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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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2014-09-01
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Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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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. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-afbd8b1330234fa7b6bb9e72f5018902 |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014-09-01 |
publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
record_format | Article |
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 |