In-person event at the Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen

Esoteric traditions and associated currents have, through many centuries, developed and employed a number of strategies connected with secrecy. One important dimension of this has been to secure privacy for their practices, transmission, and survival. People needed safe spaces to procure esoteric knowledge, and secrecy was at the core of how much of this knowledge was protected. Secrecy and privacy have also served functions in esotericism related to discourses about higher knowledge, access to the divine, the secrets of nature, didactics and identity construction. The Centre for Privacy Studies and the https://ccrs.ku.dk/research/centres-and-projects/ccste/#:~:text=The%20Copenhagen%20Centre%20for%20the,categorized%20as%20'Western%20esotericism'.Copenhagen Centre for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism of the University of Copenhagen invite scholars interested in the intersection of esotericism and privacy in a broader historical perspective to continue the exploration of this area in November 2022.

Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to):

• Secrecy and concealment: practices and strategies
• Privacy in the transmission of knowledge - correspondence, training, and traditions
• Private circles: initiations, codes, insiders and outsiders;
• Texts as private vehicles of esotericism - cryptic writings, symbolism, and languages

Keynote speakers:

Professor Kocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen: “Secrecy, Concealment, and Privacy: Three Different Modes of Esoteric Tradition”

Professor Henrik Bogdan, University of Gothenburg: “Secrecy and Early Eighteenth-Century Freemasonry”

Paper proposals:

Everyone is welcome to submit a paper proposal. Please use the form below to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words and a short biography under 150 words in length.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 18, 2022.

Submit your proposal here

Register for in-person participation here

Conference committee:

Natacha Klein Käfer

Tim Rudbøg

Contact: nkk@teol.ku.dk