Mesmerism and Spiritualism (2024)

The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

Published:

2008

Online ISBN:

9780199852062

Print ISBN:

9780195320992

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The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

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Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

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Pages

173–190

  • Published:

    October 2008

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Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas, 'Mesmerism and Spiritualism', The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction (2008; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Sept. 2011), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0010, accessed 15 June 2024.

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Abstract

This chapter examines the influence of mesmerism and spiritualism on the history of Western esotericism. It explores the relation between science and spirituality and traces the development of animal magnetism from the combination of the notion of fluid and the powers of the mind in science. It discusses the works of Franz Anton Mesmer and his doctoral dissertation concerning the influence of the planets in the human body where he posited on the existence of an invisible, universally distributed fluid that flows continuously everywhere and serves as a vehicle for the mutual influence among heavenly bodies, the earth, and living things.

Keywords: Western esotericism, mesmerism, spiritualism, science, Franz Anton Mesmer, mental power, fluid

Subject

Comparative Religion East Asian Religions Philosophy of Religion

Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

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