ESSWE Agenda

A lecture by CHARLES WEBSTER (Emeritus Fellow, All Souls, Oxford) on 'Paracelsus: Chemistry and Revolution'

This year's conference's central theme is the therapeutic/psychological discourse within contemporary spiritualities, e.g., therapist-client relationship within the spiritual field, the psychologization of religion, mind-body-spirit connections. This theme does not in any way limit all other research topics, and the conference will be open to all research fields within the study of contemporary spiritualities.

Probablemente los dos aspectos del Mundo Antiguo que más interés suscitan son el mito y la magia. Aunque los estudiosos de ambos se plantean con frecuencia su definición y su justificación conceptual, su simple mención desencadena variadas connotaciones y abre ante nosotros un haz de fascinantes perspectivas. El objeto del presente Coloquio es estudiar las relaciones entre los relatos míticos y el mundo de la magia en Grecia y Roma, a partir de dos grandes secciones temáticas. 1. La magia en el mito; 2. El mito en la magia

The Second Annual Conference of INASWE, the Israeli Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, will take place at the University of Haifa on 22 March 2012. International Guest Speakers: Per Faxneld (Stockholm University) & Peter Forshaw (University of Amsterdam)

The National Heritage Museum announces a call for papers for its biannual symposium, “Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism,” to be held on Saturday, April 7, 2012, at the Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts.

The Tarot area of the PCA/ACA conference in Boston (11-14 April 2012) is open for submissions.

A symposium with three speakers from the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC), hosted by the National University of Ireland, Galway.

The fascinating recurrence of alchemical symbols in European, American, and Islamic thought, as well as specific non-rational methods employed by many scientists to promote rational discoveries from Ancient times through the Early Modern Period, will be the focus of this conference.

The Internationales Kolleg Morphomata of the Universität zu Köln will be hosting a symposium on 'The Materiality of Magic'.

The Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE) is seeking paper and panel proposals for its fourth International North American Conference on Esotericism to be held at the University of California, Davis.

We invite abstracts for this academic conference which will consider the questions which arise from the transmission of ideas in the theory and practice of astrology. Such transmission may be between cultures, or through time in the same culture. Issues may also be addressed of comparison between cultures.

International Conference in Alexandria, Egypt, July 12-24 2012 Conference: 6 days in Alexandria Tour (optional): 3-day cruise on the Nile & 3 days in Cairo Conference description: The purpose of the Conference will be to examine the source and foundations of the mystery and esoteric traditions; their expressions and nuances in the ancient and contemporary world along with the interface between ancient wisdom and modern scientific paradigms. As we will be returning to the cradle of so-called "Western Esotericism" for this event, the Conference will be focusing upon the Hermeticism of Alexandria, neo-Platonism, former ancient Mysteries, and the modern Theosophical Movement; in view of their phenomenology, social impact, and nuances in the shaping of cultural and spiritual aspects of the contemporary western world. Special emphasis will be given to the Theosophical Society; its foundational structures and orientation, successions, impact, and its role as an artery in the continuation of esoteric culture and Higher Age teachings within the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

The Harry Potter series has become a publishing phenomenon that has captured the imagination of children and adults all over the world. The stories created by J.K. Rowling have inspired extensive multidisciplinary academic discussion, ranging from cultural and literary analyses, sociological and philosophical interpretations, design practices, to recognised medical publications. Conferences have taken place that focused on the impact that the novels have had on the world and their educational contribution and edited collections have been produced centering on themes of philosophy, religion, sociology, and critical analysis, to name just a few. The characters' relationships, the political and social systems, and cultural commentaries woven into Rowling’s writing are just some examples of what makes the Harry Potter series an exciting framework for academic discourse in a number of areas. This two-day event will feature twenty 15-20 minute presentations on papers relating to popular culture and the Harry Potter series. We will encourage intensive and lively discussion and debate around the papers over the two days in this intimate setting. Wizards, muggles, established academics and postgraduate students are invited to submit papers. Post conference, full papers will be put together into a collection that will be available online.

In 2012, a year-long programme of events in Lancaster and the surrounding area will mark the 400th anniversary of the trial and execution of the first group of Lancashire Witches. A second trial occurred in 1634 and although pardoned, the accused were re-imprisoned in Lancaster Castle. The case of the Lancashire Witches and their supposed crimes interwove fact and fiction, local hostilities and more exotic ideas of witches' sabbats that were usually associated with continental witchcraft. They became a cause célèbre, like the witches of Trier and Fulda (Germany), Torsåker (Sweden) and Salem (North America). This interdisciplinary conference uses the Lancashire witches as a focal point to engage with wider questions about witchcraft: its definitions as maleficium (evil doing) or demonology in trials, the various traditions of witchcraft across centuries and continents, and the ways in which contemporary practice engages with these. Capturing Witches: Histories, Stories, Images will focus particular attention on how witchcraft is theorised and represented in and through history and across cultures. We particularly encourage considerations of literary, musical, artistic and filmic representations of witchcraft.

***Call for Papers*** International Conference: Contemporary Esotericism Department of History of Religions, Stockholm University, Sweden. August 27-29, 2012 Keynote speakers: - Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam) - Christopher Partridge (Religious Studies, Lancaster University) - Kocku von Stuckrad (Study of Religion, Groningen University)

The School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tampere is organizing an international conference on Freemasonry, Western Esotericism and the development of the Enlightenment ideas. The conference is organized in association with the Research Lodge Minerva No. 27 of The Grand Lodge of F. & A. M. of Finland. The themes focus on historical developments, although other aspects will also be presented.

In the autumn of 1912, the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung delivered a series of nine lectures at Fordham University. In his Fordham presentations, Jung outlined the difference in his perspective from the theories of Sigmund Freud. A revised edition of these lectures, first published in the inaugural Psychoanalytic Review, has just been released by Princeton University Press: Jung Contra Freud: The 1912 New York Lectures on the Theory of Psychoanalysis, with an introduction by Sonu Shamdasani. Fordham University, in collaboration with the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association of New York, will observe the centenary of these lectures with a conference that will locate Jung in the academy, and beyond, in the culture. It will explore Jung’s position in the years of the original lecture, in the present, and in the future.