Home›Subcategories›Esoteric PracticesSubcategoriesEsoteric Practices21 of 330 entries in Practices. Click any to see everything it connects to.Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Esoteric Practices." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/subcategories/practice/esoteric-practices.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Esoteric Practices. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/subcategories/practice/esoteric-practicesCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-esoteric-practices, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Esoteric Practices}, year = {2026}, url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/subcategories/practice/esoteric-practices}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXPractices restricted to initiates or specialists within a tradition rather than open to any adherent, drawn from occult, mystical and initiatory strands across several religions. What unifies the subcategory is restriction of access, not shared content, so entries here range widely in what they actually involve.FactsLearn MoreSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)FactsDirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1OverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedPractices belonging to traditions of concealed or graded knowledge - Hermetic and Kabbalistic ceremonial magic, initiatic orders, internal and external alchemy, tantric sexual yoga. The atlas describes the category and the existence of its practices from published scholarship; material a living order or lineage transmits only under initiation is recorded as existing and is not reproduced. 2OriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedWestern esotericism as a single field is a twentieth-century scholarly construction: Antoine Faivre's typology of four intrinsic characteristics gave it a working definition, and Wouter Hanegraaff's later history reads the category as a container assembled by centuries of polemical exclusion. It is historians' frame, not a name the traditions gave themselves. 4Contested UseContested or Appropriated Modern UseWell-attestedTantric sexual practice entered Western esoteric orders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through Randolph, Reuss and Crowley, in forms their Indian and Tibetan sources do not recognise. The atlas records the Western practice and the Indic practice as distinct and presents neither as the other. 3StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedUsed, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed 2BrowseCompareSelect all 21Assumption of the godformEsoteric Practices1 linkChannelingEsoteric Practices1 linkDivinationEsoteric Practices14 linksDream interpretationEsoteric Practices1 linkExtispicy, Liver DivinationEsoteric Practices1 linkFangzhongshuEsoteric Practices3 linksHeka (Egyptian Ritual Magic)Esoteric Practices1 linkHome CircleEsoteric Practices2 linksKarmamudraEsoteric Practices1 linkMaithunaEsoteric Practices5 linksOral Transmission of Druidic TeachingEsoteric Practices1 linkPanchamakaraEsoteric Practices4 linksPillar of MercyEsoteric Practices5 linksPillar of SeverityEsoteric Practices5 linksRising on the planesEsoteric Practices1 linkSex MagicEsoteric Practices1 linkSigilizationEsoteric Practices3 linksSpellcraftEsoteric Practices26 linksSpirit writingEsoteric Practices1 linkThe Bornless RitualEsoteric Practices3 linksWaidan (external alchemy)Esoteric Practices2 linksLearn MoreThe esoteric practices This group holds esoteric practices, the inner or hidden disciplines of the mystical and occult traditions, transmitted to initiates and aimed at spiritual transformation, subtle physiology or contact with hidden powers. These practices are typically taught within a lineage and guarded from the uninitiated. The browser will find esoteric practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's technique and aim, noting the tradition and lineage in which it is transmitted.Sources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culturetier 1Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Cambridge University Press, 20123. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericismtier 1Hugh B. Urban, University of California Press, 20064. Access to Western Esotericismtier 1Antoine Faivre, State University of New York Press, 1994Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year