Esotericism (or “Western” esotericism) is used here as an umbrella term denoting a complex of genealogically linked religious currents originating in late antiquity. These include “gnostic,” Hermetic, or theurgical currents in late antiquity, the so-called “occult sciences” (astrology, alchemy, magic), Jewish and Christian kabbalah, theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Swedenborgianism, illuminism, Freemasonry, occultism, spiritualism, and related trends in modern and contemporary culture such as modern witchcraft, Satanism, new age and occulture.

Scholars have proposed different approaches to defining esotericism, focusing, among other aspects, on the emphasis on an intuitive, experiential knowledge (gnosis) in many esoteric currents, on the quality content of esoteric worldviews (including notions of correspondences and living nature), or on discourses of “higher” knowledge. The adjectival “Western” has been used in academic scholarship since the 1990s to distinguish the historical study of esotericism from essentialist approaches. In recent years, however, a number of scholars have proposed dropping this qualifier in recognition of esotericism as a globally entangled phenomenon. This WRSP special project aims to present profiles on a broad range of esoteric movements and practitioners from antiquity until today and across geographical, cultural, and societal contexts.


ESOTERIC GROUP PROFILES

Anthroposophy
Caodaism
Kabbalah Center
New Thought
Sufism
Theosophical Society
Wicca
Order of the Morning Star
Ordo Templi Orientis

MAGIC

Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

NEOPAGANISM
Profiles
Church of All Worlds

NEW AGE

G. I. Gurdjieff (The Fourth Way)

SATANISM

Church of Satan
Temple of Set

Children of Satan (Bambini di Satana) | Church of Satan | Order of the Morning Star | (The) Process Church of the Final Judjement) | Temple of Set | The Satanic Temple

SPIRITUALISM/SPIRITISM
Profiles
Cassadaga Spiritual Camp
Camp Chesterfield
John of God

Kardicism
Lily Dale Assembly
Emma Hardinge Britten(The) Fox Sisters
Eddy Family
Spiritualism and the Visual Arts |

John of God | Kardecism | Umbanda | Valley of the Dawn

SWEDENBORGIANISM

Swedenborgian Church of North America | Swedenborgianism and the Visual Arts

THEOSOPHY PROFILES

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Bernadino del Boca
Halcyon Enclave
Katherine Tingley
(The) Theosophical Society
Judith Tyberg |

ESOTERICISM AND THE VISUAL ARTS

Artists in the Esoteric Tradition

Marina Abramovic
Margaret Ithell Colquhoun
Julius Evola
Zbigniew Makowski
Teofil Ociepka
Marko Pogačnik and the OHO Group

Artists in the Theosophical Tradition

Giacomo Balla
Maurice Chabas
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
Jean Delville
Raoul Dal Molin Ferenzona
Nikolaos Gyzis
Jeanne Mammen
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan
Kazimierz Stabrowski

Project Director:
Manon Hedenborg White

** The image on this page is in the public domain in the United States. {{PD-US}}

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