Coincidentally, I got a note from someone I am close to yesterday saying along the lines that: "I think I need to learn about hermetics. I have the feeling you already know about that" and asked for my input. This person is LGBTQ+, generally on the left, and has flirted with pop-culture paganism, but not in a serious way. Likes fantasy novels and SF and going to Rennaisance fairs (I hope the people playing dress up at those don't get harmed... because I actually see a lot of possible value in RenFairs and they are one of the few surviving places of carnie culture). This sudden interest in Hermetics gives me hope. JMG even mentioned in a comment some time ago that those of us trained in the occult arts might have to prepare for an influx of students in the years ahead. For those who the standard religions don't apply, I think this is very true.
As an American, too, I think we could get back to some of the material in the Transcendental milieu and use that to our advantage. It is generally universalist... they were influenced by and influenced in turn the unitarians. I know a lot of the right leaning people in JMGs general sphere probably don't have much love for Unitarian, Universalists etc. (I don't really have much love for the UU as it is now myself and identify center-left -whatever is left of the left and may be salvaged from it anyway.) I am more universalist and less unitarian, but this whole area, along with Jacob Boeheme and William Blake and Swedenborg and the Quaker tradition - I think it is ripe for revival. And occultists who are ok with that kind of thing could find a home in these places. Or make new variations thereof.
Finally, I think the Twelve Step tradition is a nascent form of a possible future North American religion -and has offered a ton of practical and spiritual help to those afflicted with addictions. There emphasis on a "God of my own understanding" and a personal higher power, and deemphasis on specific religious dogmas, I think is something that will also be coming into play in the future spiritual trajectory of North America.
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branchandroot
Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups
Date: 2025-10-01 11:54 am (UTC)As an American, too, I think we could get back to some of the material in the Transcendental milieu and use that to our advantage. It is generally universalist... they were influenced by and influenced in turn the unitarians. I know a lot of the right leaning people in JMGs general sphere probably don't have much love for Unitarian, Universalists etc. (I don't really have much love for the UU as it is now myself and identify center-left -whatever is left of the left and may be salvaged from it anyway.) I am more universalist and less unitarian, but this whole area, along with Jacob Boeheme and William Blake and Swedenborg and the Quaker tradition - I think it is ripe for revival. And occultists who are ok with that kind of thing could find a home in these places. Or make new variations thereof.
Finally, I think the Twelve Step tradition is a nascent form of a possible future North American religion -and has offered a ton of practical and spiritual help to those afflicted with addictions. There emphasis on a "God of my own understanding" and a personal higher power, and deemphasis on specific religious dogmas, I think is something that will also be coming into play in the future spiritual trajectory of North America.
AA