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93-454: Major Thomas Weir (1599 – 1670) was a Scottish soldier and presumed occultist , executed for bestiality , incest and adultery . Weir was a Covenanter who professed a particularly strict form of Presbyterianism . His spoken prayers earned him a reputation for religiosity which attracted visitors to his home in Edinburgh . He served under James Graham, Marquis of Montrose , as

186-561: A Shia imambargah , a Sunni mosque and community centre, a Pentecostal centre and a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church . It also has a former Norwegian church , which is home now to the Leith School of Art . As of 2011 (the most recent Census for which data is available), the religious composition of Leith was as follows: Religion in Leith (2011) A regular stage coach service ran between Bernard Street and Edinburgh's Old Town from

279-404: A David Williamson. This would equate in modern terms to the inner courtyard of Riddell's Court. The West Bow frontage was replaced in 1878. In his capacity as a lay preacher and apparently pious man he and his neighbours acquired the nickname the "Bowhead Saints". Following retirement, Weir fell ill in 1670, and from his sick-bed began to confess to a secret life of crime and vice. Andrew Ramsay ,

372-694: A Russian émigré living in the United States who founded the religion of Theosophy . The article was published in the American Spiritualist magazine, Spiritual Scientist . Various twentieth-century writers on the subject used the term occultism in different ways. Some writers, such as the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno in his "Theses Against Occultism", employed the term as a broad synonym for irrationality . In his 1950 book L'occultisme , Robert Amadou  [ fr ] used

465-604: A brief stop at the house of Andrew Lamb, before being collected and escorted by coach to Holyrood Palace , to begin her ill-fated six-year-long reign. Mary's court came to the sands of Leith to enjoy equestrian tournaments of " running at the ring " performed by courtiers and diplomats in exotic costumes. After the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots in 1567 , during the ensuing civil war, troops fighting for James VI of Scotland against his mother's supporters in Edinburgh Castle based themselves in Leith from 1571 to 1573,

558-543: A clutch of upmarket restaurants, including the first of the chain of Malmaison hotels in a conversion of a seamen's mission, whilst the once industrially-polluted and desolate banks of the Water of Leith were cleaned up and a public walkway opened. Leith's gradual revival was also helped by the decision of the then Scottish Office to site their new offices in Leith Docks (just north of the old infilled East Dock). The site

651-406: A contiguous urban area. Leith was merged with Edinburgh on 1 November 1920 despite a plebiscite in which the people of Leith voted 26,810 to 4,340 against the merger. The population of Leith at the time of the merger was 80,000, representing 20% of the entire population of Edinburgh in around 5% of the city area, reflecting the town's high density. It was Scotland's sixth largest town at the time of

744-461: A disenchanted world or, alternatively, by people in general to make sense of esotericism from the perspective of a disenchanted secular world". Hanegraaff noted that this etic usage of the term would be independent of emic usages of the term employed by occultists and other esotericists themselves. In this definition, occultism covers many esoteric currents that have developed from the mid-nineteenth century onward, including Spiritualism, Theosophy,

837-807: A lieutenant in the Army of the Covenant. He was known as the "Bowhead Saint", because his residence was near the top of the West Bow, off the Grassmarket , and "saint" was a popular epithet for particularly fervent Calvinists . Weir was a native of Carluke in Lanarkshire , descendant of one of the most powerful and ancient families of the county, the Weir-de Veres. He was the son of Thomas Weir, Laird of Kirkton, and his wife Lady Jean Somerville who

930-570: A parliamentary burgh, which jointly with Portobello and Musselburgh was represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). On 1 November 1833, Leith became a separate municipal burgh , with its own provost, magistrates, and council, and was no longer run by bailies. Historically the Lord Provost of Edinburgh was virtue officii Admiral of the Firth of Forth , the Provost of Leith was Admiral of

1023-532: A period called the "Wars between Leith and Edinburgh" . In January 1581 The Shore was the scene of a mock combat, involving an assault on the Pope's Castel Sant'Angelo built on boats, for the marriage of Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray and James Stewart for the entertainment of guests including James VI. In 1590, James's wife, Anne of Denmark , was lodged in the King's Wark when she arrived. In 1622 there

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1116-424: A planning condition, found a mass grave of 81 bodies from the 1645 plague. The archaeologists surmised that there was extreme fear of dying from this plague, likely Pneumonic , as many of the bodies were hastily buried in their clothes and still had money and other personal items on them, indicating that people did not want to touch the bodies, even to remove money. In 1650, Leith was a prospective battleground when

1209-649: A site that is now Parliament Street, off Coalhill. According to the 18th-century historian William Maitland , her palace was situated on Rotten Row, now Water Street. Artifacts from the demolished residence are held by the National Museum of Scotland , and her sculptured coat of arms, dated 1560, can be seen in South Leith Parish Church . When the large French garrison stationed in Leith was attacked by Scottish Protestant lords , reinforced by troops and artillery sent from England, Mary of Guise

1302-563: A squadron of seven ships with the intention of destroying British commerce in the North Sea. He intended to capture the port of Leith and hold it for ransom, but his plan was thwarted when a gale on 16 September kept him at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. The scare he caused led to the hasty erection of Leith Fort, with a battery of nine guns, designed by James Craig , the architect of Edinburgh's New Town, and built in 1780. A Georgian terrace to

1395-573: A stranger had called in a "fiery" coach to take her brother to Dalkeith and how during the short trip another man had given him "supernatural intelligence" ( Chambers ) of the Scots' defeat at Worcester that same day. (In fact, Cromwell 's Commonwealth Commissioners in Scotland had been based in Dalkeith and would have been among the first to know the outcome of the battle—though not, of course, on

1488-512: A substantivized adjective as "the occult", a term that has been particularly widely used among journalists and sociologists . This term was popularised by the publication of Colin Wilson 's 1971 book The Occult . This term has been used as an "intellectual waste-basket" into which a wide array of beliefs and practices have been placed because they do not fit readily into the categories of religion or science. According to Hanegraaff, "the occult"

1581-700: A timber keel from France for building one of the king's ships. The town was burnt by the Earl of Hertford (on the orders of Henry VIII ) in retaliation for the rejection of the Treaty of Greenwich by the Parliament of Scotland in 1543. Mary of Guise ruled Scotland from Leith in 1560 as Regent while her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots remained in France. Mary of Guise moved the Scottish Court to Leith, to

1674-459: Is a category into which gets placed a range of beliefs from "spirits or fairies to parapsychological experiments, from UFO-abductions to Oriental mysticism, from vampire legends to channelling, and so on". The neologism occulture used within the industrial music scene of the late twentieth century was probably coined by one of its central figures, the musician and occultist Genesis P-Orridge . The scholar of religion Christopher Partridge used

1767-537: Is thus often used to categorise such esoteric traditions as Qabalah , Spiritualism , Theosophy , Anthroposophy , Wicca , the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , New Age , and the left-hand path and right-hand path . Use of the term as a nominalized adjective ('the occult') has developed especially since the late twentieth century. In that same period, occult and culture were combined to form

1860-562: The Canongate . They were cross-examined by John Sinclair, the minister of Ormiston , and put on trial on 9 April 1670. Both were quickly found guilty at their trial and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, they were confined in the former leper colony at Greenside below the Calton Hill . Weir was garroted and burned at a stake at the head of Leith Walk (where Greenside Church was later built) then his remains were gibbetted at

1953-598: The Firth of Forth and lies within the City of Edinburgh council area ; since 2007 it has formed one of 17 multi-member wards of the city. As the major port serving Edinburgh, Leith has seen many significant events in Scottish history. The earliest evidence of settlement in Leith comes from several archaeological digs undertaken in The Shore area in the late 20th century. Amongst the finds were medieval wharf edges from

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2046-765: The German Empire , Austria-Hungary , and the Kingdom of Italy . Unlike older forms of esotericism, occultism does not necessarily reject "scientific progress or modernity". Lévi had stressed the need to solve the conflict between science and religion, something that he believed could be achieved by turning to what he thought was the ancient wisdom found in magic. The French scholar of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre noted that rather than outright accepting "the triumph of scientism", occultists sought "an alternative solution", trying to integrate "scientific progress or modernity" with "a global vision that will serve to make

2139-593: The Lord Provost initially found the confession implausible and took no action, but eventually Weir and his spinster sister, Jean Weir (known to her friends as 'Grizel'), were taken to the Edinburgh Tolbooth for interrogation. Major Weir, now in his seventies, continued to expand on his confession and Grizel, having seemingly entirely lost her wits, gave an even more exaggerated history of witchcraft, sorcery and vice. She related how many years before

2232-552: The Middle Ages , for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Aether is another such element. Newton 's contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through "action at a distance", as occult. In the English-speaking world, notable figures in the development of occultism included Helena Blavatsky and other figures associated with her Theosophical Society, senior figures in

2325-858: The Trinity House in Kirkgate was erected in Grecian architectural style at an expense of £2500. In 1809, the Tally Toor , a martello tower was constructed to defend the entrance of the harbour during the Napoleonic Wars . It is now a scheduled monument within the port. Historically Leith was governed by the Town Council of Edinburgh, with separately organised baillies appointed by various bodies without contact with each other. The result became very unsatisfactory, and half of Leith

2418-475: The neologism occulture . The occult (from the Latin word occultus ; lit. 'clandestine', 'hidden', 'secret') is "knowledge of the hidden". In common usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal ", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable ", usually referred to as science. The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to

2511-518: The "traditional esotericism" which accepted the premise of an "enchanted" world. According to the British historian of Western esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke , occultist groups typically seek "proofs and demonstrations by recourse to scientific tests or terminology". In his work about Lévi, the German historian of religion Julian Strube has argued that the occultist wish for a "synthesis" of religion, science, and philosophy directly resulted from

2604-476: The 12th century. This date fits with the earliest documentary evidence of settlement in Leith, the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey. Mary of Guelders , the bride of James II , arrived on 18 May 1449 and rested in the Convent of St Anthony. Prominent Leith merchants and shipowners included James Makysone, who supplied tapestry to James IV in 1498 for his new lodging at Stirling Castle and in 1503 imported

2697-579: The 1960s, the Beeching report recommended the closure of almost all of Leith's railway infrastructure. Today, only one freight line that connects to the dock remains in use. Although there are no longer any passenger rail services serving Leith, two station buildings partially remain: The SS Sirius (built in Leith) beat the SS Great Western by one day in being the first steamship to cross

2790-460: The Army of the Covenant, led by General David Leslie , threw up an earthen rampart between Calton Hill and Leith to defend the northern approach to Edinburgh against Oliver Cromwell 's forces. This rampart became the line of one of Edinburgh's longest streets, Leith Walk . After Cromwell's victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 and subsequent occupation of Scotland, a fort known as Leith Citadel

2883-465: The Atlantic but, as a much smaller ship, was eclipsed by the press coverage given to the larger ship. Leith offered ferry services to many European ports, including Hamburg and Oslo. Today, Leith is served by various bus services provided by Lothian Buses and a tram service provided by Edinburgh Trams . This tram service was due to serve Leith in 2011, however, due to construction and funding issues,

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2976-480: The English language by the esotericist Helena Blavatsky . Throughout the 20th century, the term 'occult' was used idiosyncratically by a range of different authors. By the 21st century the term 'occultism' was commonly employed –including by academic scholars in the field of Western esotericism studies – to refer to a range of esoteric currents that developed in the mid-19th century and their descendants. Occultism

3069-554: The Gallowlee (literally, "gallows field") on the road between Edinburgh and Leith (a site later occupied by the Shrubhill tram depot, then bus garage, near Pilrig on Leith Walk ). His last words, while being urged to pray for forgiveness, were reported as, "Let me alone—I will not—I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast". Weir's stick of thornwood was consigned to the flames after him, reportedly making "rare turnings" in

3162-518: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn like William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers , as well as other individuals such as Paschal Beverly Randolph , Emma Hardinge Britten , Arthur Edward Waite , and – in the early twentieth century – Aleister Crowley , Dion Fortune , and Israel Regardie . By the end of the nineteenth century, occultist ideas had also spread into other parts of Europe, such as

3255-568: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the New Age. Employing this etic understanding of "occultism", Hanegraaff argued that its development could begin to be seen in the work of the Swedish esotericist Emanuel Swedenborg and in the Mesmerist movement of the eighteenth century, although added that occultism only emerged in "fully-developed form" as Spiritualism, a movement that developed in

3348-643: The John Knox Church. The church was active from 1688 and was last used by a visit of John Wesley but the huge crowd he drew was too large to fit. Leith still has several notable historic churches, including North Leith Parish Church and South Leith Parish Church (both of the Church of Scotland ), and the Roman Catholic St Mary's Star of the Sea . The area has Sikh and Hindu temples,

3441-733: The UK). The first public sewer in Scotland was built in Bernard Street in 1780; this flowed into the Water of Leith. Leith was formerly a port linked to the trade of the Hanseatic League . Leith is also home to The Queen's former floating Royal residence, the Royal Yacht Britannia, now a five-star visitor attraction and evening events venue permanently berthed at the Ocean Terminal shopping centre. Leith

3534-494: The United States during the mid-nineteenth century. Marco Pasi suggested that the use of Hanegraaff's definition might cause confusion by presenting a group of nineteenth-century esotericists who called themselves "occultists" as just one part of a broader category of esotericists whom scholars would call "occultists". Following these discussions, Julian Strube argued that Lévi and other contemporary authors who would now be regarded as esotericists developed their ideas not against

3627-536: The area. The planned development, which was given supplementary planning guidance by the City of Edinburgh Council in 2004, was a small town with up to 17,000 new homes. One of the areas is Timber Bush which was originally used as a timber market. Until its amalgamation with Edinburgh in 1920, the southern-most town border was the middle of Pilrig Street. Expansion in the Georgian era gave rise to streets such as Queen Charlotte Street, named after Charlotte ,

3720-468: The background of an esoteric tradition in the first place. Rather, Lévi's notion of occultism emerged in the context of highly influential radical socialist movements and widespread progressive, so-called neo-Catholic ideas. This further complicates Hanegraaff's characteristics of occultism, since, throughout the nineteenth century, they apply to these reformist movements rather than to a supposed group of esotericists. The term occult has also been used as

3813-440: The concept of science. From that point on, use of "occult science(s)" implied a conscious polemic against mainstream science. Nevertheless, the philosopher and card game historian Michael Dummett , whose analysis of the historical evidence suggested that fortune-telling and occult interpretations using cards were unknown before the 18th century, said that the term occult science was not misplaced because "people who believe in

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3906-455: The consort of George III . Historically, due its Catholic connections (and French garrison), Leith was one of the last towns to have Catholic sympathies post-Reformation. Although the preceptory (small monastery) of St Anthony's was destroyed soon after 1560 the other churches were quickly adapted to Protestant use. There was also an Episcopalian meeting house near Kapple's Wynd (later renamed Cables Wynd) from 1688, somewhat inexplicably called

3999-557: The contemporary perception of their greater flexibility. In the mid-19th century the railways came. Leith had one horse-drawn line pre-dating steam-trains, bringing coal from Dalkeith to a station at the north end of Constitution Street, to serve the glassworks there. This dated from the late 18th century. Steam trains arrived in the 1840s, being some of the earliest lines in Britain. When the railways were at their height, Leith had four passenger stations and many goods stations. However, in

4092-401: The context of contemporary socialism and progressive Catholicism . Similar to spiritualism, but in declared opposition to it, the emergence of occultism should thus be seen within the context of radical social reform, which was often concerned with establishing new forms of "scientific religion" while at the same time propagating the revival of an ancient tradition of "true religion". Indeed,

4185-452: The context of theoretical frameworks that relied heavily on a belief in occult qualities, virtues or forces." Although there are areas of overlap between these different occult sciences, they are separate and in some cases practitioners of one would reject the others as being illegitimate. During the Age of Enlightenment , occultism increasingly came to be seen as intrinsically incompatible with

4278-513: The early modern Lutheran thinker Jakob Bohme , and seeking to integrate ideas from Bohmian theosophy and occultism. It has been noted, however, that this distancing from the Theosophical Society should be understood in the light of polemical identity formations among esotericists towards the end of the nineteenth century. In the mid-1990s, a new definition of "occultism" was put forth by Wouter Hanegraaff. According to Hanegraaff,

4371-722: The emergence of both modern esotericism and socialism in July Monarchy France have been inherently intertwined. Another feature of occultists is that – unlike earlier esotericists – they often openly distanced themselves from Christianity, in some cases (like that of Crowley) even adopting explicitly anti-Christian stances. This reflected how pervasive the influence of secularisation had been on all areas of European society. In rejecting Christianity, these occultists sometimes turned towards pre-Christian belief systems and embraced forms of Modern Paganism , while others instead took influence from

4464-495: The fire. Shortly before his end Weir had made a further public confession of incest with his sister, who was executed by hanging at the Grassmarket gibbet. The remains of the Weirs were buried at the base of the gallows at Shrub Hill, as was the custom of the time. Weir's house in the West Bow stood empty for over a century because of its reputation for being haunted. It was said that one of Weir's enchantments made people ascending

4557-604: The home of the Royal Yacht Britannia , the Ocean Terminal shopping centre , and administrative offices for several departments of the Scottish Government . The council and government's 'Leith Project' provided a further economic boost. The shore area of Leith, once unattractive, is now a centre for a range of new pubs and restaurants in charming surroundings. On 6 November 2003, Leith was

4650-693: The location for the MTV Europe Music Awards , with a temporary venue being built next to Ocean Terminal. Leith was Scotland's leader in several industries for many centuries. Of these the most notable are: After decades of industrial decline, deindustrialisation , slum clearance and resultant depopulation in the post-war era, Leith gradually began to enjoy an upturn in fortunes in the late 1980s. Several old industrial sites were developed with modest, affordable housing, while small industrial business units were constructed at Swanfield, Bonnington, Seafield and off Lindsay Road. The Shore developed

4743-559: The merger. Until 1923 there was no through tram service between Leith and Edinburgh; at the boundary in Leith Walk it was necessary to change from a Leith tram (electrically powered) to an Edinburgh tram (cable hauled) until the electrification of the Edinburgh Corporation Tramways in the early 1920s. Leith has undergone significant regeneration and is now a busy port with visits from cruise liners and

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4836-490: The mid-18th century. By 1863 this had become a horse-drawn omnibus running every 5 minutes from 9   am to 10   pm. This was put on tracks sometime around 1880 effectively then becoming a horse-drawn tram. Leith was the first town in Scotland to electrify its tram system (1905). Leith Corporation Tramways were merged into Edinburgh Corporation Tramways as part of the 1920 merger of the two burgh councils. Tram services ran until 1956 and were then replaced by buses due to

4929-548: The mid-19th century and their descendants. Occultism is thus often used to categorise such esoteric traditions as Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and New Age. A different division was used by the Traditionalist author René Guénon , who used esotericism to describe what he believed was the Traditionalist, inner teaching at the heart of most religions, while occultism

5022-423: The morning when the tide beached the ships. The Scottish authorities requested the fighting stop. The ships were allowed into Leith harbour where artillery from Edinburgh Castle was placed to ensure order. Leith suffered during the 1645 plague outbreak, with over 50% of the population in the southern district dying. Archaeological excavations in 2016 at St Mary's RC Primary School, by Wardell Armstrong, as part of

5115-518: The mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith . The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of Holyrood Abbey in 1128 in which it is termed Inverlet (Inverleith). After centuries of control by Edinburgh, Leith was made a separate burgh in 1833 only to be merged into Edinburgh in 1920. Leith is located on the southern coast of

5208-749: The nineteenth century and their twentieth-century derivations. In a descriptive sense, it has been used to describe forms of esotericism which developed in nineteenth-century France, especially in the Neo-Martinist environment. According to the historian of esotericism Antoine Faivre , it is with the esotericist Éliphas Lévi that "the occultist current properly so-called" first appears. Other prominent French esotericists involved in developing occultism included Papus , Stanislas de Guaita , Joséphin Péladan , Georges-Albert Puyou de Pouvourville , and Jean Bricaud . The idea of occult sciences developed in

5301-461: The north-east served as officers' quarters, and was known as "London Row" because, being brick-built, it looked more like a London terrace than any in Edinburgh. The fort was in active use until 1955, latterly serving for National Service training. Most of the barracks were demolished to build a Council housing scheme centred on Fort House and enclosed by the old fort walls. The council development

5394-414: The novel's narrative and themes. Occultist The term occult sciences was used in 16th-century Europe to refer to astrology , alchemy , and natural magic . The term occultism emerged in 19th-century France , among figures such as Antoine Court de Gébelin . It came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to Éliphas Lévi and Papus , and in 1875 was introduced into

5487-519: The older term occult , much as the term esotericism derives from the older term esoteric . However, the historian of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff stated that it was important to distinguish between the meanings of the term occult and occultism . Occultism is not a homogenous movement and is widely diverse. Over the course of its history, the term occultism has been used in various different ways. However, in contemporary uses, occultism commonly refers to forms of esotericism that developed in

5580-509: The opening of the first new wet dock, the first of its kind in Scotland. The Fife packet called The Buccleuch was the first to enter the dock, with the civic dignitaries on board, amid discharges of artillery from the fort and His Majesty's warships in Leith Roads. The foundation stone for the second (middle) wet dock was laid on 14 March 1811, which was completed and opened with due ceremony in 1817 by Lord Provost Arbuthnot. The same year

5673-468: The permanently moored Royal Yacht Britannia. The Edinburgh Trams light rail line extension, from the city centre to Newhaven opened to passengers in June 2023 providing Leith and the new dock developments with a fast and convenient route for both local commuters and visitors. In 2004 the owner of the docks, Forth Ports , announced plans to eventually close the port and carry out a major redevelopment of

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5766-441: The perspective of cybernetics and information technologies. Philosopher Eugene Thacker discusses Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 's Three Books of Occult Philosophy in his book In The Dust Of This Planet , where he shows how the horror genre utilizes occult themes to reveal hidden realities. Leith Leith ( / l iː θ / ; Scottish Gaelic : Lìte ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh , Scotland, founded at

5859-409: The port, and his four bailies were admirals-depute. Emperor Nicholas II of Russia arrived by sea at Leith with his family and suite on Tuesday 22 September 1896. Scottish anarchist Thomas Hastie Bell managed to get in his face to criticise him. Leith was the scene of the dockers strike in 1913 recounted in the book Red Scotland . Continued growth meant that Leith and Edinburgh formed

5952-469: The possibility of unveiling the future or of exercising supernormal powers do so because the efficacy of the methods they employ coheres with some systematic conception which they hold of the way the universe functions...however flimsy its empirical basis." In his 1871 book Primitive Culture , the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term "occult science" as a synonym for magic . Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation; in

6045-436: The principal parish kirk for Leith was South Leith Parish Church, originally constructed in 1483. In June 1811 a census gave the population of South Leith as 15,938; North Leith 4,875. With a procession and ceremony, the foundation stone of the new church for the parish of North Leith was laid on 11 April 1814. Leith was the port of entry for the visit of King George IV to Scotland , and The Old Ship Hotel and King's Landing

6138-501: The rank of major . When the defeated royalist general Montrose —branded a traitor for changing sides—was brought to Edinburgh for execution, Weir, in his capacity as Captain of the Edinburgh City Guard, oversaw the execution. Weir lived with his sister Grizel, some say on a house on the West Bow, but according to James Grant it was in a rear courtyard accessed through a building at the top of West Bow which belonged to

6231-417: The recent socialist teachings of Charles Fourier . The French esotericist Éliphas Lévi then used the term in his influential book on ritual magic , Dogme et rituel de la haute magie , first published in 1856. Lévi was familiar with that work and might have borrowed the term from there. In any case, Lévi also claimed to be a representative of an older tradition of occult science or occult philosophy. It

6324-470: The religions of Asia, such as Hinduism and Buddhism . In various cases, certain occultists did both. Another characteristic of these occultists was the emphasis that they placed on "the spiritual realization of the individual", an idea that would strongly influence the twentieth-century New Age and Human Potential Movement . This spiritual realization was encouraged both through traditional Western 'occult sciences' like alchemy and ceremonial magic , but by

6417-436: The religious or philosophical belief systems on which such practices are based. This division was initially adopted by the early academic scholar of esotericism, Antoine Faivre, although he later abandoned it; it has been rejected by most scholars who study esotericism. By the 21st century the term was commonly employed – including by academic scholars of esotericism – to refer to a range of esoteric currents that developed in

6510-473: The same day.) Grizel maintained that Weir derived his power from his walking stick, topped by a carved human head, giving rise to later accounts that it had often been seen parading down the street in front of him. Whilst as a high-ranking public figure Weir was not believed at first, his own confession together with that of his sister sealed his fate. They were initially held at the Tolbooth Prison on

6603-553: The section of the line towards Leith and Newhaven was delayed. It opened just after midday on 7 June 2023 with Leith stops at Balfour Street (Leith Walk), Foot of the Walk (Constitution Street), The Shore (Constitution Street), Port of Leith and Ocean Terminal . Leith has a long history of pioneering social advances, some of which were the first of their kind in Scotland: All boys were educated for free from 1555 onwards. This

6696-532: The siege in April 1560 and are listed as scheduled monuments, but may be natural hillocks. The best documented day of the siege was 7 May 1560, when the English and Scots charged the walls of Leith with ladders that turned out to be too short. John Knox records the delight of Mary of Guise at the failure of the attack, and English sources report 1000 casualties. On 19 August 1561, Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived in Leith and, finding no welcoming party to receive her, made

6789-507: The sixteenth century. The term usually encompassed three practices – astrology, alchemy, and natural magic – although sometimes various forms of divination were also included rather than being subsumed under natural magic. These were grouped together because, according to the Dutch scholar of hermeticism Wouter Hanegraaff , "each one of them engaged in a systematic investigation of nature and natural processes, in

6882-416: The stair think they were descending in the opposite direction. It was eventually bought cheaply in about 1780 by an ex-soldier William Patullo who moved in with his wife. They are said to have fled the house on their first night there after experiencing a strange apparition of a calf approaching them in the night, propping itself up with its forelegs on the bed-end and staring at them in bed. Due to his infamy

6975-411: The start of the twentieth century had also begun to include practices drawn from non-Western contexts, such as yoga . Although occultism is distinguished from earlier forms of esotericism, many occultists have also been involved in older esoteric currents. For instance, occultists like François-Charles Barlet  [ fr ] and Rudolf Steiner were also theosophers , adhering to the ideas of

7068-563: The supernatural. The term occult sciences was used in the 16th century to refer to astrology , alchemy , and natural magic . The earliest known usage of the term occultism is in the French language, as l'occultisme . In this form it appears in A. de Lestrange's article that was published in Dictionnaire des mots nouveaux ("Dictionary of new words") by Jean-Baptiste Richard de Radonvilliers  [ fr ] in 1842. However, it

7161-461: The term occultism can be used not only for the nineteenth-century groups which openly self-described using that term but can also be used in reference to "the type of esotericism that they represent". Seeking to define occultism so that the term would be suitable "as an etic category" for scholars, Hanegraaff devised the following definition: "a category in the study of religions, which comprises "all attempts by esotericists to come to terms with

7254-427: The term as a synonym for esotericism, an approach that the later scholar of esotericism Marco Pasi suggested left the term superfluous. Unlike Amadou, other writers saw occultism and esotericism as different, albeit related, phenomena. In the 1970s, the sociologist Edward A. Tiryakian distinguished between occultism, which he used in reference to practices, techniques, and procedures, and esotericism, which he defined as

7347-723: The term in an academic sense, stating that occulture was "the new spiritual environment in the West; the reservoir feeding new spiritual springs; the soil in which new spiritualities are growing". Recently scholars have offered perspectives on the occult as intertwined with media and technology. Examples include the work of film and media theorist Jeffrey Sconce and religious studies scholar John Durham Peters , both of whom suggest that occult movements historically utilize media and apparatuses as tools to reveal hidden aspects of reality or laws of nature. Erik Davis in his book Techgnosis gives an overview of occultism both ancient and modern from

7440-417: The top section of West Bow was known for two centuries as "Major Weir's Land", and the same section was reputedly haunted by the ghost of Weir for a hundred years. The story of Weir has been proposed as an influence on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , by Robert Louis Stevenson . The 2000 novel The Fanatic by James Robertson features Weir as a character and uses the events surrounding him as a central aspect of

7533-401: The vacuousness of materialism more apparent". The Dutch scholar of hermeticism Wouter Hanegraaff remarked that occultism was "essentially an attempt to adapt esotericism" to the " disenchanted world ", a post-Enlightenment society in which growing scientific discovery had eradicated the "dimension of irreducible mystery" previously present. In doing so, he noted, occultism distanced itself from

7626-528: Was an award-winning scheme in its day (1955), but the building was demolished in January 2013 and the site has been redeveloped with new low-density housing, again award-winning. A pair of the old fort's gatehouses survive at the southern entrance to the scheme. From the twelfth century South Leith was part of the parish of Restalrig and had no church of its own. After the Scottish Reformation

7719-524: Was chosen as part of a design-and-build competition against other sites at Haymarket and Marionville. It was completed in 1994. The hoped-for influx of well-paid civil service jobs failed to have much local impact as most commute to the office, and only a small percentage venture beyond the confines of the office during lunchtimes. It did further foster Leith's growing reputation as a white-collar , small business location. Further large-scale service and tourist development followed, including Ocean Terminal and

7812-590: Was conflict between privateer " Dunkirker ships " flying the Spanish flag and ships from the Dutch Republic . King James allowed a Dunkirker to lie at Leith Roads in June 1622, and soldiers from the ship were able to come ashore at Leith. Three Dutch ships, commanded by Willem de Zoete , Lord of Hautain, Admiral of Zeeland , arrived and attacked the Dunkirker through the night. The fighting stopped in

7905-695: Was erected in 1656 to regulate the port traffic. All that remains of the fort today is a vaulted trance in Dock Street which was its main entrance. New industry in Leith included the Leith Sugar House , founded in 1677. During the American War of Independence the Scot, John Paul Jones , who, with John Barry , is credited as founder of the US Navy , set sail on 14 August 1779 as commodore of

7998-600: Was forced to shut herself in Edinburgh Castle . In June 1560, Mary of Guise died, and the Siege of Leith ended with the departure of the French troops in accordance with the Treaty of Leith, also known as the Treaty of Edinburgh . Two mounds on Leith Links , known as "Giant's Brae" and "Lady Fyfe's Brae", identified as Somerset's Battery and Pelham's Battery respectively, are believed to be artillery mounds created for

8091-556: Was from his usage of the term occultisme that it gained wider usage; according to Faivre, Lévi was "the principal exponent of esotericism in Europe and the United States" at that time. The term occultism emerged in 19th-century France, where it came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to Éliphas Lévi and Papus , The earliest use of the term occultism in the English language appears to be in "A Few Questions to 'Hiraf'", an 1875 article by Helena Blavatsky ,

8184-590: Was not related, at this point, to the notion of Ésotérisme chrétien , as has been claimed by Hanegraaff, but to describe a political "system of occulticity" that was directed against priests and aristocrats. In 1853, the Freemasonic author Jean-Marie Ragon had already used occultisme in his popular work Maçonnerie occulte , relating it to earlier practices that, since the Renaissance , had been termed "occult sciences" or "occult philosophy", but also to

8277-405: Was paid for by the local trade guilds. All girls were educated from 1820, a long time after the boys, but a very early example of free education for females (only required by law from 1876). A free hospital service was provided from 1777, paid for by a local tax, with beds sponsored by local shops. Leith had electric street lighting from 1890 and electric trams from 1905 (only Blackpool was earlier in

8370-525: Was provided with no municipal government whatever or any local magistrates . An act of Parliament, the Leith Municipal Government Act 1827 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 4 . c. cxii) arranged for municipal government and administration of justice in the town, providing watching, paving, cleansing, and lighting, with Edinburgh Council responding to the views of Leith townspeople. The Burgh Reform Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 46) made Leith

8463-670: Was reputed to possess clairvoyant powers. His grandfather was William Weir, or Vere, of Stonebyres Castle who married Lady Elizabeth Hamilton. Weir was a signatory to the Solemn League and Covenant and an officer in the Scottish anti-Royalist army. As a Lieutenant , he served in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 . In 1650, he obtained the post of commander of the Edinburgh Town Guard, thus acquiring

8556-606: Was then given its new name, to mark the king's arrival by ship's boat at Leith Shore for this event, and this monarch was welcomed by the High Constabulary of the Port of Leith . A painting of the occasion hung in Leith Town Hall , now Leith Police station. On 20 May 1806, there was a procession of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh , Baillies , and Council, along with a numerous company of ladies and gentleman, for

8649-427: Was used pejoratively to describe new religions and movements that he disapproved of, such as Spiritualism, Theosophy, and various secret societies . Guénon's use of this terminology was adopted by later writers like Serge Hutin and Luc Benoist . As noted by Hanegraaff, Guénon's use of these terms are rooted in his Traditionalist beliefs and "cannot be accepted as scholarly valid". The term occultism derives from

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