Asiatica Association

"Gnostika – Magazine for symbolic systems", by Hans Thomas Hakl (co-editor).

This magazine was originally created in  1997 to introduce the German speaking public to the world of academic esotericism. There existed a lot of general esoteric or New Age magazines in the area, but none of them treated astrology, magic, alchemy, kabbalah, mysticism, witchcraft etc. from an academic historical, philosophical, sociological and interdisciplinary point of view while keeping an attentive eye on international developments. At that time only Antoine Faivre had a regular chair of modern mystical currents at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes  (Sorbonne).

In the meantime the field has known an immense success. Personalities like Wouter Hanegraaff, Marco Pasi and Peter Forshaw (all of them teaching at the University of Amsterdam), Jean-Pierre Brach, Jean-Pierre Laurant (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, Nicholas Goodrick Clarke, Christopher McIntosh from the University of Exeter, Moshe Idel formerly from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem or Joscelyn Godwin (Colgate University, Madison, NY), Arthur Versluis (Michigan State University) and Jeffrey Kripal (Rice University, Houston, TX) do intensive research and spread their knowledge world-wide.

Gnostika is still the only magazine covering this field in Germanic countries. Twice a year paper copies of about 120 pages are issued. It publishes fundamental  articles by the leading experts, interviews with the protagonists of Western esotericism (as mentioned above) and as a speciality Gnostika reprints rare documents or important old sources in the fields of alchemy, magic and secret societies. Gnostika, however, is not restricted to Western esotericism. It also includes religious and philosophical studies, as indicated by its subtitle: magazine for symbolic systems.

The editor in chief is Dr. Wolfram Frietsch. Dr. Hans Thomas Hakl is co-editor.

Further information including an index of all numbers: http://www.aagw-gnostika.de