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The matriarch of Theosophy, Helena P. Blavatsky (1831--1891), wrote a short devotional text called The Voice of the Silence (1889) towards the end of her life that she intended as scripture and which has been endorsed with enthusiasm by individuals both within and outside the parent Theosophical Society. This article approaches the production of The Voice of the Silence as a case study in the construction of scripture, outlining the work's doctrines (particularly regarding kundalini and the higher idhhis), describing the controversies that impelled Blavatsky to publish it, and exploring some of her key literary sources. It reveals that Blavatsky strategically rewrote an earlier publication, Light on the Path (1885), by the English Theosophist Mabel Collins (1851-- 1927). Blavatsky enriched her writing of The Voice of the Silence with material taken from a handful of articles on Hindu thought, including Yoga, written by Indian Theosophists and others. She responded to challenges to her authority by producing a new Theosophical scripture that addressed issues of spiritual and temporal power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores Nahmanides' teachings concerning the holy spirit. It demonstrates that he elevated the holy spirit to the highest possible gradation in the godhead—conceived as the divine essence that flows through the various gradations of the godhead and into the perfected individual, inducing a variety of revelations: subprophetic, prophetic, and eschatological. The holy spirit in Nahmanides' thought is the driving force behind his conceptualization of the godhead, the community of Israel and its leadership, and the individual Jew—throughout their various phases of self-actualization, that is, becoming spirit. He placed the holy spirit along a spectrum of spirituality—the least spiritual stage is that of people who glimpse the future and those men of the holy spirit, while the most spiritual stage is that of the eschatological state of being, in which the spiritual faculties permanently overtake the corporeal faculties. Furthermore, Nahmanides crafted spaces structured by the spirit in the forms of the Jerusalem temple and contemporary rabbinic courts. This essay concludes by drawing attention to the similarities between Nahmanides' conception of the holy spirit and the common conception of the holy spirit in medieval Christianity, thereby analyzing Nahmanides' conception of the holy spirit in its historical and religious context: situated between mystical, philosophical, and polemical tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New religious movements in modern western culture often emphasize experience at the expense of reason; for that reason, some scholars have described their teachings as "flights from reason." This description has been rightly criticized. Nevertheless, it is not entirely wrong. Many founders of new religious movements do claim immediate insight into a (divine) reality that transcends the intellect. And yet, they and their followers often spendmuch of their lives building an intellectual frame around this anti-intellectual claim. Why did such paradoxical "reasoned flights beyond reason" emerge? Based on the life and teachings of Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985) and his Assembly of Man, the intellectualization of anti-intellectual claims by founders and followers of new religious movements in twentieth-century North America can be partly explained by three sociohistorical developments: (1) increasing access to an academic education, (2) increasing demand for a reflexive spirituality, and (3) increasing competition between eastern and western esoteric movements that answered this call for a reflexive spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian religion known as the Valley of the Dawn is an international new religious movement known for its eclectic cosmology and collective rituals performed by adepts dressed in ornate garments. Headquartered outside of Brasília, the Valley of the Dawn was founded in the 1960s by Neiva Chaves Zelaya (1925-85) a clairvoyant medium affectionately referred to as Aunt Neiva. This article highlights the work of Mário Sassi (1921-94) and the significance of esoteric thought in the development of the movement's Doctrine. An early convert who became Aunt Neiva's life partner, Sassi was an intellectual seeker who drew selectively on esoteric ideas popularized through theosophical and spiritist texts to interpret and systematize Aunt Neiva's visions. Together Aunt Neiva and Mário Sassi created a Brazilian form of Western esotericism that today includes over 600 affiliated temples across Brazil and worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esoteric spiritual groups such as the Theosophical Society have had a profound effect on the general public's understanding of the ancient world and archaeology. This article describes the author's visit as an outside observer to a conference held by the Theosophical Society in America to examine the ways in which the ancient world was represented. While the beliefs of the Theosophical Society and related groups are not always well known to the general public, it is argued that their beliefs have nevertheless had a broad impact on public audiences through adoption in popular culture and films. This article will examine the appearance of esoteric claims about the ancient world in popular fiction, including the writings of H. P. Lovecraft and the Indiana Jones film franchise. If archaeologists are going to engage with public audiences, they need to understand what the public actually thinks of their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of archaeology--the study of material evidence of past human activities--is not in alignment with the human drive to understand relics of the material past as touchstones of mythic origins and evidence of the sacred. New and alternative religious movements, political movements, and popular culture use archaeological artifacts and monuments as slates on which to inscribe stories of supernatural ancestors, advanced civilizations and races, and lost ancient wisdom that justify critiquing or displacing existing religious and cultural structures and knowledge. The rhetorical power of these metaphorical (and sometimes literal) texts derives from the symbolic capital of the practice and profession of archaeology even as the content and form of these texts is in conflict with archaeology. The articles in this special issue of Nova Religio examine how archaeology is used to create new sacred meanings and narratives, and how archaeologists need to engage with persons attributing these alternative meanings to archaeological artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting with the 2013 conference Enchanted Modernities in Amsterdam, a number of academic events, exhibitions, and publications (including a 2016 special issue of Nova Religio) documented the growing interest of both art historians and scholars of new religious movements in the influence of the Theosophical Society and other esoteric groups on the birth and development of modern art. At the center of this renewed interest is the controversial work of Finnish art historian Sixten Ringbom (1935-1992), who in the late 1960s "discovered" the Theosophical connections of Russian pioneer of abstract art Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), discussed in his book The Sounding Cosmos. In this paper, I discuss Ringbom's background, his almost coincidental discovery of Theosophy, the ostracism his work received from those who did not want modern art to be associated with irrationalist and disreputable "cults," and his posthumous influence on the birth of a new subfield within the study of new religious movements, devoted to their relationships with the visual arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to present the character and art of Janina Kraupe, a renowned Polish painter influenced by esoteric thought. While Theosophical concepts constitute one of the most important inspirations in her life, she borrows the concept of universal evolution from Anthroposophy, and her artistic experiments with geometric forms and the symbolism of color are influenced by astrology, Kabbalah, and Christian mysticism. Kraupe searches for a common ground in all these traditions, and her art is a synthesis of religious themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin American scholars have discussed interbellum "Theosophical networks" interested in new forms of spirituality as alternatives to Catholicism, positivism and Marxism. In this article I argue that these networks included not only progressive intellectuals and political activists but also artists in Latin America, the United States and Canada, and that their interests in alternative spirituality contributed significantly to certain artistic currents. I discuss three central locations for these networks, in part involving the same artists: revolutionary Mexico in the 1920s; New York in the late 1920s and 1930s; and New Mexico in the late 1930s and 1940s. The Theosophical Society, the Delphic Society, Agni Yoga and various Rosicrucian organizations attracted several leading American artists involved in the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, lulpas have been a feature of Western paranormal lore. In contemporary paranormal discourse, a tulpa is a being that begins in the imagination but acquires a tangible reality and sentience. Tulpas are created either through a deliberate act of individual will or unintentionally from the thoughts of numerous people. The tulpa was first described by Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969) in Magic and Mystery in Tibet (1929) and is still regarded as a Tibetan concept. However, the idea of the tulpa is more indebted to Theosophy than to Tibetan Buddhism. This article explores the murky origins of the tulpa to show how the concept emerged from a dialogue between East and West in which Theosophical metaphysics were combined with terms adapted from Tibetan Buddhism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the magnum opus "Sefer ha-yihud," by Rabbeinu Asher ben David, grandson of the Rabad of Posquières and nephew of Rabbeinu Isaac the Blind. According to the author, the book reveals the secret theosophy of Asher's predecessors. It was also considered as a virtual primer of sefirotic symbolism with modes of ethical teaching and discourse. Moreover, it discusses an early kabbalistic conception of divine reality, the structures and dynamics of Being and the perceptions of prophetic experience based on ontology.

Discussions of race in the Theosophy of Helena P. Blavatsky and her followers sometimes evinces suggestions of racism. Any consideration of the topic, however, must be prefaced by defining whose Theosophy is being examined. Theosophy, as it is generally discussed by Theosophists, actually was introduced to the public by A. P. Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism (1883), which in turn was based upon the letters of the Mahatmas or Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya to Sinnett. The doctrine of the root races and their various subdivisions is part of Theosophical teachings, but the primary source is Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888). This article argues that race in Theosophy is understood as not being limited to physical characteristics; rather, the Theosophical discussion of race encompasses both physical and spiritual evolution. Race as interpreted in The Secret Doctrine is not racist in intent, and the races are seen as having one thing in common, the divine spark that ultimately makes all races the same in essence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its origins in modern Theosophy, Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy is built around a racial view of human nature arranged in a hierarchical framework. This article examines the details of the Anthroposophical theory of cosmic and individual redemption and draws out the characteristic assumptions about racial and ethnic difference that underlie it. Particular attention is given to textual sources unavailable in English, which reveal the specific features of Steiner's account of "race evolution" and "soul evolution." Placing Steiner's woridview in its historical and ideological context, the article highlights the contours of racial thinking within a prominent alternative spiritual movement and delineates the central role of a racially configured conception of evolution within Anthroposophy past and present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the relationship between John Locke's theology and political philosophy through a rereading of `Essay Concerning Human Understanding' and `Two Treatises of Government.' Figurative expressions by means of which God is represented in his works; Different approach to reading the intricate relationship between God and mankind; Different formulations of the figure of God.