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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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Coome, Christopher (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]
Series:Oxford studies in Western esotericism.
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