano], Italian physician and philosopher born. Professor of medicine in Padua.
1260Anonymous author of the Speculum astronomiae mentions a series of magic books of Solomon
1266John Duns Scotus, Scottish scholastic philosopher and thrologian, born
1267-70Roger Bacon mentions the existence of libri Salomonis ("books of Solomon") used to obtain the aid of demons
1274Ramon Llull's vision on Mount Randa
1280?Sefer Ha-Zohar written by Moses de León but attributed to Simon ben Yohai
1292?Abraham Abulafia dies
1301-15John of Morigny florished
1303-10Earliest reference to Clavicula, in Peter of Abano's Lucidator dubitabilium astronomiae
1308John Duns Scotus dies
1314Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, burned at the stake in Paris
1316?Ramon Llull dies;
1316Peter de Abano dies
1323Joseph Gikatilla dies
1346Berengarius Ganellus writes the Summa sacre magice
1433Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher born. Under the patronage of the de'Medicis, he translated many Greek classics including the Corpus Hermetica
1446 Date of earliest surviving manuscript of Clavicula Salomonis ("Key of Solomon") — BnF Ital. 1524 (in Italian). Edition in Vedrai Mirabilia
1453Fall of Constantinople to the Turks caused dispersal and spread of Greek manuscripts and scholarship
1455Johannes Reuchlin, German humanist and lawyer, born. Reuchlin wrote on Kabbalah and propagated Hebrew studies
1462Johannes Trithemius born at Trittenheim on the Moselle. Trithemius was a famous scholar and Benedictine abbot.
1463Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher and scholar, born
1466Francesco Giorgi (or Giorgio, aka Zorzi), Venetian philosopher, born. Author of De Harmonia Mundi (Venits, 1525)
1471Ficino's translation of Corpus Hermeticum published
1474Ferdinand and Isabella ascend to the throne
1483Martin Luther born Eisleben, Saxony, Germany.
1486Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa born in Cologne Germany;
Malleus Maleficarum published, major instrument of witch hunters;
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola takes his theses to Rome
1489Ficino's Libri de Vita published
1492Ferdinand and Isabella expel Jews from Spain, center of Cabalistic studies, caused dispersal and spread of Jewish and Cabalistic manuscripts and scholarship; discovery of the New World
1493Paracelsus (Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) born Einsiedeln Switzerland. Swiss physician and philosopher. He was tutored (by his account) by Trithemius.
1494Reuchlin's De verbo mirifico published;
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola dies
1499Marsilio Ficino dies
(late 15th ce)Date of oldest Latin Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon) exemplar, Coxe 25 (BPH 114)
1510Agrippa's De Occulta philosophia finished
Guillaume Postel, French mathematician, Kabbalist, and mystic born
1515Johan Weyer born
1516Johannes Trithemius dies
1517Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica published;
Martin Luther posts theses
1520Jacques Gohory born (Jan. 20)
1522Johannes Reuchlin dies
1525Giorgi's De harmonia mundi published
1527John Dee born in London
Maximillian II born
1533Agrippa's De Occulta philosopha published;
Isaak Luria, Jewish Kabbalist, born in Jerusalem;
Queen Elizabeth I born at Greenwich palace in London (September 7)
1535Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa dies;
Giambattista della Porta born in Naples. Author of Magia naturalis (Natural Magic) (1585, 1589)
1538?Reginald Scot born. Author of Discouerie of Witchcraft (1584)
1540Francesco Giorgi dies;
Faust dies
1541Paracelsus dies
1542Inquisition established in Rome
1546Martin Luther dies
1547Venetian Inquisition started, originally to address protestant reform.
1548Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher born in Nola Italy.
1552Simon Forman born
Emperor Rudolph II born
Guillaume Postel publishes Latin translation of Sefer Yetzirah
1554Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded
1555Edward Kelley born
1558Elizabeth I becomes queen of England;
Giambattista della Porta's Magia Naturalis published;
Zohar printed
Edward Kelley's sister Elizabeth born.
1559pseudo-Agrippa's Liber quartus published.
1560?Heinrich Khunrath born in Leipzig
1564Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica published
1565Thomas Kelley (brother of Edward) born
1566?Michael Maier, physician, alchemist, and philosopher, born in Rensburg, Holstein (Germany). Physician to Emperor Rudolph II.
1572Isaak Luria dies
1574Robert Fludd, English physician, philosopher, and mystic, born
1575Jakob Boehme, German religious mystic, born;
Arbatel Of Magic first appears
1576Maximillian II dies
Jacques Gohory dies (Mar. 15)
1580'sVenetian Inquisition turns more attention to prosecuting practitioners of magic.
1581Dee and Kelley start their "mystical experiments"
Guillaume Postel dies
1584Bruno's Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast published
1588Johan Weyer dies
1595Edward Kelley dies (Nov)
1599Reginald Scot dies
1600Giordano Bruno burned at the stake in Rome
1602Athanasius Kircher born in Geisa a. d. Ulster, Germany (May 2)
William Lilly, astrologer and translator of Trithemius, born in Diseworth, county Leicester, England
1603Queen Elizabeth I dies;
accession of James I
1605Heinrich Khunrath dies
1606Trithemius' Steganographia first published
1608John Dee dies
1611Simon Forman dies
1612Emperor Rudolph II dies
1614-15Rosicrucian manifestos published in Germany
1615Giambattista della Porta dies
1617Elias Ashmole born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England (May 23)
1617-19Fludd's Utriusque cosmi historia published
1618Maier's Atlanta Fugiens published
1618Johann Baptista Grossschedel publishes Calendarium magicum (The Magical Calendar)
1620Robert Turner 'of Holshot', translator of magical texts, born
1622Thomas Vaughan, English Rosicrucian, born
Michael Maier dies
1624Jakob Boehme dies
1636Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, German mystic and Kabbalist, born.
Leonardo Longo and Fransco Viola tried for witchcraft by Venetian Inquisition.
1637Robert Fludd dies
1652Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus published
Thomas Vaughan publishes English translation (not his own) of the Rosicrucian Fama and Confessio
1665? Robert Turner of 'Holshott', English translator of grimoires, dies
1666Thomas Vaughan dies
1677Christian Knorr von Rosenroth published first volume of Kabbala Denudata
1680Athanasius Kircher dies
1681William Lilly, astrologer and translator of Trithemius, dies
1684Christian Knorr von Rosenroth published second volume of Kabbala Denudata
1688Emanuel Swedenborg, scientist and mystic, born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1689Christian Knorr von Rosenroth dies
1692Elias Ashmole dies
Salem witchcraft panic
1707Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Hebrew poet and Kabbalistic mystic, born Padua
1734Franz Anton Mesmer born in Iznang, Swabia (Germany) (May 23)
1747Moses Hayyim Luzzatto dies
1749-56Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia published
1751Ebenezer Sibly born
1772Emanuel Swedenborg dies
1799 or 1800Ebenezer Sibly dies
1801Francis Barrett publishes The Magus
1808Frederick Hockley born (Oct. 13)
1810Eliphas Levi, (Constant, Alphonse Louis), French occultist, born in Paris, France. He is said to be largely responsible for the revival of magic in the 19th century.
1815Franz Anton Mesmer dies
1831Helena Petrovna Blavatski (Helena Petrovna von Hahn), cofounder of the Theosophical Society, born of German parents in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine).
1832Henry Steel Olcott, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, born
1865Papus (i.e. G.A.V. Encausse), French occultist and author born
1846Anna Kingsford (Annie Bonus) born
1847Annie Besant (née Wood), author and noted Theosophist born
1848William W. Wescott born
1854Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers born in London
1856Levi's masterpiece Le Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie published
1857Arthur Edward Waite born in Brooklyn, New York
1861Rudolf Steiner born
1865William Butler Yeats born in Ireland
1875Eliphas Levi, (Constant, Alphonse Louis) dies (May 31)
1875Aleister Crowley (Crowley, Edward Alexander) born (October 12)
1885Frederick Hockley dies
1889Mathers' edition of Kabbalah Unveiled published
1888Anna Kingsford (Annie Bonus) dies
Papus' Traité Elémentaire de Science Occulte published;
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn established in London
1889Mathers' edition of Key of Solomon published
1890Dion Fortune (i.e. Violet Mary Firth) born;
W.B. Yeats joins the Golden Dawn
1891Helena Petrovna Blavatski (Helena Petrovna von Hahn), cofounder of the Theosophical Society, dies
1897Levi's Le Clef des Grandes Mystères published
1898Julius Evola born
Aleister Crowley joins the Golden Dawn;
Mathers publishes The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage [Abramelin]
1899C.G. Leland publishes Aradia, the Gospel of the Witches
1900Crowley expelled from the Golden Dawn
1901Manly Palmer Hall born
1907Henry Steel Olcott, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, dies
Israel Regardie born
1909Franz Bardon born
1916Papus (i.e. G.A.V. Encausse), French occultist and author dies
1918Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers dies
1925William W. Wescott dies
Rudolf Steiner dies
1933Annie Besant (née Wood), author and noted Theosophist dies
1937Israel Regardie publishes the Golden Dawn, which includes the bulk of the Golden Dawns' rituals and teachings.
1939William Butler Yeats dies
1942Arthur Edward Waite dies
1946Dion Fortune (i.e. Violet Mary Firth) dies
1947Aleister Crowley (Crowley, Edward Alexander) dies
1958Franz Bardon dies
1974Julius Evola dies
1985Israel Regardie dies
1990Manly Palmer Hall dies