In conjunction with the SNASWE 1 conference, SNASWE hosts the first PhD-seminar for PhDs working on esotericism and/or occulture in or about the Nordic countries. The idea is for PhD candidates to share research, receive feedback and get to know each other. Participation consists of submitting a draft chapter or similar and give a 20 min presentation as well as reading the works of others to give feedback. The PhD seminar is Wednesday, 23 October 2024, at The University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

PhD candidates and their supervisors are urged to send Tim Rudbøg timrudboeg@hum.ku.dk Manon Hedenborg White manon.hedenborg-white@mau.se and Tiina Mahlamäki tituma@utu.fi an email Thursday 21 March 2024.

SNASWE 1

A Tide of Ghosts:

Esotericism and Art beyond Fact and Fiction

A two-day multidisciplinary conference exploring how the use of fictionings, in various entanglements of art, politics, and esotericism, bleeds into the real and how the two relate, if they ever are truly separate. To be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 23-25 October, 2024.

A Tide of Ghosts explores the coastal areas of planetary occulture and esotericism where that which has been submerged rises again. The hallucinatory horizon, separating sea from sky, the ghosts from the living, is as thinly defined as the borders between imagination and reality. The tide simultaneously covers and reveals a topography where art, politics and the occult are entangled with not only the contemporary, the near future and the near past, but also with the future future and the past past. Esotericism, whether rejected or forgotten, returns as a tide of ghosts to claim its presence. Like coastlines, esotericism represents places of agency and potentialities, fields of possibilities challenging consensual reality, glimpsing what is to come through remnants of what has or could have been, sunken lands and forgotten cities, other ways of living and belonging.

This conference reports back from these shores and their points of contact with an outside. What happens if we switch aesthetic and occult terms for political ones or mix them up? If we treat fictions as if they were real? And what happens when the tide shifts? History has always been used and interpreted in various ways. An undertow of esoteric and occultural movements has pulled at the present to revitalise or re-enchant it since the Rosicrucian manifestos ignited a new mythology and the prisca theologia movement excavated an ancient wisdom that since has inspired dozens of groups and activities.

A jumbled assemblage of associations is Theosophy and the Golden Dawn in the late 19th century, but also symbolism, the suffragettes and mystical utopianism; the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift and the Green Shirts in the 1920s and 1930s but also surrealism and the spectre of communism; anarchism and hippies in the 1960s and 1970s but also the critical aquarianism of people like William S. Burroughs and Octavia Butler and groups like the Process Church and thee Temple of Psychick Youth flooding into music; or the spectrum from a decolonial, feminist witchcraft to a shamanic alt-Right to a revolutionary demonology in both the present and contemporary art; all attempts to break into destiny by learning to transform reality through its representations. In short, by using art, myths and fictions. In other words, by using magic(k) and the belief that reality can be shaped according to will. Waves of occulture bleed into reality to make themselves real.

Confirmed keynotes are Annebella Pollen, professor in Visual and Material Culture at the University of Brighton, and Egil Asprem, professor in the History of Religions at Stockholm University.

To collectively explore these lines of flight alongside our keynotes, we welcome proposals by everyone for a multidisciplinary conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 23-25 October, 2024; academics, independent scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists, and not only individual submissions but also collaborations, performances and what have we.

Please send an abstract of a maximum of 300 words or provide a rationale for your proposed activity to timrudboeg@hum.ku.dk and kasper.opstrup@hum.ku.dk by Thursday 21 March, 2024. You will receive a decision no later than 15 April. Links to visual or other visual aids may be included. Please use the subject line: Tide of Ghosts Conference proposal, and also include a short bio of no more than 200 words.

Presentations will be 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions.

The conference marks the first conference of the Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western esotericism SNASWE). It is co-organized by the Novo Nordic funded research project Twisting the Fabric of Space: On the Art and Politics of the Hidden which has Kasper Opstrup as its PI and The Copenhagen Centre for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism headed by Tim Rudbøg.

NB! In conjunction with the conference SNASWE hosts the first PhD-seminar for PhDs working on esotericism and/or occulture in or about the Nordic countries. The idea is for PhD candidates to share research, receive feedback and get to know each other. Participation consists of submitting a draft chapter or similar and give a 20 min presentation as well as reading the works of others to give feedback. The PhD seminar is Wednesday, 23 October, at UCPH.

PhD candidates and their supervisors are urged to send Tim Rudbøg timrudboeg@hum.ku.dk Manon Hedenborg White manon.hedenborg-white@mau.se and Tiina Mahlamäki tituma@utu.fi an email Thursday 21 March 2024.

Keywords for further inspiration:

Occulture (and its discontents)

Hauntology and pscyhogeography

Fictionings, the problem of fiction and non-fiction

Religionings, Heresies, Prophecies

Mystical Utopianism

Art, Politics and Esotericism

The magical renaissance

Counter-cultures, New Age and Cultures of Protest

Symbolism, surrealism, art and occultism

Occulture and the contemporary arts (art, literature, music, films, etc)

Occult revivals

Contemporary art and the re-appearance of occult and surrealist themes.

Millenarianism

The permanent decolonization of thought

Weird Studies

Atavism and worshipping the old gods (in a One-God-Universe)

Speculative evolution and the post-human

Fictions, facts and reality

Theoryfictions, hyperstitions and the CCRU

Chaos Magick, Theosophy, Golden Dawn, Crowley and related

Psychedelia, mind expansion and ecstasy

Rejected knowledge

William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Ithell Colquehoun, Genesis P-Orridge, Robert Anton Wilson, Octavia Butler, Philip K. Dick, JG Ballard, Leonor Fini, Charles Fort, etc.

Speculative Fiction – the gothic, horror, science fiction, fantasy, the new weird – and its role as carriers of ideas and its roots in esoteric tradition

Games, TTRPGS, etc and their relation to the esoteric tradition… make-belief, if-so, world-building and so forth

Magick as another epistemology, expanded consciousness

Blurrings, Hauntings, Challenges to Consensual Reality

Folk Horror, folklore, myth and landscape

Reality shifting

The International Theosophical History Conference 2024, Ascona Switzerland:

Nature, Theosophy and related esoteric currents

Nature has always been a point of interest for humanity, but in recent times, it has become even more significant due to environmental issues, most notably climate change. Theosophy places significant emphasis on the importance of nature, viewing it as not only an expression of the one life, but also as containing spiritual and hidden dimensions, encouraging individuals to foster a deep connection with the natural world and to seek out the spiritual truths that can be found within it. In agreement with other esoteric currents such as hermeticism and the occult arts, Theosophical teachings maintain a strong focus on nature as a living entity and the idea that all life is interconnected. Life is embodied in numerous spiritual beings, energies, natural kingdoms and a divine will that pushes towards harmonious order and beauty. Furthermore, as with other esoteric currents, the Theosophical Society emphasizes the importance of the study of the three-way relation between humanity, nature, and the divine as a means for humanity to live in harmony with the greater whole.

Outlines of theosophical cosmology, such as the one given in H. P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888), were in fact presented as an ancient key to understand the universe and our place in it. Unlike the cosmology of many religions and of science, every entity is perceived not only as living and conscious but also as descending from the spiritual and evolving through the various planes of existence encompassing matter and spirit.

This conference invites reflection and research on understanding the particular views and practices cultivated by the Theosophical and other esoteric currents in relation to nature. It also welcomes studies that are either in contrast to or in alignment with dominant views and narratives formulated by traditional religions, philosophies, or sciences.

Other issues relating to nature and previously addressed by philosophers are also welcome, including issues that are of special interest today, including the following questions:

1) Should nature be left untouched or shaped by human intervention?

2) Are humans separate from and superior to nature?

3) Is nature conscious and alive?

4) What relations exist between humans, animals, plants and nature in general?

Reflections and discussions on the theme of nature are both relevant and urgent today given the current state of the planet. Furthermore, studying nature reveals more clearly those genealogies of knowledge about spiritual understandings of nature that have been cultivated from the birth of the Theosophical Society and certainly throughout history.

Themes include:

-Spiritual cosmology

-Living nature

-Human nature

-Non-human animals and personhood; non-human animals, consciousness and soul; animals rights

-The relations between the kingdoms of nature, including the elemental and deva kingdoms

-Animation, animism

-Sustainability

-Ecology, Deep Ecology, climate change

-Vegetarianism, veganism

-Practices to align with or overcome nature, including teaching and initiation

-Embodiment

-Technology and nature

-Gardens and parks, Theosophical campuses

-Sacred places, sacred geometry

-Artistic expressions related to nature, visual art, music, literature, architecture

All interested parties are welcome to be creative and to submit proposals not listed above, but they must be related to the general theme of the Conference.

Key-Note Speaker:

Professor Kocku von Stuckrad

Paper Proposals

To be considered as a presenter in the Conference, please submit an abstract of between 700–1000 words with a 50-word biography to the secretary of the ITHC, Erica Georgiades, via email (erica.georgiades@gmail.com). All proposals will be evaluated by the conference committee.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEOSOPHICAL HISTORY CONFERENCE AND THEOSOPHICAL HISTORY JOURNAL.

The purposes of holding the International Theosophical History Conferences are practical in nature: to maintain interest in the subject, to assess the status of research in the area, and finally to provide material for publication within The Theosophical History journal. If the presenter wishes to publish in the journal, we advise that the style of the final text and endnotes conform to Chicago Style and that a digital submission be sent for review to the editor (Tim Rudbøg timrudboeg@hum.ku.dk) in Word format no later than two months following the Conference. To visit the website of the Theosophical History journal, please https://theohistory.org/

Presentations

Suggested presentation time 20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions & answers.

Important Dates

Deadline for submission of a paper: 1 May 2024 Notification of acceptance: 20 May 2024

Registration & Fees

Registration fee for students, per day 22 Euros. Registration Fee per day 30 Euros.

Registration to the 2024 ITHC will open after the programme is released.

LOCATION: HOTEL ASCONA AT THE SLOPES OF MONTE VERITAS Accommodation cost from 16 to 18 November 2024.

To book, please contact directly the hotel booking@hotel-ascona.ch

En Suite Single room (full board) CHF 220.- for the entire stay. En Suite Double room (full board) CHF 212.- per person for the entire stay. (The city taxes, CHF 4.50/person/day is not included in the price)

Meals are vegan full board without beverage. All the rooms have a bathroom with shower or bath, minibar, television, safe, telephone, radio and WiFi connection. The rooms south facing have a balcony and lake view. For information about the hotel, please, visit this link www.hotel-ascona.ch

HOW TO ARRIVE IN ASCONA To arrive in Ascona, we suggest you to travel to the Zurich Airport. Then take a train to Locarno. The train station is located below Terminal B. A short train ride connects to Zurich Main Station, where you may need to change for a train heading South to Locarno.

Please contact the Reception at Hotel Ascona, in advance, to book a shuttle to pick you up from Locarno station, (between 07:30-16:00), or take a taxi directly from Locarno to Hotel Ascona, (approx. 3 km, cost approx. CHF 30). Hotel Ascona: Via Signor in Croce 1, Ascona, Switzerland. Tel: +41 9178 51515, e-mail: booking@hotel-ascona.ch

Conference Committee

– Conference Chair: Prof. Tim Rudbøg (Associate professor, Science of Religion, chair and director of the Copenhagen Centre for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism, University of Copenhagen)

– Prof. James Santucci (Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at California State University, Fullerton)

– Dr. Olivia Cejvan (Senior lecturer Linnæus University, Sweden)

– Bjarke Stanley Nielsen (PhD candidate in Study of Religions, University of Copenhagen, Denmark);

– Erica Georgiades (MRes Religious Experience, University of Wales Trinity Saint David; PgD Merit Ancient Mediterranean Religions UWTSD).

SUPPORTED BY THE BLAVATSKY TRUST.

The DFG-funded Centre for Advanced Studies (Kollegforschungsgruppe) ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’ at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is seeking to appoint several

Junior and Senior Fellowships for 3-12 Months

The preferred starting date is October 1, 2024.

Project description

The main goal of the Centre for Advanced Studies – Erlangen (CAS-E) is to compare the interpretation, rationalisation and legimitisation strategies of esoteric practices and their practitioners from a global perspective, and to carve out why and in which ways they are successful, resilient and creative in different cultural and regional contexts. A mid-term goal is the development of a cultural theory of esoteric practices, which seeks to explain their resilience, their typological family resemblances across a large number of cases, and their different culture-bound and politically shaped evaluations. CAS-E has a decidedly global and contemporary research focus and adopts a broad heuristic working definition of ‘esoteric practices’ which includes a variety of aspects such as contingency management, specialisation and the formation of expert systems, secrecy, the reliance on opaque efficacy as well as social dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Simultaneously, the Centre also comparatively investigates creative reinventions of traditional ‘esoteric practices’ that acquire new hybridising forms in fields of tension with competing cultural registers (e.g. science, new technologies/media, political regimes, religious orthodoxies) which may contribute to their (re-) legitimation.

DFG-funded Centres for Advanced Studies are interdisciplinary research groups with exceptional funding conditions and an outstanding international reputation. They have an initial funding period of four years, with the possibility of prolongation for a second funding period, and combine an international fellowship programme with local high profile research, whereby a large number of leading experts have the possibility to convene and explore an innovative research topic over a long period of time.

CAS-E is seeking to appoint its third cohort of several Junior and Senior Research Fellows for the academic year 2024-2025, i.e., for the period from October 2024 to September 2025. Fellowships are awarded for 3 to12 months, depending on the scope and duration of the proposed research project. The fellowships should start either in October 2024 or April 2025, aligned to the German semester periods. The remuneration of the fellowship depends on the scholar’s current status. The fellowships are dedicated to individual research on ‘alternative rationalities and esoteric practices from a global perspective’. Applicants are required to engage in the weekly activities of the Centre (lectures series, colloquia, workshops, etc.) and engage with the research agenda of CAS-E.

Requirements

• Applicants should have a degree and a PhD in Cultural or Social Anthropology, Religious Studies, Theology, Sociology of Religion, (cross-)regional /-cultural Studies or in a related interdisciplinary field. We also encourage applications from the field of Natural Sciences.

• The Centre has a decidedly contemporary research focus, hence applicants are required to pursue a project on present-day esoteric practices, based on appropriate research methodologies (e.g., fieldwork, interviews, participant observation).

• The Centre also invites historically oriented projects that touch upon contemporary esoteric practices (e.g., by focusing on transfer or entangled history), yet going back to no more than the 19th century.

• The Centre has a decidedly global research focus, hence fellowship proposals may focus on esoteric practices from all world regions and cultural or religious contexts.

The working language of the Centre is English, therefore excellent spoken and written English is required. Furthermore, regular presence at the Centre is required.

We offer

• Participation in an interdisciplinary, innovative und prestigious DFG-funded joint research project.

• Access to extensive international networks of high-profile researchers in the social sciences and humanities.

• An open-minded, cooperative team.

• Flexible working hours and family-friendly working time schemes. • Professional support with travel, visa, and accommodation arrangements. • Travel costs to and from Erlangen at the beginning and end of the stay. • Travel costs for trips and conferences that are related to the research within the Centre.

Applications

Applications should include:

- Cover letter describing the applicant’s career path and current research interests. - CV including list of publications.

- Outline of the planned research project and how it relates to the agenda of the Centre (max. 5 pages).

- One related publication.

- Names and contact details of two potential referees.

The latest submission date for applications is April 15, 2024. The preferred starting date is October 1, 2024.

In its pursuit of academic excellence, FAU is committed to equality of opportunity and to a proactive and inclusive approach, which supports and encourages all under represented groups, promotes an inclusive culture and values diversity. FAU is a family friendly employer and is also responsive to the needs of dual career couples.

Please note that costs arising in connection with your application (travel expenses, etc.) cannot be reimbursed.

For further details about the position, please contact one of CAS-E’s Research Coordinators Dr. Lina Aschenbrenner (lina.aschenbrenner@fau.de), Dr. Stefanie Bukhardt (stefanie.burkhardt@fau.de) or Dr. Rachel Romberg (raquel.romberg@fau.de).

Applications must be sent in one PDF file to CAS-E’s Adminstrative Manager Sandra Losch (sandra.losch@fau.de).

Call for paper proposals for SNASWE panels at the EASR conference 2024 and individual submissions for an open SNASWE panel at the IAHR 2025:

EASR

If you would like to be a part of a SNASWE panel (Scandinavian Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism) at the August 2024 EASR conference in Gothenburg Sweden, please send the following information to the head of the SNASWE network, Tim Rudbøg timrudboeg@hum.ku.dk no later than by noon 5 February 2024.

1. see the details below for the EASR conference. Your proposal should match the conference theme)
2. a title of your paper proposal
3. a short abstract (max 150 words)
4. short bio

SNASWE represents Nordic scholarship on esotericism and/or deals with esotericism in Nordic contexts. Rudbøg will see if there is potential to create one or more panels for each of the two conferences along these lines.

You will receive a message by the end of 8 February about your proposal: if it can become a part of a panel and what the possible panel theme will be. If your proposal is accepted for a SNASWE panel, it is expected that you will reply quickly to any emails as the deadline for submitting panels 15 February.

EASR details:

https://easr2024.se/

https://easr2024.se/submission/

IAHR

The head of the SNASWE network, Tim Rudbøg will submit an open panel proposal for the The XXIII Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), hosted by Jagiellonian University and the Polish Society for the Study of Religions, will take place in Kraków, Poland, August 24–30, 2025. (deadline for open panels 28.1.2024)

Here is how it works

"In short, an open panel is like an empty box with a label on it, into which others may put their individual papers. If your panel is accepted by the reviewers, it will be listed in the call for individual papers and other researchers will be able to submit proposals to it. If those proposals are reviewed positively, you will be able to decide if they are a good fit for your panel."

Please read these links and submit an individual proposal for the individual call for the panel!

https://iahr2025.org/registration/important-dates/

https://iahr2025.org/call-for-panels-papers/

https://iahr2025.org/should-you-submit-an-open-panel-proposal-spoiler-yes-you-should/

Our latest newsletter is out, please click the below link to open or download: https://esswe.org/resources/pdf/newsletter/ESSWE-Newsletter-Vol-14-SummerWinter-2023.pdf

We invite you to the Happy Hour VIII conference - an international interdisciplinary conference focused on research on esotericism and alternative religious movements, which will be held from 27 to 29 October 2023 in Brno at the Jiří Mahen Memorial.

We sincerely invite all historians, religious scholars, ethnologists, librarians and others who are interested in:

• Hermeticism and occultism
• history of religion and religious movements
• Freemasons, Martinists, Rosicrucians and other secret societies
• The Unity of the Brethren, Theosophical Society, Universalia and other public societies;
• witch trials, alchemy, astrology, etc.

We would like to point out that the conference is primarily a scientific affair. We welcome also representatives of societies and organizations who can contribute to the topics discussed.

The conference will be newly streamed online with the possibility of an online presentation

The supporting programme will offer cultural and tourist events, especially the exhibition "Contemporary Czech Hermetica in photographs and artefacts".

If you are interested in participating as a speaker or as an participant, you can submit a presentation proposal from 12 June to 6 September 2023 or register as a participant from 15 August to 30 September 2023. The registration form will be available during this time.

Speakers are exempt from the conference fee.

The conference program will be posted prior to the opening of participant registration.

For more information visit http://www.stastna-hodina.cz/home/.

To launch the research program for the newly formed Dark Arts Research Group: Studies in Gothic, Horror and the Occult, 1750-Present in the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen, there will be a two-day hybrid conference between 22 November and 23 November 2023 titled: ‘Occultism and Popular Culture in Europe.’

The aim is to explore the many ways that horror, gothic and occult topics have been communicated, presented, and packaged for broad audiences from the late eighteenth century to today. We are especially interested in the ways different kinds of media technology, ranging from print and woodcut illustrations to photography and film have shaped conceptions of horror, gothic and the occult.

We are delighted to have two fantastic keynote speakers lined up for the event: Mathias Clasen, Aarhus University; and Richard Noakes, University of Exeter.

For more information please click here:

https://engerom.ku.dk/english/calendar/2023/occultism-and-popular-culture-in-europe/

CALL FOR PAPERS 

Devil 2024 Conference

15-18 May 2024

University of King’s College,

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Keynote Speakers

Francesca Stavrakopoulou  University of Exeter, UK

W. Scott Poole College of Charleston, US

 

Keynote Panel, “the Satanic Renaissance”

Joseph Laycock, Texas State University

Ross Blotcher, co-host of “Oh No, Ross and Carrie”

Julie Exline, Case Western University

Michelle Brock, Washington and Lee University

 The Devil 2024 explores the nature, significance, and operation of demonism and demonization across the western tradition. The conference will bring together scholars interested in the social and cultural construction of the devil and the impact of demonism across different chronological periods and from diverse methodological backgrounds. It aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue that addresses challenging questions about how notions of the demonic are shaped by cultural priorities and anxieties, by professional discerners and the media, and by discourses of fear and safety.

“The Devil 2024” will investigate why these images repeat through the ages and why they continue to have still have resonance in the modern world.

The Programme Committee welcomes proposals for 20-minute papers, for panels (generally consisting of three papers), and workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its manifestation in the western tradition.

Themes may include but are not limited to:

• Binaries and contrarieties
• Colonialism and demonism
• Constructions and reconstructions of the demonic
• Demonic and authority
• Demonisation and its application
• Demonism and the pursuit of knowledge
• Demon possession
• Demons and panics
• Demons and the environment
• Devil, exclusion and social cohesion
• Devil, perception and cognition
• Devil in the media and popular culture
• Diagnosing, engaging and challenging the demonic
• Gender, power and social order
• Inversions and subversions
• Representations of the devil

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted through our online submission portal at https://devil2024.co/ by 15 October 2023.

 

Halifax (pop. 500,000) is the largest city in Atlantic Canada and is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia. It is serviced by direct flights from Boston, New York, London, Montreal, and a number of other major North American and European cities. It has a range of services and attractions and has become a leading regional centre for dining and entertainment. The temperature in May generally ranges from 7C (44F) to 15C (59F).

 

Programme Committee: Michelle D. Brock (W&L Univ.), Peter Dendle (Penn State, Mont Alto), Sarah Hughes (Temple), Vera Kirk (Univ. of Malta), Kathryn Morris (Univ. of King’s College), Richard Raiswell (Univ. of Prince Edward Island), David R. Winter (Brandon Univ.).

For more information, please visit us at https://devil2024.co/ or contact us at devil2024conference@gmail.com

Richard Raiswell

Dept. of History,

Univ. of PEI

550 University Ave.,

Charlottetown, PEI

C1A 4P3

 

Fellow, Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies,

Victoria University in the Univ. of Toronto.

Dear ESSWE Members,

This is a friendly reminder that early bird registration for ESSWE9 at Malmö University closes at 23.59 CET on April 15th.

https://sv-se.eu.invajo.com/event/departmentofsociety,cultureandidentity/esswe9