Any doctrine, principle, or practice associated with unknown forces or spirits, whose existence is cut off from most of humanity and available only to an initiated few. The word occultism comes from the Latin occultus, meaning hidden, concealed, or cut off from view by interposing some other body between the eye and the object. In this sense astronomers talk about the sun, the moon, or a planet “occulting” each other. As well as being used in the sense of objects not being readily observed by the eye, the term has also been used subjectively to mean not being readily understood, therefore mysterious.
Devotees study very early esoteric writings like the Jewish Kabbalah and the Chinese I Ching in the belief that ancient people had a facility to access mystical secrets, a facility that is believed to have been lost to modern people in the process of acquiring technical skills. Occult practices can be connected to any section of the hidden supernatural world and include for example: magic, alchemy, astrology, divination, theosophy, Satanism, and witchcraft. None of these practices or rituals fall readily within the province of the major religions in the West. Christianity in particular speaks out against the dangers of meddling in the occult.