The foundations of re-enchantment : Freemasonry, Theosophy, and the occult revival /
Seemingly hidden behind the glare of the occult revival, Freemasonry provided many of the variables of fin de sicle occultism: syncretism, initiation, hidden superiors, and reverence for ancient mystery cults. From Helena Blavatsky to Aleister Crowley, each of the leading occultists stated their sup...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2025]
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| Series: | Oxford studies in Western esotericism.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
Table of Contents:
- Cover
- Half Title
- Series
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Brief Contents
- Detailed Contents
- Introduction
- Esotericism and the Occult
- Historiography
- Intervention
- Eighteenth-Century Precedents
- Hermeneutic (A): Phenomenon and Philosophy
- Hermeneutic (B): The Masonic Perennial Philosophy
- Making Claims, Weaving Threads, Avoiding Reductions
- Cultural Significance
- Exits from the Revival
- Structure
- Part I The Structure of Revival
- 1 The Theosophical Society
- Helena Blavatsky
- The Masters and Mythology
- Our Context: Spiritualism, Science, and the Occult at Mid-Century
- Henry Steel Olcott and Searching for Specters
- Elementals
- From Spiritualism to Theosophy: The Founding of the Theosophical Society
- Early Theosophy as Conceived by Its Founders
- Hard Times and Isis Unveiled
- Isis Unveiled or Freemasonry Unveiled?
- A Merger Considered
- 2 Rethinking Religion: Freemasonry, Theosophy, and the Perennial Philosophy
- Understanding Freemasonry
- Between Enlightenment and Reaction: Freemasonry in the Eighteenth Century
- Freemasonry and the Science of Religion
- The Invention of Tradition
- The Nineteenth Century
- 3 Occident and Orient
- Theosophy and Christianity
- The Founders in London
- India
- Anna Kingsford's Squabbles
- The Trouble with Specters
- Unveiled at Last: The Secret Doctrine
- 4 The Golden and Rosy Dawn
- The Genesis of the Rosy Cross
- The Rosy Cross in Nineteenth-Century England
- Magic and the French Occulte
- The Masonic Rosicrucian Revival
- A Rosicrucian in Focus: Hargrave Jennings
- An Unsung Herald: Kenneth Mackenzie
- Paschal Beverly Randolph and the Alchemy of Sex
- The Rise of the Dawn
- The Ritual and Structure of the Golden Dawn
- New Wine in Old Bottles
- Theosophy and the Golden Dawn
- Part II Fracture and Fragmentation
- 5 The Changing of the Guard, 1889-1903
- Annie Besant
- The End of an Era: The Death of Blavatsky
- Blavatsky's Final Ode to the Craft
- Leo Taxil and the Occult World War
- Fragmentation and Collapse
- The Judge Case
- The Sun Sets on the Golden Dawn
- Aleister Crowley
- Part III The Neo-Revival
- 6 The Academia Masonica and the Rise of Rudolf Steiner
- Fin de Siècle Occultism in Germany
- The Academia Masonica
- Freemasonry in Germany
- John Yarker and the Rite of Memphis Misraim
- Rudolf Steiner
- Rudolf Steiner and Theosophy
- 7 Freemasonry, Sex Scandals, and Psychic Powers
- Charles Webster Leadbeater
- Annie Besant and Theosophical Freemasonry
- The Ordo Templi Orientis and Anthroposophy
- Leadbeater, Reuss, and Their Sexual Scandals
- 8 Crowley and Steiner: Prophets of the New Age
- Aleister Crowley and Freemasonry
- Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy
- Anthroposophy and the English
- Freemasonry and the Foundation of English Anthroposophy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index