The Occult Nineteenth Century

Contents
List of Contributors
Chapter 1: Introductory Remarks
	References
Part I: Mesmerism
	Chapter 2: Carl August von Eschenmayer and the Somnambulic Soul
		From Philosophical Idealism to Animal Magnetism
		Eschenmayer’s Psychology
		The World of Spirits
		Decline
		Eschenmayer’s Relevance
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 3: Priest-Doctors and Magnetisers: Mesmerism, Romantic Medicine, and Catholic Thought in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
		Introduction
		Windischmann’s “Christian Healing Art”
		Ringseis’ Medical System
		Conclusion
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 4: Animal Magnetism and Its Psychological Implications in Hungary
		Introduction
		The Onset of Animal Magnetism in Hungary
		Animal Magnetism in Hungary Within and Outwith Medicine
		The “Magnetising Count”: Ferenc Szapáry and his Followers
		The Legacy of Gárdos
		Spiritualistic Magnetisers
		Popular Magnetisers: The Example of Mrs. Wunderlich
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 5: From Fluidum to Prāṇa: Reading Mesmerism Through Orientalist Lenses
		Introduction: The “Pranic” Branch in the Reception History of Mesmerism
		Anquetil-Duperron’s Mesmeric View of Prāṇa and Its Ensuing Reception Among German Mesmerists
		Blavatsky’s Orientalism and “The Power to Heal”
		Reuß’s First Announcement of Pranatherapie
		Vivekananda’s Prāṇa-Based Model of Alternative Healing Methods
		Reuß Continued: From Pranatherapie to Prana Healing
		Conclusion
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
Part II: Occultism in America and Europe
	Chapter 6: Total Recall: The “Panoramic Life Review” Near Death as Proof of the Soul’s Timeless Self-Presence in Western Esotericism of the Nineteenth Century
		Introduction
		Platonic Prelude: Anamnesis as a Recall of the Soul’s Former Thoughts and Perceptions
		Swedenborg on the Memories of the Dying Soul
		Jan Baptist van Helmont on Drug-Induced Mental Lucidity (1648)
		Total Recall and the Life Review Near Death: A Discursive Formation of the Nineteenth Century
		Conclusion
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 7: Stages in the Development of an Occult Linguistics
		An Emerging Science of Language
		Rejecting the Mainstream
			Early Occultist Theories
		Helena Blavatsky on Language
		Ariosophy and the Ario-Germanic Ursprache
		Rudolf Steiner’s Theory of Language Origins
		Speech Eurythmy
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 8: The Art of Esoteric Posthumousness
		Esoteric Posthumousness
		The Cultural and Political Value of Posthumousness
			Esoteric Posthumousness: Types and Motivations
			A Comparative Analysis of Posthumous Esoteric Artists
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 9: Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and Sexual Regeneration
		The Techniques
		Levels of the Practice
		Later Years and Influence
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 10: The Theosophical Maitreya: On Benjamin Creme’s Millenarianism
		Introduction
		Benjamin Creme and Share International
			The Painter
			Maitreya’s Voice
		Maitreya
			Buddhist Origins
			The Theosophical Appropriation
		Creme’s Maitreya and the Millennium
			Maitreya
			The Age of the Group
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 11: Martial Arts Spirituality in Sweden: The Occult Connection
		Introduction
		Situating Martial Arts Spirituality in Swedish Secularity
		The MAM, Glocalisation and Intercultural Mimesis
		Martial Modernity and the Mystic East
		Bushidō as Occult Self-Help
		Moving Meditation, Self-Control, and Other Secrets
		Contemporary Intersections Between the Occult Milieu and the MAM
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
Part III: Occultism in Global Perspective
	Chapter 12: A Study into a Transreligious Quest for the Ultimate Truth: Indian, Muslim, and European Interpretations of the Upanishads
		Introduction
		India
		Mughal India
		France
		Concluding Remarks: A Transreligious Quest for the Truth
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 13: Occult’s First Foot Soldier in Bengal: Peary Chand Mittra and the Early Theosophical Movement
		Early Life
		Mittra’s Spiritualist Turn
		The Esoteric Subculture
		Transnational Spiritualist Network
		Correspondences with the Founders of the Theosophical Society
		Mittra’s Contribution to Spiritualist and Occult Literature
		Conclusion
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 14: Re-Imagining an Ancient Greek Philosopher: The Pythagorean Musings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)
		Introduction
		“Pythagoras represents the eternal pilgrim for the philosophia perennis”: On the Reception History of Pythagoras
		“Pythagoras had to pass through this training.” First Example: The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra (1972/73)
		“This is all that is left of that great man’s effort.” Second Example: The Golden Verses of Pythagoras (1978/79)
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 15: African and Amerindian Spirits: A Note on the Influence of Nineteenth-Century Spiritism and Spiritualism on Afro- and African-American Religions
		Allen Kardec
		Kardecism in Brazil
		Kardecism in the Caribbean
		Spiritual Churches in New Orleans and the Legacy of Spiritualism
		Conclusion
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
Part IV: Occultism and Modern Yoga
	Chapter 16: Sri Sabhapati Swami: The Forgotten Yogi of Western Esotericism
		Who Was Sri Sabhapati Swami?
		Camp Theosophy
		Camp Thelema
		Concluding Thoughts
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
	Chapter 17: Tracing Vivekananda’s Prāṇa and Ākās´a: The Yogavāsiṣṭha and Rama Prasad’s Occult Science of Breath
		Prāṇa and Ākāśa in Premodern Indian Thought
		Vivekananda’s Cosmology in Relation to Sāṃkhyan Cosmology
		Prāṇa and Ākāśa in the Yogavāsiṣṭha
		Rama Prasad’s Occult Science of Breath
		The Occult Science of Breath within German Occultism and Theosophy
		Additional Arguments for Ākāśa
		Concluding Remarks
		References
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
			Abbreviations
	Chapter 18: Guru and Messiah: On the First Yoga Handbook in Polish Language: Wincenty Lutosławski’s The Development of the Power of Will by Means of Psychophysical Exercises (1909)
		Introduction
		Biographical Context
		The Genesis of the Work
		The Context of Modern Yoga
		Rājayoga and Messianism
		Summary
		Annex
			Table of Contents (Lutosławski 1910b)
		References
			Unpublished Manuscript
			Primary Sources
			Secondary Sources
Index