1. CHAPTER 8: Belief and Practice in Metaphysics

2. Metaphysics challenge dominant conceptions of the divine saving force of the mind correspondence magic combination

3. Metaphysical Movements in America 1)elite esoteric religions from Europe 2)popular herbal & magical practices 3)19 th -century middle-class forms 4)later mind-oriented forms

4. Metaphysical Sources in the Western Tradition Hellenistic mystical systems o Hermeticism o Neoplatonism o Gnosticism o astrology o alchemy o Kabbalah

5. Post-Renaissance Metaphysical Sources Paracelsianism o healing using correspondence theory Rosicrucianism o later form of Hermeticism Freemasonry

6. Metaphysical Practice in the Colonies elite & non-elite forms astrology o judicial or natural witchcraft o Woman in the Wilderness o cunning folk

7. 19 th -Century Metaphysical Revival Transcendentalists o Emerson o inspiration in nature o cultivate individual spirituality influence of Swedenborg

8. Popular Metaphysics in a New Nation 19 th -century sources of “newness” o factories, railroads, steamboats o progress & “manifest destiny” immigration & migration

9. Spiritualism Andrew Jackson Davis séances female mediums mental or physical mediumship o psychic phenomena o rappings, table-tipping, automatic writing

10. Theosophical Society Helena P. Blavatsky o Mahatmas o Isis Unveiled o The Secret Doctrine Colonel Henry S. Olcott

11. Goals of Theosophy 1)search for occult knowledge 2)universal brotherhood of all people 3)study of comparative religions

12. Spread of Theosophical Ideas Asian religious concepts o karma o reincarnation expectation for a “new age”

13. Theosophy after Blavatsky Annie Besant o 50,000 members by 1930 o present in 40 countries multiple schisms o William Judge

14. New Thought influence of Phineas Quimby Warren Felt Evans o The Mental Cure Emma Curtis Hopkins o taught many New Thought leaders

15. New Thought Practices affirmative prayer “self-help” bestsellers o In Tune with the Infinite o The Power of Positive Thinking

16. Mystical & Psychic Frontiers William James o The Varieties of Religious Experience o pragmatism Aldous Huxley o perennial philosophy

17. Later American Metaphysics neopaganism scientific-technological groups o Scientology o Heaven’s Gate o UFO groups

18. OVERVIEW Western roots 19 th -century developments o Transcendentalists o Spiritualism o Theosophy o New Thought