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Welcome to Western Esotericism
Welcome to Western Esotericism.
Alongside the churches and synagogues of Europe and the Americas has always run another stream: people seeking hidden knowledge of God, nature, and the self through Kabbalah, alchemy, astrology, secret societies, séances, and spiritual masters. Mainstream religion and science often rejected these currents, and the scholar Wouter Hanegraaff has called them the West’s rejected knowledge. Yet they shaped art, literature, politics, and religion, and they thrive today in the New Age and the spiritual but not religious.
Western esotericism is now a serious academic field, with university chairs in Paris and Amsterdam. This course follows its story from the Renaissance to the present. You will meet the women who found in these movements a spiritual authority denied them elsewhere, examine the frauds and hoaxes honestly, and learn to tell history from the conspiracy theories that surround secret societies.
How This Course Works
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite | None. Titles and degrees begin with ordination through the Ordination Orientation. |
| Pace | Self-paced. Most students finish in four to six weeks, studying about four to five hours a week. There are no deadlines. |
| Structure | Eight modules. Each module has a lesson, a reading assignment, and a ten-question quiz. |
| Book report | Read one of the books offered, pass its ten-question quiz, and write a one-paragraph summary, after Module 8. |
| Final exam | Fifteen multiple-choice questions and one essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words, taken after Module 8. |
| Credit | 3 credit hours toward further titles and degrees. |
Grading
| Part | To pass |
|---|---|
| Module quizzes (8) | Pass each with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report quiz (10 questions) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report summary (one paragraph) | Approved by the school |
| Final exam, Part 1 (multiple choice) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Final exam, Part 2 (one essay, 1,500 to 2,000 words) | Approved by the school |
Required texts
- Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Wouter J. Hanegraaff
- The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Divine Feminine: Theosophy and Feminism in England, Joy Dixon
Many of these books are available from public libraries, used bookstores, and as ebooks.
What you will study
Module 1: What Is Western Esotericism? Module 2: Christian Kabbalah, Magic, and the Witch Hunts Module 3: Rosicrucians and Christian Theosophy Module 4: Freemasonry Module 5: Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and Women’s Voices Module 6: Theosophy Module 7: Modern Magic and Dark Chapters Module 8: The New Age and Esotericism Today
Book report choices
Divine Feminine, Joy Dixon; Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Academic honesty
All written work must be your own. You may quote and discuss the course readings and other sources, but you must say where the words and ideas came from. Submitting work written by someone else, including work generated entirely by AI tools, is not permitted.