Occult

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The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge
of the hidden".[1] In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of
the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable",[2] usually referred to
as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for
certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is
simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the
physical sciences.[3] The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the
occult,[4][5] in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural.
It also describes a number of magical organizations or orders, the teachings and
practices taught by them, and to a large body of current and historical literature and
spiritual philosophy related to this subject.
Contents
[hide]
1Occultism
2Occult science
2.1Occult qualities
3Religion and the occult
3.1Christian views
4See also
5Notes
6References
7Further reading
8External links
Occultism[edit]

Reconstruction of the "Holy Table" as used by John Dee

Occultism is the study of occult practices, including (but not limited
to) magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion,
and divination. Interpretation of occultism and its concepts can be found in the belief
structures of philosophies and religions such
as Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Theosophy, Ancient Egyptian
religion, Obeah,[6] modern paganism, Eastern philosophy(including Indian
philosophy),[7][8] Western esotericism[9][10] and Christian mysticism.
Goodrick-Clarke suggested that the varied forms of occultism share "a strong desire
to reconcile the findings of modern natural science with a religious view that could
restore man to a position of centrality and dignity in the universe".[11] From the 15th
to 17th century, these ideas had a revival from about 1770 onwards, due to a renewed
desire for mystery, an interest in the Middle Ages and a romantic"reaction to
the rationalist Enlightenment".[12] Alchemy was common among important
seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton,[13] and Gottfried
Leibniz.[14] Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural
science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast
distances.[15] "By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and
philosophical concerns were well-defined as 'occult', inasmuch as they lay on the
outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and discourse".[12]They were,
however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics.
Occult science[edit]
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please
help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
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2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Occult science[16] is the systematic research into or formulation of occult concepts in
a manner that resembles the way natural scienceresearches or describes phenomena.
The idea of Occult Science appears in late-19th and early 20th century occultism,
especially Theosophy, including:
Helena Blavatsky, who describes it as "The science of the secrets of nature —
physical and psychic, mental and spiritual" [17]
Rudolf Steiner, whose Occult Science, a sequel to his earlier work Theosophy, deals
with the evolution of the human being and the cosmos, as well as referring to the
attainment of supersensible knowledge;
Alice Bailey, who brought the idea of occult science into association
with esoteric astrology.
Kabbalah and Tarot have also been described as occult sciences; Papus (Gerard
Encausse)'s book originally published in French in 1889 as Le Tarot des Bohémiens:
Le plus ancien Livre du monde, was translated into English in 1910 as The Tarot of
the Bohemians: The Absolute Key to Occult Science.
In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term
"occult science" as a synonym for "magic".[18]
Occult qualities[edit]
Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation; in the Middle
Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality.[19][20] Aether
(classical element) is another such element.[21] Newton's contemporaries severely
criticized his theory that gravity was effected through "action at a distance", as
occult.[22]
Religion and the occult[edit]
Some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric
aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and
many other modern pagan religions. Some other religious denominations disapprove
of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything
supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God (as defined by
those religious denominations), and is therefore the work of an opposing and
malevolent entity. The word has negative connotations for many people, and while
certain practices considered by some to be "occult" are also found within mainstream
religions, in this context the term "occult" is rarely used and is sometimes substituted
with "esoteric".
Christian views[edit]
There is a Christian occult tradition that goes back at least to Renaissance times,
when Marsilio Ficino developed a Christian Hermeticism and Pico della
Mirandola developed a Christian form of Kabbalism.[23] Mainstream Christianity has
always resisted occult influences, which are:[24]
Monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation
between body and spirit;
Gnostic i.e. involving the acquisition of secret knowledge rather than based on
scripture and open church tradition
Seen as involving practices such as divination and calling on spirits which are
forbidden in the Bible
Not monotheistic, frequently asserting a gradation of human souls between mortals
and God; and
Sometimes not even theistic in character.
Despite this, the churches as institutions have generally regarded occultism
as heretical whenever they met this: from early Christian times, in the form
of gnosticism, to late Renaissance times, in the form of various occult
philosophies.[25]
See also[edit]
Occult portal
Ariosophy
Esotericism
List of occult terms
List of occultists
Magic (paranormal)
Nazism and occultism
Neotantra
Order of the Occult Hand
Onmyōdō
Renaissance magic
The Morning of the Magicians (book)
Western esotericism
Notes[edit]
Jump up^ Crabb, G. (1927). English synonyms explained, in alphabetical order,
copious illustrations and examples drawn from the best writers. New York: Thomas
Y. Crowell Co.
Jump up^ Underhill, E. (1911). Mysticism, Meridian, New York.
Jump up^ Blavatsky, H. P. (1888). The Secret Doctrine. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger
Publishing.
Jump up^ Houghton Mifflin Company. (2004). The American Heritage College
Thesaurus. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Page 530.
Jump up^ Wright, C. F. (1895). An outline of the principles of modern theosophy.
Boston: New England Theosophical Corp.
Jump up^ "Obeah: Afro-Caribbean Spiritual System". www.africaspeaks.com.
Retrieved 2017-05-17.
Jump up^ "Occult Science in India: Part I. The Doctrine of the Pitris: Chapter I. The
Initiated at the Ancient Temples". www.sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
Jump up^ "Full text of "The mystic test book of "The Hindu occult chambers" : the
magic and occultism of India : Hindu and Egyptian crystal gazing : the Hindu magic-
mirror"". archive.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
Jump up^ "A Beginner's Guide to the Western Occult Tradition". ThoughtCo.
Retrieved 2017-05-17.
Jump up^ Nevill Drury, The Watkins Dictionary of Magic, ISBN 1-84293-152-0. p.
03
Jump up^ Goodrick-Clarke (1985): 29
^ Jump up to:a b Goodrick-Clarke (1985): 18
Jump up^ Newton's Dark Secrets.
Jump up^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz". Books and
Writers(kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the
original on 10 February 2015.
Jump up^ Edelglass et al., Matter and Mind, ISBN 0-940262-45-2. p. 54
Jump up^ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2013). "The Notion of "Occult Sciences" in the
Wake of the Enlightenment". Retrieved 6 March 2017.
Jump up^ Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna (2007). The Key to Theosophy by H. P.
Blavatsky. Theosophy Trust Books. ISBN 9780979320521.
Jump up^ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006). Dictionary of Gnosis & Western
Esotericism. Leiden: Brill. p. 716. ISBN 9789004152311.
Jump up^ Religion, Science, and Worldview: Essays in Honor of Richard S. Westfall,
Margaret J. Osler, Paul Lawrence Farber, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-
521-52493-8
Jump
up^ http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/007327538602400401?journalCode
=hosa
Jump up^ Gibbons, B.J., Spirituality and the Occult: From the Renaissance to the
Modern Age
Jump up^ Gerd Buchdahl, "History of Science and Criteria of Choice" p. 232.
In Historical and Philosophical Perspectives of Science v. 5 (ed. Roger H. Stuewer)
Jump up^ Yates, Frances Amelia (1979). The occult philosophy in the Elizabethan
age. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 1–5.
Jump up^ Surette, Leon (1993). The Birth of Modernism: Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, W.
B. Yeats, and the Occult. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 12–15.
Jump up^ Gibbons, B. J. (2001). Spirituality and the occult: from the Renaissance to
the twentieth century. London: Routledge. p. 2.
References[edit]
Walker, Benjamin (1980). Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the
Supernatural. New York: Stein & Day. ISBN 0-8128-6051-9.
Harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. After the death
of William Quan Judge in 1896, organized the Theosophical Society Independent and
then wrote Thinking and Destiny which covers in plan terms the purpose of the
universe and occult meanings.
Further reading[edit]
H.P. Blavatsky, "Occult or Exact Science?" The Theosophist, April–May 1886
H.P. Blavatsky, "Occultism versus the Occult Arts", Lucifer, May 1888
Bardon, Franz (1971). Initiation into Hermetics. Wuppertal: Ruggeberg.
Davis, R., True to His Ways: Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice (ACW
Press, Ozark, AL, 2006), ISBN 1-932124-61-6.
Fortune, Dion (2000). The Mystical Qabala. Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-150-5
Forshaw, Peter, 'The Occult Middle Ages', in Christopher Partridge (ed.), The Occult
World, London: Routledge, 2014 [1]
Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1987. ISBN 0-7126-
1438-9
Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah (ed.) (2012). The Ashgate Research Companion to
Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult. Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-
7546-6912-8
Martin, W., Rische, J., Rische, K., & VanGordon, K. (2008). The Kingdom of the
Occult. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishing.
Molnar, Thomas (1987). The Pagan Temptation. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co.; 201 p. N.B.: The scope of this study also embraces the
occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1
Partridge, Christopher (ed.), The Occult World, London: Routledge,
2014. ISBN 0415695961
Regardie, I., Cicero, C., & Cicero, S. T. (2001). The Tree of Life: An Illustrated Study
in Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of
St. John. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John
by Sir Isaac Newton
Rogers, L. W. (1909). Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY: The
Theosophical Book Company.
Shepard, Leslie (editor), Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, Detroit, MI:
Gale Research Co., 1978
Spence, Lewis, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 1920
Steiner, Rudolf, Occult Science at Rudolf Steiner archive.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote
has
quotations
related
to: Occultism

Wikimedia
Commons
has media
related
to Occult.
Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of
Amsterdam
University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO)
ESSWE European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, with many links to
associated organizations, libraries, scholars etc.
Joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica (Esoteric Archives:
Occult Literature)
Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance. Online exhibition from the
Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections. Accessed 2013-09-15.
Occult Science at Rudolf Steiner archive.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Occult Art, Occultism". Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
eLibrary of ancient books on occultism, spiritism, spiritualism, séances, development
of mediumship in the Western and Oriental Traditions. Many technical advice on ITC
and EVP, and practical tips concerning the development of different forms of
Mediumship provided by medium Maryse Locke.
 the MYSTICA.ORG An on-line encyclopedia of the occult
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