Search

Log In
The Occult Knowledge - Strategies of Epistemology Download Free PDF

Sign Up
in La Société Voudon Gnostique
more
by Maria Liberg

2013
About
The academic research on Western esotericism in general and contemporary occultism
in particular has been largely neglected in earlier scholarship and has only recently
Press
gained serious academic attention. This thesis examines how the contemporary occult
Blog
group, La Société Voudon Gnostique, headed by David Beth and an organization under
the general current Voudon Gnosis, legitimate their claims to knowledge, mainly throu…
People

Papers See Full PDF Download PDF

Terms
F R E E R E L AT E D P D F S

Privacy
The Modernity of Occultism: Re>ections on Some Crucial Aspects Free PDF
Copyright
Marco Pasi

Download
We're Free PDF
Hiring!
View PDF
Help Center

Review of Occultism in a Global Perspective (Bogdan & Djurdjevic eds., Free PDF
less
Acumen, 2013)
Egil Asprem

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Contemporary Esotericism, edited by Egil Asprem and Kennet Granholm, Free PDF
New York: Routledge, 2013
Adam Anczyk
2015, Contemporary Esotericism, edited by Egil Asprem and Kennet Granholm, Ne…
York: Routledge,
Download 2013,
Free PDF ix + 448 pp. ISBN 978 1 908049 32 2, US$120.00 (hardback);
ISBN 978 1 13 885611 0, US$49.95 (paperback), "Religion", 2015, vol. 45, iss 3.
View PDF
:
Hermes Explains: Thirty Questions about Western Esotericism Free PDF
Marco Pasi
2019, Hermes Explains: Thirty Questions about Western Esotericism
Few fields of academic research are surrounded by so many misunderstandings
and misconceptions as the study of Western esotericism. For twenty years now, th…
Centre for History
Download Free of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (University of
PDF
Amsterdam)
View PDF has been at the forefront of international scholarship in this domain.
This anniversary volume seeks to make the modern study of Western esotericism
known beyond specialist circles, while addressing a range of misconceptions,
New
biases,currents in the research
and prejudices on esotericism
that still tend to surround it.and mysticism
Thirty major scholars in the field Free PDF
Tiina
respondMahlamäki
to questions about a wide range of unfamiliar ideas, traditions, practices,
problems, and personalities
2020, Approaching thatand
Esotericism are Mysticism:
central to this area of
Cultural research. By challenging
Influences
many taken-for-granted
The current 29th volumeassumptions about Donneriani
of Scripta Instituti religion, science, philosophy,
Aboensis is basedandon athe
arts, this volume
symposium demonstrates
arranged why Institute
by the Donner the academic
and thestudy of esotericism
research leads usof…
project ‘Seekers to
reconsider
the Download much that and
New: Esotericism we thought we knew about
the Transformation the story of
of Religiosity in Western culture.
the Modernising
Free PDF
Finland’
View PDFat the University of Turku in June 2017, under the title: ‘Approaching
Esotericism and Mysticism: Cultural Influences’. All the articles published in this
volume were initially presented as papers at this conference and have, through a
The occult mind:
double-blind magicprocess,
peer-review in theory
beenand practice
selected for this volume. Free PDF
Leon Marvell
2007, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Introduction: Occultism in a Global Context Free PDF

Gordan Djurdjevic, Henrik Bogdan

Download Free PDF

View PDF

New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism, by Asprem, Egil and Julian Free PDF
Strube (eds.)
Jessica A . Albrecht
2022, Aries
Download Free PDF
View PDF
:
Review: Occult Traditions, ed. Damon Zacharias Lycourinos, Colac: Numen Free PDF
Books, 2012.
Manon Hedenborg White

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Moritz Maurer: Review of the anthology Egil Asprem / Julian Strube, eds. Free PDF
2021. New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism
Moritz Maurer
AЯGOS

Download Free PDF

View PDF
:
:
:
:
:
 as irrational and proto-scientific, not worthy of investigation. This could however be due to the
writings of occultists such as Éliphas Lévi (1810-1875) and H.P. Blavatsky (1832-1891) who
indeed begun to write large “histories” of the field but overlooked critical approaches to
historical evidence in advantage of their “tainted” occultist historiography.18 Since then, the
academic study of Western esotericism has seen the rise and fall of different paradigms, and
usually the starting point is set with the publication of Frances A. Yates’ Giordani Bruno and
the Hermetic Tradition in 1964, even though the birthdate of the academic field is under debate
as well.19 However, this “Yates paradigm” and the following “religionist” appropriation of it by
for example “Eranos” scholars such as C.G. Jung (1875-1961) and Mircea Eliade (1907-1986),
is today out-dated and it was only in the beginning of the 1990s that the field got serious
recognition as an academic field in its own right. This new state was first entered in 1992 with
the French scholar Antoine Faivre and his definition of Western esotericism as “a form of
thought” based on four intrinsic (correspondences, living nature, imagination & meditations and
experiences of transmutation) and two non-intrinsic (the praxis of the concordance and
transmission) characteristics.20 This definition and approach has had a huge influence on the
further academic study of Western esotericism but it too has been challenged, notably from
Kocku von Stuckrad and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, and it has been suggested that this definition has
severe restrictions to modern and contemporary periods. Where all of these discussions and
21
debates will lead us is for the future to tell.

1.4.2 Occultism
The term occultism (deriving from the Latin word occultus, meaning “hidden”) has sometimes
been used interchangeably with esotericism, especially in older studies, or more specifically as a
synonym for the so-called “occult sciences”: astrology, alchemy and magic. The adjective
occultus has a much older history but as a noun ‘occultism’ acquired an increasing popularity
with the French occultist Éliphas Lévi in the 1850’s and in English in 1875 with Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky one of the founders of the Theosophical Society. It was then used to denote
sets of beliefs, ideas and practices, which has been defined as these “occult sciences” or “occult
philosophy.” The object of these disciplines was to investigate and use concepts and forces of
:
 18 Hanegraaff 2005, p. 338
19 Hanegraaff 2005, p. 339. For a discussion on the birth date of the academic study of esotericism, see:
Wouter J. Hanegraaff, ”The Birth of Esotericism from the Spirit of Protestantism” in ARIES, vol. 10, nr. 2,
2010, pp. 197‐216.
20 Hanegraaff 2005, pp. 339‐340. For an explanation of the characteristics see: Antoine Faivre, Access to

Western Esotericism, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994, pp. 10‐15.
21 Hanegraaff 2005, p. 340.

nature that traditionally had been defined as “occult” (hidden) since they were not directly
observable and were viewed as impenetrable to the human sense.22
Within academia it has been suggested that occultism could be seen as a practical
application of the theoretical framework of esotericism and Faivre who “described the occult
sciences as the practical dimension of esotericism and referred to them as ‘occultism’” has thus
defended this view. This approach has however been criticized for being artificial and was later
dropped by Faivre himself. Today, the most common scholarly use of the term occultism is to
refer to a specific type of esotericism or as developments within the broader category of
esotericism. The development occurred in the 19th and 20th century to come to grips with a post-
enlightenment and disenchanted world and in that sense occultism has been defined as “all
attempts by esotericists to come to terms with a disenchanted world or, alternatively, by people
in general to make sense of esotericism from the perspective of a disenchanted world”23 or
simply as “secularized esotericism”. The secularization of Western culture and religion naturally
had its implication for esotericism as well and if we, as Hanegraaff suggests, understand the
term “secularization” as referring to a “process of profound change and transformation of
religion under the impact of a combination of historically unprecedented social and political
conditions, we may speak not just of a ‘secularization of religion’ but also, more specifically, of
a ‘secularization of esotericism’ during the nineteenth century.”24 The result of these specific
developments and changes are thus what is commonly referred to as occultism. Early signs of a
secularization of Western esotericism can be found in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
(1688-1772) and Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) and Hanegraaff claims that the occultist
milieu of the nineteenth and twentieth century differs from traditional Western esotericism in at
least four crucial ways: Firstly, whereas esotericism originally was grounded in an “holistic” and
“enchanted” worldview where all parts of the universe were seen as linked together by invisible
networks of non-casual “correspondences” and the nature was seen as permeated with a divine
power, modern esotericism has had to compromise in various ways between this “holistic”
worldview and the “mechanical” or “disenchanted” worldview – “accordingly, occultism is
characterized by hybrid mixtures of traditional esoteric and modern scientistic-materialist
worldviews.”25 Secondly, with the emergence of new translations of oriental texts as well as of a
comparative study of religions of the world, terms and concepts borrowed from religions such as
Hinduism and Buddhism got incorporated into the already-existing Western-occultist
framework. Thirdly, in the nineteenth century debate between Christian creationism and the new

22 Pasi2006, pp. 1364‐1365, Hanegraaff 2005b, pp. 884‐887.

23 Hanegraaff 2005b, p. 887‐888.
24 Hanegraaff 2004, p. 496.
25 Hanegraaff 2004, p. 497.

10

theories of evolution, occultists generally took the side of “science”, much as a part of a strategy
of presenting occultism as scientifically legitimate (more on this in the theory chapter).
However, the types of evolutionism found in occultism depended more on philosophical models
originating in German Idealism and Romanticism than on Darwinian theory. Fourthly, the
emergence of modern psychology had a huge impact on Western occultism where it proved
possible to present Western esoteric worldviews in a new psychological terminology. Most
influential in this regard was Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). Hanegraaff also mentions, as a fifth
aspect, the impact from the capitalist market economy where the New Age movement
increasingly has taken the shape of a “spiritual supermarket” where the religious consumers can
26
pick and choose whatever they prefer and suits them and their needs best.
The Italian scholar Marco Pasi also claims to have distinguished some common features of
occultism, namely: The already mentioned emphasis on solving the conflict between science and
religion; a depreciation towards Christianity or sometimes even a full-blown anti-Christian
attitude; the importance given to the spiritual realization of the individual, to be achieved
through various techniques; and finally an effort to construct its identity in demarcating itself
from other contemporary heterodox movements, in particular from spiritualism.27
As mentioned earlier, what have gained perhaps the least academic interest within the
academic study of Western esotericism are contemporary phenomena and Egil Asprem and
Kennet Granholm claims that this neglect is due to a strong historiographical emphasis in earlier
:
 Kennet Granholm claims that this neglect is due to a strong historiographical emphasis in earlier
research on Western esotericism. They state that a lot of earlier research was carried out by
other academic disciplines, such as history of ideas, history of science and history of arts, which
tended to focus on and specializing in Renaissance and early modern European culture. They
also claim that contemporary currents have been the focus of other branches of religious studies,
for example that sociologists of new religious movements have focused on “New Age
spiritualties” for decades and that “pagan studies” has emerged as a religious studies subfield it
its own, while scholars in the field of Western esotericism have to a large extent neglected
contemporary currents like these. Another factor for this neglect seems to be a general
reluctance from scholars in the field to incorporate perspectives, theories and methodology from
the social sciences as well as that most scholars within the field identifies themselves as
historians and thereby sees the contemporary as outside of their field. Furthermore, Asprem and
Granholm provides us with examples on how this lack of research looks like – they bring up the
famous scholar of esotericism Kocku von Stuckrad’s work Western Esotericism: A Brief History
of Secret Knowledge (2005) which they claim is “rather thin on recent and contemporary
developments” as well as another famous scholar of esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s

26 Hanegraaff 2004, pp. 496‐498.

27 Pasi 2006, pp. 1366‐1367.

11

work The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction (2008) which contains a
chapter entitled “Ritual Magic from 1850 to the present” but which only examines ritual magic
up until the 1950s!28
There are however some exceptions from this rule. Just to mention a few examples: the
British scholar Dave Evans’ The History of British Magic After Crowley (2007), based on his
dissertation, where he examines the developments of British magic after Crowley’s death in
1947 with both historical and anthropological methodologies and from both emic and etic
perspectives; The Finnish scholar Kennet Granholm’s dissertation Embracing the Dark (2005)
in which he investigates the Swedish dark magical order, Dragon Rouge, (officially founded in
1990) both from a historic-descriptive point of view as well as an analysis of meaning-making
of the people within the order; Asprem and Granholm also bring up Hanegraaff’s New Age
Religion and Western Culture (1996) and much of the work by Olav Hammer29 as exceptions
from the neglecting of contemporary currents from scholars working within the field of
30
esotericism.

1.4.3 Michael Bertiaux and Voudon Gnosis

As already mentioned, there is no academic research carried out on La Société Voudon
Gnostique and as far as I am concerned they are not even mentioned anywhere. This might not
be surprising though, since they are a very new society and what has been written and examined
about them and their spokesperson David Beth is solely non-academic.31 This might also
however, together with the thin academic research on Bertiaux and the Voudon Gnostic current
in general, support Asprem and Granholm’s (and others) thesis about the lack of research on
contemporary currents.
There are however some, even though rather thin, academic research carried out on
Michael Bertiuax and the Voudon Gnostic current. He and the organization The Monastery of
the Seven Rays, which he was long associated with, are included in Melton’s Encyclopedia of
American Religions (1999) as well as in Lewis’ Satanism Today – An Encyclopedia of Religion,
Folklore and Popular Culture (2001). The article in Satanism Today is very short and builds on
the article in Encyclopedia of American Religions where Gordon J. Melton briefly mentions its
Martinist history, the establishment in Haiti and the development into the Gnostic Church as
well as The Monastery of the Seven Rays (more on this in the chapter on Voudon Gnosis and
Michael Bertiaux). Another organization associated with Bertiaux, the Ordo Templi Orientis

28 Asprem & Granholm 2013b, p. 1‐3.

29 See for example the work which frequently is being used throughout this thesis –Claiming Knowledge in
which Hammer investigates relatively contemporary forms of esotericism from 1875 to 1999.
30 Asprem and Granholm 2013b, p. 2
31 See for example the interview with David Beth on occultofpersonality.net. This website provides ”recorded

interviews with serious esoteric researchers and teachers from all over the world”.

12

Antiqua (O.T.O.A.) is mentioned in the passing in Marco Pasi’s article on Ordo Templi Orientis
(O.T.O.) in Dictoinary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism as one of the organizations related to
the O.T.O. but which took a different direction than the main branch of O.T.O when mixed with
vodou.
Bertiaux is also furthermore mentioned in a recent article entitled “The Beast and the
Prophet – Aleister Crowley’s Fascination with Joseph Smith” (2012) by Massismo Introvigne.
In this article, which investigates “the problem of an alleged magic or occult connection in
:
 respect of Mormonism” 32 , Introvigne relates Bertiaux to the phenomenon of “wandering
bishops” – a lineage of bishops outside of the mainstream Roman Catholic Church claiming
apostolic succession. Introvigne states that while Bertiaux has passed on the O.T.O.A. to other
people he continues to be a Gnostic bishop and “combines the tradition of the Gnostic Churches
33
with what he prefers to spell ‘Voudon’”.
Most that is written about Bertiaux is however also non-academic. As will be seen under
the chapter “3.2 Voudon Gnosis and Michael Bertiaux” there are some interviews conducted
with Bertiaux carried out by non-academics and these will be used and problematized in that
chapter. Bertiaux and his teachings are also examined in several of the famous occultist Kenneth
34
Grant’s (1924-2011) works and Bertiaux’s work first came to more widespread attention with
Kenneth Grant’s Cults of the Shadow (1975).35

1.6 Discussion of the source material

First of all, the most famous of all the works published from the Voudon Gnostic current is The
Voudon Gnostic Workbook by Michael Bertiaux first published in 1988 and re-published in
2007. This huge grimoire consists of 642 pages of occult lessons and consists of everything
from how to become a “Lucky Hoodoo” and “Grimoire Ghuede” to “Angelic Gematria” and
“Gnostic Energies in Esoteric Hinduism”. However, for reasons explained below, this will not
be the source material in this thesis. Other published works by Bertiaux are the Cosmic
Meditation (2007) and Vudu Cartography (2010) and he is also the author of the four-year
courses to the Monastery of the Seven Rays, which have not been published.
As mentioned, this thesis will instead examine the two books Voudon Gnosis (2010) and
ATUA (2011). Voudon Gnosis is written by David Beth and was first published in 2008 as an
exposition of The Voudon Gnostic Workbook (more about this under the chapter on S.V.G. and
David Beth). It is 160 pages long and divided into eleven main chapters and two appendices.

32 Introvigne 2012, p. 255.

33 Introvigne 2012, p. 263.
34 More specifically: Cults of the Shadow (1975, see especially pp. 164‐195); Outside the Circles of Time
(1980); Nightside of Eden (1977); Hecate’s Fountain (1992).
35 Staley 2008, p. i.

13

ATUA is a journal edited by Beth and is composed by essays written by 16 members of S.V.G.
(including Beth) and consists of 197 pages. According to Beth, the purpose of ATUA is “to serve
as a doorway from the inner magical and Gnostic worlds of La Société Voudon Gnostique
(S.V.G.) to an informed outer public of esoteric practitioners” and will be published at irregular
36
intervals. The reasons for choosing these books are quite simple. First of all, this is a
Bachelor’s thesis and within its limits it is not possible to include all the existing material from
the Voudon Gnostic current. For example, the four-year courses from the Monastery of the
Seven Rays consists of several hundreds of pages and, no matter how interesting it would be, it
is not possible to examine them within the limits of a Bachelor’s thesis. Therefore, I will leave
the courses, and The Voudon Gnostic Workbook to further investigation in the future. But of
course, the main reason for choosing Voudon Gnosis and ATUA is that this thesis aims at
investigating S.V.G. and their relation to the strategies proposed by Hammer and therefore I
have chosen the book written by their own leader and the book written by the members
themselves in the first place.

2. Theory – Strategies of Epistemology

Olav Hammer argues that there are mainly three discursive strategies used by contemporary
esoteric spokespersons to rhetorically37 legitimate their claims to knowledge. The strategies are:
the appeal to, or construction of, (1) tradition; (2) scientism as a language of faith; and
narratives of (3) experience. There are also numerous different positions within these strategies
and they are more to be seen as “umbrella terms” for various positions, approaches and
expressions of discursive strategies, rather than homogenous units. The strategies are
“discursive in that they are part of the religious discourse rather than its praxis and strategies in
that they construct and defend the discourse.”38 They can furthermore be combined and invoked
in the same context and are thus working as complementary together.39
Hammer states that there has been an increasing interest in religious innovation in the
modern post-enlightenment milieu and that his study “attempts to understand some of the
mechanisms by which a number of modern esoteric currents have attempted to modernize,
democratize and legitimatize themselves, adapting themselves to an increasingly hostile cultural
environment.”40 He also asks himself how one can understand the relationship between the
seemingly pre-Enlightenment elements of contemporary religiosity and the relatively modern,

36 Beth
2011, p. 9.
37 Rethorically
in the Aristotelian sense: to present a valid argument to persuad the reader.
38 Hammer 2001, p. 42.
39 Hammer 2001, pp. 42, 373.
40 Hammer 2001, p. xiv.

14
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
 F R E E R E L AT E D PAP E R S

Occultist Identity Formations Between Theosophy and Socialism in Fin- Free PDF
de-Siècle France
Julian Strube
2017, Numen
Fin-de-siècle occultism is usually regarded within the context of an “occult revival”
that implies the modernization of an older esoteric tradition. However, this notio…
is rooted in esoteric
Download identificatory discourses at the end of the nineteenth century.
Free PDF
At that
View time, French esotericists polemically distanced themselves from the
PDF
“Eastern” esotericism of the Theosophical Society by constructing an ésotérisme
occidental. The article will show that this separation of “East” and “West” only
Occult
occurredRoots of Religious
after the Studies stimulated the emergence of “occultist”
T.S. had decisively Free PDF
Yves Mühlematter
identities. Consequently, it has to be seen as a “nationalist” reaction to a global
phenomenon. Secondly, another major aspect of occultist identity formations will
2021
be highlighted: socialism. It will be shown that fin-de-siècle occultists were deeply
Download Free PDF
involved with socialist theories in the July Monarchy vein but ambiguously
View PDF
:
 Esotericism Theorized: Major Trends and Approaches to the Study of Free PDF
Esotericism (2016)
Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Contested Knowledge: Theories and Methods in the Study of Esotericism Free PDF
J. Christian Greer
2019, University of Amsterdam, Fall
Students who have completed this course have acquired a solid understanding of
current methods and theoretical perspectives in the study of esotericism. In…
particular,
Download theyFree
are PDF
familiar with the differences between empirical/historical,
religionist,
View PDF and social-scientific approaches and their implications for the practice
of research in this field.

Insensible and Inexplicable - On the two Meanings of Occult Free PDF

Florian Sprenger
While the distinction between spiritism and science was understood affirmatively
as a demarcation of true science against pseudo-science, nowadays, after sever…
Science Wars,Free
Download it is PDF
obvious for us that this distinction does not correspond to the
actual practices of science but reflects a work of ‘purification’ typical for
View PDF
modernity in the Latourian sense. In the physico-philosophical surroundings of
this boundary epistemological foundations are shaped and modern science is
Winter 2018
constituted asThe Devil inway
the primary theto
Detail : An Introduction
knowledge. Referring to to Decadent
studies on the history Free PDF
Occultism
of the occultfrom
in thethe Editors
Early Modern Period, the article shows that in order to
understand
Jessica Gossling
the stakes of spiritism and its technical or personal media we should
trace
2018 back this boundary to a rarely recognized conceptual transformation of the
‘occult’. It shifts between insensible and inexplicable. Following this leading
Download Free PDF
difference, the article traces its function in the emergence of early occultism, the
View PDF
debate between Leibniz and Newton, and the rise of modern spiritism and its
instrumental repertoire.
The Notion of "Occult Sciences" in the Wake of the Enlightenment (2013) Free PDF
Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Download Free PDF

View PDF

New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism Free PDF

Julian Strube, Egil Asprem, Dylan Burns, Liana Saif, Mariano Villalba, Keith Edward
Cantú
2021
:
 This volume offers new approaches to some of the biggest persistent challenges
in the study of esotericism and beyond. Commonly understood as a particularly…
“Western”
Download undertaking
Free PDF consisting of religious, philosophical, and ritual traditions
that
Viewgo PDFback to Mediterranean antiquity, this book argues for a global approach
that significantly expands the scope of esotericism and highlights its relevance
for broader theoretical and methodological debates in the humanities and social
Religion,
sciences. TheThecontributors
Occult, andoffer the Paranormal: Method,
critical interventions on Theory,
aspects and relatedDexnitions
to Free PDF
colonialism,
Carole Cusack race, gender and sexuality, economy, and marginality. Equipped with a
substantial
2015, Religion, introduction
the Occult, and andconclusion, the book
the Paranormal offers textbook-style
(4 volume reprint series with…
discussions
Routledge) of the state of research and makes
The first volume of Religion, the Occult, and the Paranormal concrete proposals for how
is concerned with
esotericism can be rethought through broader engagement
how people have interpreted experiences of a religious, occult, or paranormal… with neighboring
fields.
nature, and theFreeapproaches that scholars employ in order to study such
Download PDF
phenomena,
View PDF which are often elusive and difficult to locate in the various
frameworks that people accept as ‘reality’. Wouter Hanegraaff has noted that, "[i]n
studying religion, scholars are dependent on believers expressing their awareness
Conference
of a meta-empiricalCfP: Occultism and Politics
reality in empirically in East-Central
perceptible ways (words, Europe,
images,27-29 Free PDF
September
behaviour etc.) 2021,
but, Prague
qua scholars, they do not themselves have direct access to
the meta-empirical
Pavel Horák, Karolina … [M]ethodological
Maria Kotkowskaagnosticism
(Hess) is the only proper attitude"
(1995: 101).
2021, Call forYet many scholars involved in the study of esotericism and
Papers
paranormal
Focusing onexperiences
the occultism areandthemselves
esotericism ‘insiders’ to one orEurope
in East-Central other tradition
since the ormid-
practice, a phenomenon
nineteenth-century that
till now, wehas bedevilled
invite scholars thetoacademic
share theirstudy of religion,
research which…in
which a significant
addresses theFree number of scholars have been theologically motivated. So, as
following
Download PDF topics: • Tensions between or calls for nationalism and/or
Hugh Urban has asked,
transnationalism how doand
in the occult ‘outsiders’
esotericstudy secret or• Attitudes
movements; restrictedof traditions,
various and
View PDF
does
state the intimate
bodies and closed
(republics, empires nature of the teacher-pupil
or totalitarian regimes) to relationship
occultism result
and in the
conundrum
esotericism,that from‘ifsuppression
one “knows,”toone cannot• Practising
support; speak; andoccultism
if one speaks, one must
or esotericism
Forbidden
not
underreally
socialistKnowledge:
“know” ‘ (Urban• Anti-Esoteric
regimes; 1998: 210)? An
Case studies ofPolemics
unsolved and
influentialquestion Academic
movements, is, ‘Must Discourse
the study
persons, or of Free PDF
all non-normative
(2005)
ideas either originatingexperience
or being involve
adoptedthe scholar as participant?’
in East-Central Europe; •Another
Critical
important
reflection
Wouter underlying
J. of the scholarship concerning occultism and esotericismthree
Hanegraaff issue concerns the connections between the terms,
in East-Central
‘religion’,
Europe. the ‘occult’,Programme
Preliminary and the ‘paranormal’; lecture how closely are they Prof
related? It is Pasi
2005, Aries: Journal for the Study• Keynote of Western Esotericismby Associate Dr Marco
possible
(University to of
situate them on• aConference
Amsterdam) continuum,dinner with religion at one board
• CEENASWE end, signifying
meeting •
Download
official, Free PDF
sanctioned non-normative experiences, the occult (which simply means
Magical Prague trip (after the conference on 30 September)
View PDF
‘hidden’ or ‘secret’ and is the Latin-derived equivalent of the Greek-derived term
‘esoteric’) in the middle, and the radically de-institutionalised, individual and
‘unofficial’ experiences of the paranormal at the other end? Antoine Faivre, an
From Imagination to Reality: An Introduction to Esotericism and the Free PDF
early and influential scholar of Western Esotericism, posited a six-point definition
Occult (2015)
of esotericism: 1) ‘[s]ymbolic and real correspondences … are said to exist among
Wouter
all partsJ.ofHanegraaff
the universe, both seen and unseen’ (1994: 10); 2) Nature is
experienced
In: Kurt Almqvist as alive
& Louise
and pulsating
Belfrage with
(eds.),
energy;
Hilma3)aftheKlint:
useTheof imagination
Art of Seeingtothe
identify and
Invisible, Stockholm
utilise mediations
2015. between the material and spiritual worlds; 4) the
transmutation
Download Free of thePDF individual initiate of esoteric wisdom, from a lower to a
higher
View PDF state; 5) the use of concordance, where attempts are made to ‘establish
common denominators between two different traditions or even more, among all
traditions’ (1994: 14); and 6) the transmission of esoteric knowledge directly from
Hidden
teacher to Wisdom
pupil. This in the
modelIll-Ordered
has beenHouse:
questioned,A Short
but itSurvey
marks the of Occultism
occult and in Free PDF
Former
esoteric outYugoslavia.
as distinct from both organised religion (such as Roman Catholicism)
:
 Gordan Djurdjevic

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Antoine Faivre and the Study of Esotericism Free PDF

Macarena del Real

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Occult Trajectories II: Modernism, Esotericism, and Politics Free PDF

J. Christian Greer
2014, University of Amsterdam, Fall
The course focuses on different aspects of the historical evolution of western
esotericism in the modern period, from the eighteenth century up to the present…
days. The aimFree
Download is toPDF
follow both the internal development, understood from the
specific
View PDFperspective of the field, and the broader cultural context in which western
esotericism has taken shape, in order to understand both the inside logics of
esotericism and its responses to external social pressure. Every year a different
PART
theme TWO,
is chosen CHAPTER
that offers3 on MYSTICISM
a unique andinWESTERN
entry point ESOTERICISM
this historical development. Free DOC
Karen
For thisParham
year, the subject will be modern western esotericism and politics.
Esotericism
Finished book hasnowbeen often identified
available on amazon. withThis
right-wing or copy
is a draft reactionary
of one politics.
of the
Authors such as Theodor Adorno and Umberto Eco have
chapters from my book ‘Mysticism in Western Esoericism’ which is available argued that there is on…
an
essential
amazon. link
In thebetween
study ofesotericism and political
Western esotericism movements
there is frequentofmention
the 20 thofcentury
Download Free PDF
such as nazism and fascism. Esotericism is therefore supposed to be reactionary
mysticism
View PDF and yet there have been no studies linking the two. This book examines
by
how nature.
the two Is could
this ideabe tenable, or does
related within it call for a moreapproach.
a neo-essentailist complex picture? Starting
Other chapters
in the 1960s
include authorsof
an overview such
the as Frances Yates
philosophical studyhave argued thatan
of Mysticism, esoteric
overviewideas may
of the
The
studySociology
have played
of Western of
a role inEsotericism
the origins
esotericism, and the development
application to Ruusbroec, of Swedenborg
modern science.and The
Neo- Free PDF
connection
Kennet
druidry. Granholmbetween freemasonry and Enlightenment ideas in the 18th century, on
the
2008,other hand,
Oxford has beenof
Handbook emphasized
the Sociology by aofnumber
Religionof authors. During the 19 th
century, movements such as spiritualism and occultism were more often
Download
identified withFree PDFprogressive, and generally left-wing ideas, than with
liberal,
View PDF
conservatism. Finally, even in the 20 th century, it is not hard to find movements
and authors associating esoteric concepts and practices with political ideas that
are at the antipodes of the organicist, totalitarian vision of nazi-fascism. Indeed,
Introduction: Hermes Explains: Thirty Questions about Western Free PDF
as this course shall show, a number of highly influential esoteric movements are
Esotericism
linked directly to the anarchist tradition. Finally, we shall investigate a number of
Peter J Forshaw
esoteric currents that allege to represent a post-political form of politics. The
2019,
courseHermes
will focus Explains:
on these Thirty Questions
problematic aboutand
issues, Western Esotericism,
will try to highlightedited
their by…
Wouter
Few
complexityJ. Hanegraaff,
fields of academic
through thePeter
use J. both
research
of Forshaw & Marco
areprimary
surrounded
sourcesPasi,
by so Amsterdam:
andmany Amsterdam
misunderstandings
secondary literature.
University Press
and misconceptions as the study of Western esotericism. For twenty years now,…
the Download
Centre for Free History
PDFof Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (University of
:
 View PDF

From the Esoteric to the Exoteric and Back Again: Themes from Antiquity Free PDF
to Post-Modernity
Garry Trompf
2008, Sydney Studies in Religion

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Prospects for practicing the sociology of esotericism in studies on the Free PDF
New Age : characterisation of selected standpoints
Andrzej Kasperek
2015

Download Free PDF

View PDF

Review: The Occult Nineteenth Century: Roots, Developments, and Impact Free PDF
on the Modern World ed. by Lukas Pokorny, Franz Winter
Marina Alexandrova
2023, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft

Download Free PDF

View PDF

The history of modern Western esotericism Free PDF

Tiina Mahlamäki
Approaching Religion
The study of Western esoteric traditions and practices has been a growing
research field since the 1990s. This thematic issue aims at opening this field…
particularly
Download in Free
the context
PDF of Finnish cultural history, although the articles cover
also other
View PDF parts of the long tradition of Western esotericism in the history of
Europe.

Olav Hammer. Claiming Knowledge. Strategies of Epistemology from Free PDF

Theosophy to the New Age. Numen Book Series 90. Leiden, Brill, 2001,
xvii+547 pp., $194.00 (hardback) ISBN 90 04 120165, $49.00 (paperback)
ISBN 90 04 13638X
Alexandra Grieser
2005, Religion

Download Free PDF

View PDF
:
 "Prolegomena to the Study of Jewish Occultism: Dexnition, Scope, and Free PDF
Impact," Jewish Thought 4 (2022): 91–122 (with Boaz Huss)
Samuel Glauber
2022, Jewish Thought
This article presents a preliminary overview of Jewish involvement in modern
occult movements and representations of occultism in Jewish culture from the…
lateDownload
nineteenthFree
to the
PDFmid-twentieth centuries. Jews across the world at this time
took
View anPDFinterest in occult currents that emerged in European and North American
society. This entailed both a centrifugal movement on the part of Jews toward
broader occult movements, as well as a centripetal incorporation of occult trends
Review of Contemporary
within Jewish popular cultureEsotericism
and religiouseds. Asprem
thought: manyandJewsGranholm for
joined Western Free PDF
Aries
esoteric(2014)
movements, while occult currents were integrated into Jewish popular
cultureDeslippe
Philip and religious literature. Those interested in occultism and esoteric
movements includedfor
2014, Aries: Journal leading Jewish
the Study writers, scholars,
of Western rabbis, artists, and political
Esotericism
activists. Many Jews who took part in the esoteric milieu aspired to integrate
Download Free PDF
Judaism with Western esotericism, at times yielding novel modes of modern
View PDF
Jewish occultism. These modern Jewish occult forms, largely forgotten today,
were interwoven into numerous works of Jewish literature, art, and religious
thought from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, while also
exerting
R E L AT EDan TOP
influence
I C S on broader alternative spiritual movements to this day. The
article discusses the challenges of defining Jewish occultism and examine its
scope and impact within the respective fields of Jewish studies and Western
Epistemology
esotericism. HistoryofofJewish
The framework Religion Magic
occultism, New Religions
we argue, calls into question
several conventions of modern Jewish historiography. Long overlooked, the study
of modern Jewish occultism stands to challenge prevailing conceptions of Jewish
Western Esotericism (History) Occultism Witchcraft, Religion and Magic
modernity and secularization, while offering new research paradigms for the
historical study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Judaism and Western
esotericism.
Voudon Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism Western Esotericism

Vodou Voodoo Left-Hand Path Esoteric Movements

Michael Bertiaux

Find new research papers in: Physics Chemistry Biology Health Sciences Ecology Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science Mathematics Computer Science
: