Initiatory Orders and Closed Societies

This section gathers the organised bodies of the esoteric and religious world: initiatory orders, closed societies, the mystery cults of antiquity, and the modern movements that formed around a founder or a new revelation: Freemasonry, the Rosicrucians, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the ancient mysteries, and the new religious movements of the last two centuries.

What sets these apart from the traditions of the previous section is their form: membership, initiation, degrees, and often secrecy. They are groups one joins and is admitted through, rather than traditions one is born into.