Magic, White and Black

Magic, White and Black is Hartmann's synthesis of Paracelsian, alchemical, and Theosophical doctrine, presenting a vision of the human being as a microcosm containing all the powers of the macrocosm. Its central claim is that imagination and will are genuine creative forces capable of acting on the astral and material planes when purified.

The argument blends Renaissance magical philosophy with Eastern Theosophy, expounding the correspondence of inner and outer worlds and the ethical distinction between beneficent and harmful uses of these powers. Hartmann writes as a transmitter and systematizer, making Paracelsus and Böhme accessible to a modern audience.

The book matters as a carrier of the Paracelsian doctrine of imagination as a real power, an idea that fed directly into New Thought's conviction that imagination is the creative faculty. Its East-West blend modeled the syncretic template later mind-power and New Age authors would follow.