ABSTRACT
The idea of studying the cultic milieu and related networks of participants and groups more systematically thereby became increasingly attractive. Esoteric culture is distributed, structured, and organized in the form of what Joseph Campbell called the “cultic milieu.” This social environment contains publics and collective behavioral audiences, as well as elaborate networks of seekers, practitioners, cults, sects, and collective movements. Initiation to the occult tarot entitled he to become a “professional practitioner” of tarot divination in the community. Members of the esoteric community thereby defined and identified him as a diviner of the tarot, and a fully participating member of the community. The perception of a massive revival of esoteric and occult beliefs in Western societies during the late 1960’s attracted attention precisely because it seemed so strange to scholarly experts. Scientists and other scholarly experts formed associations aimed at debunking esoteric and occult claims to knowledge.
