What is esoteric? What is the occult? How about esotericism and occultism? These are complicated terms that get thrown around a lot in the spiritual and philosophical communities. In this episode, I begin the conversation on esoteric and occult concepts. I explain what these words mean and different ways that they are used and interpreted. I try to cover all the different bases of how people commonly explain these terms. I give some examples of occult and esoteric concepts. I also compare and contrast the two terms and see how they are similar and different from one another. This episodes is meant to be a beginners introduction to esoteric and occult concepts and to build some common ground for the episodes to come on these topics. However even if you've been interested in esotericism and occultism for a while, i'm sure there will be some interesting perspectives in this episode you may have not heard before! Hope you enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS
0:00- Intro
04:48- Esotericism
07:13- Examples of esoteric concepts
09:21- Esotericism as a category for spiritual/philosophical belief systems that are not well known
15:42:-Esotericism as knowledge stemming from ancient mystery school knowledge/ initiation into these mystery schools
17:50- esotericism as knowledge stemming from out inner world/ inner process of contemplation
20: 09- Western esotericism, or esotericism from a scholarly perspective
27: 24- esoteric religion
30:24- The parable of the sower
36:59- Why are things esoteric in the first place?

42:30- occultism- definitions
44:42- Occult negative connotations
45:27- What really is the occult?
51:21- How all occult concepts are connected
53:46- Why is occultism associated with evil connotations
56:10- Conclusion