Home›Esoteric / Occult›All Esoteric / OccultBrowse ByAll Esoteric / OccultTraditions holding that there is a hidden knowledge behind the visible world, reachable through study, initiation and disciplined practice rather than through public revelation. They draw freely on Hermeticism, Kabbalah, alchemy and astrology, are usually organised as initiatory orders rather than congregations, and are among the most heavily cross-referenced entries in the Atlas because their systems were assembled out of others.FactsLearn MoreAll Esoteric / OccultSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedThe working academic definition is Antoine Faivre's - four intrinsic and two secondary characteristics, set out in Access to Western Esotericism - and it is the reason the field has the shape, and the European boundary, that it does. 3OverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedCurrents holding that a hidden knowledge lies behind the visible world, reachable through study, initiation and disciplined practice rather than through public revelation. They are organised as schools and initiatory orders rather than as congregations. 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedReligions 1StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedContested: esotericism and the occult are categories built by scholarship and by polemic, not self-descriptions. What they collect is held together by a shared history of rejection as much as by any shared content. 4Learn MoreEsoteric and Occult Traditions This group holds esoteric and occult traditions: currents of Western spirituality concerned with hidden knowledge, correspondence and the inner transformation of the practitioner, often organised into orders and drawing on Hermeticism, Kabbalah, astrology and alchemy. The browser will find the traditions the atlas classes here, from Hermeticism and Theosophy to the modern magical currents. The entries describe each as a body of teaching and practice, tracing its sources and history without adjudicating its claims.All Esoteric / OccultFilter Results6 entriesPlace of OriginAllBritain (1)Egypt (1)Mesopotamia (1)Rome (1)United States (1)DenominationsAllBasilideans (1)Sethianism (1)Valentinianism (1)ScripturesAllA Course in Miracles (1)Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law) (1)Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente (Liber LXV) (1)Liber VII (Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli) (1)The Urantia Book (1)Founded ByAllAleister Crowley (1)Plotinus (1)Pythagoras (1)Origin EraAll-530 (1)1 (1)100 (1)245 (1)1904 (1)1970 (1)Decline EraAll-450 (1)300 (2)529 (1)Revival EraAll1463 (1)Conception of the DivineAllDualist: two opposed cosmic principles (1)Emanationist: reality proceeds from an ineffable One (3)Monistic: one ultimate reality behind all appearance (4)Status TodayAllHistorical; not practised continuously (4)Living tradition, practised today (2)Revived or reconstructed in the modern era (1)Closed Practice StatusAllClosed ceremonial knowledge, described but not reproduced (2)Living, and practised in varied local forms (1)Partly restricted: some elements are closed to outsiders (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 6GnosticismEsoteric / OccultHermeticismEsoteric / OccultNeoplatonismEsoteric / OccultNew AgeEsoteric / OccultPythagoreanismEsoteric / OccultThelemaEsoteric / OccultSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introductiontier 1Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Oxford University Press, 2008View the Source3. Access to Western Esotericismtier 1Antoine Faivre, State University of New York Press, 19944. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culturetier 1Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Cambridge University Press, 2012Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.