Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed

Over the last number of years I have been studying esoteric traditions but, it has not been easy. The post Enlightenment secularization of society has criticized, obscured or buried the way for those seeking deeper esoteric insights. After the tragedy of WWII, Enlightenment based modern secular "truths" have been questioned. During the 60's to the present, interest in esoteric traditions have increased. But, without a clear way forward, all sorts of books claiming esoteric knowledge have been written based on varying degrees actual experience and connection with pre-enlightenment wisdom. Researching the vast number of books on the subject can seem like stumbling through a thick forest with faded trails.Prof. Hanegraaff's "Western Esotericism - A Guide for the Perplexed" is welcome pathway out of the woods. The book addresses post Renaissance and Enlightenment criticism and helps to clear away the secular underbrush hiding esoteric pathways. Hanegraaff also defines Western Esotericism; gives a brief history; identifies and organizes various types of esotericism; and mentions key books for further research. I strongly recommend this book.

This text is exactly as advertised, I'm a blank slate beginner when it comes to esotericism and this book has been th perfect starting ground. It's a really great introduction to the philosophy and history involved and makes no attempt to guide the reader down one path or another. You could easily read this whole book and come away unconvinced that there is any sort of divinity in this world, but have still gained much from the scholarly look into the subject. I think it's a good read for anyone, period.

Hanegraaff's work is an excellent beginning textbook for anyone wanting to become acquainted with the field of esotericism. By the nature of subject matter, it has to cover a wide field with a polyglot literature in what seems to this reviewer to be an insufficient number of pages. But it is a beginner's textbook. As one who has a reasonable command of the literature in French on the subject, I was, of course, aware of a few gaps in the coverage. But it is a beginning textbook. Hanegraaff wisely points out gaps in the literature, especially with respect to early twentieth century occultism, especially relating to Papus, de Guaita, and others of the same generation. As to the utility of the book, I suggest that it is the equal of the latest edition of Antoine Faivre's *L'ésotérisme (Que sais-je ?)* and some of the works of Joscelyn Godwin. If you're interested in this field, you really need to read Hanegraaff's book. I cannot write highly enough of it.

This book is great for putting into order and context one's accumulated knowledge in the field! not all the amount of detail might be of interest to a general reader, but it is certainly great for academics! Another academic author I would highly recommend because more approachable and readable is J. Godwin, especially The golden thread.

Wouter J. Hanegraaff’s Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed is a winner on many fronts.At only 183 pages (plus notes and index), this book is a quick read. I’ve slogged through academic works on arcane subjects as long as a thousand pages, and while the effort is usually worthwhile in the end, stepping out onto that first page can be daunting. Not because the topic is difficult, but because the path ahead is so obviously long, and potentially arduous. When I held this slim, unpretentious volume on my hands, I thought, instead, “This is going to be fun.” And I was right.Western Esotericism is an easy read. Hannegraaff never insults the reader by dumbing anything down, but the writing is clear and approachable. He explains complex concepts in a few memorable words, so they register and stay with the reader. For example (I’m writing this off the top of my head to prove I read it once and remember it clearly), he divides knowledge into three domains – Reason, in which an experience can be 1. accurately described, and 2. verified (through experiment or otherwise, in other words Science/Logic); Faith, in which an experience can be 1. accurately described, but 2. Cannot be verified (religion); and Gnosis, in which an experience can neither be accurately described NOR verified (theophany, mystic vision). 21st Century western society holds only knowledge attained by reason to be true/real. Before the Enlightenment, Faith was considered the primary truth/reality. Gnosis has never been considered true/real by society, and Reason and Faith both reject it. Science disregards the visionary as delusion, while Religion persecutes it as heresy. Esotericism is assumed by many to be Gnostic on this scale, but it in fact partakes of all three domains of knowledge, demanding reason, faith and vision of its practitioners. The ease with which I can restate that concept after a single, quick read is a tribute to the author’s clarity. This book is full of such compactly-communicated gems.Another plus, Western Esotericism is meticulously and generously annotated. I turned the final page with a list of 22 source books to add to my “must read” list, and I could have easily doubled that. I felt like a kid in a candy store – “I want that, and that, and that...”This is not an esoteric “how to.” It will not teach you how to “be esoteric.” It’s a concise, scholarly study that traces esoteric theories and theorists, practices and practitioners, through history from ancient times to modern. If you want to know more about the Western Esoteric Tradition but don’t know where to start, this is the place to start. 5 enthusiastic stars.

Hanegraaff is the man. This is exactly what is says. If you're interested in a scholarly review of esotericism in the West, you can't go wrong with this.

Very confused, though it generated a good conversation in my grad class

What is Western esotericism? You may well ask, and the author, a distinguished Dutch academic, spends the first chapter trying to answer the question and worries away at it in asides throughout the book. Perhaps the best way of describing it, now, is marginal knowledge: the bits that don't fit neatly under the tags of arts or science. But perhaps a better way of expressing it, which Hanegraaff does not say in his book, is that esoteric knowledge bears the same relationship to human understanding that professional sportsmen do in comparison to amateurs. Let me explain. Back in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, when the Western esoteric tradition was taking form as an agglomeration of knowledge drawn from sources as diverse as Platonism, Hermes Trismegistus, Christian mysticism, Kabbalah, Pythagoreanism and early natural philosophy, there was a legitimate question as to the nature of knowledge, namely, could everyone understand it? Once some piece of knowledge was uncovered, did it then become open to all, like opening Tutahkhamun's tomb. Or was the knowledge accessible only to those who had trod the path to its attainment? To make this clearer, I can play cricket. I know how to play a cover drive, a backward defensive, and so on. But no matter how much I practise, I will never make a professional cricketer, let alone ascend to the ranks of an all-time great such as David Gower (I can still remember the first time I saw the teenage Gower bat in a Sunday League match on Sunday on BBC2 when, in the golden light of a September evening, he seemed a curly haired god bestriding the world of mortals, sending the ball where he willed with the merest flick of his wrists: that is the mark of true greatness in any field, be it sporting or artistic). In some fields, mastery is beyond all but a small elite of people. The question in the early modern period was whether knowledge was like that. The answer we went for, the answer of the modified form of natural philosophy that became modern science, was no. It might take an Einstein to discover relativity but having made his way up the mountain of knowledge he can bring its fruits down to the rest of us. However, western esotericism holds that there are some forms of knowledge that can only be gained by those who climb the mountain: they cannot be shared, only seen. Another analogy would be my knowledge of the colour red. The only way I can truly share this with you, if you have never seen red, is to give you a tomato and say, "Look, this is red."That is western esotericism. Hanegraaff is one of a number of scholars now working in this previously little studied field and he is a fervent advocate of studying it in a historical manner, tracing influences, lineages, and developments in its history. What he is adamant scholars should not do is engage in any evaluation of the truth of what the esotericists claim. This, Hanegraaff claims, goes outside the purview of scholarship in this field. However, by deliberately laying aside questions of truth, when Western Esotericism is fundamentally a search for truth, is like trying to study music without listening to any music. Yes, you might learn something about music, from its development to biographies of its practioners to some simple musical theory perhaps, but you will miss the heart, the key, the life; you will miss the music itself. Hanegraaff's approach misses the music.So, overall, the book provides a good overview of Western esotericism, clarifies some of the people and schools involved in its various traditions, while remaining little more than an exercise in classification. On a completely separate note, the book has one of the ugliest covers I have ever seen, and one that has really no connection to the subject. The paper the front cover is made from also feels peculiarly unpleasant to the touch. Overall, an interesting but limited approach to the subject.

Esotericism is a popular subject but remains a non understood by many. This guide is a superb work of explaining everything you wanted to know about esotericism with great, non judgemental, clarity and concision ! It gives historical e sociological context within an Academic approach, it is one of the best books I have ever read in this field.

Excellent overview, well written

v. good

clear, concise and well written. recommend to those with a nascent interest in this fascinating area