Esoteric Practices in a Reflexive and Critical Perspective

Abstract This article offers some brief comments and critical reflections on the project description for “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective.” While there is much to praise in the proposal, I make three critical suggestions regarding: its definition of esoteric practices; the social and political dimensions of esotericism in its relationship to questions of power, race, and gender; and finally, the ironic “exotericization” and commodification of esotericism in the contemporary global context, where esoteric themes are not only ubiquitous in mainstream venues such as fiction, film, and social media but are also mass produced and sold widely in the consumer marketplace.