esotericism

“All the satirical elements that are naturally present in this group — elements of QAnon, the belief in U.F.O.s, esotericism, the idea of being able to overthrow the system of the Federal Republic of Germany — should not distract from the fact that this group posed a grave potential threat,” said Jan Rathje, a member of a nongovernmental organization that monitors conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism.

While Safdie credits Stone, who also worked as an executive producer, with getting the show greenlit thanks to her clout, many who tuned in solely for the Oscar winner have surely been caught off-guard by its esotericism.

“I think there has always been a relationship between arts and esotericism,” she said.

But for members of the Source Family, a group that some call a cult, it’s a way of life honed over decades of study and ritualism based in Western esotericism.

Pythagorean esotericism has been a constant presence in Western thought since antiquity, but it was especially in vogue during the Renaissance, thanks to the rediscovery of a poem of “self-help” maxims written around the fourth century B.C. called the Golden Verses of Pythagoras.