- UvA
Oude Turmarkt 141
1012 GC Amsterdam
Netherlands
- Fernando Pessoa, Religion, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Magic, History of Religion, Intellectual History, and 29 moreWestern Esotericism (History), Philosophy, Humanities, Art History, Culture, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Antoine Faivre, Lady Caithness, History, Occultism, Aleister Crowley, Thelema, Mysticism, Esoteric Movements, New Religions, Western Esotericism, New Religious Movements, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Alternative Spirituality, Alternative religious movements, Alternative Religiosity (Anthropology Of Religion), Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Renaissance magic and astrology, Ancient magic, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, and Academic Reception of Aleister Crowley's Cognitive Philosophy & Esoteric Methodologyedit
- I am an Associate Professor in the History of Hermetic philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam... moreI am an Associate Professor in the History of Hermetic philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). I have focused my research mainly on the relationship between modern esotericism and politics, modern esotericism and art, the history of the idea of magic, and on methodological issues related to the study of western esotericism. I am the general editor of the Aries Book Series (Brill), co-chair of the Western Esotericism Group at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). I am one of the founding members of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) and have been a member of its board since its foundation until 2016. Since 2014 I am the General Secretary of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR).edit
Il 2 settembre 1930 dal piroscafo Alcantara in rotta verso l’America del Sud sbarcano a Lisbona il noto occultista Aleister Crowley e la sua giovane compagna Hanni Jaeger. Ad aspettarli sulla banchina c’è il poeta Fernando Pessoa.... more
Il 2 settembre 1930 dal piroscafo Alcantara in rotta verso l’America del Sud sbarcano a Lisbona il noto occultista Aleister Crowley e la sua giovane compagna Hanni Jaeger. Ad aspettarli sulla banchina c’è il poeta Fernando Pessoa. Comincia così uno degli episodi più curiosi nella biografia di entrambi gli uomini. Qualche settimana più tardi, Crowley scompare nel nulla dopo avere lasciato una misteriosa lettera d’addio su una scogliera vicino a Cascais, nota come la “Bocca dell’Inferno”. Crowley si era davvero suicidato come sembrava? E qual era il ruolo di Pessoa in questa strana vicenda? In questo libro vengono riuniti per la prima volta in edizione italiana i documenti relativi allo straordinario incontro tra il famigerato occultista inglese e il poeta portoghese, tra cui l’integralità della loro corrispondenza e il romanzo che Pessoa scrisse sulla vicenda, scoperto solo in anni recenti e ancora inedito in Italia. L’incontro di due figure eccezionali della cultura del Novecento, così diverse eppure per certi aspetti così vicine, non poteva che produrre una storia piena di mistero e di humour, come quella che viene raccontata in queste pagine.
Research Interests: Portuguese and Brazilian Literature, Portuguese Studies, Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese Literature, Western Esotericism (History), and 16 moreThelema, Occultism, Literature and Esotericism, Occultism (Literature), Nineteenth Century Occultism, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Literatura Portuguesa, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, Aleister Crowley, Contemporary Spanish and Portuguese Literature, Esoteric Studies, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Letras (Língua Portuguesa e Literatura Brasileira), Occult Literature & Art en Fernando Pessoa and Aleister Crowley
An astonishing series of largely abstract Victorian watercolours produced by the long-forgotten spiritualist artist Georgiana Houghton (1814–1884). This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition of these remarkable works in the UK for... more
An astonishing series of largely abstract Victorian watercolours produced by the long-forgotten spiritualist artist Georgiana Houghton (1814–1884). This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition of these remarkable works in the UK for nearly 150 years.
The birth of abstract art is typically associated with Kandinsky and others in the early 20th century. Houghton’s work, however, predates this momentous artistic breakthrough by half a century. In this respect, she anticipates the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), whose work is now appreciated for its significance in the early history of abstraction.
Houghton was a prominent figure of the early spiritualist movement in Victorian England, which played a significant role in various spheres of 19th-century culture and was later championed by such influential figures as Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Spiritualism emerged as the belief that contact with a spirit realm was possible and that such communication could bring one closer to God. Houghton, a trained artist as well as a medium, pioneered the use of drawing as a method of channelling and expressing communications with spirit entities. During the 1860s and 1870s, she produced a series of unprecedented abstract watercolours as part of her practice as a spirit medium. Houghton called these works ‘spirit drawings’. Remarkably complex, layered watercolours and technically highly accomplished, their bold colours and fluid forms have a mesmerizing and deeply absorbing effect. Detailed inscriptions on the back of the works declare that her hand was guided by various spirits, including family members, several Renaissance artists, such as Titian and Correggio, and higher angelic beings. Although produced in a very different context, Houghton’s abstract works have close connections to the ways in which 20th-century artists developed abstract languages of art to transcend the everyday realm of representation and consciousness.
The birth of abstract art is typically associated with Kandinsky and others in the early 20th century. Houghton’s work, however, predates this momentous artistic breakthrough by half a century. In this respect, she anticipates the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), whose work is now appreciated for its significance in the early history of abstraction.
Houghton was a prominent figure of the early spiritualist movement in Victorian England, which played a significant role in various spheres of 19th-century culture and was later championed by such influential figures as Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Spiritualism emerged as the belief that contact with a spirit realm was possible and that such communication could bring one closer to God. Houghton, a trained artist as well as a medium, pioneered the use of drawing as a method of channelling and expressing communications with spirit entities. During the 1860s and 1870s, she produced a series of unprecedented abstract watercolours as part of her practice as a spirit medium. Houghton called these works ‘spirit drawings’. Remarkably complex, layered watercolours and technically highly accomplished, their bold colours and fluid forms have a mesmerizing and deeply absorbing effect. Detailed inscriptions on the back of the works declare that her hand was guided by various spirits, including family members, several Renaissance artists, such as Titian and Correggio, and higher angelic beings. Although produced in a very different context, Houghton’s abstract works have close connections to the ways in which 20th-century artists developed abstract languages of art to transcend the everyday realm of representation and consciousness.
Research Interests:
This is an abstract from the 2014 Acumen edition of the book, based on the second proofs (so with some slight variations with respect to the actually printed version).
Research Interests: Religion and Politics, Magic, Communism, European Politics, Western Esotericism (History), and 12 moreOccultism, Occultism (Literature), Nineteenth Century Occultism, Occult, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Nazism, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, Aleister Crowley, Bolshevism, Religion, Esoterism, International Politics en Academic Reception of Aleister Crowley's Cognitive Philosophy & Esoteric Methodology
Esoterismo alla frutta? Qualche anno fa aveva suscitato curiosità l'annuncio – divulgato da studiosi come Massimo Introvigne – che la strombazzatissima «Era dell'Acquario» (New Age) era già finita. Passati i decenni d'entusiasmo per una... more
Esoterismo alla frutta? Qualche anno fa aveva suscitato curiosità l'annuncio – divulgato da studiosi come Massimo Introvigne – che la strombazzatissima «Era dell'Acquario» (New Age) era già finita. Passati i decenni d'entusiasmo per una favolosa epoca di pace e di armonia di cui qualcuno aveva ravvisato i segnali pre-cursori nel crollo del muro di Berlino e nella fine della guerra fredda, ci avevano pensato il terrorismo globale e crisi locali ferocissime (come la guerra nei Balcani) a togliere ogni illusione di progresso umano. Si parlò allora di «Next Age», una formula più umile e individualista di evoluzione spirituale. Ma piano piano se ne sono perse le tracce. Invece, curiosamente, l'esoterismo trabocca da ogni poro di Internet. Blog, siti e interi portali recuperano a man bassa antiche tradizioni segrete, che segrete più non sono. E qui sta il problema: si può ancora parlare di culture occulte quando di occulto non resta quasi nulla? Lo abbiamo chiesto a Marco Pasi, titolare di un nuovo e singolare corso all'Università di Torino: storia dell'esoterismo occidentale.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Modernism (Literature), Italian (European History), Italian Studies, Italian Cultural Studies, Italian Literature, and 25 moreModernist Literature (Literary Modernism), Modernism, Western Esotericism (History), 20th Century Italian Literature, Occultism, Theosophical Society, Occultism (Literature), Theosophy, Contemporary Italian Literature, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Catholic Church and Modernity, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Teosofía, Letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea, Modernismo, Letteratura, Lingua E Letteratura Italiana, Contemporary Italian History and Politics, Letteratura italiana, Theosophy and Fiction, Esoterismo, Antonio Fogazzaro, Modernisme, and Teosofia
Research Interests: Self and Identity, Comparative Esotericism, Theodor Adorno, Contemporary Spirituality, Spirituality, and 30 moreMagic, The Self, Spirituality & Mysticism, Epistemology Of Religious Experience, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Spiritualism, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Spirituality & Psychology, Adorno, Western Esotericism (History), Occultism, Religious Experience, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Theodor W. Adorno, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Spirituality and Religious Experience, Ecstatic Religious Experience, Self-regulation, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Ethnocentrism, Esoteric Philosophy, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, Ernesto de Martino, Varieties of Religious Experience, Esoteric Studies, Esoterismo, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, and Religious and Magical Practices
Research Interests: Fernando Pessoa, Ocultism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Artes, and 15 moreHistoria del Arte, Espiritualidad, Arte contemporáneo, História da arte, Hilma af Klint, Historia y Teoria del Arte y la Arquitectura, Mediumistic automatism, Artes Visuais, Esoterismo, Magia, Giacinto Scelsi, Ocultismo, Historia Social De La Magia, Arte expresionista y esoterico, and Georgiana Houghton
Research Interests: Art History, Transpersonal Psychology, Comparative Esotericism, Psychology of art, Magic, and 22 moreFernando Pessoa, History of Art, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Spiritualism, Western Esotericism (History), The influence of Victorian Spiritualism and Psychical Research in the literature and culture of the long 19th century, Occultism, Literature and Esotericism, Theosophy, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Esotericism, Parapsychology, Anthropology, Mediumship, Phenomenology, Spiritualism, Paranormal, Supernatural, Folklore, Religion, Sociology, Western Esotericism, Artes, Mediumship, Hilma af Klint, Art and Religion, Esoteric Studies and Creative Arts, Esoterismo, Giacinto Scelsi, and Georgiana Houghton
It has taken a long time for esotericism to be recognized as a valid, legitimate field of scholarly research. Although the perception of the phenomenon from a historical point of view dates back at least to the seventeenth century, for a... more
It has taken a long time for esotericism to be recognized as a valid, legitimate field of scholarly research. Although the perception of the phenomenon from a historical point of view dates back at least to the seventeenth century, for a long time a polarized, biased attitude, split between supporters and detractors, prevailed. There was clearly something about esotericism that made it a difficult subject to handle within an academic context.
Theologians often perceived it as a dangerous threat to true, pure religion, while Enlightenment thinkers saw it as a typical form of superstitious behavior that had to be cast away so that the new age of rationality and science could kick in.
Some esotericists, especially starting with the nineteenth century, began to develop a certain critical distance that allowed them to be interested in the historical dimension of the tradition they claimed to represent. Their work, however, even when it may have deserved attention, remained limited and, even then, obscure and uncredited in a scholarly context.
With the twentieth century interest in subjects that were not part of either mainstream religious traditions or Western rationality began to increase. After the Second World War, this trend was further boosted by movements developing in society at large, such as the counterculture of the 1960s. Alternative forms of religion and spirituality, new religious movements, and nonconformist intellectual traditions attracted scholars more and more and prompted the creation of new institutional academic space for them.
In this context, the study of Western esotericism emerged as a distinct scholarly field, especially after the early 1990s. Since then, a large scholarly community has grown that is now organized through various international networks and associations. If the study of esotericism was long impeded by the limitations that Western culture had imposed on itself, its growing institutionalization attests to the depth of the changes that have occurred in Western culture since the early 1990s.
Theologians often perceived it as a dangerous threat to true, pure religion, while Enlightenment thinkers saw it as a typical form of superstitious behavior that had to be cast away so that the new age of rationality and science could kick in.
Some esotericists, especially starting with the nineteenth century, began to develop a certain critical distance that allowed them to be interested in the historical dimension of the tradition they claimed to represent. Their work, however, even when it may have deserved attention, remained limited and, even then, obscure and uncredited in a scholarly context.
With the twentieth century interest in subjects that were not part of either mainstream religious traditions or Western rationality began to increase. After the Second World War, this trend was further boosted by movements developing in society at large, such as the counterculture of the 1960s. Alternative forms of religion and spirituality, new religious movements, and nonconformist intellectual traditions attracted scholars more and more and prompted the creation of new institutional academic space for them.
In this context, the study of Western esotericism emerged as a distinct scholarly field, especially after the early 1990s. Since then, a large scholarly community has grown that is now organized through various international networks and associations. If the study of esotericism was long impeded by the limitations that Western culture had imposed on itself, its growing institutionalization attests to the depth of the changes that have occurred in Western culture since the early 1990s.
Research Interests: Religion, History of Religion, Comparative Esotericism, Esotericism (Anthropology), Secrecy, and 21 moreHistory of Religions, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Occulture, Western Esotericism (History), Occultism, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Religious Studies, Occult, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Esoteric Philosophy, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, Esoterism, Esoteric Studies, Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, Western Esotericism, Esoterismo, General research and teaching: history of European magic and alchemy; Hermeticism and Gnosticism; contemporary occultism, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Western Esoteric Tradition, and Esoteric Movements
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Italian (European History), Modern Italian History, Italian Studies, Anthroposophy, Spirituality, and 19 moreItalian Literature, Spirituality & Mysticism, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Western Esotericism (History), 20th Century Italian Literature, Occultism, Theosophical Society, Theosophy, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Teosofía, Antonio Rosmini, Esoterismo, Annie Besant, General research and teaching: history of European magic and alchemy; Hermeticism and Gnosticism; contemporary occultism, Theosophy and Antroposophy, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, and Teosofia
Research Interests: Italian Studies, Italian Literature, Occulture, Western Esotericism (History), 20th Century Italian Literature, and 21 moreOccultism, Theosophical Society, Literature and Esotericism, Occultism (Literature), Theosophy, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Occult, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Teosofía, Theosophy & Art, Esoterismo, Teosophy, Esoterism, History, General research and teaching: history of European magic and alchemy; Hermeticism and Gnosticism; contemporary occultism, Contemporary occulture and esotericism, Theosophy and Antroposophy, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Teosofia, Theosofie, and Esoteric Movements
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Magic, William James, New Religions, and 11 moreMysticism, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Thelema, Occultism, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Transmission of Yoga lineage in the West, Globalization, Aleister Crowley, Mystical experience, and Esoteric Movements
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Gnosticism, Comparative Esotericism, Esotericism (Anthropology), History of Science, Alchemy, and 17 moreMysticism, Study of Religions, Sufism, Proclus, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Western Esotericism (History), Neoplatonism, Literature and Esotericism, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Esotericism (Religion), Iamblichus, Esotericism, Western Esotericism, Hermeticism, Hermetic Corpus, and Henotheism
Research Interests: Gnosticism, History of Ideas, Magic, New Religions, Mysticism, and 20 moreSufism, Proclus, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Occulture, Western Esotericism (History), Thelema, Neoplatonism, Occultism, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Occultism (Literature), Nineteenth Century Occultism, Iamblichus, Western Esotericism, Hermeticism, Aleister Crowley, Contemporary occulture and esotericism, Hermetic Corpus, Henotheism, and Esoteric Movements
Research Interests:
The documents concerning the relationship between Fernando Pessoa and Aleister Crowley preserved in the Yorke Collection at the Warburg Institute (London) have been known for some time. However, recent new findings have prompted a new... more
The documents concerning the relationship between Fernando Pessoa and Aleister Crowley preserved in the Yorke Collection at the Warburg Institute (London) have been known for some time. However, recent new findings have prompted a new analysis of the file. The purpose of this article is to have a new look at the documents that were already known and introduce the documents that have been recently found. The analysis will also be based on a comparison with the related documents from the "Magick" collection, now part of Pessoa's Archive at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal in Lisbon. Photographic images of the documents, together with a new edition of the texts, are also included.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Creative Writing, Creative Writing, Critical Theory, Religion, History, and 22 morePsychology, Gender Studies, Philosophy, Art History, Design, Art, Art Theory, Literature, Contemporary Art, History of Art, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Contemporary Poetry, Contemporary Poetry, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Occulture, Western Esotericism (History), Occultism, Visual Arts, Visual Arts, Mass media, Philosophy and Sociology of Human/animal Relations, and Esoterics
Aleister Crowley's diary for the period of his travel to Portugal and his meeting with Fernando Pessoa has long been considered lost or inaccessible. However, a copy has been finally found and is here presented and published for the first... more
Aleister Crowley's diary for the period of his travel to Portugal and his meeting with Fernando Pessoa has long been considered lost or inaccessible. However, a copy has been finally found and is here presented and published for the first time. The analysis of the diary allows us to have a fuller knowledge of Crowley's movements and activities while in Portugal and especially of his meetings with Fernando Pessoa. It also clarifies some aspects of the famous Boca do Inferno suicide stunt in which Pessoa was directly involved and brings some new clues concerning a possible initiation of Pessoa in one of Crowley's magical orders.
Research Interests: Gnosticism, Portuguese and Brazilian Literature, Magic, New Religions, Mysticism, and 15 moreSufism, Fernando Pessoa, Proclus, Western Esotericism (History), Thelema, Neoplatonism, Occultism, Literature and Esotericism, Iamblichus, Western Esotericism, Hermeticism, Aleister Crowley, Hermetic Corpus, Henotheism, and Esoteric Movements
Research Interests: Gnosticism, Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Esotericism (Anthropology), Theory of Religion, and 28 moreMagic, Mysticism, Sufism, Proclus, Postmodern Fiction, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Western Esotericism (History), Neoplatonism, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Iamblichus, Magic (History), Western Esotericism, Hermeticism, Magia, Theory of magic, Anthropology of Religion, Hermetic Corpus, Henotheism, Theories of Cultural Representations, Magic and Mysticism, Cultural Iconology and Semiotics, Historia Social De La Magia, Ideology and Discourse Theory and Magic, Magie, and Magia Y Religion
Research Interests: Western Esotericism (Anthropology), Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Western Esotericism (History), Occultism, Theosophical Society, and 7 moreChristian Kabbalah, Kabbalah, Theosophy, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Nineteenth Century Occultism, Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, and H. P. Blavatsky
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sex and Gender, Theology, Sexuality, Gender and Sexuality, History of Sexuality, and 13 moreBiblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Occultism, Theosophical Society, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Theosophy, Biblical Exegesis, Old Testament Exegesis, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Lady Caithness, Bodily Fluids, and Sexual Magic
Research Interests:
This is the first conference of the newly established research network, Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy, modernism and the Arts c. 1875-1960, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The conference will be organized in collaboration with the... more
This is the first conference of the newly established research network, Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy, modernism and the Arts c. 1875-1960, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The conference will be organized in collaboration with the Centre for the History of Hermetic philosophy and related currents, University of Amsterdam.
Research Interests:
Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) is now widely recognised as one of the most important figures in 20th century literature. One of the aspects that have emerged with increasing clarity from the unpublished writings found after his death is his... more
Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) is now widely recognised as one of the most important figures in 20th century literature. One of the aspects that have emerged with increasing clarity from the unpublished writings found after his death is his deep interest for esotericism. This fascination began early in his life and remained constant until his death. His poems often contain references to esoteric ideas and images, and a very significant number of posthumous texts present themselves as short essays or notes on various esoteric subjects. Yet, this important aspect of Pessoa’s work remains relatively little understood or contextualised. For this workshop a number of scholars who have recently worked on subjects directly or indirectly related to Pessoa and esotericism has been invited with the aim of assessing Pessoa’s interest for and involvement with esotericism.