Reprinting Western Studies [Part IV]: Nine Important Figures in Western Esotericism
Original Author: Simon_Setnakt
First of all, thank you to all fellow enthusiasts for your letters and support; your encouragement is the driving force behind my writing. A busy life is unavoidable for every modern person, and I am no exception. However, as long as there is one friend in this world who reads my work, I will continue to write for him/her!
This article discusses nine individuals. In fact, what I intend to convey is the impact of the eras and ideas these nine figures inhabited on us. Many readers of this column are young people, so the content might be a bit profound. However, please understand that every technique and idea in esotericism has a real history behind it. Additionally, due to space limitations, it is impossible for me to include all famous esotericists or mention every important event (there are many I like that I cannot mention). These nine sages aim to help everyone understand what esotericism is from a cultural and historical perspective.
Part One: The Ancient World
1) Ancient Egypt - Prince Setne Khamuast
Prince Setne Khamuast was the fourth son of Pharaoh Ramses II (1279-1213 BC). This Pharaoh was a famous figure because historical records indicate that Ramses II was the Pharaoh who allowed Moses to leave Egypt in the Biblical "Exodus." During his 66-year reign, Egypt reached unprecedented prosperity. In this environment of wealth and stability, Prince Setne Khamuast did something that greatly benefited the esoteric community: he collected a large number of esoteric texts recorded on papyrus from various parts of Egypt in his father's temple, the Ramesseum. He established the first esoteric library in Egyptian history and encouraged priests across Egypt to establish similar places in their temples to preserve knowledge. Due to Prince Setne Khamuast's contributions, ancient Greeks honored him as the "King of Esotericists."
The ancient Egyptian esotericism we see today, as well as their religious rituals, are mostly learned through records on papyrus. Without Prince Setne Khamuast, there would be no Western esotericism today.
2) Ancient Greece - Pythagoras (c. 580-490 BC)
Similarly, without Prince Setne Khamuast, there would be no achievements by Pythagoras. Pythagoras was a mathematician and philosopher in ancient Greece and also an esotericist. In his youth, he traveled to the great city of Memphis in ancient Egypt to study with the most famous local priests. When he left Egypt, he brought back two very important esoteric knowledge systems: the pentagram and the training techniques for the third eye, thus marking the beginning of Western esotericism. Pythagoras also advocated that understanding the relationships between numbers allows one to understand the esotericism of the universe, making him a pioneer of numerology.
3) Arab/Persia - Zoroaster (628-551 BC)
Many people know that Zoroaster's Zoroastrianism (Fire Worship) is the world's first dualistic religion. Zoroaster believed that the world was created by an all-good but not omnipotent god, Ahura Mazda (literally: Lord of Wisdom). To save time, the following paragraph is copied from Wikipedia:
"Ahura Mazda is the good god representing light, and Angra Mainyu (also called Ahriman) is the evil god representing darkness; the followers of the good god are angels, and the followers of the evil god are demons, engaging in long-term, repetitive struggles. For the sake of battle, Ahura Mazda created the world and humanity, creating fire first. The birth of Zoroaster was the result of the victory of the good god Ahura Mazda; every thousand years, Zoroaster's essence produces a son, and he designated the third son as the savior to completely eradicate demons and allow humanity to enter the 'Kingdom of Light, Justice, and Truth.' After death, humans must enter the 'Bridge of Judgment,' where their entry into hell or heaven is determined by their deeds in life, but they will undergo a final judgment at the end of the world, and the souls of the wicked can be purified of sin and resurrected."
Zoroaster did not directly make any major contributions to esotericism, but the emergence of Zoroastrianism brought fame to a small tribe in the western part of the Persian Empire. They were originally priests who made a living providing sacrificial and funeral services, but Zoroastrianism greatly affected their livelihood, so they united to resist it. The name of this tribe was Magi, which is the origin of the Latin word Magus (an esotericist with great wisdom), and the English words "Magician" and "Magic." The Chinese character "Wu" (Shamanism) was also borrowed from this Old Persian word.
This section mentions two philosophical thoughts called "Gnosticism" and "Neoplatonism." Since this is not a philosophy discussion area, I will not explain them in detail. Readers interested can find books to learn more.
4) Judea - Simon Magus (15-? AD)
In the first century AD, Christianity was just born in the land of Israel. At the same time, this newly born religion was engaged in a fierce battle with an ideological system, which was Gnosis (the original Greek word refers to a kind of knowledge or consciousness obtained through personal experience). Among the Gnostic camp, one of the main generals was Simon Magus.
The Simon who practiced magic in Chapter 8 of the New Testament "Acts of the Apostles" is actually a reference to this Simon. Simon Magus traveled extensively through Egypt, Persia, and Arabia in his early years, combining the Zoroastrian ideas founded by Zoroaster with Platonism into Gnosticism. Gnosticism itself is a difficult-to-understand ideology; interested friends can find relevant materials on their own, and I will not elaborate further. The influence of this ideology on Western esotericism is: 1) It confirmed the idea that to obtain "salvation," one must have a personalized, spiritualized contact with "God" (or the essence of the universe). Therefore, esotericism is about creating these opportunities for contact with God. 2) The idea that the spiritual world and the material world are completely separated. Therefore, esotericists must try every means to find those higher worlds. 3) "Aions": Between the highest "God" and this world, there are many intervals called "Aions," so our world is just an imperfect projection of a perfect world.
5) Europe - Plotinus (205-270 AD)
Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism. Without him, there would be no current Kabbalah system, Islamic and Christian mysticism, and Hermeticism. He constructed a metaphysical system of the Trinity of God, Intellect, and Soul. Neoplatonism believes that the body is the prison of the soul, and the purpose of human existence is to become as similar to God as possible. One of the greatest contributions of Neoplatonism to esotericism is its view of evil. Light and darkness are not polar opposites; darkness is merely "insufficient light." Evil is a kind of "ignorance": a lack of cognition of the real world. Just like stars in the dark night sky, darkness exists elsewhere because there is not enough light. To save time, the following paragraph is copied from Wikipedia:
"Neoplatonism emphasizes that all things in the world have this divine light, but the closest to the light of God is still the human soul; only the soul can merge with the mystery and greatness. At some accidental times, humans can even experience themselves as that divine natural light."
Part Three: The Age of Religious Reform
The Middle Ages were the dark ages of esotericism. The dominance and persecution of Christianity caused previously open esoteric activities to go underground. From the Inquisition of the 13th century to the witch hunts of the 15th to 17th centuries, anyone holding ideas slightly different from the Vatican would be interrogated and killed by the Church. To protect themselves, many esotericists often integrated their esoteric research into the Christian system. This situation relaxed somewhat until the Renaissance...
6) Germany - Dr. Johann Georg Faust (1466-1540)
The German genius and great writer Goethe has a world-famous masterpiece "Faust," which is the finest work in German literature. The most famous plot of Faust is his covenant with the devil Mephistopheles; if the devil frees him from his state of dissatisfaction and unrest, he will deliver his soul after death to him.
The above is Goethe's adaptation based on the historical Faust. The real Faust was an esotericist proficient in various Western esoteric techniques such as astronomy and necromancy. In that era of closed-mindedness, Faust boldly declared that his power came from a covenant with the devil. Faust traveled through different universities in Germany, preaching his theories. As for why you ask why the Vatican did not arrest him, I do not understand either, but I think one important reason is that another person more threatening to Roman Catholicism appeared in Germany at that time. Martin Luther posted the famous Ninety-five Theses outside the Wittenberg Church in 1517, formally triggering the Reformation.
After Faust's death, a large number of manuscripts claiming to be his appeared on the market. Although most of these manuscripts were published under Faust's name falsely, they recorded the esotericism of the Middle Ages in detail, especially the operational methods of necromancy. This interest in esotericism extended more than three hundred years later when Goethe still used "Faust" as the blueprint for his work, reflecting how humanity, under a thousand years of ideological oppression, gradually learned to resist and think.
Part Four: Modern Times
7) Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891)
H. P. Blavatsky, or Madame Blavatsky, is one of the most important figures in the revival of modern esotericism. She founded an organization called Theosophical Society, dedicated to combining the esoteric and religious thoughts scattered in the East and West at that time. Theosophical Society integrated Hinduism, Greek/Egyptian religion and philosophy, and even the scientific thoughts of the time, greatly influencing the development direction of 20th-century esotericists.
8) Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)
One of the people influenced by Madame Blavatsky is Aleister Crowley, known as the greatest esotericist of the 20th century. When many people think of him, they also think of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In fact, modern developments in Kabbalah, Tarot, Astrology, Numerology, Sexual Magic, and Gematria (a summoning art allegedly used by King Solomon, where esotericists can perform various activities by commanding seventy-two spirits) were deeply influenced by Aleister Crowley. His life was full of legends; besides being an esotericist, he was also a writer, philosopher, world-class mountaineer, and chess player. It is said that he was the only modern person who could fully understand the operational methods of Enochian Magic; during World War II, British Intelligence consulted him on how to deal with Nazi German military esotericists (the method was that he asked Prime Minister Churchill to display the "V" gesture as much as possible in public, because in esoteric principles, the "V" represents the Typhon power that can destroy the power represented by the sun on the Nazi flag). His adventures in Egypt, and the subsequent establishment of A. A. and the transformation of OTO and other esoteric organizations, are even more talked about.
9) Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964)
Gerald Gardner is the founder of Wicca, "the only religion originating in Britain." He himself was also a member of Aleister Crowley's OTO. Wicca is one of the branches of Witchcraft, originating from the European continent, and is one of the most widely studied esoteric systems in the world. Since Wicca itself is not a unified system, I really cannot summarize a criterion for everyone to refer to. However, main Wicca usually includes: 1) Worshiping a pair of gods (Gerald Gardner used the Horned God and the Great Mother goddess); 2) Emphasizing moral values (such as the Law of Threefold); 3) Performing special rituals on a batch of important festivals; 4) Using ritual magic.
Fellow enthusiasts, feel free to communicate if interested. Since readers may also be experts in different historical fields, opinions are welcome. In the next article, I will talk about the nine books that novice esotericists must read.