The Western Hermetic Tradition
Hermeticism, magick and the great work of self transformation
Occidental Magic is an independent library and course of study in the Western esoteric tradition. Read the sources, learn the symbols, and take up the patient daily disciplines by which a person is changed.
Study / Practice / Record / Review
Three doors
One tradition, three ways in
The Hermetic tradition is at once a philosophy, a body of practice and a path of inner change. Begin wherever your interest is strongest. The three lead into one another.
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Philosophy
Hermeticism
The teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus: mind as the ground of the world, the likeness of the great and the small, and the ascent of the soul. History, texts, alchemy and the Tree of Life.
Study the philosophy -
Practice
Magick
The ceremonial art of the West, set out plainly: what a ritual is and how it is built, the four elements and seven planets, sigils and talismans, the magical diary, and the ethics that keep the work sound.
Learn the art -
Path
Self Transformation
The Great Work as something done each day: meditation, the training of will and attention, the honest meeting with the shadow, and a twelve month course of study that asks for twenty minutes a day.
Take up the work
A map in seven statements
The seven Hermetic principles
Seven short axioms, first set out in this form in 1908, have become the best known summary of Hermetic thought. Each is a lens for looking at the world and at oneself.
The method
How the work is done
Nothing on this site asks for belief. It asks for a method, and the method has four parts that repeat for as long as the work continues.
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Study
Read the sources and learn the vocabulary of the tradition, so that its symbols become a language you can think in.
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Practice
Give a small, fixed part of each day to stillness, attention and simple ritual. Regularity matters more than length.
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Record
Write down what you did and what followed, plainly and at once. The diary is the instrument that makes the rest honest.
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Review
Read the record back each month. Keep what bears fruit, mend what does not, and set the next month's work accordingly.
The planetary week
Every day has a ruler
The seven days of the week still carry the names of the seven classical planets, and the old magicians timed their work by them. The star at the top of this page shows how the order of the days is drawn out of the order of the heavens.
The calculator divides your own day and night into the twenty four planetary hours, from your local sunrise and sunset, entirely within your browser.
The seven rulers
Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn
Each day of the week belongs to one of the seven planets, and each planet to a field of human life.
See the tables of correspondenceReference
From the library
Working references for the student: definitions, tables, symbols and an annotated guide to the primary texts.
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Glossary
More than a hundred terms of Hermetic philosophy, alchemy, Qabalah and ritual, defined in plain language.
Look up a term -
Tables of Correspondence
Planets, elements, signs and spheres set side by side with their metals, colors, days and powers.
Consult the tables -
Symbols
A visual guide to the signs of the tradition, from the planetary glyphs to the squared circle of the alchemists.
Read the signs -
Reading List
The primary texts in a sensible order, with notes on what each one is, how hard it is and what to look for.
Choose a text
Essays
Latest from the journal
Longer reflections from the editors on the ideas, difficulties and daily realities of the work.
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The Temple Is a Room
You do not need a vaulted chamber or a chest of regalia. On making a place to practice out of a corner, a table and a habit.
Read the essay -
As Above, So Below
The most quoted line in Western esotericism is also the most loosely used. What the maxim says, where it comes from and what it does not license.
Read the essay -
Solve et Coagula
Dissolve and join together. The alchemists' two word summary of their whole art, read as a pattern for any real change in a life.
Read the essay
That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the wonders of the one thing.
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes
Plain answers
Questions people ask first
What is Hermeticism, in one paragraph?
Hermeticism is a philosophical and religious tradition that grew up in Egypt under Roman rule, in writings attributed to the legendary sage Hermes Trismegistus. It teaches that the cosmos is a living whole proceeding from a divine Mind, that the human being is a small image of that whole, and that by knowledge and discipline the soul can return to its source. Read the full introduction.
Why is magick spelled with a k?
The older spelling was revived in the early twentieth century to separate the spiritual discipline from stage conjuring. We use it for the same reason: on this site magick means a deliberate art of inner and outer change, not sleight of hand. More on what the word means.
Do I have to believe anything to begin?
No. The practices described here can be tried as experiments, and the tradition itself asks for records and results before conclusions. Suspend both belief and disbelief, do the work regularly, and let your own diary inform your judgment.
Is this safe?
Study carries no risk. Practice is as safe as any sustained contemplative discipline, which is to say that it is safe for most people when done in moderation and with common sense. Our page on ethics and safety sets out the cautions in full.