From theosophy to Nazi occultism

German occult periodical Prana was issued by the Theosophical Publishing House in Leipzig, organized in 1906 by Hugo Vollrath with the approval and support of theosophist Franz Hartmann.

Hugo Vollrath (1877-1943)

In addition to this journal the publisher issued Theosophie, Astrologische Rundschau, Der Wanderer, Weg zum Licht, and other journals. The magazine published Theosophical materials, but as its subtitle indicated, it was 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.

Vollrath convinced Brandler-Pracht to leave the Zentralblatt fur Okkultismus to edit Prana. Brandler-Pracht brought 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 while Vollrath's Theosophie as a supplement. Vollrath was involved in all the fights within the Theosophical Society in Germany around Franz Hartmann, Rudolf Steiner and Annie Besant. He was expelled from Steiner'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 health-living, Theosophical, parapsychological, and astrological journals.

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. The journal carried contributions by Balzli, a biographer of Austrian ariosophist Guido von List, Franz Hartmann, Elsbeth Ebertin Annie Besant, "Peryt Shou" (Albert Christian Georg Schultz, 1873-1953), Arthur Grobe-Wutischky, Swami Abhedananda, and others.

Currently there's one issue digitized at IAPSOP.