Calling the Soul Back: Embodied Spirituality in Chicanx Narrative by Christina Garcia Lopez (review)

Abstract

lay readership—transmitting the magical to the masses—The Winged Bull is imbued with conservative views of gender roles, contempt of ‘abnormal’ sexuality, and nationalist and racist themes. Ultimately, the willingness to look beyond surfacelevel readings of Dion Fortune presents an honest, comprehensive study. The final three chapters of Occult Imagination are connected through British spiritualism. Aren Roukema studies the formative occult influences upon the science fiction genre, using Emma Hardinge Britten’s Ghost Land—in which spiritualist themes feature prominently—to illustrate the bricolage of occult and scientific tropes. In the eleventh chapter, Massimo Introvigne discusses the artistic techniques employed in the creation of the Theosophical Society’s portraits of the Masters. Introvigne notes that these techniques were similar to those of ‘spirit painting,’ a spiritualist phenomenon in which mediums produce portraits of deceased individuals that they ‘see’ or are guided by. In the final chapter, Steven J. Sutcliff discusses the intersections of spiritualism, literature, and the ‘occult imagination’ in his study of the fiction of David Lindsay. For instance, Lindsay’s novel Arcturus begins with a séance, and The Haunted Woman, equating spiritualism with “artifice and greasepaint” (237), features a spiritualist main character involved in occult circles. The compatibility of this section’s chapters makes a strong case for spiritualist influences upon art and literature. Overall, Occult Imagination is an accessible and engaging contribution to esoteric studies, especially successful at conveying occult entanglements with popular culture (via literature, tabloids, etc.) during Britain’s Occult Revival. While the boundary lines between the book’s four sections are not impermeable, and there is much overlap among the twelve chapters, this arguably works to the collection’s advantage, presenting the ‘occult imagination’ as a liminal and roving specter—haunting museums, courtrooms, the arts, and the masses.