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The European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) is Europe's only scholarly society for the study of Western esotericism. Founded in 2002, the society promotes academic study of Western esotericism in its various manifestations from late antiquity to the present, and works to secure the future development of the field. [1]
The peer-reviewed journal Aries, and the associated Aries book series are published by Brill under the auspices of the ESSWE. [2] [3] Aries was published in a first series by La Table d'Emeraude from 1985 to 1999, before a second series began to be published by Brill in 2001. The Aries book series was launched in 2006. [4] The society also publishes a periodic Newsletter.
Between 2016 and 2018, the ESSWE funded the hosting and database costs of the journal Correspondences: Journal for the Study of Esotericism. [5]
The ESSWE holds an international conference in a different European country every two years, and holds a workshop for graduate students in years in which there is no conference. Past conferences have been in Tübingen (2007), Strasbourg and Messina (2009), Szeged (2011), Gothenburg (2013), Riga (2015), Erfurt (2017), and Amsterdam (2019). [6]
1st: July 2007, University of Tübingen, "Constructing Tradition: Means and Myths of Transmission in Western Esotericism."
2nd: July 2009, University of Strasbourg, "Capitals of European Esotericism and Transcultural Dialogue."
3rd: July 2011, University of Szeged, "Lux in Tenebris: The Visual and the Symbolic in Western Esotericism"
4th: June 2013, University of Gothenburg, "Western Esotericism and Health."
5th: April 2015, University of Latvia, "Western Esotericism and the East."
6th: June 2017, University of Erfurt, "Western Esotericism and Deviance."
7th: July 2019, University of Amsterdam, "Western Esotericism and Consciousness: Visions, Voices, Altered States."
The ESSWE provides various resources on its website, awards prizes and travel bursaries to recognize and encourage younger scholars. It has three regional networks, the Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism (SNASWE), the Israeli Network for the Study of Western Esotericsm (INASWE), and the Irish Network for the Study of Esotericism and Paganism (INSEP) and two thematic research networks, the Contemporary Esotericism Research Network (ContERN) and the ESSWE Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity (NSEA).[ citation needed ]
The ESSWE is an affiliated society of the Project AWE (Aesthetics of Western Esotericism), International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), and a related scholarly organization of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). [7]
In 2014, a related Central and Eastern European Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism (CEENASWE) was founded at the Central European University, Budapest. [8]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism and their varied spells. It can also refer to supernatural ideas like extra-sensory perception and parapsychology.
Hermes Trismegistus is a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. He is the purported author of the Hermetica, a widely diverse series of ancient and medieval pseudepigraphical texts that lay the basis of various philosophical systems known as Hermeticism.
George of Trebizond was a Byzantine Greek philosopher, scholar, and humanist.
Hermeticism or Hermetism is a philosophical and religious system based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. These teachings are contained in the various writings attributed to Hermes, which were produced over a period spanning many centuries and may be very different in content and scope.
The Corpus Hermeticum is a collection of 17 Greek writings whose authorship is traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. The treatises were originally written between c. 100 and c. 300 CE, but the collection as known today was first compiled by medieval Byzantine editors. It was translated into Latin in the 15th century by the Italian humanist scholars Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) and Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500).
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German Renaissance polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy published in 1533 drew heavily upon Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and neo-Platonism. His book was widely influential among esotericists of the early modern period, and was condemned as heretical by the inquisitor of Cologne.
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and Enlightenment rationalism. It has influenced various forms of Western philosophy, mysticism, religion, pseudoscience, art, literature, and music.
Jeffrey John Kripal is an American college professor. He is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Gilles Quispel was a Dutch theologian and historian of Christianity and Gnosticism. He was professor of early Christian history at Utrecht University.
Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff is professor of the History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He served as the first president of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) from 2005 to 2013.
Antoine Faivre was a French scholar of Western esotericism. He played a major role in the founding of the discipline as a scholarly field of study, and he was the first-ever person to be appointed to an academic chair in the discipline. Together with Roland Edighoffer he founded the predecessor to the journal Aries in 1983, which in 2001 was relaunched with Wouter Hanegraaff as its editor.
Western Esotericism is an academic field of research, scholarship, and education that focuses on the history of Western esotericism.
Prisca theologia is the doctrine that asserts that a single, true theology exists which threads through all religions, and which was anciently given by God to humans.
Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the academic and historical study of Western esotericism. It is published by Brill Academic Publishers on behalf of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. From 2001 to 2010, the editor-in-chief was Wouter Hanegraaff. The current editor-in-chief is Egil Asprem. Two issues are published annually; in recent years the first one is a special issue, devoted to a specific theme proposed by a guest editor.
Martine Theodora Bax is a Dutch-Canadian art historian and art critic in modern art. Her specializations are the work of Piet Mondrian and the relationship between art and Western Esotericism, especially Modern Theosophy and Anthroposophy.
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism, it draws upon both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Indian originated religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Hans Thomas Hakl is an Austrian publisher, essayist and translator. He has used the signatures H. T. Hakl, H.T.H., or the pseudonym H. T. Hansen.
Kocku von Stuckrad is a German scholar of religious studies. He specialises in the European history of religion and the academic study of Western esotericism.
Modern paganism and New Age are eclectic new religious movements with similar decentralised structures but differences in their views of history, nature, and goals of the practitioner. Modern pagan movements, which often have roots in 18th- and 19th-century cultural movements, seek to revive or be influenced by historical pagan beliefs. New Age teachings emerged in the second half of the 20th century and are characterised by millenarian ideas about spiritual advancement. Since the counterculture of the 1960s, there has been interaction, mutual influence, and often confusion in the popular mind between the movements.
Eastern esotericism is a term used by some scholars that loosely encompasses religious beliefs and practices of the so-called Eastern world said to be "esoteric," secret, or occult. Its demarcation as a field, however, is difficult, as it varies depending on the boundaries of geographical and cultural notions of Western and Eastern and the definition of esotericism, with some scholars arguing it cannot be a concept beyond Western esotericism, while others propose a globalizing perspective. Still, it has been employed by scholars who recognize the category, used to denote comparable secret studies and practices, mainly in traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, and also in other systems, ethnic religions, and syncretisms.
