Henrik Bogdan - Occultism in a Global Perspective

OCCULTISM IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Approaches to New Religions

Series Editors: James R. Lewis, University of Troms

Henrik Bogdan, University of Gothenburg

Editorial Board

Gordon Melton, Institute for the Study of American Religion

Ingvild Gilhus, University of Bergen

Wouter Hanegraaff, University of Amsterdam

James T. Richardson, University of Nevada Reno

Steve Sutcliffe, Edinburgh University

Jo Pearson, University of Winchester

Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR

Published

Cults: A Reference Guide, 3rd edition

James R. Lewis

Fantasy and Belief: Alternative Religions, Popular Narratives and Digital Cultures

Danielle Kirby

Occultism in a Global Perspective

Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic

OCCULTISM IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Edited by

Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic

First published in 2013 by Acumen

Published 2014 by Routledge

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Editorial matter and selection Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic, 2013

Individual contributions contributors, 2013

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

No reproduction without permission.

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Notices

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN: 978-1-84465-716-2 (hardcover)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan.

CONTENTS

Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic

Kennet Granholm

Hans Thomas Hakl

Per Faxneld

Gordan Djurdjevic

Francesco Baroni

Arthur Versluis

PierLuigi Zoccatelli

Thierry Zarcone

Henrik Bogdan

Emily Aoife Somers

Nevill Drury

Francesco Baroni is an Affiliated Fellow of the Institut religions, cultures, modernit at University of Lausanne. He is the author of Tommaso Palamidessi e lArcheosofia (2011) and of numerous articles about Western esotericism and new religious movements.

Henrik Bogdan is Associate Professor at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at University of Gothenburg. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, Bogdan is the author of Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation (2007), editor of Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley: A Correspondence (2010), co-editor of Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism (2012), Sexuality and New Religious Movements (forthcoming) and Handbook on Freemasonry (forthcoming). He is the associate editor of The Pomegranate: The International Journal for Pagan Studies, and book reviews editor of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism, as well as co-editor of the book series Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. He is founder of the Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism (SNASWE), and Board Member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).

Gordan Djurdjevic teaches as a Sessional Instructor in the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University (Canada). He is the author of Masters of Magical Powers: The Nth Yogis in the Light of Esoteric Notions (2008) and India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism (forthcoming).

Nevill Drury is an independent historical researcher whose specialist interests include modern Western magic, shamanism, transpersonal psychology and visionary art. His most recent publications include The Varieties of Magical Experience, co-authored with Dr Lynne Hume (2013); Dark Spirits: The Magical Art of Rosaleen Norton and Austin Osman Spare (2012); Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic (2011); Homage to Pan (2009); The Dictionary of Magic (2005); and The New Age: The History of a Movement (2004). He also edited the multi-authored Pathways in Modern Western Magic (2012). Nevill received his PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2008 for a dissertation on the visionary art and magical beliefs of Rosaleen Norton. He has worked as an international art book publisher, lecturer and magazine editor and his books have been published in twenty-six countries and nineteen languages. Website: www.nevilldrury.com.

Per Faxneld is Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of the History of Religions, Stockholm University. Faxneld is the author of Mrkrets apostlar: Satanism i ldre tid (2006), co-editor of Frborgade tecken: Esoterism i litteraturen (2010) and The Devils Party: Satanism in Modernity (2012). He has published several articles and book chapters on the early history of Satanism, esotericism in literature (as well as the role of literature in esotericism) and the construction of tradition in Satanic groups. His dissertation focuses on Satanic feminism (the motif of Satan as the liberator of woman) in nineteenth-century culture.

Kennet Granholm is Docent in Comparative Religion at bo Akademi University and Assistant Professor in History of Religions at Stockholm University. He has written numerous articles on contemporary esotericism, new religions, and religion and popular culture. He is the author of Dark Enlightenment: The Historical, Sociological, and Discursive Contexts of Contemporary Esoteric Magic (forthcoming), the co-editor of Contemporary Esotericism (2013), and the editor of Perspektiv p esoterisk nyandlighet (2009). He is co-director of the Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism (SNASWE), and the Contemporary Esotericism Research Network (ContERN).

Hans Thomas Hakl is an independent scholar, co-editor of Gnostika and foreign correspondent of Politica Hermetica. He has written numerous articles on occultism and contemporary magic. He is the author of Der verborgene Geist von Eranos Unbekannte Begegnungen von Wissenschaft und Esoterik (2001), translated into English as Eranos: An Alternative Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century (2013).

Emily Aoife Somers is currently a lecturer in the English Department at the University of British Columbia. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She has published numerous articles on modernism, translation, and intercultural negotiations of artistic traditions. Her first monograph,