Occultism

신비술

• I. Introduction
• II. Alchemy
  • 1. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
    • 1) The chemistry of alchemy.
    • 2) Goals.
  • 2. REGIONAL VARIATIONS
    • 1) Chinese alchemy.
    • 2) Indian alchemy.
    • 3) Hellenistic alchemy.
    • 4) Arabic alchemy.
    • 5) Latin alchemy.
  • 3. MODERN ALCHEMY
  • 4. ASSESSMENTS OF ALCHEMY
    • 1) Accomplishments.
    • 2) Interpretations.
• III. Divination: astrology
  • 1. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
    • 1) Significance of astral omens.
    • 2) Purposes of astrology.
  • 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
    • 1) Astral omens in the ancient Middle East.
    • 2) Astral omens in Egypt, Greece, India, China, and Islam.
    • 3) Astrology in the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD).
    • 4) Astrology after the Hellenistic period.
      • i) In Sasanian Iran.
      • ii) In Islam.
      • iii) In Byzantium.
      • iv) In western Europe.
    • 5) Astrology in modern times.
• IV. Divination: other forms
  • 1. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
  • 2. THE STRUCTURE OF DIVINATION
    • 1) Types of divination.
    • 2) The function of divination.
  • 3. VARIETIES OF DIVINATION
    • 1) Inductive divination.
    • 2) Interpretive divination.
    • 3) Intuitive divination.
    • 4) Divination today.
• V. Magic
  • 1. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
  • 2. HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION
    • 1) Magic in the ancient world.
    • 2) Magic in Christian Europe.
    • 3) Magic in nonliterate societies.
  • 3. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
    • 1) Structure.
      • i) The spell.
      • ii) Material objects or "medicines."
      • iii) The rite.
      • iv) Condition of the performer.
    • 2) Functions.
      • i) Instrumental functions.
      • ii) Expressive functions.
  • 4. MAGIC, RELIGION, AND SCIENCE
    • 1) Magic and religion.
    • 2) Magic, technology, and science.
  • 5. THE MAIN THEORIES OF MAGIC
    • 1) Anthropological.
    • 2) Psychological.
    • 3) Conclusion.
• VI. Witchcraft
  • 1. NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
    • 1) Witchcraft and magic.
    • 2) Structure and function.
      • i) Characteristics of the witch or sorcerer.
      • ii) Occasions of witchcraft.
      • iii) A coherent explanatory system.
    • 3) Theories of witchcraft.
  • 2. WITCHCRAFT IN HISTORICAL CULTURES
    • 1) Ancient Middle East and Europe.
    • 2) Western Christendom.
    • 3) The modern, secular world.
  • 3. WITCHCRAFT IN NONLITERATE SOCIETIES
• VII. Bibliography
  • 1. General:
  • 2. Hermetism:
  • 3. Alchemy:
  • 4. Divination: (Astrology):
  • 5. (Other forms):
  • 6. Magic:
  • 7. Witchcraft:

• 1. 개요
• 2. 연금술
  • 1) 성격과 의미
  • 2) 지역적 특성
  • 3) 현대의 연금술
  • 4) 연금술에 대한 평가
• 3. 점술과 점성술
  • 1) 성격과 의미
  • 2) 역사적인 발달
• 4. 그밖의 점술들
  • 1) 점술의 구조
  • 2) 점술의 여러 양태
• 5. 마술
  • 1) 성격과 의미
  • 2) 역사와 분포
  • 3) 구조와 기능
  • 4) 마술·종교·과학
  • 5) 마술의 주요이론
• 6. 마법
  • 1) 성격과 의미
  • 2) 역사적인 고찰
  • 3) 문자가 없는 사회의 마법
• 7. 참고문헌

I. Introduction

Occultism encompasses a wide range of theories and practices involving a belief in and knowledge or use of supernatural forces or beings. Such beliefs and practices--principally magical or divinatory--have occurred in all human societies throughout recorded history, with considerable variations both in their nature and in the attitude of societies toward them. In the West the term occultism has acquired intellectually and morally pejorative overtones that do not obtain in other societies where the practices and beliefs concerned do not run counter to the prevailing worldview.

1. 개요

초자연적인 힘이나 존재에 대한 믿음·지식·관행을 포함한 광범위한 이론과 실천의 체계.

Occult practices centre on the presumed ability of the practitioner to manipulate natural laws for his own or his client's benefit; such practices tend to be regarded as evil only when they also involve the breaking of moral laws. Some anthropologists have argued that it is not possible to make a clear-cut distinction between magic--a principal component of occultism--and religion, and this may well be true of the religious systems of some nonliterate societies. The argument does not hold, however, for any of the major religions, which regard both natural and moral law as immutable.

Those aspects of occultism that appear to be common to all human societies--divination, magic, witchcraft, and alchemy--are treated in depth below. Features that are unique to Western cultures, and the history of their development, are treated only briefly.

The Western tradition of occultism, as popularly conceived, is of an ancient "secret philosophy" underlying all occult practices. This secret philosophy derives ultimately from Hellenistic magic and alchemy on the one hand and from Jewish mysticism on the other. The principal Hellenistic source is the Corpus Hermeticum the texts associated with Hermes Trismegistos, which are concerned with astrology and other occult sciences and with spiritual regeneration.

The Jewish element is supplied by the Kabbala (the doctrine of a secret, mystical interpretation of the Torah), which had been familiar to scholars in Europe since the Middle Ages, and which was linked with the Hermetic texts during the Renaissance. The resulting Hermetic-Kabbalistic tradition, known as Hermetism, incorporated both theory and magical practice, with the latter presented as natural, and thus good, magic, in contrast to the evil magic of sorcery or witchcraft. (see also Index: Hermeticism)

Alchemy was also absorbed into the body of Hermetism, and this link was strengthened in the early 17th century with the appearance of Rosicrucianism, an alleged secret brotherhood that utilized alchemical symbolism and taught secret wisdom to its followers, creating a spiritual alchemy that survived the rise of empirical science and enabled Hermetism to pass unscathed into the period of the Enlightenment.

During the 18th century the tradition was taken up by esoterically inclined Freemasons who could not find an occult philosophy within Freemasonry. These enthusiasts persisted, both as individual students of Hermetism and, in continental Europe, as groups of occult practitioners, into the 19th century, when the growth of religious skepticism led to an increased rejection of orthodox religion by the educated and a consequent search for salvation by other means--including occultism.

But those interested turned to new forms of occultism rather than to the Hermetic tradition: on the one hand to Spiritualism--the practice of alleged regular communication between the living and the spirits of the dead through a living "medium"--and on the other to Theosophy--a blend of Western occultism and Eastern mysticism that proved to be a most effective propagator of occultism but whose influence has declined markedly over the last 50 years. (see also  Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna, Theosophical Society)

Indeed, despite the 19th-century revival, occult ideas have failed to gain acceptance in academic circles, although they have occasionally influenced the work of major artists, such as the poet William Butler Yeats and the painter Wassily Kandinsky, and occultism in Europe and North America seems destined to remain the province of popular culture.