Western Esotericism Family Tree

[@UsefulCharts]

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[@LyleFrancisDelp]

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius……

[@Cay30]

This is amazing work Matt! Btw what may be of interest to expand further is that Anthroposophy has a Christian Church offshot called The Christian Community (founded also by Steiner). It's the largest esoteric Christian church in the world with over 100,000 members and 300 congregations in 35 countries. I'm a member I'm happy to answer any questions you may have on my church.

[@rrezonkrasniqi]

you forgot to mention Nueva Acropolis which has a direct link with the Theosophical socciety

[@dropcheekelbow9110]

@UsefulCharts , a little off topic, but are you familiar with the presidential election forecaster allan lichtman? If so you should think about a collaboration with him. He's 77-78, and although he seems perfectly healthy, he probably only has a limited amount of elections left to predict. His son doesn't have the background to take over and I think you'd be great. Anyway I recommended you to them. Perhaps you can start with a chart of his predictions.

[@TheRezro]

My take about early mysticism. Gnosticism originated largely from conflict in early Church, regard exploitation of nature of evil. Some priests come to conclusion that God of Abraham (or at least the Creator Demiurg) is actually evil (what commonly overlapped with antisemitism). And Jesus was different form of God, who come to liberate humanity from himself. As such world is evil and heaven is good. Of course it was part of larger mystical movement, probably related to Hermetism. What is interesting in modern day Gnosticism evolved into Lucfierianism. So a "good" form of Satanism (nore closer to neoplatonizm). Though still relying on false depiction of Lucifer as noble rebel from Milton. But what ever. Though it is worth mention that Isiah is a satire of Nabuchodonozor 2 and do not refer to spiritual being and there is also Revelation 22 16. So...

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks for the shout-out, Dr. Baker! Would love to work on something together at some point.

[@UsefulCharts]

Let's do it!

[@Asriksrava]

YES PLEASE!!! I LOVE BOTH OF YOUR CHANNELS!!!

[@thegreatzinetar]

@TheEsotericaChannel Would love a breakdown of this chart with more detail!

[@Loeffellux]

Expecting great things! (Or at least a really cool youtube video)

[@GoldStoneGamingHub]

Dr. Sledge & Dr. Baker would be a collab of the ages

[@rattuna4773]

One major influence missing is Carl Jung. Jungian psychology has had a HUGE impact on esotericism in the west. Concepts like the shadow, the animus and anima, dream divination, the collective unconscious, and archetypes have been popularized or created by Jung and his work is extremely influential.

[@Darth-Mariner]

The whole of perennialist traditional school was left out. Among them people like Evola and his UR Group, an Italian equivalent to the German Thule Society. Evola also inspired quite something in the occult later on.

[@Darth-Mariner]

Then also Dion Fortune with her Fraternity of the Inner Light was completely left out. Kenneth Grant deserves a mention here as well as his schism.

[@marcietownsend3635]

Astrology. The Freemasons/Jesuits use Astrology to time their events and as a spiritual framework. The Abrahamic Religions are essentially sports teams with owners used for exploitation and mind control and players who don't know they're being played.

[@trump9075]

They were popularized by Jung but were already integrated in the system of the Golden Dawn.

[@Jack-496]

Learning that the word “mesmerize” comes from a person is mind-blowing

[@MartijnMcFly]

Mesmerizing to say the least.

[@forzafiori9363]

Mesmer's whole life is mind-blowing. The man prefered to work wearing only purple velvet, managed to have multiple queens/emperesses as his customers, was thrown out of multiple countries, his life reads life a dime-store novel.

[@kaloarepo288]

There is actually a send up of mesmerism in Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte" when the serving girl Zerlina comes out with a vibration machine and attempts to heal the two "ailing" lovers Ferrando and Guglielmo.Mesmer had created quite a sensation in both Vienna and Paris at the time.

[@Harrison1Bergeron]

Wait till you learn that parlor magic is a series of religious rituals used to train future occult adepts in the ways the world is ruled and as an introduction to the greater magik. (Mesmerism, distraction, suggestion, sleight of hand)

[@Harrison1Bergeron]

@@forzafiori9363nod disimilar to rasputin. The worlds rulers believe in the occult and always have sorcerers and magicians as advisors and confidants

[@MultiWeb23]

Many foreigners don't know it, but Brazil is an extremely spiritual country and I'm not talking only about Christianity, but there are many esoteric groups. Spiritism is one of the largest religions in Brazil, even though it started in France, and it's quite amazing

[@jonathanporter7601]

Are religious traditions of enslaved communities the biggest influence here?

[@MultiWeb23]

Well, spiritism is not an afro-brazilian tradition. Cadomblé, however, is a somewhat popular spiritual religion, which blended with spiritism creating yet another tradition called umbanda. But there are many others, including almost all the traditions in the video

[@a.valente817]

I grew up in an Esoteric family. Spiritism was one of the main influences!

[@DaviRenania]

@@jonathanporter7601 Not quite, but the synchretic african-catholic religion is somewhat widespread.

[@DaviRenania]

Brazil is the country of millenarist foundatons. Nowhere is Kardecism more popular either.

[@johnkrneta5627]

Wow. Matt, you have outdone yourself! What vast research, succinctly tied together, and well laid-out. I especially like the blue streaming borders that guides our eyes to the box being discussed.

[@drangelapuca]

Thank you so much for the mention, Matt. It would be lovely to collaborate with you. 🥰🙏

[@tommy-er6hh]

Something else to consider: slave religions. here is an incomplete list: - Haiti Vodou/Voudoux - from the Creole French "Vaudoux" - related but different is Louisiana voodoo - another variation is USA hoodoo ("conjure") - Cuban Santeria/Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí - Jamaican Obeah, or Obayi and - related Jamaican Myalism In Brasil there seems to be four distinct movements, -Candomble of Bahia and the northeast -Spiritism of Rio (i am not sure if it is the same mentioned in this video or not) -Umbanda in the urban centers not influenced by Bahia -Quimbanda a form of black magic that is practiced clandestinely everywhere. i think there are more i have not run across

[@jonathanporter7601]

Thanks. This is interesting. Can many of these be traced to specific regions of Africa?

[@tommy-er6hh]

@@jonathanporter7601 some, Hoodoo is from the Gullah people, don't know if they were in a specific part of Africa. Santeria shows elements of the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa The rest i never got a basis.

[@M.M.83-U]

This can easily be an entire new video.

[@minngael]

Afro-Caribbean, or African Diasporic Traditions is a better term than "slave religions" but otherwise good info.

[@prkp7248]

Slave religion is better name because it is connected to historical situation and context in which it started. Just like saying that Christianity is messianic religion - it grew out of Jewish context at specific time that was roman conquest of Judea.

[@elkhamlichi2558]

UsefulCharts has uploaded, time to stop everything I'm doing

[@Vortex13777]

Gonna do the same

[@orlandocuadra2125]

I agree 👍🏽

[@Asha-wj7ko]

😂 same here

[@travisjacobson2334]

Literally! 😂

[@MR.APZero]

Agreed

[@choninja21]

Not talking about the historical wizard duel that Alister Crowley was involved in is a glaring omission

[@disarm3317]

MISSSSTTTTEERRR CROWLEYYYY

[@insect8771]

If memory serves it ended with William Butler Yeats kicking him down the stairs.

[@joshuahunt3032]

@@insect8771So apparently Crowley fit the “squishy wizard” stereotype.

[@geokou7645]

@@disarm3317WHAT WENT ON IN YOUR HEAD?

[@deinemam7115]

Claims to be able to do magic cant even cast a fireball smh

[@keetaya801]

Thanks for this one. I hope we could soon see an Eastern Esotericism chart as well. It'd be weird if you can explain Witchdoctoring practices in Sri Lanka 😶 Also, for folks who like to delve in to these different esoteric groups in an academtic setting, suggest to see courses produced by "The Great Courses" taught by Professor Richard Spence - Secrets of the Occult is one of my absoulte favorites. He is actually an expert on Aliester Crawly.

[@knowcoiner5599]

Eastern is rooted in western Hinduism and Buddhism brought by indoeuropeans

[@riseofdarkleela]

Mmm can’t wait to check this out.

[@ZacharyBittner]

eastern would have to be subdivided because you would have to contend with buddhist groups, daoist groups, onmyoji stuff, the native bon religion, all those native religions in western asia which people kinda ignore, and the Sakhalin island native stuff, etc. it's a lot.

[@tjenadonn6158]

​@@ZacharyBittner I mean this chart glosses over a whole mess of things as well. You could do entire videos just on the various groups within the British Witchcraft Revival (Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Seax-Wica, Blue Star, Diannic, the Minoan Brotherhood, Cochrane's Craft, etc) the various offshoots, cross-pollenations, and mutations of Theosophy (The I AM Activity/Saint Germain Foundation, the Church Universal and Triumphant/Summit Lighthouse, the Temple of The Presence, the United Lodge of Theosophists, the Philosophical Research Society, the Lemurian Fellowship, etc,) Scientology and its various influences and offshoots ( NXIVM, Eckankar, The Process Church of the Final Judgement, the Manson Family, Erhard Seminars Training, Free Zone/Independent Scientology etc,) the list goes on and on and on.

[@cyclonicleo]

Its great to finally have some structure to these movements. Cheers!

[@danielsmokesmids]

structure in beliefs is a christian need. us pagans dont need it

[@Jack93885]

Perfect channel reccomendations for this topic. Two excellent and scholarly creators making content on this field

[@GallupGardens]

You should make a video of how freemasonry influenced everything from the Mormon Church, civic clubs, the esoteric, street gangs, the Boy Scouts, and everything in-between

[@roanokebeilschmidt]

Heck yeah, Hellenic Reconstruction represented! It's interesting that you contrast Reconstruction with Eclecticism; in many Reconstructionist spaces (at least Norse and Hellenism, not sure about Celtic), there's usually a greater focus on contrasting Recon with Revivalism, which is a spectrum that moves from trying to replicate an ancient religion exactly to making more and more concessions to try to modernize it, which sometimes involves bringing in practices from the traditions you've labelled as eclectic, though not always. A lot of Reconstructionists might push back on being grouped with traditions like Wicca under Neo-Paganism. While some of us call ourselves Pagans (though many prefer just polytheist or reconstructionist), within our communities, we usually use Neo-Paganism specifically to mean those eclectic traditions like Wicca that we think of as an out-group, never for ourselves. Overall, it's just an interesting look at how language is used academically vs by adherents. Also, I'm so sorry for the amount of flak you're going to get for (correctly, imo) including the LDS Church on this chart. Thank you for making this chart! It's awesome, and I love it!

[@RubelliteFae]

What you've hit on here is the emic vs etic perspectives in cultural anthropology. Anthropology talking both into account is one of the main reasons I find it superior to sociology and other soft sciences which do not focus on eliminating potential biases as much as possible.

[@jenniferramon6929]

And then you have those of us who started in the middle of that double-headed arrow between the Goddess Movement and Wicca, and ended up as Revivalist Polytheists of one sort or another. Bit of a long and winding road to get there. While I know most Reconstructionists don’t call themselves NeoPagans, given the historical origins of their movements I don’t think it’s wrong to put them in that part of the chart. But mostly I’m just delighted that any of us got representation in one of these videos!

[@roanokebeilschmidt]

@@jenniferramon6929 Oh definitely, I'm not saying we're in the wrong place per se; just that it doesn't really reflect the way we talk about ourselves 😅

[@roanokebeilschmidt]

@@jenniferramon6929 I actually started out as a generally eclectic Neo-Pagan (knew about Wicca but never felt pulled to it specifically) before becoming a Hellenic Polytheist, so I think we definitely have similar paths in that sense!

[@erisstewart4236]

Maybe reconstructionist/revivalist would be better

[@romad357]

Makes "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" by The Fifth Dimension understandable.

[@Caseyuptobat]

The song is from the musical HAIR

[@z-beeblebrox]

Damn this whole time I just thought it was a song about how awesome February is...

[@katrinam6795]

I know some conspiratory Theorist peoole who unironically say that the age of Aquarius has started hence (whatever they don't like) will topple

[@JoaoCosta-ly1sw]

@@katrinam6795 Age of Taurus is earth and we had agricultural revolution. Age of Aries is fire and we had metal work. Age of Pisces is water and we had sea exploration. Age of Aquarius is air and we will become a space faring civilization. Don't underestimate symbolism of metaphysical aspects of reality that your human mind is too small to comprehend.

[@ante5544]

​​@@JoaoCosta-ly1sw To quote Robert Downey Jr., "Once something goes your way you can draw all the parallels you want and call it destiny." I'm a big fan of symbolism and do believe there's a lot of wisdom to be found in traditions like that. And I wouldn't be surprised if different cultures drew symbolism for fertility based on the vernal equinox zodiac sign of the day and it thus became an integral part of their culture. But you really risk oversimplifying history by relegating two thousand year epochs to "eat grass, make metal, use boat, touch Moon". I know there's more depth to your perspective than just that, but my point remains.

[@nataliekelly5063]

Yes yes yes, been waiting for this one, thank you!

[@tao2sic]

I've been looking for a concise description of New Age for years and hadn't found it until now; you're doing God's work. I thoroughly enjoy your videos. Thank you.

[@traviswadezinn]

Good job - there's more to do, numerous Kabbalahist schools, Christian Esoteric and Mystical currents, Esoteric Islam, Christian Hermeticism. We have other inheritors of the Rosicrucian Enlightenment also, such as the Moravian Church. Good job.

[@RubelliteFae]

Yes, for sure! He did so much work on the Christianity chart that it's a bit disappointing to not see other charts go into as much depth even though the final result would still be smaller than the Christianity one. Edit: I'd say most of them are more "Intro to X" charts.

[@TheRezro]

I think he excluded what he considered as outside influence or syncretic movements. Though it is also topic worthy of the debate.

[@abyssimus]

Note on Eastern Religions: they really don't come into play until the 1700s, and weren't much an influence on early Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, Swedenborg, or Mesmer. That said, Mesmer's students quickly started making claims that their ideas had eastern precedents and a few later Rosicrucian authors claim that when Rosenkreutz travelled "east," "east" meant India and Tibet instead of Jerusalem or maybe Baghdad. Still, Levi make the occasional vague mention of eastern religions where it suited him but Papus and Blavatsky try to work whole eastern ideas into their systems (or at least relabel Neoplatonic concepts with Sanskrit terms). Levi needs lines going to Papus and Crowley: both regularly cite Levi and make sure to never contradict Levi without some sort of explanation for why Levi wasn't *really* wrong there ("he said that to stop the uninitiated from seeing a deeper truth"). Papus saw himself as putting into organized practice what Levi wrote largely as theory. Crowley believed he was the reincarnation of Levi. More on Martinism: Neo-Templar ideas (admittedly Masonic but not all Masons) feeds into the Elus Cohens, and the Elus Cohens claimed Rosicrucian pedigree. A number of Neo-Gnostic movements fed into the Papus's Martinist Order. The Martinist Order split into a few different factions, which were coalescing back together into two federations of esoteric orders in the 20th century (FUDOSI and FUDOFSI). Crowley got involved on one side of the fighting, which exacerbated things (not his fault, one side wanted the OTO's numbers and the other took that opportunity to paint them as all being like Crowley). This infighting lead to court battles that basically destroyed two of the largest esoteric organizations (outside of regular Freemasonry) in the mid-20th century. AMORC, the FRC, and probably any Gnostic church that predates the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library are what remains. Crowley and Hubbard: Not really something that can be shown on the chart but interesting, Hubbard was a member of the California branch of the O.T.O., which Crowley was not happy about. Crowley's student who initiated Hubbard, Jack Parsons, was the rocket scientist who invented the fuel used by the Apollo program. Neo-Druidry was influenced by Freemasonry: The oldest neo-Druid movements got started as Freemasonry variants by both Anglo-Israelists and even early secularists (with *both* groups often having Christian ministers among their numbers!). Theosophy influenced UFO religions: Theosophy isn't a UFO religion but it teaches that races from other planets (understood in an astrological sense) help guide humanity, which planted the seed for all UFO religions' idea that the aliens are going to teach us how to be better people. A lot of the older UFO stuff kind of takes Blavatskian ideas for granted (which is why "Nordic" was a classification for alien and Atlantis is regularly assumed to exist by the UFO crowd). The UFO craze of the mid-to-late 20th century could be seen as a secularization of these religious beliefs, rather than the other way around.

[@AC-dk4fp]

The UFO craze started by Kenneth Arnold and the Contactee movement created by Theosophist's like Adamski were seperate things that used each other, neither were secularised from each other. Though both were influenced by turn of the century newspaper stories about mystery airships which were based on older lore about fairies and wizards. The contactee movement was in many ways the spiritualism of the second Great Awakening returning to the Planetary angels of Swedenborgism using the language of Pulp fiction and Swedenborg was just the first important Christian mystic to talk about/to Planetary angels in a world that had a more modern understanding of what a planet is. What is or isn't a UFO religion is debatable when you have groups like the Church of Islam heavily featuring UFOs in their lore without being so interested in ETs or things like Scientology and the Church of Happy Science which are obsessed with Space Opera but also don't assign ETs a soteriological role. Not to mention the obscure American churches that think UFOs aren't real but are evidence of demonic illusion with eschatological implications. The oldest Neo-Druidry groups didn't come from Freemasonry specifically but a British cultural epoch full of social clubs like the Oddfellows, fraternities and the early trade unions that developed together. Freemasonry was just the form that got exported to the continent and the Americas.

[@viewerman-tq5ne]

'Hellenism' as a term for the modern Hellenic Paganism movemnet has been pushed back by Greeks since the term Hellenism just means 'Greekness' and is already used in Greek to refer to the ethnic/national identity.

[@SputnikRX]

Some Greeks use it in Greece. It's an ethnic tradition, so it's as Hellenic as anything else, and wouldn't have been seen as a "religion" in its own time. Just the custom of Hellenic peoples.

[@jmannysantiago]

My paternal grandparents were Kardecian Spiritists, and my grandfather was a Medium in charge of a congregation. My aunt was also a Medium and she continued the congregation for some time after my grandfather died. Back home in Puerto Rico, there are still many Spiritst communities, although there is a huge diversity of groups. My maternal family was very “traditional” in that they were pure Kardecian. But there were other syncretic expressions that incorporate either Afro-Caribbean or Roman Catholic rituals and beliefs. I grew up Protestant because my dad’s side of the family converted from Islam to Christianity through the Protestant efforts to help with the US colonization in Puerto Rico. When I try to explain this religious family history to USAmericans who think that all Latinos are Roman Catholic and if not, we are converts, their heads explode. 😂🤣😂🤣 Never a Roman Catholic in this Latino family! Thank you for sharing this chart and shedding light on less known, but still very relevant, religious movements.

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

I would like to add that it's not necessarily the case that esoteric movements of the past *had* to be hidden due to Christian oppression, but rather that they were simply not taken seriously enough to be discussed in public.

[@noone.1711]

Very true, also due to the fact that certain topics require a more educated mind to be undestood, otherwise they are misunderstood

[@adalbertoruiz7651]

Yeah, both are related. How can we be taken seriously while our understanding goes beyond mainstream religions and ideologies?

[@kristinwright6632]

Super interesting to see how all these esoteric orders interrelate. My dad was a Master Mason and a Grand Master so you can imagine how my upbringing went. Yep, lodge rat. I had a real love for ritual of the Masonic style but I didn't want to become Eastern Star or Nile. I instead had the bright idea of converting to Mormonism which I thought was an esoteric religion. Boy was I wrong. I rather realized it when I went for my endowments and found the ritual to be a watered down and rather culty programming version of Freemasonry, complete with some rather familiar looking grips and signs. I left after four years and forgot about any kind of esoteric work, moving instead into various forms of neoPaganism. I did get into solo study of the Hermetic Qabala. Finally I stumbled on a group of ceremonial magicians and realized I had finally found my home. After 25 years I still work the Western Magical path and find it fulfilling.

[@joshygoldiem_j2799]

In case you're wondering why the equinox zodiac is going to change, it's because the earth's axis is actually in precession, completing one revolution every 26,000 years. When the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Giza, the North Star wasn't our current North Star, Polaris, but rather it was Thuban. Because the earth is rotating, there's a g force at the equator which causes its circumference to enlarge there, effectively shaping the earth into a spheroid. Because it's not a perfect sphere, the gravitational force of the sun is not perfectly balanced. One side of the earth gets tugged just a little bit more, and this causes the earth's axis to spin. This means that we will enter the age of Aquarius at the turn of the 27th century.

[@katrinam6795]

Aren't the zodiacs changing every year since earth's aus is changing over time anyway? That was my last update. Like, the actual stars/ earth rotation is quicker than the zodiac system we stick to today.

[@jagdawgii929]

The age of aquarius officially starts in 2160 AD. Each season of the great year/precessional of the equinox is equally split up into 2160 years (the actually constellations more/less line up with this even though some are different sizes). Everything else you said is pretty much spot on. makes you wonder why there was a lion facing the ecliptic.. and if you consider the erosional features on the walls of the sphinx enclosure.... some really cool ideas begin to emerge from our own ability to reason.

[@aaproductions4441]

@@jagdawgii929 can you point me in the direction to read more about that?

[@jagdawgii929]

@@aaproductions4441 Randall Carlson Sacred geometry, after skool has a great collaboration on their channel regarding all of it. but randall is deep into it, his powerpooints/podcasts are pretty wild

[@spiral_heart8239]

This is a really fantasic overview. The only thing that i would add as a neo-pagan is that some non-reconstructionist neo-pagans still do work with a specific pantheo, but aren't trying to practice in a way that attempts to recreate historical practices. One example of this would be hellenic wiccans.

[@kristinwright6632]

Wicca in general was hugely informed by the former Golden Dawn.

[@spiral_heart8239]

@@kristinwright6632 I'm not disputing that. I'm just talking about what eclectic wiccans look like today (which is quite a bit different from gardnarian wicca)

[@Darth-Mariner]

@@spiral_heart8239 It's completely different. Also the label 'eclectic' on the chart is misleading as a name for the whole group. It should be called 'syncretic' and from that one would follow: Druidism, Wicca, Eclectic Wicca, and Eclectic Paganism.

[@RubelliteFae]

Great video once again! Just wanted to point out that the symbol you call Star of David has also been used for millennia by dharmic faiths (just like the svastika). We call it ṣaṭkoṇa. Sometimes there is a dot in the center and modernly this is even more common so people don't mix up the two. Edit: I also wanted to point out that the N*z* symbol has German names such as Hakenkreuz (hooked cross) which I wish modern people would use instead of continuing their misappropriation of our word. Uphill battle though... Their version was depicted with point downward whereas we typically have it flat side down. Again, sometimes dots are between the lines mostly in South Asia, especially post-WW2. In Japan the dots are rare. Imagine having to self censor when trying to set the record straight about your own religion being appropriated so that YT allows the post...😞

[@kapasian9009]

Funnily enough, in Hebrew the Nazi symbol is indeed called "hooked cross".

[@gamermapper]

​@@kapasian9009in French it's also called croix gammée...

[@igrim4777]

"point downward whereas we never depict it that way" Who are this "we" you are talking about? It's certainly not Buddhists or Hindus because both of those have the point down/all arms at 45° to horizontal on things like temples and statues. It's less common than having all arms at 0° and 90° to horizontal but I've seen it. Search for "'name of symbol' on hindu temple" and within 30 seconds of looking at images you'll be able to see historical examples. One of the most in interesting modern examples I've seen is a murti of Sri Ganesh on a back ground that consists of two such crosses one rotated by 45° with respect to the other. I've never seen Jains use it thus. On a side note, careful with the "cultural appropriation" line, you're coming across as both ignorant and racist. The fylfot cross has been used in Europe for centuries or millenia. It's on ancient Pictish and Irish tombs from 1500 years ago and Anglo-Saxon pottery from around the same time, it's on Hellenic pottery from 700 BC, it's on Etruscan pottery from 1300 BC. It's been used in Christianity for more than a 1000 years. It was in use in Britain and the Commonwealth and its former colonies as a symbol of good fortune and Christian faith from ancient times into the 20th century even going on into World War II, including being sold as jewellery, good luck charms, on the tombs of bishops, the gravestones of common folk. This all started long before the political party even existed. The European aggressors of WWII didn't "appropriate" the cross from Asia, their ancestors had been using it since time immemorial with it being believed to have originated as a kind of sun wheel and it was associated with Odin if not the Norse gods and culture in general. Your accusation of "appropriation" is to deny that truth.

[@RubelliteFae]

@@igrim4777 Are you aware how commonly people used hyperbole for emphasis? I shouldn't have said "never," but it didn't require this sort of response. And yes, it is appropriation (or misappropriation if you will) to call it by our word and associate it with the worst humanity has to offer. I can't even write the word out without YT deleting my post. Cultures have always taken what's useful from other cultures, and that's fine by me. But, I can't even use symbols or words of my own faith because a third culture doesn't like what a second culture did with it. That you find my statement as sounding ignorant suggests you could work on your communication skills. Maybe more listening & less "teaching." (I didn't intend to imply that the symbol wasn't found in prehistory across the globe, but that my version specifically is "banned" because of actions outside of our control.) I get it. We have similar autistic special interests. But you don't need to be so rude about it and perhaps open yourself to the possibility that someone might not just be converting data, but also their feelings about how they have been effected by a situation. And thereby so perhaps have a little compassion for the person instead of putting on your pedantry hat. This message probably also sucks to read because I'm in a huff now and don't have the patience to check for bad autocorrections

[@RubelliteFae]

@@igrim4777 As for "we," I am Advaitin. "Hindu" or Santana Dharma (both terms have unfortunate secondary connotations). The symbols mentioned are common across all dharmic faiths/philosophies.

[@Loasdrums2]

I feel like New Age deserves it's own chart with all of the influences it pulls from.

[@justmikid]

Hell yeah! Another great basic history lesson. Sent me down many research rabbit holes. When do we get an "eastern esotericism" chart and video?

[@alexreid1173]

A couple things I’d like to add about the neo-pagan section: the influence of different neo-pagan groups on each other is huge. These communities are often small, so there’s a lot of overlap. There are also many people who fit into more than one category - eclectic paganism is a huge thing. My experience with is mostly with Druidry, but there’s a decent amount of overlap in practices and beliefs between us and Wicca, Celtic reconstructionism, and other neo-pagan groups. Druids these days are often Celtic pagans specifically, though not everyone fits into this. The main exception to this is the Völkish movement and its descendants. In my experience, these groups are typically actively shunned and weeded out of many broadly pagan spaces (like, people will ask you to denounce them or ask you questions to try to determine if you’re racist). Many Heathens who are not affiliated with them tend to say early on that they denounce Völkish groups and white supremacy. Non-Völkish pagan spaces tend to be pretty liberal and very LGBTQ friendly. There are always exceptions to that because paganism is such a vast term and doesn’t tell you very much about beliefs or practices, but that’s been my experience.

[@minngael]

Yes, it's a lot more like a messy Venn diagram than a family tree, this had to be simplified by necessity! I'd also add the relationship to feminist/women's spirituality (the Goddess movement & Dianic Wicca) which runs parallel to movements in Christianity & Judaism, and there is some overlap there with Christian folk magic, Christians who honor Mary as a goddess, and so forth and Jewish feminists that practice "Jewitchery" or "Judeopaganism". And then there's even some heretical Mormon feminists that honor the Heavenly Mother, who was revered in early Mormonism but is no longer officially worshipped. So they actually end up intersecting! Also the eco/green spirituality & environmental movements.

[@varany3376]

TBF, so many people are doing their own solitary thing that it's just not worth starting to split hairs. What I think is a glaring omission is the Eastern European neo-pagan movements. They're still Europe and yet "Western esotericism" completely excludes it.

[@alexreid1173]

@@varany3376 That’s fair, I just think it would be worth adding some extra arrows to indicate more transmission between these groups. I’m not sure if he just isn’t as aware of Eastern European paganism, or perhaps it wasn’t included because it isn’t typically as directly descended from these other groups (whereas other groups like Wicca and Druidry have clear connections to, say, the hermetic order of the golden dawn)? He could probably still include some sort of connection though since there is some overlap in these groups

[@varany3376]

@@alexreid1173 It's western by extension of being European (as per their own definition), it doesn't need to be directly or indirectly descended from any kind occultist movement and can just showcase the wider diversity that is actually Neopaganism or esoteric European spirituality. Most of the Neopagan entries are even separate and not shown any connection to the romanticist era occultist movements.

[@alexreid1173]

@@varany3376 That’s fair, I’m just thinking he might not have considered it relevant enough for a Western Esotericism family tree specifically. Wouldn’t hurt to include it though

[@jessica3285]

Eye opening. The best and most fruitful KZbin channel I swear.

[@jacobmacdonald4713]

Thanks for your work ! Been down this rabbit hole for a while and learned a lot for, this video . Much love ❤

[@JeremyRudy]

Can you do a sequel, picking up from New Age and expanding that tree?

[@soarel325]

Bit of an inaccurate introduction here. Esoteric ideas are not called that because they had to be hidden from the authorities, but rather because they are not immediately obvious to someone becoming initiated in them, and must be gleaned through careful study and spiritual practice. Mysticism also falls under the banner of esotericism, and it was actively encouraged by the church historically, with many mystics being canonized as saints. Similarly, while Gnosticism was a competitor to Christianity that largely died out due to its suppression by Nicene Christian authorities, Neoplatonism and especially Hermeticism openly thrived in the scholarly, philosophical, and theological landscape of medieval Europe and the Arab world. By the time of the renaissance especially, the study of alchemy, astrology, and other Hermetic proto-scientific concepts were commonplace in universities and among the educated elite. The idea that these schools of thought were some sort of remnants of ancient paganism that was hiding underground due to suppression from Christianity is closer to Margaret Murray’s discredited ideas about witchcraft, just applied to elite esotericism rather than folk magic of the common people. The whole business of secret societies that require initiation rites and have doctrines that are hidden from the outside world on pain of death is much more of a 19th-century invention associated with the so-called occult movement that you discuss later in the video. it’s not really an accurate description of people like Paracelsus, Agrippa, or ibn Umayl.

[@deinemam7115]

Its all about le evil christianity bad (my christian dad threw out my xbox after playing 12h a day)

[@soarel325]

@@deinemam7115 I don’t think he’s malicious, just misinformed

[@fellinuxvi3541]

​@@deinemam7115 And this baseless accusation is just another example of the Christian persecution complex

[@Carlitosjazz]

Amazing work and excellent video.

[@justinkbird]

I just watched the religion for breakfast episode on the new age. I hope yall coordinated this because they work so well together.

[@nietzschebietzsche]

These charts are indeed so useful. As someone obsessed with charts, planners, etc., this is amazing

[@peterjanson1058]

Holy moley those Rosicrucians sure made some insane charts. Great video, thanks!

[@orkoarko5473]

This is fantastic! Thanks for your input and work!

[@therongjr]

Argh, you should've gotten Dr. Justin Sledge to make a cameo!

[@Alewort]

I mean, it was just a still photo but... he did.

[@nieser2464]

Great Work, thanks for mentioning Dr. Puca and Dr. Sledge ❤ P.S. i like to share this Video with some Folks to give them a short overview about western Esotericism

[@adrianmiles7678]

I would love to see what you can come up with about Animism, the underpinning religion of all the pre-western esotericism lines. There are a lot of us out there and it’s growing.

[@QvodInferivs]

This is a great mind map in Western esotericism. I didn't see Heinrich Cornelius Agripa on here on his three books of occult philosophy?

[@soarel325]

Matt seems to be a little under-educated on the subject of premodern Western esotericism, seeing as he buys into the “secret societies hiding knowledge suppressed by the church“ narrative that was popularized by a lot of the 19th century hucksters. discussing people like Agrippa or Paracelsus would be a big undermining of that narrative

[@jare3959]

​@@soarel325 Yeah. You can definitely tell he's not as familiar. When I studied RLST in school, my tutor was writing her dissertation on something to do with the original Luke-Acts text. She was able to help with my Eastern religion classes but wasn't able to really add much depth like could with the Abrahamic courses. I'm like that too. I can answer questions generally about many different areas but some are quite limited.

[@dailymotivation06732]

A book from which i found a lot on esoteric societies was Umberto Eco’s “Focault’s pendulum”.Very good book!!

[@cavc94]

I love those esoteric symbols. Since I was a child I was attracted to them and in my mind I tried to create fantasy stories using them. That's one of the reasons I watched the anime series FullMetal Alchemist: because they use similar symbols for alchemy in the series.

[@Maitatron]

Symbols are the language of the soul.

[@jackclark5072]

Just a bit a pronunciation correction: it is the angel Mo-ro-nigh not Mo-ro-nee. Awesome video!!

[@the11382]

Shouldn't Dion Fortune(Violet Mary Firth) be on this chart as well? She was influenced by Theosophy, Golden Dawn, and influenced Wicca and the Great Goddess movement. She founded the Fraternity of the Inner Light.

[@MRboomchongo]

Great overview! Love your videos bro!

[@M.M.83-U]

This is extremely useful; it explain a lot. Can we hope to see a fully detailed video on Neo Paganism?

[@theunwantedcritic]

That’s a very good video for newbies. The line between the Abraham religions, eastern religions, and the so-called pagan religions of global south are not has fixed as one might think. There’s a tremendous amount of overlap in the Catholic Church with the pagan traditions of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. This is why, after the Protestant Reformation, many forms of Protestantism consider the Catholics to be pagans. Particularly because of their pantheon of Saints, which are so numerous even the church itself does not acknowledge the existence of all of them has historical figures. There is also the heavy use of imagery within the Catholic Church, which European is the tradition although it varies from country to country. German Jesus looks like a German, English Jesus looks like an Englishman, etc. use icons and statues as the object of worship and veneration is indirect contradiction with thou shall not have no graven image. There’s also a great deal of Astro theology within Abraham traditions. 12 sons of Israel, one of them being Judah, who sold his brother for 20 pieces of silver and 12 disciples who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. In both cases, the 12 represent the 12 houses of the zodiac. Towards the end of the video made a statement saying that we don’t know when the age of Aquarius is going to begin. If you strip away all of the tribal and local symbolism left with basic astronomy. The Earth has been in the house of Pisces for a little bit more than 2000 years and, I would have to look it up to find when we’re gonna go into the age of Aquarius. This was pop-culture 50 years ago. It was even part of a Broadway play. I can’t recall the name of. I was a small child at the time, but I remember the song. This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

[@UrH-q6i]

I'm a new grad student who plans on doing a lot of research in Western esotericism, and I can already tell this will be a major resource for me. Thank you!

[@GraniteChief369]

Oxford Acedemic online has many related books and links, the same Oxford Press that printed the CI Scofield Referance Bible, thereby advancing Lurianic Kabbalah within the political and cultural movement known aa Zionism. Rice University and University of Amsterdam offer advanced degrees in Western Esotericism. Remember, as you proceed, Jesus the Christ is King.

[@jennphizzle]

Brilliant! Great over and frame of reference for exploring more.

[@myronmason8170]

Oh this such a good video! I am glad you made it.

[@trigun1081]

Love all your religion charts like these. So fascinating.

[@tarot1136]

About wicca. While it's true that there is no central organization, there's two main structure of wicca. One is traditional wicca which is derived from gardner practice and follow a core material , initiations and precises rituals. The other is eclectic wicca wich don't have any specific structure appart from what the practionner may see fit. Most traditional don't see eclectic wicca as real wicca since it's so different from the source material. So depending on who you talk too and what historical reference you take, the teaching of your video may or may not apply

[@qliphoth_quest]

Looks like I'm buying another Timeline from you. Haha, thanks for the great work!

[@buildinganewworld2682]

Great channel recommendations! Very good video!

[@KunaiSapper]

@UsefulCharts you should consider updating the chart to include the influence of folk catholicism on some current new age schools of thought

[@HerRevengeOnSeattle]

Mr Crowley is a great song

[@Hastenforthedawm]

No it isn't. It's one of Ozzy's worst songs

[@rajeshprasad6016]

My favorite topic! I'd love to see one on Eastern Esotericism too. There' isn't as much content on Eastern compared to Western Esotericism on the internet.

[@suumcuique4530]

nice! I love useful charts

[@grzegorzwalas4125]

Ethnic religions of Europe are more numerous than only Germanic, Celtic, Greek, Roman and eclectic. There's big family of Slavic Ethnic Faith (Rodnovery / Rodnoverie), i'm one of believers but I estimate that in all Slavic countries and among Slavic diaspora there is around 10 thousands of us minimum. Of course there are many people including ethnic motives into their spirituality but not caring for consistency or not being commited really. That's why I count our numbers rather humbly than including all clowns like ynglists and other great lechina empire supporters. Chwała przodkom! Sława bogom! There's also a few similar faiths, with Baltic, Ugric, Finnish, Turkish and other roots. Respect for all of them!

[@ryanrobinson2070]

Outstanding video, and one that I'd very much been looking forward to. I hope you do a Wicca/witchcraft movement chart. Just the line of British Traditional Wicca descendants of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca are a fascinating, often occulted, tangle.

[@heretolevitateme]

I'd love to see a similar breakdown of 1st century mysteries/early Christian cults.

[@iDefendMyTribe]

I love your stuff, bruh. But not a word on Chaos Magic? At least a mention of Peter Carroll and Phil Hine and the IOT? What about AO Spare and sigilism?

[@RobespierreThePoof]

Matt, I've been quite curious how much the scholarship on this topic has advanced. It was such an eccentric subject when I was in grad school (but not for religious studies ). Interesting stuff.

[@cynthiachazen3420]

This is a very nice piece of scholarship, thank you.

[@adalbertoruiz7651]

This is very interesting, and it's good that societies and cultures have been able to practice their faiths freely after the fall of Christian hegemony. Religious freedom is something very important, as it's related to spirituality, our relation to the whole of existence, and it's something particular to each individual, not something that can be determined by institutions. May we all keep improving as humans and improving our understanding of the world! Om Shanti 🕉🙏

[@Lord_Skeptic]

15:24 ouroborus. It is a symbol for infinity.

[@RubelliteFae]

Not just our modern generalized conception of infinity, but several specific concepts of infinity. From what I can recall: the circular nature of eternity; recursion; balance of order & chaos (he who destroys the great serpent, when zoomed out clearly is, the great serpent); growth & destruction (life depends on destroying/consuming life); life, death, & rebirth; the coming together of seeming opposites (such as lingam & yoni) is in fact non-dual... I know I'm forgetting several. But yeah, ouroboros is way more fascinating than simply ∞

[@Lord_Skeptic]

To be honest I only really know about ouroboros because of an episode of red dwarf

[@fabiolinsleite]

I missed the presence of Guenon's and Schuon's Perenialism, which are massively influential. Also, I missed medieval gnostics, Cathars, and Joachimites (and others inspired by Joachim of Fiori) as well as chaos magic.

[@petirrojohispano]

This medieval groups link to "heresies" from Ancient Times and it's said that they have a strong dualism of iranic pagan origin.

[@albakiaras]

gioacchino da fiore ha rinnovato i rosacroce!

[@andoreh]

I was born in a family that's spiritist here in Brazil. Funny thing is that almost similar any Christian sect, but some key differences in belief such as reincarnation and the possibility to communicate with spirits.

[@haraldessert]

I was looking if someone made this comment. Yes, I agree with you. As a Brazilian spiritist, I never thought of Kardecist Spiritism as "esotericism," but as simply a Christian doctrine that believes in reincarnation. But by looking at the chart, I understand where the historical connection may come.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

So, under Heathenry, I think you mean GermanIC gods and not German gods? Because I often see Heathenry used when talking about Norse mythology, which is Germanic but not German; athough German is also Germanic.

[@Cau_No]

It also puzzled me, seeing Thor's Hammer as the symbol. But yeah, it's Germanic/Nordic, also called Ásatrú.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@Cau_No Well, Ásatrú would probably be specifially Nordic (even though we don't actually know what the Norse called their religion). The Germanic pantheon would be one step further back in time when an áss would be know as an *ansuz.

[@minngael]

@@weepingscorpion8739 Yeah, it's tricky because there's Icelandic Asatru (with the accents) and American Asatru, which has more influence from neo-Volkisch movements, though most have rejected that now. There used to be more of a ceremonial magic & Wiccan influence but as people have done more research it's moved away from that.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@minngael Well, either way, the word Asatru/Ásatrú is a neologism. The word is not attested in Old Norse manuscripts, nor are any other names for the religion. Forn Siðr is also a neologism.

[@goodmaro]

Yes, a little flaw of language, same as he mispronounced Crowley (It's like the bird, rhyming with slowly.). We could tell what he meant. But the Celtic and Slavic paganisms are also at least partly Germanic and vice versa, so even the -ic word doesn't cover completely satisfyingly. Mainly they can be distinguished from the Mediterranean.

[@Xob_Driesestig]

0:22 Yo what? You used my map? Awesome!

[@Xob_Driesestig]

And sponsored by 80,000h? I recommended your channel to them (I work for an organization that's part of the same social movement as 80,000h)

[@Xob_Driesestig]

Okay I know that seems unlikely, so for those of you that understandably don't believe it; go to the user page of the person who uploaded the map. You'll see that he's very active in the EA subreddit (the social movement that 80,000h is a part of). I will now comment "very nice" on the most upvoted post on the useful charts subreddit with that account, that should prove it.

[@weavehole]

Neat. Where did you upload it originally?

[@michael120.]

you consider the balkans more culturally western than norway or japan?

[@Xob_Driesestig]

@@michael120. Than Norway? Probably not. Than Japan? Probably yes. But the whole point of the map is that it's all kinda arbitrary and context dependent (look at the legend, it's a joke map).

[@mistressofstones]

As a Western Esoteric practitioner I thank you for your attention to this subject 😊

[@bruce-le-smith]

Really interesting thanks. The connection between Freemasons and Joseph Smith's ideas makes so much sense!

[@GraniteChief369]

Lance S Owens book 'Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection' is reviewed online at BYU Neal A Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

[@hetasofeil5878]

Thank you for this chart. Its very interesting! I don't know if its possible but I would love to see a similar chart that talks about Eastern Esotericism

[@mahadada]

Great video, very precise! However, it lacks the inclusion of Afro-religions like Candomblé, Santeria, Voodoo , Umbanda etc. You could have added a section on how these traditions stem from ancient African practices, carried through the African Diaspora. You could do a whole other video dedicated to a flowchart tracing these connections-from ancestral rites to the emergence of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions-and highlighting Umbanda’s fusion with Brazilian native shamanism and Kardecist spiritism. This would enrich the narrative by showing the spiritual diversity brought by African descendants.

[@user-kd6tb2qx6v]

Great video. Thank you ❤

[@asheravencroft1239]

This was a great overview of western esotericism from the 1600s on. I really appreciate you considering western esotericism as a branch worthy of consideration. It seems that it doesn't get as much study as the other fields. I have one small challenge to make as far as historical accuracy; at around 17:39 you mention that Aleister Crowley was in Cairo in 1909 for the reception of the foundation text of Thelema, but I've always known it as April 08, 09, and 10 of 1904. I believe he did not publish it until 1909, but he sat on it for a few years because he didn't realize it's importance. This comes from an emic perspective as I consider myself Thelemic so I may be biased. Again, thank you for putting this out, it's great to see content like this.

[@Frilouz79]

Good job, as usual! Between H. Blavatsky and the New Age, you may also have mentioned Annie Besant and Alice Bailey, but that would have complicated the graph.

[@Violet0Light]

You do such wonderful work!

[@egshurr]

so thorough & clear, thanks!

[@ChuckDarwin1909]

I feel like this channel has gotten big enough for it's own proper theme music rather than the stock pseudo medieval sample I've heard on multiple other channels

[@67622]

Thank you for this useful information.

[@simonsteindl8781]

Thanks for promoting 80k hours!!

[@nemobbhh294]

Correction: Conan Doyle was never a member of the Golden Dawn. The Wikipedia Golden Dawn page incorrectly lists him as a member, although the Talk page correctly says that he wasn't.

[@samuelgibson780]

This channel delivers. 🙏

[@kaloarepo288]

I was disappointed that the character Cagliostro was not mentioned. He is credited with inventing a lot of the ancient Egyptian themed rites in Freemasonry and the subsequent infatuation with everything ancient Egyptian. If one wanders through any monumental cemetery in any western city one is certain to come across Egyptian themed tombs as at Highgate in London and even in the Poggioreale cemetery in Naples in the middle of all the Catholic themed crypts there is one totally Egyptian!

[@Maitatron]

Cagliostro is also known to have been another great figure, do you know who is supposed to have been Cagliostro?

[@kaloarepo288]

@@Maitatron Who?

[@Maitatron]

@@kaloarepo288 Nothing less than the great Helena Blavatsky!

[@smartgenes1]

@@Maitatron That's nonsense, Blavatsky met Cagliostro by her own account. He has been identified with Mesmer, however.

[@johanfrancis9010]

This is interesting. I wonder if you will include Albert Pike and the formation of the Scottish Rite. Although it draws from Freemasonry it is an independent body situated in the US and draws from several of these ideas as well.

[@lutzgrafico5900]

Impressive work! Wery useful

[@krystyna8595]

sooo interesting, i could watch so much more

[@MrPedrograndi]

Awesome video! A brief note about spiritualism: Allan Kardec's ideas found in Brazil several traditions derived from African-based religions, mainly the one that would give rise to Umbanda. As racism is quite strong in the country, Kardecist elements - notably more present in the upper classes - were (often) appropriated as a tool to whiten certain practices.

[@kazekagekid]

Just FYI, the symbol at 10:10 isn’t the “star of David”, it’s the star of Remphan/Chiyun as mentioned in Amos 5:26 and Acts 7:43. ❤ Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 ❤

[@edwinyeehk]

Clearly explained. Thank you. May I ask if there will such Chart on "Western Esotericism" available for sale and download? I would like to get a e-copy of it. Thanks.

[@Doubledig]

An interesting and informative video. Spiritualism is a recognised faith in the UK and there are many active Spiritualist churches, (mostly affiliated to the Spiritualists National Union - SNU). There was no mention in the video of The Rosicrucian Order: AMORC - Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (1915) founded in the US but said to have ancient roots. No mention of Chaos Magick (though I suppose 'new age').

[@brizo68yeah74]

Love it. Very educational.

[@geokou7645]

17:35 Thelema (Θέλημα, pronounced þElima) actually means just will, although divine will is a common use

[@Browncoyote]

Very well done. Thank you.

[@Chadian777]

Can you make a family tree of Jainism Sikhism and African traditional religions.

[@Antaios632]

As a Thelemite, I am happy to see us included. 😊

[@adanalyst6925]

Any Thelema KZbin channels you like?

[@Kaa864]

How does thelema work?.