The label esoteric means “belonging to an inner circle”. It applies to worldviews in which spiritual knowledge is restricted to a few. When serious, they focus on spiritual development and practices aimed at self-transcendence, but without the systematisation, restrictions and external structures of organised religion.

Belief in impersonal Forces or Principles is often preferred to belief in a personal God (Theism), and they usually don´t rely as much on religious authorities and texts, favouring instead personal experience and that of other initiates.

In this website, Esotericism is a term used to refer to worldviews, usually Western, derived from Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism and Kabbalah, as well as to synchretic schools such as Occultism (e.g., Theosophical Society) and pseudo-secret initiatory societies (e.g., Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). Modern Paganism (e.g., Wicca) developed within Occultism and drinks from the same waters.

The origin of these loosely related schools of thought has been interpreted in three different ways:

1. As exponents of a now long lost timeless hidden inner tradition.

2. As a group of movements that try to spiritualize and re-enchant the world in a time of disenchantment.

3. As encompassing all rejected knowledge that could not find a place either in mainstream science or as a part of exoteric religions.

Be that as it may, the fact is that, especially in the last centuries, we have witnessed the birth of this new set of increasingly popular worldviews that make metaphysical claims about the world and ultimate reality.

During the Renaissance, Hermetic and Kabbalistic ideas were widely disseminated and fused with other worldviews, birthing new movements. In turn, many semi-secret initiatory societies that transmitted these teachings were created during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most famous being the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. The nineteenth century brought the emergence of Occultism. Finally, the twentieth century saw the resurrection of different forms of Neo-Paganism (sometimes having little in common with their parent traditions).

We will now briefly explore these schools of thought in order to know what their metaphysical claims are and which symbolism do they use.

The Corpus Hermeticum, book 9, explains that Nous (Reason, Knowledge) is the source of both good and evil. This, in turn, depends upon whether one´s perceptions come from God or from evil spirits instead.⁸Salaman, Clement (2004). The Way of Hermes. Inner Traditions Bear and Company, p. 42.

Only God / Nous is thought to be free of all evil, with humankind being tempted by its physical nature and its ignorance of the highest good.

The Asclepius, furthermore, says that evil is caused by desire, itself born from ignorance. Through the intelligence provided by God, man can overcome it.⁹Salaman, Clement (2001). Asclepius : The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus.Bloomsbury, p. 31.

A myth of mankind´s Fall is also present in Hermeticism. Its main version narrates how man received God´s authority over all creation. Later, man rose above the spheres to have a better view of creation, and showed the “form” of the All to Nature.

Upon seeing it, Nature fell in love with the Absolute. Man, in turn, seeing his own reflection in Nature´s waters, fell in love with it (similar to the myth of Narcissus). This resulted in man becoming one with Nature and being alienated from his spiritual core. Man lost the Word and became a dual being composed of an immortal soul in bondage to a mortal body.

After the Fall, the myths narrate how man lost his freedom and became a subject to destiny and successive rebirths.¹⁰Bull, Christian H. (2015). Ancient Hermetism and Esotericism. Aries. 15 (1): 109–135. Many believe the doctrine of rebirth to be a purely Indian or Far Eastern doctrine. However, it is also mentioned in Hermetic literature:

“O son, how many bodies have we to pass through, how many bands of demons, through how many series of repetitions and cycles of the stars, before we hasten to the One alone?”¹¹Salaman, Clement (2004). The Way of Hermes. Inner Traditions, p. 33. 

― Hermes Trismegistus

The three main disciplines derived from Hermetic texts as paths towards God, known as “the three parts of the wisdom of the whole Universe”, are Alchemy (often referred to as “the Hermetic art”)¹²Ebeling, Florian (2007). The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 103–108., Astrology and Theurgy or divine magic.

Alchemy, correctly understood, is a mystical endeavour that uses cryptic language, figures and the physical transformations of matter to symbolize the process that leads to spiritual maturation and perfection. This process is called the Great Work and is believed to culminate in self-transcendence.

The achievement of this final state is symbolized by the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone or the Elixir of Life, which grants immortality understood in a predominantly spiritual and transcendental way. The stages of the path involve a process of dissolution, purification and coagulation or re-vivification, which were symbolized by different colors (black, white and red, respectively).

Alchemy includes doctrines and concepts from older traditions, such as Neo-Platonism. An example is the pervading system of correspondences found between everything in creation, most notably between the seven classical planets and their seven corresponding metals. This concept was based on the notion of the existence of a World Soul (Anima Mundi), or a primordial intrinsic link between all created things.

Primordial matter (Prima Materia), in turn, was the starting material needed to develop the Great Work. It was believed that it could be found everywhere, as it was understood to be the formless primordial substance that originated matter. Other similar terms for it were: Chaos, Quintessence, Aether or the Fifth Element.

The Analytical Psychology school of C.G. Jung single-handedly popularized Alchemy in modern times, which was until then mostly known only by scholars and members of esoteric schools. Nowadays, alchemical symbolism and concepts can be found in most mainstream media.

Jung saw Alchemy as the symbolic and archetypal representation of what he defined as the process of individuation. Through it, opposite tendencies in the human psyche were uncovered and reintegrated into the total personality of the practitioner, thus achieving the maximum psychological and spiritual development.

This final state was represented in Alchemy, Jung believed, as the androgynous Divine Marriage (Hieros Gamos). The One reintegrating the Many.

The cyclical movements of the planets were thought to convey symbolic meaning, since they were interpreted as thoughts in the mind of the Absolute, the All. They influenced creation but were not understood as fatalistic decrees that completely dictated human destiny. The knowledge Astrology provided was believed to be useful in managing those influences.

Lastly, Theurgy (divine magic or the science of divine works) relied in white magic to invoke beneficent spirits.¹³Garstin, E.J. Langford (2004). Theurgy, or the Hermetic Practice: A Treatise on SpiritualAlchemy. Nicolas-Hays, Inc., p. v.

The main goal of the initiate was to unite oneself with spiritual counterparts of higher planes of existence. This path was believed to finalize with the achievement of divine consciousness itself.¹⁴Ibid., p. 6.

Symbolism in Hermeticism: the Caduceus, the Monad, Ouroboros, alchemical symbols representing the different substances, elements, metals, planets and processes.

The influential philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was one of the main exponents of German idealism. He has been associated with Hermeticism (and, consequently, also with Freemasonry).¹⁵Alexander Magee, Glenn (2008). Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition. Cornell University Press.

For him, God is not complete apart from His creation. In his worldview, Absolute Spirit needs the world to actualize Himself.^C,D He accomplishes that purpose through nature, the dialectical^E developments in history and especially through mankind. All of them are viewed as “moments” in the internal life of God, and only in a spiritually conscious human being does the Absolute Spirit^F fully recognize Himself.

Hegel’s metaphysical roots, often ignored by academia, are found in Hermeticism, Aristotelianism and the ancient Mystery Religions. Although he used Christian terms and has sometimes been labelled as a Christian philosopher because of that, his worldview is opposed to Christian theology and can be ultimately defined as panentheistic.

C. “The truth is the whole. The whole, however, is merely the essential nature reaching its completeness through the process of its own development. Of the Absolute it must be said that it is essentially a result, that only at the end is it what it is in very truth; and just in that consists its nature, which is to be actual, subject, or self-becoming, self-development.”

― G.W.F. Hegel (1807). The Phenomenology of Spirit. Preface, Φ 20

D. “The life of God — the life which the mind apprehends and enjoys as it rises to the absolute unity of all things — may be described as a play of love with itself; but this idea sinks to an edifying truism, or even to a platitude, when it does not embrace in it the earnestness, the pain, the patience, and labor, involved in the negative aspect of things“

― G.W.F. Hegel (1807). The Phenomenology of Spirit, § 19

E. “Discord which appears at first to be a lamentable breach and dissolution of the unity of a party, is really the crowning proof of its success.”

― G.W.F. Hegel (1807). The Phenomenology of Spirit, § 575 

F. “The Absolute is Mind (Spirit) – this is the supreme definition of the Absolute.”  

― G.W.F. Hegel (1817). Philosophy of Mind, § 384

GENERAL ESOTERICISM

1. The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Manly P.Hall.
2. The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic. Éliphas Lévi.
3. The History of Magic. Éliphas Lévi.
4. Lectures on Ancient Philosophy. Manly P.Hall.
   

HERMETICISM

1. The Emerald Tablet. Hermes Trismegistus.
2. Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius. Brian P. Copenhaver.
3. Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition. Glenn A. Magee.
4. The Hermetic Tradition: Symbols and Teachings of the Royal Art. Julius Evola.
5. Alchemy & Mysticism. Alexander Roob.

1. Van den Broek; Hanegraaff (1997). Gnosis & Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Time. SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions, p. vii.
2. The oldest texts attributed to Hermes are astrological texts (belonging to the ‘technical’ Hermetica) which may have been written during the second or third century BCE; see Copenhaver 1992, p. xxxiii; Bull 2018, pp. 2–3. Garth Fowden is more cautious, noting that our earliest testimonies date to the first century BCE (see Fowden 1986, p. 3, note 11). On the other end, the Kitāb fi zajr al-nafs (“The Book of the Rebuke of the Soul”) is commonly thought to date from the twelfth century; see Van Bladel 2009, p. 226.
3. Festugière, André-Jean (1944–1954). La Révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. I–IV. Paris: Gabalda, Vol. II, pp. 68–71.
4. Copenhaver, Brian P. (1992). Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 216.
5. Festugière, André-Jean (1944–1954). La Révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. I–IV.Paris: Gabalda. Vol. II, p. 68.
6. Bull, Christian H. (2018). The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom. Leiden: Brill, p. 303.
7. Ibn Hayyân, Jâbir (1942–1943). Contribution à l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, vol. II, pp. 274–275; Weisser, Ursula (1980). Das Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 54.
8. Salaman, Clement (2004). The Way of Hermes. Inner Traditions Bear and Company, p. 42.
9. Salaman, Clement (2001). Asclepius : The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus.Bloomsbury, p. 31.
10. Bull, Christian H. (2015). Ancient Hermetism and Esotericism. Aries. 15 (1): 109–135.
11. Salaman, Clement (2004). The Way of Hermes. Inner Traditions, p. 33.
12. Ebeling, Florian (2007). The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 103–108.
13. Garstin, E.J. Langford (2004). Theurgy, or the Hermetic Practice: A Treatise on SpiritualAlchemy. Nicolas-Hays, Inc., p. v.
14. Ibid., p. 6.
15. Alexander Magee, Glenn (2008). Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition. Cornell University Press.

The following esoteric schools, relevant today, are discussed in their own individual articles:
(Work in Progress – Full text available in The Metaphysical Compass book)

• Perennial Philosophy or Traditionalism: with Freemasonry as a paradigmatic example.
• Occultism: including Spiritualism and Theosophy, New Age, Thelema and Chaos Magic.
• Neo-Paganism: including Wicca, Druidism and Neo-Druidism (Druidry).
• Shamanism: including Neo-Shamanism.
• Gnosticism: including Neo-Gnosticism.