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How fin-de-sicle Paris became the locus for the most intense revival of magical practices and doctrines since the Renaissance * Examines the remarkable lives of occult practitioners Josphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guata, Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Jules Doinel, and others * Reveals how occult activity deeply influenced many well-known cultural movements, such as Symbolism, the Decadents, modern music, and the "psychedelic 60s" During Paris's Belle poque (1871-1914) , many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished--Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents--all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time.