ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the Western context of popular culture and esotericism. Esotericists – from groups such as spiritualism, the Theosophical Society, modern occultism and traditional esotericism – by the nineteenth century wanted to deliver their "knowledge" in a clear language to the general public and promoted democratic access to it. For Foster Bailey from the Arcane school, esotericism is the secret knowledge found in the work of the founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Suffice to say that esoteric knowledge, overall, tended to remain secret during Christianity in Europe until modernity for fear of heresy or persecution, even if there were exceptions in various places and times. With regard to Gnosticism, the word originally made reference to an early Christian sect that viewed gnosis as a knowledge needed to be attained. In a pendulum swing, popular culture has filaments in Gnosticism.
