Mystery School Lineages
Most people practising Tarot, Kabbalah, or ceremonial magic today are working inside one branch of a much larger family tree, usually without knowing which branch. This map shows the major Western esoteric systems from 1500 to the present, what each one was built from, and what grew out of it. Click any node to see its roots and its descendants.
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The lineage in full
Every root, school, and figure on the map. Follow any one to read where it came from and what grew out of it.
Roots
c. 1230
c. 1390
c. 1400s
1600 to 1650
1700 to 1750
1750 to 1800
1800 to 1850
1850 to 1900
1900 to 1950
- Thelema (Crowley) · 1904
- Adyar Theosophy (Besant and Leadbeater) · 1907
- Anthroposophy (Steiner) · 1912
- Fourth Way (Gurdjieff) · 1912
- Jung, Red Book period · 1913
- Fellowship of the Rosy Cross (Waite) · 1915
- AMORC (Lewis) · 1915
- B.O.T.A. (Case) · 1922
- Alice Bailey: Arcane School · 1923
- Society of the Inner Light (Fortune) · 1927
- Fraternitas Saturni · 1928
- Krishnamurti dissolves the Order of the Star · 1929
- I AM Activity · 1934
- Regardie publishes the GD system · 1937