The Esoteric Uses of Electricity: Theologies of Electricity from Swabian Pietism to Ariosophy

THE ESOTERIC USES OF ELECTRICITY: THEOLOGIES OF ELECTRICITY FROM SWABIAN PIETISM TO ARIOSOPHY

NICHOLAS GOODRICK-CLARKE

Intrinsic to the Western esoteric tradition since its European revival in the Ren- aissance is a dialogue between natural philosophy and religion. Antoine Faivre has identified the key notions of Western esotericism in correspondences between the macrocosm and the microcosm, a living nature, intermediaries and the transmutation of the soul 1. Based on these “forms of knowledge”, esotericism is necessarily directed towards the relationship between man and the uni- verse, and the interconnections between all parts of nature. In particular, the idea of a living nature predisposes esotericism especially towards concepts of energy as an origin of divine power; a means for the communication and trans- ference of this power throughout nature; and the spiritual illumination or inspi- ration of man. Throughout history light typically fulfilled this role as an intangible, ubiq- uitous and life-enhancing form of energy. During the Middle Ages, a meta- physics of light governed cosmology, epistemology and even Gothic architec- ture. However, the discovery of magnetism and electricity supplied a new metaphor for the presence of divine power in the world from the seventeenth century onwards. The invisible power of magnetism and electricity, the attrac- tion of opposite poles, and its dramatic manifestation in the form of lightning suggested a mysterious, powerful and awesome symbol for God. Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Rudolf Goclenius (1572-1621) had offered early evaluations of magnetism as a mysterious force of nature and referred to the remedial effects of the magnet. The most comprehensive work on magnetism in the seventeenth century was written by Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). His book Magnes sive de arte magnetica opus tripartium (1643) comprised three books. The first book treats of the nature and characteristics of magnetism; the second deals with its practical application in various areas of technol- ogy. The third book depicts magnetism as an elemental force of nature. Kircher understood magnetism as one of the elemental forces that holds the world to- gether. A significant change in Kircher’s conception of God occurred as a result of his interest in magnetism. Impersonal aspects in his idea of God began to

1 Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism , 10-15.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Aries Vol. 4, no. 1 70 NICHOLAS GOODRICK-CLARKE prevail over an orthodox notion of an individual personal deity. Through his work on magnetism, Kircher regarded God as an all-pervasive, radiant power, which gives life, forms and sustains everything. One detects a shift from the idea of the divine magnet to that of a magnetic, all-pervasive power. This shift in emphasis becomes manifest in the pansophical theology of nature and signals an early stage in the transition to the Romantic philosophy of nature. Ernst Benz was the first scholar to identify the “theology of electricity” amongst a group of 18 th-century Swabian Pietist theosophers. Benz was also concerned with the interrelationship of the religious and scientific conscious- ness. In particular, he proposed to show that the ‘discovery of electricity and the simultaneous discovery of magnetic and galvanic phenomena were accom- panied by a most significant change in the image of God’. He also claimed that these discoveries led to a ‘completely new understanding of the relation of body and soul, of spirit and matter’2. The purpose of this paper is to trace the transformation of the theology of electricity from its Swabian Pietist origins through 19th-century scientific occultism by examining its role in the Theoso- phy of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and the racial esotericism of Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels.

1. The Theology of Electricity in Swabian Pietist Theosophy

In the creation story in the Book of Genesis, the Lord first creates Light, and three days and three nights are said to pass before he creates the sun, the moon and the stars. What then is this first Light? The interpretation of the first light in Genesis was a concern of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782), the leading Swabian Pietist, whose interests embraced the theosophy of Jacob Boehme, alchemy, the Kabbalah, and the visionary revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg 3. It was in mid-18 th century Germany, among Protestant Pietist theologians and scientists, that a self-conscious Theology of Electricity was elaborated as an esoteric doctrine relating to cosmology, anthropology and scriptural exegesis. Besides Oetinger, its other leading figures were Prokop Divisch (1696-1765) and Johann Ludwig Fricker (1729-1766). Ernst Benz has extensively docu- mented this particular group of theosophers and their speculations on electricity, while Antoine Faivre has since provided detailed commentaries on their work in the context of natural magic and Naturphilosophie 4.

2 Benz, The Theology of Electricity , 2. 3 On Oetinger see Weyer-Menkhoff, Friedrich Christoph Oetinger and Benz, Swedenborg in Deutschland . 4 Benz, The Theology of Electricity, 27-44; Faivre, Philosophie de la Nature ; Faivre, ‘Magia Naturalis’; Oetinger, ‘Extraits’; Rösler, Commentaire .