About me
I am a scholar of religion and esotericism. I have received a degree of candidate of sciences in philosophy at Moscow State University (Russia) in 2015. My dissertation focused on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and attempted to represent its doctrines in the context of fin de siècle European philosophy. Since 2018 I continue my research as a graduate student at Rice University (Houston, TX). I also serve as a board member of the Association for the Study of Esotericism and Mysticism, a non-profit scholarly organization created to promote development of esoteric studies in post-Soviet region.
My primary field of expertise is the study of modern and contemporary Western esoteric currents. Topics that I have addressed before include Wicca, Thelema, Theosophy, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. My current research, however, deals primarily with the history of esoteric groups in the Soviet Union, especially during the late-Soviet period (1953 – 1991).
I am also interested in a wide gamut of theoretical problems related to the study of esotericism such as psychological dimension of esoteric practices and historical interactions between philosophy, science, and esotericism. On a more practical level, I am interested in mechanisms of construction of ideologies, issues of freedom of religion and belief, conspiracy theories, and religious fundamentalism.
Recent publications
- Esoteric Poetry in the Late USSR: The Case of Jan Koltunov. CEENASWE 2, 2018
- Astral Karate as a Phenomenon of Late-Soviet Esoteric Underground. Open Theology, 2017
- Cosmic Feminine in "Synthetic Esoteric Philosophy" of Vladimir Shmakov. La Rosa di Paracelso, 2017
- Reception of Audio-Visual Entrainment in Contemporary Esoteric Doctrines. ASEM 8, 2017 (with Julija Kobrinovich)
- Insider and the Academia: the Past and the Future of "Going Native in Reverse" in the Study of Esotericism. Aliter, 2015
Digital humanities
My interests include intersections between humanities and comptuter science. I am writing programs in several programming languages, focusing on JavaScript, PHP, and Python. This section shows a list of my recent programming projects some of which are in active development.
Timelines
A collection of timelines of the history of religion, philosophy, and esotericism that might be helpful for students and scholars.
Al-Kindi Dictionary
The Latin lookup module is intended as a quick reference tool for readers of a treatise De Radiis written by a medieval philosopher al-Kindi, one of the key primary sources in the history of magic.