Detta är en studie om västerländsk esoterism. Dess syfte är att undersöka på vilket sätt väg-metaforen används av Böhme i hans bok The Way to Christ och i vilken utsträckning tillhör boken västerländsk esoterism, studiens teoretiska begrepp är västerländsk esoterism och kognitiva metaforer, för att uppnå rapportens syfte kommer källmaterialet granskas med hjälp av en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metod och frågan om Böhmes tillhörighet till västerländsk esoterism kommer att undersökas med hjälp av Faivres definition. Analysen visar på att Böhme tillhör kategorin västerländsk esoterism i hög utsträckning och Böhme har använt väg-metaforen i sin bok The Way to Christ enligt tre olika mönster där det första mönstret har varit i relation till Kristus samt det andra mönstret som ett medel/verktyg och slutligen det tredje mönstret idéer om att vara på fel väg.

I denna uppsats operationaliseras feministisk skräckfilmsteori på tre nyproducerade filmer ur en filmtyp som kommit att kallas bland annat post-horror. Teorier och koncept ur Carol J. Clovers Men, Women, and Chain Saws och Barbara Creeds The Monstrous-Feminine operationaliseras på tre post-horror-filmer som behandlar esoteriska teman och särskilt lyfter fram kön och genus. Syftet är att undersöka hur kompatibla teorierna är med filmerna, och vad i filmernas representation av genus som ligger utom räckhåll för teorierna. Uppsatsen landar i ett redogörande för teoriernas fortsatta relevans i analysen av genusmässigt kodande av våld såväl som esoterism. Analysen av gestaltning bortom en binär könsuppdelning och transnationella produktionsmodeller utgör aspekter av filmerna som skulle kräva andra teoretiska perspektiv.

G. R. S. Mead is an important but neglected historical personality of the British fin-de-siècle occult, Theosophical, and post-Theosophical milieu. While previous scholars of Theosophy have portrayed the Theosophical movement as quite cohesive in nature, I argue that it might have been a lot more pluralistic, with ostensibly key Theosophical concepts being open for debate. By a careful study of Mead’s editorial activity, his debates with other Theosophists in leading occultist journal over the period 1890s through 1910s, I illustrate that Mead held alternative views of key Theosophical concepts. This gives us a clue as to how the movement of Theosophy can be characterized differently. I suggest that we speak of many different “Theosophies” rather than one singular “Theosophy” to better capture the seemingly diverse makeup of the Theosophical movement. I look at three areas wherein Mead’s views differed from those of other important Theosophists: the concept of “the Masters” as spiritual authority, which sources to turn to and how to interpret them, and the question of whether occultism should be understood primarily in theoretical or in practical terms. I propose that by seeing Theosophy as a debating ground where many different Theosophists competed over the definition of their particular kind of Theosophy, we might also better account for why so many post-Theosophical currents emerged. Lastly, Mead’s concept of “Gnosis” might have served as a bridge between his Theosophical and post-Theosophical periods, as the concept’s meaning, along with Mead’s spiritual outlook, does not appear to have changed over time. This gives some consequences to how we conceive of post-Theosophy, since he does not fit neatly within that category.

L’étude des disciples de Philippe permet de souligner l’importance de la fonction « pharmakologique » du religieux : le magnétisme était la force mystérieuse et parfois inquiétante qui permettait de rétablir l’équilibre des fluides. Le christianisme des disciples de Philippe les portait à souligner l’importance de la prière et à imaginer un magnétisme supérieur, un « magnétisme spirituel », mais ils gardaient souvent la terminologie magnétique : il était encore question de « fluides », de « rayons » et d’ « énergies ». Les différents acteurs, très influencés par l’occultisme de leur temps, importèrent en fait des éléments exogènes au sein d’un ésotérisme occidental originellement chrétien, tels le magnétisme animal et les spéculations orientalisantes des Théosophistes anglo-saxons pour préfigurer, en fin de compte, la nébuleuse « mystique ésotérique » des courants plus ou moins liés au New Age de la deuxième partie du XXe siècle. / Studying the disciples of Philippe makes it possible to underline the importance of the "pharmakologic" function in religion: magnetism was the mysterious and sometimes troubling force that made it possible to restore balance to the fluids. The Christianism of the disciples of Philippe led them to underline the importance of prayer and to imagine a superior magnetism, a "spiritual magnetism", but they often retained the magnetic oriented terminology: there were still "fluids", "rays" and "energies". The various actors, highly influenced by the occultism of their time, actually imported exogenous elements into a Western esotericism that was originally Christian, such as animal magnetism and the Easternising speculations of the Anglo-Saxon Theosophists in order to foreshadow, in the end, the "mystic-esoteric nebulous" of trends more or less tied to the "New Age" of the second half of the 20th century.

La plupart des historiens maliens considèrent le Vllème siècle de l'ère chrétienne comme la date de l'avènement de l'islam au Mali, alors que le soufisme n'y fit probablement son apparition qu'à partir du XVème siècle. Cette apparition soufie se caractérise alors par des pratiques individuelles et disséminées ici et là. Il faut donc attendre l'aube du XIXème siècle pour voir une véritable émergence du soufisme et une large expansion de l'islam avec les efforts déployés par Sïdï al­ Mubtar al-Kabïr, l'instauration de l'Etat musulman du Macina et le gihëid lancé par al-ijag 'Umar. Les deux voies spirituelles, Qadiriyya et Tiganiyya entreront en opposition, mais feront résistance à l'intrusion coloniale dans le pays. Après l'indépendance du Mali, en 1960, les soufis participeront activement à la vie politique et sociale du pays. Enfin les soufis maliens sont à l'origine de maintes œuvres intellectuelles destinées à faire connaître leur voie spirituelle. / For the most part, Malian historians see and consider the 7th century of the Christian era as the advent of Islam in Mali, while Sufism most likely came into existence there by the 15th century only. This Sufi first appearance is then characterized by spread and individual practices here and there. It is only at the dawn of the 19th century that a true emergence of Sufism and a great expansion of Islam through the efforts made by Sïdï al-Mubtar al-Kabïr, the establishment of the theocratic state of Macina, and the call to jihad by al-I:Iag 'Umar can be seen. The two spiritual paths known respectively as Qadiriyya and Tiganiyya will corne into conflict but they will both resist colonial intrusion into their country. After Malian independence in 1960, Sufis will take an active part in political and social life of the country. Finally, Malian Sufis are behind numerous intellectual works meant to make their spiritual paths known.

This is a thesis about The Eight Circuit Model, a modern mind map developed for the purpose of illumination and enlighenment by Dr. Timothy Leary in the 1970s. Later, authors such as Robert Anton Wilson and Antero Alli elaborated upon the idea to make it more wholesome and compatible with other ideas expressing the same basic principle. In short, it is an intellectual abstraction of the evolution of consciousness through a series of eight stages, which Leary called Circuits. By looking at the brain as an evolving bio-computer, with thoughts working as software, upgrading itself through neurological imprints, Learys created a Hero's Journey for the modern age.The thesis tries to analyze this idea, as it is presented in Robert Anton Wilsons Prometheus Rising, through the lens of the discourse category ”Western Esoterism.” A hard-to-define subject but described as ”the dialectic of the hidden and the revealed in the field of religion.”

Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka en esoterisk bildtradition som en separat bildvetenskap utifrån en diskursanalytisk metod. Frågan ställs hur denna bilddiskurs formerats, om vi kan identifiera en särskild estetik och hur vår bild av den har tillkommit. Uppsatsen undersöker här omgivande narrativ och utsagor. Vidare undersöks samtidskonstens intresse för den esoteriska bildtraditionen där historiska material aktualiseras i nya kontexter, men även dess intresse för aktualisering av en historisk estetik i nya verk. Som utgångspunkt i undersökningen står tolv målningar funna i frimurarordens arkiv för drygt tio år sedan, troligtvis gjorda av hertig Karl, senare kung Karl XIII, och som var en del av den esoteriska krets vid Stockholms slott som hertigen underhöll. Uppsatsen undersöker hur vi utifrån ett samtida perspektiv kan se på dessa målningar som en del av en historisk esoterisk bildtradition men även som rekontextualiserade idag.  Vidare undersöks olika begrepp för hur temporaliteter kan skapas och verka när en estetik fortlever oberoende av tid och plats. Undersökningen visar att det historiska textuella material som ligger till grund för de esoteriska bilderna är centralt för hur denna estetik har utvecklats och överlevt. Vidare visar undersökningen att denna estetik genom sin fortlevnad i samtiden kan identifieras som ett ikoniskt tecken för esoterismen.

The aim of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding for the term “spirituality” in art and culture, as well as to understand how ideas from the esoteric field have come to inspire contemporary artists today. I am also interested in how contemporary artists make use of ideas from the esoteric field and how they perceive spirituality in their artistry. The study also explores how spirituality and the esoteric field in art is discussed by the academic fields. This thesis also makes use of the theory of “occulture” as an analytical tool in the study of ideas in art and culture by Christopher Partridge, to understand if occulture can be understood as an everyday and ordinary phenomenon in art and culture.

Le présent mémoire se penche sur la dramaturgie que mettent en scène le Banquet et le Phédon de Platon. Dans le cas du premier dialogue, une étude de l'épilogue et du discours d'Alcibiade, assortie de parallèles ponctuels dans la République et la Lettre VII, permet de déceler un exemple de la rétention d'information platonicienne, telle que comprise sous l'égide des écoles platoniciennes de Tübingen et de Milan, de même qu'une attestation de l'existence de doctrines non-écrites qualitativement supérieures à celles que renferment les dialogues. L'épilogue du Banquet fait ensuite, à la lumière des conclusions susmentionnées, l'objet d'une interprétation qui distingue trois niveaux de lecture des dialogues platoniciens : l'extériorité, l'intériorité et l'oralité philosophique, symbolisées respectivement par le poète comique Aristophane, le poète tragique Agathon et le poète philosophique Socrate. Il va de soi que ce dernier renvoie sémantiquement au philosophe par excellence, titre que Platon endosse volontiers. L'essai exégétique touchant le Phédon se concentre pour sa part sur la dernière volonté de Socrate. Celle-ci survient au dénouement de la partie la plus « dramaturgique » du dialogue, c'est-à-dire après les discours proprement philosophiques sur l'immortalité de l'âme. En ciblant ces moments, de même que l'introduction, nous distinguons l'adjonction des tons tragique et comique, illustrant par là un procédé inhabituel dont le but, ultimement, est de soustraire le dialogue au registre tragique afin d'éviter la propagation d'émotions contraires à la philosophie. En exploitant l'oxymore comique-tragique sur un plan mimétique, nous montrerons que la dernière volonté de Socrate véhicule un dessein parénétique. / The present work has as its main focus Plato's dramaturgy in the Symposium and the Phaedo. The former studies both Alcibiades' speech and the epilogue whilst paralleling some of their elements with relevant passages from the Republic and the Seventh Letter. In doing so, it reveals an instance of Socratic withholding of information - as understood by the platonic school of Tübingen and Milan - and sheds light upon the existence of a set of unwritten doctrines philosophically higher than the ones contained in the dialogues. On the basis of these conclusions, I come to discern a hermeneutics in the epilogue according to which there are three hierarchical levels of comprehension to Plato's dialogues: exteriority, interiority of and oral philosophy - said three levels being symbolised by the comic poet Aristophanes, the tragic poet Agathon and the philosopher Socrates. The exegetic essay on the Phaedo revolves around Socrates' last will, which comes at the end of a ''dramatic'' sequence exceeding the bounds of the discursive philosophy that seeks to prove the immortality of the soul during the major part of the dialogue. By aiming at this sequence as well as at the introduction, one comes to see that comedy carries the mandate of counterbalancing tragedy in order to overcome the philosophically reprehensible emotions it fosters. Whilst contrasting tragedy and comedy, Socrates' last words fulfill, on a mimetic level, a paraenetic design, insofar as they invite the Athenian reader, indeed every reader, to philosophically overcome common places in regards to death.

This literature review aims to investigate, expose and explain August Strindberg's religious position in his partly autobiographical work Inferno, published in Swedish in 1897, in relation to Peter Berger's socialization theory. Strindberg says in the beginning of Inferno that he goes from being an atheist, occultist and Swedenborgian to finally return to his ancestral religion, Christianity. This is questionable, as Strindberg seems to be religious in its atheistic era, and occultist during his Christian period. Strindberg's own religious views seem not always match what he portrays, compared to what he writes in his correspondence and diary entries. This literature review aims to highlight the influences of Strindberg affected to clarify his religiosity which is implicitly and explicitly depicted in Inferno. This thematic epicanalysis has revealed several religious perplexities which Strindberg depicted in his literary works. Strindberg describes in the beginning of the work his alchemy and the occult tendencies that flourish around him and how it affects his scientific experiments. There is a time where Strindberg feels anxious and extremely mentally ill, something that gets better as Strindberg learns Emanuel Swedenborg's religion. Inferno ends with a description of Strindberg's conversion to Christianity, which has sought to be explained by various researchers.