ASE update

The Association for the Study of Esotericism. is continuing with the third volume of it's book series, Esotericism, Religion, and Politics.
There is a new membership menu up at aseweb.org, including an offer to new members to receive a free copy of the book. (ASE now has permanent 501c3 status as a non-profit organization, so all contributions are tax-deductible in the United States). ASE is expanding the website, adding an updated announcements section, and a newsletter. If you have announcements, including forthcoming or recently published books, or events, please send them to aseoffice@gmail.com
A student worker is assisting with ASE matters, in particular with the new website. A meeting room is reserved during the AAR conference in Atlanta, and ASE will be holding a symposium there in late October 2010, with a focus on esotericism in the academy.

Academic Society for Research into Freemasonry

From the Newsletter of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry at the University of Sheffield:

Over the past few years discussions have taken place among scholars in the field concerning the need to establish an organisation for the advancement of academic research into freemasonry and related topics. This later broadening and opening towards a wider perspective, within which freemasonry can be contextualised, can be branded in different ways and we have not yet exactly agreed upon a final name and definition for the proposed society. However, we are proud to announce that under the working-title of “ASRFF” we have now taken steps to establish such a society. Membership is open to individuals within the academic community and will include a reduced subscription fee to Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, the first edition of which will be published in May 2009. The draft constitution of the society and a subscription form can be downloaded from our website. At present the acting board members are: Prof. Dr. Malcolm Davies, Prof. Dr. Cécile Revauger, Dr. Henrik Bogdan and Dr. Andreas Önnerfors.

New discussion group on Facebook

With the aim of promoting the study of Hermetism, Western Esotericism, and related currents, Iván Elvira has created a new discussion group on Facebook, called Studia Hermetica like the website www.revistaazogue.com/hermetica.

If you want to participate, you have to create a Facebook account, and send Iván Elvira a message with your request. The languages of this new discussion group are Spanish, English and French. The discussion group is aimed at students and enthusiasts of Hermetism and Esoteric thought. The questions that will be dealt with are wide, and nothing will be avoided. People who profess a Hermetic or Esoteric belief are welcome, but are warned that "Studia Hermetica" is an academic discussion group. Bibliographical references and a correct way of expression are obligatory.

Student networks

As well as this blog, two discussion groups or ‘virtual hangouts’ have been created this year that are relevant to our field, on the website http://www.facebook.com/.

• One is a group for students and former students of the MA Mysticism and Western Esotericism in Amsterdam (Western Esotericism MA).
• The other, playfully called The Grand Lodge, is for scholars of Western Esotericism more generally, excluding university teachers and professors (for reasons of social ease and liberty of speech).

Both groups are accessible through facebook friends.

Those interested in joining one of the groups must have or create a facebook account. Then they can send a friend request to someone who is already a member, such as Ward (Eduard) ten Houten or myself, including a brief message stating they would like to join the particular group. You can find us in the facebook search engine under our full names.

Joyce Pijnenburg

Sub-fields

Giovanna Costantini posted a comment to an earlier post which included the sentence

As an Art Historian, I would be interested in identifying others within my discipline working internationally on subjects related to esotericism and in a sub-affiliation/listserv of such scholars.

Would any others be interested? In Art history or in any other discipline/sub-field of the study of Western esotericism? Please reply by comment to this post.

Scandinavian network

A new network has come into being within ESSWE: SNASWE, the Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism.

SNASWE was launched at a recent conference held in Turku, Finland. Its purpose is to bring together Scandinavian scholars interested in Western Esotericism and non-Scandinavian scholars interested in esotericism in Scandinavia, to share relevant information, and to assist applications for funding within Scanadinavia. It will soon launch either a ListServ or a blog similar to this one.

All members of ESSWE are invited to join SNASWE if they wish: please contact the co-ordinator of SNASWE, Henrik Bogdan of Goteborg.

All those who wish to join SNASWE and are not members of ESSWE will be requested to join ESSWE first.

The board of ESSWE is enthusiastic about SNASWE, which might be the first of a number of other such networks--for Central and Eastern Europe, for example, or for PhD students.