Esotericism (Religion)

תיקון שבתי צבי / יונתן מאיר. ההרצאה מבקשת להציג תמונה מורכבת ביחס לשבתי צבי, מכתיבתו הקבלית של נתן העזתי על המשיח הנפוּל, דרך ניסיונות תיקון נשמתו בידי הבעש"ט, ועד לשילובו בנרטיב הלאומי בידי זלמן שז"ר וחוקרים שבאו אחריו. יהא זה ניסיון למשוך קו במחשבה ובהיסטוריוגרפיה היהודית העומד מנגד לתפיסת הצרה בדבר "משיח שקר"

Recent years have seen the flourishing of research on Lithuanian Kabbalists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the point that some scholars speak of a defined and delineated stream of Kabbalah, a school unto itself dubbed "Lithuanian Kabbalah." Such scholars include within this stream all those who saw the Vilna Gaon as their teacher in Kabbalah (parallel to the position of the Baal Shem Tov in Hasidism) and they ascribe to it such fixed categories as its "Articles of Faith." In their conception, this stream was part and parcel of the broader and well-known nationalist-messianic current that had its source, supposedly, in the Vilna Gaon himself; this current reached its full fruition in the twentieth century, and so too has the smaller stream within it, now a clearly defined "school," developed in various ways until the present. As if this were not enough, scholars have joined the later ideological trend which seeks to revise the history of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a decidedly messianic way, presenting it in a continuous line from the Vilna Gaon to the emergence of Zionism and then to the founding of the State of Israel. Again, the Vilna Gaon is not merely presented as a "herald" of Zionism but as one who encoded within his Torah the secret of redemption, the beginning of which, apparently, we are witnessing today. The article conducts a critical analysis of the concept of "Lithuanian Kabbalah," and uses as its case study the life and teachings of Rabbi Shimon Tsvi Horowitz.


בשנים האחרונות צומח ועולה מחקר סביב למקובלים בני ליטא במאות התשע עשרה והעשרים, עד שיש כאלו המדברים על זרם מוגדר ומובחן, אסכולה בפני עצמה, המכונה 'קבלה ליטאית'. בתוך זרם זה כוללים את כל אלו שראו בגר"א את מורם בקבלה, כמעין בעש"ט לחסידות, ומונים קטגוריות מקובעות של 'עיקרי אמונה' של אותו זרם הרוכב על מהלך משיחי ולאומי ידוע שמקורו כביכול בגר"א עצמו והגיע לגמר בישולו במאה העשרים. עד שנוצר בעיני כמה חוקרים מעין 'חוג' ברור ומוגדר שמתגלגל באופנים שונים עד לימינו. אם לא די בכך, הרי שהמדברים על אותו זרם קבלי רוכבים למעשה על קו אידיאולוגי מאוחר שבא לפרש מחדש את ההיסטוריה של היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל במאה התשע עשרה ברוח משיחית וליצור מעין המשכיות מימי הגר"א עד להופעתה של הציונות ולמאורעות שהתרחשו עם הקמת מדינת ישראל. שוב אין הגר"א מצטייר רק כ'מבשר' הציונות אלא כמי שצפן בתורתו את סוד הגאולה שאנו עומדים לכאורה בפתחה. המאמר עוסק בניתוח ביקורתי של המשוג "קבלת ליטאית" וכמקרה מבחן יש כאן דיון בדרכו של ר' שמעון צבי הורביץ

Jacob Needleman, distinguished religious scholar and philosopher, will be known to most perennialists because of his anthology published in the Penguin Metaphysical Library series (of which he was the general editor) titled "The Sword of Gnosis", and to the general public through his extensive publications and Bill Moyers' feature of him on "The World of Ideas". This interview of Professor Needleman focuses on his views on psychology and modernity in relation to Tradition.

În 1978, în monografia sa dedicată lui Eliade, Ioan Petru Culianu atrăgea atenţia că René Guénon şi Julius Evola trebuie luaţi în considerare printre autorii care au contribuit la formarea teoriilor istorico-religioase ale acestuia. 1 A trebuit să treacă, însă, aproape un deceniu până când relaţiile lui cu exponenţii aşa-numitei "Tradiţii" au început a fi discutate şi analizate. Deşi se discută deja de un sfert de secol, 2 suntem încă departe de o concluzie clară sau de un consens asupra naturii raporturilor lui Eliade cu operele lui René Guénon, Julius Evola şi Ananda K. Coomaraswamy.

This chapter falls somewhere between an opinion piece and academia proper. It lies in an uncomfortable space between critique and speculation, just as its purpose is to probe the supposed boundary between practitioner and academic. The category-blurring, boundary-crossing, meeting-at-the-margins nature of the Trans-States conference both motivated the content of this piece, and opened the door for such an approach.

L’article a pour sujet la personnalité extraordinaire du kabbaliste le Rabbin Levi Isaac Krakovsky (1891–1966), un des étudiants oubliés du Rabbin Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1885–1955). Krakovsky diffusait l’enseignement de son maître en Amérique en anglais, écrivait des douzaines de livres et essayait d’établir des yeshivot de Kabbalistes. Contrairement à son maître, il présentait un enseignement exotérique et une vision de diffusion de la Kabbale dans le monde entier. Son influence était minime, mais un de ses élèves était Shraga Philip Berg qui continuait son chemin et le complétait de plusieurs points de vue. L’article se base sur de riches matières archivales, parmi lesquelles de longues essays de l’auteur en manuscrit qui sont décrits ici pour la premiere fois. D’une telle façon, nous décrivons le dévelopment de la Kabbale en Amérique du début du vingtième siècle jusqu’ aujourd’hui.

In Islamic mysticism and theurgy, the Seven Seals represent in graphic form the Greatest Name of God; in Jewish Kabbalah, the Seals bear individual Divine Names which collectively form a “Great Name.” We review and compare the primary interpretations and secondary associations for each Seal in Islam and Judaism, from which it is clear that the two traditions have developed largely independent understandings of the individual symbols. Nevertheless, points of convergence – such as the interpretation of the fourth Seal as a ladder and an ascent to/of goodness – do exist. Conversely, the attributes of the third Islamic and seventh Jewish Seals have a surprising amount in common. Collectively, the Seals have been linked via word- and letter-counting to key affirmations of each religion: the Islamic ones to the Shahāda, the Jewish ones to Psalm 46:7,11. In contrast to the Islamic Seals, individual correspondences are rarely given for the Jewish Seals and are inconsistent across sources. Kabbalistic amulets are more likely to employ the Names of the Seals than their symbols, and when present the latter are often much degraded; in contrast, Islamic talismans make frequent use of the symbol series. In Islamic magic, the Seven Seals are associated with the seven Ṭahaṭīl Names, which exhibit possible similarities to the Names of the Seals in Kabbalah. Intriguing overlaps of the Jewish Seal Names with Egyptian mythology and Vedic Sanskrit are explored, but ultimately it is thought more likely that the  seven Names derive from the Names of God’s fingers and eyes (five plus two, respectively) in the Shīʿūr Qōmah of the Hekhalot literature. Fittingly, exegesis of the Seals in both Judaism and Islam contains general themes of hands/fingers and sight/blindness.

In this essay I will attempt to introduce Surrealism’s relationship with the elements of Western European traditions of thought that have come to be defined as ‘esoteric’. The
historical and social impact of this union draws into focus the direct concerns of the ‘esoteric’ within art and its perceived ability to impact on society as well as the individual. A short analysis of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain then aims at identifying further key features of ‘esoteric’ art, as well as add further answers to some important questions. Can ‘esoteric’ art be defined by a simple re-presentation of ‘esoteric’ symbols and images? Are there any pre-requisites that exist for creators as well as viewers of ‘esoteric’ art? This analysis aims to answer such questions, but firstly a clarification of the term ‘esoteric’, and its place within western religious thought, becomes necessary in order for us to refine our definition of what is esoteric art.

L'article vise à donner un aperçu des définitions, critères et méthodes utilisées dans l'histoire des courants ésotériques occidentaux depuis quelques dizaines d'années.
Après un historique des notions d'"ésotérique" et d'"ésotérisme", ainsi qu'une étude étymologique, je présente en particulier les méthodes proposées par Pierre Riffard et par Antoine Faivre, en pointant les principales questions débattues dans la littérature spécialisée.

Dans le même volume, Emilie Granjon discute également ces questions méthodologiques : "Penser une sémiotique de l'initiation", pp. 21-36

(keywords: faivre ; riffard ; stuckrad ; hanegraaff ; methods in the study of western esotericism)

Gershom Scholem in Deutschland
Zwischen Seelenverwandtschaft und Sprachlosigkeit
Hrsg. v. Gerold Necker, Elke Morlok u. Matthias Morgenstern

Die Biographie des in Berlin geborenen und ab 1923 in Jerusalem lebenden Kabbala-Forschers Gershom Gerhard Scholem ist von den Katastrophen und Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Im Horizont des für Scholem ambivalenten deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses nehmen die Autoren des Bandes seinen Werdegang im Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik in den Blick sowie die Bedeutung, die er als israelischer Gesprächspartner für die Zeitgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hatte. Die Beziehungen zu Walter Benjamin und Hannah Arendt, zu dem Theologen Otto Michel und dem Verleger Siegfried Unseld dokumentieren auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen Scholems Verbindung zu Deutschland, die ihn auch bei persönlicher Lyrik und sogar bei seiner wissenschaftlichen Prosa zur jüdischen Mystik begleitete.

We all guard secrets. The process of filtering, deciding which words to share with others and which to temper or leave unsaid, is basic to all of social life. Secrecy is likewise fundamental to the enterprise of religion, a quest to commune with sources of power that only sometimes reveal themselves. Religious people seek to learn mysteries that remain hidden to most. As part and parcel of religion, secrecy has to do with sources of power that are elusive, only sometimes open to humans, and never knowable in full. Divine sources of power always recede just out of reach or sight. From this point of view, religion is a set of traditions and techniques granting periodic human access to extraordinary powers that generally remain concealed. 1 Without secrets and the estrangement and bafflement they seed, religion would be unnecessary. All would already be clear, and the need for religion would disappear. 2 For as long as our present condition of limited knowledge persists-and it is hard to imagine that condition changing-secrecy is, and will remain, an enduring feature of religious practice. A secret is something valuable but concealed, and often valuable because it is concealed. A piece of knowledge that seems to exist but is locked away, masked, or obscured is joined to a belief that its very elusiveness is a problem to be solved, but also something to be protected. To hide and to unveil, to contain and reveal-this is the rhythm of secrecy, and also of religion (Wolfson 1999; Johnson 2005). Following Bruce Lincoln, we define religion as "a discourse whose concerns transcend the human, temporal, and contingent, and that claims for itself a similarly transcendent status," plus the practices, communities, and institutions that maintain and fortify that discourse (Lincoln 2003: 6-7). A particular religious tradition, then, consists of a group of people who share certain discourses about transcendent, mostly concealed knowledge, and a set of practices or technologies directed toward its revelation. And yet, while all religions seek human relations with generally mysterious powers that are revealed only in moments breaking into everyday experience, not all religions embrace secrecy to the same degree, nor do all historical contexts equally evoke secrecy as a defense against outside intrusion. The comparative unevenness of religious secrecy is an issue this Handbook unpacks. Since their discourses and techniques are elaborated and revised over time, their unfolding metamorphosis means that religions are living, changing things. Sometimes religion has been castigated as uniquely or especially secretive in comparison with other arts and technologies. From Enlightenment philosophes to the most recent generation of atheists and other "nones," religion is imagined, from this point of view, in the form of cryptic texts, hidden sancta, smoke and hooded robes, and in that caricature juxtaposed with images of light, transparency, and BK-TandF-URBAN_9780367857417-211509-Intro.indd 1

Since the nineteenth century, Central and Eastern Europe has experienced rapid social, political, and economic changes, which caused transformation and upheavals in local societies. Rising nationalism culminating in the Revolutionary year 1848, echoes of the Romantic movement, ongoing industrialisation, First World War, the emergence of national states and disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, later followed by World War Two and the establishment of the socialist regimes represent some of the key milestones the region went through. New sciences emerged, and intellectuals of the region also tried to cope with the impetus of new discoveries in the Orient. Since mid-nineteenth century, the rise of occultism and its further spread throughout Europe represented a peculiar reaction to these conditions. Central and Eastern European states dealt with these occult and esoteric movements in various ways, from suppression to silent support, and the movements themselves had various ideas about the meaning and aims of the nation. We wish to investigate the links between state, power, and occult and esoteric ideas, movements, and key figures.

Focusing on occultism and esotericism in Central and Eastern Europe since the mid-nineteenth-century until now, we invite scholars to share their articles in a special issue of the Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture.

The scope of the issue includes the following topics:
• Tensions between or calls for nationalism and/or transnationalism in the occult and esoteric movements;
• Attitudes of various state bodies (republics, empires or totalitarian regimes) to occultism and esotericism, from suppression to support; 
• Practising occultism or esotericism under socialist regimes;
• Case studies of influential movements, persons, or ideas either originating or being adopted in Central and Eastern Europe;
• Critical reflection of the scholarship concerning occultism and esotericism in Central and Eastern Europe.
The guest editors of the issue are Dr. Karolina Maria Hess (Centre for Comparative Studies 
of Civilisations, Jagiellonian University) and Dr. Pavel Horák (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy 
of Sciences). The editors will consider all manuscripts prepared according to the following criteria: 
Length: 20 000 – 40 000 characters with spaces
​Language: English 
​Deadline: November 15th, 2022
Please send your proposed contribution to: 
[email protected] and [email protected]

For further guidelines see: https://www.ejournals.eu/PJACNS/menu/574/

The first part of Hillel Zeitlin’s (1871-1942) mystical diary appeared in print in Warsaw 1919. Zeitlin continued to write the diary till the holocaust, and the manuscript is presumed lost. In this paper, I shell reconstruct the content of the lost part of the diary on the basis of the manuscript correspondence between Zeitlin and other Authors. I shell also discus the unsuccessful attempts of Zeitlin to have his diary published. In this discussion, mystical aspect of Zeitlin’s work will come forth.

First published on the basis of Mr. Nikos Bayraktaris' personal notes:
Θεματολογία Ψυχικών Επιστημών κατά τον κ. Μουχάμαντ Σαμσαντίν Μεγαλομμάτη
(Subject matter on Spiritual Sciences as per Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis)
https://greeksoftheorient.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/%CE%B8%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%88%CF%85%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BC%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%AC-%CF%84/
Republished here: Divina Studia – Ψυχικές Επιστήμες
https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/divina-studia-%CF%88%CF%85%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AD%CF%82-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%82/

El esoterismo ha tenido una presencia constante en la cultura occidental desde la Antigüedad tardía hasta la actualidad, pero durante un largo tiempo esta influencia ha sido denostada y se ha visto rodeada de conceptos erróneos y prejuicios.
Este libro explora las relaciones entre fenómenos tan diversos como el gnosticismo y el hermetismo antiguos, las “ciencias ocultas” de la astrología, la alquimia y la magia, el rosacrucismo, así como la teosofía cristiana, el ocultismo, el espiritismo o las espiritualidades contemporáneas de la New Age. El estudio profundo y riguroso de todas estas corrientes demuestra la importancia crucial que han tenido en nuestra herencia cultural e intelectual y que, hoy en día, siguen teniendo a través de muchas de nuestras preocupaciones contemporáneas. Una auténtica “guía para perplejos” que nos ofrece las claves del esoterismo occidental.

călătOriile adOlescentului miOp prin ţara brahmanilor şi fachirilor (i) scriitor la cincisprezece ani c unoaşterea manuscriselor de tinereţe ale lui mircea eliade mai are foarte mulţi paşi de făcut. se poate spune, de altfel, fără a exagera, că -după 30 de ani -ea este încă la începuturile ei. dintre numeroasele caiete şi mape din perioada liceului şi a universităţii, păstrate în arhiva din ţară, ne vom opri aici asupra unui caiet de încercări literare din anul 1922. un caiet şcolar cu coperţi roşii cartonate, conţinând 110 file, fără titlu, dar la sfârşitul căruia eliade a scris -evident, la o dată ulterioară -"Încercări din 1922, parte publicate". majoritatea acestor texte sunt scrise cu cerneală neagră; restul cu creion.

William Blake and Jacob Boehme saw true imagination as rooted in living experience, as quite distinct from fantasy, and as such necessary for a fuller knowledge and understanding of reality. Both perceive the significant limitations of reason; that of itself it gives only a partial view, one that can limit and distort our understanding and experience. These limitations have too often extended to the study of Blake and Boehme. Through a close and imaginative engagement with their work, this paper looks at how both addressed the shortcomings of our usual, conditioned and habitual modes of perception and understanding, and how a different kind of engagement with and understanding of the world is necessary. Both saw just how constraining reason can be when it is too prominent and disconnected from our other vital faculties and capacities; how it can enclose and isolate, alienating us from both the world and ourselves. By contrast, for Boehme and Blake imagination is essential, a means of breaking out into that which is other than and beyond our habitual selves. It has a creative relationship with the world, one in which reality is not fixed and finished, but inexhaustible. As the mind expands, so does the world. This paper shows how for both visionaries, the creative embodied imagination places us more fully in existence – in ourselves and in the world – makes possible true reason, reveals all the profound potential that is too often unexplored and unrealised in us, and as such affords us a vital, living understanding of and relationship with the divine. It thus also demonstrates how vital imagination is to any study of William Blake and Jacob Boehme.

Jonatan Meir (Ben Gurion University): "Haskalah and Western Esotericism"

Monday 15th December

The lecture will focus on the physician and poet Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner (18 September 1786 – 21 February 1862) as well as on some still underestimated phenomena within the broader context of the European Enlightenment. A fresh look will be given in particular on the hidden boundaries between the representatives of the Jewish movement Haskalah and the contemporary trends of Western Esotericism.

Swedish RE teachers are facing a number of difficulties today: decreasing teaching hours, long lists of required content from the national syllabi, as well as low student interest in the subject.This paper investigates a possible solution to these combined problems: namely, an approach to RE which centers on new religions. Recent research indicates that younger generations engage widely with new religions in their everyday life, such as through popular media (Partridge, 2006; Visuri 2020). For this reason, a focus on new religions might spark student interest. While earlier studies within the field of New Religious Movements (NRMs) focused on so-called "sects" that emerged in the 1960s, there is growing awareness of how "new religions" can also include "older" religions (as well as non-religions, such as atheism) which were all new at one point. Through an emphasis on the notion of "newness" within the study of religion(s), by for instance focusing on how all religions have developed and changed over time (and in some cases declined, and eventually been revived), RE teachers have the opportunity to cover religion as a whole, while leaving the concept of religion open for each student to define, and without overwhelming students with "facts" only. With the definition of religion kept open and unbounded, students get the opportunity to engage analytically with religion(s) as they draw parallels between the old and new. This is an ability which the national syllabi calls for, yet does not offer practical examples of. An approach to religion which centers on the concept of "newness" is, in other words, likely to engage student interest as well as make the subject of RE more relevant for the contemporary Swedish school.

This review article argues that Wouter Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy is deeply influenced by a methodological cluster usually referred to as ‘discourse theory.’ That the author is not willing to classify his own approach as such is explained with recourse to his dispute with Kocku von Stuckrad, who, according to Hanegraaff, would embody discourse theory, whereas Hanegraaff would embody history. A comparison of Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) and von Stuckrad’s Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities (Leiden: Brill, 2010) reveals that this is amisleading classification and that Hanegraaff’s study comes closer to what discourse theory is all about. As a consequence, Esotericism and the Academy is the very first study on ‘Western esotericism’ that offers a convincing justification of this particular label as an overarching discursive category.

This paper, which was presented in Swedish, focused on G.R.S. Mead's views on occultism and magic and considered his rather polemical stance towards practical occultism and/or magic. While Mead was very clear on his stances towards practical occultism in Theosophical and other writings, his membership in Helena Blavatsky's Inner Group of the Esoteric Section in London complicates his public denial of the importance of any practical applications or understandings of occultism. The fact that he also privately participated in séances later in life, while still expressing strong opinions against "neo-Theosophy", "esotericism" and "occultism" also complicates the matter. Was it a specific practical occultism that Mead warned about, or did he merely do so for other reasons? Further, how should one understand the nature of Gnosis, one of his favored topics, if not as a practical form of e.g. occultism, given his focus on how Gnosis develops through actions and is experiential in nature?

As has been thoroughly studied by among others Bram Dijkstra, there existed a pervasive discourse during the 19th century in which women were portrayed as demonic and dangerous. In this context, older cultural artifacts where re-interpreted as expressions of these ideas, one interesting example being Leonardo da Vinci’s La Gioconda (Mona Lisa). The tradition of ascribing satanic traits to it was more or less initiated by French Romantic Théophile Gautier, and then taken up by writers like Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, Algernon Swinburne and Georg Heym. The paper discusses the manner in which these authors – Symbolists, Decadents and early Expressionists – wrote about the painting as an icon of eternal feminine evil. More specifically, the emphasis on La Gioconda as literally an icon, a sort of altarpiece of wickedness, is explored.

Such a religiously influenced interpretation of an originally completely secular portrait is, the paper seeks to demonstrate, related to a contemporary tendency in pictorial art to blasphemously sacralize sin. Instances of this include the so-called altar to Sin in German Symbolist Franz von Stuck’s grand villa, as well as works by among others Edvard Munch. Further, the darkly numinous aura many felt La Gioconda exuded needs to be understood in a framework of 19th century "occulture" (a term developed – in a scholarly context – by Christopher Partridge, who however only applies it to post WWII phenomena) and romantic ideas concerning artists as seers, mystics and even magicians in a more literal sense.

Intellectuals of the esoteric tradition, welcomed at last into Academia, embody the role of transmitting that tradition to the current generation of students. The purpose, in our global society, of Intellectuals or Academics to transmit spiritual knowledge is evident within the phenomenology of esotericism. This essay offers an anthropocentric model of the phenomenon such Intellectuals engage in of teaching, or transmitting, the esoteric tradition within any academic discipline, envisioning a perennial renaissance of esoteric ideas in the emergent present. Voiced in his paper "Communities of the False," presented at The Southern

The lecture will focus on the physician and poet Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner (18 September 1786 – 21 February 1862) as well as on some still underestimated phenomena within the broader context of the European Enlightenment. A fresh look will be given in particular on the hidden boundaries between the representatives of the Jewish movement Haskalah and the contemporary trends of Western Esotericism.

Настоящее издание подготовлено в  связи с 20-летним юбилеем конферен-
ций «Россия и гнозис» в Библиотеке иностранной литературы и включает мате-
риалы ежегодной Международной конференции «Россия и гнозис», прошедшей
в ВГБИЛ 15–17 октября 2012 г. и посвященной теме «Судьбы религиозно-фило-
софских исканий Николая Новикова и  его круга». Конференция приурочена
к 90-летию Всероссийской государственной библиотеки иностранной литерату-
ры им. М. И. Рудомино и посвящена обсуждению и возвращению в культурный
оборот идей духовного просветительства Николая Новикова и  его круга.

A seldom discussed fact concerning Blavatsky’s influential magnum opus "The Secret Doctrine" is that it contains passages of explicit Satanism. The almost total neglect of the Luciferian ideas present in Theosophy by scholars is probably caused by them deeming these ideas unimportant to Theosophy at large. It may also have something to do with simply not knowing what to make of the matter. This paper is a preliminary attempt to achieve a contextual understanding of Blavatsky's Satanism.

In particular, I focus on how evolutionism, conventions in anti-clerical political discourse, Feminism, Romantic Satanism and contemporary scholarship on Gnosticism may have influenced Blavatsky's view of Satan as a benevolent figure.