Egregore

This article is about occult concept of group mind. For an album, released by Serbian rock band Smak, see Egregor (album).

Egregore (also egregor) is an occult concept representing a "thoughtform" or "collective group mind", an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people. The symbiotic relationship between an egregore and its group has been compared to the more recent, non-occult concepts of the corporation (as a legal entity) and the meme.

History

The word "egregore" derives from the Greek word, ἐγρήγοροι (egrḗgoroi), meaning "watchers" (also transliterated "grigori"), which appears in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Lamentations, as well as the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Enoch.

The first author to adapt "egregore" in a modern language seems to be the French poet Victor Hugo, in La Légende des Siècles ("The Legend of the Ages"), First Series, 1859, where he uses the word "égrégore" (sic) first as an adjective, then as a noun, while leaving the meaning obscure. The author seems to have intended simply to provide a word rhyming with both with "or" (gold) and "mandragore". It is not the only example of word creation by Victor Hugo.

Eliphas Lévi, in Le Grand Arcane ("The Great Mystery", 1868) identifies "egregors" (sic) with the tradition concerning the fathers of the nephilim, describing them as "terrible beings" that "crush us without pity because they are unaware of our existence."

The concept of the egregore as a group thoughtform was developed in works of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rosicrucians and has been referenced by writers such as Valentin Tomberg.

A well known concept of the egregore is the GOTOS of the Fraternitas Saturni.

Contemporary usage

Gaetan Delaforge, in Gnosis magazine in 1987, defines an egregore as a kind of group mind which is created when people consciously come together for a common purpose."

The concept has enjoyed renewed popularity among practitioners of chaos magic,^{[citation needed]} following the Corporate Metabolism series of articles by Paco Xander Nathan, which were published in 2001.

The result of a synergy of thought could be the most concise description of this state of mind.

The notion of "egregor" also appears in Daniil Andreyev's Roza Mira, where it represents the shining cloud-like spirit associated with the Church. It is a common belief in Russia that the word "egregor" originated from this spiritual book.^{[citation needed]}

The Russian occult movement DEIR, led by Dmitry Verischchagin, also employs this concept.^{[citation needed]}

Examples

Companies, political parties, religions, prayer groups, states, and clubs all can be said to have egregores. When a project "takes on a life of its own," an egregore might be said to be present. Symbolic characters such as Santa Claus and Uncle Sam could be described as egregores. Stephen King's concept of Ka-tet in The Dark Tower series could be compared to an egregore, as well as Kurt Vonnegut's concept of a karass in Cat's Cradle.

See also

• Akashic records
• Memetics
• Tulpa

References

• Bernstein, L.S. (1998). "Egregor". The Rosicrucian Archive. Confraternity of the Rose Cross. http://www.crcsite.org/printegregor.htm. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
• Butler, Walter Ernest (1970). "The Egregore of a School". Servantsofthelight.org. The Servants of the Light. http://www.servantsofthelight.org/knowledge/butler-egregore.html. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
• Flowers, S. Edred (1995). Fire & Ice: Magical Teachings of Germany's Greatest Secret Occult Order. Llewellyn's Teutonic Magick Series (2nd ed.). Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 0-87542-776-6. 
• Nathan, Paco Xander (2001). "Chasing Egregors". The Scarlet Letter (Scarlet Woman Lodge, Ordo Templi Orientis) VI (1). http://www.scarletwoman.org/scarletletter/v6n1/v6n1_egregors.html.