Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Energy healing refers to a globalising market of healing rituals that aim to stimulate the clients’ self-healing process. In the context of healing, the term ‘energy’ has multi-layered meanings and may denote physical, psychological, social, as well as spiritual principles of restoring well-being. This article demonstrates how the idea of energy as a healing agent was embedded within the occult cosmology and anthropology of the British-American post-Theosophist Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949). Applying historical discourse analysis, Bailey’s impact on the emergence of energy healing is examined. Her theory of energy is explored against the backdrop of her esoteric grand narrative. It is demonstrated how Bailey’s principles of energy formed the basis for her vision of a “medicine of the future”. A concluding discussion proves the global influence of Bailey’s ‘energetic turn’ and how it modelled the approach of major holistic actors of the later twentieth century.
Source: Religions
DOI: 10.3390/rel16050643
Author: Dominic S. Zoehrer
Institution: University of Vienna
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W4410522982