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193-460: This concept has evolved from its ancient roots in magical traditions to its incorporation into modern Western esotericism . Thaumaturgy has been practiced by individuals seeking to exert influence over the material world through both subtle and overt magical means. It has played a significant role in the development of magical systems, particularly those that emphasize the practical aspects of esoteric work. In modern times, thaumaturgy continues to be

386-616: A skeptic Bayle only partially accepted the philosophy and principles of rationality. He did draw a strict boundary between morality and religion. The rigor of his Dictionnaire Historique et Critique influenced many of the Enlightenment Encyclopédistes . By the mid-18th century the French Enlightenment had found a focus in the project of the Encyclopédie . The philosophical movement

579-432: A "best example" of what Western esotericism should look like, against which other phenomena then had to be compared. The scholar of esotericism Kocku von Stuckrad (born 1966) noted that Faivre's taxonomy was based on his own areas of specialism—Renaissance Hermeticism, Christian Kabbalah, and Protestant Theosophy—and that it was thus not based on a wider understanding of esotericism as it has existed throughout history, from

772-484: A "universal spiritual dimension of reality, as opposed to the merely external ('exoteric') religious institutions and dogmatic systems of established religions." This approach views Western esotericism as just one variant of a worldwide esotericism at the heart of all world religions and cultures, reflecting a hidden esoteric reality. This use is closest to the original meaning of the word in late antiquity, where it applied to secret spiritual teachings that were reserved for

965-437: A Companion of the hellhoundes, and a Caller, and Conjurer of wicked and damned Spirites? Notable Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment Christian thaumaturges of the period include Gerard Majella (1726–1755), Ambrose of Optina (1812–1891), and John of Kronstadt (1829–1908). The transition into modern esotericism saw thaumaturgy taking on a more structured role within various magical systems, particularly those developed in

1158-525: A God who punishes evil, the moral order of society was undermined; that is, since atheists gave themselves to no supreme authority and no law and had no fear of eternal consequences, they were far more likely to disrupt society. Bayle observed that, in his day, "prudent persons will always maintain an appearance of [religion]," and he believed that even atheists could hold concepts of honor and go beyond their own self-interest to create and interact in society. Locke said that if there were no God and no divine law,

1351-526: A capacity must be present, and this always remains something esoteric, so that there has never been anything purely exoteric about what philosophers say. In any case, drawing from the tradition of discourses that supposedly revealed a vision of the Absolute and truth present in mythology and initiatory rites of mystery religions , Plato and his philosophy began the Western perception of esotericism, to

1544-540: A category of esotericism —ranging from ancient Gnosticism and Hermeticism through to Rosicrucianism and the Kabbalah and on to more recent phenomenon such as the New Age movement. Nevertheless, esotericism itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how best to define it. Some scholars have used Western esotericism to refer to "inner traditions" concerned with

1737-411: A claim to possessing "wisdom that is superior to other interpretations of cosmos and history" that serves as a "master key for answering all questions of humankind." Accordingly, he believed that esoteric groups placed a great emphasis on secrecy, not because they were inherently rooted in elite groups but because the idea of concealed secrets that can be revealed was central to their discourse. Examining

1930-400: A core characteristic, "a claim to gnosis , or direct spiritual insight into cosmology or spiritual insight", and accordingly he suggested that these currents could be referred to as "Western gnostic" just as much as "Western esoteric". There are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that it rests upon the conviction that there really

2123-469: A descriptor of this phenomenon. Egil Asprem has endorsed this approach. The historian of esotericism Antoine Faivre noted that "never a precise term, [esotericism] has begun to overflow its boundaries on all sides", with both Faivre and Karen-Claire Voss stating that Western esotericism consists of "a vast spectrum of authors, trends, works of philosophy, religion, art, literature, and music". Scholars broadly agree on which currents of thought fall within

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2316-400: A different phase of transformation. The stages of nigredo (blackening), albedo (whitening), citrinitas (yellowing), and rubedo (reddening) correspond not only to physical changes in the material being worked on but also to stages of spiritual purification and enlightenment. Thaumaturgy, in this context, is the application of these principles to achieve tangible results, whether in

2509-579: A drab period in the history of science. The century saw significant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics; the development of biological taxonomy ; a new understanding of magnetism and electricity; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry. The influence of science began appearing more commonly in poetry and literature. Some poetry became infused with scientific metaphor and imagery, while other poems were written directly about scientific topics. Richard Blackmore committed

2702-469: A generic form of magic, without consideration for its historical roots or the complex practices associated with it in esoteric traditions. This modern misunderstanding is partly due to the broadening of the term "thaumaturgy" in contemporary discourse, where it is often detached from its original context and used more loosely. As a result, the nuanced distinctions between different types of magic, such as thaumaturgy and theurgy, are often overlooked, leading to

2895-575: A good religion based in instinctive morals and a belief in God should not theoretically need force to maintain order in its believers, and both Mendelssohn and Spinoza judged religion on its moral fruits, not the logic of its theology. Several novel ideas about religion developed with the Enlightenment, including deism and talk of atheism . According to Thomas Paine , deism is the simple belief in God

3088-572: A grand universal wisdom. Pope Innocent VIII condemned these ideas, criticising him for attempting to mix pagan and Jewish ideas with Christianity. Pico della Mirandola's increased interest in Jewish kabbalah led to his development of a distinct form of Christian Kabbalah . His work was built on by the German Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) who authored an influential text on the subject, De Arte Cabalistica . Christian Kabbalah

3281-605: A homogenized view of magical practices. The term thaumaturgy is used in various games as a synonym for magic , a particular sub-school (often mechanical) of magic, or as the "science" of magic. Thaumaturgy is defined as the "science" or "physics" of magic by Isaac Bonewits in his 1971 book Real Magic , a definition he also used in creating an RPG reference called Authentic Thaumaturgy (1978, 1998, 2005). [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of θαύμα at Wiktionary Western esotericism Western esotericism , also known as esotericism , esoterism , and sometimes

3474-556: A knighthood and a very lucrative government office. A common theme among most countries which derived Enlightenment ideas from Europe was the intentional non-inclusion of Enlightenment philosophies pertaining to slavery. Originally during the French Revolution, a revolution deeply inspired by Enlightenment philosophy, "France's revolutionary government had denounced slavery, but the property-holding 'revolutionaries' then remembered their bank accounts." Slavery frequently showed

3667-445: A miniature representation of a desired outcome, such as a model of a bridge, could be used in a ritual to ensure the successful construction of an actual bridge. The Principle of Contagion, on the other hand, is based on the belief that objects that were once in contact continue to influence each other even after they are separated. This principle is often employed in the use of personal items, such as hair or clothing, in rituals to affect

3860-432: A notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. "Esotericism" and "occultism" were often employed as synonyms until later scholars distinguished the concepts. In the context of Ancient Greek philosophy , the terms "esoteric" and "exoteric" were sometimes used by scholars not to denote that there was secrecy, but to distinguish two procedures of research and education:

4053-485: A process of increasing secularisation of European governments and an embrace of modern science and rationality within intellectual circles. In turn, a "modernist occult" emerged that reflected varied ways esoteric thinkers came to terms with these developments. One of the esotericists of this period was the Swedish naturalist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), who attempted to reconcile science and religion after experiencing

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4246-459: A radical alternative to the disenchanted world views that have dominated Western culture since the scientific revolution , and must therefore always be at odds with secular culture. An early exponent of this definition was the historian of Renaissance thought Frances Yates in her discussions of a Hermetic Tradition , which she saw as an "enchanted" alternative to established religion and rationalistic science. The primary exponent of this view

4439-582: A reputation as a conjurer "dreaded" by neighborhood children. He complained of this assessment in his Mathematicall Praeface : And for these, and such like marvellous Actes and Feates, Naturally, and Mechanically, wrought and contrived: ought any honest Student and Modest Christian Philosopher, be counted, & called a Conjurer? Shall the folly of Idiotes, and the Malice of the Scornfull, so much prevaille ... Shall that man, be (in hugger mugger) condemned, as

4632-464: A ritual focusing on Yesod (the sephirah of the Moon ) might involve elements such as silver, the color white, and the invocation of lunar deities to influence matters of intuition, dreams, or the subconscious mind. The manipulation of these correspondences through ritual is not just symbolic but is believed to produce real effects in the material world. Practitioners use complex rituals that might include

4825-463: A scientific study of how humans behaved in ancient and primitive cultures with a strong awareness of the determining forces of modernity . Modern sociology largely originated from this movement, and Hume's philosophical concepts that directly influenced James Madison (and thus the U.S. Constitution), and as popularised by Dugald Stewart was the basis of classical liberalism . In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations , often considered

5018-482: A society based on reason and that women as well as men should be treated as rational beings. She is best known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Science played an important role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favour of

5211-484: A specific elite and hidden from the masses. This definition was popularised in the published work of 19th-century esotericists like A.E. Waite , who sought to combine their own mystical beliefs with a historical interpretation of esotericism. It subsequently became a popular approach within several esoteric movements, most notably Martinism and Traditionalism . This definition, originally developed by esotericists themselves, became popular among French academics during

5404-408: A subject of interest within the broader field of occultism, where it is studied and practiced as part of a larger system of magical knowledge. Its principles are often applied in conjunction with other forms of esoteric practice, such as alchemy and Hermeticism , to achieve a deeper understanding and mastery of the forces that govern the natural and supernatural worlds. A practitioner of thaumaturgy

5597-522: A team of 150 others. The Encyclopédie helped in spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment across Europe and beyond. Other publications of the Enlightenment included Berkeley's A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), Voltaire's Letters on the English (1733) and Philosophical Dictionary (1764); Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (1740); Montesquieu's The Spirit of

5790-496: A true and absolute nature of reality really existed, it would only be accessible through "esoteric" spiritual practices, and could not be discovered or measured by the "exoteric" tools of scientific and scholarly enquiry. Hanegraaff pointed out that an approach that seeks a common inner hidden core of all esoteric currents masks that such groups often differ greatly, being rooted in their own historical and social contexts and expressing mutually exclusive ideas and agendas. A third issue

5983-526: A true faith in God. For moderate Christians, this meant a return to simple Scripture. Locke abandoned the corpus of theological commentary in favor of an "unprejudiced examination" of the Word of God alone . He determined the essence of Christianity to be a belief in Christ the redeemer and recommended avoiding more detailed debate. Anthony Collins , one of the English freethinkers , published his "Essay concerning

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6176-535: A vision of Jesus Christ . His writings focused on his visionary travels to heaven and hell and his communications with angels, claiming that the visible, materialist world parallels an invisible spiritual world, with correspondences between the two that do not reflect causal relations. Following his death, followers founded the Swedenborgian New Church —though his writings influenced a wider array of esoteric philosophies. Another major figure within

6369-456: A wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the term esotericism developed in 17th-century Europe. Various academics have debated numerous definitions of Western esotericism. One view adopts a definition from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennial hidden inner tradition . A second perspective sees esotericism as a category of movements that embrace an "enchanted" worldview in

6562-427: A world view that embraces "enchantment" in contrast to world views influenced by post- Cartesian , post- Newtonian , and positivist science that sought to " dis-enchant " the world. That approach understands esotericism as comprising those world views that eschew a belief in instrumental causality and instead adopt a belief that all parts of the universe are interrelated without a need for causal chains. It stands as

6755-415: Is a "thaumaturge", "thaumaturgist", "thaumaturgus", "miracle worker", or "wonderworker". The word thaumaturgy derives from Greek θαῦμα thaûma , meaning "miracle" or "marvel" (final t from genitive thaûma t os ) and ἔργον érgon , meaning "work". In the 16th century, the word thaumaturgy entered the English language meaning miraculous or magical powers. The word was first anglicized and used in

6948-439: Is a "universal, hidden, esoteric dimension of reality" that objectively exists. The existence of this universal inner tradition has not been discovered through scientific or scholarly enquiry; this had led some to claim that it does not exist, though Hanegraaff thought it better to adopt a view based in methodological agnosticism by stating that "we simply do not know—and cannot know" if it exists or not. He noted that, even if such

7141-435: Is a category that represents "the academy's dustbin of rejected knowledge." In this respect, it contains all of the theories and world views rejected by the mainstream intellectual community because they do not accord with "normative conceptions of religion, rationality and science." His approach is rooted within the field of the history of ideas , and stresses the role of change and transformation over time. Goodrick-Clarke

7334-417: Is a modern scholarly construct, not an autonomous tradition that already existed out there and merely needed to be discovered by historians. — The scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff, 2013. The concept of "Western esotericism" represents a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self-defined tradition of thought. In the late 17th century, several European Christian thinkers presented

7527-423: Is confronted with the divine aspect of existence. — Historian of religion Henrik Bogdan, 2007. As an alternative to Faivre's framework, Kocku von Stuckrad developed his own variant, though he argued that this did not represent a "definition" but rather "a framework of analysis" for scholarly usage. He stated that "on the most general level of analysis", esotericism represented "the claim of higher knowledge",

7720-426: Is grounded in a ruler's habitual authority and force. It is precisely because of the ruler's authority over-and-against the subject that the subject tacitly consents, and Hume says that the subjects would "never imagine that their consent made him sovereign," rather the authority did so. Similarly, Ferguson did not believe citizens built the state, rather polities grew out of social development. In his 1767 An Essay on

7913-404: Is more pragmatic and results-oriented. Aleister Crowley, in his Magick (Book 4) , emphasizes the importance of understanding these differences, noting that while theurgic practices seek to align the practitioner with divine will, thaumaturgy allows the practitioner to exert their will over the material world through the application of esoteric knowledge and ritual. In modern times, thaumaturgy

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8106-578: Is no comparable category of "Eastern" or "Oriental" esotericism. The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism. Hanegraaff has characterised these as "recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important though always controversial role in the history of Western culture". Historian of religion Henrik Bogdan asserted that Western esotericism constituted "a third pillar of Western culture" alongside "doctrinal faith and rationality", being deemed heretical by

8299-526: Is not a natural term but an artificial category, applied retrospectively to a range of currents and ideas that were known by other names at least prior to the end of the eighteenth century. [This] means that, originally, not all those currents and ideas were necessarily seen as belonging together:... it is only as recently as the later seventeenth century that we find the first attempts at presenting them as one single, coherent field or domain, and at explaining what they have in common. In short, 'Western esotericism'

8492-455: Is often governed by two key magical principles: the Principle of Sympathy and the Principle of Contagion . These principles are foundational in understanding how thaumaturges influence the physical world through magical means. The Principle of Sympathy operates on the idea that "like affects like", meaning that objects or symbols that resemble each other can influence each other. For example,

8685-399: Is often misunderstood, particularly in popular culture where it is sometimes depicted as synonymous with fantasy magic or "miracle-working" in a religious sense. These portrayals can dilute the rich historical and esoteric significance of thaumaturgy, reducing it to a mere trope of magical fiction. For instance, the term is frequently used in fantasy literature and role-playing games to describe

8878-570: Is one of the earliest English texts to discuss thaumaturgy, describing it as the art of creating "strange works" through a combination of natural and mathematical principles. Dee's work reflects the Renaissance pursuit of knowledge that blurred the lines between the magical and the mechanical, as thaumaturges were often seen as early scientists who harnessed the hidden powers of nature. In Dee's time, "the Mathematicks" referred not merely to

9071-439: Is primarily concerned with invoking divine or spiritual beings to achieve union with the divine, often for purposes of spiritual ascent or enlightenment . Thaumaturgy, on the other hand, focuses on the manipulation of natural forces to produce tangible effects in the physical world. This distinction is crucial in understanding the differing objectives of these practices: theurgy is inherently religious and mystical, while thaumaturgy

9264-457: Is that which provides, in his words, "the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers." Much of what is incorporated in the scientific method (the nature of knowledge, evidence, experience, and causation) and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by Hutcheson's protégés in Edinburgh : David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a major figure in

9457-538: The Chaldean Oracles . Scholars are still unsure of precisely what theurgy involved, but know it involved a practice designed to make gods appear, who could then raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine. After the fall of Rome , alchemy and philosophy and other aspects of the tradition were largely preserved in the Arab and Near Eastern world and reintroduced into Western Europe by Jews and by

9650-605: The philosophes of the French Enlightenment were not revolutionaries and many were members of the nobility, their ideas played an important part in undermining the legitimacy of the Old Regime and shaping the French Revolution . Francis Hutcheson , a moral philosopher and founding figure of the Scottish Enlightenment , described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue

9843-597: The Chaldean Oracles represented an example of a superior religion of ancient humanity that had been passed down by the Platonists . Plethon's ideas interested the ruler of Florence, Cosimo de' Medici , who employed Florentine thinker Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) to translate Plato's works into Latin. Ficino went on to translate and publish the works of various Platonic figures, arguing that their philosophies were compatible with Christianity, and allowing for

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10036-498: The Declaration of Independence ; and Madison incorporated these ideals into the U.S. Constitution during its framing in 1787. Locke, one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, based his governance philosophy in social contract theory, a subject that permeated Enlightenment political thought. English philosopher Thomas Hobbes ushered in this new debate with his work Leviathan in 1651. Hobbes also developed some of

10229-476: The French Revolution of 1789—both had some intellectual influence from Thomas Jefferson. One view of the political changes that occurred during the Enlightenment is that the " consent of the governed " philosophy as delineated by Locke in Two Treatises of Government (1689) represented a paradigm shift from the old governance paradigm under feudalism known as the " divine right of kings ." In this view,

10422-456: The Kabbalah and Christian philosophy, resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian Kabbalah and Christian theosophy . The 17th century saw the development of initiatory societies professing esoteric knowledge such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry , while the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century led to the development of new forms of esoteric thought. The 19th century saw

10615-496: The Pharaoh , ensuring a successful harvest, or even controlling the weather. Similarly, in ancient Greece , certain figures were believed to possess the ability to perform miraculous feats, often attributed to their deep understanding of the mysteries of the gods and nature. This blending of religious and magical practices laid the groundwork for what would later be recognized as thaumaturgy in Western esotericism. In Greek writings,

10808-573: The Scientific Revolution and the work of Johannes Kepler , Galileo Galilei , Francis Bacon , Pierre Gassendi , and Isaac Newton , among others, as well as the rationalist philosophy of Descartes , Hobbes , Spinoza , Leibniz , and John Locke . Some date the beginning of the Enlightenment to the publication of René Descartes ' Discourse on the Method in 1637, with his method of systematically disbelieving everything unless there

11001-581: The Ungrund , and that God himself was composed of a wrathful core, surrounded by the forces of light and love. Though condemned by Germany's Lutheran authorities, Böhme's ideas spread and formed the basis for a number of small religious communities, such as Johann Georg Gichtel 's Angelic Brethren in Amsterdam , and John Pordage and Jane Leade 's Philadelphian Society in England. From 1614 to 1616,

11194-638: The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom . Jefferson's political ideals were greatly influenced by the writings of Locke, Bacon, and Newton, whom he considered the three greatest men that ever lived. The Enlightenment took hold in most European countries and influenced nations globally, often with a specific local emphasis. For example, in France it became associated with anti-government and anti-Church radicalism, while in Germany it reached deep into

11387-593: The Waldensians were thought to have utilized esoteric concepts. During the Renaissance , a number of European thinkers began to synthesize " pagan " (that is, not Christian) philosophies, which were then being made available through Arabic translations, with Christian thought and the Jewish kabbalah. The earliest of these individuals was the Byzantine philosopher Plethon (1355/60–1452?), who argued that

11580-559: The Western mystery tradition , is a term scholars use to classify a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society . These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and Age of Enlightenment rationalism . It has influenced, or contributed to, various forms of Western philosophy , mysticism , religion , science , pseudoscience , art , literature , and music . The idea of grouping

11773-589: The bishop of Fiesole , Andrew Corsini of the Carmelites (1302–1373), who was called a thaumaturge during his lifetime. This period also saw the development of grimoires —manuals for magical practices—where rituals and spells were documented, often blending Christian and pagan traditions. In the Renaissance , the concept of thaumaturgy expanded as scholars like John Dee explored the intersections between magic, science, and religion. Dee's Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara (1570)

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11966-487: The counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, which led to the New Age phenomenon in the 1970s. The idea that these disparate movements could be classified as "Western esotericism" developed in the late 18th century, but these esoteric currents were largely ignored as a subject of academic enquiry. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late 20th century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates and Antoine Faivre . The concept of

12159-552: The natural world . The primary exponent of this approach was Paracelsus (1493/94–1541), who took inspiration from alchemy and folk magic to argue against the mainstream medical establishment of his time—which, as in Antiquity, still based its approach on the ideas of the second-century physician and philosopher, Galen , a Greek in the Roman Empire. Instead, Paracelsus urged doctors to learn medicine through an observation of

12352-512: The rule of law , and religious freedom , in contrast to an absolute monarchy or single party state and the religious persecution of faiths other than those formally established and often controlled outright by the State. By contrast, other intellectual currents included arguments in favour of anti-Christianity , Deism , and even Atheism , accompanied by demands for secular states , bans on religious education, suppression of Monasteries ,

12545-468: The skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the public sphere through private and public reason. Kant's work continued to shape German thought and indeed all of European philosophy, well into the 20th century. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of England's earliest feminist philosophers. She argued for

12738-544: The state of nature as a condition in which humans are rational and follow natural law, in which all men are born equal and with the right to life , liberty, and property. However, when one citizen breaks the law of nature both the transgressor and the victim enter into a state of war, from which it is virtually impossible to break free. Therefore, Locke said that individuals enter into civil society to protect their natural rights via an "unbiased judge" or common authority, such as courts. In contrast, Rousseau's conception relies on

12931-690: The suppression of the Jesuits , and the expulsion of religious orders . Contemporary criticism, particularly of these anti-religious concepts, has since been dubbed the Counter-Enlightenment by Sir Isaiah Berlin . The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the Scientific Revolution . Earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon , Pierre Gassendi , René Descartes , Thomas Hobbes , Baruch Spinoza , John Locke , Pierre Bayle , and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . Some of figures of

13124-542: The "esoteric" originated in the 2nd century with the coining of the Ancient Greek adjective esôterikós ("belonging to an inner circle"); the earliest known example of the word appeared in a satire authored by Lucian of Samosata ( c.  125 – after 180). In the 15th and 16th centuries, differentiations in Latin between exotericus and esotericus (along with internus and externus ) were common in

13317-404: The 17th and the 18th centuries. The Enlightenment featured a range of social ideas centered on the value of knowledge learned by way of rationalism and of empiricism and political ideals such as natural law , liberty , and progress , toleration and fraternity , constitutional government , and the formal separation of church and state . The Enlightenment was preceded by and overlaps

13510-497: The 18th and 19th centuries. In Hermeticism and the Western occult tradition, thaumaturgy was often practiced alongside alchemy and theurgy , with a focus on manipulating the material world through ritual and symbolic action. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , a prominent magical order founded in the late 19th century, incorporated thaumaturgy into its curriculum, emphasizing the importance of both theory and practice in

13703-696: The 1980s, exerting a strong influence over the scholars Mircea Eliade , Henry Corbin , and the early work of Faivre. Within the academic field of religious studies , those who study different religions in search of an inner universal dimension to them all are termed "religionists". Such religionist ideas also exerted an influence on more recent scholars like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke and Arthur Versluis . Versluis for instance defined "Western esotericism" as "inner or hidden spiritual knowledge transmitted through Western European historical currents that in turn feed into North American and other non-European settings". He added that these Western esoteric currents all shared

13896-535: The 19th and 20th centuries, scholars increasingly saw the term "esotericism" as meaning something distinct from Christianity—as a subculture at odds with the Christian mainstream from at least the time of the Renaissance. After being introduced by Jacques Matter in French, the occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi (1810–1875) popularized the term in the 1850s. Lévi also introduced the term l'occultisme ,

14089-648: The Affairs of Europe now turn." Locke's theory of natural rights has influenced many political documents, including the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French National Constituent Assembly's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen . Some philosophes argued that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights would lead to the market mechanism and capitalism , the scientific method, religious tolerance , and

14282-549: The Age of Enlightenment, these esoteric traditions came to be regularly categorised under the labels of " superstition ", " magic ", and " the occult "—terms often used interchangeably. The modern academy , then in the process of developing, consistently rejected and ignored topics coming under "the occult", thus leaving research into them largely to enthusiasts outside of academia. Indeed, according to historian of esotericism Wouter J. Hanegraaff (born 1961), rejection of "occult" topics

14475-462: The Buddha and subsequent disciples. Legendary monks like Bodhidharma , Upagupta , Padmasambhava , and others were depicted in popular legends and hagiographical accounts as wielding various supernatural powers. A common misconception about thaumaturgy is its conflation with theurgy . While both involve the practice of magic , they serve distinct purposes and operate on different principles. Theurgy

14668-771: The Creator with no reference to the Bible or any other miraculous source. Instead, the deist relies solely on personal reason to guide his creed , which was eminently agreeable to many thinkers of the time. Atheism was much discussed, but there were few proponents. Wilson and Reill note: "In fact, very few enlightened intellectuals, even when they were vocal critics of Christianity, were true atheists. Rather, they were critics of orthodox belief, wedded rather to skepticism, deism, vitalism, or perhaps pantheism." Some followed Pierre Bayle and argued that atheists could indeed be moral men. Many others like Voltaire held that without belief in

14861-572: The Criminal Trial, 1787), which established him as an international authority on criminal law. The Enlightenment has long been seen as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture. The Enlightenment brought political modernization to the West, in terms of introducing democratic values and institutions and the creation of modern, liberal democracies. This thesis has been widely accepted by scholars and has been reinforced by

15054-470: The Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria , George Berkeley , Denis Diderot , David Hume , Immanuel Kant , Lord Monboddo , Montesquieu , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Adam Smith , Hugo Grotius , and Voltaire . One influential Enlightenment publication was the Encyclopédie ( Encyclopedia ). Published between 1751 and 1772 in 35 volumes, it was compiled by Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert , and

15247-399: The Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and religious officials and paved the way for the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. A variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism, socialism , and neoclassicism , trace their intellectual heritage to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was marked by an increasing awareness of the relationship between

15440-469: The French government, was eager to accept Frederick's invitation to live at his palace. Frederick explained: "My principal occupation is to combat ignorance and prejudice... to enlighten minds, cultivate morality, and to make people as happy as it suits human nature, and as the means at my disposal permit." The Enlightenment has been frequently linked to the American Revolution of 1776 and

15633-599: The Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, Leopold II of Tuscany and Joseph II of Austria. Joseph was over-enthusiastic, announcing many reforms that had little support so that revolts broke out and his regime became a comedy of errors, and nearly all his programs were reversed. Senior ministers Pombal in Portugal and Johann Friedrich Struensee in Denmark also governed according to Enlightenment ideals. In Poland,

15826-633: The Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, then part of the Roman Empire , during Late Antiquity . This was a milieu that mixed religious and intellectual traditions from Greece, Egypt, the Levant, Babylon, and Persia—in which globalisation , urbanisation, and multiculturalism were bringing about socio-cultural change. One component of this was Hermeticism, an Egyptian Hellenistic school of thought that takes its name from

16019-725: The History of Civil Society , Ferguson uses the four stages of progress, a theory that was popular in Scotland at the time, to explain how humans advance from a hunting and gathering society to a commercial and civil society without agreeing to a social contract. Both Rousseau's and Locke's social contract theories rest on the presupposition of natural rights , which are not a result of law or custom but are things that all men have in pre-political societies and are therefore universal and inalienable. The most famous natural right formulation comes from Locke's Second Treatise, when he introduces

16212-492: The Laws (1748); Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality (1754) and The Social Contract (1762); Cesare Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments (1764); Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and The Wealth of Nations (1776); and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Bacon's empiricism and Descartes' rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking. Descartes' attempt to construct

16405-761: The Newtonian system to verse in Creation, a Philosophical Poem in Seven Books (1712). After Newton's death in 1727, poems were composed in his honour for decades. James Thomson penned his "Poem to the Memory of Newton," which mourned the loss of Newton and praised his science and legacy. Hume and other Scottish Enlightenment thinkers developed a " science of man ," which was expressed historically in works by authors including James Burnett , Adam Ferguson , John Millar , and William Robertson , all of whom merged

16598-459: The Qabalistic system, emphasizing the practical aspect of these tools in thaumaturgic practices. Alchemy and thaumaturgy are often intertwined, particularly in the context of spiritual transformation and the pursuit of enlightenment . Alchemy, with its focus on the transmutation of base metals into gold and the quest for the philosopher's stone , can be seen as a form of thaumaturgy where

16791-614: The Renaissance—among them Paracelsianism , Weigelianism , and Christian theosophy —in his book he labelled all of these traditions under the category of "Platonic–Hermetic Christianity", portraying them as heretical to what he saw as "true" Christianity. Despite his hostile attitude toward these traditions of thought, Colberg became the first to connect these disparate philosophies and to study them under one rubric, also recognising that these ideas linked back to earlier philosophies from late antiquity . In 18th-century Europe, during

16984-557: The Scientific Revolution as the creators of scientific knowledge, in contrast to the scholasticism of the university. Some societies created or retained links to universities, but contemporary sources distinguished universities from scientific societies by claiming that the university's utility was in the transmission of knowledge while societies functioned to create knowledge. As the role of universities in institutionalized science began to diminish, learned societies became

17177-681: The Use of Reason in Propositions the Evidence whereof depends on Human Testimony" (1707), in which he rejects the distinction between "above reason" and "contrary to reason," and demands that revelation should conform to man's natural ideas of God. In the Jefferson Bible , Thomas Jefferson went further and dropped any passages dealing with miracles, visitations of angels, and the resurrection of Jesus after his death , as he tried to extract

17370-634: The West and the East. As for the noun "esotericism", probably the first mention in German of Esoterismus appeared in a 1779 work by Johann Georg Hamann , and the use of Esoterik in 1790 by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn . But the word esoterisch had already existed at least since 1731–1736, as found in the works of Johann Jakob Brucker ; this author rejected everything that is characterized today as an "esoteric corpus". In this 18th century context, these terms referred to Pythagoreanism or Neoplatonic theurgy , but

17563-450: The ability to influence it. This includes the use of rituals, symbols, and sacred texts to bring about spiritual growth and material success. In the introduction of his translation of the "Spiritual Powers (神通 Jinzū )" chapter of Dōgen 's Shōbōgenzō , Carl Bielefeldt refers to the powers developed by adepts of Esoteric Buddhism as belonging to the "thaumaturgical tradition". These powers, known as siddhi or abhijñā , were ascribed to

17756-472: The absolutist government was very strong. The early enlightenment emerged in protest to these circumstances, gaining ground under the support of Madame de Pompadour , the mistress of Louis XV . Called the Siècle des Lumières, the philosophical movement of the Enlightenment had already started by the early 18th century, when Pierre Bayle launched the popular and scholarly Enlightenment critique of religion. As

17949-459: The abstract computations associated with the term today, but to physical mechanical devices which employed mathematical principles in their design. These devices, operated by means of compressed air, springs, strings, pulleys or levers, were seen by unsophisticated people (who did not understand their working principles) as magical devices which could only have been made with the aid of demons and devils. By building such mechanical devices, Dee earned

18142-416: The act of performing thaumaturgy can be physically and spiritually taxing. As a result, practitioners often undergo rigorous training and preparation to build their capacity to manipulate energy effectively and safely. In Hermetic Qabalah , thaumaturgy occupies a significant role as it involves the practical application of mystical principles to influence the physical world. This tradition is deeply rooted in

18335-456: The afternoon, while he reserved the morning for "akroatika" (acroamatics), referring to natural philosophy and logic , taught during a walk with his students. Furthermore, the term "exoteric" for Aristotle could have another meaning, hypothetically referring to an extracosmic reality, ta exo , superior to and beyond Heaven, requiring abstraction and logic. This reality stood in contrast to what he called enkyklioi logoi, knowledge "from within

18528-405: The ancient world to the contemporary period. Accordingly, Von Stuckrad suggested that it was a good typology for understanding "Christian esotericism in the early modern period " but lacked utility beyond that. Somewhat crudely, esotericism can be described as a Western form of spirituality that stresses the importance of the individual effort to gain spiritual knowledge, or gnosis , whereby man

18721-479: The ancient, medieval, and Renaissance traditions of esoteric thought. In France, following the social upheaval of the 1789 Revolution , various figures emerged in this occultist milieu who were heavily influenced by traditional Catholicism, the most notable of whom were Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875) and Papus (1865–1916). Also significant was René Guénon (1886–1951), whose concern with tradition led him to develop an occult viewpoint termed Traditionalism ; it espoused

18914-417: The argument that one could categorise certain traditions of Western philosophy and thought together, thus establishing the category now labelled "Western esotericism". The first to do so, Ehregott Daniel Colberg  [ de ] (1659–1698), a German Lutheran theologian, wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity (1690–91). A hostile critic of various currents of Western thought that had emerged since

19107-510: The circle", involving the intracosmic physics that surrounds everyday life. There is a report by Strabo and Plutarch , however, which states that the Lyceum's school texts were circulated internally, their publication was more controlled than the exoteric ones, and that these "esoteric" texts were rediscovered and compiled only with the efforts of Andronicus of Rhodes . Plato would have orally transmitted intramural teachings to his disciples,

19300-536: The clergy of all churches and was a plea for deism. Roy Porter argues that the reasons for this neglect were the assumptions that the movement was primarily French-inspired, that it was largely a-religious or anti-clerical, and that it stood in outspoken defiance to the established order. Porter admits that after the 1720s England could claim thinkers to equal Diderot , Voltaire, or Rousseau. However, its leading intellectuals such as Gibbon, Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson were all quite conservative and supportive of

19493-512: The concept of correspondences , where different elements of the cosmos are seen as interconnected. In the Hermetic tradition , a thaumaturge seeks to manipulate these correspondences to bring about desired changes. The sephiroth on the Tree of Life serve as a map for these interactions, with specific rituals and symbols corresponding to different sephiroth and their associated powers. For example,

19686-780: The concept was particularly sedimentated by two streams of discourses: speculations about the influences of the Egyptians on ancient philosophy and religion, and their associations with Masonic discourses and other secret societies, who claimed to keep such ancient secrets until the Enlightenment; and the emergence of orientalist academic studies , which since the 17th century identified the presence of mysteries, secrets or esoteric "ancient wisdom" in Persian, Arab, Indian and Far Eastern texts and practices (see also Early Western reception of Eastern esotericism ) The noun "esotericism", in its French form "ésotérisme", first appeared in 1828 in

19879-556: The cornerstone of organized science. Official scientific societies were chartered by the state to provide technical expertise. Most societies were granted permission to oversee their own publications, control the election of new members and the administration of the society. In the 18th century, a tremendous number of official academies and societies were founded in Europe, and by 1789 there were over 70 official scientific societies. In reference to this growth, Bernard de Fontenelle coined

20072-568: The cosmos was established. Copernicus' theories were adopted into esoteric strains of thought by Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), whose ideas were deemed heresy by the Roman Catholic Church , which eventually publicly executed him. A distinct strain of esoteric thought developed in Germany, where it became known as Naturphilosophie . Though influenced by traditions from Late Antiquity and medieval Kabbalah, it only acknowledged two main sources of authority: Biblical scripture and

20265-604: The cultural contact between Christians and Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy. The 12th century saw the development of the Kabbalah in southern Italy and medieval Spain . The medieval period also saw the publication of grimoires , which offered often elaborate formulas for theurgy and thaumaturgy . Many of the grimoires seem to have kabbalistic influence. Figures in alchemy from this period seem to also have authored or used grimoires. Medieval sects deemed heretical such as

20458-520: The development of free speech and thought. There were immediate practical results. The experiments of Antoine Lavoisier were used to create the first modern chemical plants in Paris, and the experiments of the Montgolfier brothers enabled them to launch the first manned flight in a hot air balloon in 1783. Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science greatly valued empiricism and rational thought and

20651-441: The development of the field of psychical research . Somnambulism also exerted a strong influence on the early disciplines of psychology and psychiatry ; esoteric ideas pervade the work of many early figures in this field, most notably Carl Gustav Jung —though with the rise of psychoanalysis and behaviourism in the 20th century, these disciplines distanced themselves from esotericism. Also influenced by artificial somnambulism

20844-670: The emergence of a wider movement in Renaissance Platonism, or Platonic Orientalism. Ficino also translated part of the Corpus Hermeticum , though the rest was translated by his contemporary, Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500). Another core figure in this intellectual milieu was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), who achieved notability in 1486 by inviting scholars from across Europe to come and debate with him 900 theses that he had written. Pico della Mirandola argued that all of these philosophies reflected

21037-688: The emergence of new trends of esoteric thought now known as occultism . Significant groups in this century included the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia , the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . Also important in this connection is Martinus Thomsen 's " spiritual science ". Modern paganism developed within occultism and includes religious movements such as Wicca . Esoteric ideas permeated

21230-613: The entire Enlightenment include England and others ignore it, although they do include coverage of such major intellectuals as Joseph Addison , Edward Gibbon , John Locke, Isaac Newton, Alexander Pope , Joshua Reynolds , and Jonathan Swift . Freethinking , a term describing those who stood in opposition to the institution of the Church, and the literal belief in the Bible, can be said to have begun in England no later than 1713, when Anthony Collins wrote his "Discourse of Free-thinking," which gained substantial popularity. This essay attacked

21423-442: The esoteric movement of this period was the German physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1814), who developed the theory of Animal Magnetism , which later became known more commonly as Mesmerism . Mesmer claimed that a universal life force permeated everything, including the human body, and that illnesses were caused by a disturbance or block in this force's flow; he developed techniques he claimed cleansed such blockages and restored

21616-687: The face of increasing disenchantment. A third views Western esotericism as encompassing all of Western culture's "rejected knowledge" that is accepted neither by the scientific establishment nor orthodox religious authorities. The earliest traditions of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity , where Hermeticism , Gnosticism and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity. Renaissance Europe saw increasing interest in many of these older ideas, with various intellectuals combining pagan philosophies with

21809-903: The first modern geologist. Several Americans, especially Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, played a major role in bringing Enlightenment ideas to the New World and in influencing British and French thinkers. Franklin was influential for his political activism and for his advances in physics. The cultural exchange during the Age of Enlightenment ran in both directions across the Atlantic. Thinkers such as Paine, Locke, and Rousseau all take Native American cultural practices as examples of natural freedom. The Americans closely followed English and Scottish political ideas, as well as some French thinkers such as Montesquieu. As deists, they were influenced by ideas of John Toland and Matthew Tindal . There

22002-406: The first reserved for teachings that were developed "within the walls" of the philosophical school, among a circle of thinkers ("eso-" indicating what is unseen, as in the classes internal to the institution), and the second referring to those whose works were disseminated to the public in speeches and published ("exo-": outside). The initial meaning of this last word is implied when Aristotle coined

22195-501: The first work on modern economics as it had an immediate impact on British economic policy that continues into the 21st century. It was immediately preceded and influenced by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot 's drafts of Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (1766). Smith acknowledged indebtedness and possibly was the original English translator. Beccaria, a jurist, criminologist, philosopher, and politician and one of

22388-457: The form of creating alchemical elixirs , talismans , or achieving spiritual goals. Crowley also elaborates on these alchemical principles in Magick (Book 4) , particularly in his discussions on the symbolic and practical uses of alchemical symbols and processes within magical rituals. Thaumaturgy also plays a role in various other esoteric systems, where it is often viewed as a means of bridging

22581-557: The former and irrational by the latter. Scholars nevertheless recognise that various non-Western traditions have exerted "a profound influence" over Western esotericism, citing the example of the Theosophical Society 's incorporation of Hindu and Buddhist concepts like reincarnation into its doctrines. Given these influences and the imprecise nature of the term "Western", the scholar of esotericism Kennet Granholm has argued that academics should cease referring to " Western esotericism" altogether, instead simply favouring "esotericism" as

22774-419: The fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual, the natural equality of all men, the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state), the view that all legitimate political power must be " representative " and based on the consent of the people, and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do whatever

22967-414: The gap between the mundane and the divine. In Theosophy , for example, thaumaturgy is seen as part of the esoteric knowledge that allows practitioners to manipulate spiritual and material forces. Theosophical teachings emphasize the unity of all life and the interconnection of the cosmos, with thaumaturgy being a practical tool for engaging with these truths. Rituals and meditative practices are used to align

23160-410: The government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he said must therefore remain protected from any government authority. These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, along with

23353-502: The great Enlightenment writers, became famous for his masterpiece Dei delitti e delle pene (Of Crimes and Punishments, 1764). His treatise, translated into 22 languages, condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of penology and the classical school of criminology by promoting criminal justice . Francesco Mario Pagano wrote important studies such as Saggi politici (Political Essays, 1783); and Considerazioni sul processo criminale (Considerations on

23546-422: The heart of thaumaturgy is the metaphor of energy manipulation. Thaumaturges believe that the world is filled with various forms of energy that can be harnessed and directed through magical practices. This energy is often conceptualized as a natural force that permeates the universe, and through the use of specific techniques, thaumaturges believe that they can influence this energy to bring about desired changes in

23739-486: The idea of an original, universal tradition, and thus a rejection of modernity . His Traditionalist ideas strongly influenced later esotericists like Julius Evola (1898–1974), founder of the UR Group , and Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998). Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment ) was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in

23932-404: The inevitable result of the radical opposition created in the 18th century between the monarchy and the men of letters of the Enlightenment. These men of letters constituted a sort of "substitute aristocracy that was both all-powerful and without real power." This illusory power came from the rise of "public opinion," born when absolutist centralization removed the nobility and the bourgeoisie from

24125-650: The justification of a theological esotericism, and Numenius wrote "On the Secrets of Plato" ( Peri tôn para Platoni aporrhèta ). Probably based on the "exôtikos/esôtikos" dichotomy, the Hellenic world developed the classical distinction between exoteric/esoteric, stimulated by criticism from various currents such as the Patristics . According to examples in Lucian, Galen and Clement of Alexandria , at that time it

24318-495: The key to imposing reforms designed by the intellectuals. Voltaire despised democracy and said the absolute monarch must be enlightened and must act as dictated by reason and justice—in other words, be a " philosopher-king ." In several nations, rulers welcomed leaders of the Enlightenment at court and asked them to help design laws and programs to reform the system, typically to build stronger states. These rulers are called "enlightened despots" by historians. They included Frederick

24511-405: The large-scale studies by Robert Darnton , Roy Porter , and, most recently, by Jonathan Israel. Enlightenment thought was deeply influential in the political realm. European rulers such as Catherine II of Russia , Joseph II of Austria , and Frederick II of Prussia tried to apply Enlightenment thought on religious and political tolerance, which became known as enlightened absolutism . Many of

24704-465: The law does not explicitly forbid. Both Locke and Rousseau developed social contract theories in Two Treatises of Government and Discourse on Inequality , respectively. While quite different works, Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau agreed that a social contract, in which the government's authority lies in the consent of the governed , is necessary for man to live in civil society. Locke defines

24897-462: The law of nature because a person cannot surrender their own rights: freedom is absolute, and no one can take it away. Locke argues that one person cannot enslave another because it is morally reprehensible, although he introduces a caveat by saying that enslavement of a lawful captive in time of war would not go against one's natural rights. The leaders of the Enlightenment were not especially democratic, as they more often look to absolute monarchs as

25090-487: The legendary Egyptian wise man, Hermes Trismegistus . In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a number of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus appeared, including the Corpus Hermeticum , Asclepius , and The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth . Some still debate whether Hermeticism was a purely literary phenomenon or had communities of practitioners who acted on these ideas, but it has been established that these texts discuss

25283-826: The limitations of the Enlightenment ideology as it pertained to European colonialism, since many colonies of Europe operated on a plantation economy fueled by slave labor. In 1791, the Haitian Revolution , a slave rebellion by emancipated slaves against French colonial rule in the colony of Saint-Domingue , broke out. European nations and the United States, despite the strong support for Enlightenment ideals, refused to "[give support] to Saint-Domingue's anti-colonial struggle." The very existence of an English Enlightenment has been hotly debated by scholars. The majority of textbooks on British history make little or no mention of an English Enlightenment. Some surveys of

25476-708: The magical sense in John Dee 's book The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara (1570). He mentions an "art mathematical" called "thaumaturgy... which giveth certain order to make strange works, of the sense to be perceived and of men greatly to be wondered at". The origins of thaumaturgy can be traced back to ancient civilizations where magical practices were integral to both religious rituals and daily life. In ancient Egypt , priests were often regarded as thaumaturges, wielding their knowledge of rituals and incantations to influence natural and supernatural forces. These practices were aimed at protecting

25669-485: The main goal of enlightenment. According to Derek Hirst , the 1640s and 1650s saw a revived economy characterised by growth in manufacturing, the elaboration of financial and credit instruments, and the commercialisation of communication. The gentry found time for leisure activities, such as horse racing and bowling. In the high culture important innovations included the development of a mass market for music, increased scientific research, and an expansion of publishing. All

25862-506: The major political and intellectual figures behind the American Revolution associated themselves closely with the Enlightenment: Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia; Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into

26055-458: The mastery of magical arts. Thaumaturgy's role in modern esotericism also intersects with the rise of ceremonial magic , where it is often employed to achieve specific, practical outcomes—ranging from healing to the invocation of spirits . Contemporary magicians continue to explore and adapt thaumaturgic practices, often drawing from a wide range of historical and cultural sources to create eclectic and personalized systems of magic. Thaumaturgy

26248-638: The material world by a malevolent entity known as the Demiurge , who was served by demonic helpers, the Archons . It was the Gnostic belief that people, who were imbued with the divine light, should seek to attain gnosis and thus escape from the world of matter and rejoin the divine source. A third form of esotericism in Late Antiquity was Neoplatonism , a school of thought influenced by the ideas of

26441-453: The means of accessing higher knowledge, he highlighted two themes that he believed could be found within esotericism, that of mediation through contact with non-human entities, and individual experience. Accordingly, for Von Stuckrad, esotericism could be best understood as "a structural element of Western culture" rather than as a selection of different schools of thought. Hanegraaff proposed an additional definition that "Western esotericism"

26634-446: The middle classes, where it expressed a spiritualistic and nationalistic tone without threatening governments or established churches. Government responses varied widely. In France, the government was hostile, and the philosophes fought against its censorship, sometimes being imprisoned or hounded into exile. The British government, for the most part, ignored the Enlightenment's leaders in England and Scotland, although it did give Newton

26827-509: The mind and the everyday media of the world, and by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism , along with increased questioning of religious dogma — an attitude captured by Kant's essay Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? , where the phrase sapere aude ('dare to know') can be found. The central doctrines of the Enlightenment were individual liberty , representative government,

27020-582: The model constitution of 1791 expressed Enlightenment ideals, but was in effect for only one year before the nation was partitioned among its neighbors. More enduring were the cultural achievements, which created a nationalist spirit in Poland. Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, saw himself as a leader of the Enlightenment and patronized philosophers and scientists at his court in Berlin. Voltaire, who had been imprisoned and maltreated by

27213-473: The moderate variety, following Descartes, Locke, and Christian Wolff , which sought accommodation between reform and the traditional systems of power and faith, and, second, the Radical Enlightenment, inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza, advocating democracy, individual liberty, freedom of expression, and eradication of religious authority. The moderate variety tended to be deistic whereas

27406-454: The moral and collective legislative body constituted by citizens. Locke is known for his statement that individuals have a right to "Life, Liberty, and Property," and his belief that the natural right to property is derived from labor. Tutored by Locke, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury , wrote in 1706: "There is a mighty Light which spreads its self over the world especially in those two free Nations of England and Holland; on whom

27599-492: The natural world, though in later work he also began to focus on overtly religious questions. His work gained significant support in both areas over the following centuries. One of those influenced by Paracelsus was the German cobbler Jakob Böhme (1575–1624), who sparked the Christian theosophy movement through his attempts to solve the problem of evil . Böhme argued that God had been created out of an unfathomable mystery,

27792-546: The organization of states into self-governing republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the philosophes in particular to apply rationality to every problem is considered the essential change. Although much of Enlightenment political thought was dominated by social contract theorists, Hume and Ferguson criticized this camp. Hume's essay Of the Original Contract argues that governments derived from consent are rarely seen and civil government

27985-526: The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. Many historians now date the end of the Enlightenment as the start of the 19th century, with the latest proposed year being the death of Immanuel Kant in 1804. In reality, historical periods do not have clearly defined start or end dates. Philosophers and scientists of the period widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies , Masonic lodges , literary salons , coffeehouses and in printed books , journals , and pamphlets . The ideas of

28178-504: The patient to full health. One of Mesmer's followers, the Marquis de Puységur , discovered that mesmeric treatment could induce a state of somnumbulic trance in which they claimed to enter visionary states and communicate with spirit beings. These somnambulic trance-states heavily influenced the esoteric religion of Spiritualism , which emerged in the United States in the 1840s and spread throughout North America and Europe. Spiritualism

28371-541: The person to whom those items belong. These principles are not unique to thaumaturgy but are integral to many forms of magic across cultures. However, in the context of thaumaturgy, they are particularly important because they provide a theoretical framework for understanding how magical actions can produce tangible results in the material world. This focus on practical outcomes distinguishes thaumaturgy from other forms of magic that may be more concerned with spiritual or symbolic meanings. Thaumaturgical practices often involve

28564-418: The philosopher Plato . Advocated by such figures as Plotinus , Porphyry , Iamblichus , and Proclus , Neoplatonism held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins into the material world, but that it could progress, through a number of hierarchical spheres of being, to return to its divine origins once more. The later Neoplatonists performed theurgy , a ritual practice attested in such sources as

28757-411: The physical world. Energy manipulation in thaumaturgy involves both drawing energy from the surrounding environment and directing it toward a specific goal. This process often requires a deep understanding of the natural world, as well as the ability to focus and control one's own mental and spiritual energies. In many traditions, this energy is also linked to the practitioner's life force , meaning that

28950-534: The point that Kocku von Stuckrad stated "esoteric ontology and anthropology would hardly exist without Platonic philosophy." In his dialogues, he uses expressions that refer to cultic secrecy (for example, ἀπορρήτων , aporrhéton , one of the Ancient Greek expressions referring to the prohibition of revealing a secret, in the context of mysteries ). In Theaetetus 152c, there is an example of this concealment strategy: Can it be, then, that Protagoras

29143-600: The political sphere. The "literary politics" that resulted promoted a discourse of equality and was hence in fundamental opposition to the monarchical regime. De Tocqueville "clearly designates... the cultural effects of transformation in the forms of the exercise of power." It does not require great art or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of

29336-566: The practical Christian moral code of the New Testament . Enlightenment scholars sought to curtail the political power of organized religion and thereby prevent another age of intolerant religious war. Spinoza determined to remove politics from contemporary and historical theology (e.g., disregarding Judaic law ). Moses Mendelssohn advised affording no political weight to any organized religion but instead recommended that each person follow what they found most convincing. They believed

29529-494: The practitioner seeks to transform not just physical substances but also the self. This process, known as the Great Work , involves the purification and refinement of both matter and spirit. Thaumaturgy comes into play as the practical aspect of alchemy, where rituals, symbols, and substances are used to facilitate these transformations. The alchemical process is heavily laden with symbolic meanings, with each stage representing

29722-416: The practitioner's will with higher spiritual forces, enabling them to effect change in the physical world. In Rosicrucianism , thaumaturgy is similarly regarded as a method of spiritual practice that leads to the mastery of natural and spiritual laws. Rosicrucians believe that through the study of nature and the application of esoteric principles, one can achieve a deep understanding of the cosmos and develop

29915-561: The public, so several people described themselves as "Rosicrucian", claiming access to secret esoteric knowledge. A real initiatory brotherhood was established in late 16th-century Scotland through the transformation of Medieval stonemason guilds to include non-craftsmen: Freemasonry . Soon spreading into other parts of Europe, in England it largely rejected its esoteric character and embraced humanism and rationalism, while in France it embraced new esoteric concepts, particularly those from Christian theosophy. The Age of Enlightenment witnessed

30108-465: The radical tendency separated the basis of morality entirely from theology. Both lines of thought were eventually opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment which sought a return to faith. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines and dogmas. After the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, the relationship between church and

30301-433: The recitation of incantations , the drawing of protective circles , and the invocation of spirits or deities . These rituals are designed to create a controlled environment in which the thaumaturge can manipulate natural forces according to their will. The complexity of these rituals varies depending on the desired outcome, with more significant or ambitious goals requiring more intricate and time-consuming procedures. At

30494-417: The result would be moral anarchy: every individual "could have no law but his own will, no end but himself. He would be a god to himself, and the satisfaction of his own will the sole measure and end of all his actions." The "Radical Enlightenment" promoted the concept of separating church and state, an idea that is often credited to Locke. According to his principle of the social contract, Locke said that

30687-407: The revolutions were caused by the fact that this governance paradigm shift often could not be resolved peacefully and therefore violent revolution was the result. A governance philosophy where the king was never wrong would be in direct conflict with one whereby citizens by natural law had to consent to the acts and rulings of their government. Alexis de Tocqueville proposed the French Revolution as

30880-501: The same father and creatures of the same God? Voltaire (1763) Enlightenment era religious commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious conflict in Europe, especially the Thirty Years' War . Theologians of the Enlightenment wanted to reform their faith to its generally non-confrontational roots and to limit the capacity for religious controversy to spill over into politics and warfare while still maintaining

31073-536: The scholar Kennet Granholm stated only that Faivre's definition had been "the dominating paradigm for a long while" and that it "still exerts influence among scholars outside the study of Western esotericism". The advantage of Faivre's system is that it facilitates comparing varying esoteric traditions "with one another in a systematic fashion." Other scholars criticised his theory, pointing out various weaknesses. Hanegraaff claimed that Faivre's approach entailed "reasoning by prototype" in that it relied upon already having

31266-473: The scholar discourse on ancient philosophy. The categories of doctrina vulgaris and doctrina arcana are found among Cambridge Platonists . Perhaps for the first time in English, Thomas Stanley , between 1655 and 1660, would refer to the Pythagorean exoterick and esoterick . John Toland in 1720 would state that the so-called nowadays "esoteric distinction" was a universal phenomenon, present in both

31459-409: The sciences for distancing man from nature and not operating to make people happier. Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies , which had largely replaced universities as centres of scientific research and development. Societies and academies were also the backbone of the maturation of the scientific profession. Scientific academies and societies grew out of

31652-544: The sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) and Hume's writings in the 1740s. His dualism was challenged by Spinoza's uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus (1670) and Ethics (1677). According to Jonathan Israel , these laid down two distinct lines of Enlightenment thought: first,

31845-789: The social contract, became particularly influential in the American colonies and the drafting of the United States Constitution. In a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, Thomas Jefferson calls for a "wall of separation between church and state" at the federal level. He previously had supported successful efforts to disestablish the Church of England in Virginia and authored

32038-414: The standing order. Porter says the reason was that Enlightenment had come early to England and had succeeded such that the culture had accepted political liberalism, philosophical empiricism, and religious toleration, positions which intellectuals on the continent had to fight against powerful odds. Furthermore, England rejected the collectivism of the continent and emphasized the improvement of individuals as

32231-411: The state of nature. For Locke, the law of nature is grounded on mutual security or the idea that one cannot infringe on another's natural rights, as every man is equal and has the same inalienable rights. These natural rights include perfect equality and freedom, as well as the right to preserve life and property. Locke argues against indentured servitude on the basis that enslaving oneself goes against

32424-535: The supposed "esoteric" content of which regarding the First Principles is particularly highlighted by the Tübingen School as distinct from the apparent written teachings conveyed in his books or public lectures. Hegel commented on the analysis of this distinction in the modern hermeneutics of Plato and Aristotle: To express an external object not much is required, but to communicate an idea

32617-417: The supposition that "civil man" is corrupted, while "natural man" has no want he cannot fulfill himself. Natural man is only taken out of the state of nature when the inequality associated with private property is established. Rousseau said that people join into civil society via the social contract to achieve unity while preserving individual freedom. This is embodied in the sovereignty of the general will ,

32810-504: The term thaumaturge also referred to several Christian saints . In this context, the word is usually translated into English as 'wonderworker'. Notable early Christian thaumaturges include Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–270), Saint Menas of Egypt (285–c. 309), Saint Nicholas (270–343), and Philomena ( fl. c. 300 (?)). During the medieval period, thaumaturgy evolved within the context of Christian mysticism and early scientific thought. The medieval understanding of thaumaturgy

33003-402: The term "exoteric speeches" ( ἐξωτερικοὶ λόγοι ), perhaps to refer to the speeches he gave outside his school. However, Aristotle never employed the term "esoteric" and there is no evidence that he dealt with specialized secrets; there is a dubious report by Aulus Gellius , according to which Aristotle disclosed the exoteric subjects of politics, rhetoric and ethics to the general public in

33196-465: The term "the Age of Academies" to describe the 18th century. Another important development was the popularization of science among an increasingly literate population. Philosophes introduced the public to many scientific theories, most notably through the Encyclopédie and the popularization of Newtonianism by Voltaire and Émilie du Châtelet . Some historians have marked the 18th century as

33389-427: The term provided a "useful generic label" for "a large and complicated group of historical phenomena that had long been perceived as sharing an air de famille ." Various academics have emphasised that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world. As Faivre stated, an "empirical perspective" would hold that "esotericism is a Western notion." As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there

33582-526: The three Rosicrucian Manifestos were published in Germany. These texts purported to represent a secret, initiatory brotherhood founded centuries before by a German adept named Christian Rosenkreutz . There is no evidence that Rosenkreutz was a genuine historical figure, nor that a Rosicrucian Order had ever existed before then. Instead, the manifestos are likely literary creations of Lutheran theologian Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654). They interested

33775-530: The trends were discussed in depth at the newly established coffee houses . In the Scottish Enlightenment , the principles of sociability, equality, and utility were disseminated in schools and universities, many of which used sophisticated teaching methods which blended philosophy with daily life. Scotland's major cities created an intellectual infrastructure of mutually supporting institutions such as schools, universities, reading societies, libraries, periodicals, museums, and masonic lodges. The Scottish network

33968-406: The true nature of God, emphasising that humans must transcend rational thought and worldly desires to find salvation and be reborn into a spiritual body of immaterial light, thereby achieving spiritual unity with divinity. Another tradition of esoteric thought in Late Antiquity was Gnosticism. Various Gnostic sects existed, and they broadly believed that the divine light had been imprisoned within

34161-459: The use of sacred geometry , invocations , and the creation of talismans . These practices are believed to align the practitioner with the forces they wish to control, creating a sympathetic connection that enables them to direct these forces effectively. Aleister Crowley 's Magick (Book 4) provides an extensive discussion on the use of ritual tools such as the wand, cup, and sword, each of which corresponds to different elements and powers within

34354-608: The use of specific tools and rituals designed to channel and direct magical energy. Common tools include wands , staffs, talismans , and ritual knives , each of which serves a particular purpose in the practice of magic. For instance, a wand might be used to direct energy during a ritual, while a talisman could serve as a focal point for the thaumaturge's intent. The creation and consecration of these tools are themselves ritualized processes, often requiring specific materials and astrological timing to ensure their effectiveness. Rituals in thaumaturgy are typically elaborate and may involve

34547-547: The work by Protestant historian of gnosticism Jacques Matter (1791–1864), Histoire critique du gnosticisme (3 vols.). The term "esotericism" thus came into use in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment and of its critique of institutionalised religion, during which alternative religious groups such as the Rosicrucians began to disassociate themselves from the dominant Christianity in Western Europe. During

34740-524: Was "predominantly liberal Calvinist , Newtonian, and 'design' oriented in character which played a major role in the further development of the transatlantic Enlightenment." In France, Voltaire said "we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization." The focus of the Scottish Enlightenment ranged from intellectual and economic matters to the specifically scientific as in the work of William Cullen , physician and chemist; James Anderson , agronomist ; Joseph Black , physicist and chemist; and James Hutton,

34933-668: Was Faivre, who published a series of criteria for how to define "Western esotericism" in 1992. Faivre claimed that esotericism was "identifiable by the presence of six fundamental characteristics or components", four of which were "intrinsic" and thus vital to defining something as being esoteric, while the other two were "secondary" and thus not necessarily present in every form of esotericism. He listed these characteristics as follows: Faivre's form of categorisation has been endorsed by scholars like Goodrick-Clarke, and by 2007 Bogdan could note that Faivre's had become "the standard definition" of Western esotericism in use among scholars. In 2013

35126-483: Was a common practice among philosophers to keep secret writings and teachings. A parallel secrecy and reserved elite was also found in the contemporary environment of Gnosticism . Later, Iamblichus would present his definition (close to the modern one), as he classified the ancient Pythagoreans as either "exoteric" mathematicians or "esoteric" acousmatics, the latter being those who disseminated enigmatic teachings and hidden allegorical meanings. 'Western esotericism'

35319-438: Was a very ingenious person who threw out this obscure utterance for the unwashed like us but reserved the truth as a secret doctrine (ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν) to be revealed to his disciples? The Neoplatonists intensified the search for a "hidden truth" under the surface of teachings, myths and texts, developing the hermeneutics and allegorical exegesis of Plato , Homer , Orpheus and others. Plutarch, for example, developed

35512-415: Was a well-founded reason for accepting it, and featuring his famous dictum, Cogito, ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am"). Others cite the publication of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) as the culmination of the Scientific Revolution and the beginning of the Enlightenment. European historians traditionally dated its beginning with the death of Louis XIV of France in 1715 and its end with

35705-400: Was based on the concept that individuals could communicate with spirits of the deceased during séances . Most forms of Spiritualism had little theoretical depth, being largely practical affairs—but full theological worldviews based on the movement were articulated by Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910) and Allan Kardec (1804–1869). Scientific interest in the claims of Spiritualism resulted in

35898-400: Was closely linked to the idea of miracles, with saints and holy men often credited with thaumaturgic powers. The seventeenth-century Irish Franciscan editor John Colgan called the three early Irish saints, Patrick , Brigid , and Columba , thaumaturges in his Acta Triadis Thaumaturgae (Louvain, 1647). Later notable medieval Christian thaumaturges include Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) and

36091-501: Was critical of this approach, believing that it relegated Western esotericism to the position of "a casualty of positivist and materialist perspectives in the nineteenth-century" and thus reinforces the idea that Western esoteric traditions were of little historical importance. Bogdan similarly expressed concern regarding Hanegraaff's definition, believing that it made the category of Western esotericism "all inclusive" and thus analytically useless. The origins of Western esotericism are in

36284-409: Was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress. The study of science, under the heading of natural philosophy , was divided into physics and a conglomerate grouping of chemistry and natural history , which included anatomy , biology , geology, mineralogy , and zoology . As with most Enlightenment views, the benefits of science were not seen universally: Rousseau criticized

36477-408: Was expanded in the work of the German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535/36), who used it as a framework to explore the philosophical and scientific traditions of Antiquity in his work De occulta philosophia libri tres . The work of Agrippa and other esoteric philosophers had been based in a pre-Copernican worldview, but following the arguments of Copernicus , a more accurate understanding of

36670-423: Was led by Voltaire and Rousseau, who argued for a society based upon reason rather than faith and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural law , and for science based on experiments and observation. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution . While

36863-425: Was seen as a "crucial identity marker" for any intellectuals seeking to affiliate themselves with the academy. Scholars established this category in the late 18th century after identifying "structural similarities" between "the ideas and world views of a wide variety of thinkers and movements" that, previously, had not been in the same analytical grouping. According to the scholar of esotericism Wouter J. Hanegraaff,

37056-463: Was that many of those currents widely recognised as esoteric never concealed their teachings, and in the 20th century came to permeate popular culture, thus problematizing the claim that esotericism could be defined by its hidden and secretive nature. He noted that when scholars adopt this definition, it shows that they subscribe to the religious doctrines espoused by the very groups they are studying. Another approach to Western esotericism treats it as

37249-428: Was the religion of New Thought , founded by the American mesmerist Phineas P. Quimby (1802–1866). It revolved around the concept of " mind over matter "—believing that illness and other negative conditions could be cured through the power of belief. In Europe, a movement usually termed occultism emerged as various figures attempted to find a "third way" between Christianity and positivist science while building on

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