The Interregnum witnessed a remarkable growth of interest in occult and mystical thought. Astrology, which William Lilly complained had languished in the previous decades, revived as people tried to chart a clear course for themselves in troubled times. Men like Elias Ashmole turned to alchemical studies, apparently as a refuge from the turmoil around them. The Familist tradition resurfaced with the re-publication of several works by Hendrik Niclaes. Basic texts of German occult thought appeared with the translation of works by Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Weigel. A number of other occult and mystical classics were made available to the English-speaking public, above all through the efforts of Giles Randall and John Everard. It was against this background of occult revival that much Interregnum spiritualism, both radical and conservative, took shape; in particular, it was this revival which prepared the way for the reception of Behmenism in England.

The high point of Boehme's popularity in England came in the revolutionary years of the mid-seventeenth century. While the movement which bears his name belongs mostly to the post-Restoration period, it was during the Interregnum that his influence was at its most widespread, if not at its deepest. Between 1645 and 1662 a complete edition of Boehme's works appeared in print, translated by John Sparrow, his cousin John Ellistone, and the publisher Humphrey Blunden. In addition, two short biographies of Boehme and an exposition of his ideas were published.

John Sparrow (1615–70) was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the Inner Temple in 1633. He served in the Army in Ireland, became a colonel in the Eastern Association, and was subsequently to play a part in the movement for law reform. Little is known of John Ellistone, apart from his family connection with Sparrow.