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What is Occultism?
The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science.
The Study of Hidden Knowledge
In religion, occultism or occult studies is the study of hidden knowledge. This in and of itself can be interpreted several ways, including:
Knowledge kept from the wider population, offered only to initiates after proper preparation. Reasons for this commonly include the belief that such knowledge is dangerous to the unprepared, and that revealing sacred knowledge to the common populace profanes that knowledge
Knowledge disguised by God for only the select few to comprehend.
Multiple Renaissance occultists, for example, wrote of the Book of Nature, that is to say, the physical universe. Within this book are clues and messages, left by God, which can be found and deciphered by those both educated and worthy.
Knowledge of realms, energies, or abilities not recognized by the general populace. The most common use of the term occult in this way is in relation to the practice of magic, but in a wider sense anything supernatural or paranormal might be included.
Occultism is often considered roughly synonymous with esoteric and mystical, two far less threatening terms often used in conjunction with branches of mainstream and alternative religions alike.
Paths of the Western Occult Tradition
There are countless practices around the world that might be labeled as occult. Discussions of the occult here primarily focus on occultism in the Western world, commonly called the Western Occult Tradition or the Western Esoteric Tradition. Some Eastern beliefs have been incorporated into various Western paths, but the systems overall are still primarily Western and are generally rooted in older, Western beliefs.
There is no single, overreaching definition of the Western Occult Tradition. Rather, it is composed of a wide variety of different paths and practices such as Hermeticism, Kabbalah, astrology and numerology. Many occultists follow practices involving aspects of multiple paths, which makes generalizing about the occult extremely difficult. In addition, not all followers of these paths label themselves occultists, and outsiders should be sensitive to such differences in definition.
