Journoccultism
Open Secrets September 4, 2025 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197651599.003.0004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
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| Key points | Argues that late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century occultism developed a mode the authors call "journoccultism," in which esoteric thinkers used newspapers and journalistic techniques to engage the numinous. It distinguishes an informational strand reporting on otherworldly spheres from a mystical strand that sought to represent and induce altered readerly consciousness attuned to magical correspondences and paranormal phenomena. |
Abstract
Abstract This chapter examines the significance of the new journalism both for the dissemination of new religious and esoteric beliefs, and for the textual poetics and visionary techniques of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century occultism. Through the work of W. T. Stead, Hannen Swaffer, Arthur Machen, and Charles Fort we trace the emergence of “journoccultism,” a mode which describes the processes and reading techniques through which esoteric thinkers used the newspaper to transact their dealings with the numinous world. This chapter traces the development, first, of an informational vein of journocculturalism that deployed the technical and practical techniques of the press to report on life in the otherworldly spheres in an accessible way, and second, of a more mystical strand that aimed to represent—and induce—altered forms of readerly consciousness in which magical correspondences and paranormal phenomena might be more readily perceived.