Occult

The occult is a category of <a href="/facts/Esoteric/AW5dDFh1">esoteric</a> or <a href="/facts/Supernatural/qSlTK0Ss">supernatural</a> beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of <a href="/facts/Organized_religion/5kave6zj">organized religion</a> and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as <a href="/facts/Magic_(supernatural)/ttcCLh3A">magic</a> and <a href="/facts/Mysticism/3Rfb7zEd">mysticism</a>. It can also refer to <a href="/facts/Paranormal/0BeTVPJC">paranormal</a> ideas such as <a href="/facts/Extra-sensory_perception/nT29VWIA">extra-sensory perception</a> and <a href="/facts/Parapsychology/0cTMNMfD">parapsychology</a>.
The term occult sciences was used in <a href="/facts/Early_modern_Europe/aeYvfAqx">16th-century Europe</a> to refer to <a href="/facts/Astrology/kFP09KjH">astrology</a>, <a href="/facts/Alchemy/CEx0U1Em">alchemy</a>, and <a href="/facts/Natural_magic/hGDSUAWC">natural magic</a>. The term occultism emerged in <a href="/facts/France_in_the_long_nineteenth_century/uCebAEla">19th-century France</a>, among figures such as <a href="/facts/Antoine_Court_de_G%C3%A9belin/F4L5boBL">Antoine Court de Gébelin</a>. It came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to <a href="/facts/%C3%89liphas_L%C3%A9vi/VTX8RuD5">Éliphas Lévi</a> and <a href="/facts/Papus/nrcn5Wjk">Papus</a>, and in 1875 was introduced into the English language by the esotericist <a href="/facts/Helena_Blavatsky/sHao4pjR">Helena Blavatsky</a>.
Throughout the 20th century, the term 'occult' was used <a href="/facts/Idiosyncrasy/6qXUIscc">idiosyncratically</a> by a range of different authors. By the 21st century the term 'occultism' was commonly employed –including by academic scholars in the field of <a href="/facts/Western_esotericism_studies/y7W3Ufba">Western esotericism studies</a>– to refer to a range of esoteric currents that developed in the mid-19th century and their descendants. Occultism is thus often used to categorise such <a href="/facts/Western_esotericism/AW5dDFh1">esoteric traditions</a> as <a href="/facts/Qabalah/JysVQKVe">Qabalah</a>, <a href="/facts/Spiritualism_(movement)/2mLwNKxa">Spiritualism</a>, <a href="/facts/Theosophy/7I4EqMbt">Theosophy</a>, <a href="/facts/Anthroposophy/GXVLPVRd">Anthroposophy</a>, <a href="/facts/Wicca/q623sLWu">Wicca</a>, the <a href="/facts/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn/IPW0TlNI">Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn</a>, <a href="/facts/New_Age/6cr8V2zG">New Age</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Left-hand_path_and_right-hand_path/t4fqdBvb">left-hand path and right-hand path</a>.
Use of the term as a <a href="/facts/Nominalized_adjective/4lrmH2S0">nominalized adjective</a> ('the occult') has developed especially since the late twentieth century. In that same period, occult and culture were combined to form the <a href="/facts/Neologism/vlq6w82X">neologism</a> occulture.

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Occult