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{{Short description|Occult concept}}
'''Egregore''' (also spelled '''egregor'''; {{etymology|fr|égrégore}}, {{etymology|grc|''ἐγρήγορος,'' egrēgoros|wakeful}}) is an [[Philosophy:Western esotericism|esoteric]] concept representing a [[Philosophy:Non-physical entity|non-physical entity]] or [[Philosophy:Thoughtform|thoughtform]] that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Delaforge |first=Gaetan |date=1987 |title=The Templar Tradition Yesterday and Today |url=https://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/artjun02/TEMPTRAD.htm |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=MasonicWorld.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Binford |first=Harry |title=Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch over Human Destiny |url=https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/5077-egregores-the-occult-entities-that-watch-over-human-destiny |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Theosophical Society in America |language=en-gb}}</ref>

==Overview==
In [[Unsolved:Magic (supernatural)|magical]] and other [[Philosophy:Occult|occult]] traditions, it is typically seen as having an independent existence, but in other kinds of esotericism, it is merely the collective mind of a religious community, either esoteric or [[Philosophy:Exoteric|exoteric]]. In the latter sense, as a collective mind, the term '''collective entity''', preferred by [[Biography:René Guénon|René Guénon]], is synonymous with egregore.<ref name=":0" /> See the usage overview below.

In the apocryphal ''Book of Enoch'', the term had referred to angelic beings known as watchers,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> and it was also used by associated (Enochian) traditions to refer to the specific rituals and practices associated with these entities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-01-08 |title=Rosicrucian Archive - Egregor |url=http://www.crcsite.org/printegregor.htm |access-date=2023-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108221129/http://www.crcsite.org/printegregor.htm |archive-date=2012-01-08 }}</ref> Some other literary and religious works, such as ''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa,'' have also made references to these angelic beings.<ref name=":4" />

== Variant descriptions ==
=== As independent angelic being ===
Egregores had been quite independent entities in the ''Book of Enoch'', and there was then no notion of them arising from a collective. In literature, especially older literature, "egregores" have often been straightforward references to these Enochian entities. This was the case in Jan Potocki's novel ''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'', which referred to egregores as "the most illustrious of fallen angels."<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Potocki |first=Jan |title=Manoscritto trovato a Saragozza |publisher=Adelphi |year=1965 |isbn=9788845900389 |edition=10 |location=Milan |language=Italian |translator-last=Devoto |translator-first=Anna}}</ref> The French author [[Biography:Victor Hugo|Victor Hugo]], in ''La Légende des siècles'' (1859) ("The Legend of the Ages"), also uses the word ''égrégore,'' first as an adjective, then as a noun, while leaving the meaning obscure.{{sfnp|Hugo|2002|loc=[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Jour_des_rois "Le jour des rois"], ''La Légende des Siècles'' IV, V, and [http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Italie_-_Ratbert "L'Italie – Ratbert"], ''La Légende des Siècles'' VII}}<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Stavish |first=Mark |title=Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny |publisher=Inner Traditions |year=2018 |isbn=9781620555774 |edition=ebook |pages=Introduction, chapters 1, 3, and 4 |language=en}}</ref> More on these beings may be read in the Watcher (angel) article.

=== As spiritual elite ===
The [[Philosophy:Traditionalist School (perennialism)|Traditionalist School]] philosopher [[Biography:Julius Evola|Julius Evola]], in his ''[[Philosophy:Revolt Against the Modern World|Revolt Against the Modern World]]'', referred to an elite of spiritually aware people, who keep Tradition alive,<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" /> as "those who are awake, whom in Greek are called the εγρῄγοροι",<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Evola |first=Julius |title=Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics, Religion and Social Order of the Kali Yuga |publisher=Inner Traditions International |year=1995 |isbn=0-89281-506-X |edition=1 |location=Rochester, Vermont 05767 |pages=364 |language=en |translator-last=Stucco |translator-first=Guido}}</ref> apparently alluding to the Watchers,<ref name=":13" /> and the most literal sense of their name, which is "wakeful" or "awake".

=== As group mind ===
In esotericism, the term "egregore" has been used to denote a "group mind"<ref name=":3" /> or "[[Philosophy:Collective consciousness|collective consciousness]]" of a religious community. As [[Biography:René Guénon|René Guénon]] said, "the collective, in its psychic as well as its corporeal aspects, is nothing but a simple extension of the individual, and thus has absolutely nothing transcendent with respect to it, as opposed to spiritual influences, which are of a wholly different order".<ref name=":0" /> This usage was followed by ''Gnosis'' magazine<ref name=":3" /> and by [[Biography:Olavo de Carvalho|Olavo de Carvalho]],<ref name=":8" /> and, according to Guénon, began with Éliphas Lévi.<ref name=":0" /> See the section on the history of this usage.

=== As independent magical being arising from collective mind ===
[[File:Music of Gounod - Annie Besant Thought Form - Project Gutenberg eText 16269.jpg|thumb|180px|right|Thought form of Charles Gounod's music, according to Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in ''Thought Forms'' (1901)]]
Some authors seem to have merged the esoteric concept with the Enochian concept to arrive at an idea of "spiritual entities" that "feed off the thoughts and energy of a unified multitude",<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-29 |title=On Ressurecting Egregores - Occultist |url=https://occultist.net/on-ressurecting-egregores/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> as the website Occultist.net described it, while nevertheless having more of a life of their own – their more specific features and powers will depend on the particular author. Kate Strong, writing for the newsletter "Know Thyself, Heal Thyself", described egregores as "symbols, ideas, or ideals that exist in the collective psyche of a group of people and are thought to have an autonomous existence".<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Strong |first=Kate |date=2021-08-26 |title=What Is An Egregore? |url=https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/what-is-an-egregore-dbc71d9e4447 |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Know Thyself, Heal Thyself |language=en}}</ref> This usage seems to have come largely from the ''Meditations on the Tarot'', as may be seen in the next section. The concept of a [[Philosophy:Tulpa|tulpa]] is similar, as Gary Lachman<ref name=":6" /> and Mark Stavish<ref name=":13" /> noted.

== In occult and magical thought ==
=== In ''Meditations on the Tarot'' ===
The ''Meditations on the Tarot'' described [[Unsolved:Antichrist|the Antichrist]] as "an ''egregore'', an artificial being who owes his existence to collective generation ''from below''". Elsewhere, the book described egregores as "demons engendered by the collective will and imagination of nations".<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Anonymous |title=Meditations on the Tarot |publisher=Penguin |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-101-65785-0 |location=New York, New York |language=en |orig-date=1985}}</ref> The book cites, but does not completely agree with, the usage of Robert Ambelain in his work ''La Kabbale pratique''. Ambelain had defined the egregore as "a ''force'' generated by a powerful spiritual current and then nourished at regular intervals, according to a rhythm in harmony with the universal life of the cosmos, or to a union of entities united by a common characteristic nature". The author of the ''Meditations on the Tarot'' described this passage from Ambelain as "a definition which leaves nothing more to be desired", but disagreed with Ambelain's description of Catholicism, Freemasonry, and Protestantism as egregores.<ref name=":5" />

=== In the work of Gary Lachman ===
Gary Lachman followed the usage of the ''Meditations on the Tarot'' in his book ''Dark Star Rising'', which went on to suggest that [[Social:Pepe the Frog|Pepe the Frog]] may be an egregore in this sense – or a [[Philosophy:Tulpa|tulpa]], which Lachman saw as a similar phenomenon.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Lachman |first=Gary |title=Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |year=2018 |isbn=9780525503804 |location=New York |language=en}}</ref> In the usage of Lachman and of the ''Meditations on the Tarot'', "there are no 'good' egregores, only 'negative' ones".<ref name=":6" /> Lachman cited Joscelyn Godwin's ''The Golden Thread'' – which had itself cited the ''Meditations on the Tarot''<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Godwin |first=Joscelyn |title=The Golden Thread |publisher=Quest Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8356-0860-2 |edition=1 |location=Wheaton, IL |language=en}}</ref> – as a source for the idea that, while a religious (or other) group who creates an egregore can "rely" on it as "an efficacious magical ally", "the egregore's help comes at a price",<ref name=":6" /> since, as Godwin had put it, its creators must thenceforth meet the egregore's "unlimited appetite for their future devotion."<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" />

=== In the works of Peter Carroll ===
''Liber Null & Psychonaut'', by the British [[Philosophy:Chaos magic|chaos magic]]ian Peter J. Carroll, uses the word ''egregore'' for the first time at the end of the following passage:<blockquote>Religion takes the view that consciousness preceded organic life. Supposedly there were gods, angelic forces, titans, and demons setting the scene before material life developed. Science takes the opposite view and considers that much organic evolution occurred before the phenomenon of consciousness appeared. Magic, which has given more attention to the quality of consciousness itself, takes an alternative view and concludes that organic and psychic forms evolve synchronously. As organic development occurs, a psychic field is generated which feeds back into the organic forms. Thus each species of living being has its own type of psychic form or magical essence. These egregores may occasionally be felt as a presence or even glimpsed in the form of the species they watch over.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter James |title=Liber Null & Psychonaut |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-87728-639-4 |edition=ebook |location=San Francisco, CA |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>The book goes on to say that "those who have perceived the human egregore usually describe it as God", and that "magicians consider that all life on this world contributes to, and depends on, a vast composite egregore which has variously been known as the Great Mother, the Anima Mundi, the Great Archon, the Devil, Pan, and Baphomet."<ref name=":12" />

=== In the work of Frater Tenebris ===
Following this usage, though giving no citations, the glossary in the 2022 book ''The Philosophy of Dark Paganism'', by Frater Tenebris,<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Tenebris |first=Frater |title=The Philosophy of Dark Paganism: Wisdom & Magick to Cultivate the Self |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD. |year=2022 |isbn=9780738772653 |edition=ebook |location=Woodbury, MN 55125 |language=en}}</ref> defines an "egregore" as "an occult term for an independently functioning spiritual entity created by one or more magick practitioners. Many egregores begin as thought-forms but then become capable of operating independently of the practitioners."<ref name=":10" /> It defines "thought-form" as "an esoteric entity created by magick", and "magick" as "a spiritual practice and process to influence the probability of events."<ref name=":10" />

The book itself mentions egregores in the context of "archetypism", a view that understands "the different [[Religion:Deity|gods]] and [[Philosophy:Goddess|goddesses]]" as "either psychological structures, similar to Carl Jung's archetypes, or different currents of arcane energy found in the Cosmos that are anthropomorphized."<ref name=":10" /> Noting that "some archetypists consider the gods to be thought-forms created from worship and prayer by generations of believers", it says that "over time these thought-forms may become egregores that exhibit some autonomy apart from their worshipers", and that "one might imagine these gods along the line of Neil Gaiman's deities in the novel ''American Gods''."<ref name=":10" />

=== In Theosophy ===
Mauricio Medeiros, writing for the [[Philosophy:Theosophy|theosophist]] website ''Estudo Teosófico'', defined an egregore as "an astral, mental, or spiritual construct sustained by several people over a long period of time, giving it a character of permanence that does not depend on any particular individual".<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Em sintonia com as egrégoras |url=http://www.teosofico.com/artigo/em-sintonia-com-egr%C3%A9goras |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Estudo Teosófico |language=pt-br}}</ref> While saying that egregores have no "life of their own", Medeiros nevertheless emphasized their independence, noting that egregores "can be associated with physical locations", so that "when we enter an environment and feel uncomfortable, what we are often experiencing is the clash between the energies expressed by the egregores of the place and our own energies."<ref name=":11" />

== In other esotericism ==
The ''Book of Enoch'', 1:5, refers to "ἐγρήγοροι",<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Enoch - Book of Enoch Greek Interlinear |url=http://enoksbok.se/cgi-bin/interlinear_greek.cgi |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=enoksbok.se}}</ref> which is usually translated as "watchers".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Book of Enoch, Section I |url=https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> As [[Biography:René Guénon|René Guénon]] says, these are "entities of a rather enigmatic character that, whatever they may be, seem to belong to the 'intermediary world'; this is all that they have in common with the collective entities to which the same name has been applied" in esoteric literature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Tremblay |first=Jean-Marie |date=2005-02-02 |title=René Guénon, INITIATION ET RÉALISATION SPIRITUELLE |url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/guenon_rene/initiation_realisation_spirituelle/initiation_realisation_spirituelle.html |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=texte |at=Chapter 6, "Influence spirituelle et égrégores"}}</ref>

=== In the work of René Guénon ===
While Guénon notes that he had "never used the word 'egregore' to designate" what he preferred instead to call a "collective entity", he notes<ref name=":0" /> that he had described these same entities in his ''Perspectives on Initiation'', in the following passage:<blockquote>Each collectivity can thus be regarded as possessing a subtle force made up in a way of the contributions of all its members past and present, and which is consequently all the more considerable and able to produce greater effects as the collectivity is older and is composed of a greater number of members. It is evident, moreover, that this 'quantitative' consideration essentially indicates that it is a question of the individual domain, beyond which this force could not in any way intervene.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tremblay |first=Jean-Marie |date=2005-02-02 |title=René Guénon (1946), Aperçus sur l'initiation |url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/guenon_rene/Apercus_sur_initiation/Apercus_sur_initiation.html |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=texte |at=Chapter 24, "La prière et l’incantation"}}</ref><ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Guénon believed that [[Unsolved:Prayer|prayer]] is not directly addressed to spiritual entities such as gods or angels, but rather, "consciously or not, addresses itself most immediately to the collective entity, and it is only by the intermediary of this latter that it also addresses the spiritual influence that works through it".<ref name=":0" /> [[Biography:Olavo de Carvalho|Olavo de Carvalho]] believed that, according to Guénon's view, the prayers of persons who are not members of a community are ineffectual.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=de Carvalho |first=Olavo |title=O saber e o enigma: Introdução ao estudo dos esoterismos |publisher=Vide Editorial |year=2021 |isbn=978-65-87138-73-2 |editor-last=Robson |editor-first=Ronald |edition=1 |location=Campinas, SP |pages=114–118 |language=pt-BR |trans-title=Knowledge and enigma: An introduction to the study of esotericisms. |quote=Os ritos de agregação dirigem-se àquilo que no esoterismo se chama de egrégora, o ser psíquico da comunidade religiosa. O rito de agregação torna você um membro da egrégora, você passa a participar desse ser psíquico. Segundo René Guénon, todas as preces individuais não se dirigem imediatamente a Deus nem aos anjos, mas sim primeiro à egrégora, através da qual chegam a uma escala mais alta. Conforme essa perspectiva, se um indivíduo que não participa de nenhuma comunidade religiosa (um não-membro) reza, sua prece é sem efeito. Mas se lembrem: quem diz isso é René Guénon; se é assim ou não, eu não sei. |trans-quote=Rites of aggregation are directed towards what, in esotericism, is called the egregore, the psychic being of the religious community. The rite of aggregation makes you a member of the egregore; you start to participate in this psychic being. According to René Guénon, all individual prayers are not immediately directed to God or the angels, but first to the egregore, through which they reach a higher level. From this perspective, if an individual who is not a member of any religious community (a non-member) prays, their prayer is ineffective. But remember: this is what René Guénon says; whether it is true or not, I do not know.}}</ref>

=== Origin and development of the concept in esotericism ===
According to Guénon, the term was first used to designate these collective entities by Éliphas Lévi, "who, to justify this meaning, gave it an improbable [[Social:Latin|Latin]] etymology, deriving it from ''grex'', 'flock,' whereas the word is purely Greek and has never signified anything but 'watcher.'"<ref name=":0" /> According to Mark Stavish's description in his 2018 book ''Egregores'', however, Lévi's ''Le Grand Arcane'' ("The Great Secret", 1868) "clearly identifies the word ''egregore'' with the [[Unsolved:Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] lore of those beings who were said to be the fathers of the Nephilim",<ref name=":13" /> i.e., the Watchers.<ref name=":13" /> Lévi described them as "terrible beings" that "crush us without pity because they are unaware of our existence."{{sfn|Lévi|1868|pp=127–130, 133, 136}}

Following the usage of "egregore" as a "collective entity", a 1987 article by Gaetan Delaforge in ''Gnosis'' magazine defines an egregore as "a kind of group mind which is created when people consciously come together for a common purpose".<ref name=":3" />

[[Biography:Olavo de Carvalho|Olavo de Carvalho]]'s 2017 course on esotericism presented a division of types of rites: rites are divided into ''magic rites'' and ''religious rites'', and religious rites are further divided into ''propitiatory'', ''sacrificial'', ''aggregation'', and ''initiation'' rites. '''Aggregation rites''' are rites which are directed to the egregore of a community, and make someone a member of it.<ref name=":8" /> Olavo cited [[Biography:René Guénon|René Guénon]]'s view that prayer is directed primarily to the egregore, without noting that Guénon himself did not use the term.<ref name=":8" />

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Akashic records}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Anima mundi}}
* {{annotated link|Social:Collective unconscious}}
* {{annotated link|Unsolved:Faith healing}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Gestalt psychology}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Memetics}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Panpsychism}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Synchronicity}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Tulpa}}
* {{annotated link|Vitalism}}

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==<!-- possible sources for expansion of article -->

=== Primary sources ===
*{{cite book |last=Hugo |first=Victor |editor1-last=Guyaux |editor1-first=A. |editor2-last=Hovasse |editor2-first=J. |year=2002 |orig-year=1859 |title=Victor Hugo: La légende des siècles: première série: actes du colloque de la Sorbonne des 12-13 janvier 2002 |place=France |publisher=Presses de l'université de Paris-Sorbonne |lang=fr}}
* {{cite book |first=Éliphas |last=Lévi |title=Le grand arcane, ou l'occultisme dévoilé |trans-title=The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled |year=1868 |lang=fr}}
*{{cite book |last=Potocki |first=Jan |year=1996 |orig-year=1847 |title=The Manuscript Found in Saragossa |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0140445800}}

=== Secondary sources ===
*{{cite book |first=Abdelkader |last=Benchamma |editor1-first=Stéphane |editor1-last=Ibars |title=Abdelkder Benchamma: Egregore |year=2022 |place=France |publisher=Actes Sud Editions |isbn=978-2330144999}}
*{{cite web |last=Butler |first=Walter Ernest |date=1970 |url=http://www.servantsofthelight.org/knowledge/butler-egregore.html |title=The Egregore of a School |work=Servantsofthelight.org |publisher=The Servants of the Light |access-date=November 22, 2011}}
*{{cite book |last=Dominguez |first=I. |year=2008 |title=Spirit Speak: Knowing and Understanding Spirit Guides, Ancestors, Ghosts, Angels, and the Divine |publisher=Red Wheel Weiser |isbn=978-1601630025}}
*{{cite book |last=Faugerolas |first=M. |year=2015 |title=Angels: The Definitive Guide to Angels from Around the World |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0399176401}}
* {{cite book |last=Greer |first=J. M. |year=2017 |title=Circles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic |publisher=Aeon Books Limited |isbn=978-1904658856}}
*{{cite book |last=Greer |first=J. M. |year=2021 |title=Inside a Magical Lodge: Traditional Lodge Methods for Modern Mages |publisher=Aeon Books Limited |isbn=978-1913504755}}
*{{cite book |last=Lachman |first=G. |year=2008 |title=Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen |publisher=Quest Books/Theosophical Publishing House |isbn=978-0835608572}}
*{{cite book |last=Leviton |first=R. |year=2004 |title=The Emerald Modem: A User's Guide to Earth's Interactive Energy Body |publisher=Hampton Roads Publishing Company |isbn=978-1571742452}}
*{{cite book |last=Manitara |first=O. |year=2014 |title=Manuel essénien de la paix |trans-title=Essene Peace Manual |place=Canada |publisher=Éditions Essénia |isbn=978-2897243258 |lang=fr}}
*{{cite book |last1=Riaikkenen |first1=Roza |last2=Riaikkenen |first2=Margarita |year=2004 |title=The Laws of Life |publisher=Trafford |isbn=978-1412017930}}
*{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=M. |year=2017 |title=The Astral H.D.: Occult and Religious Sources and Contexts for H.D.'s Poetry and Prose |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1501335839}}
*{{cite book |last=Sophia |first=A. |year=2013 |title=Sacred Sexual Union: The Alchemy of Love, Power, and Wisdom |publisher=Inner Traditions/Bear |isbn=978-1620550076}}
*{{cite book |last=Zagami |first=L. L. |year=2018 |title=The Invisible Master: Secret Chiefs, Unknown Superiors and the Puppet Masters Who Pull the Strings of Occult Power from the Alien World |publisher=CCC PUB |isbn=978-1888729702}}
*{{cite web |last=Constable |first=Simon |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2018/05/21/did-witchcraft-win-trump-the-election/ |title=What Magic Got Trump Elected? |website={{wipe|Forbes}} |date=May 21, 2018 |access-date=2022-03-04}}
*{{cite book |last=Ellenwood |first=Ray |title=Egregore: A History of the Montréal Automatist Movement |place=Toronto |publisher=Exile Editions |year=1992 |isbn=978-1550960211}}
*{{cite book |last=Flowers |first=S. Edred |title= Fire & Ice: Magical Teachings of Germany's Greatest Secret Occult Order |series=Llewellyn's Teutonic Magick Series |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |year=1995 |edition=2nd |isbn=0-87542-776-6}}
*{{cite book |last=Reed |first=Annette Yoshiko |year=2005 |title=Fallen angels and the history of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521853781}}
*{{cite book |last=Stavish |first=Mark |year=2018 |title=Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny |publisher=Inner Traditions/Bear |isbn=978-1620555774}}

== External links ==


[[Category:Language and mysticism]]

{{Sourceattribution|Egregore}}