Religion und arkane Hierarchie : der Orden der Gold- und Rosenkreuzer als geheime Kirche im 18. Jahrhundert /
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This volume examines the history of the 18th-Century secret order of the Golden Rosicrucians (Gold- und Rosenkreuzer), one of the most mysterious, exclusive and successful Masonic societies in the German speaking countries of that time. The order and its esoteric roots have so far never been examined on the basis of original documents. The formation and development, the hierarchical structure, leading figures such as princes and ministers, and the system of degrees and secret teachings are explored in-depth and interpreted applying recent and innovative concepts of the Study of Western Esotericism.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-356) and index. :
9789047419518 :
1871-1405 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Lux in tenebris : the visual and the symbolic in western esotericism /
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Lux in Tenebris is a collection of eighteen original interdisciplinary essays that address aspects of the verbal and visual symbolism in the works of significant figures in the history of Western Esotericism, covering such themes as alchemy, magic, kabbalah, angels, occult philosophy, Platonism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy. Part I: Middle Ages andamp; Early Modernity ranges from Gikatilla, Ficino, Camillo, Agrippa, Weigel, Böhme, Yvon, and Swedenborg, to celestial divination in Russia. Part II: Modernity andamp; Postmodernity moves from occultist thinkers Schwaller de Lubicz and Evola to esotericism in literature, art, and cinema, in the works of Colquhoun, Degouve de Nuncques, Bruskin, Doitschinoff, and Pérez-Reverte, with an essay on esoteric theories of colour. Contributors are: Michael J.B. Allen, Susanna Åkerman, Lina Bolzoni, Aaron Cheak, Robert Collis, Francesca M. Crasta, Per Faxneld, Laura Follesa, Victoria Ferentinou, Joshua Gentzke, Joscelyn Godwin, Hans Thomas Hakl, Theodor Harmsen, Elke Morlok, Noel Putnik, Jonathan Schorsch, György Szönyi, Carsten Wilke, and Thomas Willard.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004334953 :
1871-1405 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hidden intercourse : eros and sexuality in the history of Western esotericism /
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From rumours about gnostic orgies in antiquity to the explicit erotic symbolism of alchemical texts, from the subtly coded eroticism of medieval kabbalah to the sexual magic practiced by contemporary occultists and countercultural translations of Asian Tantra, the history of Western esotericism is rich in references to the domains of eros and sexuality. This volume, which brings together an impressive array of top-level specialists, is the first to analyze the eroticism of the esoteric without sensationalism or cheap generalizations, but on the basis of expert scholarship and attention to textual and historical detail. While there are few other domains where the imagination may so easily run wild, the various contributions seek to distinguish fact from fiction--only to find that historical realities are sometimes even stranger than the fantasies. In doing so, they reveal the outlines of a largely unknown history spanning more than twenty centuries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047443582 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Petrine instauration : religion, esotericism and science at the court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725 /
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The reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725) was marked by an unprecedented wave of reform in Russia. This book provides an innovative reappraisal of the Petrine Age, in which hitherto neglected aspects of the tsar's transformation of his country are studied. More specifically, the reforms enacted by the tsar are assessed in light of the religious notion of instauration - a belief in the restoration of Adamic knowledge in the last age - and a historical and cultural analysis of the impact of Western esotericism at the Russian court. This book will appeal to scholars of Russian history and religion, as well as being of wider interest to those studying Western esotericism in Early Modern and eighteenth-century Europe.
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1 online resource (xx, 583 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [551]-575) and index. :
9789004224391 :
1871-1405 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541) : essential theoretical writings /
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The daunting writings of Paracelsus-the second largest 16th-century body of writings in German after Luther's-contributed to medicine, natural science, alchemy, philosophy, theology, and esoteric tradition. This volume provides a critical edition of essential writings from the authoritative 1589 Huser Paracelsus alongside new English translations and commentary on the sources and context of the full corpus. The Essential Theoretical Writings incorporate topics ranging from metaphyics, cosmology, faith, religious conflict, magic, gender, and education, to the processes of nature, disease and medication, female and male sufferings, and cures of body and soul. Properly contextualized, these treatises yield rich extracts of Renaissance and Reformation culture, soundings of 16th-century life, and keys to an influential but poorly understood early modern intellectual tradition.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047423416 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Constructing tradition means and myths of transmission in Western esotericism /
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The question of constructing tradition, concepts of origin, and memory as well as techniques and practices of knowledge transmission, are central for cultures in general. In esotericism, however, such questions and techniques play an outstanding role and are widely reflected upon, in its literature. Esoteric paradigms not only understand themselves in elaborated mytho-poetical narratives as bearers of "older", "hidden", "higher" knowledge. They also claim their knowledge to be of a particular origin. And they claim this knowledge has been transmitted by particular (esoteric) means, media and groups. Consequently, esotericism not only involves the construction of its own tradition; it can even be understood as a specific form of tradition and transmission. The various studies of the present voume, which contains the papers of a conference held in Tübingen in July 2007, provide an overview of the most important concepts and ways of constructing tradition in esotericism.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216372 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Dark enlightenment : The Historical, sociological, and discursive contexts of contemporary esoteric magic /
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In Dark Enlightenment Kennet Granholm explores the historical, sociological, and discursive contexts of contemporary esoteric magic. The book is focused on the Sweden-originated Left-Hand Path magic order Dragon Rouge in particular, but through a detailed contextualizing examination of this case study it offers a broader visage of contemporary esotericism in general. The author takes cue from both the historiography of Western esotericism and the sociological study of new religions and religious change, aiming to provide a transdisciplinary framework for a comprehensive study of esotericism in late modernity.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004274877 :
1871-1405 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Polemical encounters : esoteric discourse and its others /
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In its historical development from late antiquity to the present, western esotericism has repeatedly been the issue of polemical discourse. This volume engages the polemical structures that underlie both the identities within and the controversy about esoteric currents in European history. From Jewish and Christian kabbalah through heretical discourse and interconfessional polemics in early modernity to the legitimization of esoteric identity in modern culture, the 12 chapters, accompanied by an editors' introduction, provide a cornucopia of relevant cases that are interpreted in a framework of polemical discourse and 'Othering'. This volume sheds new light on the ultimately polemical structure of western esotericism and thus opens new vistas for further research into esoteric discourse.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047431510 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Esotericism in African American religious experience : "there is a mystery"... /
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In Esotericism in African American Religious Experience: "There is a Mystery" ... , Stephen C. Finley, Margarita Simon Guillory, and Hugh R. Page, Jr. assemble twenty groundbreaking essays that provide a rationale and parameters for Africana Esoteric Studies (AES): a new trans-disciplinary enterprise focused on the investigation of esoteric lore and practices in Africa and the African Diaspora. The goals of this new field - while akin to those of Religious Studies, Africana Studies, and Western Esoteric Studies - are focused on the impulses that give rise to Africana Esoteric Traditions (AETs) and the ways in which they can be understood as loci where issues such as race, ethnicity, and identity are engaged; and in which identity, embodiment, resistance, and meaning are negotiated.
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1 online resource (xxi, 406 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-387) and index. :
9789004283428 :
1871-1405 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.