Arcane vs. Occult — What's the Difference?

Known or understood by only a few

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.

Understood by only a few.

Mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena

(by extension) Obscure, mysterious.

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

Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge to understand.

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

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

Cut off from view by interposing something

Hidden; secret.

Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural or magical influences, agencies, or occurrences

Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge;

Available only to the initiate; secret or mysterious

Beyond the realm of human comprehension; inscrutable

Hidden from view; concealed

(Medicine) Detectable only by microscopic examination or chemical analysis, as a minute blood sample.

Not accompanied by readily detectable signs or symptoms

Occult practices or techniques

To conceal or cause to disappear from view.

(Astronomy) To conceal by occultation

To become concealed or extinguished at regular intervals

To cover or hide from view.

To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.

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

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

Esoteric.

Supernatural affairs.

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

To eclipse; to hide from sight.

Supernatural forces and events and beings collectively;

Occult practices and techniques;

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

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

Hide from view;

Hidden and difficult to see;

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