Western esotericism

{{significantly problematic}}{{sources needed}}{{magic}}
[[File:Tree of life.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Kabbalah|Kabbalistic Tree of Life, festooned with complicated associations with numbers, Tarot cards, astrological symbols, and names of [[God]]. It's quite complicated but by no means complete. It would make an excellent pinball table.]]
'''Western esotericism''', also known as the '''Western mystery tradition''', '''Western mysticism''', or the '''Western Hermetic tradition''', is an umbrella term used by occultists to unite a body of occult 'knowledge' concerning:
*[[Alchemy]]
*[[Astrology]]
*[[Herbalism]]
*[[Tarot]]
*[[Gnosticism]]
*Hermeticism
*[[Spiritualism]]
*[[Numerology]]
*[[Kabbalah]]
*[[Magic|Ritual magic]]
*[[Freemasonry]]
and other bodies of occult lore into a coherent body and doctrine. (Well, as coherent as [[woo]] ''can'' be, anyways.)

==History==
Many of these [[pseudoscience]]s, [[protoscience]]s, or bodies of [[occult]] belief are themselves quite ancient, and predate any body of learning that can claim this title (for instance, some of the various texts associated with Hermeticism such as the ''Corpus Hermeticum'' were actually written during [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]], in the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> centuries CE). Rather, Western esotericism is an attempt to cobble together a seamless web of occult concepts.

Important [[Renaissance]]-era forerunners of modern Western esotericism included Cornelius Agrippa, {{wpl|Paracelsus||,}} Pietro d'Abano, and {{wpl|Athanasius Kircher||;}} and Renaissance [[Plato|Neoplatonism]] also influenced the movement. But as a thing in its own right, self-identifying as a body of lore that constitutes "Western esotericism", it is a project that can't be dated much earlier than the second half of the 18<sup>th</sup> century, even if many of the constituent elements are much older. As such, it is a product both of the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and of the [[Romanticism|reaction against the Enlightenment]]; when wannabe [[magi]] turned from the cold gaze of science towards the warm embrace of [[woo]], they still wanted coherent and systematic woo.

Martinism, [[Rosicrucianism]], the [[Theosophical Society]], and the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] are key institutions that assisted this process, along with occult writers such as Francis Barrett (author of ''The Magus'') and the [[French]] occultists Eliphas Lévi (Alphonse-Louis Constant) and Papus (Gérard Encausse).

Initiatory [[secret society|secret societies]] such as [[Freemasonry]] were popular during the period. As such, many magical organizations were constituted as secret societies which imported a great deal of their ritual and costuming from Freemasonry and from similar groups. Many claimed to be in touch with the [[Great White Brotherhood]], [[Ascended Master]]s, [[Secret Chief]]s, or similarly hard-to-contact bodies of enlightened [[mystic]]s, and that their teaching and authority derived from those sources.

During the 19<sup>th</sup> century, after Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphics, [[Egypt]]ian themes often figured strongly in the "tradition", as did motifs from [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. Towards the end of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, the Theosophical and Rosicrucian streams in the tradition parted company somewhat. The Theosophists incorporated more Hindu and Buddhist mystical themes into their version, and eventually relocated to [[India]].

At the same time, the Golden Dawn, back in England, had its brief heyday and acrimonious collapse. At its heights the Golden Dawn attracted literary figures like William Butler Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, Sax Rohmer, Bram Stoker, and Arthur Machen, and other cultural figures such as the actress Florence Farr and the artist Pamela Colman Smith. [[Aleister Crowley]] usually cops the blame for the collapse of the Golden Dawn society, but many contradictory accounts exist.

In the second part of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, the Egyptian [[Sun]] tended to yield his place to the [[Goddess]]'s [[Moon]], and the influence of earth religions and [[neopaganism]], especially in its [[Wicca]]n forms, became much more prominent.

==Varieties and influences==
[[File:Fourelements.png|thumb|right|250px|Your education starts here.]]
No single group can be expected to pick up every thread in this complicated weaving together of [[magical thinking|magical ideas]] from multiple sources; but hardly any variety of Western occultism still exists that has not been cross-pollinated by some of the others. As such, there are many streams and flavors that draw on this source. Some, like the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] and its several heirs and offshoots, still seek to incorporate much of the lore into their own systems. Some themes recur, having been sown among all of these bodies of wonderlore. [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] [[physics]] is a frequent theme; the [[alchemy|classical elements]] of earth, air, fire, and water play large roles in just about everything from [[astrology]] to [[tarot]] divination.

[[Wicca]] itself is one such offshoot; its claimed links with traditional [[witchcraft]] are its own, but the original versions drew on Freemasonry for some of their ritual, and published poetry by Charles Godfrey Leland, [[Aleister Crowley]] and others for its liturgy, and freely incorporated [[herbalism]], [[Tarot]], and in some variants even Kabbalah. The [[Brazil]]ian Umbanda worships [[African]] [[gods]] and native Brazilian [[spirits]]; but it incorporates Western magical symbols and European [[séance]] spiritism from the French Spiritist Alain Kardec.

Many forms of [[Satanism]] borrow from the tradition to some extent; [[Anton LaVey]]'s ''Satanic Bible'' contains more [[misotheism]] and egotistical exhortations than actual claims to communion with [[demon]]ic powers, but the tradition borrows trappings from ritual magic like the "Black Mass", and also borrows John Dee and Edward Kelley's [[Enochian]] keys, texts from Elizabethan [[England]] that purport to be the [[glossolalia|language of angels]] or demons.

===Far-right esotericism===
Sometimes called "brown esotericism", some schools of esoteric thought have historically been tied to the development of [[right-wing extremism]] and [[racism]], the most infamous being [[Nazi occultism]] and historical related movements. Such included a mixture of then more widespread esoterica, and things more peculiar to extremists and bigots. There's ideas of pseudo-historical peoples (e.g. [[Aryan]]s, and the more common trope of [[Atlanteans]]) and their supposed natures and histories, grand visions of the struggle between good and evil forces in the world and beyond, all manner of occult practices often similar to ones in more innocent settings (such as the Nazi fondness for runes and their supposed mystical meanings and uses), and more.

A century after the era of the old fascist esotericism, an echo of that past can be seen in part of the broad [[conspirituality]] movement. The modern fusion of New Age and conspiracy theory, where the conspiracy theory is often racist (particularly antisemitic), has gone hand in hand with a rightward political shift. A main example is [[QAnon]] and the more New Age-oriented part of its crowd. Along with the popular surge in right-wing populism throughout much of the Western world, a portion of the [[alt-right]] has fused with a portion of the modern esoteric crowd.

==Methods==
To the Western occultist, the 22 "Major Arcana" of the tarot deck<ref>A relative newcomer to the occult scene, not widely associated with divination before 1780.</ref> are assigned to the 22 letters of the [[Hebrew]] [[alphabet]]. Astrological and alchemical symbols are believed to be present in the cards as well, and to be guides to their interpretation, as is Kabbalistic [[numerology]]. The suits are assigned to the four classical [[element]]s (and the assignments vary from one interpreter to the next), relating them to alchemy. The sequence of cards is said to conceal an initiatory ritual or spiritual path, relating them to the practice of magic.

By these methods, Western occultists attempt to give coherence to what had been separate and independent traditions of occult [[folklore]]. [[Aleister Crowley]]'s ''777'' is one of the more elaborate attempts by magicians to create a vast table of correspondences &mdash; an attempt to link, well, all sorts of things: numbers, Hebrew letters, Tarot cards, gods, [[angels]], demons, [[animals]], perfumes, colors, precious stones, and geometric shapes, and quite a few other things beside &mdash; and to elaborate their secret connections with other magical concepts. The goal here is to create a magical world that exists in parallel with the physical one, in which not only [[birds]] can be omens, but the occultist can give a reason why the bird was an omen, which can be articulated to a fellow occultist. [[Meditation]] and visualization on the imagery and associations that correspond to the occultist's magical or ritual goals are key components of the practice. [[Astral projection]] is cultivated by some; magicians travel to the several astral planes represented on the Tree of Life (no, not that [[tree of life]]), which they recognize by the symbols woven into the astral landscape.

==Bibliography==
* Barrett, Francis (1801). ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/magus/ The Magus]''
* Conway, David (1972), ''Magic: An Occult Primer''. Bantam. ISBN 0525150102
* [[Aleister Crowley|Crowley, Aleister]] ''[http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/liber777.pdf 777]''.
* Fortune, Dion (1935). ''The Mystical Qabalah''. Weiser. ISBN 0877285969.
* Godwin, Joscelyn (1994) ''The Theosophical Enlightenment''. Western Esoteric Studies at SUNY. ISBN 079142152X
* Knight, Gareth (2002). ''A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism''. Weiser. ISBN 1578632471. I pity the fool who got stuck with an ''impractical'' guide to Qabalistic symbolism.
* Luhrmann, Tanya (1989). ''Persuasions of the Witch's Craft''. Harvard. ISBN 0674663241
* Regardie, Israel. ''[http://esotericonline.net/docs/library/Golden%20Dawn/I%20Regardie/Israel%20Regardie,%20The%20Golden%20Dawn.pdf The Golden Dawn]''

==Notes==
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[[Category:Esotericism| ]]
[[category:New Age]]
[[category:Magic]]
[[category:Pseudoscience]]

Categories: Esotericism, New Age, Magic, Pseudoscience