The Ogdoadic Tradition is an important esoteric current forming an influential part of the mainstream Western Mystery Tradition. The term “Ogdoadic” implies “pertaining to the number eight”, which connotation denotes the essentially Hermetic nature of the current. In like manner, the primary symbol of the Tradition is the Eight-pointed Star of Regeneration, an emblem representing the Regeneration of the Soul and Divine Inspiration. The Ogdoadic Tradition came into being when the Ancient Mystery Schools of Antiquity, born of the Egyptian and Chaldean religions, were combined with the Hellenistic Mysteries and Philosophy. The founders of the Tradition were masters of the Platonic and Neoplatonic schools who had been initiated into these Mysteries and received the keys to the practice of Theurgy. Its father-figure, according to initiates, is the celebrated Hermes Trismegistus. The heart of the Ogdoadic Tradition is what Plato, Iamblichus, Proclus, and other masters have described as “the sacred way of return”. The Tradition itself has been passed on via a line of transmission referred to as the “Golden Chain” (i.e., Chain of Adepts) through which it has been preserved up to the present.
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