Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: occultism in a global perspective
- 2 Locating the West: problematizing the Western in Western esotericism and occultism
- 3 The Magical Order of the Fraternitas Saturni
- 4 “In communication with the powers of darkness”: satanism in turn-of-the-century Denmark, and its use as a legitimating device in present-day esotericism
- 5 Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism in former Yugoslavia
- 6 Occultism and Christianity in twentieth-century Italy: Tommaso Palamidessi's Christian magic
- 7 Savitri Devi, Miguel Serrano and the global phenomenon of esoteric Hitlerism
- 8 Sexual magic and Gnosis in Colombia: tracing the influence of G. I. Gurdjieff on Samael Aun Weor
- 9 Occultism in an Islamic context: the case of modern Turkey from the nineteenth century to the present time
- 10 Reception of occultism in India: the case of the Holy Order of Krishna
- 11 Transnational necromancy: W. B. Yeats, Izumi Kyôka and neo-nô as occultic stagecraft
- 12 An Australian original: Rosaleen Norton and her magical cosmology
- Index
5 - Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism in former Yugoslavia
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: occultism in a global perspective
- 2 Locating the West: problematizing the Western in Western esotericism and occultism
- 3 The Magical Order of the Fraternitas Saturni
- 4 “In communication with the powers of darkness”: satanism in turn-of-the-century Denmark, and its use as a legitimating device in present-day esotericism
- 5 Hidden wisdom in the ill-ordered house: a short survey of occultism in former Yugoslavia
- 6 Occultism and Christianity in twentieth-century Italy: Tommaso Palamidessi's Christian magic
- 7 Savitri Devi, Miguel Serrano and the global phenomenon of esoteric Hitlerism
- 8 Sexual magic and Gnosis in Colombia: tracing the influence of G. I. Gurdjieff on Samael Aun Weor
- 9 Occultism in an Islamic context: the case of modern Turkey from the nineteenth century to the present time
- 10 Reception of occultism in India: the case of the Holy Order of Krishna
- 11 Transnational necromancy: W. B. Yeats, Izumi Kyôka and neo-nô as occultic stagecraft
- 12 An Australian original: Rosaleen Norton and her magical cosmology
- Index
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.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Occultism in a Global Perspective , pp. 79 - 100Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2013