Phoenix Rising Open Evening at Treadwells Bookshop

Studying Esotericism in a Brave New World (Sasha Chaitow)

Interest in the Western Esoteric Traditions is blooming, dozens of books, courses, workshops and other events being dedicated to their exploration and celebration. Western Esotericism has become established as an academic field in its own right, with three Chairs in European universities and numerous other courses in European and American academic institutions. 

Yet there is a dissonance between the academic, the philosophical and the practical approaches to these topics: the intellectual approach is often considered overly restrictive by practitioners and theorists more intimately involved with esoteric paths; the practical approach often frowned on by scholars who may consider it too close an involvement which does not permit objective and academically acceptable study. Meanwhile, both approaches continue to bemuse the general public and a key frequently asked question continues to be “Yes, but what’s the purpose of studying these topics?” 

Moving past possible responses citing self-awareness and inner growth, it is becoming increasingly clear that the modern rediscovery of these subjects has burgeoned in response to a growing social need for alternatives to tried, tested, and failed approaches to critical social and cultural questions. 

Following a brief outline of the various perspectives on these topics, I will address the questions of why the academic perspective is valuable to practitioners and society alike, why the scholarly approach should develop a more open understanding of the practical solutions offered by esoteric traditions, and most importantly what these traditions can offer society itself.

The Gnostic Researcher (Angela Voss)

I am interested in exploring the question of ‘esoteric’ knowledge from the perspective of the integration and balancing of two modes of perception and understanding, which the traditions name ‘divine and human’. The idea that there are two complementary ‘eyes’ through which we see the world is expressed in different ways, but esoteric philosophers all point to the necessity of bringing these eyes into a mutually beneficial relationship if humans are to progress in self-knowledge and spiritual insight. For Ibn ‘Arabi they are the eyes of reason and revelation, for Ficino the eyes of innate and infused knowledge, and in contemporary neuroscientific language, the eyes of the left and right brain hemispheres. In this short presentation I will suggest that the researcher and teacher can inspire students and readers by writing and teaching from a unitive perspective, which uses the tools of the rational mind to clarify, interpret and articulate the deeply religious and intuitive insights which arise through a metaphoric and symbolic sense of meaning, a sense which is intrinsic to esoteric and initiatory texts and images. Is this, however, too much to ask of scholars of esotericism or religion? Should research embrace imagination, experience and transformative dimensions, or attempt objectivity and detachment? Can or should scholarship itself constitute a spiritual path? These are just some of the questions which we can raise for discussion.

Divination in Real Life (Geoffrey Cornelius)

Divinatory practice can be anything from an openness to signs, synchronicities and omens to formal procedures such as the use of Tarot cards, I Ching and horoscopes. The foundation of such knowledge is veiled in mystery, and its revelation carries a life-transforming potential, yet these methods start from and return to practical human questions and the here-and-now of everyday life.

Magic, Madness, and Poetry: A Brief Exploration of Language (Simon Magus)

Why do some people become magicians and mystics whilst others become ‘mad’? Why do some people, to paraphrase the words of William James, find ‘the place of seraphs’ whilst others find ‘the place of snakes’? In this brief talk, Simon will examine the similarity of the magical and the paranoid mind sets, and some of the reasons for apparent differences in terms of the history of psychiatry and how these concepts are framed in language. He will briefly explore the concept of schizotypy in relation to esotericism, and the oft mentioned links between poetry, madness and creativity in general.

Science and Esotericism: Friends, Relatives, Enemies or Strangers? (Orlando Fernandez)

It is nowadays well understood that many of the founders of modern science were deeply involved with the esoteric, not only from a purely philosophical point of view, but as a living practice. The fact that the esoteric has been more than a passing influence on the work of major scientific figures like Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and others, has been clearly shown by modern scholarship. But the relationship of esotericism and science does not end with the Baroque, it continued during the Classical and the Romantic periods, when science became the dominant form of thought in the West.

Furthermore, this relationship has continued until the present, as demonstrated by the example of David Bohm who was not only a great physicist, but who played an important role in some esoteric organizations.

This talk is a short exploration of the rich relationship between science and esotericism and a meditation on its meaning.

Sasha Chaitow is currently conducting doctoral research in Western Esotericism at the University of Exeter. She holds an MA in Western Esotericism (EXESESO, Exeter, 2008) and an MA in English Literature (Indianapolis-Athens, 2004). Her current area of study focuses on the French Occult Revival and French Symbolism in the 19^thcentury, and her MA thesis (awarded with distinction) focused on the alchemical emblems in Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens.

Sasha is the founding director of Phoenix Rising Academy of Esoteric Studies and Creative Arts, (London and Athens), an independent academic institution for the promotion of the Academic Study of Western Esotericism and Art. Her research interests include art and esotericism, mind and consciousness, ritual and initiation, and Greek esoteric history. She writes for academic journals, the Greek journals Avaton and Fainomena, and is an experienced speaker in both academic and public fora. For more see: http://www.phoenixrising.org.gr/en/academy/teachers/sasha-chaitow/ .

Angela Voss Since 2000 I have been teaching at the University of Kent, at first for the MA in the Study of Mysticism and Religious Experience, out of which emerged the MA in the Cultural Study of Cosmology and Divination in 2006. The MA has focussed on divinatory theory and practice, symbolic interpretation, the function of the imagination as a mode of knowledge and traditional cosmology. I have published numerous papers on Ficino, as well as an edited collection of his astrological writingsfor North Atlantic Books, Western Esoteric Masters series. I am now moving into the territory of symbolism and the imaginal, exploring the erotic life of statues, Life between lives and past-life therapy, ancient Greek mysteries and the metaphysics of divination. For the MA programme at Kent I have been offering modules on The Imaginal Cosmos and Cosmology and the Arts, which investigate the Platonic cosmos, neoplatonic theurgy, Renaissance astrology and magic, the nature of the symbol, Corbin and the mundus imaginalis, mystery initiation and the cosmic dimensions of music and literature. For more see:http://phoenixrising.org.gr/en/academy/teachers/angela-voss/

Orlando Fernandez

In addition to his interest in the esoteric, Orlando has a keen interest in science and mathematics. He completed his bachelor degree in Mathematics and Physics at the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). After graduating he emigrated to France where he obtained his DEA in Mathematical Physics from the Université de Paris, where his research focused on mathematical aspects of Quantum Mechanics. In 1998 he moved to the UK where he continued his scientific studies at King’s College, London.

During his time in France and the UK he remained involved with several esoteric organizations. At a London meeting of the Theosophical Society Orlando first encountered the academic study of Western Esotericism and so embarked on the EXESESO MA in Western Esotericism at the University of Exeter, from which he successfully graduated in 2007.

Orlando’s scientific background and lifelong involvement with esotericism led him to pursue doctoral research at EXESESO bridging the two, and he is presently finishing a PhD dissertation about the esoteric influences on the Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics proposed by the American physicist David Bohm. Orlando lives in Cambridge, UK.

Geoffrey Cornelius

Geoffrey Cornelius has over many years undertaken the study of contemporary Western spirituality and divinatory practice, arguing for the appropriateness of academic exchange and discourse in these areas. His main area of divinatory interest and practice is astrology, but he has also studied New Age trends in Tarot and its adoption of I Ching, the classical Chinese oracle.

His approach is informed by a wide range of reading in ancient and modern philosophy, psychoanalytic thought, and anthropology. Dr. Cornelius has practised and taught astrology for many years. He has taught at Masters level on astrological and divinatory practice and theory at the University of Kent between 2003 and 2010, and has a Ph.D. from Kent on the hermeneutics of divination. For more see: http://www.phoenixrising.org.gr/en/academy/teachers/dr-geoffrey-cornelius/

Simon Magus

Dr Simon Magus BSc.(Hons), MB BS, MA is a psychiatrist with a special interest in Forensic and Intensive care Psychiatry. He studied medicine in London at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, now part of the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

He qualified in Medicine in 1990 having also obtained a first class honours degree in Anatomy, majoring in Neuroanatomy. His Bsc. dissertation was on three-dimensional computer graphics in Anatomy teaching. After qualifying, he taught Anatomy as the Royal College Prosector to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and as an associate lecturer in Anatomy and Embryology at the University of Glasgow. After following a surgical path, he changed to psychiatry in 1996.

Simon’s interest in esotericism predates his medical studies by a number of years. When it became available, he studied for and completed the MA in Western Esotericism at EXESESO, The University of Exeter in 2008. His thesis was entitled Austin Osman Spare and the Conquest of the Imaginal: Paranoia, Metanoia and Phronesis of the Magical Mind.

He is interested in the interplay of descriptive psychopathology and the phenomenology of magical praxis, and spirituality and psychosis. During his MA studies he developed broad perspectives in esotericism on subjects including alchemy and its transmission to the Latin west, Hermeticism and Renaissance Kabbalah. His specialist field of enquiry now centres on Victorian and Edwardian occultism, and he is currently reading for a PHD at Exeter on esoteric influences in the life and work of H. Rider Haggard.