Om-gnosis Episode 4: Aleister Crowley, Thelema, and Gender Studies – Manon Hedenborg White

Описание: In this fourth episode of Om-gnosis, we are joined by Professor Manon Hedenborg White of Malmö University for a wide-ranging discussion on how her personal and academic interest in esotericism developed and, more specifically, how her research into Aleister Crowley and Thelema from a gender studies point of view intersects with the study of South Asia. We begin with a discussion of her book The Eloquent Blood: The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western Esotericism (Oxford University Press, 2019), including both how her book dispels most of the surface-level stereotypes about Aleister Crowley’s sexuality and how it foregrounds the role of the so-called “Scarlet Women,” such as Rose Edith Kelly, Mary “Desti” Dempsey, and Leah Hirsig. We then discuss the relevance of the so-called “Gnostic Mass” (Liber XV) in the United States and Germany; the Babalon Working of the rocket scientist Jack Parsons and the role of Marjorie Cameron; the occult author Kenneth Grant’s interest in Vedānta and Tantra; how Professor White’s work is of relevance to Occult South Asia; and current and forthcoming projects. One central thread of the discussion that emerges is how Mary “Desti” Dempsey and Leah Hirsig, as well as other women involved with Thelema, were deeply engaged in various practices of yoga, which is a point that has almost been entirely overlooked or ignored in most academic discussions of the spread of modern yoga worldwide.

Manon Hedenborg White is Associate Professor of History of Religions at Malmö University. Her research focuses on esotericism, new religious movements, and spirituality with a particular interest in issues of gender, sexuality, and authority. She is the author of The Eloquent Blood: The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western Esotericism (Oxford University Press, 2020), and co-editor of Esotericism and Deviance (Brill, 2023). She is co-director of the Esotericism, Gender, and Sexuality Network (ESOGEN) and serves on the board of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.

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