Call for papers: The Secret and the Manifest (December 2010, Dnipropetrovsk)

The Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism (Russian Federation)

announces its

Fourth International Conference on

Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice

The Secret and the Manifest:

The Variety of Representations of Esotericism and Mysticism

2 - 4 December 2010, Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine)

Conference Languages: Russian, Ukrainian and English.

 The presence of elements of esotericism and mysticism in contemporary culture can scarcely be overestimated. At the same time there is still the stereotyped view on esotericism as based on some ‘secret knowledge’. The various actual public (re)presentations of ‘esoteric knowledge’, however, question the notion of its secrecy; esoteric and mystic phenomena require more accurate categories for description.

The dynamics of the representation of these phenomena in different forms of media, in films or museums etc. on the one hand, and the dialectics of global and local dimensions in the history and the present of esotericism and mysticism on the other, are the issues to be discussed at the fourth annual conference ‘Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice’ organized by the Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism. Special attention should be paid not only to the variety of manifestations of esotericism and mysticism in the contemporary media scene but also to their interrelations with other social formations and institutions such as the dominating forms of institutionalized religiosity, the political mainstream in the matter of religion and spirituality and last but not least the academic study of religions and culture.

The conference organizers hope that this scholarly forum will contribute significantly to the development of this promising area of research. The study of the representations of esotericism and mysticism circulating within the esoteric and mystic environment itself, in their public perception via mass media and within academic circles may lay the ground for further development in the field of the study of mysticism and esotericism in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.

We invite suggestions for possible sessions as well as paper proposals dealing with the study of this phenomenon through various academic disciplines. Papers can be submitted on, but are not limited to the following sub-themes:

• esotericism, mysticism and media: theoretical aspects of interrelations;
• global and local dimensions of esoteric imaginations;
• theory & method in the study of mysticism and esotericism;
• problems in the representation of mystic experiences;
• hermeneutics of esoteric imagery;
• historical development of esoteric symbolic forms;
• symbolic language characteristics of esotericism and mysticism;
• self-presentations of esoteric groups in the mass media and other media forms;
• representations of mysticism and esotericism in museums;
• esoteric and mystic images in film;
• imagination and visualisation in mysticism and esotericism.

Application deadline: 1 October 2010. For further details, email conference.esot2010@mail.ru  or see the homepage of the Association for the study of Esotericism and Mysticism (ASEM) http://asem.ucoz.org/.

Organizing Committee:
Chair: Prof. Dr. Julia Shabanova (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine), Dr. Sergey Pakhomov (Saint-Petersburg, Russia). Members: Prof. Dr. Andrey Zabiyako (Blagoveshchensk, Russia), Prof. Dr. Igor Kozlovsky (Donetsk, Ukraine); Prof. Dr. Ludmila Filipovich (Kyiv, Ukraine), Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel (Mainz, Germany); Dr. Yuriy Zavhorodniy (Kyiv, Ukraine); Dr. Sergey Kapranov (Kyiv, Ukraine); Vadim Zhdanov (Erlangen, Germany).

Arranged in collaboration with: National Mining University, Department of Philosophy (Dnipropetovsk, Ukraine), H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), Ukrainian Association of Religion Researchers, Research Center for Mysticism and Esotericism (St. Petersburg, Russia), and the Centre for Religious Studies and International Spiritual Relations (Donetsk, Ukraine).

The Esoteric Crossroads: Intercultural Patterns in Early Modern Esotericism

The Esoteric Crossroads: Intercultural Patterns in Early Modern Esotericism

7th April 2010, Villa San Michele, Capri, Italy

The conference focuses on cross-cultural exchange between Northern and Southern Europe in the fields of Western Esotericism. This is a small-scale, informal, inter-disciplinary conference with limited places for twenty participants.

This is the first step toward future projects that aim to foster the exchange of philosophical, scientific, cultural, religious and esoteric ideas between Northern and Southern Europe in general, and Sweden and Italy in particular.

The conference is being held at the legendary Villa San Michele, built by the Swedish physician Axel Munthe. San Michele is a Swedish cultural institution on the beautiful island of Capri in Italy.

On the day after the conference, the participants are invited to a guided tour of Capri’s Philosophical Park by its founder Professor Gunnar Adler-Karlsson.

For further information mail: thomas.karlsson@rel.su.se

Organizers: Dioscuri Institute in cooperation with Thomas Karlsson, Stockholm University, Sweden and Alberto Brandi, University of Naples L’Orientale, Italy.

New Call for papers, IAHR--Seduced by Science

The following Call is in addition to the one already published.

Call for papers
IAHR Quinquennial World Congress
"Religion: A Human Phenomenon"
Toronto, August 15-21, 2010

Panel: Seduced by Science: The culture of religion and science in the early 20th century

Panel Organizers: Egil Asprem and Tessel M. Bauduin, Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Deadline call for papers: April 15th 2010

The first half of the 20th century saw a radical transformation and fierce expansion of the sciences in western society. Both developments have had considerable impact on the conceptualization and experience of religion in the modern world. The success and prestige of the modern sciences have not only changed the way we think about religion, magic, and humanity's place within the natural world, but it has also reformed the referential "common ground" of religionists, non-, and anti-religionists alike. This has had a large range of different and sometimes mutually exclusive implications, roughly following geographic as well as social and cultural boundaries: the perception of science and its relation to religion and religious meaning differed both from country to country, and between socio-cultural strata.

In some quarters, the 19th century "conflict between science and religion" continued as before, over the age of rocks and the origin of species. But in light of new scientific breakthroughs, old questions could also be asked in new ways. For example, controversies over vitalism, organicism and indeterminism provided fuel for intellectual as well as artistic, literary and even political re-appraisals of religion and spirituality. A blossoming of esoteric, occult and spiritualist notions sought alignment with recent scientific developments in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, and psychology, while some scientists in these disciplines looked to esoteric subjects for metaphorical and conceptual resources. Meanwhile the discipline of parapsychology sought professional recognition, while offering itself as a scientific battle station against atheism and philosophical materialism. All these developments fostered an anticipation that science might lead to a new enc hantment of the world. The impact can, in various ways, still be felt in the contemporary religious landscape.

The panel seeks contributions from interdisciplinary scholars of religious studies whose work intersect with the history of ideas, science, literature, art and the broader cultural history of the early 20th century. The starting point is that the cultural history of science and religion in the modern world is complex, multi-layered, dynamic and many-faceted, displaying the whole range of relations from polemical hostility on the one hand, to mutual fascination and forging of alliances on the other. Science and religion is furthermore seen to engage in reciprocal relations of exchange, not only of esthetics and rhetoric, but of semantics as well. The panel welcomes papers that look at specific case studies of the early 20th century culture of science and religion and its reflections in e.g. art, literature, academia, and popular culture, as well as papers on theoretical and methodological problems. "Early 20th century" is taken in an extended sense to cover roughly the period of scientific and religious change from 1880-1945. Exploring methodology and research questions from disciplines not commonly incorporated in the field of religious studies is encouraged.

Suggested research topics include but are certainly not limited to:
- Metaphysical philosophy (e.g. Bergson and many others);
- Reactions to (perceived) mechanism and causality;
- Intuition, inspiration, the Eureka moment and the cult of the scientific genius;
- Parapsychology and the university/scientific establishment;
- Science, science-fiction and religion;
- Science mysticism;
- Science and the Occult Revival;
- Scientific discourses of Theosophy, Anthroposophy or New Age-movements;
- Wave and radiation phenomena in the cultural discourse;
- Religious responses to quantum mechanics and the theories of relativity;
- The discourses of electric fluids, unified fields and the universal ether.

Proposals of max 400 words, together with a brief curriculum, should be send to Egil Asprem (e.asprem@uva.nl) or Tessel Bauduin (t.m.bauduin@uva.nl) before April 15th 2010. At the conference, participants will be allotted 20 minutes to present their paper.

In addition to the abstracts, participants will be requested to submit their full paper before July 1st. The papers will be sent to all participants; at the panel session all participants are expected to have read each other's papers and to be able to comment upon their own paper in relation to the other papers. Pending the quality of the submitted full papers we may investigate the possibilities of publication afterward.

Calls: Panel for IAHR

Call for Papers
Panel: "Western esotericism and its boundaries: Between discourses of identity and difference"

IAHR Quinquennial World Congress, "Religion: A Human Phenomenon," Toronto, August 15-21, 2010

Convenors: Allison Coudert (University of California at Davis), Cathy Gutierrez (Sweet Briar College), Marco Pasi (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

In the last twenty years it has become customary for specialists to define esotericism as "western." This has a series of implications that are usually left in the background and not addressed explicitly. The purpose of the panel is to discuss precisely these aspects, namely: Why should esotericism be defined as western in the first place? Where do we want to draw the boundaries of the "West"? Are Jewish and Islamic forms of esotericism to be included in "western" esotericism, and if not, why? Finally, if we want to reject the tag "western," what are the possible alternatives? In what way could we open up the study of esotericism to multiculturality? Could we do this by studying possible historical influences or rather by using a comparative approach that focuses on possible common patterns and analogies?

We welcome papers that address the use of esotericism as a theoretical designation in the construction of identity and difference while negotiating geographical and ideological boundaries. Proposals for papers on specific historical strains of esoteric thinking are also welcome, particularly those that address the formation of discourses of difference.

Deadline for proposal submission is 31 March 2010.

Proposals, together with a brief curriculum, should be sent to Cathy Gutierrez (cgutierrez@sbc.edu) and/or Marco Pasi (m.pasi@uva.nl).

For more information on the congress and registration procedure, see:
http://www.religion.utoronto.ca/resources/iahr/Home.htm.  

Conference CCWE

The Cambridge Centre for the study of Western Esotericism in Cambridge, UK, has announced its 4th annual conference to take place on 2 October 2010. A call for papers on the theme of Magic: signs sounds emanations - western esotericism and the arts is available at: www.ccwe.wordpress.com.

Studying Interpretations of Esotericism and Mysticism

Call for Papers

"Studying Interpretations of Esotericism and Mysticism"

Association for the Study of Mysticism and Esotericism

Ассоциация исследователей эзотеризма и мистицизма

3 - 5 December 2009, Vladimir, Russian Federation

Because of intense public interest in ‘new religiosity’, esoteric and occult currents as well as in consequence of changes in the Religious and Cultural Studies paradigms, new approaches towards the research of Esotericism and Mysticism have appeared and have been intensively discussed over the last two decades. Academic institutes and societies studying these topics and developing new categories, terms and classifications are on the rise. Western European scholars of religion particularly focus on the issues of appropriateness of phenomenological and hermeneutic methods, as well as on the application of various types of discourse analysis. At the same time, the humanities studying esotericism, mysticism and their implications in ‘new religiosity’ in the post-soviet world are just beginning to break ground upon this subject. Conference organizers hope that this scholarly forum will significantly contribute to the cause of development of this promising area of research. The study of the interpretations of esotericism and mysticism prevalent within the esoteric and mystic environment itself, in their public perception and within academic circles may lay ground for further development of the study of mysticism and esotericism in Russia and other post-communist countries.

See the Call for Papers

Satanism in the Modern World

Call for papers
Satanism in the Modern World
19-20 November 2009
To be held at the Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies,

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

This inter-disciplinary conference seeks to examine issues surrounding the phenomenon known as Satanism. We welcome papers on all aspects of Satanism, but the conference focus will be on Satanism as a practised religion or life-style, and to some extent on Satanism in culture and the arts, rather than on issues such as Satanic Ritual Abuse or Mass Media constructions of Satanism. Proposals for presentations are welcomed from postgraduates within all relevant academic disciplines. All presentations will be in English.

500 word abstracts (for presentations of no more than 20 minutes) should be submitted by Monday 31st August 2009. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Monday 2nd November 2009. Please submit your abstract to both of the conference organisers, in Word or pdf format, following this order: author(s), affiliation, email address, title of abstract, body of abstract.

We will acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted, and will let all applicants know if their paper has been accepted by Monday September 14th.

Conference organisers:
Jesper Aagaard Petersen, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
(jesper.a.petersen@hf.ntnu.no)
Per Faxneld, Stockholm University, Sweden
(per.faxneld@rel.su.se)

All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for potential publication in the anthology we hope to compile, featuring the best contributions.

Esoteric Book Conference

The Esoteric Book Conference is an annual international event to bring together authors, artists, publishers and bookmakers working in the field of esotericism. The next fair will take place 19-20 September 2009 in Seattle.
In addition to presentations by authors and scholars, the conference opens it doors to publishers and booksellers showcasing new & used books as well as rare and hard-to-find esoteric texts. Contemporary esoteric publishing, finepress book arts and antiquarian texts are offered to augment the libraries of readers, scholars and collectors alike. This multi-disciplined conference will feature presentations by scholars and authors researching and working in esoteric currents both East & West. Western Esotericism, Gnosticism, Theosophy, Mythology, Shamanism, Rosicrucianism, Sacred Sciences, Occulture and World Religions are among the subjects to be represented. An esoteric book fair and art show will also be on site allowing education, vending and networking in a unique field of literary, historical and cultural arts. Paper proposals are invited . For more information, see the book fair website.

Call for papers

The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, is organizing a conference for scholars and practioners on the theme of 'Hidden in Plain Sight: The Influence of Western Esoteric Movements on Modern Thought' in 2010. The conference is an open venue for the Western esotericism community, not restricted to members of AMORC. Papers will be evaluated according to academic merit. Authors are encouraged to submit proposals pertaining to esoteric movements such as the Mystery Traditions, Pythagoreanism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Christian Theosophy, the Kabbalah, Alchemy, Freemasonry, Martinism and Rosicrucianism.
The call for papers can be found here. Deadline for proposals is July 15, 2009.

Phoenix Rising: Death and Renaissance in Philosophy, Art, and Literature

Call for papers

Phoenix Rising: Death and Renaissance in Philosophy, Art, and Literature
A Dying Society, or a Renaissance for the 21st Century?

Athens, November 6-7, 2009

Hosted by the Dept. of Academic Affairs, University of Indianapolis, Athens Campus Venue: University of Indianapolis Cultural Centre, 5 Markou Avriliou St., Plaka

The question this conference seeks to explore is a rather timely and certainly crucial one. All too often, studies in the humanities and arts may seem a luxury in the face of day-to-day survival. In a secular Western world where individualism and eclecticism characterise social and personal interactions, rigid religious platitudes have ceased to hold water for many. In the face of the current economic and environmental crises, what does the wisdom of esoteric and metaphysical philosophies have to offer?

The challenge here is to examine these philosophies and perspectives in terms of the relevance their message carries for the modern world. While their history and phenomenology is of vital and ongoing interest to scholars and practitioners, this conference is an attempt to bridge the gap between scholarship of the past and modern reality. Having visibly enriched the lives of so many through the centuries, the challenge is to demonstrate how that bridge can be translated into modern terms as a counterweight to the cynicism, consumerist/materialist mentality and uncertainty currently pervading the Western world.

Please send a proposal (no more than 300 words) and brief biographical statement to Sasha Chaitow at: sashanonserviat@yahoo.com before the closing date of April 30th.

Further information: http://sashanonserviat.typepad.com/phoenixrising

Call for papers IZEA

The DFG Research Group 'Die Aufklärung im Bezugsfeld neuzeitlicher Esoterik' has announced an international conference on the theme of 'Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity'. The conference will take place at the Interdisciplinary Center for European Enlightenment Studies Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für die Erforschung der Europäischen Aufklärung (IZEA), in Halle, Germany, on March 9-12, 2010. The call for paper reads as follows:

Following the conferences “Enlightenment and Esotericism” (Aufklärung und Esoterik) in 1997 at the Herzog-August Library in Wolfenbüttel and “Esotericism in the Enlightenment” (Esoterik in der Aufklärung) in 2006 at the IZEA, now a third conference on this subject will pose the question: To what extent can the multi-faceted relationship between Enlightenment and Esotericism in the eighteenth century be considered as constitutive for Modernity?

The influence of the Enlightenment on Modernity has been much postulated and is an intrinsic constituent in the self-validation of Modernity. At the same time it is clear that Esotericism has also played an important role, right up to the present day. Yet what has been little known up to now is just what significance the mutual reciprocity between Enlightenment and Esotericism in the eighteenth century (and the resulting transformations from this relationship) have had.
Esotericism, as an aggregate of different historical streams of thought, can be identified through the reception of Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Cabbala, as well as through the assimilation of the so-called old sciences of Alchemy, Magic and Astrology from the Renaissance on. During the course of the Early Modern period, related movements such as Paracelsianism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and Freemasonry developed out of these streams of thought. As the first two conferences have shown, these various esoteric currents continued to have an impact during the Enlightenment, whether they were negated, integrated or transformed.
What role then did the Enlightenment play in the rise of “modern” Esotericism? What about the Enlightenment itself, which developed its profile not least by engaging with esoteric streams of thought? Through which paths – whether through continual or interrupted transmission – did the resulting manifestations of the encounter between the Enlightenment and Esotericism arrive at the later Modern period? What accounts for the affinity between Modernity and the artistic-literary, philosophical, theological, scientific or historical-political expressions of the exchange between Enlightenment and Esotericism?
The conference Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity would like to dedicate itself to these questions. Contributions are encouraged from all history-oriented disciplines which investigate the major issues, which reflect on methodical approaches to answering the questions posed or which offer concrete case studies for discussion. The main focus will be on the “long eighteenth century,” that is, on topics dealing with the age of the Enlightenment itself as well as on topics addressing the transition into the first decades after 1800. Nonetheless contributions which treat the nineteenth or twentieth centuries exclusively are also welcome if they take the main theme of the conference into consideration.

Proposals are requested by March 31, 2009 and should include a lecture title, a short abstract of one-half to a full page and a brief vita. Please address all submissions to: izea@izea.uni-halle.de

Tarot in Culture--Call for Papers

Dr Emily E. Auger has a contract with Edwin Mellen Press for Tarot in Culture: An Anthology and so is seeking scholarly papers for this book as an interdisciplinary anthology (tentative publication date 2010).

Papers on all aspects of Tarot will be considered, including Tarot in History, Psychology, Religion, Literature, Film, and Popular Culture. Papers on individual decks and artists and all aspects of Tarot making and use, including designing, marketing, reading, and divining are also welcome.

Prospective contributors should contact augere@canada.com.

ESSWE PhD Thesis Prize

Nominations are invited for the first biennial ESSWE PhD Thesis prize, awarded by the board of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. The prize will be given for an outstanding European PhD thesis completed between 1 January 2007 and 1 March 2009 on any aspect of Western Esotericism (broadly conceived). The thesis may be European in the sense of having been submitted at a university in Europe, or in the sense of having been submitted by a European citizen at a university anywhere in the world. The thesis must have been approved formally by the nominee's thesis committee, but the degree need not have been formally awarded.

The prizewinner will be notified in May 2009 and will receive an award of €500 and a certificate, to be presented at the ESSWE conference in Strasbourg, 2-4 July 2009. The thesis will also be recommended for publication in the ARIES Book Series, though the final decision on publication will be taken by the ARIES Book Series editorial board, not the Prize Committee. If it deems that no thesis reaches an appropriate standard, the Prize Committee will not award a prize.

Nominations must be made by electronic mail to the Chair of the Prize Committee, Mark Sedgwick (Aarhus University, Denmark, mjs@teo.au.dk) by 1 March 2009. The nominator must be a faculty member at the institution that awards the nominee’s PhD degree, or a member of the nominee’s thesis committee. Each nominator may make only one nomination. The applications should consist of pdf files of the following material:

1. A letter of nomination
2. The nominee's thesis
3. A separate summary of the thesis, written by the nominee, of no more than ten pages (double spaced)
4. A brief biographical sketch of the nominee
5. Documentation to show that the thesis has been approved

Items 1, 3 and 4 must be in English. Item 2 may be in any one of the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Item 5 may be in any language, so long as a translation into English is provided if it is not in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

The Prize Committee consists of:

• Mark Sedgwick, Aarhus (Chair)
• Andreas Kilcher, Zurich
• Jean-Pierre Brach, Paris

Alternative Expressions of the Numinous

The Esoteric Studies Research and Teaching Group
in conjunction with the
School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the
University of Queensland

presents the

3rd annual
Alternative Expressions of the Numinous Conference

Friday 15 – Sunday 17 August 2008, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, Australia

Keynote Speakers

• Doug Ezzy – ‘Religion as the Etiquette of Relationships’
• Nevill Drury – ‘Black Magic, White Magic and the Cosmology of Rosaleen Norton’

Abstracts (250 words, by Monday 30 June 2008) are invited for, but not limited to, the following strands:

• Esotericism
• Mysticism
• Alternative expressions of major religions
• Religions of re-enchantment
• Popular culture religions
• Indigenous religions
• Paganism and Neo-Paganism
• New Religious Movements
• Personalised religion
• Alternative methodologies

Papers are also invited for a session to run in Second Life, to be run in parallel with the real life sessions.

Conference Website: http://www.uq.edu.au/hprc/index.html?page=64294&pid=0

Expression of Freemasonry

Call for Papers and Preliminary Conference Announcement

The Expression of Freemasonry:
Its ritual, oratory, poetry, music, literature, art and architecture

27-28 November 2008, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Proposals for papers before 11 July 2008 (details below) to: f.m.conference.leiden08@gmail.com

For centuries freemasons have led a separate creative existence behind closed doors. The rituals, orations and poetry used in the lodge use words to express the society’s hopes, aspirations, philosophy and approach to religion and society. The music of the lodge includes songs and larger scale cantatas. Many lodges had an orchestra or at least and organist and a choir. Orchestral and piano pieces without words but incorporating Masonic symbolism have also been composed for lodge use. As well as musicians actors have always found a home in the lodge and some masonic plays even found their way onto the public stage as did some operas. These songs, poems, musical works and dramas range from the amusing to the serious, from the occasional to the esoteric, from bawdy to deeply religious.

Freemasonry and esoteric themes have been widely used by authors in the 19th century in Germany and elsewhere for literary works as well as in our own time in e.g. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Masonic and esoteric influences are also to be seen in the visual arts; for example paintings and theatre scenery. Freemasonry has exerted an important influence on architecture in general and in the design of lodge buildings in particular. A perhaps unexpected influence is to be seen in garden design where some gardens take the visitor on a journey past masonic or esoteric symbols.

All of these various aspects of Masonic culture need to be recorded and interpreted. And when this vast creative effort by members of a closed brotherhood is set in the wider context of the time, place and the society in which masons wrote and created it sheds light on the evolving place of freemasonry in society as a whole. This causes us to ask questions such as ‘did freemasonry influence social development directly or indirectly or was it itself led by the great upheavals of the Enlightenment, revolutions and wars that have beset the last centuries?’

Organizers
The conference is organized by the Chair for the Study of Freemasonry as an Intellectual Current and a Socio-cultural Phenomenon at the Leiden University in the Netherlands. Speakers will be scholars and students from several academic disciplines. The conference has the support of The Order of Freemasons under the Grand East of The Netherlands, The Cultural Masonic Centre ‘Prince Frederik’ (CMC), The Foundation for the Advancement of Academic Research into the History of Freemasonry in The Netherlands (OVN), The Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions (LISOR), The Sub Department History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (Univ. of Amsterdam) and departments in other universities.

Call for papers and registration
A summary of potential papers is invited, not exceeding 400 words. Papers on the cultural heritage of movements similar or related to freemasonry including esoteric groups are also welcome. A short CV of 250 words or less must be added. The closing date for submissions is Friday 11 July, 2008. The Conference committee will inform speakers if their concept for a paper has been accepted by 1 August 2008.

The conference will take place in the Lipsius Building of the Leiden University in the Netherlands. The event will be accessible to all who are interested in attending, but due to a limited number of seats registration will be required. Registration fees will be announced shortly. For more information or preliminary registration, please contact the conference organizers at: f.m.conference.leiden08@gmail.com

The conference will be preceded by the inaugural lecture of Professor Malcolm Davies, Chair for the Study of Freemasonry (as an Intellectual Current and a Socio-cultural European Phenomenon) at the University of Leiden on 25 November 2008. Scholars who are considering attending both events may also be interested in visiting (at their own opportunity) the important major historical collections for the study of freemasonry and western esotericism in The Netherlands: the Cultural Masonic Centre ‘Prince Frederik’ (The library of the Dutch Grand Lodge) in The Hague and/or the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. Seating at the inaugural lecture is limited. If you would be interested in attending the lecture please contact: m.g.davies@religion.leidenuniv.nl

ESSWE at the EASR--Calls

ESSWE has no conference in 2008. Instead, ESSWE is organizing two panels for the 2008 conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (which will be held in Brno, Czech Republic from 7 to 11 September 2008).

Two calls for papers have been prepared for two panels:

• ‘Ex Oriente Lux: The Presence of Western Esotericism in Eastern Europe’


• ‘The Political Temptations of Western Esotericism’

Click on either link above for the Call for the panel in question.

Proposals for papers should be emailed to Osvald Vasicek, accompanied by a short personal description of the author with academic affiliation etc. Deadline for proposal submission is 24 April 2008.

2nd ESSWE conference--Call for Papers

2nd International Conference of the

European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE)
Strasbourg, Thursday 2-Saturday 4 July, 2009

Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace

Capitals of European esotericism and transcultural dialogue

International Conference organized by the University of Strasbourg (Equipe d’accueil d’Etudes germaniques, EA 1341/UDS) and the Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace (MISHA) in partnership with the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).

During recent decades, the role and impact of esoteric currents within western culture has elicited a growing number of scholarly works. This study brings into play a complex pattern of intellectual discourses and historical phenomena, in close relationship not merely with political and religious spheres, but also with different fields of knowledge and their processes of elaboration.

In 1998, an international conference on the theme “Mystics, Mysticism and Modernity” was organized by the Marc Bloch University of Strasbourg with the aim of studying the impact of esoteric currents on the construction of modernity in society, art and literature at the start of the twentieth century. Following on this research into the connections between esotericism and culture, the present conference aims to make a lasting contribution to the writing of a “different” cultural history, integrating a detailed analysis of the part that esoteric currents have played in the building, development and interactions of national and of cross-national identities.

Esotericism and Spatiality
Scholarship in the field of esotericism has hitherto often been dominated by a “monographic” bias, a tendency to privilege the study of individual authors or specific currents considered particularly relevant to a given context or period, and therefore stressing the chronological dimension of the topic. Without forsaking historical methods, the conference on “Capitals of European Esotericism and transcultural dialogue” proposes a somewhat different approach, underlining the importance of geographical and intellectual patterns, networks, interactions and exchanges, with the purpose of illustrating the relevance of the “spatial” dimension of culture.

The goal of this conference is, thus, to contribute to the delineation of a landscape of Western esoteric currents by sketching a transhistorical map of their places of emergence and their main centers of diffusion. Following the inaugural conference of the ESSWE held in Tübingen in July 2007 and devoted to “The Construction of Tradition”, it has been decided to dedicate the conference in Strasbourg–itself an important “capital of European esotericism”–to the complementary themes of locality and spatiality.

The concept of “Capitals of European esotericism” finds support–inter alia–in research integrating the “spatial turn” in cultural sciences and history, as well as in geocritical approaches to the study of discourse, more particularly envisaged in their spatio-cultural rooting. The birth and development of a plurality of Western esoteric currents will accordingly be considered as essentially linked to certain privileged loci, where a number of diverse traditions, influences and activities have converged and crystallized, for complex historical and cultural reasons which it will be our task to investigate.

Focus-point: the city as a crucible of cultural identity for European esoteric currents.
The various threads of Western esotericism have evolved from and around a number of intellectual centers linked, on the one hand, to local and/or national cultures and, on the other hand, also subject to cultural transfers and exchanges involving elements belonging to foreign horizons, notably oriental ones. Urban communities have been shown to play a major part in these processes of cultural interaction. Certain capitals or cities have acted–sometimes over prolonged periods of time–as diffusion centers for specific currents or disciplines, such as alchemy or Freemasonry (for example, Venice, Avignon, and Marseilles ). Of particular relevance in this perspective is the case of “border-towns”, bearing the stamp of a dual culture or acting as intercultural foyers, which appear for these reasons to qualify even better as places of emergence of such currents (for example, Trieste, Strasburg, Prague, and Cordoba).

Interest may also focus on the common trajectories of economic centers and high places of esoteric thought and activity, and on their social imbrications, as well as on the related topic of patronage which, simultaneously attracting and stabilizing persons and activities in certain spots, nonetheless stimulates the circulation of people and ideas between them (the Medici in Florence, Gonzague in Mantua, Rudolf II in Prague, etc). In the same way, major printing and publishing centers (such as P. Perna’s office in Basel, the Beringos Brothers in Lyon, Diederichs in Munich), or the intellectual exchanges between rival cultural poles (such as Venice and Florence at the turn of the sixteenth century), also deserve attention.

The study of such cultural phenomena may be conducted at different levels:

• On a regional or national scale, emphasizing the many links existing between local cultures, prevailing political conditions, and the historical development of esoteric currents.


• On a cross-cultural and supranational scale, taking into consideration the successive phases of the process of globalization of esotericism, notably relations between East and West.

Another important issue is the literary activity fostered by these “capitals of European esotericism” throughout history, whether they have specifically given rise to a body of literature directly influenced by esoteric speculations and/or practices, or whether they are themselves the object of mythical/literary representation(s) in works of fiction dealing with, or influenced by, esotericism.

Contributors to the conference are invited to use various scholarly methods and approaches from different disciplines: cultural history, art history, history of ideas and of Western esotericism, investigation of the socio-economic conditions of the production of fictional and literary works, etc.

Examples of themes on which contributions will be welcome

• Mapping of Western Esotericism: identification of greater or lesser urban cultural centers linked with one or more specific currents of European esotericism: “masonic capitals”, centers for the diffusion of theosophical doctrines and writings (such as Amsterdam, Berleburg, London, Dornach), etc.


• Economic and cultural exchanges, esoteric currents and the city: investigation of the interactions between commercial, intellectual, artistic and publishing activities as linked to the presence, development and productions of European esotericism (Lyon, Venice, Berlin, Florence, Paris). Some attention should also be given to the role and operation of esoteric periodicals or journals per se, as well as-more generally-to the presence of esoteric themes or events in cultural media.


• Capitals of European esotericism and multi-cultural dialogue: Western esotericism and the reception of oriental literature and traditions (New York, Paris, Cairo, London).


• Esotericism, fictional imagination and the City: artistic and literary works which display an intimate connection between esoteric themes and the (fictional or real) depiction of a given (or imaginary) city (such as Prague in G. Meyrink’s The Golem, or London in A. Machen’s The Three Impostors).

Approaches combining several of these themes and/or perspectives are of course welcome.

It should also be kept in mind that “Western esotericism” is by no means construed as limited to Christianity, but includes esoteric speculations and practices belonging to other religious cultures (such as Jewish Kabbalah and Neo-Sufism), whose complex (often long-standing and influential) interactions with Christian culture make them an integral part of “European esotericism”.

• Working languages: French, German & English.


• Conference Committee: Jean-Pierre Brach (Ecole pratique des Hautes-Etudes, Vème section, Paris, vice-president of ESSWE), Sylvain Briens (UDS), Aurélie Choné (UDS), Christine Maillard (UDS).


• Conference Chairman: Christine Maillard


• Proposals (title and short abstract) should be send to Christine Maillard, christine.maillard@misha.fr, with your name, academic position, and titles of major publications.


• Submission deadline : June 15th, 2008.

Why Esotericism? The Importance of a Newly Emerging Field

The Western Esotericism Group of the American Academy of Religion is seeking proposals addressing the topic “Why Esotericism? The Importance of a Newly Emerging Field” for the AAR International Meeting, Auckland, New Zealand, July 6-10, 2008.

The study of Western Esotericism has developed rapidly over the past decade. It now has significant institutional support and two journals dedicated to research, Esoterica and Aries. The field, however, has yet to enter into the academic mainstream. It is the purpose of this panel to contribute to a broader appreciation of the scope and importance of Western Esotericism as a force in western history and religion.

We invite papers dealing with the ways in which the study of Esotericism has challenged mainstream historiography both in terms of methodology and by providing a more nuanced picture of major developments in western history as well as an understanding of the complex strands of esoteric thought in the work of key historical figures. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to Prof. Allison Coudert, apcoudert@ucdavis.edu.

Call for articles

The ESSWE Newsletter calls for short articles (500-2,000 words) on any topic relating to Western Esotericism.

Topics
All topics to Western Esotericism will be considered. Articles may, for example, discuss individuals, groups or practices, or address theoretical issues. They may also present work in progress, or summarize conclusions that will later be published in full elsewhere.

Authors are advised to look at the excellent articles published in the ISIM Review, a review of contemporary Islamic studies which pioneered this format. Articles from the ISIM Review are available on the ISIM website.

Review and comments
Editorial changes for style and clarity may be suggested before publication, but no formal peer-review will be carried out. Instead, other members of ESSWE will be invited to comment on articles published on this blog, so long as comments are constructive, relevant, and courteous.

Submission
Authors may either contact the editor in advance, or send unsolicited work. Authors must be full or student members of ESSWE, and should provide information concerning their institutional affiliation when submitting articles or enquiries.

Format

• Articles should include abstracts of no more than 80 words.
• Titles should be short. Subtitles are not used.
• Paragraphs should also be short. There should be several subheadings, usually one every three or four paragraphs.
• Articles should be submitted either in Microsoft Word or as HTML text, with as little formatting as possible, save for italics for foreign words.
• Bullet points may be used, sparingly.