Sentences Generator
And
Your saved sentences

No sentences have been saved yet

"esotericism" Definitions
  1. esoteric doctrines or practices
  2. the quality or state of being esoteric
"esotericism" Synonyms
abstruseness complexity obscurity depth mysteriousness perplexity profundity subtlety incomprehensibility vagueness arcaneness deepness difficulty occultness reconditeness inscrutability inscrutableness equivocation equivocalness murkiness strangeness abnormality bizarreness oddity outlandishness peculiarity unexpectedness unfamiliarity weirdness curiousness freakishness queerness unusualness atypicality eccentricity incongruity incongruousness inexplicability irregularity oddness More
"esotericism" Antonyms
simplicity clarity clearness obviousness plainness comprehensibility explicitness lucidity certainty definiteness conventionality familiarity normalcy normality ordinariness standard usualness

484 Sentences With "esotericism"

How to use esotericism in a sentence? Find typical usage patterns (collocations)/phrases/context for "esotericism" and check conjugation/comparative form for "esotericism". Mastering all the usages of "esotericism" from sentence examples published by news publications.

type: All Declarative Interrogative Exclamative

structure: All Simple Compound Complex Compound-Complex

length: All <=10 words 10-20 words 20-30 words 30-50 words

In any case, high-fashion esotericism had never been Mr. Sternberg's intention.
After World War II, she wrote books propagating Nazi esotericism and ethical vegetarianism.
Vim (and Emacs, its traditional competitor) offer more than esotericism for its own sake.
It's a surreal look at esotericism, a blanket term for beliefs that venture outside traditional religions.
It's not easy to present the history of esotericism in ways that makes it both compelling and accessible.
But Jones pushed the weirdness quotient several warp factors further by mixing New Age esotericism with old-school ventriloquism.
And when Evans veers outward, toward a free-jazz style, he never seems to be going for esotericism or abstraction.
Wayne Shorter is not only one of jazz's greatest composers but its angel of esotericism, an enlightened and arcane elder.
Although he defined himself as an artist first, Mr. Creme was also an unconventional spiritual leader and a student of esotericism.
On her last few albums, Esperanza Spalding has embraced pop and rock convention with one hand while reaching into esotericism with the other.
"Treasure" offers perhaps the shortest version of The Cure's esotericism, and it's a sound the band would return to fully with 2000's Bloodflowers.
The film is a cringe-inducing satirical drama about the hypocrisy of the art world and the people who confuse its esotericism with profundity.
His individual voice materializes in settings of Paul Bourget, Théodore de Banville, Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Mallarmé—poets who ranged from Parnassian classicism to Symbolist esotericism.
It's more likely, however, that he engages esotericism to imbue particular objects with significance, challenging the routine arrangement of our world, like dream logic for waking life.
Klaus Pichler delved into the weird world of esotericism online, purchasing $21,973 worth of products that promised to do everything from protect against radiation to ward off police.
Klaus Pichler delved into the weird world of esotericism online, purchasing $1,500 worth of products that promised to do everything from protect against radiation to ward off police.
It's hard to blame them for resorting to fantasy and esotericism, after all, when accurate information about the government's current activities is so easily concealed and so woefully incomplete.
Now, thrash can utilize influences from the subgenres that it spawned, whether that's the pneumatic crush of industrial, the bloody gurgles of death metal, the sexy swing of groove metal, or the dark esotericism of black metal.
It works as an invitation to explore the dark corners of prog: its international reach, its cultish esotericism and its fondness for ostentatious album covers adorned with flying teapots, armadillo tanks and fantasy landscapes as detailed as the music.
There were some nods to his customary esotericism, like the stitched bra-cup details on many of the looks, but the loose dresses, flared skirts and baggy trousers had a casual ease and a strength in their simplicity — all the more so given that the reigning trend in fashion is for over-the-top magpie magnificence.
It is a manual for a daily meditation regimen ("unless you [meditate], no real progress is possible... two hours of meditation will refresh the body more than ten hours of sleep"), a platform for Stirling's dietary theories ("many diseases, including cancer, are created by wrong diet because the body enzymes use up so much energy digesting and clearing out this bad food"), a treatise of Christian esotericism ("until we can believe [we are children of God], we are in bondage... all of us have the potential to exceed even the wonders performed by Jesus"), an ode to LSD ("drugs give... a glimpse over the wall of one's potential"), and a paean to human freedom ("man is what he thinks, but man does not yet know his power to think is infinite... consequently, his own creative power is unlimited if he but believes").
Western Esotericism is an academic field of research, scholarship, and education that focuses on the history of European and Western esotericism.
Scholars of esotericism have argued that Faivre's definition of Western esotericism relies on his own specialist focus on Christian theosophy, Renaissance Hermeticism, and Romantic Naturphilosophie and therefore creates an "ideal" type of esotericism that does not suit all esoteric currents.
Given these influences and the imprecise nature of the term "Western", the scholar of esotericism Kennet Granholm has argued that academics should cease referring to "Western esotericism" altogether, instead simply favouring "esotericism" as a descriptor of this phenomenon. Egil Asprem has endorsed this approach.
In his 1950 book L'occultisme, Robert Amadou used the term as a synonym for esotericism, an approach that the later scholar of esotericism Marco Pasi suggested left the term superfluous. Unlike Amadou, other writers saw occultism and esotericism as different, albeit related, phenomena. In the 1970s, the sociologist Edward Tiryakian distinguished between occultism, which he used in reference to practices, techniques, and procedures, and esotericism, which he defined as the religious or philosophical belief systems on which such practices are based. This division was initially adopted by the early academic scholar of esotericism, Antoine Faivre, although he later abandoned it; it has been rejected by most scholars who study esotericism.
Esotericism has pervaded various forms of Western philosophy, religion, pseudoscience, art, literature, and music, continuing to affect intellectual ideas and popular culture. The idea of grouping a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the category that is now termed esotericism developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated how to define Western esotericism, with a number of different options proposed. One scholarly model adopts its definition of "esotericism" from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennialist hidden, inner tradition.
Faivre has since been cited as being responsible for developing the study of Western esotericism into a formalised field. Faivre noted that there were two significant obstacles to establishing the field. One was that there was an engrained prejudice towards esotericism within academia, resulting in the widespread perception that the history of esotericism was not worthy of academic research. The second was that esotericism is a trans-disciplinary field, the study of which did not fit clearly within any particular discipline.
One was that there was an engrained prejudice towards esotericism within academia, resulting in the widespread perception that the history of esotericism was not worthy of academic research. The second was that esotericism is a trans-disciplinary field, the study of which did not fit clearly within any particular discipline. As Hanegraaff noted, Western esotericism had to be studied as a separate field to religion, philosophy, science, and the arts, because while it "participates in all these fields" it does not squarely fit into any of them. Elsewhere, he noted that there was "probably no other domain in the humanities that has been so seriously neglected" as Western esotericism.
Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the historical study of Western esotericism. It is published by Brill Academic Publishers on behalf of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. From 2001-2010, the editor-in-chief was Wouter Hanegraaff. Since 2010, the editor-in-chief is Peter J. Forshaw.
The historian of esotericism Antoine Faivre noted that "never a precise term, [esotericism] has begun to overflow its boundaries on all sides", with both Faivre and Karen-Claire Voss stating that Western esotericism consists of "a vast spectrum of authors, trends, works of philosophy, religion, art, literature, and music". There is broad agreement among scholars as to which currents of thought can be placed within a category of "esotericism", ranging from ancient Gnosticism and Hermetism through to Rosicrucianism and the Kabbalah and on to more recent phenomenon such as the New Age movement. Nevertheless, "esotericism" itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how it can best be defined.
Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo- Tibetan Esotericism, 2013, page 5.
Goodrick-Clarke was a founding member of both the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism and the Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE), in America. He was a faculty member of the New York Open Center from 1995.
In 2002, Goodrick-Clarke was appointed a Research Fellow in Western Esotericism at the University of Lampeter, and then in 2005 he was appointed to a personal chair in the department of History at Exeter University. As Professor of Western Esotericism and Director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), Goodrick-Clarke developed a successful distance-learning MA in Western Esotericism and successfully supervised a number of doctoral students. While at Exeter he wrote The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction, published in 2008. In 1983, Goodrick- Clarke was one of the founder members of "The Society", an informal London- based association of professional and amateur scholars of esotericism, including Ellic Howe, the publisher Michael Cox, John Hamill, and the scholar of Rosicrucianism, Christopher McIntosh.
The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism. Hanegraaff has characterised these as "recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important although always controversial role in the history of Western culture". Historian of religion Henrik Bogdan asserted that Western esotericism constituted "a third pillar of Western culture" alongside "doctrinal faith and rationality", being deemed heretical by the former and irrational by the latter. Scholars nevertheless recognise that various non- Western traditions have exerted "a profound influence" over Western esotericism, citing the prominent example of the Theosophical Society's incorporation of Hindu and Buddhist concepts like reincarnation into its doctrines.
Versluis is an editor of the Journal for the Study of Radicalism, and founding editor of Esoterica, which started as a journal, and is now a biannual print book series, Studies in Esotericism. Versluis is also the founding president of the Association for the Study of Esotericism.
The scholar of esotericism (born 1966) noted that Faivre's taxonomy was based on his own areas of specialism – Renaissance Hermeticism, Christian Kabbalah, and Protestant Theosophy – and that it was thus not based on a wider understanding of esotericism as it has existed throughout history, from the ancient world to the contemporary period. Accordingly, Von Stuckrad suggested that it was a good typology for understanding "Christian esotericism in the early modern period" but lacked utility beyond that.
In 1980, the U.S.-based Hermetic Academy was founded by Robert A. McDermott as an outlet for American scholars interested in Western esotericism. From 1986 to 1990 members of the Hermetic Academy participated in panels at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion under the rubric of the "Esotericism and Perennialism Group". By 1994, Faivre could comment that the academic study of Western esotericism had taken off in France, Italy, England, and the United States, but he lamented the fact that it had not done so in Germany. In 1999, the University of Amsterdam established a chair in the "History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents", which was occupied by Hanegraaff, while in 2005 the University of Exeter created a chair in "Western Esotericism", which was taken by Goodrick-Clarke, who headed the Exeter Center for the Study of Esotericism.
"Perennialism and iconoclasm. Chaos magick and the legitimacy of innovation". Egil Asprem and Kennet Granholm (eds). Contemporary esotericism.
Smoley elaborated on these comments in a 2006 address to the Association for the Study of Esotericism entitled "Academe and Esotericism: The Problem of Authority."Smoley, Richard, “Academe and Esotericism: The Problem of Authority”, 'Alpheus website, accessed May 22, 2014. In terms of the distinction between the emics, who consider themselves to be part of the culture in question, and the etics, such as anthropologists, who study the culture from an outside, ostensibly objective view, Smoley is an etically informed emic. His view of esotericism holds that it is not so much a matter of entering an inner circle of adepts but of going "further in" oneself in order to grasp deeper levels of consciousness.
When Lewis co-founded FUDOSI (which recognized Lewis's AMORC as the true heirs of American Rosicrucianism), Clymer co-founded FUDOFSI"Gnostic Church" in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, ed. Wouter Hanegraaff, Brill Publishers, p.400-403"Martinism: second period" in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, ed. Wouter Hanegraaff, Brill Publishers, p.
Hanegraaff follows a distinction between an “emic” and an “etic” approach to religious studies. The emic approach is that of the alchemist or theosopher as an alchemist or theosopher. The etic approach is that of the scholar as an historian, a researcher, with a critical view. An empirical study of esotericism needs “emic material and etic interpretation”: Arthur Versluis proposes approaching esotericism through a “sympathetic empiricism”: Many scholars of esotericism have come to be regarded as respected intellectual authorities by practitioners of various esoteric traditions.
A colored version of the 1888 Flammarion engraving A definition adopted by some scholars has used "Western esotericism" in reference to "inner traditions" which are concerned with a "universal spiritual dimension of reality, as opposed to the merely external ('exoteric') religious institutions and dogmatic systems of established religions." According to this approach, "Western esotericism" is viewed as just one variant of a worldwide "esotericism" which can be found at the heart of all world religions and cultures, reflecting a hidden esoteric reality. This usage of the term "esotericism" is closest to the original meaning of the word as it was used in late antiquity, where it was applied to secret spiritual teachings which were reserved for a specific elite and hidden from the masses. This definition was popularised in the published work of nineteenth-century esotericists like A.E. Waite, who sought to combine their own mystical beliefs with a historical interpretation of esotericism.
Hargrave Jennings (1817–1890) was a British Freemason, Rosicrucian, author on occultism and esotericism, and amateur student of comparative religion.
Jacob Boehme's Disciple Balthasar Walther (1558-c.1630) and the Kabbalah. With a Bibliography of Walther's Printed Works.’ Western Esotericism.
Scholars established this category in the late 18th century after identifying "structural similarities" between "the ideas and world views of a wide variety of thinkers and movements" which prior to this had not been placed in the same analytical grouping. According to the scholar of esotericism Wouter J. Hanegraaff, the term provided a "useful generic label" for "a large and complicated group of historical phenomena that had long been perceived as sharing an air de famille." Various academics have emphasised the idea that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world; as Faivre stated, an "empirical perspective" would hold that "esotericism is a Western notion". As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there is no comparable category of "Eastern" or "Oriental" esotericism.
As Hanegraaff noted, Western esotericism had to be studied as a separate field to religion, philosophy, science, and the arts, because while it "participates in all these fields" it does not squarely fit into any of them. In 1980, the U.S.-based Hermetic Academy was founded by Robert A. McDermott as an outlet for scholars interested in Western esotericism. From 1986 to 1990 members of the Hermetic Academy participated in panels at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion under the rubric of the "Esotericism and Perennialism Group". By 1994, Faivre could comment that the academic study of Western esotericism had taken off in France, Italy, England, and the United States, but he lamented the fact that it had not done so in Germany.
Asprem and Granholm noted that the study of esotericism had been dominated by historians and thus lacked the perspective of social scientists examining contemporary forms of esotericism, a situation that they were attempting to correct through building links with scholars operating in Pagan studies and the study of new religious movements. On the basis of the fact that "English culture and literature have been traditional strongholds of Western esotericism", in 2011 Pia Brînzeu and György Szönyi urged that English studies also have a role in this interdisciplinary field.
The Neo-Luciferian Church (NLC) is a Gnostic and Luciferian organisation with roots in Western esotericism, Voodoo, Luciferianism, Thelema, and magic.
Bogdan similarly expressed concern regarding Hanegraaff's definition, believing that it made the category of Western esotericism "all inclusive" and thus analytically useless.
Andrea Aromatico (born on 22 September 1966) is an Italian historian, art historian, journalist, essayist, writer and expert in Hermetic iconography and esotericism.
Ruben van Luijk, Children of > Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism, Oxford Studies in Western > Esotericism, Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 303.
In 1979 Faivre assumed Secret's chair at the Sorbonne, which was renamed the "History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe". Faivre has since been cited as being responsible for developing the study of Western esotericism into a formalised field, with his 1992 work L'ésotérisme having been cited as marking "the beginning of the study of Western esotericism as an academic field of research". He remained in the chair until 2002, when he was succeeded by Jean-Pierre Brach. Prominent scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff Faivre noted that there were two significant obstacles to establishing the field.
An extra assumption, that the magus had a point of view that could be recovered, was fashionably added. Further he argues that essentialist rather than nominalist use of the very term "esotericism" has vitiated succeeding work. The "Yates paradigm", in his view, dominated in the 1970s but fell by the wayside in the 1980s for scholars.Wouter Hanegraaff, The Study of Western Esotericism, pp.
1950), who had considerable influence on western "integral" esotericism, traditionalism ("Perennialism") or spirituality in the tradition of René Guénon, Julius Evola, Rudolf Steiner, etc.
Thus, by 2008 there were three dedicated university chairs in the subject, with Amsterdam and Exeter also offering master's degree programs in it. Several conferences on the subject were held at the quintennial meetings of the International Association for the History of Religions, while a peer-reviewed journal, Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism began publication in 2001. 2001 also saw the foundation of the North American Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE), with the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) being established shortly after. Within a few years, Michael Bergunder expressed the view that it had become an established field within religious studies, with Asprem and Granholm observing that scholars within other sub-disciplines of religious studies had begun to take an interest in the work of scholars of esotericism.
Bax started her research into art and Western Esotericism after the exhibition The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985 (1986-1987), of which Bax was assistant-curator at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in The Hague. In 1991 she published Bauhaus Lecture Notes 1930-1933, in which she describes the continuing influence of Western Esotericism on the theory and practice of the Bauhaus, right until its closing in 1933. The exhibition Okkultismus und Avantgarde (1995), of which Bax was member of the scholarly board and organizer of the Dutch section, was the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the influence of Western Esotericism on European art, thus opening a new field of art historical research. In 1996 she joined the study group ARIES, founded by Wouter Hanegraaff and precursor of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.
Symbol of the Neo-Luciferian Church The Neo-Luciferian Church is a Gnostic and Luciferian organisation with roots in Western esotericism, Luciferianism, Thelema, and magic.
Isis continues to appear in Western culture, particularly in esotericism and modern paganism, often as a personification of nature or the feminine aspect of divinity.
Ibidem, 'Alexander Dugin and Eurasianism', in: Mark Sedgwick (ed.), Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy, Oxford 2019, p. 155-169, 157, 159. Jacob Christiansen Senholt, 'Radical Politics and Political Esotericism: The Adaption of Esoteric Discourse within the Radical Right', in: Egil Asprem, Kennet Granholm (ed.), Contemporary Esotericism, Abbington, Oxon / New York 2013, p. 244-264, 252-254.
Blavatsky's Theosophy has been described as representing "a major factor in the modern revival" of Western esotericism. Godwin deemed there to be "no more important figure in modern times" within the Western esoteric tradition than Blavatsky. For Johnson, Blavatsky was "a central figure in the nineteenth- century occult revival". Lachman claimed that "practically all modern occultism and esotericism" can trace its origins back to her influence.
Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians, who were closely connected to the Transcendentalists, who in turn were interested in and influenced by Indian religions early on. It was in this cultic milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism. Debendranath Tagore brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Keshubchandra Sen, who was also influenced by transcendentalism, which emphasised personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology. Sen's influence brought Vivekananda fully into contact with western esotericism, and it was also via Sen that he met Ramakrishna.
Accordingly, for Von Stuckrad, esotericism could be best understood as "a structural element of Western culture" rather than as a selection of different schools of thought.
Kenneth Paul Johnson (born 1953) is a retired public library director from southern Virginia, and a writer on modern Western esotericism as well as North Carolina history.
However, the historian of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff stated that it was important to distinguish between the meanings of the term occult and occultism. Occultism is not a homogenous movement and is widely diverse. Over the course of its history, the term occultism has been used in various different ways. However, in contemporary uses, occultism commonly refers to forms of esotericism that developed in the nineteenth century and their twentieth-century derivations.
The scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff described Christian theosophy as "one of the major currents in the history of Western esotericism". Christian theosophy is an under-researched area; a general history of it has never been written. The French scholar Antoine Faivre had a specific interest in the theosophers and illuminists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He wrote his doctoral thesis on Karl von Eckartshausen and Christian theosophy.
Western esotericism (also called esotericism and esoterism) is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism. The earliest traditions which later analysis would label as forms of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, where Hermetism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity. In Renaissance Europe, interest in many of these older ideas increased, with various intellectuals seeking to combine "pagan" philosophies with the Kabbalah and with Christian philosophy, resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian theosophy.
Please take notes." Wouter HanegraaffWouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born on April 10, 1961) - Full professor of the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and President of ESSWE (European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism). He is the editor of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism, and is the author of several books, including New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought (Leiden: Brill, 1996). distinguishes Schucman's process as a type of channeling that articulates revelation, clarifying that "... in cases of inner dictation in which the medium hears a voice dictating messages, (s)he writes down [these messages] in a fully conscious state.
62.3 (1994), pp. 747-767.Santucci, James A. Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna, in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. ed. by Wouter J. Hanegraff (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 177-185.
Hutton describes Higgins as an "occultist and mystic", and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke also terms him an "occultist".Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction, Oxford University Press, New York, 2008, p.225. Nevertheless, Wouter Hanegraaff, who has written a detailed history of esotericism, says that Higgins had no interest in either occultism or esotericism.New Age religion and Western culture: esotericism in the mirror of secular thought, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, 1996, p.
Chinese Esoteric Buddhism it is generally known by various terms such as Zhēnyán (Chinese: 真言, literally "true word", referring to mantra), Tángmì or Hanmì (唐密 - 漢密, "Tang Esotericism" or "Han Esotericism"), Mìzōng (密宗, "Esoteric Sect") or Mìjiao (Chinese: 密教; Esoteric Teaching). The Chinese term mì 密 ("secret, esoteric") is a translation of the Sanskrit term Guhya ("secret, hidden, profound, abstruse").Jianfu Lü (2017). Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism. pp.
In a descriptive sense, it has been used to describe forms of esotericism which developed in nineteenth-century France, especially in the Neo-Martinist environment. According to the historian of esotericism Antoine Faivre, it is with the esotericist Éliphas Lévi that "the occultist current properly so-called" first appears. Other prominent French esotericists involved in developing occultism included Papus, Stanislas de Guaita, Joséphin Péladan, Georges-Albert Puyou de Pouvourville, and Jean Bricaud.
This article gives an overview of esoteric movements in Germany and Austria between 1880 and 1945, presenting Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Ariosophy, among others, against the influences of earlier European esotericism.
He dedicated his free time to the study of various religious concepts, starting with Chinese astrology and Taoism. Later, Asahara practiced Western esotericism, yoga, meditation, esoteric Buddhism, and esoteric Christianity.
The Omnipotent Oom: Tantra and its Impact on Modern Western Esotericism. Esoterica: The Journal of Esoteric Studies 3: 218-259. in Nyack, New York, a gift from a disciple, in 1918.
A second perspective sees esotericism as a category that encompasses movements which embrace an "enchanted" world-view in the face of increasing disenchantment. A third views Western esotericism as a category encompassing all of Western culture's "rejected knowledge" that is accepted neither by the scientific establishment nor by orthodox religious authorities. The earliest traditions which later analysis would label as forms of Western esotericism emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, where Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism developed as schools of thought distinct from what became mainstream Christianity. Renaissance Europe saw increasing interest in many of these older ideas, with various intellectuals combining "pagan" philosophies with the Kabbalah and Christian philosophy, resulting in the emergence of esoteric movements like Christian theosophy.
A similar theme is present in A Fallen Idol (1886) by F. Anstey. According to EOP, the author of occult novels Algernon Blackwood specialized in literature describing psychic phenomena and ghosts. In their article "Theosophy and Popular Fiction", the esotericism researchers Gilhus and Mikaelsson point out that in his novel The Human Chord (1910), Blackwood warns readers about the dangers of occult experiments. Gustav Meyrink's novel The Golem (1914) is mentioned by many researchers of esotericism.
In: Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Hg.): Dictionary of gnosis & Western esotericism. Brill, Leiden 2006, , S. 456. A bibliography of the Hall's collection appeared in 1986. Digitised manuscripts are available in the Internet Archive.
Crowley has remained a highly influential figure over Western esotericism and the counterculture, and continues to be considered a prophet in Thelema. He is the subject of various biographies and academic studies.
Fuller was highly controversial in British politics because of his support for the organised fascist movement. He was also an occultist and Thelemite who wrote a number of works on esotericism and mysticism.
Selected Papers Read at the Symposium on Western Esotericism held at Åbo, Finland, on 15–17 August 2007. (Scripta instituti donneriani Aboensis, XX). T. Ahlbäck, ed. Åbo, Finland: Donner Institute, 2008: 154-172.
The Magician, a tarot card displaying the Hermetic concept of "as above, so below." Faivre connected this concept to 'correspondences', his first defining characteristic of esotericism Another approach to Western esotericism has treated it as a world view that embraces "enchantment" in contrast to world views influenced by post-Cartesian, post-Newtonian, and positivist science which have sought to "dis-enchant" the world. Esotericism is therefore understood as comprising those world views which eschew a belief in instrumental causality and instead adopt a belief that all parts of the universe are interrelated without a need for causal chains. It therefore stands as a radical alternative to the disenchanted world views which have dominated Western culture since the scientific revolution, and must therefore always be at odds with secular culture.
An early exponent of this definition was the historian of Renaissance thought Frances Yates in her discussions of a "Hermetic Tradition", which she saw as an "enchanted" alternative to established religion and rationalistic science. However, the primary exponent of this view was Faivre, who published a series of criteria for how to define "Western esotericism" in 1992. Faivre claimed that esotericism was "identifiable by the presence of six fundamental characteristics or components", four of which were "intrinsic" and thus vital to defining something as being esoteric, while the other two were "secondary" and thus not necessarily present in every form of esotericism. He listed these characteristics as follows: # "Correspondences": This is the idea that there are both real and symbolic correspondences existing between all things within the universe.
Unlike older forms of esotericism, occultism does not reject "scientific progress or modernity". Lévi had stressed the need to solve the conflict between science and religion, something that he believed could be achieved by turning to what he thought was the ancient wisdom found in magic. The French scholar of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre noted that rather than outright accepting "the triumph of scientism", occultists sought "an alternative solution", trying to integrate "scientific progress or modernity" with "a global vision that will serve to make the vacuousness of materialism more apparent". The Dutch scholar of hermeticism Wouter Hanegraaff remarked that occultism was "essentially an attempt to adapt esotericism" to the "disenchanted world", a post-Enlightenment society in which growing scientific discovery had eradicated the "dimension of irreducible mystery" previously present.
He also wrote essays on religion and Christian esotericism. One of them, Esoterismo da Bíblia [Esotericism of the Bible], is a treatise on Biblical esotericism which includes the lessons (from 2002 through 2006) of the course on "Biblical Esoterology" which Macedo taught at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (Nova University of Lisbon). This book deals with the conditions surrounding the birth, rise and fast expansion of Christianity in its early manifold currents, esoteric and exoteric, and its numberless manifestations, either official or marginal, in present times: > Its author, with his discreet and accessible erudition, explains the > connections between the ancient texts and their historical, philosophical > and religious antecedents, as well as their connection with the Mysteries, > ancient and modern.Helena Barbas, ‘Leituras de Verão’, in: Expresso: Actual, > no.
Lévi also introduced the term l'occultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. "Esotericism" and "occultism" were often employed as synonyms until later scholars distinguished the concepts.
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, philosopher, pedagogue, mystic, and esotericist. A leading 20th-century teacher of Western Esotericism in Europe, he was a disciple of Peter Deunov, the founder of the Universal White Brotherhood.Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov.
But Transcendentalism was also influenced by western esotericism, a topic which until recently received little attention in the academia. In The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance Versluis investigates the influence of western esotericism on the mid-19th American Renaissance. Versluis regards his The Esoteric Origins as a pioneering study in this discipline. In American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion, Versluis describes the emergence of immediatist gurus: gurus who are not connected to any of the traditional religions, and promise instant enlightenment and liberation.
There are frequent references to free energy and sometimes even links to esotericism. Magnet motors are not to be confused with the commonly used permanent magnet motors, which are powered from an external electrical energy supply.
Buduaar (from ) is an Estonian women's magazine. It was founded in Tallinn in 2003. Its content generally includes articles discussing fashion, beauty, family, sex, health, alternative medicine, and esotericism. The magazine is published 6 times a year.
Agrippa was born in Nettesheim, near Cologne on 14 September 1486 to a family of middle nobility.Valente, Michaela "Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius". In: Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (Wouter J. Hanegraaff, ed.), pp. 4–8. Brill, 2006. .
From the 1970s, a revival of interest in the historical runes developed in the emerging movements associated with Germanic neopaganism, and to a lesser extent in other forms of Neopaganism and New Age esotericism. Various systems of Runic divination have been published since the 1980s, notably by Ralph Blum (1982), Stephen Flowers (1984, onward), Stephan Grundy (1990), and Nigel Pennick (1995). The Uthark theory, originally proposed as a scholarly hypothesis by Sigurd Agrell in 1932, was received in runic esotericism via Kenneth Meadows' Rune Power (1995) and Thomas Karlsson's Uthark: Nightside of the Runes (2002).
Organisations such as the Armanen-Orden represent significant developments of neo-pagan esotericism and Ariosophy after World War II, but they do not all constitute forms of Nazi esotericism. Some northern European neopagan groups, such as Theods, Ásatrúarfélagið and Viðartrúar, have explicitly stated that neo-Nazism is not common among their members. On the other hand, there are neopagan organisations with close ties to neo-Nazism, such as the Artgemeinschaft or the Heathen Front, and the attraction of many neo-Nazis to Germanic paganism remains an issue particularly in Germany (see Nornirs Ætt).
Cf. Marlene Laruelle, Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields, Abington, Oxon / New York 2019, p. 95-133 (A Textbook Case of Doctrinal Entrepreneurship: Aleksandr Dugin) (download here). Ibidem, 'Alexander Dugin and Eurasianism', in: Mark Sedgwick (red.), Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy, Oxford 2019, p. 155-169, 157, 159. Jacob Christiansen Senholt, 'Radical Politics and Political Esotericism: The Adaption of Esoteric Discourse within the Radical Right', in: Egil Asprem, Kennet Granholm (red.), Contemporary Esotericism, Abbington, Oxon / New York 2013, p. 244-264, 252-254.
Ishikism (also known as Chinarism or Ishik Alevism), a religious movement within Alevism that rejects its Islamic roots, is found in Turkey. Ishikīs consider themselves to be esotericists, claiming that Alevism is esotericism itself, meaning that they identify themselves with every type of esotericism in history. They claim that Alevism is the oldest religion in the world, that has changed shapes throughout time. This "First and True Religion" of the world, is claimed by Ishikís to have been the main source for all other religions and beliefs in the world.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western Esotericism at University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on inter-war German history, and esoteric traditions.
Carole M. Cusack is an Australian historian of religion, specialising in Early Medieval Northwestern Europe, western esotericism, and trends in contemporary religion. Currently employed at the University of Sydney, she has published a number of books during her career.
Sibly published the New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology in four volumes, from 1784.Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (2012), p. 237; Google Books.Volume 4 is available online.
Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath, Agarta or Agarttha) is a legendary kingdom that is said to be located in the Earth's core. It is related to the belief in a hollow Earth and is a popular subject in esotericism.
It continues to be physically located at and share faculty with PSR and PSR itself is one of the long-time member schools of the GTU. The CSS also offers studies in New Religious Movements, Western esotericism, and mysticism.
Within the system of Theosophy, developed by occultist Helena Blavatsky and others since the second half of the 19th century, Theosophical mysticism draws upon various existing disciplines and mystical models, including Neo- platonism, Gnosticism, Western esotericism, Freemasonry, Hinduism and Buddhism.
The beliefs of Mayanism tend to be characterized by a combination of esotericism and syncretism, rather than being the result of either formal controlled field research or detailed scholarly research that has been based on a broad range of primary sources.
Goodrick-Clarke was the Director of the Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO) within the College of Humanities at Exeter until his death on 29 August 2012. Goodrick-Clarke was survived by his wife Clare, whom he married in 1985.
Having purchased the site, the Readdys set up the foundation in August 2019, with the aim of preserving the building and estate. Kyra Readdy is a lawyer. Keith Readdy is a researcher in comparative religion and modern and contemporary Western esotericism.
Esoteric ideas permeated the counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, from which emerged the New Age phenomenon in the 1970s. Although the idea that these varying movements could be categorised together under the rubric of "Western esotericism" developed in the late eighteenth century, these esoteric currents were largely ignored as a subject of academic enquiry. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late twentieth-century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates and Antoine Faivre. Esoteric ideas have meanwhile also exerted an influence in popular culture, appearing in art, literature, film, and music.
Messianic Judaism affirms Christian creeds such as the messiahship and divinity of "Yeshua" (the Hebrew name of Jesus) and the Triune Nature of God, while also adhering to some Jewish dietary laws and customs. Esoteric Christians regard Christianity as a mystery religion,Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion: Selected Papers Presented at the 17th Congress and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices,From the Greek ἐσωτερικός (esôterikos, "inner"). The term esotericism itself was coined in the 17th century. (Oxford English Dictionary Compact Edition, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 1971, p.
Institutions involved in this research include The Chymistry of Isaac Newton project at Indiana University, the University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), and the University of Amsterdam's Sub-department for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A large collection of books on alchemy is kept in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. A recipe found in a mid-19th-century kabbalah based book features step by step instructions on turning copper into gold. The author attributed this recipe to an ancient manuscript he located.
In 2013, Asprem and Granholm highlighted that "contemporary esotericism is intimately, and increasingly, connected with popular culture and new media." Granholm noted that esoteric ideas and images could be found in many aspects of Western popular media, citing such examples as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avatar, Hellblazer, and His Dark Materials. Granholm has argued that there are problems with the field in that it draws a distinction between esotericism and non-esoteric elements of culture which draw upon esotericism; citing the example of extreme metal, he noted that it was extremely difficult to differentiate between artists who were "properly occult" and those who referenced occult themes and aesthetics in "a superficial way". Writers interested in occult themes have adopted three different strategies for dealing with the subject: those who are knowledgeable on the subject including attractive images of the occult and occultists in their work, those who disguise occultism within "a web of intertextuality", and those who oppose it and seek to deconstruct it.
The Holographic Universe, 1991; Hanegraff, Wouter J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought, SUNY Press, 1998, pp. 122-126; Hammer, Olav. Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. BRILL, 2004, p.
Marty (Martine Theodora) Bax (born 1956) is a Dutch-Canadian art historian and art critic in modern art. Her specializations are the work of Piet Mondrian (Dutch: Piet Mondriaan) and the relationship between art and Western Esotericism, especially Modern Theosophy and Anthroposophy.
Tasawwuf, an Arabic word that refers to mysticism and Islamic esotericism, is known in the West as Sufism.SILVA FILHO, Mário Alves da. A Mística Islâmica em Terræ Brasilis: o Sufismo e as Ordens Sufis em São Paulo . Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciências da Religião).
72–82 . Studies on East Asian Religions, Volume: 1. Brill. In Japan Buddhist esotericism is known as Mikkyō (密教, "secret teachings") or by the term Shingon (a Japanese rendering of Zhēnyán), which also refers to a specific school of Shingon-shū (真言宗).
In the eyes of a variety of esoteric and Hermetic practitioners, alchemy is fundamentally spiritual. Transmutation of lead into gold is presented as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection.Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff. Western esotericism and the science of religion. 1995. p.
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (Mihail Ivanov) (January 31, 1900 – December 25, 1986) was a Bulgarian philosopher, pedagogue, mystic, and esotericist. A leading 20th-century teacher of Western Esotericism in Europe, he was a disciple of Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno), the founder of the Universal White Brotherhood.
Versluis for instance defined "Western esotericism" as "inner or hidden spiritual knowledge transmitted through Western European historical currents that in turn feed into North American and other non-European settings". He added that these Western esoteric currents all shared a core characteristic, "a claim to gnosis, or direct spiritual insight into cosmology or spiritual insight", and accordingly he suggested that these currents could be referred to as "Western gnostic" just as much as "Western esoteric". There are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that it rests upon the conviction that there really is a "universal, hidden, esoteric dimension of reality" that objectively exists.
However, in 2013 the scholar Kennet Granholm stated only that Faivre's definition had been "the dominating paradigm for a long while" and that it "still exerts influence among scholars outside the study of Western esotericism". The advantage of Faivre's system is that it allows varying esoteric traditions to be compared "with one another in a systematic fashion". However, criticisms have also been expressed of Faivre's theory, pointing out its various weaknesses. Hanegraaff claimed that Faivre's approach entailed "reasoning by prototype" in that it relied upon already having a "best example" of what Western esotericism should look like, against which other phenomena then had to be compared.
A different division was used by the Traditionalist author René Guénon, who used esotericism to describe what he believed was the Traditionalist, inner teaching at the heart of most religions, while occultism was used pejoratively to describe new religions and movements that he disapproved of, such as Spiritualism, Theosophy, and various secret societies. Guénon's use of this terminology was adopted by later writers like Serge Hutin and Luc Benoist. As noted by Hanegraaff, Guénon's use of these terms are rooted in his Traditionalist beliefs and "cannot be accepted as scholarly valid". The term occultism derives from the older term occult, much as the term esotericism derives from the older term esoteric.
In April 1996, the University of Lancaster in North West England held a conference on contemporary Paganism entitled "Nature Religion Today: Western Paganism, Shamanism and Esotericism in the 1990s", and ultimately led to the publication of an academic anthology of the same name two years later.
During the Gupta Empire, a new class of Buddhist sacred literature began to develop, which are called the Tantras.Wayman, Alex (2008). The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism. Routledge. p. 23. By the 8th century, the tantric tradition was very influential in India and beyond.
Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born 10 April 1961) is full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He served as the first President of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) from 2005 to 2013.
Stephen E. Flowers. Fire & Ice: The History, Structure and Rituals of Germany's Most Influential Modern Magical Order: The Brotherhood of Saturn. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1994, p. xiii The lodge is, as Gregorius states, "concerned with the study of esotericism, mysticism, and magic in the cosmic sense".
The academic study of Western esotericism was pioneered in the early 20th century by historians of the ancient world and the European Renaissance, who came to recognise that - although it had been ignored by previous scholarship - the impact which pre-Christian and non- rational schools of thought had exerted on European society and culture was worthy of academic attention. One of the key centres for this was the Warburg Institute in London, where scholars like Frances Yates, Edgar Wind, Ernst Cassier, and D. P. Walker began arguing that esoteric thought had had a greater impact on Renaissance culture than had been previously accepted. In 1965, the world's first academic post in the study of esotericism was established at the École pratique des hautes études in the Sorbonne, Paris; named the chair in the History of Christian Esotericism, its first holder was François Secret, a specialist in the Christian Kabbalah. In 1979 the scholar Antoine Faivre assumed Secret's chair at the Sorbonne, which was renamed the "History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe".
Spazio Interiore is an Italian publishing house, founded in Rome in October 2012. Specialized in psicotropia texts, esotericism, philosophy and transpersonal psychology. For the types of Spazio Interiore are published in Italy works of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Claudio Naranjo, Aryeh Kaplan, Rick Strassman, Stanislav Grof, Robert Monroe, E. J. Gold.
The concept of "Western esotericism" represents a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self- defined tradition of thought. In the late seventeenth century, several European Christian thinkers presented the argument that one could categorise certain traditions of Western philosophy and thought together, thus establishing the category now labelled "Western esotericism". The first to do so, (1659–1698), a German Lutheran theologian, wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity (1690–91). A hostile critic of various currents of Western thought that had emerged since the Renaissance—among them Paracelsianism, Weigelianism, and Christian theosophy—in his book he labelled all of these traditions under the category of "Platonic–Hermetic Christianity", portraying them as heretical to what he saw as "true" Christianity.
As Suzuki portrayed it, Zen Buddhism was a highly practical religion whose emphasis on direct experience made it particularly comparable to forms of mysticism that scholars such as William James had emphasized as the fountainhead of all religious sentiment.William James "The Varieties of Religious Experience" (New York: Collier Books, 1981) It is this idea of a common essence that made Suzuki's ideas recognizable to a Western audience, who could identify with the Western esotericism concealed in it, disguised as eastern metaphysics. Suzuki presents a version of Zen that can be described as detraditionalized and essentialized. This resemblance is not coincidental, since Suzuki was also influenced by Western esotericism, and even joined the Theosophical Society.
Scholar of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre asserts that Jorge A. Livraga Rizzi wanted to create an "eclectic and rational approach" to Eastern and Western thought. In addition to the study of ancient sources, New Acropolis also tries to promote modern authors such as CG Jung, Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell, Gilbert Durand, Henry Corbin, Paul Ricœur, Dane Rudhyar, Jean Chevalier, Jacob Boehm, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Edgar Morin. Among ancient authors it promotes in its literature are Pythagoras and Plato; it draws on Livraga's understanding of neoplatonism, Alexandrine hermeticism, renaissance philosophy, eastern philosophy (Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism) as well. French writer Jean-Pierre Bayard describes New Acropolis as a school of philosophy focused on esotericism and symbolism.
Afterward, he was a free writer living near Bern. Sergius Golowin wrote numerous books and articles, primarily about folklore and esotericism. For his work in folklore and exploring the counterculture, he was awarded the prize of the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung in 1974. Golowin was a contemporary of many notable people and events.
Crowley first described the rite in a tract titled Eroto-Comatose Lucidity.Martin, Art, Messianism and Crime: A Study of Antinomianism in Modern Literature and Lives, 1986. The ritual as described by Crowley involves one "ritualist-seer" and several aides.Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism, 2006.
Jafe Arnold, 'Alexander Dugin and Western Esotericism: The Challenge of the Language of Tradition', in: Mondi: Movimenti Simbolici e Sociali dell'Uomo 2 (2019), p. 33-70. According to the Moldavian anthropologist Leonid Mosionjnik Wirths overtly wild ideas fitted perfectly well in the ideological void after the demise of communism, liberalism and democracy.
Vasili Golovachov Vasili Vasilievich Golovachov (; born June 21, 1948, Russia) is a modern Russian science fiction writer, known in Russian-speaking countries for writing both hard science fiction and sci-fi/fantasy mixes. The works combines space science fiction, esotericism, Slavic neopaganism and pseudohistory.Shnirelman, Viktor. The Aryan Myth in the Contemporary World.
The Causal body - originally Karana-Sarira - is a Yogic and Vedantic concept that was adopted and modified by Theosophy and from the latter made its way into the general New Age movement and contemporary western esotericism. It generally refers to the highest or innermost body that veils the atman or true soul.
That of a higher tantric deity may be less public than that of a lower. The degree to which information on Vajrayāna is now public in western languages is controversial among Tibetan Buddhists. Buddhism has always had a taste for esotericism since its earliest period in India.Cf. Conze (1993), 26 and 52f.
"Following a period of obscurity, it was then revived at the end of the nineteenth century by the Russian occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky" Partridge, C. (2013). Understanding the Dark Side. Chester: University of Chester. page 3 In the twentieth century, theosophy became the object of study for various scholars of Western esotericism.
Followers of Blavatsky's movement are known as Theosophists, while adherents of the older tradition are termed theosophers. Several Theosophists — such as C. C. Massey and Franz Hartmann — were also theosophers. Antoine Faivre suggested in 1998 that it be called "Boehmian theosophy", although he himself more often uses the term Christian theosophy.Western Esotericism.
The concept of the "esoteric" originated in the second century AD with the coining of the Ancient Greek adjective esôterikós ("belonging to an inner circle"); the earliest known example of the word appeared in a satire authored by Lucian of Samosata ( 125 – after 180) The noun "esotericism", in its French form "ésotérisme", first appeared in 1828 in the work by (1791–1864), Histoire critique du gnosticisme (3 vols.). Compare: The term "esotericism" thus came into use in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment and of its critique of institutionalised religion, during which time alternative religious groups began to disassociate themselves from the dominant Christianity in Western Europe. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the term "esotericism" came to commonly be seen as something which was distinct from Christianity, and which had formed a subculture that had been at odds with the Christian mainstream from at least the time of the Renaissance. The French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi (1810–1875) popularized the term in the 1850s, and Theosophist Alfred Percy Sinnett (1840–1921) introduced it into the English language in his book Esoteric Buddhism (1883).
An additional definition was proposed by Hanegraaff, and holds that "Western esotericism" is a category representing "the academy's dustbin of rejected knowledge." In this respect, it contains all of the theories and world views that have been rejected by the mainstream intellectual community because they do not accord with "normative conceptions of religion, rationality and science". His approach is rooted within the field of the history of ideas, and stresses the role of change and transformation over time. Goodrick-Clarke was critical of this approach, believing that it relegated Western esotericism to the position of "a casualty of positivist and materialist perspectives in the nineteenth-century" and thus reinforces the idea that Western esoteric traditions were of little historical importance.
Versluis has published a "trilogy" on American Transcendentalism and the development of western esotericism, namely American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (1993), The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance (2001), and American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion (2014). In these publications, he describes the development of American Transcendentalism and its influence on western esotericism, including the contemporary phenomenon of "immediatist gurus", who promise instant enlightenment. In American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions, Versluis describes the influence of Asian religions on European Romanticism and on American Transcendentalism. In the early 19th century, these Asian religions were introduced to the western culture, and texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads had a great impact on the Transcendental movement, and influential members like Emerson and Thoreau.
William G. Gray (1913–1992), better known to many as Bill Gray, was an English ceremonial magician, Hermetic Qabalist and writer, who published widely on the subject of western esotericism and the occult. Gray founded a magical order known as the Sangreal Sodality. Born to a working-class family in Harrow, Middlesex, Gray moved around a lot as a child, living in various locations across England, and also in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he took a particular interest in the rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. Developing an early interest in western esotericism from his mother, who was a professional fortune teller, he met a number of famous occultists in his youth, including Victor Neuburg, Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune.
Having refused to publish her ideas in books, Montalban became largely forgotten following her death, although the OMS continued under new leadership. Her life and work was mentioned in various occult texts and historical studies of esotericism during subsequent decades; a short biography by Julia Philips was published by the Atlantis Bookshop in 2012.
In Western esotericism, Binah is seen to take the raw force of Chokhmah, and to channel it into the various forms of creation. For example, in a car, you have the fuel and an engine. While Chokhmah is the fuel, pure energy, Binah is the engine, pure receptivity. Either one without the other is useless.
Biographers and critics have disagreed whether these years in Jung's life should be seen as "a creative illness", a period of introspection, a psychotic break, or simply madness.Lance S. Owens, "The Hermeneutics of Vision: C. G. Jung and Liber Novus", The Gnostic: A Journal of Gnosticism, Western Esotericism and Spirituality Issue 3, July 2010. Online edition, p.
At 21, he began to read regularly in the Library of the British Museum, studying many branches of esotericism. In 1881 Waite discovered the writings of Eliphas Levi. When Waite was almost 30 he married Ada Lakeman (also called "Lucasta"), and they had one daughter, Sybil. Some time after Lucasta's death in 1924, Waite married Mary Broadbent Schofield.
In the scene, religious rituals and ceremonies have been explored yet are not engrained in the foundations of what dark culture was bred from. Despite this, the theoretical and practical preoccupation with occultism and esotericism has always been a permanent part of dark culture, and in some ways can be attributed to religious movements and ways of thinking.
In 2010 she became interested in the life of Grete Trakl, musical prodigy and sister of the Austrian poet Georg Trakl, because of her notes on lectures by Rudolf Steiner. Research resulted in the first comprehensive biography of Grete Trakl, published in 2014. This book contains several chapters on her brother's position within the tradition of Western Esotericism.
Melton is the author of more than forty-five books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and scholarly textbooks on American religious history, Methodism, world religions, and new religious movements (NRMs). His areas of research include major religious traditions, American Methodism, new and alternative religions, Western Esotericism (popularly called occultism) and parapsychology, New Age, and Dracula and vampire studies.
In these areas critical attention is highly indicated, since belief in these inefficacious methods leads to omission of more effective treatments. Furthermore, the GWUP discusses occultism, spiritism, esotericism and ideologies that underlie e.g. anthroposophy. Additionally they cover topics like religion, faith, superstition and creationism. Astrology, fortune-telling and prophecies are scrutinised in a yearly prognosis check.
Pierre A. Riffard is a French philosopher and specialist in esotericism. Born in Toulouse (France), he is a professor of pedagogy and philosophy at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana (Université des Antilles et de la Guyane). Teaching in the French overseas departments and territories and elsewhere: Asia, Oceania, Sub-Saharan Africa, Guiana.
Ouroboros and ἓν τὸ πᾶν, i.e. "the All is One" (Zosimos of Panopolis). For Pierre A. Riffard, esotericism is "occult teaching, doctrine or theory, technique or process, of symbolic expression, of a metaphysical nature, of initiatory intent. Druidism, compagnonnage (the traditional French system of training craftsmen), alchemy are esotericisms."P. Riffard, Dictionnaire de l'ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 1983, 125.
From the time of the Renaissance onwards, Jewish Kabbalah became incorporated as an important tradition in non- Jewish Western culture, first through its adoption by Christian Kabbalah, and continuing in Western esotericism occult Hermetic Qabalah. These adapted the Judaic Kabbalah tree of life syncretically by associating it with other religious traditions, esoteric theologies, and magical practices.
Ariosophy was only one of the threads of Esotericism in Germany and Austria during this time. When he was involuntarily committed to the Salzburg mental asylum between November 1924 and early 1927, he received support from several other occultists.Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 182 Wiligut was clearly sympathetic to the Nazi Revolution of January 1933.Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 183.
Randolph influenced both the Theosophical Society and—to a greater degree—the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. In 1994, the historian Joscelyn Godwin noted that Randolph had been largely neglected by historians of esotericism. In 1996, a biography was published, Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth-Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician by John Patrick Deveney and Franklin Rosemont.
Galerie Chave:Jean-François Ozenda (French) . Accessed 1 April 2013 He claimed to have learned painting in three months by attending the art school in Marseille, France. A painter and mystical poet, he painted in a surrealistic style filled with esotericism and spirituality. Between 1950 and 1976, he mixed the artistic life with living on the Mediterranean coast.
In doing so, he noted, occultism distanced itself from the "traditional esotericism" which accepted the premise of an "enchanted" world. According to the British historian of Western esotericism Nicholas Goodrick- Clarke, occultist groups typically seek "proofs and demonstrations by recourse to scientific tests or terminology". In his work about Lévi, the German historian of religion Julian Strube has argued that the occultist wish for a "synthesis" of religion, science, and philosophy directly resulted from the context of contemporary socialism and progressive Catholicism. Similar to spiritualism, but in declared opposition to it, the emergence of occultism should thus be seen within the context of radical social reform, which was often concerned with establishing new forms of "scientific religion" while at the same time propagating the revival of an ancient tradition of "true religion".
Thomas Karlsson (born 1972) is a Swedish occultist and esoteric author, with a PhD in the History of Religions from the Stockholm University. In 2007, he held the first Swedish university course in Western Esotericism. In 1989, he and six other magicians founded Dragon Rouge, a Left-Hand Path initiatory organisation and a Draconian Tradition Order, led by Karlsson.GENERAL INFORMATION .
Low salaries is one of the primary reasons why some areas in Lithuania are experiencing massive shortage of qualified teachers. Lithuania parliament intends to reorganise the higher education system by reducing the number of universities in Lithuania. There has been concerns of low education quality at some entities. In 2006, Mathematics and IT department at Šiauliai University marketed programs in esotericism.
Mark J. Sedgwick (born London, England, 20 July 1960) is a British historian specialising in the study of traditionalism, Islam, Sufi mysticism, and terrorism. He is Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark and chair of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies. He was formerly secretary of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.
Sedgwick first taught history at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. In 2007 he moved to Aarhus University, Denmark as Coordinator of the Arab and Islamic Studies Unit. His books have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, and Serbian. He was a founder member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, of which he was Secretary 2010–16.
217 His secret works, which exist only in fragments, suggest that he was familiar with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism as well. In one of his works he argued that Greek philosophy had its origin among non-Greeks, claiming that both Plato and Pythagoras were taught by Egyptian scholars.Press (2003), p. 83 Clement is usually regarded as a Church Father.
The Collected Writings of T. Subba Row were published in two volumes by Henk J. Spierenburg. (; ) Subba Row's writings are about Esotericism, Theosophy, the Zodiac, the theosophic septenary, the Chakras and other topics. His commentary on the Baghavad Gita is well known among theosophists. Blavatsky appreciated Subba Row's esoteric knowledge, and she asked him to review her book The Secret Doctrine.
She also became interested in Esotericism. She was influenced by the thinking of both English Theosophist, Annie Besant and Austrian philosopher, Rudolf Steiner. She was the first woman to graduate from the Norwegian School of Theology, but was not allowed to practice. She was the first Norwegian woman to preach in a church, during 1910 at the Grønland Church in Oslo.
It is a feature present in many esoteric models of philosophy, both ancient and modern.Pierre A. Riffard, Dictionnaire de l’ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 1983, 34. It is closely associated with Hermeticism and underlies practices such as astrology, alchemy and sacred geometry with its premise of "As Above, So Below".Antoine Faivre, Access to Western esotericism, State University of New York Press, 1994, 10-11.
As an alternative to Faivre's framework, developed his own variant, although argued that this did not represent a "definition" but rather "a framework of analysis" for scholarly usage. He stated that "on the most general level of analysis", esotericism represented "the claim of higher knowledge", a claim to possessing "wisdom that is superior to other interpretations of cosmos and history" and which serves as a "master key for answering all questions of humankind". Accordingly, he believed that esoteric groups placed a great emphasis on secrecy, not because they were inherently rooted in elite groups but because the idea of concealed secrets that can be revealed was central to their discourse. Examining the means of accessing higher knowledge, he highlighted two themes that he believed could be found within esotericism, that of mediation through contact with non-human entities, and individual experience.
Another esotericism scholar, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, said Fortune was an "important heir of the Golden Dawn, and she had a significant influence on modern Western esotericism". Religious studies scholar Stephen Sutcliffe described her as having "played a key role in the cult of Glastonbury in the interwar years", while anthropologist Susan Greenwood thought Fortune's emphasis on a masculine/feminine polarity as the basis for magical working was a significant influence on both later ceremonial magic and Wicca. The church of St. John the Baptist, Glastonbury; Fortune's funeral was performed here by the Reverend L. S. Lewis, and her body interred in the Wells Road cemetery nearby Fortune's Fraternity survived her, and was renamed the Society of the Inner Light in 1946; the change was a legal refinement to help the group achieve charitable status. It continues to operate into the early 21st century.
The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 2011. pp. 205–206. Other trends which emerged in western occultism in the later 20th century were satanism as exposed by groups such as the Church of Satan and Temple of Set,"Satanism" at Wouter Hannegraaff (ed). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Brill. 2006. p. 1035 as well as chaos magick through the Illuminates of Thanateros group.
De Dominicis turned to painting in the 1980s. De Dominicis’ paintings are figurative and often produced using materials as basic as tempera and pencil on board. Concentrating on the human figure, De Dominicis often referenced mythical and epic leaders like Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king who sought immortality, and Urvashi, the Hindu Veda goddess of beauty. De Dominicis’ paintings convey notions of immortality, beauty, and esotericism.
Since Islam has no counsil or hierarchy to fix the creed, but rather gains consens over discussions, contrary to Western esotericism and occultism, there is no clear conflict between orthodox and occultism in Islam.Henrik Bogdan, Gordan Djurdjevic Occultism in a Global Perspective Routledge, 11.09.2014 p. 156 Muslim writers on occultism and magic usually distinguished between licit and illicit practises, rather than condemning magic and occultism as whole.
In the 1930s there already existed an esoteric scene in Germany and Austria. The organisations within this spectrum were suppressed, but, unlike Freemasonry in Nazi Germany, they were not persecuted. The only known case in which an occultist might have been sent to a concentration camp for his beliefs is that of Friedrich Bernhard Marby. Also, some Nazi leaders had an interest in esotericism.
Urban, Hugh B. Magia sexualis: sex, magic, and liberation in modern Western esotericism, p. 137. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006. In 1969, The Church of Scientology admitted to Hubbard's involvement with Parsons while claiming that Hubbard, a US Navy Officer, was "sent in to handle the situation". In the late 1940s, Hubbard practiced as a hypnotist and he worked in Hollywood posing as a swami.
New Age religion and Western culture: Esotericism in the mirror of secular thought. State University of New York Press.,pp. 398-9 Coleridge made a distinction between imagination expressing realities of an imaginal realm above our mundane personal existence, and "fancy", or fantasy, which expresses the creativity of the artistic soul. For him, "imagination is the condition for cognitive (conscious?) participation in a sacramental universe".
In 1975, he started to give pioneering courses on nineteenth- and twentieth- century esotericism at the Ecole pratique des hautes études. Laurant was a founder and director of Politica hermetica, an influential association for the study of the social influence of esoteric thought that published a journal of the same name. In 1990, he received the degree of docteur ès lettres from the University of Paris XII.
The motif was also developed in descriptive prose fragments later grouped in Cartea de aur, collectively titled nuvele fără oameni ("novellas without people") and compared by Călinescu with the paintings of Theodor Aman.Călinescu, p.318, 528 Also during that stage, Macedonski was exploring the numerous links between Symbolism, mysticism and esotericism. Earlier pieces had already come to explore macabre themes characteristic for an early branch of Symbolism.
Stanislas de Guaita 1861–1897), philosopher and poet. Stanislas De Guaita (6 April 1861, Tarquimpol, Moselle – 19 December 1897, Tarquimpol) was a French poet based in Paris, an expert on esotericism and European mysticism, and an active member of the Rosicrucian Order. He was very celebrated and successful in his time. He had many disputes with other people who were involved with occultism and magic.
These teachings, coupled with the doctrine of Buddha-nature have been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, most notably in Chán (Zen) and Vajrayana. Western Neo-Platonism is an essential element of both Christian contemplation and mysticism, and of Western esotericism and modern spirituality, especially Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, Universalism and Perennialism.
The Buddhist goddess Palden Lhamo shares some attributes of Durga. According to scholars, over its history, Buddhist Tantric traditions have adopted several Hindu deities into it's fold.Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, Routledge, (2008), page 23.Williams, Tribe and Wynne; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, chapter 7 The Tantric traditions of Buddhism included Durga and developed the idea further.
The Sigil of Baphomet is the official symbol of LaVeyan Satanism and the Church of Satan. LaVeyan Satanism is an atheistic religion founded in 1966 by the American occultist and author Anton Szandor LaVey. Scholars of religion have classified it as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism. It is one of several different movements that describe themselves as forms of Satanism.
In Blavatsky's synthesis of eastern philosophy with western esotericism, the union of the higher Manas with the Buddhi (i.e. the essential nature of the fifth, along with the sixth, of the seven principles) is referred to as the Causal Body (Blavatsky, Key to Theosophy, pp. 121, 174). This higher principle is contrasted with the lower, the Kama- Manas, which is the seat of lower passions.
Each issue was around 100 pages long and mainly consisted of articles on cultural history and essays. There was no narrative prose, although literary sketches sometimes appeared. Characteristic were the priority of perennial philosophy and archetypes over historical-sociological perspectives, and discussions about the West's place in the world, which typically was portrayed as increasingly weak. Many of the texts can be classified as esotericism.
Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. University of California Press, 2006. Crowley believed that after discovering the True Will, the magician must also remove any elements of himself that stand in the way of its success.Crowley, Aleister. Magick, Book 4 qabalistic tree of life, important in the magical order A∴A∴ as the degrees of advancement in are related to it.
Born on 14 August 1940 as Jörgen Ingi Hansen, he changed his Danish first name early on to the Icelandic Jörmundur. His parents were the merchant Jörgen F. F. Hansen (1916 – 1991) and Helga Eiríksdóttir Hansen (1917 – 2008). As a young man he was known as a bohemian personality, interested in esotericism and Eastern religions, and one of the most prominent people in Reykjavík's hippie movement.
Doctor of law (Graz University, 1970), he has founded an international trading company named HHS Handels AG (HHS Trading Company), based first in Zürich and then in Schwerzenbach, which had 14 daughter companies in 13 different countries, dealing in particular with the Far East, as well as the publishing house Ansata-Verlag, specialised in studies on esotericism, based first in Schwarzenburg and then in Interlaken (Switzerland). In 1996, he created the esoteric academic journal Gnostika,Gnostika. of which he remains co-editor to this date. Concurrently with his publishing activities, he has contributed material on matters related to esotericism to several international dictionaries and journals, such as Politica Hermetica, where he regularly publishes book reviews. He has published a book on the « Eranos » series of colloquia initiated by Carl Gustav Jung and attended by names such as Mircea Eliade and several specialists of esoteric and religious studies.
Gilbert Durand (1 May 1921, Chambéry – 7 December 2012, Moye) was a French academic known for his work on the imaginary, symbolic anthropologyWouter J. Hanegraaff Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture Quotation: and mythology. According to Durand, Imagination and Reason can be complementary. He defends the status of the image, traditionally devalued in Western thought, particularly in French philosophy. He advocates for a multidisciplinary approach.
In addition to Tailhade, the poet Baudelaire used substantial amounts of opium. The French poet Stanislas de Guaita, an expert on esotericism and European mysticism, published a collection of poems in 1883 entitled The Dark Muse, and penned a poem in honour of the opium poppy: ::Salut, flore équivoque ! ::Dompteuses des douleurs, ::Salut, à fleurs ! ::Soyez bénis, en somme, ::Sucs, qui versez à l'homme ::Au visage pâli ::Le calme oubli.
Jeffrey John Kripal (born 1962) is an American college professor. He is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His work includes the study of comparative erotics and ethics in mystical literature, American countercultural translations of Asian religions, and the history of Western esotericism from gnosticism to New Age religions.Jeffrey J. Kripal's faculty page at the Department of Religious Studies, Rice University.
The Feminine is > therefore the inner nature of man, and woman (…), the objective > representative of the Divine Feminine. Swiney's imperial context (personal and family connections to British India) influenced her perception and interpretation of Theosophy and, therefore, her theosophical feminism. Furthermore, Theosophy, and esotericism in general, were deeply embedded in the discourse of Britain's First Wave Feminism, as it is evident especially by the vast number of theosophical feminists.
Paul Walter Franks, is a philosopher, writer and professor. He graduated with his PhD from Harvard University in 1993. Franks' dissertation, entitled "Kant and Hegel on the Esotericism of Philosophy", was supervised by Stanley Cavell and won the Emily and Charles Carrier Prize for a Dissertation in Moral Philosophy at Harvard University. He completed his B.A (First Class) and M.A, in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford.
Leade was hugely influenced by the theosophical writings of sixteenth century German Christian mystic Jakob Böhme, who also speaks of the Sophia in works such as The Way to Christ (1624).Jakob Böhme, The Way to Christ (1622) Passtheword. Jakob Böhme was very influential to a number of Christian mystics and religious leaders, including George Rapp and the Harmony Society.Arthur Versluis, "Western Esotericism and The Harmony Society", Esoterica I (1999) pp.
Garson, Nathaniel DeWitt; Penetrating the Secret Essence Tantra: Context and Philosophy in the Mahayoga System of rNying-ma Tantra, 2004, p. 42 The macrocosmic symbolism of the mandala then, also represents the forces of the human body. The explanatory tantra of the Guhyasamaja tantra, the Vajramala, states: "The body becomes a palace, the hallowed basis of all the Buddhas."Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 83.
Some people within the scene, such as Moynihan, are influenced by the Nouvelle Droite and Alain de Benoist. Although François writes that the early and more influential bands are well-informed about their themes, he also describes a strong presence of "diluted esotericism". The conventions and cultural references established by the early groups do not necessarily correspond to a particular worldview among the newer bands that copy them.
Gautama was considered a form of Mahavairocana, the eternal Buddha and dharmakāya. The major Buddhas of the esoteric pantheon are the Five Tathagatas. Other Buddhist deities in Chinese esotericism included Bhaisajyaguru, Avalokiteśvara (especially the thousand armed form), Hayagrīva, Tārā, Vajrapāṇi, Vajrasattva, Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī and Cundī. The cult of Acala, the wrathful Vajrapani was very influential during the Tang, while the Cundī cult was very important during the Song period.
Historian Frances Yates, known for her work on Renaissance esotericism, was born in the city. Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived in the area after graduating from Portsmouth Naval Academy. Contemporary literary figures include social critic, journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was born in Portsmouth. Nevil Shute moved to the city in 1934 when he relocated his aircraft company, and his former home is in Southsea.
The English translation by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke of his book Unknown Sources: National Socialism and the Occult was published in 2000. He is the author of German translations of the works of Julius Evola, of whom he is an internationally recognized specialist. Hakl is the founder of the Octagon library, one of the most important private European libraries specialised in the history of religion and esotericism Kurzinformation on Hans Thomas Hakl.
Andreae was born at Herrenberg, Württemberg, the son of Johannes Andreae (1554–1601), the superintendent of Herrenberg and later the abbot of Königsbronn. His mother Maria Moser went to Tübingen as a widow and was court apothecary 1607–1617. The young Andreae studied theology and natural sciences 1604–1606. He befriended Christoph Besold who encouraged Andreae's interest in esotericism. Ca. 1605 he wrote the first version of "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosekreutz".
The works included are characterized by ceremony and a myriad of necessary accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.
Some scholars, such as David Gordon White and Georg Feuerstein, interpret this might be related to kundalini shakti, and an overt overture to the terms of esotericism that would later emerge in Post-Aryan Bramhanism. the Upanishad. Breath channels (nāḍi) are mentioned in the classical Upanishads of Hinduism from the 1st millennium BCE,Trish O'Sullivan (2010), Chakras. In: D.A. Leeming, K. Madden, S. Marlan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, Springer Science + Business Media.
His paternal grandfather was a judge, and at the same time musician and composer, author of regular musical reviews. His father also a judge, but in his spare time a passionate musician who regularly corresponded with a number of leading contemporary musicians and was an adherent of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy. In contrast to his father who represented clear, rational thinking, Walter's mother was interested in esotericism and frequented esoteric groups and lectures.
After retirement, he and his wife traveled the world, going to India, Egypt, and Japan. He also took up literary work, writing several plays—Iz novenkikh (Brand New) and Lozhny vzglyad (False View)—which performed well at the Russian Dramatic Theatre in Moscow. Lodyzhensky’s main interest, however, was in mysticism and esotericism, especially Theosophy. He was a member and secretary of the Russian Theosophical Society, and friends with the esotericist P.D. Ouspensky.
Western and Mediterranean culture has a rich tradition of esotericism and mysticism. The Perennial philosophy, basic to the New Age understanding of the world, regards those traditions as akin to Eastern religions which aim at awakening/ enlightenment and developing wisdom. The hypothesis that all mystical traditions share a "common core", is central to New Age, but contested by a diversity of scientists like Katz and Proudfoot. Judaism includes the mystical tradition of Kabbalah.
His teachings underwent a major revival in the first century BC among Middle Platonists, coinciding with the rise of Neopythagoreanism. Pythagoras continued to be regarded as a great philosopher throughout the Middle Ages and his philosophy had a major impact on scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton. Pythagorean symbolism was used throughout early modern European esotericism, and his teachings as portrayed in Ovid's Metamorphoses influenced the modern vegetarian movement.
But, it is now said, there was no unitary esoteric tradition and that view is only tenable on a selective reading of the evidence. The arguments surrounding this questioning of Yates include Lodovico Lazzarelli and the rival views of Antoine Faivre, who has proposed a clearer definition of esotericism.Henrik Bogdan, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation (2007), pp. 9–10. Hanegraaff argued that the reception of Yates' work was coloured by the Zeitgeist.
Padmavajra (c 7th century) explains in his Tantrarthavatara Commentary, the secret Body, Speech, and Mind of the Buddhas are:Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 36. :Secret of Body: Whatever form is necessary to tame the living beings. :Secret of Speech: Speech exactly appropriate to the lineage of the creature, as in the language of the yaksas, etc. :Secret of Mind: Knowing all things as they really are.
As a result, he became the founder of the tradition known as Christian Kabbalah, which went on to be a central part of early modern Western esotericism. Pico's approach to different philosophies was one of extreme syncretism, placing them in parallel, it has been claimed, rather than attempting to describe a developmental history.Hanegraaff p.59 Pico based his ideas chiefly on Plato, as did his teacher, Marsilio Ficino, but retained a deep respect for Aristotle.
Parsons worked on developing the SM-64 Navaho missile (pictured launching in 1957). Parsons was employed by North American Aviation at Inglewood, where he worked on the Navaho Missile Program. He and Cameron moved into a house in Manhattan Beach, where he instructed her in occultism and esotericism. When Cameron developed catalepsy, Parsons referred her to Sylvan Muldoon's books on astral projection, suggesting that she could manipulate her seizures to accomplish it.
Droemer Knaur Publishing publishes novels and nonfiction from German and international authors. Through the broad ranged publishing program and the publication of bestselling authors like Johannes Mario Simmel, Droemer Knaur became one of the most prestigious publishing houses for fiction in Germany. In the category of popular fiction, historical novels, detective stories, thrillers, fantasy and romantic literature are published. In the category non-fiction are among others, biographies, guides, esotericism and conspiracy theories are published.
Flowers, Fire & Ice, page 182 Today its purpose is in working on the spiritual evolution of humanity by means of development and advancement of the individual being. This is to be attained by mental and ethical schooling of the personality and complete mastery of esotericism and occultism. The FS adopts a system of degrees, ending with the 33rd as highest degree to reach this goal. The lodge claims further no political or economical objectives.
Mexican Surrealist Pedro Friedeberg introduced Selig to esotericism and shared many of his creative interests, helping build the foundation of Selig's career as an artist. Friedeberg guided Selig's perspective drawing and use of magical cosmograms and symbols. Selig's artwork can be considered both Surrealist and Magic Realist, but it does not adhere solely to the principles of Surrealism. His paintings juxtapose spiritual themes that reflect his extensive 40-year background as an artist and spiritist.
In religion and esotericism, the term "physical universe" or "material universe" is used to distinguish the physical matter of the universe from a proposed spiritual or supernatural essence. In the Book of Veles, and perhaps in traditional Slavic mythology, the physical universe is referred to as Yav. Gnosticism holds that the physical universe was created by a Demiurge. In Dharmic religions Maya is believed to be the illusion of a physical universe.
By 2008, there were three dedicated university chairs in the subject, at the University of Sorbonne, University of Amsterdam, and the University of Exeter, with the latter two institutions also offering master's degree programs in it. On the basis of the fact that "English culture and literature have been traditional strongholds of Western esotericism", in 2011 Pia Brînzeu and György Szönyi urged that English studies also have a role in this interdisciplinary field.
The adjective "theosophos" (θεόσοφος) "wise in divine things" was applied by Iamblichus to the gymnosophists (Γυμνοσοφισταί), i.e. the Indian yogis or sadhus.Iamblichus (De mysteriis 7.1). Scholars of esotericism such as Godwin and Faivre differentiated the tradition of religious illumination from the religious system established in the late nineteenth century by Helena Blavatsky by referring to the latter with a capital letter as Theosophy, and the former with a lower-case letter as theosophy.
Annio da Viterbo, in the 1490s, claimed Isis and Osiris had civilized Italy before Greece, thus drawing a direct connection between his home country and Egypt. The Borgia Apartments painted for Annio's patron, Pope Alexander VI, incorporate this same theme in their illustrated rendition of the Osiris myth. Western esotericism has often made reference to Isis. Two Roman esoteric texts used the mythic motif in which Isis passes down secret knowledge to Horus.
Scholars have also classified Theosophy as a form of Western esotericism. Campbell for instance referred to it as "an esoteric religious tradition", while the historian Joy Dixon called it an "esoteric religion". More specifically, it is considered a form of occultism. Along with other groups like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society has been seen as part of an "occult revival" that took place in Western countries during the late nineteenth century.
Alternately, the scholar of esotericism Wouter J. Hanegraaff distinguished the Blavatskian movement from its older namesake by terming it "modern Theosophy". Followers of Blavatsky's movement are known as Theosophists, while adherents of the older tradition are termed theosophers. Causing some confusion, a few Theosophists — such as C. C. Massey — were also theosophers. In the early years of Blavatsky's movement, some critics referred to it as "Neo-Theosophy" to differentiate it from the older Christian theosophy movement.
Astrology was part of his everyday life and Pessoa kept that interest until his death, which he was able to predict with some accuracy.. Pessoa's last writing: 29-11-1935 "I know not what tomorrow will bring". He died next day, 30 November 1935. As a mysticist, Pessoa was an enthusiast of esotericism, occultism, hermetism, numerology and alchemy. Along with spiritualism and astrology, he also paid attention to neopaganism, theosophy, rosicrucianism and freemasonry, which strongly influenced his literary work.
Sefer Yetzirah (Hebrew, Sēpher Yəṣîrâh "Book of Formation," or "Book of Creation," ספר יצירה) is the title of the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism. "Yetzirah" is more literally translated as "Formation"; the word "Briah" is used for "Creation".In Hebrew, "Yetzirah" can mean either "creation" or "formation," but can also refer to the created or formed object itself. A work of art, for example, is called in Hebrew 'yetzira', as well as the action of creating it.
The Rutbat includes alchemical formulae and instructions for purification of precious metals, and was also the first to note the principle of conservation of mass, which he did in the course of his pathbreaking experiment on mercury(II) oxide: The Picatrix is more concerned with advanced esotericism, principally astrology and talismanic magic, although he also goes into prophecy. The author considers this the advanced level of work, occasionally referring to the Rutbat as the foundation text.
Jewish Kabbalists portrayed in 1641; woodcut on paper, Saxon University Library, Dresden. Kabbalah (, literally "reception, tradition" or "correspondence") is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist in Judaism is called a Mequbbāl (). The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its religious origin as an integral part of Judaism, to its later adaptations in Western esotericism (Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah).
Title page of first printed edition of the Zohar, main sourcebook of Kabbalah, from Mantua, Italy in 1558 Like the rest of the rabbinic literature, the texts of kabbalah were once part of an ongoing oral tradition, though, over the centuries, much of the oral tradition has been written down. Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago. Ben Sira (born c. 170 BCE) warns against it, saying: "You shall have no business with secret things".
Alleau was the director of the Bibliotheca hermetica collection at the French publishing house Éditions Denoël. The aim of this project was to republish ancient works of esotericism and make them available to purchase. Alleau contributed to the Planète magazine of Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (authors of The Morning of the Magicians). In his later life he wrote online articles for Symbole associated with Frédérick Tristan and which focused heavily on the works of René Guénon.
Brennan Hall and Library at St John's College within the University of Sydney, the Christopher Brennan building in the University's Arts Faculty, and the main library at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview are named in his honour.Christopher Brennan Library, riverview.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 23 February 2019. There was for several decades a Christopher Brennan Society "founded in... the 1970s by Axel Clark, Robin Marsden and John Fletcher",Elizabeth Webby, The Higher Self in Christopher Brennan’s Poems: Esotericism, Romanticism, Symbolism, bookcollectors.org.
Other early tantras include the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi and the Guhyasamāja (Gathering of Secrets).Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, Routledge, (2008), page 19. The Guhyasamāja is a Mahayoga class of Tantra, which features new forms of ritual practice considered "left-hand" (vamachara) such as the use of taboo substances like alcohol, sexual yoga, and charnel ground practices which evoke wrathful deities.Williams, Wynne, Tribe; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, page 212.
According to Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and Alex Wayman, the philosophical view of the Vajrayana is based on Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, mainly the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools.Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, 2013, page 3.L. de la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme, études et matériaux, pp. 174-5. The major difference seen by Vajrayana thinkers is the superiority of Tantric methods, which provide a faster vehicle to liberation and contain many more skillful means (upaya).
The history of alchemy has become a significant and recognized subject of academic study.Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff. Western esotericism and the science of religion. 1995. p.viii–xvi As the language of the alchemists is analyzed, historians are becoming more aware of the intellectual connections between that discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the evolution of science and philosophy, the sociology and psychology of the intellectual communities, kabbalism, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and other mystic movements.
All of these groups created the backdrop from which the New Age movement emerged. As James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton point out, the New Age phenomenon represents "a synthesis of many different preexisting movements and strands of thought". Nevertheless, York asserted that while the New Age bore many similarities with both earlier forms of Western esotericism and Asian religion, it remained "distinct from its predecessors in its own self-consciousness as a new way of thinking".
Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism by A. Faivre. 28.“Theosophical Articles”, William Q. Judge, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1980, volume I, p. 271. The title of the article is “Jacob Boehme and the Secret Doctrine”. Böhme was also an important influence on the ideas of Franz Hartmann, the founder in 1886 of the German branch of the Theosophical Society. Hartmann described the writings of Böhme as “the most valuable and useful treasure in spiritual literature.”A.
John Sebastian Marlow Ward (22 December 1885 – 1949) was an English author who published widely on the subject of Freemasonry and esotericism. He was also the leader of a Christian sect, and the founder of the Abbey Folk Park, the earliest example of a folk park in Britain. He was born in what is now Belize. In 1908 he graduated from the University of Cambridge with honours in history, following in the footsteps of his father, Herbert Ward.
Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. Wicca has no central authority figure.
Gray was born on 25 March 1913 in Harrow, Middlesex.Richardson and Claridge 2003. p. 13. His mother, Christine Ash Gray (née Christine Chester Logie) was an American with a Roman Catholic background. But she took a great practical interest in Western esotericism and associated with other occultists, believing herself to be the reincarnation of Marie-Noémi Cadiot (1832–1888), the wife of the influential French occultist Eliphas Lévi (1810–1875).Richardson and Claridge 2003. pp. 16–17, 36.
Michael Wakoff, an author of The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, stated that Blavatskian Theosophy was based on Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, and fragments of the Western esotericism with using an "absolutist metaphysics." In The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy it is said that Blavatsky's Theosophy is an attempt to merge into a universal doctrine all religions by revealing their "common deep essence" and detection of "identity meanings of symbols," all philosophies (including esoteric), and all sciences (including occult).
His thesis was entitled Ritualist Revival: Fin de siècle Esotericism and the Oxford Movement. He started attending Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, in 2007, where he attained his Master of Philosophy degree in the history of art in 2008 with the thesis Charles Robert Cockerell and his Theories of Gothic Proportions from his Lectures at the Royal Academy and then a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the history of architecture in 2012 with the thesis Freemasonry and the Nineteenth-Century British Gothic Revival.
Huss' research interests cover the Zohar and its reception, modern and contemporary Kabbalah, Western esotericism, and the New Age. His first monograph was dedicated to the Kabbalah of Rabbi Shimon Lavi, one of the first commentators of the Zohar. In his second monograph he examined the reception of the Zohar and the construction of its symbolic value. Huss was one of the first scholars to "take seriously more contemporary expressions of Jewish mysticism that have been largely ignored by scholars".
Living in Vienna, Guido (von) List (1848–1919) had been active as journalist and writer. After he turned to esotericism, he became the first popular author to combine völkisch ideology and occultism into the type of esoteric doctrine that is now collectively labelled Ariosophy.Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 35. In September 1903 the occult periodical Die Gnosis (see above) included an article by List, in which he, referring Sebaldt von Werth, started to articulate "a Germanic occult religion".Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 41, 52.
According to Stefan Kaiser in Spiegel Online, Kopp publishes conspiracy theorists alongside "serious" anti-European authors such as the professors Joachim Starbatty, Wilhelm Nölling, Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider and Dieter Spethmann. In 2010, Die Welt described Kopp Verlag as a company specializing in "esotericism, conspiracy theories and desinformation",Eva Hermans Kampf gegen die Loveparade, Die Welt vom 26.Eva Herman und die „Wolken der Entfesselung“, Die Welt vom 27.Ich weiß Dinge, die ihr niemals glauben würdet, Die Welt, abgerufen am 27.
Together with Konrad Krzyżanowski he operated a private art school, which led to the reopening of the then closed after the January Uprising, School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The school opened on March 19, 1904. Kazimierz Stabrowski became the first director of the school, performing this function to 1909. His most famous pupil there was Lithuanian painter Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Due to a conflict with the Pedagogue Council, and the Tutelary Committee, after being involved in Western esotericism, he dismissed himself.
Villa Vortex - Liber Mundi, I in 2003 opens a trilogy of novels, interconnecting metaphysical research (Esotericism), technology and the post-human, in a new formal approach. With this book Dantec is possibly the first French writer to acknowledge the new era opened by the events surrounding 9/11 in a narrative. The third volume of his journal, following Laboratoire de catastrophe générale, was published by Éditions Albin Michel in 2007. Dantec wrote for the conservative French- language Canadian magazine Égards.
Rapp and his group also practiced forms of Esoteric Christianity, Mysticism (Christian mysticism), and Rapp often spoke of the virgin spirit or Goddess named Sophia in his writings.Arthur Versluis, "Western Esotericism and The Harmony Society", Esoterica I (1999) pp. 20-47 Rapp was very influenced by the writings of Jakob Böhme, Philipp Jakob Spener, and Emanuel Swedenborg, among others. Also, in Economy, Pennsylvania, there are glass bottles and literature that seems to indicate that the group was interested in (and practiced) alchemy.
In Geheimgesellschaften, Holey combines science-fiction, esotericism, Nazi-mythology, ufology and "Zionist global domination" theories. He also employs The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a source. He believes the Rothschilds head a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world and associates them with a mysterious cabal called the Illuminati, who plan a New World Order. Holey and his followers claim that they are not anti-semitic, but rather that they speak out against powerful Jewish interests in high finance and politics.
In the esotericism researchers' opinion, illustrations to the book Thought-Forms, which were made by John Varley, Mr. Prince, and Miss Macfarlane, are "very reminiscent of much abstract and surrealistic painting" and "wouldn't look out of place hanging alongside early Malevich or Kandinsky abstractions." Nevertheless, authors of the book fully directed a working of the artists who embodied their ideas and their vision. Count (1849–1928) has painted illustrations to Leadbeater's book Man Visible and Invisible. The Completed Eucharistic Form.
Leo Klejn wrote that Blavatsky's reputation was "seriously damaged after due consideration of this occult phenomena by English psychologists".Клейн (2011). A historian of esotericism Johnson speculates that the "Masters" that Blavatsky wrote about and produced letters from were actually idealizationsBut then Solovyov wrote, "О существовании и характере этого братства можно найти положительные и достоверные известия в книге французского миссионера Гюка, бывшего в Тибете в начале сороковых годов, значит за тридцать с лишком лет до основания теософического общества." // Соловьёв (1890).
The GWUP regards the critical contemplation of unproven claims in fields such as parasciences, esotericism, superstition, religion and alternative medicine as its main goal. It strives to achieve enlightenment in the sense of popular education and consumer protection. The GWUP underlines the importance of scientific procedures and critical thinking for societal challenges. Besides a theoretical dispute, individuals like dowsers, telekinetics, proponents of energized water scams, practitioners of alternative medicine and astrologers are being criticised and their skills also partially put to empirical examination.
ECKists may do this with eyes closed or open, aloud or silently. Practitioners may experience the divine ECK or Holy Spirit.Eckankar: Ancient Wisdom for Today. p. 20, 1995 Practitioners of theurgy and Western esotericism may practice a form of ritual which utilizes both pre-sanctioned prayers and names of God, and prayers "from the heart" that, when combined, allow the participant to ascend spiritually, and in some instances, induce a trance in which God or other spiritual beings may be realized.
Born into the families of a soldier officer, Salvador Aulestia grew up in until three years old in calle Naples y Consejo de Ciento of Barcelona, Spain. Then his family went to live in the Camp d'en Grassot (which was then the outskirts of Barcelona, now Career d'en Grassot). Already at age six the drawings are distinguished by significant clarity and synthesis for his age. At eight he began the lecture of an important private library about esotericism and magic.
In 1999 he became professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. From 2002 to 2006 he has been president of the Dutch Society for the Study of Religion, and, from 2005 to 2013, president of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. In 2006 he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is now an honorary member of the ESSWE. Hanegraaf's work is largely focused on Hermeticism.
The movement was founded in 1989 by Marie-Thérèse Castano (born 1945), who was widely called Maïté. She is a former trader and real estate broker who achieved some notability in the 1980s hosting a radio program about esotericism and occultism. Later, she organized conferences in which she talked about pacifism, ecology, alternative medicine, personal development, and astrology. With people who shared her opinions, she decided to found a community in La Coucourde, Drôme, which gathered approximately 100 people and some children.
In other terms, :"An esotericism is teaching which takes the form of a secret doctrine or of an initiatory organisation, a spiritual practice or an occult art."P. Riffard, Nouveau dictionnaire de l'ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 2008, 96. As regards form, esotericists have a secret: paralipsis (apophasis). They purport to say nothing, while at the same time discreetly revealing something (In saying "I will say nothing about the sacred nature of sexuality", I have said that sexuality does indeed have a sacred nature).
Gale, p. 835.Maryland Masonic Research Society: Next meeting with Jean-Louis De Biasi on Interpreting Masonic Symbolism Various initiatic degrees, considered some of the highest in Western Esotericism, have been conferred upon him. With regard to Freemasonry, he is a Master Mason and Past Master belonging at present to the Grand Lodge F.A.A.M. of the State of Nevada (U.S.A.). He also received the 32° of the American Scottish Rite in Washington, D.C., and was initiated into Royal Arch Masonry in Canada.
The Baphomet, from Éliphas Lévi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, 1854, adopted symbol of some western esoteric "Left-Hand Path" belief systems. In Western esotericism the Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path are the dichotomy between two opposing approaches to magic. This terminology is used in various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious black magic or black shamanism, while the Right-Hand Path with benevolent white magic.
The logo for the Theosophical Society brought together various ancient symbols Blavatsky was the leading theoretician of the Theosophical Society, responsible for establishing its "doctrinal basis". The ideas expounded in her published texts provide the basis from which the Society and wider Theosophical movement emerged. Blavatsky's Theosophical ideas were a form of occultism. She subscribed to the anti-Christian current of thought within Western esotericism which emphasized the idea of an ancient and universal "occult science" that should be revived.
In 1854, after Gabriele's death, Frances burned the remaining copies of her husband's book:The Mystery of the Platonic Love of the Middle Ages, a work of about 1500 pages divided into 5 volumes. It contained a history of the various currents of Western esotericism, which was printed in a limited run of one hundred copies in 1840. Due to its controversial content, it was not widely distributed upon its release. Some copies were saved because Gabriele had given them as gifts.
Marlan obtained a B.A. from Bard College and master's degrees in both Asian philosophy (University of Hawaii, 1968) and in psychology (New School for Social Research, now New School University, 1970). He later attended Duquesne University, obtaining a doctorate in clinical psychology in 1980 and a further doctorate in philosophy from Duquesne in 2014. Marlan's interests in philosophy include mainstream academic Continental European philosophy as well as various religious and spiritual traditions (both Eastern and Western). Esotericism, alchemy, and dreams are among Marlan's special interests.
Through her affiliation with the Society for the Study of Orthopsychics, she gave a series of lectures that were later published in 1922 as The Machinery of the Mind. While working at the clinic, she developed her interest in esotericism by attending lunchtime lectures organised by the Theosophical Society and reading some of the organisation's literature. With her interest in occultism increasing, Fortune became increasingly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of psychotherapy. After the United Kingdom entered the First World War, Fortune joined the Women's Land Army.
Other than popular Western astrology, there is also a school of thought regarding Germanic Runic Astrology and its usage in divination within the northern tradition of Odinism. The work of Friedrich Bernhard Marby was continued by Rudolf Arnold Spieth, who also published one of his works posthumously.Eduard Gugenberger: Friedrich Bernhard Marby A revival of Neopaganism in Germany and Austria began in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, mainstream esotericism in German-speaking Europe has been dominated by generic New Age syncretism as it developed in the United States.
In 1910, the Masonic Association of the Grand Orient of the Russian People's began to emerge among these Lodges. It was marked by a move away from the esotericism inherent in the basic Three Degrees in Freemasonry and an embrace of political activism. The Grand Orient of France in Russia stopped operations at this time because 37 of its 94 members had joined the new Russian Grand Orient as it became openly a separate organisation in 1912. The organisation severed relations with foreign masonic organisations.
Still living in his parents' home, he began dressing in unconventional and flamboyant garb, and became popular with other students at the college, with a particularly strong friendship developing between Spare and Sylvia Pankhurst, a prominent Suffragette and leftist campaigner.Baker 2011. pp. 20-21. Rejecting Christianity and developing an interest in western esotericism, he read several books on Theosophy by Madame Blavatsky, namely Isis Unveiled, and wanting to explore the topic further, he also read the works of prominent occultists Cornelius Agrippa and Eliphas Levi.
Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the Qur'an, play drums or whirl in groups, all according to their specific traditions. They practice meditation, as is the case with most of the Sufi orders in South Asia, many of whom owe allegiance to, or were influenced by, the Chishti order. Each fraternity uses its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of which may be rather severe. The form of Sufi dervishism practised during the 17th century was centered upon esotericism, patience and pacifism.
It is now said that Yates founded a paradigm, or gave out a grand narrative. In those terms, a so-called Yates paradigm (sometimes Yates Thesis), her work is contested freely. This is a view that Wouter Hanegraaff has put forth, starting with Yates as the scholar first to treat Renaissance hermeticism, integrated with Rosicrucianism, as a coherent aspect of European culture. He has stated it as an attractive paradox, the autonomous esotericism helping give birth to the scientific mentality that will be dismissive of its parent.
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Crowley rejected his parents' fundamentalist Christian Plymouth Brethren faith to pursue an interest in Western esotericism.
The first direction is that of the so-called cultured proletarian artists who were decimated by misery and phthisis and as a result, were prey to despair and skepticism, in which symbolism was the evil of the turn of the century. In this case, the artist appealed to the occultism, esotericism and all kinds of bizarreness. The second direction was that of artists who had no material deficiencies. Their symbolism was one without anxieties, turmoil or drama, and they lived their lives without worries.
Two Chilean artists gave him a Spanish language translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a text purporting to expose this alleged international Jewish conspiracy. According to the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, it was this discovery of the Protocols which "marked a crucial point in the development of Serrano's Nazism". From November 1941, he began printing excerpts from the Protocols in La Nueva Edad. Serrano also developed an interest in forms of religious or spiritual practice, including both Western esotericism and Hinduism.
During his studies he became a member of the Wettina Freiburg, later the Singererschaft Rhenania Frankfurt.Harald Lönnecker: Between Esotericism and Science - the Circles of the "Volkish Germanenkundler" Wilhelm Teudt. Frankfurt am Main 2004, (PDF) In 1920, his doctorate in musicology at the University of Freiburg was completed with the work Grundzüge einer Geschichte der Fuge.Grundzüge einer Geschichte der Fuge on WorldCat In 1922, he got his habilitation and qualified at the University of Königsberg and became director of the musicological seminar and academic music director in Königsberg.
In 2010, Davis began pursuing a PhD in Religious Studies at Rice University in their Gnosticism, Esotericism and Mysticism program. He has taught courses at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Rice University, Pacifica, and CIIS. Davis has appeared in a number of documentaries about technology and countercultural topics, including DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Electronic Awakening, and The Source Family. Along with Maja D’Aoust, he hosts a weekly podcast devoted to the “cultures of consciousness” called Expanding Mind, which is part of the Progressive Radio Network.
Christine Labroche describes Éric Humberclaude's style as "sometimes complex or poetically elliptical and of dense prose complicated by the very dense notes provided at the foot of the page, almost a work in itself", and specifies that "it is clearly aimed at a cultured public who holds certain keys in advance and who takes an intellectual pleasure in the relative esotericism but sought out purpose." She notes that "one nevertheless feels in filigree a permanent conviction, a sincerity without fault and a completely refreshing commitment ".
Joseph Wu remarked of this conception of the Tao, "Dao is not religiously available; nor is it even religiously relevant." The writings of Lao Tzu and Chang Tzu are tinged with esoteric tones and approach humanism and naturalism as paradoxes. In contrast to the esotericism typically found in religious systems, the Tao is not transcendent to the self nor is mystical attainment an escape from the world in philosophical Taoism. The self steeped in the Tao is the self grounded in its place within the natural Universe.
Corpus Hermeticum I, III, IV, VI, VIII, XI, XII, XIII. 2017. and written several collections of poems.One of Myatt's collection of poems is mentioned by former White House speech- writer Ben Coes in his novel Power Down, He has also developed a mystical philosophy which he calls both The Numinous WaySenholt, Jacob C: Political Esotericism & the convergence of Radical Islam, Satanism and National Socialism in the Order of the Nine Angles. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Conference: Satanism in the Modern World, November 2009.
An idealised portrait of Jakob Böhme Christian theosophy, also known as Boehmian theosophy and theosophy, refers to a range of positions within Christianity which focus on the attainment of direct, unmediated knowledge of the nature of divinity and the origin and purpose of the universe. They have been characterized as mystical philosophies. Theosophy is considered part of Western esotericism, which believes that hidden knowledge or wisdom from the ancient past offers a path to enlightenment and salvation. Christian theosophy belongs essentially to the Judeo-Christian tradition.
However, the term "theosophy" was still "practically absent" throughout the entire eighteenth century in dictionaries and encyclopedias, where it only appeared more and more frequently beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century. Theosophers themselves used the word theosophy sparingly, at least up until the middle of the nineteenth century. Johann Jakob Brucker (1696–1770) included a long chapter on theosophy in his monumental work (1741). He included theosophers alongside other currents in esotericism in what was then a standard reference in the history of philosophy.
Further development of the faith in the later phases is not yet seen at the site. Later phases of Mahayana and Vajrayana esotericism were seen in the neighbouring territories of Bihar and Bengal. An interesting feature of the stupa complex is that in the 9th-10th century A.D., when the area was pre- occupied by the followers of Hindu pantheons, attempts were made to carve Siva Lingas along with Younipith and channel spout on fallen boulders. Altogether half a dozen Siva Lingas exist there .
DeConick is a historian of early Jewish and Christian thought. Her work focuses on New Testament and pre-Nicene literature, non- canonical gospels, gnostic literature and movements, mysticism and esotericism in early Christianity, new religious movements past and present, the biosocial study of religion, and a theoretical point of view called post-constructivism. She is known also for her original work on the Gospel of Judas, a Coptic Gnostic gospel rediscovered in 2006. Her work has been called "revisionist," challenging to seek answers beyond the conventional.
Watkins Books in Cecil Court Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop specializing in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality. The book store was established by John M. Watkins, a friend of Madame Blavatsky, in 1897 at 26 Charing Cross. John Watkins had already been selling books via a catalogue which he began publishing in March 1893.Watkins Review, Issue 24, June 2010 The first biography of Aleister Crowley recounts a story of Crowley making all of the books in Watkins magically disappear and reappear.
The Museum has a collection of more than 25.000 books on Hermetica, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, mysticism, gnosis, Western esotericism and religious studies. Other collection areas within the library cover sufism, kabbalah, anthroposophy, freemasonry and grail. The library owns c. 4500 manuscripts and printed books before 1900 and more than 20.000 books (primary and secondary sources) printed after 1900. In the collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica are located: Corpus Hermeticum, published in 1503 and printed on parchment, Robert Fludd’s Utriusque cosmi historia, published in 1617.
They believed that the old ways of life on earth were coming to an end, and that a new perfect kingdom on earth was about to be realized. They also practiced forms of Esoteric Christianity, Mysticism (Christian mysticism), and Rapp often spoke of the virgin spirit or Goddess named Sophia in his writings.Arthur Versluis, "Western Esotericism and The Harmony Society", Esoterica I (1999) p. 20–47. Michigan State University Rapp was very influenced by the writings of Jakob Böhme, Philipp Jakob Spener, and Emanuel Swedenborg, among others.
The Primordial Tradition is a school of religious philosophy which holds its origins in perennialism, or perennial philosophy, which is in turn a development of the prisca theologia of the Middle Ages.Antoine Faivre and Karen-Claire Voss, Western Esotericism and the Science of Religions, in Numen, Vol. 42 (E. J. Brill, Leiden 1995) 50-51 The Primordial Tradition seeks to establish a fundamental origin of religious belief in all authentic religious teachings, adhering to the principle that universal truths are a cross- cultural phenomenon and transcendent of their respective traditions, mythologies, and religious beliefs.
The project does not use computer-based software synthesizers or drum machines, preferring analog synthesizers, samplers, scrap metal percussion, field recordings, traditional acoustic instruments, as well as various analog and digital hardware effects. Post Scriptvm albums explore subjects including mental illness, altered states of mind, social disintegration, western esotericism, and apocalyptic religious cults. The project draws inspiration from the art and literary movements of the early 20th century, particularly Russian Futurism. Many compositions and lyrics are based on the poetry of Russian Futurists like Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aleksei Kruchenykh, and Bozhidar.
By her teenage years she was living in England's West Country, where she wrote two books of poetry. After time spent at a horticultural college she began studying psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London before working as a counsellor in a psychotherapy clinic. During the First World War she joined the Women's Land Army and established a company selling soy milk products. She became interested in esotericism through the teachings of the Theosophical Society, before joining an occult lodge led by Theodore Moriarty and then the Alpha et Omega occult organisation.
Leo Martello (September 26, 1930 – June 29, 2000) was an American Wiccan priest, gay rights activist, and author. He was a founding member of the Strega Tradition, a form of the modern Pagan new religious movement of Wicca which drew upon his own Italian heritage. During his lifetime he published a number of books on such esoteric subjects as Wicca, astrology, and tarot reading. Born to a working-class Italian American family in Dudley, Massachusetts, he was raised Roman Catholic although became interested in esotericism as a teenager.
Study of the concept was introduced by Sir James George Frazer in his influential book The Golden Bough (1890–1915); sacral kingship plays a role in Romanticism and Esotericism (e.g. Julius Evola) and some currents of Neopaganism (Theodism). The school of Pan- Babylonianism derived much of the religion described in the Hebrew Bible from cults of sacral kingship in ancient Babylonia. The so-called British and Scandinavian cult-historical schools maintained that the king personified a god and stood at the center of the national or tribal religion.
300px The Armanen runes (or Armanen Futharkh) are a series of 18 runes, closely based on the historical Younger Futhark, introduced by Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List in his Das Geheimnis der Runen (English: "The Secret of the Runes"), published as a periodical article in 1906, and as a standalone publication in 1908. The name Armanen runes associates the runes with the postulated Armanen, whom von List saw as ancient Aryan priest-kings. The Armanen runes continue in use today in esotericism and in currents of Germanic neopaganism.
French-born Greek-English writer Savitri Devi was the first major post-war exponent of what has since become known as Esoteric Hitlerism.See her "Hitlerian Esotericism and the Tradition". According to that ideology, subsequent to the fall of the Third Reich and Hitler's suicide at the end of the war, Hitler himself could be deified. Devi connected Hitler's Aryanist ideology to that of the pan-Hindu part of the Indian independence movement,See her "Hitlerism and Hindudom", originally published as "Hitlerism and the Hindu World" in The National Socialist, no.
The Temple of the Rose Cross, Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618. In Highcliffe, Gardner came across a building describing itself as the "First Rosicrucian Theatre in England". Having an interest in Rosicrucianism, a prominent magico-religious tradition within Western esotericism, Gardner decided to attend one of the plays performed by the group; in August 1939, Gardner took his wife to a theatrical performance based on the life of Pythagoras. An amateur thespian, she hated the performance, thinking the quality of both actors and script terrible, and she refused to go again.
The Baopuzi's Inner and Outer Chapters discuss miscellaneous topics ranging from esotericism to social philosophy. The Inner Chapters discuss techniques to achieve hsien "immortality; transcendence", Chinese alchemy, meditation, Tao yin ("Taoist yoga"), Chinese herbology, demons and other spiritual creatures, and fu "magic talismans". The Outer Chapters discuss Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Legalism, government, politics, literature, scholarship, and include Ge's autobiography, which Waley (1930:10) called "the fullest document of this kind that early China produced". According to Ge Hong's autobiography, he divided the Inner and Outer Chapters on the distinction between Taoism and Confucianism.
However, he also argued for its importance as a genuine new religious movement. The work was first presented as "The Triumph of the Moon" by Hutton, at the Centre For Pagan Studies in 1995The Centre For Pagan Studies. The Triumph of the Moon was well received in both academia and the mainstream press. Various academics working in the fields of Pagan studies, the history of western esotericism and the history of magic have praised it as an influential study that helped to legitimise the historical investigation of alternate and occult religious movements.
With the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason, Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism. Through these non-Jewish associations with magic, alchemy and divination, Kabbalah acquired some popular occult connotations forbidden within Judaism, where Jewish theurgic Practical Kabbalah was a minor, permitted tradition restricted for a few elite. Today, many publications on Kabbalah belong to the non-Jewish New Age and occult traditions of Cabala, rather than giving an accurate picture of Judaic Kabbalah.The Jewish Religion: A Companion, Louis Jacobs, Oxford University Press 1995.
In 1880 Narendra joined Keshab Chandra Sen's Nava Vidhan, which was established by Sen after meeting Ramakrishna and reconverting from Christianity to Hinduism. Narendra became a member of a Freemasonry lodge "at some point before 1884" and of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his twenties, a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore. From 1881 to 1884, he was also active in Sen's Band of Hope, which tried to discourage youths from smoking and drinking. It was in this cultic milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism.
Inspired by the popularity of media reports and books in France about the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in the West Bank, they hoped this same theme would attract attention to their parchments.Jean-Luc Chaumeil (Goeroe of speculative freemason), Rennes-le-Château – Gisors – Le Testament du Prieuré de Sion. Le Crépuscule d’une Ténébreuse Affaire, Éditions Pégase, 2006. Their version of the parchments was intended to prove Plantard's claims about the Priory of Sion being a medieval society that was the source of the "underground stream" of esotericism in Europe.
Kaplan considered the ONA to be "an important source of Satanic ideology/theology" for "the occultist fringe of National Socialism", namely neo-Nazi groups like the Black Order. The group gained increased attention following the growth in public interest in Myatt's impact on terrorist groups during the War on Terror in the 2000s. The historian of esotericism Dave Evans stated that the ONA were "worthy of an entire PhD thesis", while Senholt expressed the view that it would be "potentially dangerous to ignore these fanatics, however limited their numbers might be".
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.
"Chagat" is an acronym for "Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet" (kindness, severity, beauty), the Kabbalistic terms for the three primary emotions. While all Hasidism have a certain focus on the emotions, Chagat saw emotions as a reaction to physical stimuli, such as dancing singing or beauty. Shneur Zalman, on the other hand, taught that the emotions must be led by the mind, and thus the focus of Chabad thought was to be Torah study and prayer rather than esotericism and song. As a Talmudist, Shneur Zalman endeavored to place Kabbalah and Hasidism on a rational basis.
The Accord is the online quarterly periodical of the corporation, and contains a wide range of articles by members.The American Religions Collection, Nontraditional American Religions: Western Esotericism from Witchcraft to the New Age, Part 1: Witchcraft, Paganism and Magick, microfilm reels 14 and 15 download In the past The Accord was a medium quality magazine periodical with national distribution, but printing costs and the expenses of land ownership have caused CMA to move to a paperless, online publication, which may be read on the corporation's website www.magickal-arts.org. .pdf format.
David V. Barrett is a British sociologist of religion who has widely written on topics pertaining to new religious movements and western esotericism. He is also a regular contributor to The Independent, Fortean Times, and the Catholic Herald.The New Believers, back flap The backflap of one of his books claims he was an intelligence analyst for the UK Government Communications Headquarters and the United States' government's National Security Agency prior to his career as a writer. He is a regular book critic and his critiques have appeared in Literary Review, New Scientist, and others.
The Waterboys' lyrics show influences from different spiritual traditions. The first is the romantic Neopaganism and esotericism of authors such as Yeats and Dion Fortune, which can be observed in the repeated references to the ancient Greek deity Pan in both "The Pan Within" and "The Return of Pan". Pan was also featured on the album art for Room to Roam. "Medicine Bow", a song from the recording sessions for This Is the Sea, refers to Native American spirituality in its use of the word "medicine" to mean spiritual power.
The preface to the Polygraphia equally establishes, the everyday practicability of cryptography was conceived by Trithemius as a "secular consequent of the ability of a soul specially empowered by God to reach, by magical means, from earth to Heaven".Brann, Noel L., "Trithemius, Johannes", in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, ed. Wouter J. Hanegraff (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 1135-1139. Robert Hooke suggested in the chapter Of Dr. Dee's Book of Spirits, that John Dee made use of Trithemian steganography, to conceal his communication with Queen Elizabeth I.
For scholars, 'esoteric' indicates only that the unwritten doctrines were intended for a circle of philosophy students inside Plato's school (in Greek, 'esoteric' literally means 'inside the walls'). Presumably they had the necessary preparation and had already studied Plato's published doctrines, especially his Theory of Forms, which is called his 'exoteric doctrine' ('exoteric' means 'outside the walls' or perhaps 'for public consumption').For a general discussion of esotericism in ancient philosophy, see W. Burkert, Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), pp. 19, 179 ff.
Runes are popular in Germanic neopaganism, and to a lesser extent in other forms of Neopaganism and New Age esotericism. Various systems of Runic divination have been published since the 1980s, notably by Ralph Blum (1982), Stephen Flowers (1984, onward), Stephan Grundy (1990), and Nigel Pennick (1995). The Uthark theory originally was proposed as a scholarly hypothesis by Sigurd Agrell in 1932. In 2002, Swedish esotericist Thomas Karlsson popularized this "Uthark" runic row, which he refers to as, the "night side of the runes", in the context of modern occultism.
Black Funeral is an American black metal band from Houston, Texas, United States, formed in 1993 by Michael W. Ford, also known outside the black metal environment as an industrial music musician and occultism/esotericism author. They played a few live shows after being signed to their record label, Behemoth Productions. An exclusive song appeared on the A Tribute to Hell - Satanic Rites compilation CD released by Full Moon Productions. Baron Nachttoter professes to practice black magic, and has released CDs with live recorded speeches, dark ambient music and live rituals.
Several take place in an alternate history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature. Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
Chai seen in Jewitchery The notion of historical Israelite or Jewish polytheism was popularized in the United States during the 1960s by Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess, focusing on the cult of female goddesses such as the cult of Asherah in Solomon's Temple. During the growth of Neopaganism in the United States throughout the 1970s, a number of minor Canaanite or Israelite oriented groups emerged. Most contained syncretistic elements from Western esotericism. Forms of witchcraft religions inspired by the Semitic milieu, such as Jewitchery, may also be enclosed within the Semitic neopagan movement.
Samuel Weiser had begun publishing in the mid-1950s, and through the late 1950s produced a small number of books under the Occult Research Press imprint before starting to publish under his own name. The development of the 1960s "counter-culture," and the growth of popular interest in esotericism and Eastern religious and mystical traditions, allowed Ben and Donald Weiser to expand the company's publishing activities. They recruited many contemporary authors, such as Israel Regardie, who were customers. The shop's stock also provided them with rare and out-of-print books that they could reprint.
He grew up in Penarth, south Wales and attended the University College of Wales, Swansea. He has also lived in London and then in rural California and now lives in Cadoxton, Vale of Glamorgan with his wife. He also runs the Bardic Press, publishers of Hafiz, Omar Khayyam, Early Christianity, Celtic Mythology, Fourth Way , is the editor of the magazine The Gnostic: A Journal of Gnosticism, Western Esotericism and Spirituality . He has been interviewed several times about his writing, by Fortean Times in March 2010, by Zany Mystic, by Spinx Radio.
Fears over sets of beliefs similar to the Heresy of the Free Spirit have recurred at various points in Christian history. Fears over esotericism and antinomianism, such as were detected in the Heresy of the Free Spirit, may be detected in the early Church's response to Gnosticism. Fears of suspect forms of prayer were particularly apparent in reactions to the fourth and fifth century Messalianism. What was perhaps novel in the fears of the Heresy of the Free Spirit was the fear of the notion of personal annihilation.
Some traditions in Western esotericism and parapsychology interested Schopenhauer and influenced his philosophical theories. He praised animal magnetism as evidence for the reality of magic in his On the Will in Nature, and went so far as to accept the division of magic into left-hand and right-hand magic, although he doubted the existence of demons. Schopenhauer grounded magic in the Will and claimed all forms of magical transformation depended on the human Will, not on ritual. This theory notably parallels Aleister Crowley's system of magick and its emphasis on human will.
Crowley has remained an influential figure, both amongst occultists and in popular culture, particularly that of Britain, but also of other parts of the world. In 2002, a BBC poll placed Crowley seventy- third in a list of the 100 Greatest Britons. Richard Cavendish has written of him that "In native talent, penetrating intelligence and determination, Aleister Crowley was the best-equipped magician to emerge since the seventeenth century." The scholar of esotericism Egil Asprem described him as "one of the most well-known figures in modern occultism".
Henri Descremps was the son of Jean Descremps (also spelled Decremps), a notary public in Figeac and Marie Taillade. He studied mathematics and earned a license in Law. While his father wanted him to become a priest, Henri preferred a secular career as a diplomat, and served as a secretary at the French embassy in London before returning to Paris in 1783. He studied Western esotericism and stage magic, developing some skills that he used to publish in 1783 his book La Magie blanche dévoilée (White Magic Revealed).
The esotericism of Phileas Lebesgue is only poetic as that of his friend Oscar Milosz . In 1911, he joined the French Celtic League, created by the poet Robert Pelletier, to refute the "lies" of the Latin character of France. He agrees to be the « Grand Druide des Gaules », the spiritual authority of the Collège bardique des Gaules founded in 1933 by poet and publisher of music, Jacques Heugel, association that terminates in 1939. He was already in Breton bard who received the second prize of L'Hermine in 1892.
Instead, the tradition of Meditative Kabbalah has similarity of aim, if not form, with usual traditions of general mysticism; to unite the individual intuitively with God. The tradition of theurgic Practical Kabbalah in Judaism, censored and restricted by mainstream Jewish Kabbalists, has similarities with non- Jewish Hermetic Qabalah magical Western Esotericism. However, as understood by Jewish Kabbalists, it is censored and forgotten in contemporary times because without the requisite purity and holy motive, it would degenerate into impure and forbidden magic. Consequently, it has formed a minor tradition in Jewish mystical history.
39, 105 Spangler has often been miscast as a new-age channeler due in part to the "transmissions" received while living at the intentional community at Findhorn, Scotland in the 1970s, which became the core of his first book Revelation: The Birth of a New Age.ibid pp.38-9 In hindsight it can be seen that Spangler's ideas were at that time transitional between the earlier theosophical esotericism represented by Alice Bailey and an emerging worldview that is more postmodern, less obscure, and less metaphysical than theosophy.ibid p.
The preface to the Polygraphia establishes the everyday practicability of Trithemian cryptography as a "secular consequent of the ability of a soul specially empowered by God to reach, by magical means, from earth to Heaven".Brann, Noel L., "Trithemius, Johannes", in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, ed. Wouter J. Hanegraff (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 1135-1139. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote the influential Three Books of Occult Philosophy, incorporating Kabbalah in its theory and practice of Western magic.
Indeed, the emergence of both modern esotericism and socialism in July Monarchy France have been inherently intertwined. Another feature of occultists is that—unlike earlier esotericists—they often openly distanced themselves from Christianity, in some cases (like that of Crowley) even adopting explicitly anti-Christian stances. This reflected how pervasive the influence of secularisation had been on all areas of European society. In rejecting Christianity, these occultists sometimes turned towards pre- Christian belief systems and embraced forms of Modern Paganism, while others instead took influence from the religions of Asia, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
It strives for independence and self-sufficiency with minimal environmental impact, practices ovo-lacto vegetarianism, and encourages free love while tolerating stable relationships. Separate men's and women's discussion groups meet weekly. Children are raised as a group by several women; some children are schooled privately by members of the tribe in a house across the border in Austria (as home schooling is not possible in Germany). Several of the group's activities are related to esotericism, and a self-description states "our foremost goal is the perception and understanding of reality and its expression in vibrancy".
She did not keep a diary at the time, and was not accompanied by relatives who could verify her activities. Thus, historian of esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke noted that public knowledge of these travels rests upon "her own largely uncorroborated accounts", which are marred by being "occasionally conflicting in their chronology". For religious studies scholar Bruce F. Campbell, there was "no reliable account" for the next 25 years of her life. According to biographer Peter Washington, at this point "myth and reality begin to merge seamlessly in Blavatsky's biography".
The Temple of Set is an occult initiatory order founded in 1975. A new religious movement and form of Western esotericism, the Temple espouses a religion known as Setianism, whose practitioners are called Setians. This is sometimes identified as a form of Satanism, although this term is not often embraced by Setians and is contested by some academics. The Temple was established in the United States in 1975 by Michael Aquino, an American political scientist, military officer, and a high-ranking member of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan.
Returning to Britain after his mother's recovery, William and his parents moved into a flat in East Park Terrace in Southampton. Due to problems in the couple's relationship, Christine and John slept in different bedrooms and William shared with his father, with whom he had a strained relationship.Richardson and Claridge 2003. pp. 33–34. Because the family struggled with financial problems, Christine worked as a professional fortune teller and William shared his mother's interest in western esotericism, reading books on metaphysics and psychology from the local library.Richardson and Claridge 2003. pp. 35–38.
During the Renaissance, use of the term diverged to refer to gnostic knowledge that offers the individual enlightenment and salvation through a knowledge of the bonds that are believed to unite her or him to the world of divine or intermediary spirits. Christian theosophy arose in Germany in the 16th century. Inspired to a considerable extent by the works of Paracelsus (1493–1541). The term had not yet reached a settled meaning, however, as the mid-16th century Theosophia by Johannes Arboreus provided a lengthy exposition that included no mention of esotericism.
Online This society was renamed in 1785 as "The British Society for the Propagation of the Doctrines of the New Church", consisting of Swedenborgian based beliefs. In France, Denis Diderot gave the word ' more attention than other encyclopedias of this period by including an article on it in his Encyclopédie, published during the French Enlightenment. The article dealt mostly with Paracelsus and essentially plagiarized Brucker's "Historia". Groups such as the Martinist Order founded by Papus in 1891, followed the theosophical current closely linked to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition and Western esotericism.
The ORC scale of the rituals, have however been reformed, to first purge them of most of the Masonic style, and has incorporated more Christian elements, and older teachings, more specifically from the original doctrine of St Martin, and the Russian legacy he left behind him. The inner circle of ORC is continuously writing new material, based upon their studies and experience of attainment. We are very loyal to the teachings and symbolic language of our founding Fathers and the Past Masters, and do not incorporate other branches of esotericism not related to Martinism.
Subsequently, he supplied rituals for the Second Order. The rituals were based on the tradition of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz, and a Vault of Adepts became the controlling force behind the Outer Order.King, 1989, page 44 Later in 1916, Westcott claimed that Mathers also constructed these rituals from materials he received from Frater Lux ex Tenebris, a purported Continental Adept.King, 1989, page 46 Some followers of the Golden Dawn tradition believe that the Secret Chiefs were not human or supernatural beings, but rather symbolic representations of actual or legendary sources of spiritual esotericism.
As a speculative theory, Neoplatonism had received its highest development from Plotinus. The modifications introduced by lamblichus were the detailed elaboration of its formal divisions, the more systematic application of the Pythagorean number-symbolism, and, under the influence of Oriental systems, a thoroughly mythical interpretation of what Neoplatonism had formerly regarded as notional. Unlike Plotinus who broke from Platonic tradition and asserted an undescended soul, Iamblichus re-affirmed the soul's embodiment in matter, believing matter to be as divine as the rest of the cosmos.Shaw, Gregory, 'Neoplatonism I: Antiquity', in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, ed.
The idea of the Primordial Tradition was well received by both practitioners and the academic community, and its development was actively endorsed by the International Conference of Religions in Chicago, 1893Antoine Faivre and Karen-Claire Voss, Western Esotericism and the Science of Religions, in Numen, Vol. 42 (E. J. Brill, Leiden 1995) 56 The Primordial Tradition does not elevate any tradition or religion above another and instead upholds the truth claims of all authentic religions and spiritual movements. Adherents of the Primordial Tradition can be found in any religious system such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity or Islam.
According to Richardson, Fortune fell into "relative obscurity" after her death, having been overshadowed by her more famous contemporary, Aleister Crowley. The historian of esotericism Dave Evans agreed, stating that Fortune had been "somewhat less" influential than Crowley. Hutton nevertheless considered her to be the "foremost female figure" of early 20th century British occultism, while historian Alex Owen referred to her as "one of the most significant clairvoyants and occultists of the postwar period". Similarly, Knight termed her "one of the leading occultists of her generation", and the anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann referred to her as "one of the most influential twentieth-century magicians".
This rejection included denouncing the views of Ibn Arabi. Secondly he said that the view that spiritual enlightenment is of a greater importance than obeying the sharia was a failure to properly follow the example of Muhammad. On Ibn Arabi, and Sufism in general, Henri Laoust says that Ibn Taymiyyah never condemned Sufism in itself, but only that which he considered to be, inadmissible deviations in doctrine, ritual or morals, such as monism, antinomianism or esotericism. Scholar Arjan Post, in the introduction to the edition and English translation of Risālat al-sulūk (Epistle on the Spiritual Way) by al-Baʿlabakkī (d.
127 They resemble humans in many regards, their subtle matter being the only main difference. But it is this very nature that enables them to change their shape, move quickly, fly, and entering human bodies, cause epilepsy and illness, hence the temptation for humans to make them allies by means of magical practices.Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Jeffrey Kripal Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism BRILL, 16 Oct 2008 pp. 50-55 Unlike the jinn in Islamic belief and folklore, jinn in Middle Eastern folktales, depicted as magical creatures, are unlike the former, generally considered to be fictional.
Wilfred Talbot Smith (born Frank Wenham; 8 June 1885 – 27 April 1957) was an English occultist and ceremonial magician known as a prominent advocate of the religion of Thelema. Living most of his life in North America, he played a key role in propagating Thelema across the continent. Born the illegitimate son of a domestic servant and her employer in Tonbridge, Kent, Smith migrated to Canada in 1907, where he went through a variety of jobs and began reading about Western esotericism. Through Charles Stansfeld Jones he was introduced to the writings of Thelema's founder, Aleister Crowley.
Waite was a prolific author and many of his works were well received in the esoteric circles of his time, but his lack of academic training is visible in his limitations as a historian and in his belittling of other authors. He wrote occult texts on subjects including divination, esotericism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic, Kabbalism and alchemy; he also translated and reissued several mystical and alchemical works. He wrote about the Holy Grail, influenced by his friendship with Arthur Machen.Waite, A. E., Shadows of Life and Thought: A Retrospective Review in the Form of Memoirs, London: Selwyn and Blount, 1938Gilbert, 1987.
In the much shorter Addled Parliament of 1614, Backhouse was nominated to another nine committees, but again remained a silent MP. After the Addled Parliament, Backhoue did not seek reelection, and soon returned to Swallowfield. He became a shareholder in the New River Company in 1619, engaged in a minor familial dispute around the Swallowfield church, and possibly cultivated associates interested in esotericism. After his death in 1626, Backhouse's lands passed to his eldest son John, and subsequently to his youngest, William. Only William had progeny, and in turn, William's only child to not predecease him—Flower—died childless, thus ending Backhouse's line.
The Treatise on the Left Emanation is a Kabbalistic text by Rabbi Isaac ha- Kohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260–1280.Arthur Versluis, Magic and Mysticism: an Introduction to Western Esotericism (2007) p. 65: "We must also note the appearance, in the thirteenth century, of the "Treatise on the Left Emanation" by Isaac ha-Kohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260-1280" Isaac may be the pseudepigraphic author of other texts including the Pseudo-R. Eleazar Responsum, and the Pseudo-R.
The painting was placed in the studio of the oldest of the Nabi painters, Paul-Élie Ranson, age twenty- four, at 25, boulevard du Montparnasse, which was humorously called "The Temple" by the Nabis. It was Ranson who gave the painting the name The Talisman, and he hung it on the wall during the weekly semi-serious ceremonies of the group. Brice Ameille, pg. 18-19 Sérusier was active in the Nabis in the beginning, but in about 1895 he began to turn toward the doctrine of esotericism, and the mystical theories of Father Desiderius Lenz.
William Patrick Roache was born in the Basford suburb of Nottingham on 25 April 1932, the son of Hester Vera (née Waddicor) and Joseph William Vincent Roache. He grew up in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, where he attended a Steiner school set up by his grandfather in the family's garden."Spiritual soap star William Roache to give talk in city", Peterborough Today, 25 February 2006; retrieved 7 June 2008. His grandfather was a Freemason who was interested in such things as theosophy, esotericism, hypnotism, spiritualism, and homoeopathy, as well as the teachings of philosopher and educationalist Rudolf Steiner.
The Journal for the Academic Study of Magic (JSM) was the journal of the Society for the Academic Study of Magic (SASM), a multidisciplinary group formed in 2002 by Alison Butler and Dave Evans of the University of Bristol. The group was composed of scholars studying all aspects of magic and esotericism. Published annually by Mandrake of Oxford, JSM ran for five issues, from 2003 to 2008. It contained topical articles, news, and book reviews, and is indexed and/or abstracted in several scholarly databases, including Academic Search Complete, Biography Index, Social Sciences Abstracts, Social Sciences Index, and Social Sciences Full Text.
In later years, she made appearances in art-house films created by John Chamberlain and Chick Strand. Rarely remaining in one place for long, during the 1950s and 1960s she lived in Joshua Tree, San Francisco and Santa Fe. In 1955, she gave birth to a daughter, Crystal Eve Kimmel. Although intermittent health problems prevented her from working, her art and poetry resulted in several exhibitions. From the late 1970s until her death from cancer in 1995, Cameron lived in a bungalow in West Hollywood, where she raised her daughter and grandchildren, pursued her interests in esotericism, and produced artwork and poetry.
Each issue usually included reviews of a dozen current books on topics of interest to Gnosis readers.Lumen Foundation website Although it was written for a general readership, Wouter Hanegraaff, professor of history of hermetic philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, has observed that it "contributed considerably to the setting of academic standards in a field where university chairs or curricula devoted to Western esotericism were still absent, and which at the time [in the 1980s and 1990s] was still dominated by sensationalism and plain ignorance."Hanegraaff, Wouter J. "Kabbalah and Gnosis Magazine: 1985-1999". In Boaz Huss, ed.
" In 1985, René Deroudille said that Le Coultre "takes us to passionate, unknown, far-away lands..." and went on: "With allusions to the deep, warm colors of stained glass, her colors announce their dominance..., scarlet shades with numerous, subtle modulations. Painting becomes a spiritual exercise, and participates in the deep universe of the collective unconscious, as explored and expressed by the poet." Jean-Jacques Lerrant, writing for the catalog of the Salon du Sud-Est exhibition, said, "What an itinerary! Born of Cubist rationality, tinged by Gleizes' esotericism, Andrée Le Coultre turns to flora, fauna, castles of dreams... Nothing has been in vain.
De Guaita came from a noble Italian family who had relocated to France, and as such his title was 'Marquis', or Marquess. He was born in the castle of Alteville in the commune of Tarquimpol, Moselle, and went to school at the lyceum in Nancy, where he studied chemistry, metaphysics and Cabala. As a young man, he moved to Paris, and his luxurious apartment became a meeting place for poets, artists, and writers who were interested in esotericism and mysticism. In the 1880s, Guaita published two collections of poetry The Dark Muse (1883) and The Mystic Rose (1885), which became popular.
The statutes state that Kilwinning was the head and second lodge in Scotland. This seems to relate to the fact that Kilwinning claimed precedence as the first lodge in Scotland, but that in Schaw's scheme of things, the Edinburgh Lodge would be most important followed by Kilwinning and then Stirling. David Stevenson argues that the Second Schaw statutes dealt with the response from within the craft to his first statutes, whereby various traditions were mobilised against his innovations, particularly from Kilwinning.Stevenson, p48- 49 The reference to the art of memory may be taken as a direct reference to renaissance esotericism.
Founded in 1936 by Rafig Tullou, Morvan Marchal, and Francis Bayer du Kern, Kredenn Geltiek Hollvedel grew out of the Breton Federalist Movement as an attempt to reassert ancient Celtic religious beliefs. The group's explicit anti-Catholic and Neopagan ideology distinguished it from the existing non-religious Gorsedd of Brittany, from which it emerged as a splinter group. Morvan Marchal was the group's first "Arch-Druid." They mixed readings of the Bhagavad Gita and the maxims of Lao Tsu with Celtic traditions to create an Indo-European esotericism as a basis for the re-creation of druidic worship.
A portrait of Paul Brunton Paul Brunton is the pen name of Raphael Hurst (21 October 1898 – 27 July 1981), a British author of spiritual books. He is best known as one of the early popularizers of Neo-Hindu spiritualism in western esotericism, notably via his bestselling A Search in Secret India (1934) which has been translated into over 20 languages. Brunton was a proponent of a doctrine of "Mentalism", or Oriental Mentalism to distinguish it from subjective idealism of the western tradition. Brunton expounds his doctrine of Mentalism in The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga (1941, new ed.
While all schools of Hasidism have a certain focus on the emotions, Chagat saw emotions as a reaction to physical stimuli, such as dancing, singing, or beauty. Shneur Zalman, on the other hand, taught that the emotions must be led by the mind, and thus the focus of Chabad thought was to be Torah study and prayer rather than esotericism and song. As a Talmudist, Shneur Zalman endeavored to place Kabbalah and Hasidism on a rational basis. In Tanya, he defines his approach as moach shalit al halev (Hebrew: מוח שליט על הלב, "the brain ruling the heart").
Deceased persons are usually believed to go to a specific region or plane of existence in this afterworld, often depending on the rightness of their actions during life. Some believe the afterlife includes some form of preparation for the soul to transfer to another body (reincarnation). The major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics. There are those who are skeptical of the existence of the afterlife, or believe that it is absolutely impossible, such as the materialist-reductionists, who believe that the topic is supernatural, therefore does not really exist or is unknowable.
Born in Bologna, Giordano Berti grew up in Monghidoro, a town of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. After obtaining his college diploma he went on to study history and philosophy at University of Bologna and shortly thereafter started his career of editor and writer.DONINI, Domenico, Giordano Berti: un artista poliedrico, in IMAGO, catalog of the exhibit at Museo della Grafica, Brisighella, June 1985, p.5-6. Berti is an established and prolific author of many books about different subjects, such as History of Esotericism (magic, divination, witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, heresies, gnosticism, heaven and hell, angels and devils) in his relationship with Art.
Soloveitchik emphasizes halakha's "this-worldly, here-and-now grounding", as opposed to religious approaches that focus on the nature of the transcendent realm. This work argues that Jewish piety does not, therefore, fit familiar models of Western religiosity, and presents a phenomenology of this religious type. Here, "Halakhic man", as a result of his study of Torah and his observance of the commandments, develops a set of coherent attitudes towards intellectual activity, asceticism, death, esotericism, mysticism, creativity, repentance, and providence. He also underscores the necessity for individual self-creation as the divinely assigned task of the human being.
According to scholar Nevill Drury, the New Age has a "tangible history", although Hanegraaff expressed the view that most New Agers were "surprisingly ignorant about the actual historical roots of their beliefs". Similarly, Hammer thought that "source amnesia" was a "building block of a New Age worldview", with New Agers typically adopting ideas with no awareness of where those ideas originated. As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age has antecedents that stretch back to southern Europe in Late Antiquity. Following the Age of Enlightenment in 18th century Europe, new esoteric ideas developed in response to the development of scientific rationality.
In December 1967, the band completed their Hangman's Beautiful Daughter album at Sound Techniques in Chelsea, London. For the ISB's developments, they attempted to recreate as vividly as possible a live performance of their compositions. Lyrically, the compositions reflected upon past themes of life, mythology, and religious properties in a free musical structure, esotericism becoming a consistent anchor in their recordings.Adrian Whittaker (ed.), Be Glad: The Incredible String Band Compendium, 2003, The album features a series of vividly dreamlike Robin Williamson songs, such as "The Minotaur's Song", a surreal music-hall parody sung from the point of view of the mythical beast.
In various cases, certain occultists did both. Another characteristic of these occultists was the emphasis that they placed on "the spiritual realization of the individual", an idea that would strongly influence the twentieth-century New Age and Human Potential Movement. This spiritual realization was encouraged both through traditional Western 'occult sciences' like alchemy and ceremonial magic, but by the start of the twentieth century had also begun to include practices drawn from non-Western contexts, such as yoga. Although occultism is distinguished from earlier forms of esotericism, many occultists have also been involved in older esoteric currents.
Worship ceremony led by the priests of the Ukrainian organisation General Fire of Slavic Native Faith. Koliada Viatichey (Russian: Коляда Вятичей) is a Rodnover faction that emerged in 1998 through the union of the Viatichi group founded by Nikolay Speransky (volkhv Velimir) in 1995, which comprised well-educated Moscow intellectuals, and the Koliada community. Koliada Viatichey refutes any non-Slavic influence in their religion, including the label "Vedic" and Vedic literature, influences from Eastern religions, influences from Roerichism and esotericism, and also the Book of Veles. The movement also rejects extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic ideas.
The generally-accepted flag of the Moorish Orthodox Church of America. The Moorish Orthodox Church of America is a syncretic, non-exclusive, and religious anarchist movement espousing a vast array of liturgical and devotional traditions laid over a theology that includes teachings gleaned from Moorish Science, the Five Percenters, the Episcopi vagantes movement, Nizari Islam, Sufism (particularly from the Sufi Order Ināyati, Shadhili, Alevi-Bektashi and Uwaisi traditions), and varying degrees of Theosophical mysticism, Hermeticism, Oriental Orthodoxy, the League for Spiritual Discovery, Western esotericism, Neoplatonism, the teachings of Noel Ignatiev, Tantra, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, and Vedanta teachings.
A number of spiritual sexual rites and practices were either allegedly rediscovered or created during this period. Crowley wrote in his work De Arte Magica that eroto-comatose lucidity is also called the "sleep of Siloam" and both Allen Greenfield and Newcomb note that this rite preceded Crowley.Greenfield, The Roots of Modern Magick: Glimpses of the Authentic Tradition From 1700-2000, An Anthology, 2006. They point out that Paschal Beverly Randolph ("arguably the single most important figure in the rise of modern sexual magic")Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism, 2006, p. xi.
"Once of twice" he briefly met the infamous ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), founder of the religion of Thelema and a pariah figure in the British press. An old friend and magical partner of Neuburg's, Crowley made Christine feel uneasy; she later told her son that Crowley was "not a very nice man" and burned the signed copy of his book 777 that he gave her.Richardson and Claridge 2003. p. 47. By the age of 14, Gray was intent on finding a magical teacher from whom he could learn more about Western esotericism and the practice of ceremonial magic.
Although there are many differences between Christian theosophy and the Theosophical movement begun by Helena Blavatsky, the differences "are not important enough to cause an insurmountable barrier"."Modern theosophy retains its western Hermetic motive, logic and end.... The continuities are greater than the differences." Handbook of the Theosophical Current , Olav Hammer, Mikael Rothstein, Brill, 2013 Theosophists like Blavatsky and W.Q. Judge wrote about Jakob Böhme's philosophy.Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism by A. Faivre. 28.“Theosophical Articles”, William Q. Judge, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1980, volume I, p. 271. The title of the article is “Jacob Boehme and the Secret Doctrine”.
Anita Singh, Wolf Hall a turn-off as a million viewers switch over, The Daily Telegraph, 29 January 2015 Simon Schama stated concerns about how the series depicted historical figures. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker cited "small weaknesses", but wrote "the show’s deliberately paced six hours turn out to be riveting, precisely because they are committed, without apology or, often, much explanation, to the esotericism of their subject matter." The lighting design, which utilized historically accurate natural light sources (such as candlelight for evening scenes) prompted criticism from viewers who felt parts of the series were presented too dark.
He noted that most of these works treated Theosophical doctrine as if it were a fixed entity and provided little or no discussion of how they have changed over the decades. Many articles on the historical development of the movement have also appeared in the journal Theosophical History. Many early scholars of religion dismissed Theosophy as being not worthy of study; Mircea Eliade for instance described Theosophy as a "detestable 'spiritual' hybridism". The academic study of the Theosophical current developed at the intersection of two scholarly sub-fields: the study of new religious movements, which emerged in the 1970s, and the study of Western esotericism.
He lectured at Hebrew University (1994-1996) and Tel Aviv University (1995-1996) before coming to the Goldstein-Goren department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University; he has chaired the department in 2010-2012. He has received several research grants, including two 4-year grants from the Israel Science Foundation on the subjects of "Major Trends in 20th Century Kabbalah" (2005) and "Kabbalah and the Theosophical Society (1875-1936)". Huss is a Board member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, and has served on the editorial boards of the Zohar Education Project in Chicago and the International Journal for the Study of New Religions.
Troy Southgate (born 22 July 1965) is a British far-right political activist and a self-described national-anarchist. He has been affiliated with far-right and fascist groups, such as National Front and International Third Position, and is the founder and editor-in-chief of Black Front Press. Southgate's movement has been described as working to "exploit a burgeoning counter culture of industrial heavy metal music, paganism, esotericism, occultism and Satanism that, it believes, holds the key to the spiritual reinvigoration of western society ready for an essentially Evolian revolt against the culturally and racially enervating forces of American global capitalism."Graham D. Macklin.
In German esotericism after 1945, List's Armanen runes became somewhat detached from its völkisch associations and became part of general "pansophical" or eclectic occultism, notably due to the publications by Karl Spiesberger. During the New Age boom of the 1980s, the Armanen runes may well have been more popularly known in Germany than the historical runes."The personal force of List and that of his extensive and influential Armanen Orden was able to shape the runic theories of German magicians...from that time to the present day. [...] the Armanen system of runes...by 1955 had become almost 'traditional' in German circles" Flowers 1984: 15-16.
Oswald Wirth Joseph Paul Oswald Wirth (1860, Brienz, Canton of Bern - 1943) was a Swiss occultist, artist and author. He studied esotericism and symbolism with Stanislas de Guaita and in 1889 he created, under the guidance of de Guaita, a cartomantic Tarot consisting only of the twenty-two major arcana. Known as "Les 22 Arcanes du Tarot Kabbalistique", it followed the designs of the Tarot de Marseille closely but introduced several alterations, incorporating extant occult symbolism into the cards. The Wirth/de Guaita deck is significant in the history of the tarot for being the first in a long line of occult, cartomantic, and initiatory decks.
Van Dyck's Arabic translation of the Old Testament uses the alternative collective plural "jann" (Arab:الجان); translation:al-jānn) to render the Hebrew word usually translated into English as "familiar spirit" (אוב , Strong #0178) in several places (Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 1 Samuel 28:3,7,9, 1 Chronicles 10:13). Some scholars evaluated whether the jinn might be compared to fallen angels in Christian traditions. Comparable to Augustine's descriptions of fallen angels as ethereal, jinn seem to be considered as the same substance. Although the fallen angels is not absent in the Quran,Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Jeffrey Kripal Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism BRILL, 16.10.
The Arbatel was one of the most influential works of its kind from its period, inspiring figures such as Johann Arndt, Gerhard Dorn, Adam Haslmayr, Robert Fludd, Heinrich Khunrath and Valentin Weigel, in addition to its editor and publisher, Zwinger and Perna. It was possibly the first work to use "Theosophy" in an occult sense (as opposed to a synonym for theology),Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism; by Antoine Faivre, SUNY Press, 17 Feb 2000, p.12 and for distinguishing between human ("anthroposophia") and divine knowledge ("theosophia"). Indeed, Jakob Böhme may have chosen the word "Theosophy" to describe his ideas due to its use in the Arbatel.
Several elements of Nazism were quasi-religious in nature. The cult around Hitler as the Führer, the "huge congregations, banners, sacred flames, processions, a style of popular and radical preaching, prayers-and- responses, memorials and funeral marches" have been described by historians of Esotericism such as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke as "essential props for the cult of race and nation, the mission of Aryan Germany and her victory over her enemies."Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity, p.1. These different religious aspects of Nazism have led some scholars to consider Nazism, like communism, to be a kind of political religion.
Landscape mythology and anthropology of landscape (Landschaftsmythologie, Landschaftsethnologie) are terms for a field of study advocated since about 1990 by Kurt Derungs (born 1962 in St. Gallen, Switzerland). Derungs describes the field as an interdisciplinary approach to landscape combining archaeology, ethnology and mythology. Derungs interprets landscape features in terms of "totemism, shamanism and matriarchal mythology", claiming that his approach qualifies as neither esotericism nor as positivism but as a "sound alternative" to both. His interpretations are strongly influenced by the hypothesis of a matriarchal structure of society and a cult of the Great Goddess in Neolithic Europe, and he associates megalithic monuments and elements of traditional fairy tales with these ideas.
Biologist Ernst Haeckel's suggestion in 1870 that Lemuria could be the ancestral home of mankind caused the theory to move beyond the scope of geology and zoogeography and into the realm of the contemporary issue of the origin of man, ensuring the theory's popularity outside of the framework of the scientific community. Occultist and founder of theosophy Helena Blavatsky, at the end of the 19th century, placed Lemuria in the system of her mystical-religious doctrine, claiming that this continent was the homeland of the human ancestors - the Lemurians. The writings of Blavatsky had a significant impact on Western esotericism, popularizing the myth of Lemuria and its mystical inhabitants.
Josimčević is one of the editors, who compiled the complete works of Isidora Sekulić, first edited by Stylos publishing Novi Sad from 2001-2004, she is translator of works by Mario Vargas Llosa, Samael Aun Weor, Carlos Fuentes, Pío Baroja, Manuel Scorza, Reinaldo Arenas and Rómulo Gallegos as well as the History of Latin American Literature (Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana) by Gerardo Mario Goloboff and Juan Octavio Prenz into Serbian. Josimčević's work is influenced by spiritualism, mysticism, esotericism, symbolism and Magic realism.Biography in: Ko je ko u Srbiji '96: biografski leksikon, Bibliofon, Belgrade 1996 (WBIS), retrieved 2018-11-14.Biography, Metaphysica publishing, retrieved 2018-11-14.
The Catholic Church originated the phrase "Church Militant and Church Triumphant" to refer to Christians in Heaven. In 1895, Mary Baker Eddy used the terms "universal" and "triumphant" in her first Church Manual as referring to the church she founded. In the 1903 edition of this work, she capitalized these terms, referring to her church as the "Church Universal and Triumphant". In 1919 Alice A. Bailey, in what some students of esotericism view as a reference to the future organization, prophesied that the religion of the New Age would appear by the end of the 20th century and it would be called the Church Universal.
As the group has gained notoriety and public attention, many have asserted that the puzzles are an introduction to occult principles, and possibly even recruitment for a cult. Tim Dailey, a senior research fellow with the conservative Christian Family Research Council, analyzed the teachings of Cicada 3301, and stated, "The enigmatic Cicada 3301 appears to be drawing participants inexorably into the dark web of the occult à la Blavatsky and Crowley. At the heart of the enchantment is the counterfeit promise of ultimate meaning through self- divination." Others have claimed that the Cicada 3301 puzzles are a modern and technological equivalent to the enlightenment journey within Western esotericism and Mystery schools.
Odin the Wanderer (1896) by Georg von Rosen List promoted a religion termed "Wotanism", which he saw as the exoteric, outer form of pre-Christian Germanic religion, while "Armanism" was the term he applied to what he believed were the esoteric, secret teachings of this ancient belief system. He believed that while Wotanism expounded polytheism for the wider population, those who were members of the Armanist elite were aware of the reality of monotheism. List's Armanism would later be classified as a form of "Ariosophy", a term which was coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915. Goodrick-Clarke considered List's ideas to be a "unique amalgam of nationalist mythology and esotericism".
Both the explicit ideological opponents of Blavatsky's doctrine and the Western esotericism scholars who claim for objectivity are equally interested in separating modern Theosophy from the classical one. For example, according to Nikolai Berdyaev, "contemporary 'theosophical' movements" corrupted the beautiful word 'Theosophy' and "have made us forget" the existence of a genuine "Christian theosophy". He believed that modern Theosophy does not represent a synthesis of religion, philosophy and science, as its adherents say, but there is a "mixture" of them, in which there is no real religion, no real philosophy, no real science. In professor Antoine Faivre's opinion, that what Blavatsky called "Theosophy" was in fact only her own doctrine.
Early modern European esotericism drew heavily on the teachings of Pythagoras. The German humanist scholar Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) synthesized Pythagoreanism with Christian theology and Jewish Kabbalah, arguing that Kabbalah and Pythagoreanism were both inspired by Mosaic tradition and that Pythagoras was therefore a kabbalist. In his dialogue De verbo mirifico (1494), Reuchlin compared the Pythagorean tetractys to the ineffable divine name YHWH, ascribing each of the four letters of the tetragrammaton a symbolic meaning according to Pythagorean mystical teachings. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's popular and influential three-volume treatise De Occulta Philosophia cites Pythagoras as a "religious magi" and indicates that Pythagoras's mystical numerology operates on a supercelestial level.
Islamic and European alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued antiquity's belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including cyphers and cryptic symbolism. Their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology, and religion.Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Cambridge University Press: 2012), Alchemy between Science and Religion, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite criticisms by scholars such as Holmyard and von Franz.
Also in Britain, an occultist known as Amado Crowley claimed to be Crowley's son; this has been refuted by academic investigation. Amado argued that Thelema was a false religion created by Crowley to hide his true esoteric teachings, which Amado claimed to be propagating. Several Western esoteric traditions other than Thelema were also influenced by Crowley, with Djurdjevic observing that "Crowley's influence on twentieth-century and contemporary esotericism has been enormous". Gerald Gardner, founder of Gardnerian Wicca, made use of much of Crowley's published material when composing the Gardnerian ritual liturgy, and the Australian witch Rosaleen Norton was also heavily influenced by Crowley's ideas.
In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics. Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by God, or other divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life. In contrast, in systems of reincarnation, such as those in the Indian religions, the nature of the continued existence is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the ended life.
Several biographers, including Lawrence Sutin, Richard Kaczynski, and Tobias Churton, believed that this was the result of Crowley's first same-sex sexual experience, which enabled him to recognise his bisexuality. At Cambridge, Crowley maintained a vigorous sex life with women—largely with female prostitutes, from one of whom he caught syphilis—but eventually he took part in same-sex activities, despite their illegality. In October 1897, Crowley met Herbert Charles Pollitt, president of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, and the two entered into a relationship. They broke apart because Pollitt did not share Crowley's increasing interest in Western esotericism, a break-up that Crowley would regret for many years.
They are traditionally believed to have spiritual power, which can lead to enlightenment as well as supramundane abilities (siddhis).Gray, David (2007), The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of Sri Heruka): Śrīherukābhidhāna: A Study and Annotated Translation (Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences), p. 132. According to Indologist Alex Wayman, Buddhist esotericism is centered on what is known as "the three mysteries" or "secrets": the tantric adept affiliates his body, speech, and mind with the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha through mudra, mantras and samadhi respectively.Wayman, Alex; Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra: The arcane lore of forty verses : a Buddhist Tantra commentary, 1977, page 63.
This situation repeated itself in later years, when Macedonski and his Forța Morală magazine began campaigning against the Junimist dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, whom they falsely accused of plagiarism. During World War I, the poet aggravated his critics by supporting the Central Powers against Romania's alliance with the Entente side. His biography was also marked by an enduring interest in esotericism, numerous attempts to become recognized as an inventor, and an enthusiasm for cycling. The scion of a political and aristocratic family, the poet was the son of General Alexandru Macedonski, who served as Defense Minister, and the grandson of 1821 rebel Dimitrie Macedonski.
A modern strand of thought sees "nondual consciousness" as a universal psychological state, which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions. It is derived from Neo-Vedanta and neo-Advaita, but has historical roots in neo-Platonism, Western esotericism, and Perennialism. The idea of nondual consciousness as "the central essence" is a universalistic and perennialist idea, which is part of a modern mutual exchange and synthesis of ideas between western spiritual and esoteric traditions and Asian religious revival and reform movements. Central elements in the western traditions are Neo- Platonism, which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation c.q.
Vivekananda's acquaintance with western esotericism made him very successful in western esoteric circles, beginning with his speech in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions. Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought. In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which was instrumental in the spread of Neo-Vedanta in the west, and attracted people like Alan Watts. Aldous Huxley, author of The Perennial Philosophy, was associated with another neo-Vedanta organisation, the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda.
Conversely, both Heelas and Sutcliffe rejected this categorisation; Heelas believed that while elements of the New Age represented NRMs, this did not apply to every New Age group. Similarly, Chryssides stated that the New Age could not be seen as "a religion" in itself. The New Age is also a form of Western esotericism. Hanegraaff regarded the New Age as a form of "popular culture criticism", in that it represented a reaction against the dominant Western values of Judeo- Christian religion and rationalism, adding that "New Age religion formulates such criticism not at random, but falls back on" the ideas of earlier Western esoteric groups.
In April 1996 a larger conference dealing with contemporary Paganism took place at Ambleside in the Lake District. Organised by the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster, North-West England, it was entitled "Nature Religion Today: Western Paganism, Shamanism and Esotericism in the 1990s", and led to the publication of an academic anthology, entitled Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World. In 2004, the first peer-reviewed, academic journal devoted to Pagan studies began publication. The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies was edited by Clifton, while the academic publishers AltaMira Press began release of the Pagan Studies Series.
Largely self-educated, she developed an interest in Western esotericism during her teenage years. According to her later claims, in 1849 she embarked on a series of world travels, visiting Europe, the Americas, and India. She also claimed that during this period she encountered a group of spiritual adepts, the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", who sent her to Shigatse, Tibet, where they trained her to develop a deeper understanding of the synthesis of religion, philosophy and science. Both contemporary critics and later biographers have argued that some or all of these foreign visits were fictitious, and that she spent this period in Europe.
In 1973, the publishing company Robert Hale brought out Valiente's second book, An ABC of Witchcraft, in which she provided an encyclopaedic overview of various topics related to Wicca and esotericism. In 1975, Hale published Valiente's Natural Magic, a discussion of what she believed to be the magical usages and associations of the weather, stones, plants, and other elements of the natural world. In 1978 Hale then published Witchcraft for Tomorrow, in which Valiente proclaimed her belief that Wicca was ideal for the dawning Age of Aquarius and espoused James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. It also explained to the reader how they could initiate themselves into Wicca and establish their own coven.
Leadbeater remains well-known and influential in New Age circles for his many works based on his clairvoyant investigations of life, including such books as Outline of Theosophy, Astral Plane, Devachanic Plane, The Chakras and Man, Visible and Invisible dealing with, respectively, the basic principles of theosophy, the two higher worlds humanity passes through after "death", the chakra system, and the human aura. His writings on the sacraments and Christian esotericism remain popular, with a constant stream of new editions and translations of his magnum opus The Science of the Sacraments. His liturgy book is still used by many Liberal and Independent Catholic Churches across the world.
Blavatsky claimed that she had made physical contact with these adepts' earthly representatives in Tibet; but also, that she continued to receive teachings from them through psychic channels, through her abilities of spirit mediumship.Hutton, R. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford, 2000; ), p. 19 Ideas about this secret council of sages, under several names, were a widely shared feature of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century esotericism. Arthur Edward Waite, in his 1898 Book of Black Magic and of Pacts, hinted at the existence of a secret group of initiates who dispense truth and wisdom to the worthy.
The tradition associated with a group of texts known as the Buddhist Tantras, known as Vajrayana, developed by the eighth century in North India. By this time Tantra was a key feature of Indian Buddhism, and Indian Tantric scholars developed philosophical defenses, hermeneutics and explanations of the Buddhist tantric systems, especially through commentaries on key tantras such as the Guhyasamāja Tantra and the Guhyagarbha Tantra. While the view of the Vajrayana was based on Madhyamaka, Yogacara and Buddha- nature theories,Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, 2013, page 3.Snellgrove, David. (1987) Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan successors. pp 125.
In this regard, the activities of Oleg Maltsev were analyzed by the Italian sociologist of religions Massimo Introvigne, his colleagues from CESNUR and the Belgian human rights organization Human Rights Without Frontiers. They concluded that his organization was not a new religious movement, but a group of followers of the Hungarian psychoanalyst Léopold Szondi and researchers of European mysticism. Although Maltsev deny that his teachings are part of "esotericism", professor of sociology PierLuigi Zoccatelli concluded that they are included in the larger notion of the "esoteric paradigm". In 2017, Maltsev authored a book entitled Non-compromised Pendulum on boxing trainer Cus DAmato and his methods.
Christ is at once arrested as a heretic by the Grand Inquisitor. The legend, or "poem", is created by the character Ivan Karamazov, a materialist and an atheist, who tells it to his younger brother Alyosha, an immature Christian mystic." According to Brendan French, a researcher in esotericism, "it is highly significant" that [exactly 8 years after her publication of "The Grand Inquisitor"] Blavatsky declared Dostoevsky to be "a theosophical writer." In her article about the approach of a new era in both society and literature, called "The Tidal Wave", she wrote: > "[The root of evil lies, therefore, in a moral, not in a physical cause.
The logo for the Theosophical Society brought together various ancient symbols Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late nineteenth century. It was founded primarily by the Russian immigrant Helena Blavatsky and draws its beliefs predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism, it draws upon both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. As presented by Blavatsky, Theosophy teaches that there is an ancient and secretive brotherhood of spiritual adepts known as the Masters, who—although found across the world—are centered in Tibet.
Titled "Nature Religion Today: Western Paganism, Shamanism and Esotericism in the 1990s", it led to the publication of an academic anthology, Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World.Pearson, Roberts and Samuel 1998. p. 1. In that anthology, some of the conference's organisers described its original intentions, remarking that through it they "sought to explore the innovations in practice and belief which constitute contemporary Paganism, and which appear to be a part of a widespread cultural response to the decay of main- line religions and to a widely felt awareness of ecological crisis." That same year saw the beginnings of The Pomegranate, which would later be transformed into a peer-reviewed academic journal, which first appeared in 2004.
According to this story, when she first visited him at his lodgings in Jermyn Street, he was suffering from an asthma attack, and having had experience with this ailment from a family member she was able to help him, earning his gratitude. They subsequently went to the expensive Café Royal in Regent Street, where after their lunch, he revealed that he was unable to pay, leaving Montalban to sort out payment. Although her own accounts of the initial meeting are unreliable, Montalban met with Crowley, embracing the city's occult scene. Having a deep interest in western esotericism, she read widely on the subject, and taught herself the practice of magic rather than seeking out the instruction of a teacher.
His initial beliefs were shaped by Brahmo concepts, which included belief in a formless God and the deprecation of idolatry, and a "streamlined, rationalized, monotheistic theology strongly coloured by a selective and modernistic reading of the Upanisads and of the Vedanta." Rammohan Roy, the founder of the Brahmo Samaj who was strongly influenced by unitarianism, strove towards a universalistic interpretation of Hinduism. His ideas were "altered [...] considerably" by Debendranath Tagore, who had a romantic approach to the development of these new doctrines, and questioned central Hindu beliefs like reincarnation and karma, and rejected the authority of the Vedas. Tagore also brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Sen.
After 1910 Tillyard and the children remained in Cambridge. During the war and thereafter Tillyard claimed to experience unwanted and sometimes unwelcome visits from dead persons known to or hitherto unknown by her; these included members of her family, former members of the Society for Psychical Research, Rupert Brooke and Roger Casement. Already under strain because of Constantine's infidelities and Tillyard's moral and religious obsessions, the Grahams' marriage broke down irretrievably following her brief but influential foray into esotericism under the guidance of occultist Aleister Crowley in 1913. Her compulsion to reveal marital discord and her own extramarital relationships in anthologies published in 1910, 1913 and 1916 also contributed to the failure of her marriage.
Nevertheless, a public controversy was revived in the context of 1930s Nazi occultism, and the book is still occasionally brought up in esotericism and Atlantis literature. The manuscript's author is not known with certainty, hence it is unknown whether the intention was to produce a pseudepigraphical hoax, a parody or simply an exercise in poetic fantasy. Historian Goffe Jensma published a monograph on the manuscript in 2004, De gemaskerde god (The Masked God), including a new translation and a discussion of the history of its reception. Jensma concludes that it was probably intended as a "hoax to fool some nationalist Frisians and orthodox Christians", as well as an "experiential exemplary exercise" by Dutch theologian and poet François Haverschmidt.
Blackmore's other principal occult interests include the Zos Kia Cultus, English Qabala, the art and magic of Austin Osman Spare and of Rosaleen Norton, Western Hermeticism, and astroarchaeology. Some of Blackmore's magical essays are available as chapbooks under his own imprint, Hawk's Head Press. An experienced ritualist, Blackmore has written columns on Magick and the occult (with poet, Reclaiming (Neopaganism) witch and activist Margaret (Margi) Curtis) – "Arts of the Craft" (2005) for Spellcraft magazine and "Black Cauldron" (2008–2009) for Black: Australia's Dark Culture magazine (Brimstone Press). He regularly lectures in the Illawarra NSW on Western esotericism, including (often with Curtis) running workshops and "Mystery Circle" discussion groups, and also at Campbelltown's Meditation Space.
Genuine religious freedom, asserts Bhaskararaya in his commentary on Tripura Upanishad, is achievable only with autonomy and realization of one's nature. The text is considered, in Shakta tradition, to be rooted in Rigveda hymns, with Rig hymn 5.47.4 considered as a form of Srividya, the most important mantra in many Shakti traditions. However, this claim of Rig Vedic roots has been controversial, and is disputed as an esoteric interpretation, by mainstream orthodox traditions of Hindu philosophy, states Brooks.Hugh Urban (1997), Elitism and Esotericism: Strategies of Secrecy and Power in South Indian Tantra and French Freemasonry, Journal: Numen, Volume 44, Issue 1, pages 1 – 38 The text introduces goddess Tripura in verses 1 through 5 as supreme Shakti.
" On the other hand, Alvin Kuhn, being a supporter of Christ myth theory, stated that esotericism "hung up midway" between recognizing the Gospels as documents of early Christian history or treating them as an allegory. He wrote that Blavatsky contributed to this "anomalous" situation: arguing in one place that "Christ— the true esoteric Saviour—is no man, but the Divine Principle in every human being," she in another place supports a thesis about the real existence of the Jewish Adept Jesus. Kuhn proclaimed: "The matter of the existence or non-existence of a certain man in human history is not dual in nature. Either Jesus, the Gospel Figure, was a person in human body, or he was not.
The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935 is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick- Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria between 1880 and 1945. The foreword is by Rohan Butler, who had written The Roots of National Socialism in the 1930s. The book is based on Goodrick-Clarke's 1982 Ph.D. thesis The ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890-1935: Reactionary political fantasy in relation to social anxiety. This book has been continually in print since its first publication in 1985, and has been translated into twelve languages, including Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Russian, Czech, German and Greek.
Atomwaffen Division (AWD) or simply Atomwaffen is a neo-Nazi organization based in Florida that promotes former American Nazi Party and National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) member convict James Mason's Siege and "Universal Order" ideology as well as race war against minorities, Jews, and LGBT people. Atomwaffen also draws influence from Nazi esotericism and the occult. The group has about 80 full members and a "large" amount of initiates and 20 cells across 23 states in America. The organization also has a United Kingdom branch called the Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD), a Baltic branch called Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), a presence in Canada by a group called Northern Order and one located in Germany.
Camacho's works, with their claw-like forms laden with ossuaries, borrowed their harsh themes from novels by Sade and Bataille. Camacho discovered esotericism with René Alleau, who exhibited his works in a show titled The Dance of Death, in 1976, at Galerie de Seine, writing, "It is essentially the Caput mortuum in its application, hence the emblematic importance of the skull in all his paintings." Camacho was also fascinated with ornithology, which led to two exhibitions: History of Birds, an exhibition of paintings at Galerie Maeght, and an exhibition of his photos at Galerie Mathias Fels. Many of his paintings are haunted by the ibijau, a bird he observed on a trip to Venezuela.
Corpus Hermeticum: first Latin edition, by Marsilio Ficino, 1471 CE. The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica was founded in 1957 by Joost Ritman, opened to the public in 1984, and is not linked to any public organisation or library. The Bibliotheca co-operates with international libraries and organizations, such as the Russian Rudomino Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow, the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, and the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. To date, the library holds more than 23,000 volumes on hermetica, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, mysticism, gnosis, esotericism and comparative religion, and has great scientific and artistic value. Other areas of the collection are Sufism, Kabbalah, anthroposophy, Freemasonry, Judaica and the Grail.
Under the influence of the revered teacher Gershom Scholem, he was attracted towards Jewish mysticism. He received his doctorate in 1964 under the guidance of Isaiah Tishby, his thesis titled The Speculative Basis of the Ethical Teachings of Chassidei Ashkenaz.Hebrew: "הבסיס העיוני לתורת המוסר של חסידות אשכנז" Having written more than 60 books, he published recently the first three volumes of a project titled "Toledot Torat Hasod Ha'ivrit" ("History of Hebraic Mysticism and Esotericism", Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem), which he describes as "an attempt by one individual to write the entire history of Jewish mysticism: not some executive summary, but rather a full-blown academic survey abridgment for executives but with academic detail".
Aleister Crowley's rendition of the Unicursal Hexagram, the symbol of Thelema Crowley's belief system, Thelema, has been described by scholars as a religion, and more specifically as both a new religious movement, and as a "magico-religious doctrine". It has also been characterised as a form of esotericism and modern Paganism. Although holding The Book of the Law—which was composed in 1904—as its central text, Thelema took shape as a complete system in the years after 1904. In his autobiography, Crowley claimed that his purpose in life had been to "bring oriental wisdom to Europe and to restore paganism in a purer form", although what he meant by "paganism" was unclear.
While working on Dallas, McCloskey found himself dissatisfied with mainstream success and began exploring painting and writing as a means of creative fulfillment. His work as a visual artist explores religion, mythology, philosophy, esotericism and human consciousness, and reflects his deep study of Hermeticism, Alchemy and Kabbalah. Inspired by his study with astrologer and teacher Edwin Charles Steinbrecher, McCloskey designed his own pen-drawn black-and-white Tarot, known as Tarot ReVisioned'. McCloskey giving a tour of The Hieroglyph of the Human Soul McCloskey's most notable accomplishment as a visual artist is generally considered to be The Hieroglyph of the Human Soul, an installation work painted on the walls of his personal library.
Wisdom Tradition is a synonym for Perennialism, the idea that there is a perennial or mystic inner core to all religious or spiritual traditions, without the trappings, doctrinal literalism, sectarianism, and power structures that are associated with institutionalized religion. The Wisdom Tradition provides a conceptual framework for the development of the inner self, living a spiritual life, and the realization of enlightenment or of union with God. Ken Wilber frequently uses the term in the plural in his own books, shadowing the theologian Huston Smith who popularized the usage. In this context it can be considered synonymous with esotericism, but does not have the faintly Western/Middle Eastern/theosophical nuances that are sometimes associated with the latter term.
NichoIas PurceII, "On the Sacking of Corinth and Carthage", in Ethics and Rhetoric: CIassicaI Essays for DonaId RusseII on His Seventy (Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 140–142. The caIIing forth of spirits was a reIativeIy practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric systems of antiquity. In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is frequentIy seen as the cIassicaI exampIe of this idea. ManuaIs such as the Greater Key of Solomon the King, The Lesser Key of Solomon (or Lemegeton), the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and many others provided instructions that combined intense devotion to the divine with the summoning of a personaI cadre of spirituaI advisers and familiars.
Seal design with the word Mahāmudrā ("great seal") in 'Phags-pa script Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit; , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable".Duff, Tony, Gampopa's Mahamudra, p. vii, ix Mahāmudrā is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism." The name also refers to a body of teachings representing the culmination of all the practices of the Sarma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who believe it to be the quintessential message of all of their sacred texts.
In 1853, the Freemasonic author Jean-Marie Ragon had already used occultisme in his popular work Maçonnerie occulte, relating it to earlier practices that, since the Renaissance, had been termed "occult sciences" or "occult philosophy"—but also to the recent socialist teachings of Charles Fourier. Lévi was familiar with that work and might have borrowed the term from there. In any case, Lévi also claimed to be a representative of an older tradition of occult science or occult philosophy. It was from his usage of the term occultisme that it gained wider usage; according to Faivre, Lévi was "the principal exponent of esotericism in Europe and the United States" at that time.
Eventually, Smith starts a Martian-influenced "Church of All Worlds", combining elements of the Fosterite cult (especially the sexual aspects) with Western esotericism, whose members learn the Martian language and thus acquire the ability to truly "grok" the nature of reality, granting them psychokinesis. The church is eventually besieged by Fosterites for practicing "blasphemy", and the church building is destroyed, but unknown to the public, Smith's followers teleport to safety. Smith is arrested by the police, but escapes and returns to his followers, later explaining to Jubal that his gigantic fortune has been bequeathed to the Church. With that wealth and their new abilities, Church members will be able to reorganize human societies and cultures.
List died on 17 May 1919, a few months before Adolf Hitler joined a minor Bavarian political party and formed it into the NSDAP. After the Nazis had come to power, several advocates of Armanism fell victim to the suppression of esotericism in Nazi Germany. The main reason for the persecution of occultists was the Nazi policy of systematically closing down esoteric organisations (although Germanic paganism was still practised by some Nazis on an individual basis), but the instigator in certain cases was Himmler's personal occultist, Karl Maria Wiligut. Wiligut identified the monotheistic religion of Irminism as the true ancestral belief, claiming that Guido von List's Wotanism and runic row constituted a schismatic false religion .
Textual evidence for historical Slavic religion is scant, has been produced by Christian writers hostile to the systems being described and is usually open to multiple interpretations. In developing Slavic Native Faith, practitioners draw upon the primary sources about the historical religion of Slavic peoples, as well as elements drawn from later Slavic folklore, official and popular Christian belief and from non-Slavic societies. Among these foreign influences have been beliefs and practices drawn from Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Germanic Heathenry, Siberian shamanism, as well as ideas drawn from various forms of esotericism. Other influences include documents like the Book of Veles, which claim to be genuine accounts of historical Slavic religion but which academics recognise as later compositions.
The Doctrine of Synthesis is a term Aun Weor used to describe the teachings he delivered through his books and lectures, because it purportedly elucidates and coherently syncretizes an extensive variety of teachings which study the human condition.Antoine Faivre Access to Western Esotericism, p. 104, Suny Press, 1994 Although many of the metaphysical concepts expounded by such authors as Blavatsky, Steiner, and Gurdjieff provide a conceptual foundation in Aun Weor's teachings, he considered these works and movements conceptual preparation for the real unveiling of occultism or gnosis that he taught. His primary goal was not to simply elucidate myriad metaphysical concepts, but rather to teach the way to achieve self-realization through the "Direct Path of Christ".
Blavatsky's Theosophy redirected the interest in Spiritualism toward a more coherent doctrine that included cosmology with theory of evolution in an understanding of humanity's spiritual development. Further, it took the traditional sources of Western esotericism and globalized them by restating many of their ideas in terminology adopted from Asian religions. Blavatsky's Theosophy was able to appeal to women by de-emphasizing the importance of gender and allowing them to take on spiritual leadership equal to that of men, thus allowing them a greater role than that permitted in traditional Christianity. Since its inception, and through doctrinal assimilation or divergence, Theosophy has also given rise to or influenced the development of other mystical, philosophical, and religious movements.
It was she who developed the three principles that came to be central to the Pagan Front's interpretation of their religion: adherence to the Wiccan Rede, a belief in reincarnation, and a sense of kinship with nature. In April 1972 her husband Casimiro died; he had never taken an interest in Wicca or esotericism and Valiente later claimed that theirs had been an unhappy relationship. Newly widowed, she soon had to move as the local council decided that her home was unfit for human habitation; she was relocated into council accommodation in the mid-1960s tower block of Tyson Place in Grosvenor Square, Brighton. Her flat was described by visitors as cramped, being filled with thousands of books.
The Temple of Set is a new religious movement, and draws upon earlier forms of Western esotericism. Among academic scholars of religious studies, there has been some debate as to whether the Temple of Set can be characterized as "Satanism" or not. The religious studies scholars Asbjorn Dyrendal, Massimo Introvigne, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen describe the Temple of Set as a Satanic group, despite its reluctance to use the term "Satanism", because of it is an offshoot of the Church of Satan which continues to use satanic mythology. Conversely, the scholar Kennet Granholm argued that it should not be considered a form of Satanism because it does not place an emphasis on the figure of Satan.
The group used the Celtic Cross as their symbol, which may come from an initiation to Celtic esotericism Pierre Sidos received in prison (1946–48) from Marcel Bibé, a former Bezen Perrot member. During his internment, Sidos began to write about druidism and the Celtic Cross, which he described as the allegory of the "walking sun and universal life" in his prison notes. Sidos has stated that he was looking for a simple emblem to reproduce, unlike the eagle or the wild boar used by fascist groups at that time. Since its 1949 revival by Jeune Nation, the symbol has become popular among far-right movements in France and beyond in Europe.
The Morning of the Magicians became a cult classic within the youth culture in France through the 1960s and 1970s. Cautioned by the hostile reception by skeptic reviewers (notable among whom were secular humanists Yves Galifret, Évry Schatzman and Jean-Claude Pecker from the Rationalist Union, who debunked the book in Le crépuscule des Magiciens (1965); "The Twilight of the Magicians" ), Pauwels and Bergier went on to pursue their interest in the paranormal in the magazine Planète, dedicated to what they termed réalisme fantastique (fantastic realism). Both The Morning of the Magicians and the Planète magazine had considerable influence on the esotericism of the 1960s–1970s counterculture, heralding the popularization of New Age ideas.
Other paintings show allegorical figures and include Renaissance hieroglyphics, consisting in symbols of plants, animals, and objects with specific, but enigmatic, meanings. They reflect the particular interest in the esotericism of the Hermetic writings and the Chaldean Oracles that enthused many humanists following the publication in 1505 of Horapollo's Ἱερογλυφικά (), the book discovered in 1419 by Cristoforo Buondelmonti and believed to be the key for deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.Broderick, 'Custodian of Wisdom...', pp. 20–21 The iconographic sources vary and include Pierio Valeriano's dictionary of symbols, (1556); popular emblem books such as Andrea Alciati's (1531) and Achille Bocchi's (1555); the divination game (1540) by ; as well as Vincenzo Cartari's mythographic manual for painters (1556).
Influential groups and figures in esotericism, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century and Dion Fortune in the 1930s, adopted this all- encompassing goddess into their belief systems and called her Isis. This conception of Isis influenced the Great Goddess found in many forms of contemporary witchcraft. Today, reconstructions of ancient Egyptian religion, such as Kemetic Orthodoxy or the Church of the Eternal Source, include Isis among the deities they revere. An eclectic religious organization focused on female divinity calls itself the Fellowship of Isis because, in the words of one of its priestesses, M. Isidora Forrest, Isis can be "all Goddesses to all people".
A later illustration of Hermes Trismegistus The origins of Western esotericism are in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, then part of the Roman Empire, during Late Antiquity, a period encompassing the first centuries of the Common Era. This was a milieu in which there was a mix of religious and intellectual traditions from Greece, Egypt, the Levant, Babylon, and Persia, and in which globalisation, urbanisation, and multiculturalism were bringing about socio- cultural change. One component of this was Hermetism, an Egyptian Hellenistic school of thought that takes its name from the legendary Egyptian wise man, Hermes Trismegistus. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, a number of texts appeared which were attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, including the Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius, and The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
A third form of esotericism in Late Antiquity was Neoplatonism, a school of thought influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Plato. Advocated by such figures as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, Neoplatonism held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins into the material world, but that it could progress, through a number of hierarchical spheres of being, to return to its divine origins once more. The later Neoplatonists performed theurgy, a ritual practice attested in such sources as the Chaldean Oracles. Scholars are still unsure of precisely what theurgy involved, although it is known that it involved a practice designed to make gods appear, who could then raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine.
Buddhist Tantric texts began appearing in the Gupta Empire period Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, Routledge, (2008), page 23. though there are texts with elements associated with Tantra that can be seen as early as the third century.Williams, Tribe and Wynne; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, chapter 7 By the eighth century Tantra was a dominant force in North India and the number of texts increased with numerous Tantric pandits writing commentaries. The earliest known datable Buddhist Tantra is possibly the Mahavairocana Tantra, which was mentioned and collected by the Chinese pilgrim Wu-xing (無行) c. 680 CE.Stephen Hodge, The Mahā-vairocana-abhisaṃbodhi Tantra, with Buddhaguhya’s Commentary (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 14–15.
The pioneer of the Armanist branch of Ariosophy and one of the more important figures in esotericism in Germany and Austria in the late 19th and early 20th century was the Austrian occultist, mysticist, and völkisch author, Guido von List. In 1908, he published in Das Geheimnis der Runen ("The Secret of the Runes") a set of eighteen so-called "Armanen runes", based on the Younger Futhark and runes of List's own introduction, which allegedly were revealed to him in a state of temporary blindness after cataract operations on both eyes in 1902. Circular arrangement of the Armanen runes. List's row is based on the Younger Futhark, with the names and sound values mostly close to the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.
Modern Pagans in Britain often believe in ley lines running through ancient sites, such as the Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent (pictured) In 2005, Ruggles noted that "for the most part, ley lines represent an unhappy episode now consigned to history". However, belief in ley lines persists among various esoteric groups, having become an "enduring feature of some brands of esotericism". As Hutton observed, a belief in "ancient earth energies have passed so far into the religious experience of the 'New Age' counter-culture of Europe and America that it is unlikely that any tests of evidence would bring about an end to belief in them." During the 1970s and 1980s, a belief in ley lines fed into the modern Pagan community.
Tagore also brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Keshubchandra Sen. Sen was influenced by Transcendentalism, an American philosophical-religious movement strongly connected with Unitarianism, which emphasized personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology. Sen strived to "an accessible, non-renunciatory, everyman type of spirituality", introducing "lay systems of spiritual practice" which can be regarded as prototypes of the kind of Yoga-exercises which Vivekananda populurized in the west. The theology of the Brahmo Samaj was called "neo-Vedanta" by Christian commentators, who "partly admired [the Brahmos] for their courage in abandoning traditions of polytheism and image worship, but whom they also scorned for having proffered to other Hindus a viable alternative to conversion".
With few ties in Britain, he decided to emigrate to Canada, arriving in Nova Scotia in 1907, where he gained work on a farm in Saskatchewan. From 1909 to 1911 he worked at a confectioner's warehouse, and then for a further nine months at a logging camp, before gaining a job as an accounting clerk at the British Columbia Electric Railway in April 1912. He had come to loath Christianity and the Victorian moral systems that he associated with it; instead he began reading about Eastern religion, yoga, and Western esotericism. While at work, he met Charles Stansfeld Jones, a Thelemite who shared Smith's interest in these subjects and who lent him copies of Aleister Crowley's Book 4 and volume one, number one of The Equinox.
From 1999 to 2001, he was professor of art history at Ludes University of Lugano and was director of external relations at the same university since 2000. He has held conferences and seminars at numerous cultural centres and universities in Italy and abroad. He collaborates with various magazines and is director of Secreta, a magazine of esotericism and mystery. As a television consultant, director and screenwriter, he has collaborated for years with Rai 2 and the programme schedules of the Seasons e Diana Web TV networks, of which he is currently the director. He is the author of (1993), (1996) and , a heavily illustrated pocket book belonging to the collection “Universale Electa/Gallimard”, which has been translated into seven languages, including English.
Whether the phenomena concerned are institutionalized (religions, sciences, especially astrophysics) or marginal (esotericism, sensitive crystallization), Janiak's imagination draws from the sources of humanity in its infinite diversity, beyond places and times. An overview of his work is enlightening in this respect, The success of his first digital photographs was followed by a meteoric rise in the field of international fashion. Being henceforth in a position to call upon substantial resources, Seb Janiak achieved notoriety and produced images that both spoke of their time and shaped it. From the still image, he naturally went on to video and very quickly some of the most influential musicians called on him to make their clips (Daft Punk, Janet Jackson, NTM, Robbie Williams, etc.).
The scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff asserted that Crowley was an extreme representation of "the dark side of the occult", adding that he was "the most notorious occultist magician of the twentieth century". The philosopher John Moore opined that Crowley stood out as a "Modern Master" when compared with other prominent occult figures like George Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Rudolf Steiner, or Helena Blavatsky, also describing him as a "living embodiment" of Oswald Spengler's "Faustian Man". Biographer Tobias Churton considered Crowley "a pioneer of consciousness research". Hutton noted that Crowley had "an important place in the history of modern Western responses to Oriental spiritual traditions", while Sutin thought that he had made "distinctly original contributions" to the study of yoga in the West.
Another distinctive feature of Tantric Buddhism is its unique and often elaborate rituals. They include pujas (worship rituals), prayer festivals, protection rituals, death rituals, tantric feasts (ganachakra), tantric initiations (abhiseka) and the goma fire ritual (common in East Asian Esotericism). A video of the Cham dance, a traditional practice in some sects of Tibetan Buddhism. An important element in some of these rituals (particularly initiations and tantric feasts) seems to have been the practice of ritual sex or sexual yoga (karmamudra, "desire seal", also referred to as "consort observance", vidyavrata, and euphemistically as "puja"), as well as the sacramental ingestion of "power substances" such as the mingled sexual fluids and uterine blood (often performed by licking these substances off the vulva, a practice termed yonipuja).
Alessandro Guetta, Philosophy and Kabbalah: Elijah Benamozegh and the Reconciliation of Western Thought and Jewish Esotericism, State University of New York, , p. 43: Christianity... also associated the sephirot Tiferet and Malkhut materially and definitely in the person of Christ. Benamozegh contended that, with the dogma of the Incarnation, Christianity invalidated one of the basic tenets of Kabbalah - namely, the perpetual tension between the real and the ideal, symbolized precisely by Malkhut and Tiferet; p. 61-64 "The very core of Feuerbach's criticism, the anthropomorphic nature of this idea of the divinity, does not bother Benamozegh at all" While he disagreed with the Trinitarian Christian theology, he considered it, unlike most other Orthodox rabbis, an erroneous misunderstanding of subtle Kabbalistic doctrines and not a major deviation from monotheism.
In Thelema (which includes both theist as well as atheist practitioners) adherents share a number of practices that are forms of individual prayer, including basic yoga; (asana and pranayama); various forms of ritual magick; rituals of one's own devising (often based upon a syncretism of religions, or Western Esotericism, such as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and Star Ruby); and performance of Liber Resh vel Helios (aka Liber 200), which consists of four daily adorations to the sun (often consisting of four hand/body positions and recitation of a memorized song, normally spoken, addressing different godforms identified with the sun).DuQuette, Lon Milo. The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema, p. 12. Weiser, 2003. .
A very wide array of methods are utilised within the holistic health movement, with some of the most common including acupuncture, reiki, biofeedback, chiropractic, yoga, applied kinesiology, homeopathy, aromatherapy, iridology, massage and other forms of bodywork, meditation and visualisation, nutritional therapy, psychic healing, herbal medicine, healing using crystals, metals, music, chromotherapy, and reincarnation therapy. The use of crystal healing has become a particularly prominent visual trope within the New Age; this practice was not common in esotericism prior to their adoption in the New Age milieu. The mainstreaming of the Holistic Health movement in the UK is discussed by Maria Tighe. The inter-relation of holistic health with the New Age movement is illustrated in Jenny Butler's ethnographic description of "Angel therapy" in Ireland.
Mircea Eliade's earliest works, most of which were published at later stages, belong to the fantasy genre. One of the first such literary exercises to be printed, the 1921 Cum am găsit piatra filosofală, showed its adolescent author's interest in themes that he was to explore throughout his career, in particular esotericism and alchemy. Written in the first person, it depicts an experiment which, for a moment, seems to be the discovery of the philosophers' stone. These early writings also include two sketches for novels: Minunata călătorie a celor cinci cărăbuși in țara furnicilor roșii ('The Wonderful Journey of the Five Beetles into the Land of the Red Ants') and Memoriile unui soldat de plumb ('The Memoirs of a Lead Soldier').
Uriel or Ouriel (Sumerian origin name, writed in ancient Ouriìl; in ; "El/God is my light" or "Light of god", Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ; Ouriyl; ; Geʽez and Amharic: or , en arabe : إسرافيل Israfil)) is the name of one of the archangels who is mentionned in the monotheist post-exilic rabbinic tradition and of certain Christian traditions. He is well known in the Orthodoxy Russian tradition (which consider it as one of the seven major archangels) and recognized in the Anglican Church as the 4th archangel. He is also well known in the European esotericism medieval litteratures. In apocryphal, kabbalistic, and occult works, Uriel/Ouriel has been equated (or confused) with Urial,Forward Day by Day, August–September–October 2011, p.
Mason, a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier who advocates murder and violence in order to create lawlessness and anarchy and destabilize the system, is the main advisor to the group. Atomwaffen also draws influences from Nazi esotericism and the occult, and its recommended reading material for aspiring initiates includes the works of Savitri Devi and Anton Long of the Order of Nine Angles, a notorious British neo-Nazi leader with a violent criminal history. Some members of the group also sympathize with the Salafi and jihadist forms of Islam. Atomwaffen Division's founder, Brandon Russell, is alleged to have described Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and perpetrated the Orlando nightclub shooting, as "a hero".
Hammer has written four books in Swedish and one monograph Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age (2001) in English.LIBRIS record for Olav Hammer This volume, which was also Hammer's doctoral dissertation in 2000 at Lund University, investigates the rhetorical strategies of legitimization of a number of related new religious movements. Hammer is also editor of several books, including Polemical Encounters (with Kocku von Stuckrad, Brill 2007), The Invention of Sacred Tradition (with James R. Lewis, Cambridge UP 2007), Alternative Christs (Cambridge UP 2009), Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements (with Mikael Rothstein, Cambridge UP 2012), and Western Esotericism in Scandinavia (with Henrik Bogdan, Brill 2016). He was from 2009 to 2016 one of two executive editors of the journal Numen.
Robin Amis (1932–2014) was a British author, poet, publisher, editor and translator. Although he had studied a wide range of spiritual traditions, including Kabbalah, the Fourth Way and Hindu teachings, it was his conversion to the Eastern Orthodox Church and his relationship with Mount Athos, the ancient monastic republic in Greece, that ultimately defined his life and work. Over a thirty-year period, between 1982 and 2013, he made more than 60 visits to Mount Athos, where he was recognised as a "synergatis", a fellow worker and equal of the monks. Amis documented the results of his research in A Different Christianity: Early Christian Esotericism and Modern Thought (SUNY, 1995), and recounted his experience on the Holy Mountain in Views from Mount Athos (Praxis 2014).
Chimera, ink drawing by Dimitrie Paciurea The Symbolist movement in Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of Romanian culture in both literature and visual arts. Bringing the assimilation of France's Symbolism, Decadence and Parnassianism, it promoted a distinctly urban culture, characterized by cosmopolitanism, Francophilia and endorsement of Westernization, and was generally opposed to either rural themes or patriotic displays in art. Like its Western European counterparts, the movement stood for idealism, sentimentalism or exoticism, alongside a noted interest in spirituality and esotericism, covering on its own the ground between local Romanticism and the emerging modernism of the fin de siècle. Despite such unifying traits, Romanian Symbolism was an eclectic, factionalized and often self-contradictory current.
Boleskine House The Foundation's stated aims are to restore Boleskine House and its gardens, reflecting its history as a Jacobean and Georgian hunting lodge.LDN Architects Llp, Boleskine House: A Feasibility, revised 10 January 2020, 3 In 2019 and 2020, the Foundation stated its wish to open the house to the public once the restoration reaches completion, including guided tours of the principal rooms of the house and the surrounding gardens, and an on-site library focused on local Scottish history and Western esotericism. Despite the site's spiritual and religious associations, the Foundation is a secular organisation. However, the Foundation has stated that it wishes to engage with the spiritual importance of the property, from its early Christian history as a parish church, to its significance to Thelema.
Despite his hostile attitude toward these traditions of thought, Colberg became the first to connect these disparate philosophies and to study them under one rubric, also recognising that these ideas linked back to earlier philosophies from late antiquity. In Europe during the eighteenth century, amid the Age of Enlightenment, these esoteric traditions came to be regularly categorised under the labels of "superstition", "magic", and "the occult" - terms often used interchangeably. The modern academy, then in the process of developing, consistently rejected and ignored topics coming under "the occult", thus leaving research into them largely to enthusiasts outside of academia. Indeed, according to historian of esotericism Wouter J. Hanegraaff (born 1961), rejection of "occult" topics was seen as a "crucial identity marker" for any intellectuals seeking to affiliate themselves with the academy.
Although sex features in her novels, it is never described in graphic detail. Nevertheless, her later occult novels entail depictions of heterosexual sex outside of marriage, suggesting that by this point Fortune no longer believed that sex must be restrained to wedlock. The scholar Andrew Radford noted that Fortune's "reactionary and highly heteronormative" view of "sacralised sexuality" should be seen as part of a wider tradition among esoteric currents, going back to the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg and Andrew Jackson Davis and also being found in the work of occultists like Paschal Beverly Randolph and Ida Craddock. Fortune was among those who popularised the idea of a division between the left-hand path and right-hand path which had been introduced to Western esotericism by the Theosophist Helena Blavatsky.
Subsequently Kabbalistic doctrine reached its fullest classic expression among Castilian Kabbalists from the latter 1200s, with the Zohar (Book of "Splendor") literature, concerned with cosmic healing of gnostic dualities between the lower, revealed male and female attributes of God. Rishonim ("Elder Sages") of exoteric Judaism who were deeply involved in Kabbalistic activity, gave the Kabbalah wide scholarly acceptance, including Nahmanides and Bahya ben Asher (Rabbeinu Behaye) (died 1340), whose classic commentaries on the Torah reference Kabbalistic esotericism. Many Orthodox Jews reject the idea that Kabbalah underwent significant historical development or change such as has been proposed above. After the composition known as the Zohar was presented to the public in the 13th century, the term "Kabbalah" began to refer more specifically to teachings derived from, or related to, the Zohar.
Contemporary with the Zoharic efflorescence of Spanish Theosophical-Theurgic Kabbalah, Spanish exilarch Abraham Abulafia developed his own alternative, Maimonidean system of Ecstatic-Prophetic Kabbalah meditation, each consolidating aspects of a claimed inherited mystical tradition from Biblical times.Aryeh Kaplan, Meditation and the Bible and Meditation and Kabbalah, Samuel Weiser Books This was the classic time when various different interpretations of an esoteric meaning to Torah were articulated among Jewish thinkers.Concealment and Revelation: Esotericism in Jewish Thought and its Philosophical Implications, Moshe Halbertal, Princeton University Press 2007 Abulafia interpreted Theosophical Kabbalah's Sephirot Divine attributes, not as supernal hypostases which he opposed, but in psychological terms. Instead of influencing harmony in the divine real by theurgy, his meditative scheme aimed for mystical union with God, drawing down prophetic influx on the individual.
The French philosopher and historian Pierre- André Taguieff recently wrote La Foire aux illuminés: Ésotérisme, théorie du complot, extrémisme (2005) (The Illuminati fair: esotericism, plot theory, extremism) where he makes an analysis of Pawns in the Game. He shows that Carr belongs to a tradition of conspiracy theorists that goes far back to Augustin Barruel and is represented by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which frequently quoted in Carr's work, in the 20th century. Taguieff also studied Carr's theories in L'imaginaire du complot mondial: Aspects d'un mythe moderne (The world plot imaginary: about a modern myth), 2006. Since 1998, Carr's most famous books (Pawns in the Game, The Conspiracy to Destroy All Existing Governments and Religions, and Satan, Prince of this World) were translated into French.
Howard was born in London in 1948. In his early teenage years, he developed an interest in Western esotericism, occultism, and the paranormal, primarily through the fictional stories of writers like Dennis Wheatley, M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, C. S. Lewis, H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sax Rohmer, Arthur Machen, Robert E. Howard, and H. P. Lovecraft. Aged fourteen, he underwent an emergency operation and an associated near death experience, subsequently embarking on a study of spirituality, in particular through books on Tibetan Buddhism by authors like Lobsang Rampa. He was intrigued by the prospect of magical practices continuing in Britain after reading a March 1963 article in the Daily Sketch detailing a "Black Magic Rite" alleged to have taken place near to the village of Clophill in Bedfordshire.
Raja Yoga contains transcripts of lectures by Vivekananda on "Raja Yoga", his interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, and a "rather free translation" of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras plus Vivekananda's commentaries, which also was a series of talks. It presents Vivekananda's understanding and interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, "and a selection of hathayoga teachings on the basis of the beliefs that he shared with his students." These included elements from traditional Hinduism, but also ideas from western science, Idealism, and "the Neo-Vedantic esotericism of the Brahmo Samaj and Western occultism," including mesmerism and "American Harmonial religion." Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of Western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with Western esoteric traditions and movements like transcendentalism and New thought.
Crowley's thought was not always cohesive, and was influenced by a variety of sources, ranging from eastern religious movements and practices like Hindu yoga and Buddhism, scientific naturalism, and various currents within Western esotericism, among them ceremonial magic, alchemy, astrology, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah, and the Tarot. He was steeped in the esoteric teachings he had learned from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, although pushed further with his own interpretations and strategies than the Golden Dawn had done. Crowley incorporated concepts and terminology from South Asian religious traditions like yoga and Tantra into his Thelemic system, believing that there was a fundamental underlying resemblance between Western and Eastern spiritual systems. The historian Alex Owen noted that Crowley adhered to the "modus operandi" of the Decadent movement throughout his life.
Alex Wayman points out that the symbolic meaning of tantric sexuality is ultimately rooted in bodhicitta and the bodhisattva's quest for enlightenment is likened to a lover seeking union with the mind of the Buddha.Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, page 39. Judith Simmer-Brown notes the importance of the psycho-physical experiences arising in sexual yoga, termed "great bliss" (mahasukha): "Bliss melts the conceptual mind, heightens sensory awareness, and opens the practitioner to the naked experience of the nature of mind."Simmer-Brown, Judith; Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism, 2002, page 217 This tantric experience is not the same as ordinary self-gratifying sexual passion since it relies on tantric meditative methods using the subtle body and visualizations as well as the motivation for enlightenment.
Parsons adhered to the occult philosophy of Thelema, which had been founded in 1904 by the English occultist Aleister Crowley following a spiritual revelation that he had in Cairo, Egypt, when—according to Crowley's accounts—a spirit being known as Aiwass dictated to him a prophetic text known as The Book of the Law. Prior to becoming aware of Thelema and Crowley, Parsons' interest in esotericism was developed through his reading of The Golden Bough (1890), a work in comparative mythology by Scottish social anthropologist James George Frazer. Parsons had also attended lectures on Theosophy by philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti with his first wife Helen, but disliked the belief system's sentiment of "the good and the true". During rocket tests, Parsons often recited Crowley's poem "Hymn to Pan" as a good luck charm.
In China and countries with large Chinese populations such as Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism is commonly referred to as Tángmì (唐密 – "Tang Dynasty Esoterica"), or Hànchuán Mìzōng (漢傳密宗 – "Han Chinese Transmission of the Esoteric Tradition"), sometimes abbreviated as Hànmì (漢密 – "Han Mysteries"). Its manifestation through subsequent Japanese transmission is sometimes referred as Dōngmì () "Eastern Esotericism", meaning the succession of Tang Esoterica in Japan (east of China) transmitted by the Japanese monk Kūkai. During the Tang dynasty the actual term widely used to refer to these teachings by Tantric masters was "mantra teaching" (zhenyan jiao 真言教) and "path of mantras" (Zhenyan sheng 真言乘, Mantrayana). Chinese tantric masters like Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra also used the term Vajrayana (Jin'gangsheng 金剛乘).
As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions, in particular, those that emerged from the occultist current that developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Such prominent occultist influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Freemasonry, Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. A number of mid-twentieth century influences, such as the UFO religions of the 1950s, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the Human Potential Movement, also exerted a strong influence on the early development of the New Age. The exact origins of the phenomenon remain contested, but there is general agreement that it became a major movement in the 1970s, at which time it was centered largely in the United Kingdom.
However, according to Anno, "as the symbols are mixed together, for the first time something like an interrelationship or a meaning emerges". The plot combines elements of esotericism and mysticism of the Jewish Kabbalah, including the Angels, which have many common features with the Angels of the religious tradition, such as Sachiel, Sandalphon and Ramiel. According to Patrick Drazen, numerous allusions to the Kojiki and the Nihongi have a prominent role in Evangelion, along with the Shinto vision of the primordial cosmos and the mythical lances of the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami. Elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition also feature prominently throughout the series, including references to Adam, Lilith, Eve, the Lance of Longinus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon, the Tree of Life, among many others.
The term occult sciences was used in the 16th century to refer to astrology, alchemy, and natural magic, which today are considered pseudosciences. The term occultism emerged in 19th-century France, where it came to be associated with various French esoteric groups connected to Éliphas Lévi and Papus, and in 1875 was introduced into the English language by the esotericist Helena Blavatsky. Throughout the 20th century, the term was used idiosyncratically by a range of different authors, but by the 21st century was commonly employed – including by academic scholars of esotericism – to refer to a range of esoteric currents that developed in the mid-19th century and their descendants. Occultism is thus often used to categorise such esoteric traditions as Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and New Age.
The Italian Social Movement held a similar position in Italian politics that the National Democratic Party of Germany did in Germany; careful enough to stay within the laws of the new democratic state, but still clearly identified with the Axis legacy. During the 1950s, the MSI moved closer to bourgeois conservative politics on the domestic front, which led to radical youths founding hardline splinter groups, such as Pino Rauti's Ordine Nuovo (later succeeded by Ordine Nero) and Stefano Delle Chiaie's Avanguardia Nazionale. These organisations were influenced by the esotericism of Julius Evola and considered the Waffen-SS and Romanian leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu a reference, moving beyond Italian fascism. They were implicated in paramiliary attacks during the late 1960s to the early 1980s, such as the Piazza Fontana bombing.
Smoley occupies a somewhat ambiguous position in regard to the academic study of esotericism, pioneered by Antoine Faivre at the Sorbonne and developed by such figures as Wouter Hanegraaff, Joscelyn Godwin, Arthur Versluis, and Nicholas Goodrick- Clarke. On the one hand, Smoley has always shown high respect for the findings of academic scholarship in the field; on the other hand, he has also shown some concern that an overacademic approach will distort and devitalize the living esoteric tradition, of which he considers himself to be a part. In a 1993 editorial in Gnosis, he wrote: > Like Rappaccini's daughter, the professors' touch can prove poisonous. I > have a degree in philosophy myself, so I have firsthand experience of how > academic hairsplitting and pettifogging disputes over the meanings of words > have all but killed that discipline.
Eventually taking an Austrian named Emile Napoleon Hauenstein to be his magical teacher, he joined the British Army and served for several years, fighting in the Second World War. Returning to Britain, he befriended and performed rituals with members of many different occult currents in Britain at the time, including Robert Cochrane, and published a number of books on the subject of the esoteric. 1975 saw the publication of The Rollright Ritual, a book about the rituals and alleged spiritual interactions which he had experienced at the Rollright Stones, a Neolithic stone circle in the Cotswolds. The life and work of Gray is referenced in the works of various occultists and academics studying western esotericism, while in 2003 the authors Alan Richardson and Marcus Claridge published a biography of him, entitled The Old Sod.
From the European Renaissance on, Judaic Kabbalah became a significant influence in non-Jewish culture, fully divorced from the separately evolving Judaic tradition. Kabbalah received the interest of Christian Hebraist scholars and occultists, who freely syncretised and adapted it to diverse non-Jewish spiritual traditions and belief systems of Western esotericism.Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, Joseph Dan, Oxford University Press 2007, Chapter 5 - Modern Times I: The Christian Kabbalah Christian Cabalists from the 15th-18th centuries adapted what they saw as ancient Biblical wisdom to Christian theology, while Hermeticism lead to Kabbalah's incorporation into Western magic through Hermetic Qabalah.Christian and Hermetic versions of Kabbalah are receiving their own scholarship in Renaissance Studies and Academic study of Western esotericism today Presentations of Kabbalah in occult and New Age books on Kabbalah bear little resemblance to Judaic Kabbalah.
He aligned himself more closely with the Imperial Fascists and later helped to distribute Leese's newspaper, The Fascist, in Australia.Barbara Winter, The Australia First Movement, Glen House Books, Brisbane 2005 p. 46 Historian of esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke characterises Mills as a "Nazi sympathiser". Mills' trip to Germany included a visit to the Brown HouseBruce Muirden, The Puzzled Patriots: The Story of the Australia First Movement (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press: 1968), p. 186 where, without appointment, he met Adolf Hitler "talking" (Mills would later recount) "to some of his confreres".'Australia First Inquiry' Melbourne Herald 28 September 1944 p. 8 At the 1944 Australia First enquiry, Mills claimed that Hitler had impressed him as a 'kindly man' who 'seemed to have the respect of his men and appeared kind to them.''Mills tells how he met Hitler' Melbourne Herald 28 September 1944 p.
Toledo's Crystal Ball Business, by Tom Gearhart Toledo Blade, 6 Aug 1967, p11 While current scholars of Satanism point out that there is no substantial evidence showing Our Lady of Endor Coven existing prior to 1966,Contemporary Esotericism, by Egil Asprem, Kennet Granholm, 2014, p. 75. some also point out that it is likely that his group did have roots prior to that time: > It seems probable the group was in existence before 1966, although I have > not found any traces of it in literature prior to that date. Sloane himself > suggested that he was already operating in the 1940s, but given the many > parallels with Wicca the group displayed, it is more likely its date of > origin must be located sometime after 1953, the year Gerald Gardner's > neopagan cult of witchcraft came into the open.
An important element in his adaptation of Hindu religiosity was the introduction of his four yogas model, which includes Raja yoga, his interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga sutras, which offers a practical means to realize the divine force within, which is central to modern Western esotericism. The other three yogas are the classical Karma Yoga (Karma Yoga), Bhakti Yoga, and Jnana Yoga (Jnana Yoga). Vivekananda's interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is mostly based on the part on astanga yoga, the eight limbs of yoga described in the Sadhana Pada or practice part. According to De Michelis, Vivekananda's ideas on Raja Yoga mainly consists of two different models, with sometimes a third "mode of thought": # The Prana Model, which is mostly applied in the first part, is strongly influenced by the mesmeric beliefs which were popular at that time, and also contains Hatha-yoga teachings.
René-Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (; 15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of mysticism,Glenn Alexander Magee (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism, Cambridge University Press, 2016.> having written on topics ranging from sacred studiesRené Guénon's works dealing with various aspects of sacred science are collected in the book which appeared in its first English translation as Fundamental Symbols: The Universal Language of Sacred Science, Quinta Essentia, 1995, , then, in another translation, as Symbols of Sacred Science, translated by Henry D. Fohr, Sophia Perennis, 2001, . There were two original French editions, both under the title Symboles fondamentaux de la Science sacrée, Editions Gallimard, Paris. The first contained a foreword followed by notes and comments by Michel Valsan, the second did not contain these additions.
A third kind is the aspect of each planet to every other planet, where for example two planets 120° apart (in 'trine') are in a harmonious relationship, but two planets 90° apart ('square') are in a conflicted relationship. Together these relationships and their interpretations supposedly form "...the language of the heavens speaking to learned men." Along with tarot divination, astrology is one of the core studies of Western esotericism, and as such has influenced systems of magical belief not only among Western esotericists and Hermeticists, but also belief systems such as Wicca that have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. Tanya Luhrmann has said that "all magicians know something about astrology," and refers to a table of correspondences in Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, organised by planet, as an example of the astrological lore studied by magicians.
In 1951, he met Victoria Montero who introduced him in the subject of esoterism. López Rega was a frequent visitor in Montero's home, where he met members of the freemasons organization. A common interest for esoterism linked him to Isabel, Perón's third wife, in 1965. (Evidently, Rega's esotericism included the writings of Alice Bailey: "Also found in his [Rega's] home were 12 volumes by Alice Bailey on telepathy and Cosmic Fire...") Sent to Argentina by Perón, exiled in Spain since the 1955 "Revolución Libertadora" coup, she organized a meeting in the house of major Bernardo Alberte, Perón's delegate and sponsor of various left-wing Peronist movement, among which the CGT de los Argentinos, a labor union federation which, between 1968 and 1972, gathered opponents to a pact with Juan Carlos Onganía's dictatorship, and which had an important role in the 1969 Cordobazo insurrection.
Wicca is also a form of Western esotericism, and more specifically a part of the esoteric current known as occultism. Academics like Wouter Hanegraaff and Tanya Luhrmann have categorised Wicca as part of the New Age, although other academics, and many Wiccans themselves, dispute this categorisation. Although recognised as a religion by academics, some evangelical Christians have attempted to deny it legal recognition as such, while some Wiccan practitioners themselves eschew the term "religion" – associating the latter purely with organised religion – instead favouring "spirituality" or "way of life". Although Wicca as a religion is distinct from other forms of contemporary Paganism, there has been much "cross-fertilization" between these different Pagan faiths; accordingly, Wicca has both influenced and been influenced by other Pagan religions, thus making clear-cut distinctions between them more difficult for religious studies scholars to make.
Specifically, the few and—according to many—ambiguous statements on reincarnation as well as the threefold conception of man as body, soul and spirit of Isis Unveiled stand in contrast to the elaborate and definite conception of reincarnation as well as the sevenfold conception of man in The Secret Doctrine (1888). Blavatsky later asserted the correctness of her statements on reincarnation and the constitution of man in Isis Unveiled, attributing the resulting confusion and alleged contradictions to the more superficial or simplified conceptions of the ideas in Isis Unveiled compared to those of later works. Modern Theosophists hold the book as a revealed work dictated to Blavatsky by Theosophy's Masters.Goodrick- Clarke, Nicholas, ‘The Coming of the Masters: The Evolutionary Reformulation of Spiritual Intermediaries in Modern Theosophy’, in Constructing Tradition: Means and Myths of Transmission in Western Esotericism, ed.
According to the traditional understanding, Kabbalah dates from Eden.Sefer Raziel HaMalakh First Paragraph It came down from a remote past as a revelation to elect Tzadikim (righteous people), and, for the most part, was preserved only by a privileged few. Talmudic Judaism records its view of the proper protocol for teaching this wisdom, as well as many of its concepts, in the Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, 11b-13a, "One should not teach ... the Act of Creation in pairs, nor the Act of the Chariot to an individual, unless he is wise and can understand the implications himself etc."אין דורשין ... במעשה בראשית בשנים ולא במרכבה ביחיד אלא אם כן היה חכם ומבין מדעתו Contemporary scholarship suggests that various schools of Jewish esotericism arose at different periods of Jewish history, each reflecting not only prior forms of mysticism, but also the intellectual and cultural milieu of that historical period.
An important element in his adaptation of Hindu religiosity was the introduction of his "four yogas" model, which includes Raja yoga, his interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga sutras, which offered a practical means to realise the divine force within which is central to modern western esotericism. In 1896, his book Raja Yoga was published, becoming an instant success; it was highly influential in the western understanding of yoga, in Elizabeth de Michelis's view marking the beginning of modern yoga. Vivekananda attracted followers and admirers in the US and Europe, including Josephine MacLeod, William James, Josiah Royce, Robert G. Ingersoll, Nikola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, Harriet Monroe, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Sarah Bernhardt, Emma Calvé and Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz. He initiated several followers : Marie Louise (a French woman) became Swami Abhayananda, and Leon Landsberg became Swami Kripananda, so that they could continue the work of the mission of the Vedanta Society.
Mary and Robert seem to have been introduced to esotericism through a Bible study circle they joined in Edinburgh; other scriptures were discussed, including the Tao te ching and the Bhagavad Gita, and some members of the group were Theosophists. Robert and Mary joined the Theosophical Society in Edinburgh in 1886, but found it lacking in terms of ritual, and eventually joined John William Brodie-Innes' Amen-Ra Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on 1894-03-12. He continued to write and publish: he edited (with others) a collection of the letters and journals of Mehmet Emin Pasha, whom he had met (translated by Mary), which appeared in 1888, and published Hypnotism, or Psycho-Therapeutics in 1890.Shamdasani, 'Psychotherapy: the invention of a word' in History of the Human Sciences, 2005,18, 1 Following a breakdown from strain and overwork he transferred his practice to London in 1896.
The Wendehorn Wendehorn is a "runic" symbol resembling the Tvimadur symbol. It is allegedly a bindrune of the Man and Yr runes, symbolizing 'life' and 'death' respectively. The term is due to Guido von List's Das Geheimnis der Runen, where it does not figure as a full member of the Armanen runes, but is mentioned in the context of the crescent moon being "the rune of Freya, who promotes childbirth." It was taken up by List's Armanist followers, such as Rudolf John Gorsleben,Gorsleben, Rudolf John Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit and Siegfried Adolf KummerKummer, Siegfried Adolf Heilige Runenmacht and is still in use in Irminenschaft and Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism today (Karl Spiesberger,Spiesberger, Karl Runenmagie, Runenexerzitien fur Jedermann, Reveal the Power of the Pendulum Karl Hans Welz,The Site of Karl Hans Welz; Armanen RunesKnights of Runes Adolf Schleipfer, Larry E. CampHandbook of Armanen Runes by Larry E. Camp Europa Ltd.).
M. K. Čiurlionis School Of Art Čiurlionis inspired the Lithuanian composer Osvaldas Balakauskas' work Sonata of the Mountains (1975), and every four years junior musical performers from Lithuania and neighboring countries take part in the Čiurlionis Competition. Čiurlionis's name has been given to cliffs in Franz Josef Land, a peak in the Pamir Mountains, and to asteroid #2420, discovered by the Crimean astrophysicist Nikolai Chernykh. Čiurlionis's works have been displayed at international exhibitions in Japan, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere. His paintings were featured at "Visual Music" fest, an homage to synesthesia that included the works of Wassily Kandinsky, James McNeill Whistler, and Paul Klee, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2005.Visual Music, 13 February through 22 May 2005, MOCA Grand Avenue In 2009, Genovaitė Kazokas () published Musical Paintings, a book where she argued that Theosophy, esotericism and Spiritualism were important influences on Čiurlionis’ art.
Cooper, in return, wrote, in his essay 'King Junk', "along with Jean Genet, John Rechy, and Ginsberg, [Burroughs] helped make homosexuality seem cool and highbrow, providing gay liberation with a delicious edge". Splatterpunk writer Poppy Z. Brite has frequently referenced this aspect of Burroughs' work. Burroughs' writing continues to be referenced years after his death; for example, a November 2004 episode of the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation included an evil character named Dr. Benway (named for an amoral physician who appears in a number of Burroughs' works.) This is an echo of the hospital scene in the movie Repo Man, made during Burroughs' life-time, in which both Dr. Benway and Mr. Lee (a Burroughs pen name) are paged. Burroughs had an impact on twentieth-century esotericism and occultism as well, most notably through disciples like Peter Lamborn Wilson and Genesis P-Orridge.
In The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky quoted Gerald Massey a "suggestive analogy between the Aryan or Brahmanical and the Egyptian esotericism" She said that the "seven rays of the Chaldean Heptakis or Iao, on the Gnostic stones" represent the seven large stars of the ancient Egyptian Great Bear constellation, the seven elemental powers, and the Hindu "seven Rishis". Blavatsky saw the seven rays of the Vedic sun deity Vishnu as representing the same concept as the "astral fluid or 'Light' of the Kabalists," and said that the seven emanations of the lower seven sephiroth are the "primeval seven rays", and "will be found and recognized in every religion." Theosophy holds that the manifested universe is ordered by the number seven, a common claim among esoteric and mystical doctrines and religions. Thus, the evolutionary "pilgrimage" proceeds cyclically through seven stages, with the three first steps involving an apparent involution, the fourth one being one of equilibrium, and the last three involving a progressive development.
As examples for this, Faivre pointed to the esoteric concept of the macrocosm and microcosm, often presented as the dictum of "as above, so below", as well as the astrological idea that the actions of the planets have a direct corresponding influence on the behaviour of human beings. # "Living Nature": Faivre argued that all esotericists envision the natural universe as being imbued with its own life force, and that as such they understand it as being "complex, plural, hierarchical". # "Imagination and Mediations": Faivre believed that all esotericists place great emphasis on both the human imagination, and mediations – "such as rituals, symbolic images, mandalas, intermediary spirits" – and mantras as tools that provide access to worlds and levels of reality existing between the material world and the divine. # "Experience of Transmutation": Faivre's fourth intrinsic characteristic of esotericism was the emphasis that esotericists place on fundamentally transforming themselves through their practice, for instance through the spiritual transformation that is alleged to accompany the attainment of gnosis.
Sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall In the 1960s and 1970s, esotericism came to be increasingly associated with the growing counter- culture in the West, whose adherents understood themselves in participating in a spiritual revolution that would mark the Age of Aquarius. By the 1980s, these currents of millenarian currents had come to be widely known as the New Age movement, and it became increasingly commercialised as business entrepreneurs exploited a growth in the spiritual market. Conversely, other forms of esoteric thought retained the anti-commercial and counter-cultural sentiment of the 1960s and 1970s, namely the techno-shamanic movement promoted by figures such as Terence McKenna and Daniel Pinchbeck which built on the work of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. This trend was accompanied by the increased growth of modern Paganism, a movement initially dominated by Wicca, the religion propagated by Gerald Gardner.
North Atlantic Books is a non-profit, independent publisher based in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded by authors Richard Grossinger and Lindy Hough in Vermont, North Atlantic Books was named partly for the North Atlantic region where it began in 1974, as well as Alan Van Newkirk's Geographic Foundation of the North Atlantic, an early (1970) ecological center founded in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, by radicals from Detroit. The publisher also cites Edward Dorn's 1960's poem, "North Atlantic Turbine: A Theory of Truth", which very early described the dangers of global commoditization by the Western World, as an inspiration in the company's name. Genres published by North Atlantic Books include internal martial arts (through its imprint Blue Snake Books), somatics, homeopathic medicine, shamanism, Martian mysteries, alternative medicine, the history and philosophy of medicine, natural foods, New Science, Buddhism, parapsychology, Western esotericism, Sufism, deep ecology, gay and lesbian studies, conspiracy theories and Jungian psychology.
Egbert Richter (also publishing under the pen name of Richter-Ushanas, after ', a Vedic rishi) is a German freelance writer and lecturer, author of self- published (Egbert Richter Verlag, registered in Bremen) treatises on Yoga, Vedanta, Esotericism and mythology, translations of some Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as well as original poetry. In his 1992 decipherment claim of the Indus script, he argues that the script is "based very largely on intuition, and this quality is also required for reading it", likening the process of "decipherment" to meditation, concluding that the Rbhus, who Richter alleges were priests of the Harappan civilization, invented the Indus script under the influence of Sumerian cuneiform. Werner (1999) confesses himself "at a loss how to evaluate" Richter's work, admitting the author has thorough knowledge of the various sources he uses, but at the same time completely lacks academic method, discipline or experience.
The city houses the Resurrection Monastery and a monument dedicated to the bible. On 16 December 1929 the Diocese of Ponta Grossa was created, Cardinal Henrique Gasparri took on in 23 February 1930. Bishop Antônio Mazzarotto built spaces that provided for the formation of religious as seminaries and congregations of religious sisters. Since 5 September 2003, bishop Sergio Arthur Braschi is the bishop of the Diocese of Ponta Grossa. For the 2010 census, 209,678 people identify themselves as Roman Catholics (67.29%). The second largest in number is the Evangelical Church in general with 74842 followers (24.02%). Among the religious minorities with more than 1,000 believers are Spiritism (2.35%), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (0.89%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.48%) and other Christian religions summed up (0.47%). Hundreds of people follow Buddhism (0.10%), Umbanda (0.04%), Esotericism (0.06%), Catholic Churches that do not obey the papal hierarchy (0.14%) and new Eastern religions as a whole (0.04%).
Runic script on an 1886 gravestone in Parkend, England From 1933, Schutzstaffel unit insignia displayed two Sig Runes The pioneer of the Armanist branch of Ariosophy and one of the more important figures in esotericism in Germany and Austria in the late 19th and early 20th century was the Austrian occultist, mysticist, and völkisch author, Guido von List. In 1908, he published in Das Geheimnis der Runen ("The Secret of the Runes") a set of eighteen so-called, "Armanen runes", based on the Younger Futhark and runes of List's own introduction, which allegedly were revealed to him in a state of temporary blindness after cataract operations on both eyes in 1902. The use of runes in Germanic mysticism, notably List's "Armanen runes" and the derived "Wiligut runes" by Karl Maria Wiligut, played a certain role in Nazi symbolism. The fascination with runic symbolism was mostly limited to Heinrich Himmler, and not shared by the other members of the Nazi top echelon.
If the rich are to be saved, all they must do is to follow the two commandments, and while material wealth is of no value to God, it can be used to alleviate the suffering of neighbors.Ferguson (1974), pp. 173, 178 Other known works exist in fragments alone, including the four eschatological works in the secret tradition: Hypotyposes, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae Propheticae, and the Adumbraetiones.Bucar (2006), p. 252 These cover Clement's celestial hierarchy, a complex schema in which the universe is headed by the Face of God, below which lie seven protoctists, followed by archangels, angels, and humans.Bucar (2006), p. 255 According to Jean Daniélou, this schema is inherited from a Judaeo-Christian esotericism, followed by the Apostles, which was only imparted orally to those Christians who could be trusted with such mysteries.Daniélou (1962), p. 262 The proctocists are the first beings created by God, and act as priests to the archangels.
Partridge notes that within UFO religions, there is a belief that the supreme being or "evolved entity" did not ascend from Earth, but instead came from another plane or another planet and descended to Earth. While the vast majority of factions affiliated with I AM reject UFOs as unimportant, some modern-day Ascended Master Teachings teachers such as Joshua David Stone mention UFOs. Partridge describes the 1947 Roswell UFO Incident as a key point in time within UFO spirituality, commenting: "Roswell is now firmly established as what might be described as a key ufological 'spiritual site' "; and James R. Lewis also calls attention to this event in his book The Gods Have Landed, noting that it is seen by Ufologists as the date of the "emergence of UFOs into the public consciousness". Partridge places UFO religion within the context of theosophical esotericism, and asserts that it began to be associated as "UFO religion" after the 1947 incident at Roswell, New Mexico.
Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi (September 3, 1930 – October 7, 1991) was an Argentinian poet, novelist,Library of the US Congress, consulted on March 11, 2018Dialnet Foundation, University of La Rioja, Spain, consulted on March 11, 2018National Library of Spain, consulted on March 11, 2018 self-taught philosopher, essayist, educator and lecturer of Italian heritage best known for having founded and directed New Acropolis, an international philosophical educational and cultural organisation according to its members, and a far- right paramilitary and/or religious cult according to its critics. His works have been translated into several languages, titles in English include the novels The Alchemist and Ankor, the Last Prince of Atlantis, as well as The Spirits of Nature and Thebes, two studies on esotericism. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and died in Madrid, Spain. New Acropolis, International Page Livraga was convicted for illegal arm possession in 1988 by Madrid's Provincial Court.
Marc Jeffrey Seifer (born 17 February 1948) is an American author who has published books on handwriting analysis (Graphology), human consciousness and the mind, biographies of the inventor Nikola Tesla, and several works of fiction. His book Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius has been called "Serious scholarship" by Scientific American, "Revelatory" by Publisher's Weekly and is "Highly Recommended" by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seifer suggests that, "The high- tech conveniences we take for granted -- the cellular phone and television, for example -- would not exist without Tesla." Starring in the five-part History Channel mini-series THE TESLA FILES (2018), Seifer has been featured on American Experience and the BBC for his expertise on Nikola Tesla, Associated Press International for his work on the handwriting of bin Laden and as a guest of Coast to Coast AM, hosted by George Noory, a late nite radio show focused on esotericism and the paranormal.
He completed a one-year postdoctoral residency in 1986 at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario, and completed licensing requirements and became a Registered Psychologist in both Ontario (1986) and British Columbia (1990). In addition to his clinical career, George is noted for his early experimental work and publications on the cognition of schizophrenia. He also conducted some of the earliest research on practice effects in mental imagery enhancement training His summaries of the relationship of cognitive variables such as mental imagery enhancement training, altered states of consciousness and expectancy to psi were also among the first reviews of the experimental literature on these topics. In recent years George has made contributions to the cognitive science of religion through his application of findings from experimental research to interpretations of Neoplatonic texts through publications and presentations at the annual conferences of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (in 2003, 2005, 2009, and 2016), the Association for the Study of Esotericism (2014) and the American Academy of Religion (2015).
Cernat, p.128 Also in 1921, Ion Vinea wrote an article for the Romanian newspaper Adevărul, arguing that the movement had exhausted itself (although, in his letters to Tzara, he continued to ask his friend to return home and spread his message there).Cernat, p.127-128 After July 1922, Marcel Janco rallied with Vinea in editing Contimporanul, which published some of Tzara's earliest poems but never offered space to any Dadaist manifesto.Cernat, p.130, 138, 153 Reportedly, the conflict between Tzara and Janco had a personal note: Janco later mentioned "some dramatic quarrels" between his colleague and him.Răileanu & Carassou, p.151 They avoided each other for the rest of their lives and Tzara even struck out the dedications to Janco from his early poems.Cernat, p.115, 137 Julius Evola also grew disappointed by the movement's total rejection of tradition and began his personal search for an alternative, pursuing a path which later led him to esotericism and fascism.
Chapter one, "The Study of Folklore and the Reclamation of Paganism", offers a historical introduction to Contemporary Paganism, looking at its roots in the Classical World of Greece and Rome, and then the successive influences of Neoplatonism, Renaissance magic, the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment. Magliocco then looks at the influence that 18th and 19th century folkloristics and anthropology had on the Romanticists and then Pagan movement, in particular the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Brothers Grimm and Sir James Frazer. Proceeding to look at this relationship, she highlights the work of Charles Leland, Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner, who drew from folklore in their own books, all of which heavily influenced modern Paganism. Magliocco argues that Contemporary Paganism can be viewed as a "folk tradition" on two levels; firstly, because it continues to work with and propagate the spiritual traditions of western esotericism, and secondly, because it acts as a form of "resistance culture" in opposition to dominant trends in western culture.
In 1902, Clarin de la Rive founded a Conseil antimaçonnique de France (French Anti-Masonic Council), whose main activities was to sponsor Clarin’s lecture tours throughout France and an Anti-Masonic Museum in Paris. In the first decade of the 20th century, while maintaining an antisemitic orientation, La France chrétienne devoted more and more attention to exposing the Theosophical Society, Martinism, Spiritualism, and Christian Science as dangerous cults more or less controlled by Jews and Freemasons. On the other hand, Clarin de la Rive was a firm believer in the supernatural, and befriended some members of the esoteric milieu, including René Guénon: the two men shared an interest in Islam, and from 1909 Guénon published several articles in Clarin’s magazine under the pseudonym of "Sphinx". Guénon used La France chrétienne (later called La France antimaçonnique) to criticize monsignor Ernest Jouin and his magazine Revue internationale des sociétés secrètes, who in turn denounced Guénon’s brand of esotericism as anti-Christian.
Nathaniel Deutsch also notes that Fard and Muhammad draw on the concept of the Demiurge, along with traditions of esotericism in Biblical interpretation, absorbing aspects of Biblical tales to the new narrative, such as the swords of the Muslim warriors keeping the "white devils" from Paradise, like the flaming sword of the angel protecting the Garden of Eden in Genesis. Edward Curtis calls the story "a black theodicy: a story grounded in a mythological view of history that explained the fall of black civilization, the Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas, and the practice of Christian religion among slaves and their descendants."Edward E. Curtis IV, "Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960–1975", University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2006, p. 11. Several commentators state that the story, by associating blacks with ancient high civilizations and whites with cave-dwelling barbarians and gorillas, both uses and spectacularly reverses the populist and scientific racism of the era which identified Africans as primitive, or closer to apes than whites.
The same word Volk was used as a flag for new forms of ethnic nationalism, as well as by international socialist parties as a synonym for the proletariat in the German lands. From the left, elements of the folk-culture spread to the parties of the middle classes.George L. Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1966) sees this in the context of a broader revolt against modernity, contrasting healthy rural life with the debased materialism of city culture. Although the primary interest of the Germanic mystical movement was the revival of native pagan traditions and customs (often set in the context of a quasi-theosophical esotericism), a marked preoccupation with purity of race came to motivate its more politically oriented offshoots, such as the Germanenorden (the Germanic or Teutonic Order), a secret society founded at Berlin in 1912 which required its candidates to prove that they had no "non-Aryan" bloodlines and required from each a promise to maintain purity of his stock in marriage.
Despite his new responsibilities, Karl Johann continue to spend most of his time involved in the court life and the study of Esotericism; in consequence, the administration of his estates was in the hands of his wife Maria Christina. In late 1781 he received from his father the government over the Nikolsburg estate, and one year later, Karl Johann sold his Silesian estates, after the loss of this area in the hands of Prussia. After the fire who destroyed mostly of Nikolsburg on 14 September 1784, Karl Johann (who finally inherited the title of Prince of Dietrichstein after the death of his father one month later) moved permanently to the Imperial court in Vienna, while his wife Maria Christina stayed at the castle in Židlochovice, where she died in 1788. In 1777 Karl Johann was named Austrian Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge. He openly followed the esoteric ways of Freemasonry: from 1780 was active in the Rosicrucianism and sometimes even regarded as the head of this movement in the Habsburg monarchy.
Writing more than a century after her death Lachman conjectured that if this had been the case, then she may have had an eidetic memory, such that, while relying on earlier sources, the book represented an original synthesis that connected disparate ideas not brought together before. Revolving around Blavatsky's idea that all the world's religions stemmed from a single "Ancient Wisdom", which she connected to the Western esotericism of ancient Hermeticism and Neoplatonism, it also articulated her thoughts on Spiritualism, and provided a criticism of Darwinian evolution, stating that it dealt only with the physical world and ignored the spiritual realms. The book was edited by Professor of Philosophy Alexander Wilder and published in two volumes by J.W. Bouton in 1877. Although facing negative mainstream press reviews, including from those who highlighted that it extensively quoted around 100 other books without acknowledgement, it proved to be such a commercial success, with its initial print run of 1000 copies selling out in a week, that the publisher requested a sequel, although Blavatsky turned down the offer.
Jafe Arnold, 'Alexander Dugin and Western Esotericism: The Challenge of the Language of Tradition', in: Mondi: Movimenti Simbolici e Sociali dell'Uomo 2 (2019), p. 33-70. Dugin probably first referred to the Palestinabuch in one of his controversial 1993 TV-shows with journalist Yury Vorobyevsky [Юрий Воробьевский], in which he claimed to have had access to the secret KGB-archives on the Ahnenerbe, captured by the Red Army in 1945.Vadim Rossman, 'Anti-Semitism in Eurasian Historiography: The Case of Lev Gumilev', in: Dmitry Shlapentokh (ed.), Russia between East and West Scholarly Debates on Eurasianism, Leiden/Boston 2007, p. 121-192, 183, after: Yury Vorobyevsky, 'Zvezda i svastika' (Star and Swastika), in: Novoe russkoe slovo, 17 December 1993. Cf. Andreas Umland, 'Aleksandr Dugin’s Transformation from a Lunatic Fringe Figure into a Mainstream Political Publicist, 1980–1998: A Case Study in the Rise of Late and Post-Soviet Russian Fascism', in: Journal of Eurasian Studies (2010), p. 144-152, 149. He subsequently elaborated the theme, suggesting that Wirth's superior knowledge was based on the Ahnenerbe's "vast archaeological material obtained during excavations in Palestine", to his judgement the most experienced organization of the time.
The existence of this universal inner tradition has not been discovered through scientific or scholarly enquiry; this had led some to claim that it does not exist, although Hanegraaff thought it better to adopt a view based in methodological agnosticism by stating that "we simply do not know - and cannot know" if it exists or not. He noted that, even if such a true and absolute nature of reality really existed, it would only be accessible through "esoteric" spiritual practices, and could not be discovered or measured by the "exoteric" tools of scientific and scholarly enquiry. Hanegraaff also highlighted that an attitude which seeks to uncover an inner hidden core of all esoteric currents masks the fact that such groups often contain significant differences from one another, being rooted in their own historical and social contexts, and expressing ideas and agendas which are mutually exclusive. A third issue was that many of those currents widely recognised as esoteric never concealed their teachings, and in the twentieth century came to permeate popular culture, thus problematizing the claim that esotericism could be defined by its hidden and secretive nature.
The latter work expresses Peretti Junior's lively interest in esotericism: a follower of René Guénon, a passionate reader of Rudolf Steiner and Allan Kardec, of Eliphas Levi, and of Buddhist and yoga texts, the artist and scholar created a large library of esoteric and theosophical works together with his friend Adolfo Papetti, a collector and the executor of his will. An increasingly solitary and eccentric figure, often mystified by the diffidence of his fellow townspeople (who believed he knew the secrets of the archaic sorcery of the Valley) and the superficiality of the criticism of his work, Lorenzo Peretti Junior spent the last decades of his life living in seclusion at Toceno, devoting himself mostly to studying and critiquing art. An analytical, in- depth reassessment of his role in the art of Valle Vigezzo and Italy generally at the turn of the 20th century would not be carried out until the 1990s, with the research of the Piedmontese critic Dario Gnemmi (1957-2005), in particular the volumes Retour à la ferme (Return to the farm) (1993) and the posthumous Vigezzini di Francia. Pittura d'alpe e d'Oltralpe tra Otto e Novecento in Valle Vigezzo (The French Vigezzini.
Annen’s goal was to unite the various taimitsu doctrines of the contemporary Tendai school into one “true” esotericism that would encompass sectarian divisions and even the totality of the Buddhist experience. He presented a theory known as the “four ones” (shiichi kyōhan 四一教判), in which he stated that the Shingon view of the world consisted of one buddha, one time, one place, and one teaching. He thereby affirmed the suchness of all phenomena, and provided an absolute reading which encompassed all relative theories of Buddhist doctrines. He also reinterpreted the precepts of the Tendai school in light of esoteric teachings. In the Futsu jubosatsukai koshaku (普通授菩薩戒広釈 ), Annen argued for a more lenient attitude towards monks who violated the precepts, arguing for instance that the transgressions should be considered in the context of the person’s whole life, and that the precepts could be violated for certain reasons. Scholarship suggests that Annen’s attitude towards the precepts was due to witnessing his master, Tankei’s violations of laws of sexual conduct, and subsequent defrocking. Additionally, it has been argued that Annen’s treatise contributed considerably to the decline of monastic discipline in the Tendai school.

No results under this filter, show 484 sentences.

Copyright © 2024 RandomSentenceGen.com All rights reserved.