The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation of alternative religious currents and practices, appropriating earlier traditions, entangling geographically distinct spiritual discourses, and crafting a repository of mindscapes eminently suitable to be accommodated by later generations of thinkers and practitioners. Penned by specialists in the field, this volume examines important themes and figures pertaining to this occult amalgam and its resonance into the twentieth century and beyond. Global guises of the occult, ranging from the Americas and Europe to India, are variously addressed, with special attention to the crucial role of mesmerism and the origins of modern yoga.

Lukas Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.

Franz Winter is Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria.

Autorentext

Lukas Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.

Franz Winter is Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria.

Inhalt

Table of Contents

1. Introductory Remarks
   Lukas Pokorny and *Franz Winter

   *

Part I: Mesmerism

2. Carl August von Eschenmayer and the Somnambulic Soul
   Wouter J. Hanegraaff

   **

3. Priest-doctors and Magnetisers: Mesmerism, Romantic Medicine, and Catholic Thought in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
   *Maren Sziede

   *

4. Animal Magnetism and Its Psychological Implications in Hungary
   JúliaGyimesi

5. From Fluidum to Pra: Reading Mesmerism through Orientalist Lenses
   *Dominic S. Zoehrer

Part**II:Occultism in America and Europe**

6. Total Recall: The Panoramic Life Review near Death as Proof of the Soul's Timeless Self-Presence in Western Esotericism of the Nineteenth Century
   *Jens Schlieter

   *

7. Stages in the Development of an Occult Linguistics
   *Olav Hammer

   *

8. The Art of Esoteric Posthumousness
   *Marco Pasi

   *

9. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and Sexual Regeneration
   *John Patrick Deveney

   *

10. The Theosophical Maitreya: On Benjamin Creme's Millenarianism
    Lukas Pokorny

11. Martial Arts Spirituality in Sweden: The Occult Connection
    *Per Faxneld

    *

Part III: Occultism in Global Perspective****

12. A Study into a Transreligious Quest for the Ultimate Truth: Indian, Muslim, and European Interpretations of the Upanishads
    *Franz Winter

    *

13. Occult's First Foot Soldier in Bengal: Peary Chand Mittra and the Early Theosophical Movement
    *Mriganka Mukhopadhyay

    *

14. Re-Imagining an Ancient Greek Philosopher: The Pythagorean Musings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)*
    Almut-Barbara Renger

    *

15. African and Amerindian Spirits: A Note on the Influence of Nineteenth Century Spiritism and Spiritualism on Afro- and African-American Religions
    Hans Gerald Hödl

Part IV: Occultism and Modern Yoga

16. Sri Sabhapati Swami: The Forgotten Yogi of Western Esotericism
    *Keith EdwardCantú

    *

17. Tracing Vivekananda's Pra and ka: The Yogavsiha and Rama Prasad's Occult Science of Breath
    *Magdalena Kraler

    *

18. Guru and Messiah: On the First Yoga Handbook in Polish Language: Wincenty Lutosawski'sThe Development of the Power of Will by Means of Psychophysical Exercises (1909)
    *MarlisLami

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