Prana.
Zentralorgan fur praktischen Okkultismus / Organ fur angewandte Geheimwissenschaften / Zentralorgan fur Forderung der Theosophischen Bewegung / Monatsschrift zu Forderung der okkultistischen Bewegung / Monatlich erschienene Zeitschrift fur den Okkultismus und aller Geheimwissenschaften.
1909—1919 Monthly
Leipzig, Germany. Language: German. Publisher: Theosophisches Verlagshaus Leipzig; Dr. Hugo Vollraths Verlag; Psychologischer Verlag Dr. Hugo Vollrath. Editor: Karl Brandler-Pracht and Johannes Balzli; and then "Dr. Johannes Walter" (Hugo Vollrath).

Succeeds: Gesundes Leben und harmonische Kultur (1913?) 1/1, October 1909-1919. 32 pp.

This was a product of the Theosophical Publishing House in Leipzig, organized in 1906 by Hugo Vollrath with the approval and support of Franz Hartmann. In addition to this journal the publisher issued Theosophie, Astrologische Rundschau, Der Wanderer, Weg zum Licht, and many other, similar journals. The journal carried the expected Theosophical exposition (on "Tatwas," for example), but was as its subtitle indicated primarily interested in "practical occultism," with articles on astrology, graphology, numerology, control of the will, etc., interspersed with occult novelettes by Brandler-Pracht and notes on the evils of vaccination. Most notably, the journal carried a detailed attack on the English Prof. Zazra, warning German readers against his confidence games. Vollrath lured Brandler-Pracht away from the Zentralblatt fur Okkultismus to edit his new Prana, and Brandler-Pracht apparently returned the favor by bringing with him the mailing list of the Zentralblatt to ensure the success of the new venture. After the First World War, Prana carried for a period Vollrath's Theosophie as a special supplement. Dr. Hugo Vollrath (1877-1943) was involved in all of the internecine fights within the T.S. in Germany around Franz Hartmann, Rudolf Steiner and Annie Besant. (He was expelled from Steiner's s German Section of the Adyar Theosophical Society for dishonesty and immoral conduct.) During his career Vollrath began various publishing ventures (Dr. Hugo Vollrath Verlag; Theosophisches Verlagshaus Dr. Hugo Vollrath; Buddhistischer Verlag Dr. Hugo Vollrath; Theosophische Central-Buchhandlung Dr. Hugo Vollrath; Astrologisches Verlagshaus Dr. Hugo Vollrath; Zentrale fur Reform-Literatur Dr. Hugo Vollrath; Psychologisches Verlagshaus; etc.) and edited a great variety of healthy-living, Theosophical, parapsychological, and astrological journals. See "Hugo Vollrath," online at http://www.blavatskaja.de/vollrath.htm, and especially Ellic Howe, Astrology: A Recent History including the Untold Story of its Role in World War II (1968). He was primarily an astrologer, and added Astrologische Rundschau (another of Karl Brandler-Pracht's endeavors) to Prana as a supplement, and also published Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychische Forchung (1910-1912). He joined the Nazi party in 1933, and used astrology to justify racial theories of Nordic superiority. On Brandler-Pracht, see the note under Zentralblatt fur Okkultismus. Balzli was a biographer of Guido von List. The journal carried contributions by Franz Hartmann, Elsbeth Ebertin Annie Besant, "Peryt Shou" (Albert Christian Georg Schultz, 1873-1953), Arthur Grobe-Wutischky, Swami Abhedananda, and others. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; Sudwestdeutscher Bibliotheksverbund; ZDB: Freiburg Inst Grenzgeb Psychol; Berlin SBB Haus Unter d.Linden; Berlin SBB Haus Potsdamer Str; Munster UuLB; Leipzig DNB.

IAPSOP materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
IAPSOP respects people's privacy and personal data rights.