Hermeticism - Hermetic Brotherhoods

Hermetic Brotherhoods

Once Hermeticism was no longer endorsed by the Christian Church it was driven underground and a number of Hermetic societies were formed. The Western esoteric tradition is now heavily steeped in Hermeticism. The work of such writers as Pico Della Mirandola, who attempted to reconcile Jewish Kabbalah and Christian mysticism, brought Hermeticism into a context more easily understood by Europeans in the Renaissance.

A few primarily Hermetic occult orders were founded in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Hermetic magic underwent a nineteenth century revival in Western Europe, where it was practiced by people and within groups such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aurum Solis, Ragon, Kenneth M. Mackenzie, Eliphas Lévi, Frederick Hockley, William Butler Yeats, and Arthur Machen. Many Hermetic, or Hermetically influenced, groups exist today, most of which are derived from the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucianism or Freemasonry.