Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Get access Subject: Religious Studies
Edited by: Wouter J. Hanegraaff, in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach

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Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online is the comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of “Gnosis and Western Esotericism” from the period of Late Antiquity to the present. Containing around 400 articles by over 180 international specialists, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online provides critical overviews discussing the nature and historical development of all its important currents and manifestations, from Gnosticism and Hermetism to Astrology, Alchemy and Magic, from the Hermetic Tradition of the Renaissance to Rosicrucianism and Christian Theosophy, and from Freemasonry and Illuminism to 19thcentury Occultism and the contemporary New Age movement. Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online also contains articles about the life and work of all the major personalities in the history of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, discussing their ideas, significance, and historical influence.

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Dorn, Gérard

(1,280 words)

Author(s): Greiner, Frank
Dorn, Gérard, * ca. 1530-1535 (Malines (Belgium)), † after 1584 (Frankfurt-am-Main) Dorn was one of the many followers of → Paracelsus who, like Petrus Severinus (1542-1602), Adam von Bodenstein (1528-1577) or → Jacques Gohory, contributed through their commentaries and translations to the dissemination of their German master's work in the scholarly circles of 16th-century Europe. Dorn's birthplace, by general agreement, seems to have been Malines in Belgium, but his frequent travels most often led him to …
Source: Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Douzetemps, Melchior

(1,596 words)

Author(s): Faivre, Antoine
Douzetemps (or Douz[e]aidans), Melchior, * 1668 / 1669 (place unknown), † after 1738 probably Offenbach am Main Very little is known about Douzetemps's life: even his first name was not documented until 1984 (by R. Breymayer). This French Lutheran settled in Germany early in his life as a consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. His book (see below) gives the impression that he associated with people shaped by the spirituality of Quietism and → Pietism. He is reported to have met, in Aachen …
Source: Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Dürckheim, Karlfried

(1,528 words)

Author(s): Hakl, Hans Thomas
Dürckheim, Karlfried Graf von Dürckheim-Montmartin * 24 Jan 1896 (Munich), † 28 Jan 1988 (Todtmoos-Rütte) Dürckheim served in the First World War 1914-1918 and studied Philosophy and Psychology at Munich University from 1919 to 1923. After an educational stay in Italy from 1924 to 1925 he was Assistant of Felix Krüger (1874-1948), founder of “Holistic Psychology”, from 1927 to 1931. He became university teacher in 1930 and was subsequently Professor of Philosophy at Breslau and Kiel Universities. From 1935 on …
Source: Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism

Dutoit-Membrini, Jean-Philippe

(835 words)

Author(s): Faivre, Antoine
Dutoit-Membrini, Jean-Philippe, * 27 Sep 1721 (Moudon near Lausanne), † 21 Jan 1793 (Lausanne) Dutoit-Membrini studied Protestant theology in Lausanne. Later, in 1750, during an illness, he had a mystical experience in which he heard a voice telling him: ‘Thou shalt eat of the flesh of thy Redeemer and drink of His blood’. Shortly after, he vowed never to marry and steeped himself in the writings of Madame Guyon, assisting with the preparation of new editions of her works in forty volumes (1767-1791 [in the M…
Source: Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism