In 1891, newspapers all over the world carried reports of the
death of H. P. Blavatsky, the mysterious Russian woman who was the
spiritual founder of the Theosophical Society. With the help of the
equally mysterious Mahatmas who were her teachers, Blavatsky
claimed to have brought the "ancient wisdom of the East" to the
rescue of a materialistic West. In England, Blavatsky's earliest
followers were mostly men, but a generation later the Theosophical
Society was dominated by women, and theosophy had become a crucial
part of feminist political culture.
"Divine Feminine" is the first full-length study of the
relationship between alternative or esoteric spirituality and the
feminist movement in England. Historian Joy Dixon examines the
Theosophical Society's claims that women and the East were the
repositories of spiritual forces which English men had forfeited in
their scramble for material and imperial power. Theosophists
produced arguments that became key tools in many feminist
campaigns. Many women of the Theosophical Society became
suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting
to create a political role for women as a way to "sacralize the
public sphere." Dixon also shows that theosophy provides much of
the framework and the vocabulary for today's New Age movement. Many
of the assumptions about class, race, and gender which marked the
emergence of esoteric religions at the end of the nineteenth
century continue to shape alternative spiritualities today.
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