Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis

Looking at two distinctly different approaches to the occult and performance, this article demonstrates that a range of late-Victorians turned to theatrical performance as an avenue to mystical communication. The editors of Borderland: A Psychical Quarterly, W. T. Stead and Ada Goodrich Freer, focus...

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Main Author: Dennis Denisoff
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2014-09-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1552
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author Dennis Denisoff
author_facet Dennis Denisoff
author_sort Dennis Denisoff
collection DOAJ
description Looking at two distinctly different approaches to the occult and performance, this article demonstrates that a range of late-Victorians turned to theatrical performance as an avenue to mystical communication. The editors of Borderland: A Psychical Quarterly, W. T. Stead and Ada Goodrich Freer, focused on performance in large part for strategic purposes intended to assist in the popularization of spiritualism and other psychical phenomena. Meanwhile, Moina and Samuel ‘MacGregor’ Mathers, central members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, developed their Ceremony of Isis not only for marketing purposes, but also to engage performance as a mode of human transmigration and a powerfully allusive embodiment of key values of pagan occultism.
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series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-afbd8b1330234fa7b6bb9e72f50189022025-01-30T10:21:53ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492014-09-018010.4000/cve.1552Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of IsisDennis DenisoffLooking at two distinctly different approaches to the occult and performance, this article demonstrates that a range of late-Victorians turned to theatrical performance as an avenue to mystical communication. The editors of Borderland: A Psychical Quarterly, W. T. Stead and Ada Goodrich Freer, focused on performance in large part for strategic purposes intended to assist in the popularization of spiritualism and other psychical phenomena. Meanwhile, Moina and Samuel ‘MacGregor’ Mathers, central members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, developed their Ceremony of Isis not only for marketing purposes, but also to engage performance as a mode of human transmigration and a powerfully allusive embodiment of key values of pagan occultism.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1552performancepaganismoccultspiritualismtheatre
spellingShingle Dennis Denisoff
Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
performance
paganism
occult
spiritualism
theatre
title Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
title_full Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
title_fullStr Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
title_full_unstemmed Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
title_short Performing the Spirit: Theatre, the Occult, and the Ceremony of Isis
title_sort performing the spirit theatre the occult and the ceremony of isis
topic performance
paganism
occult
spiritualism
theatre
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1552
work_keys_str_mv AT dennisdenisoff performingthespirittheatretheoccultandtheceremonyofisis