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© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004Aries Vol. 4, no. 1
THE ESOTERIC USES OF ELECTRICITY:THEOLOGIES OF ELECTRICITY FROM SWABIAN PIETISM TOARIOSOPHYN
ICHOLAS
G
OODRICK
-C
LARKE
Intrinsic to the Western esoteric tradition since its European revival in the Ren-aissance is a dialogue between natural philosophy and religion. Antoine Faivrehas identified the key notions of Western esotericism in correspondences be-tween the macrocosm and the microcosm, a living nature, intermediaries andthe transmutation of the soul
1
. Based on these “forms of knowledge”, esoteri-cism is necessarily directed towards the relationship between man and the uni-verse, and the interconnections between all parts of nature. In particular, theidea of a living nature predisposes esotericism especially towards concepts of energy as an origin of divine power; a means for the communication and trans-ference of this power throughout nature; and the spiritual illumination or inspi-ration of man.Throughout history light typically fulfilled this role as an intangible, ubiq-uitous and life-enhancing form of energy. During the Middle Ages, a meta-physics of light governed cosmology, epistemology and even Gothic architec-ture. However, the discovery of magnetism and electricity supplied a newmetaphor for the presence of divine power in the world from the seventeenthcentury onwards. The invisible power of magnetism and electricity, the attrac-tion of opposite poles, and its dramatic manifestation in the form of lightningsuggested a mysterious, powerful and awesome symbol for God.Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Rudolf Goclenius (1572-1621) had offeredearly evaluations of magnetism as a mysterious force of nature and referred tothe remedial effects of the magnet. The most comprehensive work on magnet-ism in the seventeenth century was written by Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680).His book
 Magnes sive de arte magnetica opus tripartium
(1643) comprisedthree books. The first book treats of the nature and characteristics of magnet-ism; the second deals with its practical application in various areas of technol-ogy. The third book depicts magnetism as an elemental force of nature. Kircherunderstood magnetism as one of the elemental forces that holds the world to-gether. A significant change in Kircher’s conception of God occurred as a resultof his interest in magnetism. Impersonal aspects in his idea of God began to
1
Faivre,
 Access to Western Esotericism
, 10-15.
 
70
NICHOLAS
 
GOODRICK
-
CLARKE
prevail over an orthodox notion of an individual personal deity. Through hiswork on magnetism, Kircher regarded God as an all-pervasive, radiant power,which gives life, forms and sustains everything. One detects a shift from theidea of the divine magnet to that of a magnetic, all-pervasive power. This shift inemphasis becomes manifest in the pansophical theology of nature and signalsan early stage in the transition to the Romantic philosophy of nature.Ernst Benz was the first scholar to identify the “theology of electricity”amongst a group of 18
th
-century Swabian Pietist theosophers. Benz was alsoconcerned with the interrelationship of the religious and scientific conscious-ness. In particular, he proposed to show that the ‘discovery of electricity andthe simultaneous discovery of magnetic and galvanic phenomena were accom-panied by a most significant change in the image of God’. He also claimed thatthese discoveries led to a ‘completely new understanding of the relation of body and soul, of spirit and matter’
2
. The purpose of this paper is to trace thetransformation of the theology of electricity from its Swabian Pietist originsthrough 19
th
-century scientific occultism by examining its role in the Theoso-phy of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and the racial esotericism of Jörg Lanz vonLiebenfels.1.
The Theology of Electricity in Swabian Pietist Theosophy
In the creation story in the Book of Genesis, the Lord first creates Light, andthree days and three nights are said to pass before he creates the sun, the moonand the stars. What then is this first Light? The interpretation of the first light inGenesis was a concern of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782), the lead-ing Swabian Pietist, whose interests embraced the theosophy of Jacob Boehme,alchemy, the Kabbalah, and the visionary revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg
3
.It was in mid-18
th
century Germany, among Protestant Pietist theologians andscientists, that a self-conscious Theology of Electricity was elaborated as anesoteric doctrine relating to cosmology, anthropology and scriptural exegesis.Besides Oetinger, its other leading figures were Prokop Divisch (1696-1765)and Johann Ludwig Fricker (1729-1766). Ernst Benz has extensively docu-mented this particular group of theosophers and their speculations on electric-ity, while Antoine Faivre has since provided detailed commentaries on theirwork in the context of natural magic and
 Naturphilosophie
4
.
2
Benz,
The Theology of Electricity
, 2.
3
On Oetinger see Weyer-Menkhoff,
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger 
and Benz,
Swedenborg in Deutschland 
.
4
Benz,
The Theology of Electricity,
27-44; Faivre,
Philosophie de la Nature
; Faivre,
‘Magia Naturalis’
; Oetinger, ‘Extraits’; Rösler,
Commentaire
.
 
THE
 
ESOTERIC
 
USES
 
OF
 
ELECTRICITY
71It is significant that these theologians were also practising scientists, ac-tively contributing to the discovery of electrical phenomena. Born in Moravia,Prokop Divisch became a member of the Premonstratensian Order, which en-couraged his studies in natural science. Later, as the Roman Catholic priest of Prendiz near Znaim (Znojmo) he studied meteorology and wrote his work onmeteorological electricity. He also invented the first lightning conductor.Fricker had studied theology and natural sciences at Tübingen. As a Protestantpastor in Württemberg, he continued his mathematical studies and helped con-struct an astronomical clock, which displayed the movements of the solar sys-tem. A frequent visitor to Oetinger’s parsonage at Walddorf, Fricker joined inthe latter’s chemical researches. Oetinger combined his theological interestswith a knowledge of the latest developments in astronomy, geology, botanyand zoology. He pursued his own experiments in alchemy and electricity. In1770 he published a work on the links between metaphysics and chemistry.Wishing to exploit the salt deposits of the district, Duke Karl Eugen of Würt-temberg favoured his appointment as prelate and abbot of Murrhardt Abbey inview of his scientific knowledge.The new philosophy of life, which Oetinger developed and based on histheory of electricity, involved a new interpretation of the story of Creation.Oetinger believed that the divine word of the Bible presents a document of theself-realization of God. In his introduction to Divisch’s famous work,
Theorievon der meteorologischen Electricité 
(1765), Oetinger set about an interpreta-tion of Genesis Chapter One with reference to the first light. What was thislight and what became of it? His enquiry led to a new understanding of therelationship between spirit and matter, God and nature. Benz has commentedat length on Oetinger’s conclusions as follows. Firstly, Oetinger asserts thatthe first light of the first day is the “electrical fire”, which spreads out overchaos as a stimulating, warming and form-giving life principle. It penetratesall matter and finally fuses with matter itself. Secondly, the electrical fire,added to matter itself, is the life principle that repeatedly generates new forms,that wants to manifest itself again and again in new living shapes. Thirdly, it isno less than the principle of evolution that was part of Creation from the begin-ning and that manifests itself as a principle of “natural creation”. Next to the“first creation” in the genesis through the will of God comes the “natural crea-tion”, whose seed was laid in the lap of matter by God Himself and whichcontained the subsequent creation of all forms of life. Benz sees this idea as thebirth of the idea of evolution in modern European thought
5
.Oetinger identifies the light of the first day as the
Spiritus mundi
or the
5
Ibid., 45-46.
of 00

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Panchoff

An excellent article. would be interesting to read his bibliographic source

reply10 / 17 / 2010
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