Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern is (I hesitantly trust) among a rare breed of credible books in this touchy subject area, where alternative spiritualists are often indistinguishable from the idiot fringe. For instance, elsewhere on this blog, I've mentioned a book called Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival by Joscelyn Godwin. Talk about your touchy subjects. But this myth does appear with surprising frequency, and plays an established historical role in some of the flakier forms of Xtreme fascist occultism. I felt I was on somewhat safe ground ordering this book, as Professor Godwin has written a number of well received studies, including The Theosophical Enlightenment, published by The State University of New York Press. Also, Dr. Godwin teaches at Colgate University. So I was a little surprised that he couldn't get the book published by an outfit a tad more reputable than Adventures Unlimited Press, which also offers books on (and I quote) Exotic Travel, Lost Cities, Ancient Mysteries, Atlantis, Anti-Gravity, Mind Control, Tesla Technology, Free Energy, Ancient Science, Conspiracy, Unexplained Phenomena, Alternative Health, UFOs, Extraterrestrials, "and much much more..." Yeah, alright then! This is certainly the crowd I want to identify myself with. Not. [But a list like that is like nose-candy for search engines!]

I have somewhat higher hopes, despite the title, about A Science for the Soul. Here's a clip from the inside flap...

Is it just me, or does this sound oddly familiar? I mean, we all know what happened last time, right?

from: Books: Nazi occultism is inspiring a new generation all over Europe by Bill Saunders
source: The Independent Sunday (London), 17 March 2002
via: HighBeam™ Research

Goodrick-Clarke, an authority on the racial mysticism on which the original Nazi party was founded, finds many resonances between the apparently insignificant groups of Aryan cultists to be found in the last years of the Hapsburg Empire and the network of white supremacists scattered across Europe and the United States today. "From the retrospective viewpoint of a potential authoritarian future in 2020 or 2030, these Aryan cults and esoteric Nazism may be documented as early symptoms of major divisive changes in our present-day Western democracies," he concludes. Hence this thoroughgoing and noisome tour of the recent history of Neo-Nazism: given a suitable Trojan Horse, these ideas might become widespread.

Although papered over with political correctness these latter days, many New Age occultist views are implicitly oriented to racialist ideological foundations, if not outright racist. I mean, how many "people of color" are there in your coven, Virginia?

from: Who Buys New Age Materials? Exploring Sociodemographic, Religious, Network, and Contextual Correlates of New Age Consumption. by Christopher G. Ellison
source: Sociology of Religion, 22 September 2000
via: HighBeam™ Research

Although researchers have not attended directly to the relationship in the United States between race and participation in New Age movements, research on this issue has been conducted in other countries. It is unclear to what extent this literature applies to the American context. Clearly, however, research to date in the US has emphasized the notion that participants in New Age movements are primarily white, middle-class baby boomers, suggesting that (non-Hispanic) whites are more apt than other racial and ethnic groups to participate in New Age movements.