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Libra Esoterica

The Theosophical Quest for Occult Power

by Michael J. Altman

  • First published:
  • 21st century
  • Language: English

Description

Description from OpenAlex (opens in a new tab)

This chapter argues that the Theosophical movement represented India as a land of occult power and esoteric religion. The chapter offers a close reading of the writings of Madame Helena Blavatsky and a history of how Blavatsky and her partner Henry Steel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky believed India was the birthplace of an ancient esoteric wisdom religion. The representation of India as a land of occult power found its greatest expression through the theosophical idea of mahatmas or ascendant masters of Indian origin. Building on Blavatsky’s writings, later Theosophists such as William Quan Judge constructed Indian yoga as a dangerous esoteric practice.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Occultism and esotericism and Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and New Thought.

  • Occultism and esotericism

    Retained metadata contains “occult” in the title, “esoteric” in the description, “occult” in the description, and 2 additional metadata match(es).

    • “occult”· in title
    • “esoteric”· in description
    • “occult”· in description
    • “occult”· in subject
    • “occult”· in edition title
  • Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and New Thought

    Controlled discovery queries from openalex matched “Theosophy”. Retained metadata contains “theosophical” in the title, “theosophical” in the description, and “theosophical” in the edition title.

    • “Theosophy”· via OpenAlex
    • “theosophical”· in title
    • “theosophical”· in description
    • “theosophical”· in edition title

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

OpenAlex scholarly book record

2017-08-22Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press eBooksEnglish—Unknown

Subjects

19 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Cataloged from

Catalog id
openalex:W4241446666
Edition coverage
Openalex source record
Retrieved