Menzel, B., Hagemeister, M. and Rosenthal, B. (eds) (2012) The New Age of Russia. Occult and Esoteric Dimensions. Munchen, Berlin: Verlag Otto Sagner. - 451 p. Russia has always had, and still has, a reputation for a fluid, misty, mystically tinged spirituality; you will find it easy to detect various forms of irrational feelings and ideas here, since the space outlined for the rational is comparatively limited. Almost any original, independent system of thought rushes into the muddy waves that carry the esoteric and occult into the sea. For you as a researcher, this is a great opportunity, rich material, but at the same time - a temptation, because you are enchanted by your enchanted material and, page 308if the hour is not even, you may lose your sense of proportion, and the boundaries of your research will begin to slip away before your eyes. You begin by saying that the occult and esoteric are all things that do not fit into the" official mainstream " of religion, art, and science, all things that are suspended somewhere at the intersection between these three areas... (While, of course, we must remember how difficult it is to determine what is, actually ,the "official mainstream" in all these three cases). Finally, you are immersed in the vague teachings of a vague movement like "Roerichism" or "cosmism" with their imperfect identity, and you are faced with the difficult task of describing this phenomenon without losing the minimal coherence that your subject itself lacks. So here's what we end up with: a certain nebula in a kaleidoscope of other nebulae in the midst of a nebula-prone culture. All of this poses difficult challenges for the authors of the book under review. By the way, the compilers of the collection are fully aware of the problem: Birgit Menzel explains that the term New Age in the title was chosen as a metaphor to replace a difficult-to-achieve precise definition; she refers to researchers of the Western New Age, who call it a "theoretical con ... Read more