Home›Esoteric Practices›Category of Practice›EsotericBrowse ByEsotericThis page groups practices by their general category. Wikipedia notes that such practices "would include (but not necessarily be limited to) prayer, sacrifice, votive offerings, competitions, processions and construction of monuments." Browsing by category lets a visitor compare a devotional practice against a communal or a constructive one performed for the same underlying purpose.FactsLearn MoreEsotericSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsDirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1OriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedWestern esotericism as a single field is a twentieth-century scholarly construction: Antoine Faivre's typology of four intrinsic characteristics gave it a working definition, and Wouter Hanegraaff's later history reads the category as a container assembled by centuries of polemical exclusion. It is historians' frame, not a name the traditions gave themselves. 4OverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedPractices belonging to traditions of concealed or graded knowledge - Hermetic and Kabbalistic ceremonial magic, initiatic orders, internal and external alchemy, tantric sexual yoga. The atlas describes the category and the existence of its practices from published scholarship; material a living order or lineage transmits only under initiation is recorded as existing and is not reproduced. 2Contested UseContested or Appropriated Modern UseWell-attestedTantric sexual practice entered Western esoteric orders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through Randolph, Reuss and Crowley, in forms their Indian and Tibetan sources do not recognise. The atlas records the Western practice and the Indic practice as distinct and presents neither as the other. 3StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedUsed, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed 2Learn MoreThe esoteric practices This group holds esoteric practices, the inner or hidden disciplines of the mystical and occult traditions, transmitted to initiates and aimed at spiritual transformation, subtle physiology or contact with hidden powers. These practices are typically taught within a lineage and guarded from the uninitiated. The browser will find esoteric practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's technique and aim, noting the tradition and lineage in which it is transmitted.EsotericFilter Results8 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-2000 (1)-100 (3)700 (1)1888 (2)1970 (1)Attested InAllThe Greek Magical Papyri (1)Solitary or CommunalAllPerformed alone (5)Performed alone or together (1)Performed by an officiant for a recipient (2)TraditionAllAlexandrian Wicca (1)Dianic Wicca (1)Eclectic Solitary Wicca (1)Feri Tradition (1)Gardnerian Wicca (1)Reclaiming (1)Seax-Wica (1)Who Performs ItAllInitiates only (1)Trained or authorised specialists (7)Practice StatusAllHistorical; not practised continuously (1)Living tradition, practised today (7)Scholarly StandingAllA modern system making claims scholarship never entertained; it never held scholarly standing (1)A standard analytic category in the study of religion (7)CadenceAllAs the occasion requires (1)ObligationAllUndertaken only with authorisation or transmission (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 8Assumption of the godformEsotericChannelingEsotericDream interpretationEsotericMaithunaEsotericRising on the planesEsotericSpellcraftEsotericThe Bornless RitualEsotericWaidan (external alchemy)EsotericSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culturetier 1Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Cambridge University Press, 20123. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericismtier 1Hugh B. Urban, University of California Press, 20064. Access to Western Esotericismtier 1Antoine Faivre, State University of New York Press, 1994Divinity 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.