Welcome to this first installment of a new series on Occultism.
Preface
I debated on whether or not to name this series “Occultism” or “Esotericism” since they both seem interchangeable in that many definitions include both terms recursively, such as the following excerpt from the Spiritual Meanings Guide website: “At its core, the occult emphasizes acquiring esoteric knowledge—information not readily accessible or understood by everyone.”1 Since the definitions on many websites I’ve visited emphasized the later portion of the above definition, I decided not to use the more exclusive “esotericism” but instead to use the more inclusive “occultism.”
So what do the terms “occult” and “esoteric” actually mean as these are the root from which the suffix “isms” are derived? The following are the definitions:
The word occult derives from the Latin adjective occultus, meaning ‘hidden’ or ‘concealed.’2
and
The word esoteric refers to something that is intended for or understood by only a small group of people with specialized knowledge. It often describes ideas, subjects, or teachings that are not easily accessible to the general public.3
Another reason I chose the word “occultism” in my series title is because many of the topics I intend to cover have now been exposed by the current culture and have almost become mainstream as a result of the popularity of many popular TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural which all deal to some degree with gods, angels, demons, magic, and witchcraft.
Some readers may be wondering why I’m including occultic topics that are clearly antithetical to biblical theology and in some cases, clearly condemned in Scripture. The short answer is that I’ve had an interest in these topics for a long time being exposed to certain things since childhood. The long answer is that: I’ve already covered many fundamental biblical topics in depth; understanding these topics from initiates is safer than getting the media’s romanticized amoral version; it strengthens spiritual discernment; and it helps to illuminate certain obscure Bible verses such as: Exod. 7:10-12, Exod. 7:20-22, Exod. 8:17-19, Matt. 2:1-2, and Acts 8:9-11.
I’m sure there are also some readers who would object, citing Deut. 29:29 as follows:
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29, NASB95)
The above verse, in context, clearly states that what God reveals to us should be taken with fear and respect, but that God also maintains His prerogative to also withhold things. The following are some verses that are examples of secret things:
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (Matt. 24:36)
They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. (John 8:6)
When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.’ (Rev. 10:4)
It should be understood that there is a difference between a secret and being secretive. Esotericism is being secretive, but a secret is something not known or not meant to be known; whereas occultism encompasses things that were once known but have become hidden, either intentionally or unintentionally.
I decided to choose the topic of occult science for this introductory installment on occultism, as opposed to Hermeticism for example, since it seemed like a good idea at the time and I was intrigued by the word occult used to qualify science since I was under the impression that they were mutually exclusive concepts.
Since a study of the occult, or other esoteric subjects, involves having an understanding of or having some exposure to religion, philosophy, mathematics, sciences, Hebrew, and psychology, among others. Therefore, this series will be approached using an iterative and incremental process; that is, each subject may be revisited and refined as the study progresses through the various topics.
Introduction
As I mentioned in the Preface, any study of the occult should be based on sources with firsthand experience, so I based most of my studies on occult science from a book written by Papus (Gerard Encausse) (1865–1916), an influential occultist, physician, and author. “Papus was drawn to the occult and studied Magic and Alchemy;” he also founded many organizations, the Kabbalistic Rose Cross being one.4
Another book I referenced for this installment was Rudolph Steiner’s An Outline of Occult Science: Unabridged and Illustrated. Steiner wrote in his biography “…how he was able to see into another world since his childhood.”5 In addition, “…Steiner wrote out an entire liturgy – seven sacraments – that form the basis of a Christian denomination centered in Germany that has something on the order of 30,000 worldwide members today.”6
Under the Science of Antiquity section, we attempt a definition of occult science and also provide numerous examples from antiquity.
Under the Fundamentals section we start off with a discussion on analogy, the principal method for understanding occult science. We then cover the concept of the ternary and provide elaboration from biblical teaching on the Godhead or Trinity.
The Theosophical section discusses the mathematical operations: theosophical addition and reduction. Thoughts on the significance of the number 9 are provided from contemporary music.
The Earth and Its Races section presents the occult understanding of the Earth and its relationship to the origination of human races. Comparisons are made between the occult view and the biblical view.
We closeout this installment with Steiner’s occultic understanding of man’s body, soul, and spirit.
Science of Antiquity
If one were to look for a definition of “occult science” all one had to do was to replace “occult” with the one of the common definitions which are “hidden” or “secret.” As a result, “occult science” becomes “hidden science” which I believe is the preferred definition. But is it really that simple? What science or sciences were hidden; by whom; and for what purpose? Papus, in his book Elementary Treatise of Occult Science, provides compelling facts that attempt to demonstrate that the ancients were well aware of many now proven and accepted scientific principles, the discovery of which are commonly attributed to “civilized moderns.”7
I assert that it is only the naïve, uninformed, or worse, the foolish who would doubt the scientific knowledge the ancients possessed. It wouldn’t take someone with a lot of intellectual prowess to understand the advanced physics, mathematics, and precision construction methods needed to build the Great Pyramid of Giza,8 knowing that that pyramid was built “around 2560 BCE,”9 that’s over 6,000 years ago!
Papus proposes that a synthesis of the ancients’ knowledge with the modern discoveries would result in “a total expression of eternal Truth”10 and that this synthesis was possessed by the “Egyptian initiates, contemporaries of Moses and Orpheus…”11
Papus defends his hypothesis by providing many examples of modern discoveries which were already known the ancients. Since the names of his sources are somewhat archaic and not readily known by today’s readers, I’ve decided to only reproduce a small subset of the discoveries without delving into the sources. I included those discoveries that I found personally interesting: “the law of gravity,”12 the law which was rediscovered by Newton [motion?],”13 “the telescope, concave mirrors… refraction of light,”14 “used steam as a motive force,”15 “manipulated lightning [electricity],”16 “application of chemistry in photography…dark room…optical instruments,”17 and “use of gunpowder.”18
Now whether or not the ancients acquired this knowledge from extraterrestrial beings, gods, giants, angels, or by some other means, they in fact possessed this knowledge. And so, “The debate continues. But one thing is clear: ancient people were not primitive. They were observant, resourceful, and, in some cases, technologically sophisticated in ways we are only beginning to understand.”19
Papus expresses his definition of occult science by illustrating the difference between modern science and occult science which is that modern science is only concerned with the visible or phenomenon, but occult science is concerned with the visible and the invisible or noumenon which it represents.20 As Steiner so succinctly puts it: “The path to occult knowledge will be found, at the fitting moment, by every human being who discerns in what is visible the presence of something invisible…[and] is driven to the feeling that what is hidden may be unveiled to him.”21
Papus finally gets to the point and gives his definition of occult science which is, minus the Latin: “The hidden science…The science of the hidden…The science which hides what it has discovered…”22
Fundamentals
In 1980, Doubleday published a book by Hans Küng, a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author, entitled Does God Exist? In his book, Küng presents historical and philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God by such renowned thinkers such as: Descartes, Pascal, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Of course, after over 800 pages, Küng arrives in the affirmative.
But is it possible to prove the attributes or existence of God through induction by observing His creation which then leads to understanding the invisible through deduction?23 According to Scripture, the answer is Yes!
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20)
Romans chapter one, verse twenty clearly adds credence to the proposition: “The principal method of occult Science is analogy.”24 According to the Center for Astrophysics, only about 5% of matter and energy in the universe is observable and that leaves most of the universe invisible.25 So, if the universe is an analogy for God, then we only know a very small percentage of God and His attributes as so clearly stated in Scripture:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa. 50:9)
If more evidence is needed and if “seeing is believing,” then I suggest the reader view Hubble Telescope’s images of the cosmos.
Papus advises readers to not confuse analogies with similarities; analogous things are not alike.26
In addition to analogy, Papus discusses the importance of understanding the “language of numbers,”27 “the use of the Three,”28 and “ternary.”29 “[T]he three terms which constitute the ternary are:
- An active term;
- A passive term;
- A neutral term resulting from the action the first two terms have on each other.”30
Papus illustrates the ternary law using an easy-to-understand example using day and night where day is the active term, night is the passive term, and twilight is the neutral term. He further elaborates by stating that “Two apparently opposite things are but different degrees of a single and same thing.”31 By observation, darkness is less light and light is less darkness is proof of the axiom “everything is in everything.”32 Another example of the ternary law are the three human states of consciousness being: waking, sleeping, and an “intermediate state”33 of dreaming. By applying the ternary law to these states of consciousness we have waking as the active term; sleeping as the passive term; and dreaming as the neutral term.
Papus attempts additional examples to illustrate the ternary, the one in question being the Christian Trinity. I take exception with his Trinity example since it implies that there are two opposites, Father and Son resulting in the neutral Holy Spirit34 because each person of the Godhead shares identical attributes which in theology is named the “Ontological Trinity.”35 Ontologically, there is no notion of degrees of essence within the Godhead—all are equal. However, if Papus’ assumed the “Economic Trinity,” instead, then his example may have some validity since the “Economic Trinity”36 references the activities not the attributes of each person in the Godhead. On the other hand, if you define the Trinity as a “class trinity”37 you would have Father/Son (as an aggregate class), Priest, and Comforter.38 Since Father/Son is the active, and Priest (Melchizedek) is the passive, then Comforter (Holy Spirit) is the neutral. (The Holy Spirit is also active in regeneration, see Titus 3:5.) I believe this is as close as you can get to expressing the Godhead as the ternary.
Theosophical Calculations
There are two operations that are fundamental to Theosophical calculations and they are:
Theosophical reduction
Theosophical addition39
The following are examples which illustrate these two operations:
- [T]heosophical addition => 7 equals 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 28
- Using theosophical reduction, 28 equals 2 + 8 = 10 reduced further to 1 + 0 = 140
Papus provides another very interesting example of these calculations using the number 666, where 666 = 6 + 6 + 6 = 18 reduced further to 1 + 8 = 9.41 What inspired Papus to use the number 666 as an example? Surely it wasn’t just a random number since it is found in the Bible in the Book of Revelation:
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. [emphasis mine] (Rev. 13:18)
The reader should note that the number refers to number of the beast and not to the anti-Christ which is so often mistakenly portrayed on TV and in films. The very first thing that came to mind when I read that example was of The Beatles song entitled “Revolution 9.” When I first heard the song in 1968, it didn’t make any sense since I couldn’t relate the number 9 to any of the other discernable lyrics. It seemed totally incoherent then and even more so now since I am able to read and therefore understand the written lyrics.
I think the following lyrical extracts may have some relevance to the number in question:
Who’s to know?
Who was to know?…
In my broken chair, my wings are broken…
Only to find the night-watchman
Unaware of his presence in the building…
Industrial output
Financial imbalance…42
Again, I think the above lyrics demonstrate a sense of uncertainty, chaos, and maybe even social collapse.
The Earth and its Races
The occult history of the Earth and its races, according to Papus, is both profound and astonishing, and contrary to most everything being taught today (2026). For example, “Everything in nature is alive. The Earth is a being, a living being…”43 While this statement may seem preposterous to most people, it wouldn’t be that surprising to most well-read Christians who remember Jesus’ words after being challenged by the Pharisees to rebuke His disciples for declaring Him to be Divinity as recorded in the Gospel according to Luke:
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’ But Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’ (Luke 19:39-40)
Furthermore, analogy is alive and well concerning the Earth and its correlation to man as well. The correlation of man to the universe as illustrated by the following quotes:
Terrestrial day and night manifests the diastole and systole of the planet which is analogous to the pulsations of the human heart.44
Man incarnate simply reflects in miniature the laws of celestial man analogous to the universe itself.45
In the previous quote which presents analogy of day and night with the diastole and systole of the human heart is an excellent introduction to a concept Papus calls “the cycles.”46 That is, Day, followed by descent followed by Night, followed by ascent, followed by Day again in a cycle.47 Papus adapts each of the races into a cycle analogous to the Day/Night cycle as follows:
Today (1896) the Orient, and most of all Asia, are in a period of wisdom and old age, while Europe, the central pivot, is ending its adolescence, and America rises from the tomb in a state of childhood and almost of youth.48
I remember a lecture on economic theory presented during the Introduction to International Business and Finance course at NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies where the lecturer stated that the industrial economies in developed countries morph into service economies and vice versa for developing countries. You could say the economic cycle for a country is as follows: Agrarian, Industrial, Technological, and Service. The NYU lecturer noted that the United States was in a service economy which implied the country was in decline. This economic theory makes more sense now after reading Papus, than it did back in 1999. So, is the current trend to re-industrialize the U.S. futile?
Another somewhat outlandish claim is that the Moon, originally destined to become a continent,49 “…refused to become encrusted with other planets and was condemned through its own will, to disintegrate into a simple satellite.”50 As a result of the Moon’s disobedience, a “terrible cataclysm known by the name of the universal flood…” took place, seemingly in direct contradiction with the biblical account in Genesis 6:17.
As far as the Moon having a mind of its own, the creation account in the Bible implies that the Moon’s set purpose was to provide lighting during the night. (Gen. 1:16)
Papus ties the development of a human race as being a product of the “evolution of a continent;”51 in other words, the location of that continent survives, and bears witness to that human race it incubated.52
Since the initiates associated human races with the formation of continents, this inevitably resulted in the following precedent which is “IEVE,”53 that is, “E. S. W. N.”54 or “…better translated as EW-SN (East-West, South-North).”55 The importance of this precedent is that South precedes North, West precedes South, and East precedes West.
The following occult theory of the history of the races will probably have the CRT community up in arms.
“The Earth has thus been successively dominated by four great races [in succession]:
The Yellow Race.
The Red Race.
The Black Race.
The White Race.”56
The red race is Occidental (Western) which was a “colony”57 in Spain, Italy, and Egypt.58 Following the “collapse of Atlantis,”59 [p]ower pass[ed] into the hands of the black race which soon then conquered all the habitable land. The white race was then born in the vicinity of the North Pole.”60
In order to make a rather long story much shorter, I’ve decided to extract the interesting points in Papus’ narrative on the origin and history of the white race:
The White Race…was at first a savage and nomadic race, ignorant of the existence of the other human beings on earth…Whites grew in number and in strength…descen[ded] toward the South…Ross-Land (the current Russia)…up to the highlands, Poll-Land (Poland)…and to the west, by the low lands…It is in Gaul that the White Race encountered the Black Race.61
I’m sure some readers of a certain persuasion would lead themselves to believe exactly what they expected to happen after the White Race encountered the Black Race…but they would be very wrong. According to Papus, “The Whites , who were weak and poorly armed, were taken en masse into slavery and were sent to the mines and forced to construct fortresses for the Blacks.”62 Eventually, with the help of divine Providence and a prophetess, the whites united in order to annihilate the blacks.63
Papus equates the white race with the Aryan race and discredits the theory that the white or Aryan race brought the “white tradition”64 from India to all the Earth; because, as mentioned previously, the white race originated near the North Pole. Interestingly, Papus doesn’t associate the term “Aryan” with Iran; even though, it has been claimed by the Iran Chamber Society, to “not [having been] used by Germanic-speakers or any Nordic people.”65
The Parts of Man
While Papus’ book covers a diverse set of occult subjects, Steiner’s work seems to focus mainly on the nature of man and the evolution of humanity’s place in the world. Therefore, in this section, I attempt to distill Steiner’s occultic understanding of the nature of man.
First of all, Steiner describes the dual aspect of man using the terms “principle”66 or “principles”67 rather than the terms components or workings.
Steiner basically breaks down man’s nature into two parts: the “soul-part”68 and the “bodily part.”69 These two parts consist of the following principles:
…[T]he soul-part of man consists of three principles, the sentient-, intellectual-, and consciousness-souls, just as the bodily part has three principles, the physical, etheric, and astral bodies.70
Early on in Chapter 3 of Steiner’s Outline of Occult Science, he introduces, albeit in a very roundabout way, the notion of man’s free will through the following quote:
He may engender wishes and desires for which no adequate cause exists either inside or outside of his body. A particular source must be found for everything in this domain; and according to occult science this source is to be found in the human “I” or “ego.” Therefore the ego will be spoken of as the fourth principle of the human being.71
Note: when Steiner refers to the ego as the fourth principle of the human being it should not be confused with the soul or bodily principles.
According to Steiner, when the third soul-part of man principle that is, the consciousness-soul, becomes aware of its ego thereby recognizing its true nature, “the divinity dwelling in man speaks.”72 In Christian theology, this awakening is not the result of man’s free will, evolution73, or reincarnation74, but the result of the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration. (John 3:5-8, 1 Cor. 2:13)
Steiner emphasizes the occult science belief that only when the soul recognizes its ego aspect that it becomes in tune with the divine. This belief runs counterintuitive with the Christian belief that the spirit, not the soul, is the vehicle for understanding God. Speaking in occultic terms, the unrecognized ego is what Scripture refers to as the “natural person.” (1 Cor. 2:14, ESV) Undoubtably, the line draw between soul and spirit is not easily discerned as stated in Scripture: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit…” (Heb. 4:12)
Wrap Up and Next Steps
It should be understood that this first installment on occultism is in no way a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter. I deliberately omitted or limited coverage of many aspects of occult science such as The Three Worlds, Astral Light, Telesma, Alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Magic, and Astral Plane, among others. I tried to prioritize issues in occultism that are related or impact biblical teachings. Nevertheless, I plan to address as many occultic subjects as I’m able.
Coming up next, Hermeticism or an analysis of the Book of Enoch, a Gnostic text, examining theories concerning the reasons for the Genesis Flood.
2013-2026 Gerard Sczepura. All rights reserved.
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