Esotericism
Esotericism derives from the Greek term eiso and éso which mean "inside" or "within." Traditionally, "it has been used for the insights given by teachers to elitist 'inner circles' through oral transmission." [1]
Notes
"These original meanings are reflected in several European languages in which derivations of esoterikós are used for everything that is known by only a small group of insiders with purportedly superior knowledge (see Hanegraaff 2006, 336)."[2]
The term is related to the term occultisme' which "was first used in 1842 in a French dictionary entry to denote the dubious hidden agendas of priests and aristocrats."[3]
The term was later co-opted by "Alphonse‐Louis Constant, a.k.a. Eliphas Lévi, whose writings are seminal for modern magic and occultism, adopted the term from Ragon and popularized it. Occultism became synonymous with ancient wisdom about the mysteries of nature – with magic, alchemy, Kabbalah, and astrology as major occult disciplines..." Ironicially, Lévi and other occultists were involved in creating secret systems of knowledge intended for elite audiences and designed for social control, as the example of the Freemasons Tarot demonstrates.[4]
Footnotes
- ↑ Baier, Karl. “Esotericism.” In Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, edited by Robert A Segal and Nickolas P. Roubekas. Blackwell, 2021. p. 229
- ↑ Baier, Karl. “Esotericism.” In Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, edited by Robert A Segal and Nickolas P. Roubekas. Blackwell, 2021. p. 229
- ↑ Baier, Karl. “Esotericism.” In Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, edited by Robert A Segal and Nickolas P. Roubekas. Blackwell, 2021. p. 330
- ↑ Sosteric, Mike. “A Sociology of Tarot.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 39, no. 3 (2014). https://www.academia.edu/25055505/.
