History of the Occult
From the mystery cults of antiquity to the magical orders of the modern age — how the hidden traditions of the West were formed, suppressed, and revived.
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History of the Occult
Western esotericism, the long and uneven attempt to grasp hidden causes behind visible events, to communicate with non-human intelligences, and to…
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Ancient Esoteric Roots
The Western esoteric tradition did not begin in the Renaissance, and it did not begin with medieval grimoires. Its deepest roots lie in the religious and…
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Esoteric Revival of the 19th and 20th Century
Between the 1770s and the 1990s, Western esotericism underwent its most concentrated revival since the Renaissance. A long list of independent currents —…
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What Were the Eleusinian Mysteries?
For nearly two thousand years, the Eleusinian Mysteries were the most prestigious initiatory rite of the Greek world. Held every September at the small…
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Origins of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in London in February 1888 and, in a few years of active life before its schisms, became the single most…