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Western esotericism | HearLore
Western esotericism
Western esotericism is not a single religion but a vast, shadowy third pillar of Western culture, standing alongside doctrinal faith and rationality, yet often dismissed as heretical by the former and irrational by the latter. This category, which emerged as a modern scholarly construct in the late 18th century, encompasses a wide spectrum of ideas and movements that have developed within Western society, united by their distinctness from orthodox Abrahamic religion and the rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment. The term itself is a relatively recent invention, with the adjective 'esoteric' first appearing in the second century CE in the writings of Lucian, but the substantive noun 'esotericism' did not enter the French language until 1828, nor did it appear in English until 1883. Before this academic categorization, these disparate currents were ignored by the academy, labeled as superstition, magic, or the occult, and largely left to the study of enthusiasts outside the walls of the university. The concept of grouping these traditions together was pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates and Antoine Faivre in the late 20th century, who recognized that these movements shared structural similarities and had played a crucial, yet previously unacknowledged, role in the history of Western thought.
Ancient Roots And Hidden Truths
The origins of Western esotericism lie in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, a time when globalisation and multiculturalism were bringing about profound socio-cultural change. Three primary schools of thought emerged in this milieu: Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism. Hermeticism, named after the legendary Egyptian wise man Hermes Trismegistus, produced texts like the Corpus Hermeticum in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, which argued that humans must transcend rational thought to achieve spiritual unity with divinity. Gnosticism offered a darker vision, positing that divine light was imprisoned within the material world by a malevolent entity known as the Demiurge, and that people must attain gnosis to escape the world of matter. Neoplatonism, advocated by figures such as Plotinus and Porphyry of Tyre, held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins but could progress through hierarchical spheres of being to return to its source. These traditions developed a hermeneutics of hidden truth, where the meaning of myths and texts was concealed beneath the surface, accessible only to an initiated elite. The Neoplatonists performed theurgy, a ritual practice designed to make gods appear and raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine, a practice that would echo through centuries of Western magical thought.
What is Western esotericism and when did the term enter the English language?
Western esotericism is a vast third pillar of Western culture standing alongside doctrinal faith and rationality. The substantive noun esotericism did not appear in English until 1883.
When did the academic study of Western esotericism begin and who pioneered it?
The academic study of Western esotericism was pioneered in the early 20th century by historians of the ancient world and the European Renaissance. Frances Yates and Antoine Faivre are key figures who recognized the structural similarities and crucial role of these movements in Western thought.
What are the three primary schools of thought that emerged in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity?
The three primary schools of thought are Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism. Hermeticism produced texts like the Corpus Hermeticum in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Gnosticism posited that divine light was imprisoned by the Demiurge, and Neoplatonism was advocated by figures such as Plotinus and Porphyry of Tyre.
How did the Nazi regime interact with esoteric groups like the Fraternitas Saturni and the Thule Society?
The Nazi regime prohibited the Fraternitas Saturni in 1936 and arrested its leader Eugen Grosche for a year. While many Nazi leaders were hostile to occultism, Heinrich Himmler used Karl Maria Wiligut as a clairvoyant until Wiligut was forcibly retired from the SS in 1939.
When did the New Age movement emerge and what are its commercial characteristics?
By the 1980s, millenarian currents had come to be widely known as the New Age movement. It became increasingly commercialised as business entrepreneurs exploited a growth in the spiritual market.
During the Renaissance, European thinkers began to synthesize pagan philosophies, which were becoming available through Arabic translations, with Christian thought and the Jewish Kabbalah. The earliest of these figures was the Byzantine philosopher Gemistos Plethon, who argued that the Chaldean Oracles represented a superior religion of ancient humanity. His ideas influenced Cosimo de' Medici, who employed Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato's works into Latin, allowing for the emergence of a wider movement in Renaissance Platonism. Ficino also translated part of the Corpus Hermeticum, while his contemporary Lodovico Lazzarelli translated the rest. Another core figure was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, who in 1486 invited scholars from across Europe to debate 900 theses he had written, arguing that all philosophies reflected a grand universal wisdom. Pope Innocent VIII condemned these ideas, criticizing him for mixing pagan and Jewish ideas with Christianity. Pico's interest in Jewish Kabbalah led to the development of Christian Kabbalah, which was expanded by the German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in his work De occulta philosophia libri tres. Agrippa and other esoteric philosophers were based on a pre-Copernican worldview, but following the arguments of Nicolaus Copernicus, a more accurate understanding of the cosmos was established. Giordano Bruno adopted Copernicus' theories into esoteric strains of thought, and his ideas were deemed heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, which eventually publicly executed him.
The Enlightenment And The Occult
The Age of Enlightenment witnessed a process of increasing secularisation of European governments and an embrace of modern science and rationality within intellectual circles, yet a 'modernist occult' emerged that reflected varied ways esoteric thinkers came to terms with these developments. One of the esotericists of this period was the Swedish naturalist Emanuel Swedenborg, who attempted to reconcile science and religion after experiencing a vision of Jesus, claiming that the visible, materialist world parallels an invisible spiritual world. Another major figure was the German physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who developed the theory of Animal Magnetism, which later became known more commonly as Mesmerism. Mesmer claimed that a universal life force permeated everything, including the human body, and that illnesses were caused by a disturbance or block in this force's flow. These somnambulic trance-states heavily influenced the esoteric religion of Spiritualism, which emerged in the United States in the 1840s and spread throughout North America and Europe. Spiritualism was based on the concept that individuals could communicate with spirits of the deceased during séances. Scientific interest in the claims of Spiritualism resulted in the development of the field of psychical research. In Europe, a movement usually termed occultism emerged as various figures attempted to find a 'third way' between Christianity and positivist science while building on the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance traditions of esoteric thought. In France, following the social upheaval of the 1789 Revolution, various figures emerged in this occultist milieu who were heavily influenced by traditional Catholicism, the most notable of whom were Éliphas Lévi and Papus.
Nazism And The Dark Arts
Emergent occult and esoteric systems became popular in the early 20th century, especially in Western Europe, and the spreading of secret teachings and magical practices found enthusiastic adherents in the chaos of Germany during the interwar years. Notable writers such as Guido von List spread neo-pagan, nationalist ideas, based on Wotanism and the Kabbalah. Many influential and wealthy Germans were drawn to secret societies such as the Thule Society. Thule Society activist Karl Harrer was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, which later became the Nazi Party; some Nazi Party members like Alfred Rosenberg and Rudolf Hess were listed as 'guests' of the Thule Society, as was Adolf Hitler's mentor Dietrich Eckart. After their rise to power, the Nazis persecuted occultists. While many Nazi Party leaders like Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were hostile to occultism, Heinrich Himmler used Karl Maria Wiligut as a clairvoyant and was regularly consulting for help in setting up the symbolic and ceremonial aspects of the SS. By 1939, Wiligut was forcibly retired from the SS due to being institutionalised for insanity. On the other hand, the German hermetic magic order Fraternitas Saturni was founded on Easter 1928, and it is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany. In 1936, the Fraternitas Saturni was prohibited by the Nazi regime. The leaders of the lodge emigrated to avoid imprisonment, but in the course of the war, Eugen Grosche, one of their main leaders, was arrested for a year by the Nazi government. After World War II, they reformed the Fraternitas Saturni.
The Counterculture And New Age
In the 1960s and 1970s, esotericism came to be increasingly associated with the growing counter-culture in the West, whose adherents understood themselves as participating in a spiritual revolution that marked the Age of Aquarius. By the 1980s, these millenarian currents had come to be widely known as the New Age movement, and it became increasingly commercialised as business entrepreneurs exploited a growth in the spiritual market. Conversely, other forms of esoteric thought retained the anti-commercial and counter-cultural sentiment of the 1960s and 1970s, namely the techno-shamanic movement promoted by figures such as Terence McKenna and Daniel Pinchbeck, which built on the work of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. This trend was accompanied by the increased growth of modern paganism, a movement initially dominated by Wicca, the religion propagated by Gerald Gardner. Wicca was adopted by members of the second-wave feminist movement, most notably Starhawk, and developed into the Goddess movement. Wicca also greatly influenced the development of Pagan neo-druidry and other forms of Celtic revivalism. In response to Wicca, there has also appeared literature and groups who label themselves followers of traditional witchcraft in opposition to the growing visibility of Wicca, and these claim older roots than the system proposed by Gardner. Other trends that emerged in western occultism in the later 20th century included satanism, as exposed by groups such as the Church of Satan and Temple of Set, as well as chaos magick through the Illuminates of Thanateros group.
Academic Recognition And Study
The academic study of Western esotericism was pioneered in the early 20th century by historians of the ancient world and the European Renaissance, who came to recognise that, even though previous scholarship had ignored it, the effect of pre-Christian and non-rational schools of thought on European society and culture was worthy of academic attention. One of the key centres for this was the Warburg Institute in London, where scholars like Frances Yates, Edgar Wind, Ernst Cassirer, and D. P. Walker began arguing that esoteric thought had had a greater effect on Renaissance culture than had been previously accepted. The work of Yates in particular, most notably her 1964 book Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, has been cited as 'an important starting-point for modern scholarship on esotericism'. In 1965, at the instigation of the scholar Henry Corbin, École pratique des hautes études in the Sorbonne established the world's first academic post in the study of esotericism, with a chair in the History of Christian Esotericism. Its first holder was François Secret, a specialist in the Christian Kabbalah, though he had little interest in developing the wider study of esotericism as a field of research. In 1979 Faivre assumed Secret's chair at the Sorbonne, which was renamed the 'History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe'. Faivre has since been cited as being responsible for developing the study of Western esotericism into a formalised field, with his 1992 work L'ésotérisme having been cited as marking 'the beginning of the study of Western esotericism as an academic field of research'.