Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: the Relationship ... · Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: ......
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Freie Universität Berlin New Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond 26 & 27 June 2014 Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: the Relationship between Scholarship and the Occult in the 20 th Century Prior to the 1980s, scholarship seems to have been, for the most part, deliberately uninterested in the various occult movements like the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which erupted in the early 20 th -century and whose teachings found a revival in various forms in the 1960s. However, arguably because of the rise of the occult in popular media, more scholars recently find their interests shifting to occult fields – witness the birth of the journal Aries in 2001, as well as the emergence various scholarly societies for the study of classical, renaissance, and modern occultism. Therefore, it seems appropriate to reconsider the Zeitgeist that permits such scholarship to exist and within which it has been conducted. This presentation explores the interrelationship between academic study of the occult and the production of occult how-to manuals. I limit my research to an investigation of the term “theurgy” in late twentieth-century scholarly literature, and compare the fruits of this research to the use of the term and accompanying scholarly literature about it by non-academics in post-Golden Dawn occult movements. I focus on the plethora of religious handbooks published by high-ranking members of the Ordo Templi Orientis and The Golden Dawn. In addition to this widely available, printed material, I will explore online material such as various web-based forums devoted to disseminating and explicating this literature, especially Forums of the Aleister Crowley Society (lashtal.com), one of the more ecumenical Thelemic forums, 1 which may provide a more up-to-date glimpse of the lived religion of these organizations, groups, and individuals. I hope to show how occultists within the Golden Dawn and Thelemic communities have wrestled with the terminology of “theurgy” and “magic” in ways influenced by and resembling the debates of historians in the academy, although they do so in order to re-conceptualize their ritual lives, rather than compose histories per se. The case serves as evidence of the creativity of a new religious movement that has available to it the unwitting collaboration of scholarship. Historian Elizabeth Clark, in her History, Theory, Text (Harvard UP, 2004) called attention to the way in which all scholarship of a given time is an artifact of that time, enmeshed in that time’s webs of significance. The results of this case study will provide further evidence for the “presentist” stance from which all scholarship begins and from which it struggles to rhetorically distance itself, as well as a look into the current uses and interpretations of theurgy in the new age. Keywords: Occultism, Reception of Scholarship 1 Lashtal.com is a strictly moderated in accordance with guidelines that purport to avoid interdenomi- national squabbles. Its membership of 9,134 (as of Jan. 31, 2014) is the most significant within similar groups and forums, for example, in comparison with the College of Thelema (heruraha.net), which has 2,262 members. 1
Transcript of Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: the Relationship ... · Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: ......
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Nicholas Marshall: Robes and Gowns: the Relationship betweenScholarship and the Occult in the 20th Century
Prior to the 1980s, scholarship seems to have been, for the most part, deliberatelyuninterested in the various occult movements like the Theosophical Society and theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which erupted in the early 20th-century andwhose teachings found a revival in various forms in the 1960s. However, arguablybecause of the rise of the occult in popular media, more scholars recently find theirinterests shifting to occult fields – witness the birth of the journal Aries in 2001, as wellas the emergence various scholarly societies for the study of classical, renaissance,and modern occultism. Therefore, it seems appropriate to reconsider the Zeitgeistthat permits such scholarship to exist and within which it has been conducted. Thispresentation explores the interrelationship between academic study of the occult andthe production of occult how-to manuals. I limit my research to an investigation of theterm “theurgy” in late twentieth-century scholarly literature, and compare the fruits ofthis research to the use of the term and accompanying scholarly literature about it bynon-academics in post-Golden Dawn occult movements. I focus on the plethora ofreligious handbooks published by high-ranking members of the Ordo Templi Orientisand The Golden Dawn. In addition to this widely available, printed material, I willexplore online material such as various web-based forums devoted to disseminatingand explicating this literature, especially Forums of the Aleister Crowley Society(lashtal.com), one of the more ecumenical Thelemic forums,1 which may providea more up-to-date glimpse of the lived religion of these organizations, groups, andindividuals. I hope to show how occultists within the Golden Dawn and Thelemiccommunities have wrestled with the terminology of “theurgy” and “magic” in waysinfluenced by and resembling the debates of historians in the academy, although theydo so in order to re-conceptualize their ritual lives, rather than compose histories perse. The case serves as evidence of the creativity of a new religious movement thathas available to it the unwitting collaboration of scholarship. Historian Elizabeth Clark,in her History, Theory, Text (Harvard UP, 2004) called attention to the way in which allscholarship of a given time is an artifact of that time, enmeshed in that time’s websof significance. The results of this case study will provide further evidence for the“presentist” stance from which all scholarship begins and from which it struggles torhetorically distance itself, as well as a look into the current uses and interpretationsof theurgy in the new age.
Keywords:Occultism, Reception of Scholarship
1Lashtal.com is a strictly moderated in accordance with guidelines that purport to avoid interdenomi-national squabbles. Its membership of 9,134 (as of Jan. 31, 2014) is the most significant withinsimilar groups and forums, for example, in comparison with the College of Thelema (heruraha.net),which has 2,262 members.
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Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Archaeology:
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
2
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Balkans:
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
back to top
3
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Christianity:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
4
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Essenes:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
back to top
5
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Feminism:
• Lily A. Bonga (Crete): “Mother-Goddess Misconceptions”
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
6
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Germany:
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
7
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Goddess-worship:
• Lily A. Bonga (Crete): “Mother-Goddess Misconceptions”
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
8
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Greece:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
back to top
9
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Italy:
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
back to top
10
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Latin America:
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
11
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Literature:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
back to top
12
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Music:
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
back to top
13
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Neo-Gnosticism:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
14
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Neo-Paganism:
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
• Hubert Mohr (U. Basel): “Online Temples – a New Cultic Form of Neo-Ancient Cyberpaganism”
• Nemanja Radulovic (U. Belgrade): “The Role of Gnosticism in Neo-Bogomilism”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
• Caroline Tully (U. Melbourne): “The artifice of Daedalus: Modern Minoicaas Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism”
back to top
15
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
New Age Religion:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
back to top
16
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
New Media:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
• Hubert Mohr (U. Basel): “Online Temples – a New Cultic Form of Neo-Ancient Cyberpaganism”
back to top
17
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
North America:
• Anne Kreps (Yale-NUS College, Singapore): “The Essenes in SouthernOregon”
• Kathryn Rountree (U. Tasmania): “Transforming Goddesses: Neo-PaganProjects of Revival and Reinvention”
back to top
18
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Occultism:
• Nicholas Marshall (Århus U.): “Robes and Gowns: the Relationship be-tween Scholarship and the Occult in the 20th Century”
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
• Franz Winter (U. Vienna): “The Use of Ancient Gnostic Texts in ModernEsoteric Movements: the Case of Samael Aun Weor”
back to top
19
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Popular Culture:
• Meret Fehlmann (U. Zürich): “Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times orNew Goddesses from Ancient Times?”
• Linda Simonis (Ruhr-U., Bochum): “Neo-Gnosticism in ContemporaryPopular Music: Current 93 and Nox Aurea”
back to top
20
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Queer Culture:
• Ethan Doyle White (U. College London): “The Revived Cult of Antinous”
back to top
21
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Reception of Scholarship:
• Matthew Dillon (Rice U., Houston): “Unearthed Rituals, Recollected The-ologies, Mnemohistory and the Role of Scholarship in Contemporary‘Gnosticism(s)’”
• Nicholas Marshall (Århus U.): “Robes and Gowns: the Relationship be-tween Scholarship and the Occult in the 20th Century”
back to top
22
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Russia:
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
back to top
23
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Traditionalism:
• Pavel Nosachev (NRU./St. Tikhon’s, Moscow): “The Dazzling Darkness ofPaganism: the Theme of Antiquity in the works of Evgeniy Golovin”
back to top
24
Freie Universität BerlinNew Antiquities: Transformations of the Past in the New Age and Beyond
26 & 27 June 2014
Index:
Turkey:
• Helga Vogel (FU Berlin): “‘The Goddess is alive!’ – Goddess Feminismand Archaeology: the Case of Çatal Höyük”
back to top
25
