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Project

Project type/Form of grant
Grant for employment or scholarship
Title [sv]
Makt genom närhet? Kvinnlig auktoritet och agens i en manligt styrd ny religion
Title [en]
Power through closeness? Female authority and agency in a male-led new religion
Abstract [en]
The purpose of the project is to analyse patterns of female religious agency and authority at different stages of religious emergence through the biographies of three women: Leah Hirsig (1883–1975), Jane Wolfe (1875–1958), and Phyllis Seckler (1917–2004), prominent figures within the religion Thelema, founded in 1904 by the British esotericist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947). Weber’s tripartite typology of authority will be applied to the development of Thelema from loosely organised charismatic movement to bureaucratised structure. The project will propose a supplementary category: proximal authority, derived from (perceived) closeness to a charismatic leader, and which is central for understanding the roles of Hirsig, Seckler, and Wolfe. By analysing female agency at different stages of religious emergence, the project contributes to the development of theoretical concepts for understanding female authority in male-led religious movements. The project is based on archival research, and sources consist mainly of unpublished diaries and correspondence. The time frame is 3 years; the first 18 months devoted to data collection and systematisation, the second to analysing and theorising the findings for publication. The project will be based at the University of Amsterdam’s Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP); the world-leading centre for the academic study of Western esotericism, the group of religious currents of which Thelema is part.
Publications (1 of 1) Show all publications
Hedenborg White, M. (2024). Magic in Art, Poetry, and Biography: Marjorie Cameron’s Illustrated Notebooks c. 1956–1964. Religion and the Arts, 28(1-2), 133-169
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Magic in Art, Poetry, and Biography: Marjorie Cameron’s Illustrated Notebooks c. 1956–1964
2024 (English)In: Religion and the Arts, ISSN 1079-9265, E-ISSN 1568-5292, Vol. 28, no 1-2, p. 133-169Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The article analyzes four works of poetry and illustration produced by the artist, poet, and occultist Marjorie Cameron (1922–1995) in the 1950s and 1960s. Widow of rocket scientist and occultist John “Jack” Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952), an early follower of Aleister Crowley’s (1875–1947) religion Thelema, Cameron was also a friend and collaborator of Beat artist Wallace Berman (1926–1976) and avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger (1927–2023). In the 1950s and 1960s, Cameron delved deeply into Crowley’s magical writings alongside those of comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904–1987). The article especially highlights how Cameron creatively adapted and re-worked the ideas of both thinkers in her artistic interpretations of her Holy Guardian Angel. A core argument of the article is that art, poetry, and esotericism were intertwined pursuits for Cameron, and that extra-textual sources (e.g., letters and biographical details) contemporary with the analyzed creative works are helpful in untangling their meaning.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Brill Academic Publishers, 2024
Keywords
Thelema; Aleister Crowley; esotericism; occultism; Marjorie Cameron; esotericism and art; Beat movement
National Category
History of Religions
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-66590 (URN)10.1163/15685292-02801005 (DOI)001222040800008 ()2-s2.0-85189475869 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-00439
Available from: 2024-04-02 Created: 2024-04-02 Last updated: 2024-07-31Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorHedenborg White, Manon
Coordinating organisation
Södertörn University
Funder
Period
2018-07-01 - 2021-06-30
National Category
History of Religions
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:2529Project, id: 2018-00439_VR

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