Phoenix Rising travels to Northern Greece

On November 19th and 20th Sasha Chaitow, Academy Director, visited Salonica and Alexandroupolis in Northern Greece in order to present the Academy to local audiences.

The presentation covered all aspects of the Academy’s goals, structure, philosophy and teaching methods, and its main purpose was to introduce the concept of the Academic Study of Western Esotericism to an audience less familiar with this concept than is the case in other Western European countries. Western Esotericism does not exist as an academic field in Greece, and the sole areas touching on related subject matter in Greek univeristies are found within Philosophy departments where some aspects of Neoplatonism are explored.

A particularly interesting element to emerge during the discussion following the presentation related to issues concerning the practitioner-scholar divide. While this continues to produce much fruitful dialogue in discussion groups and various other fora in other countries, and many practitioner-scholars openly advocate and support the academic approach both as a means of legitimisation as well as a useful process for practitioners wishing to gain a firm grounding in the background of the esoteric tradition of their choice, in Greece it is early days and the question of the extent to which the academic approach may either distort or even damage the experiential understanding of esoteric concepts is one which is often voiced. At Phoenix Rising Academy we are well aware of this and particular care was taken to explain and present the current methodological approaches which seek to bridge such divides.

Further issues that arose in discussion included the vast amount of unexplored material present in Greece of interest to esoteric scholars, and the fact that the language barrier continues to present problems on both sides, since it constitutes a major hindrance to anglophone esoteric scholars wishing to probe such areas, as well as to a number of attendees interested in pursuing esoteric studies either at Phoenix Rising Academy or elsewhere. Greek scholars as well as practitioners have a unique perspective and voice which would do much to enrich the development of the field and it is to be hoped that in the future it will be possible to overcome both those  sceptical objections that inevitably hinder the establishment of the Academic Study of Western Esotericism in Greece, one of Phoenix Rising Academy’s long-term goals, and the scholarship of many areas of interest that go well beyond antiquity. From the Byzantine empire to the mystical traditions embedded within Greek Orthodox Christianity, to Hellenic Neopaganism and the uniquely Greek interpretation of traditionally Western initiatory traditions and rituals, there is much unexplored territory that would indeed enrich the field overall.

The text of the Academy presentation is currently in translation and the English version will be made available soon. Photos from the events below.