On Secret Sciences, Initiations, and Modern Societies

Introduction. II

were spread independently of magic.

But when, after the emergence of Christianity, people began to merge pagan philosophy with Christian religious concepts and to establish the so-called Neoplatonic system, everything sank back once more into the darkness of the past. The pure and simple teaching of Christ was disfigured by superstition and fanaticism The original German Schwärmerey refers to a state of excessive, often delusional religious enthusiasm or "wild-eyed" devotion.; ceremony displaced the religion of the heart everywhere. People were no longer satisfied with brightening their prospects for a future life through blameless, pure morals and active love for their fellow man; they wanted to explore the future through all sorts of superstitious means and ceremonies. Fortune-telling, witchcraft, necromancy The practice of communicating with the spirits of the dead to predict the future., the doctrine of a universal medicine Universal medicine: also known as a panacea, a mythical substance or "elixir of life" supposed to cure all ailments., of the philosopher’s stone, of sympathy and antipathy In early modern thought, "sympathy and antipathy" were occult forces believed to cause natural attractions and repulsions between substances, plants, or animals., and all the nonsense of ancient times were unearthed again and turned into articles of faith. Trust in inanimate things displaced trust in God, and empty, often entirely absurd customs were used to absolve all manner of sins. The light of truth, which [guides] man even in his most depraved