Ebenezer Sibley
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    Ebenezer Sibley

    Ebenezer Sibley(1751–1799)

    English physician, astrologer, and occult writer who worked at the intersection of Enlightenment-era 'natural philosophy' and esoteric practice. Became widely known for popularizing astrology and for presenting therapies like medical electricity and animal magnetism alongside older occult frameworks, treating the human body as a system governed by hidden forces that could be diagnosed and influenced through both science-adjacent and spiritual means.

    Read by Alcott (see Alcott's Library)

    1 title in the Cabinet

    Key to Physic and Occult Sciences

    Full title: A Key to Physic, and The Occult Sciences

    The Dial's edition: London

    Sibley's ambitious 'how-to' compendium for health and spiritual-physical practice: it tries to 'open to mental view' the unseen order linking the body, the cosmos, and invisible agencies. The book blends practical guidance and theory on topics such as animal magnetism and medical electricity with occult procedures and a broader hermetic-style worldview of correspondences. Famous for its striking engraved plates depicting these techniques in use.

    Full textSurvives at Houghton Library

    Read by Alcott (see Alcott's Library)