Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00015
Dell J. Rose
Abstract This article considers the thought of Wellesley Tudor Pole, one of Britain’s most important modern religious teachers, and his particular take on the Bahá’i faith. Pole’s ‘Bahaism,’ sought to present the teachings of ʿAbdu’l-Bahá and the other Bahá’i prophets as compatible with a constellation of different esoteric ideologies, which he felt would be at the centre of a world-wide spiritual revival. Pole also found in ʿAbdu’l-Bahá an Eastern teacher who he believed confirmed this new spiritual period, and he worked hard to promote ʿAbdu’l-Bahá and what he understood as being the Bahá’i faith, being for a time a major figure amongst nascentBahá’is in the West. His ideas were influential on the group of Esotericists around Glastonbury, known as the Avalonians, and his Chalice Well Trust is one of Britain’s most important centres of tourism.
{"title":"Avalonian Bahaism","authors":"Dell J. Rose","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00015","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article considers the thought of Wellesley Tudor Pole, one of Britain’s most important modern religious teachers, and his particular take on the Bahá’i faith. Pole’s ‘Bahaism,’ sought to present the teachings of ʿAbdu’l-Bahá and the other Bahá’i prophets as compatible with a constellation of different esoteric ideologies, which he felt would be at the centre of a world-wide spiritual revival. Pole also found in ʿAbdu’l-Bahá an Eastern teacher who he believed confirmed this new spiritual period, and he worked hard to promote ʿAbdu’l-Bahá and what he understood as being the Bahá’i faith, being for a time a major figure amongst nascentBahá’is in the West. His ideas were influential on the group of Esotericists around Glastonbury, known as the Avalonians, and his Chalice Well Trust is one of Britain’s most important centres of tourism.","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":"85 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135372249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-10DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00013
Steven Engler, Mark Q. Gardiner
Abstract This article moves past discussing definitions of esotericism to clarifying the nature of definition itself. After reviewing different approaches to definition, we argue that rigid definitions (which propose necessary and sufficient conditions) are problematic, and that fluid definitions (which seek to clarify, explain, teach etc.) are a better alternative. We then discuss homeostatic property cluster definitions, which are like family-resemblance definitions, but with explicit justification for the particular set of defining criteria. We propose a related but more flexible stable property cluster definition of esotericism . It is intended as a useful focus for ongoing discussion, not as a candidate for the single correct definition. Throughout the article, we contrast meaning realism and meaning antirealism (not ontological realism/antirealism), making a case that the latter is more useful in this context. We end by suggesting that our definitional approach has value for exploring both the global spread of western esotericisms and, more importantly, the extent to which esotericism intersects with the semantic fields of comparable categories in other languages and cultures.
{"title":"(Re)defining Esotericism","authors":"Steven Engler, Mark Q. Gardiner","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article moves past discussing definitions of esotericism to clarifying the nature of definition itself. After reviewing different approaches to definition, we argue that rigid definitions (which propose necessary and sufficient conditions) are problematic, and that fluid definitions (which seek to clarify, explain, teach etc.) are a better alternative. We then discuss homeostatic property cluster definitions, which are like family-resemblance definitions, but with explicit justification for the particular set of defining criteria. We propose a related but more flexible stable property cluster definition of esotericism . It is intended as a useful focus for ongoing discussion, not as a candidate for the single correct definition. Throughout the article, we contrast meaning realism and meaning antirealism (not ontological realism/antirealism), making a case that the latter is more useful in this context. We end by suggesting that our definitional approach has value for exploring both the global spread of western esotericisms and, more importantly, the extent to which esotericism intersects with the semantic fields of comparable categories in other languages and cultures.","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":"34 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136357818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00005
Keith Edward Cantú
{"title":"Global Tantra: Religion, Science, and Nationalism in Colonial Modernity , by Strube, Julian","authors":"Keith Edward Cantú","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136314677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00014
Lukas Vogel
Abstract Two texts by Marian Dockerill (1878–1972) are often consulted as sources in research on occultism in the early twentieth century. A source-critical reading casts doubt on their authenticity. Based on clear evidence, the journalist and book author William Seabrook may be considered the author. The Dockerill texts fit seamlessly into his work but should be used with great caution as sources on the life dates of the persons described as well as contributions to female confessional literature in the environment of new religious movements.
{"title":"Esoteric Publishing in the 1920s","authors":"Lukas Vogel","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Two texts by Marian Dockerill (1878–1972) are often consulted as sources in research on occultism in the early twentieth century. A source-critical reading casts doubt on their authenticity. Based on clear evidence, the journalist and book author William Seabrook may be considered the author. The Dockerill texts fit seamlessly into his work but should be used with great caution as sources on the life dates of the persons described as well as contributions to female confessional literature in the environment of new religious movements.","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136372991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00011
C. Wildberg
{"title":"Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination. Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity , by Wouter J. Hanegraaff","authors":"C. Wildberg","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47492554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00009
T. Zarcone
{"title":"Initiating the Millennium: The Avignon Society and Illuminism in Europe , by Robert Collis and Natalie Bayer","authors":"T. Zarcone","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43972817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00004
Vasileios M. Meletiadis
This paper presents an analysis of the first two editions of Peter Carroll’s Liber Null (1978, 1981). Along with Ray Sherwin’s The Book of Results (1979, 1980, 1981), they shape the earliest corpus of chaos magic literature. Often overlooked due to their rarity and the availability of the mainstream 1987 edition of Liber Null, these two, the so-called white and red editions, offer a peak into the early years of the chaos magic current and the formation of Carroll’s ideas. The white edition in particular contains concepts and terminology that are either nonexistent or significantly altered in the later editions. The paper opens with a history of these texts, followed by some comments on their materiality. The main focus, however, is to closely analyse the 1978 edition and to consider the significance of textual variations in later editions.
{"title":"“Book Zero” through the Years","authors":"Vasileios M. Meletiadis","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper presents an analysis of the first two editions of Peter Carroll’s Liber Null (1978, 1981). Along with Ray Sherwin’s The Book of Results (1979, 1980, 1981), they shape the earliest corpus of chaos magic literature. Often overlooked due to their rarity and the availability of the mainstream 1987 edition of Liber Null, these two, the so-called white and red editions, offer a peak into the early years of the chaos magic current and the formation of Carroll’s ideas. The white edition in particular contains concepts and terminology that are either nonexistent or significantly altered in the later editions. The paper opens with a history of these texts, followed by some comments on their materiality. The main focus, however, is to closely analyse the 1978 edition and to consider the significance of textual variations in later editions.","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45349513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00006
Manon Hedenborg White
{"title":"Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses. , by Amy Hale, ed.","authors":"Manon Hedenborg White","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43197865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00010
J. Bakker
{"title":"Awful Archives: Conspiracy Theory, Rhetoric, and Acts of Evidence , by Jenny Rice","authors":"J. Bakker","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43921973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/15700593-tat00008
Alberto Alfredo Winterberg
{"title":"Ancient Egypt in the Modern Imagination: Art Literature and Culture , by Eleanor Dobson and Nichola Tonks (eds.)","authors":"Alberto Alfredo Winterberg","doi":"10.1163/15700593-tat00008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700593-tat00008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41783,"journal":{"name":"Aries-Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45397871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}