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The occult (from Latin: occultus, lit. ' hidden ' or ' secret ') is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysticism.
The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". [1] In common usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", [2] usually referred to as science.
They interested the public, so several people described themselves as "Rosicrucian", claiming access to secret esoteric knowledge. [ 109 ] A real initiatory brotherhood was established in late 16th-century Scotland through the transformation of Medieval stonemason guilds to include non-craftsmen: Freemasonry .
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Latin: Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (Aurora Aurea), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hermeticism's emphasis on personal spiritual transformation and the pursuit of esoteric knowledge has continued to resonate with various occult groups, influencing modern spiritual movements such as Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley, and contemporary practices of alchemy, astrology, and magic. [66]
Chinese manuscripts of occult knowledge also circulated - which already constituted since the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C. a separate field of knowledge and popularized a "culture of secrecy" in which, although the texts occasionally prescribed a convention of secrecy, did not necessarily occur; claiming it to be secret promoted the valuation of ...
A magical organization or magical order is an organization or secret society created for the practice of initiation into ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members.
However these, along with all other fields of knowledge, are investigated, amended, and explained within an esoteric or occult framework. In often elaborate exposition, Theosophy's all-encompassing worldview proposes explanations for the origin, workings and ultimate fate of the universe and humanity; it has therefore also been called a system ...