ארכיון Magic and paganism - Page 3 of 4 - Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro (PhD)

Encyclopedic entry: “New Age Judaism”

This Encyclopedic entry presents one of the main reseach specialties of Ruah-Midbar Shapiro - The meetingplace of Judaism and New Age spirituality. It includes several exemplifications of the phenomena generated in this meetingplace, such as Jewish Reiki, Jewish Shamanism, Jubu, contemporary alternative spiritual versions of Kabbalah and Hassidism.

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November 14, 2022

Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / State politics and law / Typology and comparative study

Article: Canaanites and Neopagans in Canaan – A Comparison between Two Israeli Movements over the past Century

This study (some 10,500 words, in Hebrew) is a comparative research of two Israeli pafan movements from the last centurt: the Canaanites and the Neopagans. Some surprising similarities, as well as salient differences are revealed, while focusing on questions of land, Identity, politics, gender, and more. The article ends with a table that summarizes the comparison.

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October 6, 2022

Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Disputation or conflict / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

Lecture: “Between Meron and Ashkelon: The Comeback of an Old Witch-Hunt Story”

This lecture opens with the Neo-Shamanism in Israel, and presents two modes in which the local alternative spirituality approaches Judaism - positively and negatively. The lecture focuses on the demonstration of a negative connection with Judaism, in an Israeli Neo-Shaman text. The text is an alternative nrrative of a rabbinic legend of a witch hunt conducted by one of the Rabbis in Ashkelon in the days of the Hasmonean Kingdom. The text was analysed in a few publications (one in English) . The lecture took part at a conference in Zefat Academic College.

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June 1, 2022

Read more about the article Lecture: Kursi, From the Miracle of the Swines site to the Enchanted Bench Site – An Alternative-Spiritual Invention of Tradition Revolving a Christian Site Sponsered by the Israel Nature And Parks Authority

Economy and business / Geography / Israel / Magic and paganism / Methodology and models / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law

Lecture: Kursi, From the Miracle of the Swines site to the Enchanted Bench Site – An Alternative-Spiritual Invention of Tradition Revolving a Christian Site Sponsered by the Israel Nature And Parks Authority

This lecture describes the sanctification process of a (historically Christian) site in the Land of Israel, by the Alternative Spirituality, or Neo-Pagans/Shamans, and analyses the invention of tradition revolving Kursi. In addition to this lecture, there is another one, as well as two articles (in English and Hebrew) that describe different aspects of the sanctification process of Kursi. See links below. The lecture takes part in a research project that deals with the Alternative Sacred Geography of the Land of Israel, by Ruah-Midbar Shapiro. The lecture was included in a session dedicated to "A Geography of Memory", chaired by Anat Kidron, held at the 60th conference of the Israeli Geographical Association - 2020, at the University of Haifa.

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January 31, 2022

Magic and paganism / Mind and psychology / Postmodernism / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: Bio-Medicine and Alternative Medicine – From a Modernistic Paradigm to a Postmodernistic Paradigm

This study compares the conventional bio-medicine's worldview with the one of complementary/alternative medicine, indicating the parallel lines between those worldviews to modernism and postmodernism (respectively). The studt identifies a new and innovative group of therapy, with a logic yet to exist - neiter in the modern nor the traditional world (thus we also present a comparative reference to traditional, pre-modern, therapy). The comparison's focus is the issue of language's role in the therapeutic process. The novel worldview isn't caracteristic to every new or alternative therapy, thus I named this innovative group of therapy methods "the new alternative medicine".

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January 19, 2022

Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Mind and psychology / Postmodernism / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Article: Abracadabra! Postmodern Therapeutic Methods – Language as a Neo-Magical Tool

"There are only two things in the world – nothing and semantics." (Werner Erhard) This paper (some 6,000 words) argues that a new genre of therapy has appeared in the arena of contemporary spiritual alternative healing, which expresses an outlook never-before-seen in the history of medicine: postmodern therapy. Postmodern therapeutic methods (PTMs) express a popularization of postmodernist philosophy in regards to language and its role in the therapeutic process. These methods will be illustrated, and then analyzed in comparison to two other groups of methods: traditional magic, and modern medicine. In addition, we shall characterize PTMs as neo-magic, as they exercise the psychologization and rationalization of magic.

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January 17, 2022

Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Identity / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Mind and psychology / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

Lecture: Lilith’s Comeback in Contemporary Feminist Spiritualities

What a glorious career did Lilith had in thousands of years! Alas, always as a negative and dark image… However, in the last decades, in the feminist spirituality she's actually admired. So, what does she represent for the contemporary feminist spirituality? Not one thing, but rather different things. The lecture presents a research, that was also published in an Article. See below links to relevant items. The lecture took place at a panel on "New Religious Movements" at the 2nd Annual Conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religion, dedicated to the Scriptures (their nature and place in religions). The conference was conducted at Bar Ilan University on March 11th-12th, 2018. This conference's session took place in English. For the conference's program in English.

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January 16, 2022

Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Identity / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Mind and psychology / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

A lecture: Lilith’s Image in Contemporary Feminist Spirituality and its Meanings

"Lilith sets inspiration fo women and men in the contemporary femenist spirituality, a sourse of theological/thealogical imagination, and an image for mimicry." This lecture, on Lilith's Image in Contemporary Feminist Spirituality, took part inSchocken Institute for Jewish Research's workshop on Feminine Spiritual Leadership. The research was awarded a scholarship from the Institute. The research project on Lilith includes more articles and lectures.

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January 16, 2022

Disputation or conflict / Feminism gender and sex / Israel / Magic and paganism / Popular culture and mass media

A Report on Neo-Shamanism in Israel

The report surveys the neo-shaman movement in Israel, approximately at 2014. Due to the dynamic nature and growth of the movement, currently the Israeli neo-shamanic picture is a bit different than described. The report includes an explanation on neo-shamanism as a global phenomenon, a description of neo-shaman centers in Israel, reference to the mass media's coverage of the movement and criticism of the later, as well as a short bibliographic list. The report was written as part of the activity issued by MEIDA center - An Israeli Information Center gor Contemporary Religions, sponsered by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (inspired by the British INFORM Centre.

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January 14, 2022

Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Disputation or conflict / Feminism gender and sex / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media / Typology and comparative study

Article: The Witch Hunt in Ashkelon as Retold by Contemporary Spiritualities: From Embarrassment to Treasure Trove

Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, dozens of witches operated at the promiscuous city Ashkelon. This study (some 8,000 words; and a similar one published in English - as follows) deals with contemporary spiritual interpretations of an ancient Jewish legend - on a witch hunt executed by Rabbi Shim'on ben Shatach at Ashkelon in the 2nd century B.C.. It presents a comparison of three spiritual leaders in Israel, each re-designing the old story in a different way, thus expressing various values - in relation to Judaism, to their feminism's character, and to the place of magic in the world. The article was published in the anthology "Between Times - Ritual and Text in a Changing Society", edited by Haim Hazan, Rachel Shar'abi, and Inbal Esther Sikurel, in the Hermeneutics and Cuture series at Carmel publishimg house.

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January 5, 2022