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This volume offers new approaches to some of the biggest persistent challenges in the study of esotericism and beyond. Commonly understood as a particularly "Western" undertaking consisting of religious, philosophical, and ritual traditions that go back to Mediterranean antiquity, this book argues for a global approach that significantly expands the scope of esotericism and highlights its relevance for broader theoretical and methodological debates in the humanities and social sciences. The contributors offer critical interventions on aspects related to colonialism, race, gender and sexuality, economy, and marginality. Equipped with a substantial introduction and conclusion, the book offers textbook-style discussions of the state of research and makes concrete proposals for how esotericism can be rethought through broader engagement with neighboring fields.

Religion. --- Religion, Primitive --- Atheism --- Irreligion --- Religions --- Theology --- Eclectic & esoteric religions & belief systems --- Occultism.

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In the rational modern world, belief in the supernatural seemingly has been consigned to the worlds of entertainment and fantasy. Yet belief in other worldly phenomena, from poltergeists to telepathy, remains strong, as Gillian Bennett's research shows. Especially common is belief in continuing contact with, or the continuing presence of, dead family members. Bennett interviewed women in Manchester, England, asking them questions about ghosts and other aspects of the supernatural. (Her discussion of how her research methods and interview techniques evolved is in itself valuable.) She first published the results of the study in the well-received Traditions of Belief: Women and the Supernatural, which has been widely used in folklore and women's studies courses. "e;Alas, Poor Ghost!"e; extensively revises and expands that work. In addition to a fuller presentation and analysis of the original field research and other added material, the author, assisted by Kate Bennett, a gerontological psychologist, presents and discusses new research with a group of women in Leicester, England. Bennett is interested in more than measuring the extent of belief in other worldly manifestations. Her work explores the relationship between narrative and belief. She anticipated that her questions would elicit from her interviewees not just yes or no replies but stories about their experiences that confirmed or denied notions of the supernatural. The more controversial the subject matter, the more likely individuals were to tell stories, especially if their answers to questions of belief were positive. These were most commonly individualized narratives of personal experience, but they contained many of the traditional motifs and other content, including belief in the supernatural, of legends. Bennett calls them memorates and discusses the cultural processes, including ideas of what is a "e;proper"e; experience of the supernatural and a "e;proper"e; telling of the story, that make them communal as well as individual. These memorates provide direct and vivid examples of what the storytellers actually believe and disbelieve. In a final section, Bennett places her work in historical context through a discussion of case studies in the history of supernatural belief.

Folklore --- Great Britain --- Folklore -- Great Britain. --- Folklore - Great Britain. --- Ghosts -- Great Britain. --- Ghosts - Great Britain. --- Occultism -- Great Britain. --- Occultism - Great Britain. --- Women -- Great Britain -- Folklore. --- Occultism --- Ghosts --- Women --- Anthropology --- Social Sciences --- Human females --- Wimmin --- Woman --- Womon --- Womyn --- Art, Black (Magic) --- Arts, Black (Magic) --- Black art (Magic) --- Black arts (Magic) --- Occult, The --- Occult sciences --- Folk-lore, English --- Folklore. --- Females --- Human beings --- Femininity --- Religions --- Supernatural --- New Age movement --- Parapsychology

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August Strindberg (1849–1912) kept a diary from February 1896 in Paris until the summer of 1908 in Stockholm. He referred to his diary from this period as his Occult Diary and used it to help him decipher the world as he experienced it. He read and reread his own notations, adding new interpretations, and deleting others. He also drew on the diary as material for creative expression, transforming isolated events and observations into groundbreaking works of literature.The Occult Diary is published here in its entirety in English translation for the first time, in a final revision by Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and with an introduction by Per Stam. The Occult Diary is a key resource for international Strindberg scholars and theater professionals and more broadly for scholars focusing on drama, theater history, stage performance, and literary currents at the turn of the previous century. The diary initiates the reader into the writer’s inner world during a crucial transitional period in his personal and literary life. It documents his readings and observations and gives important clues and information about an ongoing process of artistic reorientation. Strindberg was exploring new ways of looking at, interpreting, and writing about nature, science, art, the occult, and his fellow human beings.

Biography & True Stories --- Eclectic & esoteric religions & belief systems --- Literary studies: general --- Philosophy --- Religion: general --- Theatre studies --- Theatre History; Alchemy; Occultism; Letters; Diaries; Biography; August Strindberg

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Strange Science: Investigating the Limits of Knowledge in the Victorian Age is an unprecedented collection that examines marginal, fringe, and unconventional forms of scientific inquiry, as well as their cultural representations in the Victorian period. Although now relegated to the category of the pseudoscientific, fields like mesmerism and psychical research captured the imagination of the Victorian public. Conversely, many branches of science that we now view as uncontroversial, such as physics and botany, were often associated with unorthodox methods of inquiry. Whether incorporated into mainstream scientific thought, or relegated by 21st century historians to the category of the pseudo- or even anti-scientific, these sciences generated conversation, enthusiasm, and controversy within Victorian society.

Science --- Parapsychology --- Metaphysics (Parapsychology) --- Paranormal phenomena --- Psi (Parapsychology) --- Psychic phenomena --- Psychical research --- Psychology --- Occultism --- Natural science --- Science of science --- Sciences --- Social aspects --- History --- Great Britain --- Natural sciences --- Science and state

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Verse and Transmutation: A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry identifies and investigates a corpus of twenty-one anonymous recipes for the philosophers’ stone dating from the fifteenth century. These were circulated and received in association with each other until the mid-seventeenth century, when a number of them appeared in Elias Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum . These editions are the first to make this previously unidentified corpus available to researchers. The accompanying studies discover the complex histories of these alchemica , in plain and illuminated manuscripts, as anonyma and in attribution to famous authors, and in private and institutional, medical and academic book collections. Together, they offer novel insights into the role of alchemy and poetry in late medieval and early modern England.

Alchemy -- Sources. --- English manuscripts (Middle) --- Manuscripts, Middle English --- Middle English manuscripts --- Metals, Transmutation of --- Alchemy --- Manuscripts, English (Middle) --- Philosophers' egg --- Philosophers' stone --- Stone, Philosophers' --- Transmutation of metals --- Chemistry --- Occultism --- Sources. --- History --- Early modern period --- Manuscript --- Middle English --- Poetry --- Richard Carpenter (musician) --- Spain