Arcane vs. Occult

Arcaneadjective

Understood by only a few.

‘arcane rituals’;

Occultverb

To cover or hide from view.

‘The Earth occults the Moon during a lunar eclipse.’;

Arcaneadjective

(by extension) Obscure, mysterious.

‘arcane origins’; ‘arcane details’;

Occultverb

To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.

Arcaneadjective

Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge to understand.

Occultadjective

(medicine) Secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected.

‘occult blood loss;’; ‘occult cancer’;

Arcaneadjective

Extremely old (e.g. interpretation or knowledge), and possibly irrelevant.

Occultadjective

Related to the occult; pertaining to mysticism, magic, or astrology.

‘Be aware that occult knowledge can be used for good or evil purposes. ― Pao Chang, "Words Are Magic Spells: Why You Practice the Occult Every Day", Omnithought.org’;

Arcaneadjective

Hidden; secret.

Occultadjective

Esoteric.

Arcaneadjective

requiring secret or mysterious knowledge;

‘the arcane science of dowsing’;

Occultnoun

Supernatural affairs.

Occultadjective

Hidden from the eye or the understanding; invisible; secret; concealed; unknown.

‘It is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.’;

Occultverb

To eclipse; to hide from sight.

Occultnoun

supernatural forces and events and beings collectively;

‘She doesn't believe in the supernatural’;

Occultnoun

occult practices and techniques;

‘he is a student of the occult’;

Occultverb

cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention;

‘The Sun eclipses the moon today’; ‘Planets and stars often are occulted by other celestial bodies’;

Occultverb

become concealed or hidden from view or have its light extinguished;

‘The beam of light occults every so often’;

Occultverb

hide from view;

‘The lids were occulting her eyes’;

Occultadjective

hidden and difficult to see;

‘an occult fracture’; ‘occult blood in the stool’;

Occultadjective

having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding;

‘mysterious symbols’; ‘the mystical style of Blake’; ‘occult lore’; ‘the secret learning of the ancients’;

Occultnoun

mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena

‘a secret society to study alchemy and the occult’;

Occultadjective

involving or relating to mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena

‘an occult ceremony’; ‘a weird occult sensation of having experienced the identical situation before’;

Occultadjective

communicated only to the initiated; esoteric

‘the typically occult language of the time’;

Occultadjective

(of a disease or process) not accompanied by readily discernible signs or symptoms

‘careful palpation sometimes discloses occult spina bifida’;

Occultadjective

(of blood) abnormally present, e.g. in faeces, but detectable only chemically or microscopically.

Occultverb

cut off from view by interposing something

‘a wooden screen designed to occult the competitors’;

Occultverb

(of a celestial body) conceal (an apparently smaller body) from view by passing or being in front of it

‘the Moon occults Mars during daylight on March 22’;

Occult

The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing such phenomena involving otherworldly agency as mysticism, spirituality, and magic. It can also refer to supernatural ideas like extra-sensory perception and parapsychology.