The Occult Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation of alternative religious currents and practices, appropriating earlier traditions, entangling geographically distinct spiritual discourses, and crafting a repository of mindscapes eminently suitable to be accommodated by later generations of thinkers and practitioners. Penned by specialists in the field, this volume examines important themes and figures pertaining to this occult amalgam and its resonance into the twentieth century and beyond. Global guises of the occult, ranging from the Americas and Europe to India, are variously addressed, with special attention to the crucial role of mesmerism and the origins of modern yoga.

Lukas Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.

Franz Winter is Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria.

1. Introductory Remarks.- 2. Carl August von Eschenmayer and the Somnambulic Soul.- 3. Priest-doctors and Magnetisers: Mesmerism, Romantic Medicine, and Catholic Thought in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century.- 4. Animal Magnetism and Its Psychological Implications in Hungary.- 5. FromFluidum toPra: Reading Mesmerism through Orientalist Lenses.- 6. Total Recall: The Panoramic Life Review near Death as Proof of the Souls Timeless Self-Presence in Western Esotericism of the Nineteenth Century.- 7. Stages in the Development of an Occult Linguistics.- 8. The Art of Esoteric Posthumousness.- 9. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and Sexual Regeneration.- 10. The Theosophical Maitreya: On Benjamin Cremes Millenarianism.- 11. Martial Arts Spirituality in Sweden: The Occult Connection.- 12. A Study into a Transreligious Quest for the Ultimate Truth: Indian, Muslim, and European Interpretations of the Upanishads.- 13. Occults First Foot Soldier in Bengal: Peary Chand Mittra and the Early Theosophical Movement.- 14. Re-Imagining an Ancient Greek Philosopher: The Pythagorean Musings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho).- 15. African and Amerindian Spirits: A Note on the Influence of Nineteenth Century Spiritism and Spiritualism on Afro- and African-American Religions.- 16. Sri Sabhapati Swami: The Forgotten Yogi of Western Esotericism.- 17. Tracing VivekanandasPra andka: TheYogavsiha and Rama Prasads Occult Science of Breath.- 18. Guru and Messiah: On the First Yoga Handbook in Polish Language: Wincenty LutosawskisThe Development of the Power of Will by Means of Psychophysical Exercises (1909).