Abstract for edited series:

Esoteric practices are flourishing in contemporary societies, which can be labeled as spiritual, magical, shamanic, New Age, or folk religious, depending on the theoretical perspective. This series will trace them from an interdisciplinary and global perspective, focusing on the ways in which these esoteric practices reshape and revitalize older practices in new contexts among new publics, creating new practices by embracing new technologies that extend their influence globally and avoid stigmatization or persecution, and use social media in worldwide activist projects. In short, this series addresses the connection between esoteric practices and political forces, legal frameworks, governmental projects, environmental concerns, cultural and social processes, economic and consumer opportunities, and embodied, sensorial, and artistic aspects of experience. The series adopts a combined diachronic and synchronic approach to contemporary esoteric practices, emphasizing their pragmatic goals and analysing their comparative aspects. In this way, this series promotes a discussion of the alternative rationales underlying the various forms of esoteric practices, with the aim of foregrounding the analytical frameworks underlying their study.

Table of contents:

• “Introduction”, Bernd-Christian Otto and Michael Lackner
• “Divination and Mediumship Compared: A Dialogical Essay on the Logic of Ritual Consultations in Senegal and Brazil”, Knut Graw and Kelly Hayes
• “Solomon, King of Spirits: Historical and Ethnographic Explorations”, Maryam Abbasi, Conerly Casey and Bernd-Christian Otto
• “Converging Cosmologies: Esoteric Practices of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Daoism in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema”, Keith Edward Cantú and Lennert Gesterkamp
• “Becoming Superhumans: The Crossroads of Late-Soviet and Western Esotericism”, Birgit Menzel and Anna Ozhiganova
• “Moral Economies of Divination: Chinese and Yoruba Technologies, Ethics, Wisdom, and Affect in Comparison”, Michael Lackner and Raquel Romberg
• “Resilience and Relationalism: The Persistence of Marginalised Ritual Practices in Indonesia, Bhutan, and Nigeria”, Conerly Casey, Dendup Chopel and Isabell Herrmans