Kejawen is best understood as a constellation of related currents rather than a single, tightly organized school. At one pole stand the court-based traditions of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, where royal ritual, refined etiquette, wayang, classical dance, and Javanese mystical texts form a highly symbolized path. These kraton lineages often articulate ideas such as the union of servant and Lord, while presenting themselves within an Islamic frame that is deeply esoteric in tone. The Sultan or king is frequently regarded as a spiritual axis, mediating between visible and invisible realms, and palace calendars, ceremonies, and heirloom veneration give this orientation a distinctive flavor.

Beyond the courts, Kejawen unfolds in a wide range of regional and village variants. Coastal communities, especially along the north and south coasts, tend to blend Kejawen with Sufi-inflected Islam, saint veneration, and strong attention to local spirits, sacred sites, and communal rites such as slametan. Mountain regions treat peaks, caves, and ancient sites as abodes of powerful beings and as thresholds to higher realities, with fasting, vigils, and pilgrimages serving as key disciplines. East Javanese currents often carry a more explicit memory of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, with pre-Islamic figures and cosmologies lingering beneath Islamic terminology. Across these regions, some streams lean more toward Islamic-Sufi symbolism, others toward Hindu-Buddhist imagery, and still others toward animist spirit-cults and practical magic.

Alongside these diffuse patterns, there are also more clearly named mystical associations that draw on Kejawen cosmology. Groups such as Pangestu and Subud, for example, present structured teachings and practices while remaining rooted in Javanese mystical soil, emphasizing inner union with the One or spontaneous spiritual exercise. Other paguyuban and kebatinan circles similarly cultivate meditation, moral refinement, and esoteric understanding, sometimes registering under broader categories of belief while retaining a distinctly Javanese spiritual language. These organizations sit on a spectrum: some are more philosophical, others more explicitly esoteric, yet all echo the same concern with the origin and destination of being and the refinement of the inner life.

Finally, much of Kejawen flows through intimate family and guru lineages rather than public institutions. Teachings are transmitted orally by respected elders, kyai, or sesepuh, often centered on specific forms of ascetic practice such as fasting, night vigils, silence, or ritual bathing at sacred springs. Families may guard heirlooms—kris, stones, manuscripts—and the rites attached to them, seeing these as vessels of spiritual power and responsibility. Within such small circles, seekers pursue spiritual perfection or a sense of divine mandate, each lineage coloring the shared Javanese mystical heritage with its own emphases and style.