Defining Terms - 6/june/2023

A DISCUSSION OF TERMS

Magic: Magic is infamously difficult to define. Ask a Roman centurion, a Zhao dynasty scholar, an American revival preacher, for their definition of magic, and they will give you wonderfully varied answers. Magic changes depending on time period, culture, location, and historical moment. A book could be a tome of powerful magical secrets on one side of a river, and a text of ordinary, mundane knowledge on the other. A book can be added to a library as a mundane text, spend 100 years untouched on the shelf, only to be ripped off and burned as a dangerous magical text.

Magic has no stable definition, but it has a consistent identity. Today’s magic was influenced by Yesterday’s magic. To gain proper understanding, we have to track its meaning as far back as we can, back to the roots. However, we must also be careful not to mistake the seed for the tree. Attempting to explain the shape of that tree will be a major goal of this text.

Esoteric: Defined by Mirriam-Webster as “designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.” Esoterica is material so complex that it requires specialized preparation beyond what is normally expected. Esoterica is not simply material one doesn’t understand. The key phrase here is “beyond what is normally expected.” A textbook of advanced biochemistry is not esoterica. But a textbook of biochemistry so specialized that other biochemists find you strange for studying it, that is esoterica.

The Occult: From the latin “occultus” meaning hidden, concealed, or secret. “The Occult” has gone through several definition shifts throughout history which will be discussed at length later in this text. For our purposes, The Occult will be used as a deliberately broad umbrella term referring to the interconnected web of strange religious history, pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and con-artistry. The Occult contains both valuable information, and dangerous misinformation, both sincere believers, and cynical grifters. It is the field of information we will be exploring in this text.

Mysticism: Where a magician may attempt to harness divine power, a mystic attempts to interact with god directly.