The Occult and Holy Men in A New Age: MEMO in Conversation with Raphael Cormack

After a new age spirituality movement sprung up in the West in the late 19th century, the wisdom of Egyptian holy men, the healers of Palestine and the fakirs of the Ottomans were highly sought after from clubs in New York to Paris. Joining us to discuss how things changed in the West and the Middle East is the author of a book on the Middle East's own new age moment.

A new book 'Holy men of the Electromagnetic Age' aims to shake up how we see the history of new age spirituality. While we tend to associate seances, mind-reading, healing crystals, magic and spiritual sciences with a new age movement that sprang up in the West and which took some inspiration from India and the East in the 1960s, an entire global movement towards new age spirituality took off in the late 19th century and by the 1920s had reached a new height. A forgotten part of the new occult movement is the men of the Middle East that helped shape it. The wisdom of Egyptian holy men, the healers of Palestine and the fakirs of the Ottomans were highly sought after from clubs in New York to Paris. Eager young men and refugees sought to make their fortune in the West from performances that included mind reading and communing with the dead. They were seen as spiritual healers, who brought with them esoteric knowledge of the unseen world known to eastern wisdom, but forgotten by Western materialism. While the West was gripped by theosophy, the Middle East too experienced its own new age moment, where old assumptions were turned on their head. Joining us is the book's author Raphael Cormack. 

Cormack is Assistant Professor of Arabic at Durham University. He is a writer, editor and translator. His first book, 'Midnight in Cairo', is a history of Cairo's early 20th century entertainment industry told from the perspective of its female stars. 'Holy Men of the Electromagnetic Age' is his second book.

Special announcement: It has been quite a ride, MEMO Conversations was founded five-years ago and has been a core production for Middle East Monitor. Great guests, conversations and wonderful hosts have created a truly engaging product. Producer and host Usman Butt has been at the heart of running the show, however, the time has come for Usman to move on and we wish him the best of luck.