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9780190065027

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This work is notably original, a pioneering comparative historical and ethnographic study of Babalon as a discursive construct, a lived reality among Crowleyite circles, and a challenge to the general concept of esoteric female deities, who are usually not so challenging, violent, or transgressive. There is nothing of comparable quality or depth in existence. * Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Sydney * A transgressive goddess, erotic rituals, a notorious occultist with countless male and female lovers- the Thelemic religion is perfect fodder for sensational cliches about sex and the occult. Here, we finally have a book that approaches the subject equipped with meticulous primary-source research and the cutting edge of gender and sexuality studies. Anyone with an interest in the complex gender configurations of modern occultism needs to read this book. * Egil Asprem, Associate Professor in the History of Religions, Stockholm University * Combining rigorous textual analysis with pioneering field work, Hedenborg White reveals the significance of the goddess Babalon within Thelemic history, thought, and practice. Beyond this single-deity focus, she also offers keen, urgent, and provocative insights into the stakes of feminism, femininities, and queer identity within contemporary Western esotericism more broadly. The Eloquent Blood is the most important work of gender and esotericism studies since Alex Owen's The Darkened Room (1989). * Christine Ferguson, author of Determined Spirits: Eugenics, Heredity, and Racial Regeneration in Anglo-American Spiritualist Writing, 1848-1930 *

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Manon Hedenborg White holds a PhD in the History of Religions from Uppsala University (Sweden). Awarded an international postdoctoral grant from the Swedish Research Council, she is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Södertörn University (Sweden). She is currently a guest researcher at the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. Her research explores issues of gender and sexuality in modern Western esotericism, occultism, and new religious movements.

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