Proximal Authority: The Changing Role of Leah Hirsig in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema, 1919–1930

Abstract In 1920, the Swiss-American music teacher and occultist Leah Hirsig (1883–1975) was appointed ‘Scarlet Woman’ by the British occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), founder of the religion Thelema. In this role, Hirsig was Crowley’s right-hand woman during a formative period in the Thelemic...

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主要作者: Hedenborg White, Manon 1990- (Author)
格式: 电子 文件
语言:English
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出版: Brill 2021
In: Aries
Year: 2021, 卷: 21, 发布: 1, Pages: 69-93
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Crowley, Aleister 1875-1947 / 泰勒玛 / Hirsig, Leah 1883-1975 / 权威 / 宗教领袖 / 附近
IxTheo Classification:AA Study of religion
AZ New religious movements
Further subjects:B proximal authority
B Max Weber
B Leah Hirsig
B Thelema
B Aleister Crowley
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总结:Abstract In 1920, the Swiss-American music teacher and occultist Leah Hirsig (1883–1975) was appointed ‘Scarlet Woman’ by the British occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), founder of the religion Thelema. In this role, Hirsig was Crowley’s right-hand woman during a formative period in the Thelemic movement, but her position shifted when Crowley found a new Scarlet Woman in 1924. Hirsig’s importance in Thelema gradually declined, and she distanced herself from the movement in the late 1920s. The article analyses Hirsig’s changing status in Thelema 1919–1930, proposing the term proximal authority as an auxiliary category to Max Weber’s tripartite typology. Proximal authority is defined as authority ascribed to or enacted by a person based on their real or perceived relational closeness to a leader. The article briefly draws on two parallel cases so as to demonstrate the broader applicability of the term in highlighting how relational closeness to a leadership figure can entail considerable yet precarious power.
ISSN:1570-0593
Contains:Enthalten in: Aries
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700593-02101008