Thesis Question
I may have found my thesis topic after some thought. I realized that there had been an ongoing discussion in years past between me and members of my old hermetic lodge. This was centered on how Hermeticism had changed during the 20th century as it moved away from being "esoteric Christianity" or "esoteric Judaism" into this stage following convention religion in modern times. Esotericism was once the "inner" to an "outer" that was simply conventional religion. You were a Christian (or, if you were in the Golden Dawn, normally a member of the Church of England) or a Jew. This is where your primary religion training took place.
For those that sought more, there was (and still is, actually) an esoteric side to any of the major religions. In the West, this often expressed itself as the Hermetic and Cabalistic aspects of the faith. People didn’t generally quit being Christians in order to study angels, goetic demons, or the Tree of Life. It was a layer on top of things.
With the decline of mainstream religion, at least amongst the bohemians and intelligentsia, occultism didn’t undergo a similar decline. In fact, it grew. The formerly "inner" aspects became merely occult or hidden but it was no longer always the case (and with some groups, not even often the case) that people had a separate exoteric faith.
This leads to my question, focusing on the 20th century:
Can Golden Dawn-derived Western Magical practices and beliefs be considered as a religion distinct unto themselves in form and practice? Do these beliefs and practices constitute an entity unto themselves, deriving from earlier traditions, but not requiring them any longer?
I also think about, in this, the use of the Tree of Life and Cabala by many pagan and non-pagan magicians that I have known. They are practicing Jewish forms. The standard Western Esoteric forms are about 500 years removed from Judaism with occasional cross-connections and explicit borrowings or influences. This was done largely by Christians. Almost none of the practitioners of this that I have known have been Christian though.
I figure that there is room to examine the modern, academic literature on Western Esotericism (Faivre and Hanegraaf being good examples), literature on defining religion and religious cults, and the actual practices and beliefs of Western Magical groups that have sprung up in the English speaking world since the beginning of the 20th century.
I’ll explicitly avoid Thelema in this for a variety of reasons, the main one being that for many Thelemites, Thelema is explicitly a religion with an established Church, revealed holy texts, a prophet and standard practices and holy days. It makes it a much less interesting examination. My own involvement in Thelema currently also makes it easier to avoid it as well.
