Anthropology and Mysticism in the Making of Initiation : A History of Discourse and Ideas for Today

By the 1980s, interest in initiation was at its peak; it was being employed both theoretically and practically, in gender politics and humanistic therapy. How did that come to be, how should we understand 'initiation', and what can be its future? This wide-ranging book looks at the history, evolution and contemporary idea of initiation. It traces origins in the ancient Mysteries and early Christian texts, through Renaissance rediscoveries to admission in Freemasonry and anthropological investigations in French Canada and British Australia. It introduces the 'initiation discourse', as something that was constructed through centuries of translations and nineteenth century human science leading to the making of the modern concept. It argues for a subject, 'initiation studies', that effectively secularised the eighteenth-century rites of admission to produce the twentieth-century rites of passage. And it details, as compensation for this hollowing out of the mystery, the study of shaman 'spirit-workers', the idea of death and rebirth, and the later sacralisation of the liminal in adolescent/adult initiation. Finally, a contemporary revision is explored that incorporates neglected aspects like depth psychology and education for an idea of youth as a life-stage. And while ritual is now deemphasised, the religious dimension is reaffirmed with a critical analysis of cosmic consciousness, the enduring Great Mystery. Contents Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Part I – Where did we get to? The late twentieth-century peak of interest in initiation Chapter 1. Myths of men, issues with gender and the adult-spiritual divide Robert Bly, men and loss Sex and gender Divisions and categories of initiation Part II – How did we get there? Origins of the rites of passage Chapter 2. Modern foundations of initiation Ethnological origins in Australia Back in the motherland Histories of initiation histories Chapter 3. Mysteries in the New World Encyclopaedias Missionaries in the New World Lafitau and the mysteries conception of tribal practice Chapter 4. Ethnology and freemasonry Initiation in freemasonry in ethnology Currents and cross-currents American freemasonry, ethnology and native fusion Part III – From whence? A history of mystery Chapter 5. Mystic histories: esoterica and the ancients Rosicrucian and Renaissance esotericism Millennia of mysteries literature Ancient texts and rituals Chapter 6. Christian mysteries Appropriation and suppression Early Christian initiations, initiation in Christianity A complex and paradoxical history of discourse development Chapter 7. Shamans, death and rebirth Historical contexts Shamans: outer Russia, out from Russia Mircea Eliade Part IV – So, where did we get to again? Reassessing the mainstream Chapter 8. Anthropology: the core thesis Arnold van Gennep Victor Turner Chapter 9. Conventional history, contemporary studies The primary thesis of decline and demise Realities and representations today Part V – Where then, where now? Expanding the vision for a contemporary, integrated approach Chapter 10. Beyond anthropology Education and Turnerian extensions The ritual perspective Chapter 11. Psychology: development and depth Developmental lifespan studies Initiation as life-stage Analytical depth psychology Chapter 12. From mysticism to cosmos Modelling spiritual initiation Cosmic initiation Further considerations Postscript – Awakening, ascension and the rebirth of initiation Conclusion A story of discourse A potted history of initiation Contemporary maturity initiation Reviewing mystery Appendices Appendix 1. The emergence of initiation studies in British anthropology (1872-1899) Methodology: article categorisation issues Appendix 2. Usage of ‘initiation’ and selected terms in published works (1820-2008) Appendix 3. Extract from Phaedrus, by Plato Note on three texts/translations Appendix 4. Six chronological schema for a staged lifespan (adding initiation) Appendix 5. A model for mysticism as template for initiation Note on the meaning of ‘god’ References Index