William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was an Irish poet, playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. Although Yeats is celebrated globally for his lyrical poetry and deep engagement with Irish nationalism and mythology, his equally significant accomplishments in occultism have received much less attention. His interest in the occult began in his teens, leading him to co-found the Dublin Hermetic Society in 1885. After moving to London, he joined the Theosophical Society but found a more lasting influence in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he rose through the ranks to Adeptus Major. During this time, Yeats sought to merge Irish mythology with ritual magic, drafting a system for a Celtic magical order, the Castle of Heroes, but this collapsed amid the Golden Dawn’s internal conflicts at the turn of the century. His most enduring contributions to esotericism stemmed from automatic writing sessions with his wife, Georgie Hyde-Lees, which produced his most prominent work of occult literature, A Vision (1925, rev. 1937).
