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.

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...

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! 🙏🥹

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

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

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.

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!

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?... 🫣

Original testimony of Abigail Williams from the Salem Witch Trials, 1692. Now located in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

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

Make Nazis Melt Again youtu.be/FfQWz4gVcP8?...

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…

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...

Congrats! Great channel doing some serious & important myth busting, with plenty of interesting stuff from the history of magic.

"Laying Lard on Bacon"... Help, I'm running out of daft puns.

Science literacy is under threat. @tealcartoons.bsky.social & I have a kids' book coming out that we hope will inspire readers aged 8-12! DEAD ENDS celebrates flukes, flops, & failures that have given science a better understanding of our bodies. Pre-orders appreciated: bookshop.org/p/books/dead...

The MPIWG seeks to appoint a new head of purchasing! 🛒 lead our #purchasing team 🗺️ coordinate national and international tenders 🖥️ drive the digitalization of our business processes 🗓 Deadline: open until vacancy filled 🔗 bit.ly/3RYJcKl #JobsInBerlin #Career #Administration #Logistics

Take that, positive thinkers!

What FH is all about: Not to validate nor to debunk, but to understand why scientists have believed & disbelieved in “occult” phenomena. This requires a willingness to put ourselves in the shoes of those whose positions we might not immediately “get”:

More gold from the FH archives: @profstorm.bsky.social on myths of disenchantment & Max Weber’s brushes with the occult.

📜 Call for papers! This conference in October 2025 will explore allegory’s role in sciences from 1300–1700 — in anatomy, astrology, alchemy, and beyond. 🗓️ Submit by 15 June Find out more: warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/CFP--... #HistoryOfScience #CallForPapers

Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick helped specify the Volt, Ampere & Ohm. She also represented Britain at the International Congresses of Psychology by investigating the occult. A brief sketch:

I have a new article in 𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠: 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐸𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚 "The Spirits Meet the Sceptics: The London Dialectical Society's Inquiry into Spiritualism" brill.com/view/journal...

Wallace’s new-found spiritualism suggested an answer: some guiding agency helping humanity along. Darwin’s response was unsurprising: ‘But I groan over Man—you write like a metamorphosed (in retrograde direction) naturalist!’

Includes an important note on Wallace's conversion to spiritualism impacting his views on evolution. 👻

"Thomas Henry Huxley at 200: From Under Darwin's Shadow" by John van Wyhe in The Linnean (@linneansociety.bsky.social): bit.ly/43rFzmw #HPS #histsci

William James once butted heads with Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-founder of modern evolutionary theory. Wallace was hoodwinked by a fraudulent medium, and James, who was also present at the seance, was not.

"Laying Lard on Bacon"... Help, I'm running out of daft puns.

Airbrushing history & problems with 'arguments from authority': the case of William James (founder of modern experimental psychology at Harvard & leading proponent of philosophical Pragmatism).

More gold from the FH archives: @profstorm.bsky.social on myths of disenchantment & Max Weber’s brushes with the occult.

Yeah sweaty, look it up! The kind of sh*t that instantly sends me into a schizophrenic state (laughing tears while assuming foetal position & just wishing to die).

Never heard of Psychische Studien journal? Here's what you may want to know about it if you're interested in the history of psychology & its interfaces with the occult: www.forbiddenhistories.com/2013/12/psyc...

William James once butted heads with Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-founder of modern evolutionary theory. Wallace was hoodwinked by a fraudulent medium, and James, who was also present at the seance, was not.

What FH is all about: Not to validate nor to debunk, but to understand why scientists have believed & disbelieved in “occult” phenomena. This requires a willingness to put ourselves in the shoes of those whose positions we might not immediately “get”:

Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick helped specify the Volt, Ampere & Ohm. She also represented Britain at the International Congresses of Psychology by investigating the occult. A brief sketch: