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5 - Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism in former Yugoslavia

Gordan Djurdjevic
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Henrik Bogdan
Affiliation:
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Gordan Djurdjevic
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada
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Summary

Yugoslavia, founded in 1918, existed as a political unit for a relatively short span of time. In 1991 Slovenia and Croatia ceded from the federation, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. The process of the dissolution continued by the split between Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, and finally by the proclamation of the independence of Kosovo in 2008. A complex web of influences and relationships with its neighbouring countries marked the cultural life of people in this region, before, during and after the Yugoslav era. Centuries of domination by various occupying forces, aside from their obvious negative effects, also brought the aspects of social and cultural life characteristic of the respective zones of influence, be it Ottoman Turkey or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to mention two of the most pertinent cases. Occultism, as a major current within the larger category of esotericism, is a cultural phenomenon that is characterized by diversity and openness to various influences (what Antoine Faivre described as a “practice of concordance”). In the case of occultism in former Yugoslavia, a diverse amalgam was produced by the intersection of various European and global streams of influence that created a superstructure over the already present foundation consisting of the traditional forms of folk-magic, which are currently gaining popularity within certain trends of contemporary neopaganism, Balkan witchcraft and attempts at the revival of the old Slavic religion.

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Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2013

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