Welcome to my Esoteric Coffeehouse – I am your host, Jo, and I invite you to take a look around my place and then have a sit in a comfortable couch, sip on a virtual coffee (or perhaps a spiced chai) and engage in a real discussion on esoteric topics.
First, it is perhaps desirable to clarify the term “esoteric” in our conversation. To be sure, there are numerous academic definitions of what is meant by the term “esoteric”, which I will expand in a future post. However, we are not here to engage in a purely academic discussion, but a friendly exchange on a topic broadly defined as ‘esoteric’. Surely, as it happens with every interaction, the definition we will use for ‘esoteric’ is bound to evolve.
To begin with, I will propose to start with a fairly large perspective of ‘esoteric’ as ‘a spiritual vision of what lies beneath the ordinary’. I believe that the esoteric is actually about an attempt of ‘seeing’ beyond the surface, hence challenging common perceptions. In this, ‘esotericism’ is a meeting between the intellect and the spirit; moreover, it is generally associated with a practice or technique that allows someone to delve into the vision. In this framework, I envisage such wide-range topics as:
- Alchemy
- Magic
- Hermeticism
- Rosicrucianism
- Alternative medicine
- Astrology
- Neoplatonism
- Scientific views
- Philosophy
- Mysticism
- Freemasonry
- Sufi practices
- Movies and books with esoteric theme
- Art & music
- Mythology
- Folklore
- Esoteric or esoterically-related thinkers
- Academic esotericism
- Esoteric lifestyle
What I am basically proposing through this blog is to incite in-depth, substantial and thoughtful discussion on esoteric themes.
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