The Legend of Jan Kefer: alternative spiritualities and the occult in the First Republic of Czechoslovakia
Abstrakt
This paper will examine the rise of Czechoslovakian esoteric movements during the early 20th Century as a response to both declining interest in traditional religion amongst the upper classes and as indicators of Norbert Elias' Civilising process. By examining collectives such as the Czech hermeticists and the theosophical movement, the establishment of esoteric practices can be viewed as an extension of the process leading to a secularised upper class.
Prague and wider Czechoslovakia were early adopters of such movements which stemmed, in part, from the influence of the western-leaning intellectual classes of the 19th Century. Figures such as Jan Kefer provided an eager public with alternative explanations for the underlying principles of life and the cosmos which he deliberately framed from a philosophical and pseudo-scientific perspective.
The emergence of such a hybrid form of 'religion' reflects the Eliasian argument that religion is always 'exactly as 'civilised' as the society or class which upholds it' (Elias, 2000: p.169). Key figures and elements of these esoteric movements will therefore be examined in relation to wider societal patterns of belief in order to reveal their significance within the development of Czech society during this crucial period of its history.