Om-gnosis Episode 16: Kundalini, Subtle Energies, and Divine Machines with Marleen Thaler
Join host Keith Edward Cantú for this episode of Om-gnosis: The Occult South Asia Podcast, featuring Marleen Thaler, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Graz and the University of Vienna’s Research Centre “Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society.” With a diverse background in religious studies, social and cultural anthropology, and Oriental studies, Thaler has served as a scholar-in-residence at the Esalen Institute and held fellowships in Zurich and Santa Barbara.
In this interview, Thaler discusses her extensive research into the modern history of kuṇḍalinī, describing how her work with mentor Prof. Karl Baier led her to investigate the “serpent power” through the lens of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She outlines the three waves of kuṇḍalinī research—from early Theosophical translations in the 1880s to the empirical surge of the 1920s and the heyday sparked by Gopi Krishna in the late twentieth century.
The conversation broadens to the academic study of the Occult, where Thaler distinguishes between early modern esotericism and occultism as a specifically nineteenth-century category linked to experimental spirituality and scientific discourse. She also introduces her newly released co-edited volume, Subtle Energies, which explores how concepts of invisible forces were globalized across healing, politics, and the arts.
Finally, Thaler reveals her latest project, “Divine Devices,” which examines the use of machines in alternative religion. She details three fascinating categories of these devices: machines for vitality, electrophysiological tools for measuring chakras (such as those by Hiroshi Motoyama), and "imagined machines" found in UFO and extraterrestrial encounters.
Tune in for an intellectual conversation through the archives of experimental spirituality, from the laboratories of energy healers to South Asia-related occult research.