Lewis Spence

Lewis Spence
Born	(1874-11-25)November 25, 1874 Angus, Scotland
Died	March 3, 1955(1955-03-03) (aged 80)
Occupation	journalist, folklorist, occult scholar
Nationality	Scottish
Subject	Scottish folklore, old British mythology, Atlantis

James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence (November 25, 1874 - March 3, 1955) was a Scottish journalist, folklorist, poet and occult scholar.

A prolific writer, Spence has been credited in reviving the study of Scottish folklore. After an early career in Scotland as a journalist, about 1906 he began to take a keen interest folklore and mythology. He wrote about Brythonic rites and traditions in The Mysteries of Britain (1905). In this book, Spence theorized that the original Britons were descendants of a people that migrated from Northwest Africa and were probably related to the Berbers and the Basques-this claim is being supported by recent DNA studies.

He then turned to ancient Mexican and Central American mythology. In 1908, he published The Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiché Mayas. This was followed by A Dictionary of Mythology in 1910 and numerous additional volumes.

Spence's researches into the mythology and culture of the New World, together with his examination of the cultures of western Europe and north-west Africa, led him almost inevitably onto the question of Atlantis. During the 1920s he published a series of books which sought to rescue the topic from the occultists who had more or less brought it into disrepute. These works, amongst which were The Problem of Atlantis (1924) and History of Atlantis (1927), continued the line of research inaugurated by Ignatius Donnelly and looked at the lost island as a Bronze Age civilization, a civilization which formed a cultural link with the New World, and which was invoked by him (as also by Donnelly earlier) as an explanation for the striking parallels between the early civilizations of the Old and New Worlds. Spence's erudition and scholarship was impressive; yet the conclusions he reached have been almost universally rejected by mainstream scholarship. Nevertheless, he seems to have had some influence upon the ideas of controversial author Immanuel Velikovsky, whose work continues to cause intense argument and rancorous debate.

Spence's 1940 book Occult Causes of the Present War seems to have been the first book in the field of Nazi occultism.

Over his long career, he published more than forty books, many of which remain in print to this day. Spence was also the founder of the Scottish National Movement which later merged to form the National Party of Scotland and which in turn merged to form the Scottish National Party.

Works include

Ancient Britain

• The Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain Restored, (1905, reprinted 1994) London: Senate. ISBN 1-85958-057-2
• The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain, (1949, Reprint 1999) Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-40447-1
• Celtic Spells and Charms ,(Reprint 2005) Kessinger Publishing ISBN 1-4253-1046-X
• The History and Origins of Druidism, 1949

Occult

• An Encyclopaedia of Occultism: A compendium of information on the occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonolgy, spiritism and mysticism, (1920, Reprinted 2003) Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-42613-0
• Occult Causes of the Present War, (1940, Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 0-7661-0051-0
• Second Sight: Its History and Origins, Rider 1951

Atlantis and other lost worlds

• The Problem of Atlantis, London, 1924
• Atlantis in America, London: Ernest Benn, 1925
• The History of Atlantis (1927, Reprinted 1995) Adventures Unlimited Press, ISBN 0-932813-28-3
• The Occult Sciences in Atlantis, (Reprinted 1976) Mokelumne Hill Press, ISBN 0-7873-1292-4
• The Atlantis of Plato
• The Evidence For Lemuria From Myth And Magic
• The Problem of Lemuria: The Sunken Continent of the Pacific, London: Rider & Co., 1932

Mythology

• The Popul Vuh: The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of the Kiches of Central America, London, David Nutt, 1908
• A Dictionary of Mythology, 1910
• The Myths of Mexico and Peru (1914, Reprinted 1976) Longwood, ISBN 0-89341-031-4
• The Myths of the North American Indians, London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1914
• Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria (ca. 1920, Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-56459-500-5
• The Legends and Romances of Spain ca. 1920
• An Introduction to Mythology George G. Harrap & Co., 1921
• The Gods of Mexico, Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1923
• The Mysteries of Egypt, or, The Secret Rites and Traditions of the Nile, 1929
• The Magic and Mysteries of Mexico, 1932
• Legends and Romances of Brittany, 1942
• The Outlines of Mythology, 1944
• British Fairy Origins: The Genesis and Development of Fairy Legends in British Tradition, London: Watts & Co., 1946
• Fairy Tradition in Britain, (1948, Reprint 1997) Kessinger Publishing ISBN 1-56459-516-1
• Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine
• Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends, (Reprint 1990) Dover, ISBN 0-486-26525-0
• Scottish Ghosts and Goblins, 1952

Poetry

• Collected Poems of Lewis Spence, 1953

External links

• Works by Lewis Spence at Project Gutenberg
• Excerpts from The Popul Vuh by Lewis Spence
• "The Legends and Romances of Spain by Lewis Spence
• "Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine by Lewis Spence
• "Myths of Mexico and Peru" by Lewis Spence
• "Legends and Romances of Brittany" by Lewis Spence