Universalia, the Society of Czechoslovak Hermeticists

Abstract The article discusses the reception of occultism in Central Europe through a case study of the most sophisticated Czech occult society, Universalia: The Society of Czechoslovak Hermeticist. Established in the Czechoslovak Republic of the 1920s, dissolved by the Nazi regime in 1941, and subsequently revived in the 1990s, Universalia significantly shaped the Czech occult milieu through publishing and lecturing activities. The article focuses primarily on how the French occult milieu shaped local Czech occultism, exploring two extremes within Universalia’s leadership: universalism and nationalism. The article tracks these tendencies through discursive historical analysis, paying attention to the topoi related to occultism, universalism, the Czech nation, Slavic ethnicity, and national myths, along with notions of initiation, corruption of society, and the exclusivity of occult ideas and practices. It shows which discursive strategies underlined either universalism or nationalism and charts a balanced image of Universalia and the Czechoslovak occult milieu between 1890 and 1942.