The Origins of Tantra in Europe: Constructed Authority, Claimed Authenticity and Creative Adaptation

Contemporary Tantra in Europe can be understood as a field (in the Bourdieusian sense of the word) where ‘religious specialists' compete for the attention of laypersons/consumers. Often, this happens through construction of authority and claims to authenticity, though some actors or organizations prefer to invoke innovative adaptation.

This paper will map the origins of ideas and practices present within contemporary Tantra in Europe, using material produced through qualitative interviews with teachers, as well as text material written by well-known actors and organizations within the field. The paper will show that, although European Tantra teachers have been influenced by an array of sources (and often claim individual creative freedom), a few actors and/or organizations remain in common to most of them, resulting in a field that can be described as simultaneously diverse and homogenous. Further, this paper will highlight the tendency among both practitioners and scholars of Tantra to create and maintain a division between so-called ‘neo' and ‘classical' or ‘popular' and ‘erudite' forms of Tantra. Leaning on Carola E. Lorea and Rohit Singh's use of the concept tantricking as “an ever-changing and complex array of things people do” (2023, 9) it will challenge the 'trope of loss' which projects authenticity into the bygone past and demonstrate that streams referred to as ‘neo' and ‘classical' are in fact heavily entangled.