18 - A Small-Town Health Centre in Sweden: Perspectives on the Western Esotericism Debate

Summary

In this chapter I intend to discuss some features prominent on the contemporary spiritual (or post-secular) scene in Sweden in the context of the Western esotericism debate, as well as to relate parts of the research on Western esotericism to selected research about new religious movements and contemporary expressions of religion.

The concept of Western esotericism has been used in a number of different ways. In this chapter various themes are discussed from several of these perspectives, (sometimes in relation to each other): the dynamics of religious change, the relationship between Western esotericism and mainstream/established churches, and individual inner experience. These and related themes are also important in two theoretical perspectives about new religious movements and contemporary expressions of religion discussed in this chapter: Stark and Bainbridge's theory of religion, and Riis and Woodhead's approach to the sociology of emotion. These themes form the central discussion in the present chapter.

The empirical material used for this study derives from a local mapping project of religion and worldviews that I have been conducting in Sweden since 2008. Dalarna is a local area in Sweden, situated around 250 km northwest of Stockholm, with about 270,000 inhabitants. All groups with religious social activities or meetings with some kind of religious connotation in a broad sense (with two or more participants present) have been mapped, with special focus on activities outside traditional Christianity. In this study, I make use of a semi-structured interview with Anette Hansson, a life yoga teacher and stress therapist.