Western esoterism : Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields Steen Larsen, Lars 2008 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Steen Larsen, L. (2008). Western esoterism : Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields. Lund Studies in History of Religions. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Lars Steen Larsen Western esoterism: Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields Lars Steen Larsen Western esoterism: Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields Lund Studies in History of Religions General Editor Tord Olsson Volume 25 Department of History and Anthropology of Religions Lund University Lund, Sweden Copyright Lars Steen Larsen and Cosmic Mirror Print Media-Tryck, Sociologen, Lunds universitet, Lund 2008 Cover Picture: Danny Lane and the Cass Sculpture Foundation: www.sculpture.org.uk ISBN 978-91-633-3465-8 ISSN 1103-4882 Preface Preface My thanks and gratitude primarily goes to my advisor Prof. Tord Olsson - and his ‘team’ at the Department of History and Anthropology of Religion at Lund University. By team I mean the group of current and former Ph.D. candidates who are all part of and sharing in a unique academic atmosphere created by Tord Olsson. It is an environment of freedom, friendliness, esprit and ingenuity. Most important to me has been the intellectual inspiration provided. Prof. Olsson’s graduate seminars have had a tremendous impact on this thesis along with my earlier publications. This particular intellectual milieu is characterized by its simplicity and lucidity. Two minor events may serve as illustrations. At one of the first seminars I attended Tord Olsson presented his field research from Gwanyebugu in Mali. In a straight and pedagogical manner (which astonished me) he explained his ideas of ritual fields and of rituals able to create beliefs. “Therefore”, he concluded, “the number of people being Christians, Muslims and adherents of indigenous religions in Mali sums up to at least 130 percent”. Later that day, when travelling back to Copenhagen from Lund, I thus realised that the additive practice/use of religion in Mali and Denmark – and particularly Copenhagen and the village of Gwanyebugu - has much in common. The other event occurred shortly thereafter. Pierre Wiktorin, now a Ph.D. doing research on Harry Potter, presented what he called “Two Small [papers]” on his field research in Buddhism in Thailand. Surely, measured in quantity the number of pages would not exhaust any reader. However, the information received was truly significant, and in return for a bottle of whisky I managed to ‘borrow’ central parts of his paper. Likewise such exchange occurred in the case of Philip Halldén, Kristina Myrvold, Åsa Trulsson and Peter Habbe, to whom I am also extending my thanks. Tord Olsson’s research in Mali, the different Ph.D. projects presented and a seminar introducing Roy A. Rappaport have transformed my understanding of religion entirely. Therefore, it is not by accident that the main method of this thesis is applied anthropology on a historical project. For me it has been an experiment and an intellectual journey that I inevitably had to make. Preface Thanks to Tove E. Kruse, assistant professor in history at Roskilde University for her close reading of Paracelsus and his alchemy (Chapter five). Years ago when discussing Paracelsus and astrology she gave me very important tools to understand and interpret Paracelsus. I also want to express my gratitude to Jørgen Podemann Sørensen, assistant professor in history of religion at Copenhagen University. Chapter four, ‘Hermetism as a foundation for esotericism’, is to a high degree an extract from my graduate project at Copenhagen University. Here, as my advisor, Jørgen Podemann Sørensen not only accepted that I wrote about the role of astrology in Hermetica but also offered his immense knowledge of Hermetism. His natural friendliness has been second to none. The most difficult part of this thesis has been to write it in English. I want to thank my sweet and compassionate sister, Lone Ann Gribble, for spending hours trying to teach me English grammar. She has corrected many sentences while patiently explaining why. Without her help, I could not have written this thesis in English. Further, thanks to Tony Duncan, a rock musician, composer and retired air engineer living in Tenerife, who did the final proofreading. He also made the cover and has been very helpful with the layout. Thanks to my family and friends in Denmark. It is impossible to mention all, but Erik Michael, Peter H. Fogtdal, Per K. Rasmussen, Bjørn Poulsen, Finn Wandahl, Peter Hertz, Stefan Koeller, Karina Rasmussen and Poul Christensen have all supported this thesis - using different arguments - and encouraged me to write it. Contents CONTENTS Introduction Western esoterism: Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields i The purpose of this study i The main thesis i Previous studies iii Further remarks on the matrices v Texts selected xii Chapter 2 USP - Western esoterism as ‘sameness’ 1 The five matrices as USP 4 Adaptation 7 Man as a hermeneutic being 9 Rappaport as a theologian 11 Similarities – and the many esoteric currents 12 Chapter 2 Rituals, USP – and ritual fields 13 USP, canonical messages and rituals 17 Tord Olsson’s ritual theory 25 Ritual fields in Western esotericism 31 How beliefs and rituals can interrelate in religious texts 41 Summing up the relationship between rituals and beliefs 45 Chapter 3 Cornelius Agrippa and the five matrices 46 The textual structure of De occulta philosophia 49 The matrices and De occulta philosophia 59 The textual relationship between canonical messages and ritual practices 71 Additive components 76 Summary 78 Contents Chapter 4 Hermetica as a foundation for esotericism 80 Preface - Unity and diversity 80 Astrology: On Rebirth and Poimandres 83 Sympatheia and the holistic cosmos 93 A dialectical process between heaven and earth? 97 Monism and dualism as interdependent ontologies 101 Purpose (pronoia) rather than karma or sin 105 Hermetism and science 110 Rituals and ‘beliefs’ - a textual analysis method 112 Summary on the five matrices in Hermetism 113 Summary of astrology as a ritual field in Hermetism 115 Chapter 5 Paracelsus - and his alchemy as a ritual field 118 Paracelsus (1493 – 1541) in an esoteric context 120 Paracelsus and the five matrices 121 Paracelsus’ alchemy viewed as a ritual process 134 Astrology and alchemy 145 Summary and some comments 148 Chapter 6 Theosophy, anthroposophy and the clairvoyant ritual field 151 Pronoia rather than karma or sin 154 Scientific laws are synonymous with spiritual principles 158 Clairvoyance becomes an instrumental perception in order to establish a ritual field 160 The dialectical relationship between man and God, or the divine, including the healing of other people, society and/or the earth 162 Dualism and monism are interdependent, including the mind and/or the world as a stairway to heaven 172 Holism 174 Between life and rebirth: a part of the astrological ritual field 175 Contents Summary 178 Chapter 7 Dialectical esotericism: Tabula Smaragdina, James Redfield and Eckhart Tolle 180 ‘Hegelianism’ 184 The five matrices in ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ 190 Eckhart Tolle and Western esotericism 195 The conglomerate nature of Tolle’s USP 202 Secularisation and dialectical esotericism 210 Summary 216 Chapter 8 Some notes on historiography and methodologies in Western esotericism 218 Antoine Faivre’s characteristics and methodology 221 Hanegraaff’s methodology and perception of esotericism as religion 227 Some important explanatory notes on the five matrices 234 Faivre - and this thesis 236 Hanegraaff - and this thesis 240 Pierre A. Riffard 249 Kochu von Stuckrad 251 Arthur Versluis 252 Summary 253 Chapter 9 Summary and some future prospects 256 A1: The five matrices are USP, i.e. they belong to the second dimension of the liturgical order as outlined by Roy A. Rappaport 258 A2: The five matrices as USP together with its major ritual fields constitute an important religious branch within Western esotericism 265 B1: Hermetica is one of the roots to Western esotericism rather than a part of it 268 B2: Western esotericism created by the five matrices is not any known philosophy 269 Contents B3: From philosophy to experience – often anchored in reality by participation in ritual activities 277 Future prospects 279 Appendix 1 The clairvoyant ritual field - and Leadbeater’s description of the initiation into the Great White Brotherhood 284 Henrik Bogdan’s research 284 Initiation into the Great White