Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism (review)

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-227
Author(s):  
Marsha Keith Schuchard
Keyword(s):  
History Of ◽  
Western Esotericism

Sexuation in Jung and Lacan

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. McGrath
Keyword(s):  
The Unconscious ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lacanian Theory ◽  
Western Esotericism ◽  
Specific Challenge

In the following article I first situate Lacan and Jung in the broader history of the unconscious: Western esotericism and Romanticism. This contextualization is necessary for the subsequent construction of a Jungian reading of Lacan's theory of sexuation. I will underscore one commonality between Jung and Lacan, and make evident the specific challenge Lacanian theory presents to Jung's notion of coniunctio. In conclusion I will suggest that Jung's theory will not only be improved by meeting the Lacanian challenge to a naïve notion of coniunctio; it will ultimately be brought into clearer alignment with its Western esoteric (alchemical) sources.

Gender and Spirituality in Late Modern Western Society

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Pechilis
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use ◽  
Western Esotericism ◽  
Spiritual Expression ◽  
Late Modern

Gender and spirituality are both terms that signify alterity, especially a critique of established social conventions, including conventions of disciplining personhood on the basis of gender classifications and according to doctrinal and ritual patterns of organized religion. To be aware of gender as a hierarchical system is a modern phenomenon; “spirituality” has a much longer history of use and was generated from within organized religion, though its evolution increasingly marked it as a perspective distinct from, and necessitating the evaluative intervention of, official religious channels. Developing through a confluence of interest in Western esotericism, Transcendentalism, Theosophy, the German Romantics, and Asian traditions in the early 20th century, spirituality as a cultural concept and practice was poised to respond to widespread late modern questioning of received social modes, especially in terms of defining oneself. Contesting theoretical predictions of society’s secularization but supporting those of the “subjective turn,” late modern spirituality groups, especially those inspired by feminism, civil rights, and gay rights, valorized marginalized bodies and their distinctive experiences, creating new paths of spiritual expression in which personal experience in the context of group affirmation was foregrounded. Postmodern ideas on the fluidity of gender further contributed to the voices of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer) people who critiqued residual gender binaries operative in some New Age spiritualities and provided new arguments for social inclusivity in spirituality groups and in the wider society. What characterizes spirituality into the 21st century is the “turn to holism,” in which a wide variety of methods are promoted as leading to a holistic sense of the well-being of body and spirit. Diverse practices include Kirlian aura photography, Johrei Fellowship healing, tarot cards, shiatsu massage, acupressure, aromatherapy, kinesiology, and yoga, leading some scholars to critique the spirituality climate as a neoliberal capitalist “spiritual marketplace.” Others view it as a generative opportunity for seeking and bricolage construction of the self that has transformative potential for both self and society.

Western Esotericism and the Science of Religions

Numen ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen-Claire Voss ◽  
Antoine Faivre
Keyword(s):  
17Th Century ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
The West ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Jacob Boehme ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Esotericism

AbstractThe term “esotericism” refers here to the modern esoteric currents in the West (15th to 20th centuries), i.e. to a diverse group of works, authors, trends, which possess an “air de famille” and which must be studied as a part of the history of religions because of the specific form it has acquired in the West from the Renaissance on. This field is comprised of currents like: alchemy (its philosophical and/or “spiritual” aspects); the philosophia occulta; Christian Kabbalah; Paracelsianism and the Naturphilosophie in its wake; theosophy (Jacob Boehme and his followers, up to and including the Theosophical Society); Rosicrucianism of the 17th century and the subsequent similarly-oriented initiatic societies; and hermetism, i.e. the reception of the Greek Hermetica in modern times.

Hypnotherapies in 20th-century Hungary: The extraordinary career of Ferenc Völgyesi

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Gyimesi
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Animal Hypnosis ◽  
State Security ◽  
Changing Trends ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forensic Expert ◽  
Hungarian State ◽  
Western Esotericism

This article traces the history of hypnotherapies in Hungary by exploring and interpreting the work of Ferenc (András) Völgyesi, a controversial physician, psychiatrist and forensic expert who gained remarkable fame in and beyond Hungary. It explores his work and its reception in the context of the complex, changing trends in European psychology between the 1920s and 1950s, drawing on published sources in a range of languages, and the archives of the Hungarian State Security. It uncovers experiments in human and animal hypnosis; Völgyesi’s engagement with the Hungarian psychoanalytic community; and the cultural, scientific, and esoteric, networks from which theories and practices of hypnosis emerged. This reminds us also that the development of psychotherapy in Europe cannot be disentangled from the history of parapsychology and western esotericism. The article also examines allegations of ethical abuses of hypnosis, and the shortcomings of Völgyesi’s theoretical and practical claims. It argues that this case illustrates how the history of European psychotherapy in the 20th century cannot be fully understood without taking into account the enduring fascination with hypnotherapies into the postwar period – re-inscribed, in this case, through Pavlovian theories.

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