Occult East Asia

This book explores key actors and themes in the Euro-American esoteric reception history of East Asia. It traces how western occultists and esotericists appropriated textual icons such as the Daodejing and Yijing, and figures such as Fuxi, Laozi, and Confucius. This book examines key actors and themes in the Euro-American esoteric reception history of East Asia. It traces how Western occultists and esotericists have engaged with East Asia, appropriating textual icons such as the Daodejing and Yijing, or figures such as Fuxi, Laozi, and Confucius into their perennialist cosmos. The resulting amalgam of globally negotiated tropes, or “Occult East Asia,” has co-shaped the imagery and appreciation of East Asia in a range of discourses that extend far beyond alternative religious circles.