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Between Mind-Cure and Masonry: The Emergence of the Billiken
Malmö University, Faculty of Education and Society (LS), Department of Society, Culture and Identity (SKI).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7383-9857
2024 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This paper will trace the development of the Billiken, known as “The God of Things as They Ought to Be”, in early-20th-century North America, analyzing how this figure was visually marketed and consumed in the intersection between mind-cure, initiatory societies, and orientalism. Around 1907–1908, illustrator Florence Pretz created and patented the Billiken inspired by New Thought notions of spiritual solutions to worldly ailments. The Billiken subsequently enjoyed striking popularity as a “mind-cure” icon and charm doll in the 1910s–1920s. It was also adopted in more exclusive settings, such as in the Royal Order of Jesters (founded in 1911), a fraternal order that uses the Billiken as official symbol. The Billiken has visually orientalistic overtones, resembling the “Laughing Buddha” of Chinese Buddhism — linking to contemporary discourses on Asia as the source of esoteric wisdom. In her promotional persona, Pretz stressed an interest in Japan, posed in a kimono, and suggested she had been Japanese in a past life. Drawing primarily on press materials, this paper will argue that the “Billiken craze” exemplifies the visual commodification of esotericism and a spiritualized Asia and challenges distinctions between esotericism and popular magic in the early 20th century.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024.
Keywords [en]
Billiken, mind cure, New Though, esotericism, Freemasonry
National Category
History of Religions
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-71549OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-71549DiVA, id: diva2:1904671
Conference
Esotericism and Global Visual Culture, University of Tokyo, 5–6 October.
Available from: 2024-10-10 Created: 2024-10-10 Last updated: 2024-10-11Bibliographically approved

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Hedenborg White, Manon

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
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Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf