The Occult in the Poetry of W. B. Yeats
Exploring Mysticism and Symbolism
The occult plays a central role in the poetry of W. B. Yeats, shaping both his imagery and the way he explored complex ideas about reality, history, and the self. Yeats joined several occult organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and studied mystical traditions like Kabbalism and alchemy. These influences provided him with rich symbolism and a unique worldview that set his poetry apart from that of his contemporaries.
Readers of Yeats encounter references to magical wisdom, arcane rituals, and mythic cycles throughout his work. His poetry often reflects a fascination with secret knowledge and the unseen forces he believed guided both the universe and individual fate. Yeats’s pursuit of the occult was not just personal curiosity—it became an essential part of his artistic identity and literary innovation.
Whether through his famous poems or lesser-known writings, the presence of occult thought is unmistakable. Exploring these elements offers key insights into both Yeats’s creative process and the period’s broader cultural landscape.
W. B. Yeats and the Occult
W. B. Yeats’s poetry and worldview were shaped by direct contact with the occult. He drew on mystical, theosophical, and Hermetic influences, which played a key role in his artistic and personal evolution.
Yeats’s Early Fascination With Mysticism
Yeats developed a fascination with mystical ideas in his youth, influenced by Irish folklore and his own spiritual curiosity. He was attracted to ideas of unseen worlds, visionary states, and the possibility of contacting supernatural forces.
By his early twenties, he was reading works on esoteric subjects and exploring traditions outside mainstream religion. Yeats’s poem “The Song of the Happy Shepherd” and his essay “Magic” show an early interest in the power of symbols, the imagination, and the spiritual dimension of human experience.
He experimented with séances, automatic writing, and other occult practices, seeing them as methods to gain insight into both his art and the nature of reality. This interplay between creative vision and spiritual experiment became a defining feature of his life and poetry.
Membership in Occult Societies
Yeats joined the Hermetic Society in the late 1880s, beginning a lifelong involvement with organized occultism. In 1890 he was admitted to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society devoted to ritual magic and mystical studies.
Within the Golden Dawn, Yeats adopted rituals, ciphers, and symbolic systems, hoping to access higher knowledge and enhance his imaginative power. His association with key figures like MacGregor Mathers helped deepen his engagement with ceremonial magic.
He eventually became one of the most prominent members, participating in complex rites and using the Order’s teachings in his poetry and plays. For Yeats, these societies were serious avenues of research, not social experiments or parlor entertainments.
Influences of Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society
Yeats was significantly influenced by the writings of Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, which aimed to synthesize Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Blavatsky’s teachings, as well as those of A. P. Sinnett and Anna Kingsford, shaped Yeats’s understanding of esoteric Buddhism and occult philosophy.
Through the Theosophical Society, Yeats became interested in reincarnation, astral planes, and the evolution of the soul. He corresponded with and read major theosophical writers, drawing on their concepts to craft his own spiritual framework.
Key ideas from the society—like the progression of spiritual development and the existence of hidden forces—appear throughout Yeats’s poetry, connecting his creative work with broader currents in late-nineteenth-century esoteric thought.
The Occult Philosophy in Yeats’s Poetry
Yeats’s poetry integrates complex occult doctrines with personal myth-making. His verse draws directly from ritual magic, the philosophy of cycles, and the symbolic order of Hermeticism and alchemy, creating layers of metaphysical meaning.
Symbolism and Ritual Magic
Yeats employed symbolism drawn from occult systems, most notably the Golden Dawn, to encode spiritual realities within his poems. Symbols such as the rose, the tower, and the mask recur, often sourced from esoteric rituals and ceremonies.
Ritual magic is reflected in poems like "The Song of Wandering Aengus," where transformation is both literal and spiritual. Yeats used ritual structure in his writing, mirroring magical ceremonies. The invocation of spirits, as well as references to incantation and secret knowledge, serve to connect the material world with hidden realms.
He saw symbolism as an active force—shaping human experience through the conscious use of magical images. The performative, ceremonial quality in his poetry draws attention to the act of creating meaning, much like a magician enacts change through ritual.
Doctrines of Gyres and Cycles
Central to Yeats’s occult thought is the doctrine of gyres, spiral patterns symbolizing historical and spiritual cycles. This concept appears explicitly in poems such as "The Second Coming," where the widening gyre marks the end of an era.
Gyres function as metaphors for the movement of history, consciousness, and fate. Yeats drew on mystical philosophies positing that time unfolds in repeating patterns, influenced by spiritual laws rather than random chance.
In his late work, Yeats mapped human development onto these cycles, suggesting that spiritual and worldly events recur with variations. His cyclical view of history reflects influences from mystical traditions and his study of philosophical treatises on the nature of time and recurrence.
Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Theurgy
Yeats’s interest in alchemy and Hermeticism shaped his vision of transformation, both of the self and the world. He was influenced by alchemical doctrines describing the purification of matter and spirit, analogous to inner transmutation.
In "Byzantium" and related poems, he blends Hermetic imagery—such as the philosopher’s stone and spiritual ascent—with theurgy, the practice of invoking divine powers to achieve personal union with the spirit. These themes signal a search for hidden truths and the striving for perfection beyond the physical world.
The techniques of Hermeticism, including secrecy, symbolic language, and meditative practices, are woven into Yeats’s philosophical outlook. This engagement with esoteric philosophy allowed him to articulate ideas about immortality, revelation, and spiritual authority.
Occult Imagery: Elements and Metaphors
Yeats’s poetry is rich in elemental symbolism, drawing on the classical occult associations of earth, air, fire, and water. He uses these elements not only as settings or natural forces but as metaphors for spiritual processes.
Elemental Symbolism in YeatsЧ
Earth
Occult Significance: Materiality, endurance
Poetic Use: Stability, tradition
Air
Occult Significance: Thought, communication
Poetic Use: Inspiration, prophecy
Fire
Occult Significance: Spirit, transformation
Poetic Use: Passion, purification
Water
Occult Significance: Emotion, flux, intuition
Poetic Use: Change, renewal
These elements often intertwine with themes of mysticism and combined suggest a universe governed by spiritual laws. Yeats’s metaphors link the natural and supernatural, emphasizing the presence of the occult in everyday experience and the poetic imagination.
Influences of Esoteric and Mystical Traditions
W. B. Yeats drew on diverse mystical currents, integrating Western esotericism, religious syncretism, and occult symbolism to shape his poetic philosophy. His interest in ancient spiritual systems influenced both the themes and the imagery of his poetry.
Theosophy and Isis Unveiled
Yeats engaged deeply with theosophy, a movement that claimed to unlock hidden spiritual truths beneath world religions. He was influenced by Helena Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled, which asserted direct links between ancient wisdom and mystical traditions in India, Egypt, and beyond.
Yeats explored the concept of an underlying spiritual reality, drawing on Blavatsky’s blend of Eastern religious concepts, Platonic ideas, and occult science. This framework appears in his trust in a spiritual hierarchy and belief in communicable esoteric knowledge, as found in poems like "The Second Coming."
He incorporated the notion of recurring cycles and the idea that hidden masters guide human progress. These ideas became structural motifs in his poetry, often underlining the sense of urgent prophecy.
Rosicrucianism and Cabbala
Rosicrucianism and the Cabbala provided Yeats with a rich symbolic vocabulary and a formal system linking the material and spiritual worlds.
Yeats studied the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which utilized Rosicrucian and Kabbalistic teachings. He integrated Kabbalistic symbols, such as the Tree of Life and Sephiroth, into his poetry and used these frameworks to explore themes of transformation, initiation, and revelation.
He was also inspired by alchemical concepts of spiritual purification and progress. The structure of the Tarot, which draws heavily from Cabbalistic traditions, is visible in his poetic imagery and narrative methods.
Key Terms:
Tree of Life: Symbolizes the journey toward spiritual enlightenment.
Alchemical process: Represents the transformation of the soul.
Esoteric Christianity and Paganism
Yeats combined esoteric interpretations of Christianity with elements from Celtic paganism, seeking to reconcile traditional faith with the mysteries of older spiritual systems.
He was intrigued by Gnostic versions of Christianity that stressed hidden knowledge (gnosis) and personal spiritual revelation. His poetry references mystical Christian imagery—such as visionary angels, sacred geometry, and apocalyptic prophecy—alongside figures from Irish mythology and nature deities.
This blend allowed Yeats to evoke both the transcendence of spiritual union and the immanence of the earth's mysteries. The interplay between Christian and pagan archetypes produced a complex, symbolic landscape throughout his work.
Influences on Occult Poetry:
Esoteric Christianity
Key Concepts: Gnosis, Angels, Revelation
Poetic Impact: Transcendent symbolism
Celtic Paganism
Key Concepts: Nature Gods, Myth, Cycles
Poetic Impact: Earth-centered imagery
Influence Key Concepts Poetic Impact Esoteric Christianity Gnosis, Angels, Revelation Transcendent symbolism Celtic Paganism Nature Gods, Myth, Cycles Earth-centered imagery
A Vision and Other Occult Works
W. B. Yeats used occult philosophy and mystical experiences as a foundation for his later poetry. His complex system incorporated cycles of history, methods of divination, and a symbolic approach to consciousness.
Genesis and Structure of A Vision
A Vision began as a personal investigation into spiritual and metaphysical questions. Yeats and his wife, George Hyde-Lees, experimented with automatic writing—a process where written material is produced without conscious intent—to access what they believed were communicated truths from supernatural sources.
The book was first published in 1925 and revised in 1937. Its structure is part philosophical treatise, part symbolic map of human experience. Key sections outline historical cycles, archetypes, and metaphysical principles, drawing deeply on both Celtic mysticism and Yeats’s experience with secret societies like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Yeats organized the work as both a private myth and a guide to spiritual evolution. The structure features tables and geometric diagrams to present his concepts visually. This format reflects his belief in recurring historical cycles and the layers of consciousness within individuals and collectives.
Gyre Theory and Evolution of History
A core concept in A Vision is the gyre, represented by interlocking spirals. For Yeats, gyres symbolize the cyclical nature of history and personal development. Each historical era spins out, meets, and is overturned by another, reflecting a process of inevitable rise and decline.
Yeats plotted twenty-eight phases of the lunar cycle onto human life and cultural history. Each phase represents a different stage of personality or civilization—ranging from individual will to a collective unconscious. The intersection of gyres marks moments of crisis or change, which Yeats identified as key turning points in both poetry and politics.
This structure allowed him to view history not as linear, but as a series of overlapping, recurring patterns. The gyre theory provided a way to map both the evolution of societies and the shifting consciousness within individuals.
Automatic Writing and Divination
Automatic writing played a central role in the creation of A Vision. Yeats and his wife engaged in nightly sessions, recording messages they believed came from spiritual instructors. These messages formed the raw material for his system of symbolism and philosophy.
Divination, in Yeats’s view, was a means of perceiving truths hidden from rational analysis. His use of cards, diagrams, and ritual echoed older forms of occult practice found in both Eastern and Western traditions. Yeats saw such practices as ways to tap into deeper layers of consciousness beyond the individual mind.
Through these explorations, Yeats sought access to what Jung would call the collective unconscious. He believed artistic creation and personal development depended on a communion with larger mythic and spiritual forces, often facilitated by mystical techniques like automatic writing and structured divination.
Key Poems Shaped by Occultism
Several of W. B. Yeats’s major poems are directly influenced by his occult interests. His works often blend mystical symbolism, esoteric imagery, and references to secret traditions in ways that shape both content and form.
The Second Coming
The Second Coming is perhaps Yeats’s most famous poem touched by occult themes. Drawing from his readings in mysticism and apocalypse, Yeats uses the image of the “widening gyre”—his own system of historical cycles influenced by occult beliefs.
The poem’s falcon and falconer imagery reflects ideas of spiritual dissociation and the chaos Yeats saw rising from a missing controlling force. Lines such as “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” evoke a world ruled by occult cycles, not mere chance.
The “rough beast” slouching towards Bethlehem is a symbol formed by Yeats’s personal system, described in A Vision, which integrates elements from theosophy, astrology, and his experiences in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The poem thus becomes a coded vision of spiritual transformation, driven by arcane forces.
The Tower
The Tower brings occult knowledge into the heart of personal reflection. Yeats draws upon his studies of alchemical transformation to structure the poem’s symbolism, seeing his aging and artistic legacy through a mystical lens.
He locates his meditations within the physical tower at Ballylee, which takes on a dual meaning—both literal stronghold and occult symbol. In his vision, the tower stands as a site of contemplation, a place set apart from the confusion of the world, echoing the initiate’s withdrawal in esoteric practice.
Throughout the poem, the recurrence of spirals, ascent, and ritual demonstrates Yeats’s commitment to occult systems. Concepts of soul, spirit, and the passage between worlds surface as the poet reckons with mortality and transcendence.
The Countess Kathleen
The Countess Kathleen is steeped in mythic and occult lore, exploring the battle between spiritual forces for human souls. The titular character’s self-sacrifice is modeled on mystical and religious archetypes Yeats encountered in Celtic tradition and Rosicrucian teachings.
Yeats introduces demonic and angelic beings, layering the narrative with references to supernatural intervention and the fate of souls, themes central to the occult. The plot hinges on the idea of a bargain for souls, invoking the tradition of magical contracts and redemptive suffering.
The poem’s dramatic conflict is shaped by metaphysical concerns about immortality, the afterlife, and sacrifice, revealing Yeats’s ongoing experimentation with the symbolic language and ritual of the occult.
Literary Context and Contemporary Influences
Yeats's engagement with the occult occurred within a wider network of writers and intellectuals who shaped modern British and Irish literature. His interests intersected with modernist experimentation, Celtic revivalism, and the spiritual explorations of his peers.
Yeats Among Modernists: T. S. Eliot and The Waste Land
Yeats and T. S. Eliot both contributed substantially to literary modernism, but their approaches differed. While Yeats integrated personal mysticism and occult systems into his verse, Eliot’s The Waste Land reflected a more fragmented and skeptical spiritual landscape.
Eliot’s emphasis on disillusionment contrasted with Yeats’s active search for transcendence through ritual and symbolism. Yeats’s esoteric systems, informed by the Golden Dawn and his own developed philosophy, stood apart from Eliot’s denser allusion and urban imagery.
Both poets used myth to structure their works. However, where Eliot’s allusions underscored spiritual barrenness, Yeats used occult and mythic references to invoke continuity and hidden order.
George Russell and Arthur Machen
George Russell (AE) and Arthur Machen were significant contemporaries whose mystical interests influenced Yeats’s thinking and poetry. Russell, a central figure in the Irish literary revival, shared Yeats’s fascination with visionary experience, the supernatural, and Celtic myth.
Russell’s own poetry and criticism encouraged communal exploration of spiritual worlds. Through their association in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, both Machen and Yeats immersed themselves in ritual magic and mystical experience.
Arthur Machen’s horror fiction introduced Yeats to darker, more ambiguous occult themes. Machen’s stories of hidden realities and spiritual peril deepened Yeats’s appreciation for the haunting power of the unseen.
William Morris and Terence Brown
William Morris contributed to the aesthetic and political backdrop of Yeats’s career. Morris’s medievalism and championing of craftsmanship influenced Yeats’s search for a unified culture where myth and artistry were intertwined.
Yeats was inspired by Morris’s vision of a society steeped in legend and collective creativity. This perspective reinforced Yeats’s efforts to root poetry in the mythic traditions of Ireland.
Scholar Terence Brown, in later years, offered critical analysis that highlighted the impact of cultural and historical forces on Yeats’s use of occult ideas. Brown’s scholarship situates Yeats within the shifting boundaries of literary modernism and Irish identity.
Personal Relationships and the Occult
W. B. Yeats’s occult pursuits were shaped by those close to him, the intellectual environments he navigated, and the traditions from which he drew inspiration. His experiences with key individuals and exposure to differing beliefs directly informed both his poetic themes and spiritual outlook.
Maud Gonne and Spiritual Partnership
Yeats’s relationship with Maud Gonne blended personal affection with shared spiritual experimentation. Gonne, a political activist and muse, introduced Yeats to various mystical practices including séances and automatic writing. Their spiritual partnership went beyond romance and entered the realm of esoteric investigation.
Yeats and Gonne conducted rituals together, often seeking to communicate with spirits or pursue clairvoyant experiences. For Yeats, these practices provided not just personal meaning but direct inspiration for poems reflecting on fate, destiny, and the unseen.
Their connection often appears in Yeats's verse, where his depiction of beauty, loss, and longing is tied to a mystical quest for hidden knowledge. Gonne's influence encouraged Yeats to formalize his interest in the occult, eventually leading him to join organizations like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Influence of Dublin and London Circles
Yeats was deeply influenced by the literary and occult circles in both Dublin and London. In Dublin, he encountered Irish nationalists, theosophists, and storytellers who connected folklore to spiritual matters. London, on the other hand, exposed him to a cosmopolitan network of magicians, poets, and occultists.
A key group in London was the Golden Dawn, where Yeats interacted with figures such as Aleister Crowley. These connections offered him frameworks for ritual magic, ceremonial symbolism, and the Kabbalah. Such societies placed an emphasis on secret knowledge and personal transformation, themes mirrored in Yeats’s writing.
Tables of correspondences, ritualistic poems, and coded symbolism from these circles frequently found their way into Yeats's poetry. Both cities provided the social and intellectual space for Yeats to refine and express his esoteric interests.
Role of Irish Folklore
Irish folklore served as a foundation for Yeats’s occultism, blending native traditions with imported mystical systems. He collected fairy stories, legends, and tales of the supernatural from rural storytellers across Ireland, many of which suggested an active, unseen world lying parallel to everyday life.
Yeats incorporated these beliefs into his poetic vision, using supernatural elements as allegories for broader spiritual truths. He saw traditional Irish beliefs—such as encounters with fairies or the banshee—as evidence of a collective imagination attuned to higher realities.
His poetry references mythological figures, folk rituals, and otherworldly encounters, linking Ireland’s past with his own search for the occult. This synthesis of national identity and spiritual curiosity became a hallmark of his poetic legacy.
Yeats’s Impact on Politics, Religion, and Society
Yeats’s poetic engagement with the occult shaped not only his personal beliefs but also influenced his attitudes toward political authority and spiritual life. His perspectives revealed conflicts and tensions—between mystical ideals and organized religion, and between materialist and spiritual views of society.
Conviction and Mystical Life
Yeats’s conviction in the power of mystical experiences guided much of his creative and social thinking. He frequently explored visions, symbols, and rituals drawn from occult traditions such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This pursuit offered him a way to transcend the limitations imposed by conventional society.
He regarded poetry as a vehicle to access deeper, hidden truths, using mystical symbolism to articulate his sense of fate and history. For Yeats, the mystical life was the centre of all that he did and thought, not a peripheral interest. His faith in these forces influenced how he saw Irish politics—believing that national identity involved spiritual as well as material elements.
By blending personal conviction with public themes, Yeats encouraged a culture of esoteric exploration among Irish writers and artists. The effect of his mystical approach can be seen in the broader Irish Literary Revival.
Interactions With Christian Churches
Yeats maintained a complex and often critical relationship with Christian churches. While he was raised in the Protestant tradition, he found institutional religion restrictive and at odds with his quest for personal revelation. His encounter with church dogma often led to skepticism rather than faith.
He believed organized Christianity stifled individual spiritual experience, favoring uniformity over the pursuit of secret knowledge. Tensions with church authorities occasionally surfaced in his writing, especially in his critique of religious orthodoxy.
Despite his conflicts, Yeats frequently referenced Christian imagery in his poems, linking biblical motifs with occult symbolism. This interplay allowed him to question not only the relevance of church teachings but also their role in shaping Irish national consciousness.
Materialism Versus Spiritualism
Yeats saw a clear divide between materialism and spiritualism in both society and politics. He argued that modern materialist philosophies overlooked the richness of mystical and imaginative life. For Yeats, spiritualism offered a response to the perceived emptiness of scientific rationalism and secular politics.
He warned against embracing only tangible progress, urging contemplation of unseen forces and non-material realities. This viewpoint brought him into dialogue—and sometimes conflict—with political movements grounded in pragmatic or economic concerns.
Yeats’s defense of spiritual values did not dismiss reality but insisted on a broader definition that embraced intuition and myth. He sought to balance tangible accomplishment with inner revelation, emphasizing the need for poetic imagination in public and private life.
