The Occult Revival as Popular Culture: Some Random Observations on the Old and the Nouveau Witch

Truzzi, Marcello

doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1971.tb01828.x

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Daily horoscopes promulgated in print and online media represent the cultural reifi cation of astrological sun signs, implicitly making the case that the zodiac predicts personality and behavior. Hence, modern communication has allowed astrology to hold its value as a heuristic scheme for understanding the complicated universe in which we live ( Truzzi, 1972 ). Not long ago, a study by Adel, Hossain, and Johnson (2013 ) found a link between astrological sun sign and celebrity.…”

Section: The Debate Over the Association Between Sun Sign And Celebritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrology as a Culturally Transmitted Heuristic Scheme for Understanding Seasonality Effects: A Response to ,

Hamilton¹

2015

Comprehensive Psychology

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Astrology is a popular and resilient heuristic scheme for making sense of complex patterns in nature. Astrological heuristics are conveyed through communication in print and online media. Recent research found that the ecliptic longitude of sun signs predicts the frequency of celebrities-per-sign. A subsequent critique, however, attributed this large positive eff ect to methodological artifacts. The present study puts the alleged artifact hypotheses to an empirical test. One of the artifact hypotheses was sharply rejected, and no empirical support could be found for the second. Causal modeling indicated that although relative age in school (comparative maturity) increased the number of celebrities-persign, this eff ect on fame was largely mediated by ecliptic longitude sequence (ELS) and two other seasonal birth heuristics-wetness of sign (determined by astrological elements) and brightness of sign (determined by sign duality). Birth during depth of season, calculated from quality of sign, also increased celebrities-per-sign. The analysis found strong support for a mediation model with astrological aspects acting as personality proxies, although further research is needed to replicate these eff ects on celebrity.

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Section: The Debate Over the Association Between Sun Sign And Celebritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrology as a Culturally Transmitted Heuristic Scheme for Understanding Seasonality Effects: A Response to ,

Hamilton¹

2015

Comprehensive Psychology

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“…This is so-called birth of the spiritualist movement marked by the rappings heard by the Fox sisters in 1848, and this period of interest lasted into the 1870s. This was followed by peaks of popular interest in the 1920s, 1940s, and 1970s (Berger, 1944;Braude, 2001;Pace, 1974;Pileggi, 1970;Truzzi, 1972).…”

Section: Men Power and Spirit "Revivals"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Out the Dead: Gender and Historical Cycles of Spiritualism

Scheitle

2005

Omega (Westport)

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Interest in the spirit world has blossomed since the 1990s. Four in 10 Americans claim to have been in touch with the dead. Mainstream movies featuring ghosts have made millions, television shows featuring mediums are broadcast throughout the country, books concerning the spirit world have made the New York Times bestsellers list, and the deceased have been increasingly put to work by Madison Avenue. Developed here is a theory of the relations between historical cycles of spiritualism, women's interest in that movement, and how that is related to women's visibility and power within society. It is argued that women have historically had a fairly constant interest in the spirit world. Spiritualism's current popularity is a result of women having more power and visibility, giving the spirit world a prominence in society that it previous only had during spiritualism “boom” periods when men became interested.

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“…They all depict heroes and/or antiheroes meeting supernatural characters or travelling in fantasy worlds or, at the very extreme, changing into supernatural creatures. Truzzi (1972) notes the increasing use and familiarity with the paranormal in popular culture, e.g. the phenomenon of teenagers spending the night ghost watching in supposedly haunted houses.…”

Section: Cultural Consumption Of Contemporary Popular Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Consumption of History and Popular Culture in Alternative Spiritualities

Possamaï

2002

Journal of Consumer Culture

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Some practices in alternative spiritualities - for example, New Age and neopaganism - have been criticized by social commentators and some indigenous people for their appropriation of indigenous cultures, such as those of Australian Aborigines and North American Indians. This article argues that appropriation is not limited to indigenous cultures but is part of a larger phenomenon, that of cultural consumption of selected parts of history. This cultural consumption is not confined to history but extends to contemporary popular culture; for example, groups who find spiritual inspiration in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu mythos), vampire stories and the science fiction (SF) novel by Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, which inspired the Church of All Worlds. This article provides an insight into the cultural consumption of history and popular culture by people involved in alternative spiritualities. It is argued that this eclectic cultural consumption produces new and subjective myths in contemporary western culture.

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The Occult Revival as Popular Culture: Some Random Observations on the Old and the Nouveau Witch

Cited by 12 publications

References 33 publications

Astrology as a Culturally Transmitted Heuristic Scheme for Understanding Seasonality Effects: A Response to ,

Astrology as a Culturally Transmitted Heuristic Scheme for Understanding Seasonality Effects: A Response to ,

Bringing Out the Dead: Gender and Historical Cycles of Spiritualism

Cultural Consumption of History and Popular Culture in Alternative Spiritualities

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