Studies on Western Esotericism in Central and Eastern Europe

These papers examine how occult and esoteric themes appear in visual and verbal media, connecting to intellectual history, literature, the arts, present day pop culture, and religious practices. The topics range from the witchcraft motives in the love poetry of the 15th-century Humanist poet, Conrad Celtis; through the activities of Polish and Russian theosophists; Croatian, Greek, Polish painters of the spiritual; the philosophy of wine by the Hungarian esoteric philosopher Béla Hamvas; to contemporary Serbian magic and neo-shamanism. Two studies touch upon the influence of Freemasonry and the Kabbalah in Western esotericism, and, although these are not specifically Central European topics, they provide parallel perspectives to what the other papers of the collection are investigating.