This multidisciplinary conference approaches the traditions of Western esotericism and mysticism from a cultural-historical perspective. The aim is to analyse the diverse influences of esoteric ideas and practices and the various forms of mysticism in their cultural-historical surroundings. We promote approaches that focus on individuals, groups and networks, and various archival source materials, but we also welcome papers dealing with esoteric or mystical textual traditions.
The conference will consist of keynote lectures and sessions that can be either traditional paper sessions or roundtable talks and panels. The social program of the conference will consist of e.g. esoteric and occult walking tours in Turku and artistic performances (plans for an event together with Art Teatro Circus -group). An excursion to the exhibition on Finnish art and clairvoyance at the Gallen-Kallela Museum (Espoo/Esbo, 11.5.–8.9.2019) is also being planned. The exhibition is part of the research project Seekers of the New and is curated by Nina Kokkinen.
We invite people from different academic backgrounds to discuss western esotericism and mysticism included but not limited to the following topics:
Esotericism and mysticism in art, literature and music
Esotericism and mysticism in popular culture
Esotericism and mysticism in Nordic countries, Eastern Europe, South Europe etc.
Esotericism, mysticism and transnational networks
What has been hidden, silenced or otherwise remained in the margins of esoteric and mystical traditions and in the research field (e.g. gender, class, ethnicity…).
Ethics and positioning in the study of esotericism and mysticism
Individuals and archival sources in the study of esotericism and mysticism
To apply, please send an abstract (or panel proposal with abstracts) of approximately 150 words to the Donner Institute, , no later than 31 December 2018. Letters of acceptance will be posted no later than 31 January, 2019.
Selected papers from the conference will be published in volume 29 of the Donner Institute Series Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis as the co-publication of the Donner Institute and research project Seekers of the New.
The expert symposium is arranged jointly by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural history and the research project Seekers of the New: Esotericism and the transformation of religiosity in the modernising Finland at the University of Turku. The project is funded by the Kone Foundation.
5–7 June 2019 in Åbo/Turku
Approaching esotericism and mysticism: Cultural influences
Conference website: www.abo.fi/esomyst
Facebook event: Approaching esotericism and mysticism
Hashtag: #esomyst2019
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Programme
Approaching Esotericism and Mysticism: Cultural Influences
A conference arranged by the Donner Institute and Seekers of the New Research Project
5-7 June, 2019
Åbo Akademi University
ASA-building, Fänriksgatan 3 / Vänrikinkatu 3
20500 Åbo / Turku
www.abo.fi/esomyst
The keynote lectures and paper sessions are open to all and free of charge. Welcome!
Wednesday 5.6
08.30 Registration and coffee
09.00 Words of Welcome
Director Ruth Illman, The Donner Institute
Chancellor Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Åbo Akademi University
09.15 Keynote
Prof. Olav Hammer, Department of History, Study of Religions, University of Southern Denmark: Esotericism and mysticism: two essentially contested concepts
10.15 Coffee
10.45 Paper Session 1 (parallel sessions)
Session A
10.45 Suvi Karila: The case of spiritualism within the American Freethought Movement
11.15 Christa Shusko: Eleanor Kirk’s entrepreneurial esotericism
11.45 Matti Rautaniemi: Theosophical roots of yoga in Finland
Session B
10.45 Olli Pitkänen & Oskari Koskela: Esotericism in Black Metal Music and the Contemporary Occult Milieu
11.15 Kimi Kärki: Sounds like magick: The two soundtracks of Kenneth Anger’s film Lucifer Rising
11.45 Tilman Hannemann: Conceptualising magic in 1950s Germany
12.15 Lunch Café Fänriken, ASA-building, Fänriksgatan 3/Vänrikinkatu 3
13.15 Paper session 2 (parallel sessions)
Session C
13.15 Carles Magrinyà: The cave as a visionary space in esotericism, mysticism and Cervante’s Don Quixote
13.45 Eeva Kallio: Wisdom and spirituality as advanced levels of human psychological development: reflecting latest research
14.15 Tiina Mahlamäki: The interpretation of Emanuel Swedenborg’s image of after life in Laura Lindstedt’s Oneiron
Session D
13.15 Abby R. Eron: A Clairvoyant Pictorialism: Gertrude Käsebier’s Photography
13.45 Nina Kokkinen: The eyes of my soul have opened: Clairvoyance in Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s art
14.15 Tonje Haugland Sörensen: Far north in the woods – the mysticism and spirituality in the works of Theodor Kittelsen
14.45 Coffee
15.00 Keynote
Dr. Per Faxneld, History of Religions, Stockholm University, Sweden
The death of the author and the birth of the Luciferian reader: Ur- images, postmodernity and semiotic self-apotheosis
18.00-20.00 Reception at the Donner Institute, Biskopsgatan 13 / Piispankatu 13
Spiritism Amusante. Performance: Pauliina Räsänen
20.00- Dramatized and guided tour to esoteric and occult Turku enacted by students at the University of Turku
Thursday 6.6
09.00 Keynote
Prof. Christine Ferguson, English Literature, University of Stirling, UK
Journoccultism: Newspaper scrying from Machen to Fort
10.00 Coffee
10.30 Paper session 3 (parallel sessions)
Session E
10.30 Michelle Foot: The visual culture of Christian-Spiritualism in Scotland
11.00 Marja Lahelma: Artists as producers and mediators of esoteric knowledge
11.30 Raymond Radford: UrbEX and new maps of meaning: Psychogeography as an innovative methodology for understanding new sacred space
Session F
10.30 Jasmine Westerlund: Olly Donner, the artistic life of an Anthroposophist
11.00 Billy Gray: Western Sufism, Rumi and teacher-disciple relationship in Elif Shafak’s The Forthy Rules of Love
11.30 Giuliano D’Amico: Henrik Ibsen’s The Fantasy of Peer Gynt. Drama and Theosophy in Britain
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Paper session 4 (parallel sessions)
Session G
13.00 Tommy Ramstedt : Applying the methodological framework of scene in the study of Western Esoteric environments and spaces
13.30 Cristoffer Tidelius: Studying paranormal (oc)culture: Previous attempts
14.00 Sara Duppils: Happiness is not of this world – The significance of the French Spiritist branch for the Swedish spiritist movement during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Session H
13.00 Carl W. Karlson: A constant critique: The appropriation of raditionalism and esoteric thought in the works of Tage Lindbom (1909–2001)
13.30 Peter Olsson: Torsten Hedlund and Swedish Theosophy: Archival insights
14.00 Minna Hovi: Memento mori, Froberger: A musician’s transnational network and the immorality of the soul
14.30 Coffee
15.30-23.00 Excursion
15.30 The excursion bus starts 15.30 in front of the conference site
17.30 Arrival at the Gallen-Kallela Museum, Espoo
18.00 Guided tour of the exhibition “Finnish Art and Clairvoyance”, curator Nina Kokkinen
19.00 Conference Dinner at Tarvaspää CafeZoceria
21.00 Bus departs from the Gallen-Kallela Museum, arrive in Turku/Åbo at 23.00
Friday 7.6
10.00 Paper session 5 (parallel sessions)
Session I
10.00 Carole M. Cusack: Gurdjieff and the angry young men: Colin Wilson, Stuart Holroyd, and waking up in 1950s Britain
10.30 Hippo Taatila: George Ivanovich Gurdjieff
11.00 Karen Swartz: Behind every successful man (there is at least one exhausted woman): Rudolf Steiner’s silent and silenced partners
Session J
10.00 Erik A. W. Östling: Millen Cooke and the “Son of the Sun”
10.30 Linda Annunen: Spatial enchantment in contemporary spirituality: Constructing mystical places through shamanistic and African drumming
11.00 Pekka Pitkälä: Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa, August Strindberg and the common origins of the languages of mankind
11.30 Lunch
12.30 Paper session 6 (parallel sessions)
Session K
12.30 Peter Södergård: The process of having the mind of God. A semiotic analysis of the iconisation of imagination in Corpus Hermeticum XI
13.00 Susanna Åkerman: Emanuel Swedenborg’s Clavis Hieroglyphica
13.30 Carrie Sealine: Genealogy of a neo-Pagan ritual
Session L
12.30 Juuso Järvenpää: Friends of foes? The difficult relationship of Spiritualism and Theosophy in the early 20th century Finland
13.00 Kaarina Koski: Esoteric journals and folk belief tradition in early 20th century Finland
13.30 Tora Wall: Elves, trolls and dragons: Supernatural beings as personifications of nature in Swedish tourism
14.00 Coffee
14.30 Keynote
Dr. Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland: Ethics and esotericism
15.30 Closing panel: keynote lecturers Per Faxneld, Christine Ferguson, Olav Hammer & Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Director of the Donner Institute, Ruth Illman (convener)
16.00 Sparkling music and farewell provided by Seekers of the New Research Project