India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism; Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. x + 194pp. Printed papered boards. Index & bibliography. A volume in the series 'Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities', edited by Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis. From the publisher: "At the beginning of the twentieth century, Indian Yoga and Tantra become attractive to some major exponents of Western occultism. In a gesture typical of the syncretic tendency in Esotericism, Yoga is by these Westerners often identified as an Eastern form of magic: the two disciplines were considered to share similar theoretical perspective, the difference in their methods notwithstanding. Explores the reception of Indian spirituality among Western occultists through several case studies. Unlike existing works focusing on the activities of Theosophical Society, it looks at the 'hard-core' occultism, in particular the British twentieth century currents associated with Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, Kenneth Grant, and related individuals and groups. Without denying the specificity of its Western historical manifestation, it suggests that esotericism is a category that may be applied as a conceptual tool in order to interpret aspects of non-Western religious thought and practice." Chapters include: The Idea of India in the Imaginary of Western Occultism; A Web of Relations: Interpreting Indian Yoga and Tantra as Forms of Esotericism; The Great Beast as a Tantric Hero: The Role of Yoga and Tantra in Aleister Crowley’s Magick; Solve et Coagula: Attitudes toward the Ambrosial Aspects of Human Seed in Certain Yogic Traditions and in the Sexual Magick of Aleister Crowley; Dion Fortune: The Sakti of the Age; Secrets of the Typhonian Tantra: Kenneth Grant and Western Occult Interpretations of Indian Spirituality; When Yoga Becomes Magick: Dadaji Mahendranath, His Disciples, and the East-West Order etc. From the library of Crowley scholar, Martin P. Starr with his personalized "post-it" note on front blank. Appears "as new" but for the faintest bit of rubbing to boards, else a tight, clean near Fine copy (no dust jacket issued). Item #69888
ISBN: 9781137404985
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