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Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism
- 2012
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This volume is the first comprehensive examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive iconoclasts. Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was a study in contradictions. Born into a fundamentalist Christian family and educated at Cambridge, he was vilified as a traitor, drug addict, and debaucher, yet revered as perhaps the most influential thinker in contemporary esotericism. Moving beyond the influence of contemporary psychology and the modernist understanding of the occult, Crowley declared himself the revelator of a new age of individualism. Crowley's occult bricolage, Magick, was an eclectic combination of spiritual exercises drawn from Western European magical ceremonies and Indic sources for meditation and yoga. This journey of self-liberation culminated in harnessing sexual power as a magical discipline, a "sacrilization of the self" as practiced in Crowley's mixed masonic group, the Ordo Templi Orientis. The religion Crowley created, Thelema, legitimated his role as a charismatic revelator and herald of a new age of freedom. Aleister Crowley's lasting influence can be seen in the counter-culture movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s and in many forms of alternative spirituality and popular culture. The essays in this volume offer crucial insight into Crowley's foundational role in the study of Western esotericism, new religious movements, and sexuality.
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Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley: A Correspondence
- 2010
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In September 1944, a fifty-one year old Londoner named David Curwen wrote to Aleister Crowley, initiating a correspondence that would last several years. While Curwen approached Crowley with deference, the relationship that evolved between them was a complex one that defied the accepted parameters of the student-teacher nexus. For David Curwen was no newcomer to the study of the occult, and Crowley soon discovered that the flow of knowledge would not be simply one way. In particular Crowley was tantalized by the deep understanding of the principals of tantra that Curwen had acquired during the course of many years study under a mysterious guru. At Crowley's urging Curwen joined the O.T.O., but he remained skeptical of many of "the Beast's" claims, and the two ultimately parted company on strained terms. However, Curwen retained his interest in the occult, and in later life he devoted himself to the study of alchemy, publishing the results of his researches pseudonymously in the book In Pursuit of Gold, a work that many believe to be the most significant study ever published of practical alchemy. In addition to reproducing all of the surviving correspondence between the pair, Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley includes an important biographical Foreword by David Curwen’s grandson, Tony Matthews. The letters themselves have been edited and annotated by the scholar of Crowley and Western esotericism, Henrik Bogdan, who has also contributed an illuminating Introduction that gives context to the relationship between Crowley and Curwen, as well as exploring the history of their interest in sexual occultism and tantra, and the influence that they had in Kenneth Grant.
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Handbook of Freemasonry
- 2014
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Edited by Henrik Bogdan (University of Gothenburg) and Jan A.M. Snoek (prof. em. University of Heidelberg) Freemasonry is the largest, oldest, and most influential secret society in the world. The Brill Handbook of Freemasonry is a pioneering work that brings together, for the first time, leading scholars on Freemasonry. The first section covers historical perspectives, such as the origins and early history of Freemasonry. The second deals with the relationship between Freemasonry and specific religious traditions such as the Catholic Church, Judaism, and Islam. In the third section, organisational themes, such as the use of rituals, are explored, while the fourth section deals with issues related to society and politics - women, blacks, colonialism, nationalism, and war. The fifth and final section is devoted to Freemasonry and culture, including music, literature, modern art, architecture and material culture.
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Occultism in a Global Perspective
- 2013
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study of the ideas and practices associated with occultism is a rapidly growing branch of contemporary scholarship. However, most research has focused on English and French speaking areas and has not addressed the wider spread and significance of occultism. Occultism in a Global Perspective presents a broad international overview. Essays range across the German magical order of the Fraternitas Saturni, esoteric Satanism in Denmark, sexual magic in Colombia and the reception of occultism in modern Turkey, India and the former Yugoslavia. As any other form of cultural practice, the occult is not isolated from its social, discursive, religious, and political environment. By studying occultism in its global context, the book offers insights into the reciprocal relationships that colour and shape regional occultism.
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Servants of the Star and the Snake: Essays in Honour of Kenneth and Steffi Grant
- 2018
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Servants of the Star & the Snake is a scintillant and substantial collection of writings in celebration of the work of Kenneth and Steffi Grant. Their diverse published work extends across six decades, taking in articles on Advaita in Indian magazines from the early 1950s; a series of illustrated essays, known collectively as the Carfax Monographs, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s; their magnum opus, the Typhonian Trilogies, from 1972 to 2002; studies of the work of Austin Osman Spare in 1975 and 1998; poetry collections in 1963, 1970 and 2005; and a series of novellas from 1997 to 2012. Each piece of writing included in Servants of the Star & the Snake explores a different facet of this extensive body of work. Whilst the contributors have adopted different approaches to their subjects – ranging from scholarly discussions through to fictional narratives – what they have in common is an appreciation of the extraordinary work and legacy of the most influential couple in the history of modern occultism, Kenneth and Steffi Grant.
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Sexuality and New Religious Movements
- 2014
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Issues relating to sexuality, eroticism and gender are often connected to religious beliefs and practices, but also to prejudices against and fear of religious groups that adopt alternative approaches to sexuality. This is especially apparent in connection with new religious movements, which many times find themselves accused by the media and anti-cultists of promoting illicit and controversial views on sexuality. This anthology aims to critically investigate the role of sexuality in a number of new religious movements, including Mormon fundamentalist communities, the Branch Davidians, the Osho movement, the Raël movement, contemporary Wicca and Satanism, in addition to the teachings of Adidam and Gurdjieff on sexuality.
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