Esotericism (Anthropology)

Theses de magia

by Marco Pasi

Published in: Societas Magica Newsletter, 20 (Fall 2008), pp. 1-8.

Julies Evola, l'alchinia ed il tradizionalismo.

by marco pucciarini

This article aims to show that Julius Evola was the first to develop an organic idea that Alchemy is a type of spiritual realization.

Del sogno iniziatico di Polifilo e di alcuni suoi paralleli orientali

by Alessandro Grossato

L'Eurasismo di Giuseppe Tucci e dell'Is.M.E.O.

by Alessandro Grossato

Magick in Theory and Practice: Ritual Use of Colour in Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother

by Deborah Allison

Published in Senses of Cinema, issue 34, January-March 2005.

Călătoriile adolescentului miop prin țara brahmanilor și fachirilor - partea II (Viața Românească, CVI, nr. 11-12, 2011)

by Liviu Bordas

Esotericism, Irony and Paranoia in Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum

by Carole Cusack

in Edward F. Crangle (ed.), Esotericism and the Control of Knowledge, Sydney Studies in Religion 5, 2004, pp. 63-85.

This paper examines Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum (1989) as an example of the ironic employment of Western... more This paper examines Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum (1989) as an example of the ironic employment of Western esoteric motifs. Connections are drawn between the interpretative methods of the Western esoteric tradition and medieval Christian exegesis and contemporary semiotics, both of which Eco is deeply engaged with. Eco, though fascinated and attracted by esotericism, and concerned by its growing popularity in the contemporary West, finally rejects it in favour of a renewed commitment to rationality and a scientific worldview.

“Where lies the key of your lodge ? In a bone box”. Emblematique du secret dans quelques catechismes maçonniques anciens

by Olivier Santamaria

to be published in GRANJON, E., "Figurabilité du secret"

Les catéchismes maçonniques anciens (Ecosse, fin du 17è, début du 18è siècles) comprenaient plusieurs... more Les catéchismes maçonniques anciens (Ecosse, fin du 17è, début du 18è siècles) comprenaient plusieurs questions/réponses en rapport avec la "clé" de la loge. Ces questions touchaient au lieu, à la nature et au pouvoir de cette clé. Les réponses qui y sont faites témoignent d'une attention portée à la "retenue" du secret, au double sens de la mémorisation (symbolisée par la tête) et de la garde de la parole (symbolisée par la langue). Ces réponses, insérées dans un complexe symbolique aux résonances multiples, mais néanmoins cohérentes ordonnées selon une hiérarchie de sens, témoignent de la complexité de la figuration du "secret" maçonnique.

Key-words : franc-maçonnerie, symbolisme, art de la mémoire.

Black Jews and Black Israelites, 1890-1990: An Overview

by Jacob Dorman

A historical overview of Black Judaism from the 1890s to the 1960s. A historical overview of Black Judaism from the 1890s to the 1960s.

Turnanın Semahı, Ezoterizmin Zamanı: Bektaşi ve Alevi Zaman Kavrayışları

by Rabia Harmansah

Christian Cabala's Relationship to Magic and Alchemy

by Shawn Gray

The relationship of Cabala to magic and alchemy is both long and wide. Its roots reach back into Platonic and Hermetic... more The relationship of Cabala to magic and alchemy is both long and wide. Its roots reach back into Platonic and Hermetic teachings, and there is a great degree of overlap with tangential topics such as astrology, views of contemporary Christian theologians, number symbolism, the expansion of humanist science and forward-reaching connections to the Rosicrucians and more modern magical groups. This discussion of that relationship focuses mainly on the people and ideas of the late fifteenth through early seventeenth centuries. The formation of Christian Cabala is discussed, along with views of how early Cabalists saw themselves as those who were legitimately using God-given powers to learn more about the created universe. Number symbolism, which connects Cabala, magic and alchemy, is also briefly addressed.

Al Junun Funun: Toward an Islamic Transpersonal Psychotherapy.

by Jamie Wood

Research Proposal.

Investigating implicit and explicit ontological and cosmological ideation held by members of three Muslim communities... more Investigating implicit and explicit ontological and cosmological ideation held by members of three Muslim communities across London, triangulated by survey and structured, semi-structured, and informal interviews facilitating deployment of psychotherapy with Muslims.

The research will develop a therapeutic instrument facilitating psychotherapy in an Islamic context; an applied anthropological project (Chambers, 2000) it draws from and contributes to interdisciplinary perspectives. Emic Muslim therapists observe therapy can lead to negative reaction manifesting as cognitive dissonance, discontinuation of treatment, and thus the prevention of benefit from therapy (Dwairy, 2006, and Al-Abdul-Jabbar and Al-Issa, 2000), with rationale for this phenomena in dynamics between Arab : Western; Collective : Individual; Authoritarian : Liberal (Dwairy, 2006). Relevancy via producing a culturally and religiously relevant therapeutic tool facilitating psychotherapeutic praxis by Muslim and non-Muslim therapists, justified (Carter and Little, 2007) through participation, observation, survey, and interview.

Research over three populations across London offers the required cultural heterogeneity, looking for continuity if not universals (Ellen, 2010). Anthropology has historically focussed on the small to reveal the greater, through the particular the universal (Eriksen, 2001), traditionally through single sites, and on a single community (Marcus, 1995); a method inappropriate in the development of comprehensive therapeutic instrument. The study utilises varied populations within London, using gatekeepers and informants previously known (Davies, 1998), and others identified within the populations. Overcoming both the limitations presented by but recognising ‘the practical advantage of ethnography fixed in a single locale’ (Marcus1, 1986, p.172), London is a locale of some 7.6 million people, thus dynamics between single-sited and multi-sited ethnography within a multi-ethnic metropolitan district (Passaro, 1997) presents as manifesting the glocal (Roudometof, 2005).

Islamic Transpersonal Cosmograph and Instrument

by Jamie Wood

The Islamic transpersonal cosmograph to be employed as psychotherapeutic instrument post hypothesis testing and ethnographic support beyond secondary sources.

De zodiacos a música: Influencias de la astrología en la teoría de la música especulativa

by Johann Hasler

Written version of the Powerpoint presentation given at the Colombian Conference on History, July 2010

La presente ponencia es un resumen sucinto de los resultados del proyecto de investigación ‘música y astrología:... more La presente ponencia es un resumen sucinto de los resultados del proyecto de investigación ‘música y astrología: encuentros e influencias’, desarrollado dentro del grupo de investigación ‘Artes y Modelos de Pensamiento’ de la Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Antioquia. La investigación pertenece a la línea de investigación ‘artes y esoterismos’, la cual se interesa por los encuentros en influencias de diversos aspectos del esoterismo occidental (tales como la astrología) en las teorías de las artes, en este caso particular en la historia de la teoría musical.

Fragmento anónimo sobre los pitagóricos, preservado por Focio (s. ix)

by Johann Hasler

Translation of the English version which appeared in David Fideler's "Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library" (Phanes Press, 1988)

En el texto observamos una primera parte (§§ 1 a 9) dedicada precisamente a reseñar aspectos de la vida y la enseñanza... more En el texto observamos una primera parte (§§ 1 a 9) dedicada precisamente a reseñar aspectos de la vida y la enseñanza de Pitágoras y su influencia en Platón. La parte central (§§ 10 a 16) se enfoca en las diversas doctrinas de Aristóteles, Platón y Pitágoras, y resalta las coincidencias entre ellas. La última sección (§§ 17 a 22) deja de citar directamente a Pitágoras y sus discípulos, y se centra en un enfoque sistemático, típico de Aristóteles. Es difícil saber cuáles secciones del escrito deben atribuirse a Focio o a los copistas y compiladores de los cuáles él pudo haber leído en Bagdad, y cuáles secciones son propiamente tomadas del tratado de Aristóteles; pero esta última sec- ción puede haber servido como base para la atribución del tratado a Aristóteles que hace Fideler (Fideler 137).