Spiritual Esoterisms

This roundtable discussion explores the role of spiritual esoterisms in religious reflection. Taking inspiration from Nathan Snaza’s recent Tendings: Feminist Esoterisms and the Abolition of Man, we understand esoterisms to include some of what is traditionally considered the “Western esoteric” tradition, but also  modalities of worlding “in which more-than-human socialities and knowledge practices would be co-compositional” (2024, 10). In this case, we explore worlds where spiritual knowledges link humans and non-humans (including, potentially, departed ancestors and divinities) into socialities that are irreducibly material and spiritual, and where these socialities are bounded – inclusive of some but not all. The roundtable explores these questions with attention to Argentine gothic literature, the writing of James Baldwin, Lúkumi religious practices, and Hasidic prophylactic magic.