Introduction

In the Ticino region of southern Switzerland, on the banks of Lago Maggiore, lies a verdant resort town called Ascona. At the turn of the twentieth century, it became, in the words of historian Noam Zadoff, “a center for alternative trends and marginal movements”—home to “vegetarians, nudists, anarchists, pacifists, modern dance groups, theosophical organizations, Free-masons, Rosicrucians, Anthroposophists, and advocates of psychoanalysis.” Since 1933 Ascona has also been home to the Eranos conferences.

The word “Eranos” stems from Homer's Odyssey, where it describes a banquet to which every attendee contributes. The conferences, in turn, are intellectual potlucks: scholars of religion and mythology, natural scientists, psychologists, philosophers, and members of the public gather yearly under themes related to learned scholarship, mysticism, the occult, and the irrational. And just like a potluck, the “menu” is a surprise, since none of the attendees know beforehand what lectures will be presented and what through lines might emerge from the lecture series. Wouter Hanegraaff has noted that Eranos is best recognized by “its alterity with respect to Enlightenment rationality and modern science.” Likewise, Hans Thomas Hakl suggests that Eranos is “esoteric” in a broad sense, a site for “listening- in to the unknown and potentially dangerous depths of the human consciousness, a process that goes beyond the limits of rationality.” Such a climate, he contends, fosters a “cultic milieu,” a place for a “community of seekers” who view conventional religious institutions and beliefs as inadequate for their lives.

Eranos was founded by the Dutch artist and theosophist Olga Frobe- Kapteyn (1881–1962), with the encouragement of Carl G. Jung. In a letter to mythologist and Eranos participant Joseph Campbell, Fröbe-Kapteyn described the culture of Eranos: “The central theme of every [conference] is an archetypal idea, and the group of speakers formulate their lectures within that frame … The material being what it is—esoteric, a very different standard has to be held. That is why we don't appreciate academic lectures of the old style.” Adolf Portmann, a zoologist and former president of Eranos, further emphasized that the themes were deliberately broad, and speakers were chosen first and foremost for the attitude they brought to Eranos.