ESSWE News

Articles sought for special issue of Nova Religio on the paranormal, edited by Dr Joseph Laycock.

The Institut Métapsychique International is organizing a seminar by Bertrand Méheust (philosopher and historian of parapsychology) on "Introduction to the history of modern and contemporary esoterism". The seminar will be in French, at IMI (Paris), the 3/4 March and 7/8 April 2012.

Ph.D. candidate positions (fully funded for four years) at the University of Gothenburg. Deadline for submitting the application, January 20, 2012.

Ausschreibung von einer Doktorandenstelle an der Universität Fribourg / Schweiz, am Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Religionsgeschichte und Interreligiösen Dialog

Im Rahmen eines DFG-Forschungsverbundes ist eine Promotionsstelle zum Thema „Der Spiritismus und die modernen Medien (1770-1850)“ zu besetzen. Inhalt: Die Geschichte der (technischen) Medien des 20. Jahrhunderts ist ohne den Spiritismus nicht zu verstehen, weil dessen ‚Geisterkommunikation‘ Strukturmerkmale besaß, die auch die technischen Medien denkmöglich machten (etwa: Fernwirkungen, Entmaterialisierung der Kommunikation). Im Hintergrund dieser Entwicklungen stehen anthropologische Debatten, in denen psychische Wirkungen nicht mehr externen Faktoren („Geistern“), sondern internen Faktoren („Unterbewußtsein“, „übersinnliche Erkenntnis“) zugeschrieben wurden. Die Ursprünge dieser Transformation in den Jahrzehnten um 1800 sollen in der Dissertation untersucht werden.

2 Ph.D. candidates (m/f)
in the field of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents:
1) from the Renaissance to the 18th century,
2) from the 18th century to the present.

The Groningen Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies will launch a new Master program "Concealed Knowledge: Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism" (60 ECTS, entirely taught in the English language) as of the academic year 2012-13.

We welcome contributions to a collection of essays tentatively entitled “Intuiting the Past: New Age and Neopagan Medievalisms.” Scholars of Religious Studies, Gender Studies, Art History, Music History, and Cultural Studies, as well as historians and literary critics, are particularly encouraged to contribute.

The opera Dr Dee: An English Opera, written by Damon Albarn, explores Dee's life and work. It was premiered at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on 1st July 2011 and will open at the London Coliseum as part of the London 2012 Festival for the Cultural Olympiad in June 2012.

Transmutatio: la via ermetica alla felicità/the hermetic way to happiness

The Board of Editors of the interdisciplinary journal Quaderni di Studi Indo-Mediterranei is soliciting contributions to its fifth thematic volume, scheduled to appear in 2012. This issue will contain twelve to fifteen essays addressing the theme of transmutation in the Indo-Mediterranean world.

It is with great pleasure that we announce that the winner of the 2011 ESSWE PhD Thesis Prize is Dr Daniel Jütte (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg).

Applications are invited from candidates with demonstrable experience in the compilation and analysis of historical evidence, and its utilisation in research projects, at a seniority level comparable to that of professor. The Director of Research will be based at Freemasons' Hall, but will be expected to engage actively with the external world to develop a broad range of contacts in support of the work.

ESSWE announces three travel bursaries of €300 each to assist students and/or members from economically disadvantaged countries to participate in the forthcoming ESSWE conference in Szeged. One further bursary of €100 is available for other purposes. Read the guidelines, and download the application form. The 2011 deadline for Szeged applications is April 4.

Please read the Long description below for the Guidelines

Creation of INASWE: Israeli Net-Work for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism

To join the list serve, visit this link: http://groups.google.com/group/esswe-israel

Boaz Huss, Yuval Harari, and Chaim [Harvey] Hames are organizing, with the collaboration of colleagues from other Israeli Universities, a one day conference of the INASWE that will hopefully be held in May 2011, at Ben Gurion University.

For more information, you can contact Boaz by email: bhuss@bgu.ac.il

Annual essay prize for an unpublished article by a recent PhD, in any area of the scholarly study of magic witchcraft, or related fields.

Cash prize of $500 and publication in the Societas Magica journal, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft.

Deadline: 15 January 2011

Nominations are invited for the second biennial ESSWE PhD Thesis prize, awarded by the board of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. The prize will be given for an outstanding European PhD thesis completed between 1 January 2009 and 1 March 2011 on any aspect of Western Esotericism (broadly conceived).

Cash prize of €500 and possible publication of the thesis in the Aries Book Series.

Deadline: 1 March 2011.

Call for Articles: Ésotérisme et Initiation, volume 2

Le volume 2 d'« Ésotérisme et Initiation » suivra la ligne directrice qui a fait le succès du premier volume (GRANJON, DECHARNEUX, BALZANO, NOBILIO (éds.), Ésotérisme et Initiation. Études d'épistémologie et d'histoire des religions, Fernelmont (Belgique), E.M.E., coll. « Divin & Sacré », 2010), à savoir l’interdisciplinarité et la variété des réflexions sur la notion d'ésotérisme. Les éditeurs souhaitent pour ce second volume donner un fil conducteur suggéré par la notion de « secret ».

Partington Prize 2011
SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry has established the Partington Prize in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society’s first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize consists of five hundred pounds (£500).

Deadline: 31 December 2010.

The Board of the ESSWE invites proposals for hosting the Fourth Biennial Conference of the ESSWE, in 2013. For details, click link below.

Ortodossie ed Eterodossie in Eta Moderna
Seminario di Studi
Universita di Cagliari 11-12 March 2010

TRADIZIONI FILOSOFICHE E TRADIZIONI MISTICHE, MAGICHE ED ESOTERICHE: MODELLI DI RAZIONALITÀ A CONFRONTO

Seminario di Studi
Universita di Cagliari 17-18 March 2010

A key text for Jews and Christians is Genesis 1-3, which recounts the story of the creation and of the Garden of Eden. These two episodes have had an enormous effect on subsequent Western thought in terms of the emergence (as well as the rejection) of science, attitudes towards human nature, and the construction of social and cultural norms. For this volume we are interested in papers ...

Gnosticism, Esotericism and Mysticism (GEM) for PhD students at Rice University

Call for Articles for the third volume in the Studies in Esotericism series - a focus on political implications of esoteric religious groups, figures, or movements.

Proposals to be sent to ASEOffice@gmail.com by February 15, 2010

Robert Collis receives the ESSWE Thesis Prize for 2007-09 for an outstanding European Ph.D. thesis on Western Esotericism, “The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725”.

Dr. Peter Forshaw has been elected as Assistant Professor for the History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern period. He will succeed Dr. Kocku von Stuckrad who moves to the University of Groningen as Professor of Religious Studies. Dr. Forshaw's appointment at GHF will begin on september 1, 2009.

The Center for "History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents" (GHF) at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities is looking for An Assistant Professor (m/f) History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern Period.

Call for Papers for a panel, to be held at the EASR conference
“Religion in the History of European Culture”
Messina, 14-17 September 2009

Panel: ‘The presence of esoteric currents and ideas in Italy from the 18th century to our days’

Convenor: Marco Pasi (University of Amsterdam)

"The Threat and Allure of the Magical in Literature, Language, Philosophy, History and the Arts"

17th Annual Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference at the University of California, Berkeley March 13-15, 2009

Dating back to the 9th Century Old High German Merseburg Incantations (die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) and their influence on the fairy-tale world of the Brothers Grimm, references to the magical boil forth from a wide range of cultural forms, from Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) in music to Werner Herzog’s Invincible in film. In silent film, modern literature and the arts, magic both heralded and haunted an artistic revolution in which the avant-garde and the occult recurrently intersected. In critical theory, ideology is often described in terms of a spell. Accordingly, this conference presents an opportunity to explore these cultural encounters with the magical and further inquire why this space of radical alterity carries such an allure and/or threat.

The 2nd International Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism will be devoted to the theme "Capitals of European esotericism and transcultural dialogue."

The conference will be organized by the University of Strasbourg (Equipe d’accueil d’Etudes germaniques, EA 1341/UDS) and the Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace (MISHA) in partnership with the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).

It will be hold between 2 and 4 July 2009 in Strasbourg, France, Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace.

The deadline for submitting proposals has been extended to 30 November 2008.

For the Call for Papers, click "Read more".

The DFG Research Group "The Enlightenment in the Referential Context of Modern Esotericism" (Die Aufklärung im Bezugsfeld neuzeitlicher Esoterik) hosts an International Conference devoted to the topic "Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity"

The conference, organized by the Interdisciplinary Center for European Enlightenment Studies (Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für die Erforschung der Europäischen Aufklärung (IZEA)), will take place in Halle, Germany, March 9-12, 2010.

For a detailed description and the CALL FOR PAPERS, see "read more."

The Department of Religious Studies at Rice University invites applications and nominations for an assistant professor in "religious thought"; one of the possible areas of expertise is Western esotericism.

The Board of ESSWE has decided to introduce a PhD Thesis Prize.

The Frankfurter Kunstverein, a major national and international institution for contemporary art in Germany, presents an exhibion on "The Great Transformation - Art and Tactical Magic," from 7 June to 7 September 2008.

The Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (KWI), in collaboration with the Arbeitskreis Geschichte + Theorie is organizing a conference on miracles in the twentieth century. The Titel is "Unbegreifliche Zeiten: Wunder im 20. Jahrhundert."

The conference, organized by Alexander C.T. Geppert and Till Kössler, will be hold in Essen (Germany), from 19-21 March 2009.

The GErman Call for Papers is out now, see "Read more". The deadline for submitting proposals is 30 May 2008.

ESSWE has no conference in 2008. Instead, ESSWE is organizing two panels for the 2008 conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions EASR, which will be held in Brno, Czech Republic from 7 to 11 September 2008.

Two calls for papers have been prepared for two panels:

‘Ex Oriente Lux: The Presence of Western Esotericism in Eastern Europe’

‘The Political Temptations of Western Esotericism’

Click on "read more" for the Call for the two panels.

Proposals for papers should be emailed to Osvald Vasicek, University of Amsterdam, accompanied by a short personal description of the author with academic affiliation etc. Deadline for proposal submission is 24 April 2008.

The 2nd International Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism will be devoted to the theme "Capitals of European esotericism and transcultural dialogue."

The conference will be organized by the University of Strasbourg (Equipe d’accueil d’Etudes germaniques, EA 1341/UDS) and the Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace (MISHA) in partnership with the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).

It will be held between 2 and 4 July 2009 in Strasbourg, France, Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace.

The CALL FOR PAPERS and a detailed description is available now. Please click "Read more." The deadline for submission is 15 June 2008.

The Esoteric Studies Research and Teaching Group, in conjunction with the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland presents the

3rd Annual Alternative Expressions of the Numinous Conference

Date: Friday 15 – Sunday 17 August 2008
Venue: School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, Australia

Conference Chairs: Dr Helen Farley, Julie Washington, and Håkan Sandgren

For the Call for Papers, click "Read more"

The Research Center "The Enlightenment in the Referential Context of Modern Esotericism" of the German Research Foundation DFG is carrying out interdisciplinary research into the dynamics of esotericism and Enlightenment, particularly in the 18th century. The research center, located at the University of Halle (Germany), combines individual projects with conferences, workshops, and lectures. For its latest Newsletter (in German), see "Read More"

In addition to the News button on the ESSWE site, we have now opened an ESSWE blog. If you want to participate, please click the link!

The topic of the 2008 CESNUR conference is "Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and 'the New Spirituality.'"

This international conference is organized by INFORM and CESNUR in association with ISORECEA at the London School of Economics, 16-19th April 2008.

The Call for Papers is available online (see link).

The Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, department of Religious Studies, University of Amsterdam, has a vacancy for a PhD position in the field of western esotericism, preferably focusing on modern esotericism (18th-21st centuries).

The CAMBRIDGE CENTRE for the study of WESTERN ESOTERICISM is independent of any academic or esoteric communities. The co-ordinators share an interest in the need for a wider dialogue between scholars and practitioners in the field of western esotericism and in the establishment of a secular space in which an interdisciplinary network can thrive.

The draft program of the inaugural conference of ESSWE, hold at Tübingen University, Germany, 20-22 July 2007, is now available on http://www.lehrstuhl-kilcher.uni-tuebingen.de/protag.php?typ=1&id=7

The Center for “History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents” (GHF) at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities is looking for
An Assistant Professor (m/f) History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern Period

The response to the Call for Papers for the inaugural conference of the ESSWE in Tübingen (Germany), 20-22 July 2007, has been enormous. The program committee and a selection committee have already begun to evaluate the more than 70 proposals and to work on a tentative program. The official deadline for submitting proposals is 31 December 2006. (See the Call for Papers under "Agenda".)

The Call for Paper for an international conference on "Western Esotericism" (15-17 August 2007), organized by the Donner Institute, Åbo (Turku), Finland, is out now. Although the Call for Papers is in Swedish, the conference language will be English.
For more information, see "Agenda" or the conference website.

As of September 25, 2006, the ESSWE has 110 members. This is a great success indeed, and what is more, our members come from many different countries and represent both established scholars and students.

In reference to the recent announcement of the creation of a chair for the study of esotericism in a Vatican university, a rectification seems to be necessary (prompted by one of our members, PierLuigi Zoccatelli). The official title of the chair is "Religions and unconventional spiritualities" ("Religioni e Spiritualità Non Convenzionali").

The first ESSWE Newsletter is out now and can be accessed via this website (see "Agenda & News"). 18 pages full of news, views, and information.

The first volume of the Aries Book Series has been published:
Urszula Szulakowska, The Sacrificial Body and the Day of Doom: Alchemy and Apocalyptic Discourse in the Protestant Reformation.

Members of ESSWE receive a discount on this publication.

The New York Open Center and Lapis Magazine Online host a conference titled: "An Esoteric Quest in Central Europe" from August 31 until September 8. The conference will be held at three differenct places in Central Europe, starting in the Czech Republic and moving to Weimar in Germany.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural conference of the ESSWE that will be held at the University of Tübingen (Germany), on 20-22 July 2007. The conference's overall topic is "Constructing Tradition: Means and Myths of Transmission in Western Esotericism". The deadline for submitting proposals is 31 December 2006.
For a detailed description and the Call for Papers see the announcement under "Agenda".

Good news for long-distance users of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (Ritman Library) Amsterdam: from today the catalogue of modern and pre-1800 printed books is online. The catalogue can be accessed via the ‘SEARCH CATALOGUE’ button on the library's website. The catalogue has a number of search options, including author, title, year, printers, but also names of former owners.

Two weeks after the ESSWE website went online, we welcome the 50th member!

In March 2006, the dynamic website of ESSWE went online. Now it is possible to apply for membership online, and members can take full advantage of the many interesting features this site provides.

The Center for “History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents” (GHF) at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities is looking for An Assistant Professor (m/f) History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern Period.