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occult

The occult are such things as alchemy, magic, astrology, and other "arts" of divination which use incantations or magic formulae in an attempt to gain hidden knowledge or power.

See also occultism.

further reading

Nickell, Joe. Secrets of the supernatural: investigating the world's occult mysteries with John F. Fischer (Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1988).

Seligmann, Kurt. The History of Magic and the Occult (Random House 1997), reprint of 1948 edition.

Occam's razor