Western esotericism and rituals of initiation / Henrik Bogdan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bogdan, Henrik.

Series:

SUNY series in Western esoteric traditions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Occultism.

Initiation rites.

Freemasonry.

Physical Description:

xii, 235 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2007]

Summary:

For more than three hundred years the practice of Masonic rituals of initiation has been part of Western culture, spreading far beyond the boundaries of traditional Freemasonry. Henrik Bogdan explores the historical development of these rituals and their relationship with Western esotericism. Beginning with the Craft degrees of Freemasonry-the blueprints, as it were, of all later Masonic rituals of initiation-Bogdan examines the development of the Masonic High Degrees, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn-the most influential of all nineteenth-century occultist initiatory societies-and Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft movement of the 1950s, one of the first large-scale Western esoteric New Religions Movements.

Contents:

Western esotericism

Rituals of initiation, secret societies, and Masonic initiatory societies

Historical background

The craft degrees of Freemasonry

High or additional degrees of Freemasonry

The Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn

Modern pagan witchcraft or wicca

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-223) and index.

ISBN:

0791470695

9780791470695

OCLC:

70251126