Divine feminine : theosophy and feminism in England
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Divine feminine : theosophy and feminism in England
(The Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science, 119th ser)
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001
Available at 10 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
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  France
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  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p.265-283) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In 1891, newspapers all over the world carried reports of the death of H. P. Blavatsky, the mysterious Russian woman who was the spiritual founder of the Theosophical Society. With the help of the equally mysterious Mahatmas who were her teachers, Blavatsky claimed to have brought the "ancient wisdom of the East" to the rescue of a materialistic West. In England, Blavatsky's earliest followers were mostly men, but a generation later the Theosophical Society was dominated by women, and theosophy had become a crucial part of feminist political culture. Divine Feminine is the first full-length study of the relationship between alternative or esoteric spirituality and the feminist movement in England. Historian Joy Dixon examines the Theosophical Society's claims that women and the East were the repositories of spiritual forces which English men had forfeited in their scramble for material and imperial power. Theosophists produced arguments that became key tools in many feminist campaigns. Many women of the Theosophical Society became suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting to create a political role for women as a way to "sacralize the public sphere."
Dixon also shows that theosophy provides much of the framework and the vocabulary for today's New Age movement. Many of the assumptions about class, race, and gender which marked the emergence of esoteric religions at the end of the nineteenth century continue to shape alternative spiritualities today.
Table of Contents
Contents: I Domesticating the Occult 1 The Undomesticated Occult 2 The Mahatmas in Clubland: Manliness and Scientific Spirituality 3 "A Deficiency of the Male Element": Gendering Spiritual Experience 4 "Buggery and Humbuggery": Sex, Magic, and Occult Authority II Political Alchemies 5 Occult Body Politics 6 The Divine Hermaphrodite and the Female Messiah: Feminism and Spirituality in the 1890s 7 A New Age for Women: Suffrage and the Sacred 8 Ancient Wisdom, Modern Motherhood Conclusion
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