February
10
/ 2015
Western esoteric thought has its roots in the Late Antique period in the Eastern Mediterranean. This was an area of the world where east met west. Consequently, this was also an area where the religions and intellectual traditions of Babylon, Persia, Egypt, the Levant and Greece were able to intermingle with each other. Through the mingling of these various traditions, schools of esoteric thought distinct from mainstream Christianity, such as Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Neoplatonism, were born. Texts expounding esoteric teaching were written, and these schools of thoughts spread westwards into Europe. In the 14 th and 15 th centuries, an esoteric grimoire, known as The Book of Abramelin the Mage was written. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"8337","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"663","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"415"}}]] Front cover of Mathers’ translation of The
