Sasha Chaitow

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Sasha Chaitow  is conducting doctoral research at  the Centre for the Study of Myth at the University of Essex. She holds an MA in Western Esotericism (EXESESO, Exeter, 2008) and an MA in English Literature (Indianapolis-Athens, 2004). Her PhD thesis is entitled A Babylonian Mage in Fin-de-Siècle Paris: The Esoteric-Aesthetic vision of Sâr Péladan, and focuses on French Symbolist Art in relation to the French Occult Revival in 19^thcentury France, and her MA thesis (distinction) was entitled The Alchemical Iconography of Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens as an Initiatory Path.

Sasha is the founding director of Phoenix Rising Academy of Esoteric Studies and Creative Arts, (London and Athens), an independent academic institution for the promotion of the Academic Study of Western Esotericism and Art. Her research interests include art and esotericism, mind and consciousness, ritual and initiation, and Modern Greek Masonic history.She is also an artist, painting portraits on commission and alchemically surrealist-symbolic images on inspiration. She writes for Avaton magazine, a Greek special-interest journal covering various esoteric topics, and has a monthly column in Phenomena, a weekly special-interest insert in Eleftheros Typos, a Greek daily newspaper. See below for a list of conference papers, public talks, publications and conferences Sasha has directed.

For more on Sasha’s academic research, see http://peladan.org
For her art and creative writing portfolio, see http://istar.phoenixrising.org.gr 

Conference Papers:

• A Babylonian Mage in Fin-de-Siècle Paris, 3rd ESSWE Conference: Lux in Tenebris, The Visual and Symbolic in Western Esotericism, University of Szeged, Hungary, 2nd-4th July 2011.
   
• Aleister Crowley: Works and Days, “An Evening with the Beast: ALEISTER CROWLEY: His Life and Work” Enastron:  Athens, Greece, May 27^{th 2011}

• Symbols: The Language of the Soul, at the invitation of Hypatia Lodge, Theosophical Society in Greece, February 16th 2011

• Beware Titans Bearing Gifts: Art, Imagination, and Initiation, 1st International Phoenix Rising Conference, University of Indianapolis, Athens, 7/11/2009

• Corfu, Crucible of Change: A Multicultural Island of Masonic Initiatory Secrets, 2nd ESSWE International Conference, Capitals of European Esotericism and Transcultural Dialogue, Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme-Alsace (MISHA), 2-4/6 2009
• Sacred Fire: Panentheism in the Philosophy and Work of Nikolai Roerich, University of Indianapolis Annual English Department Conference, 29 May 2009
• Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens as an Initiatory Path, Keystone Philosophical Society Annual Public Lecture, March 2009
• · The Eye of the Storm: Promethean Man and the Esoteric Counter-Enlightenment, Conference on Interfaith Dialogue and the Role of Literature and the Media, University of Indianapolis, May 2008
• Thoughtforms and the Power of the Creative Process, University of Indianapolis Annual English Department Conference, Nov. 2004
• Synaesthesia and the Colour of Words, University of Indianapolis Annual English Department Conference, Nov. 2003

 

 

Publications:

• Freemasonry: The Greatest Initiatory System in the World,  Salonica: Archetypo Books, Dec. 2009
  (Co-written with: George Ioannidis (ed), Iordanis Poulkouras, Stefanos Elmazis, Ion Kydoniatis, Nikos Iliopoulos)
• “Understanding and Using Intuitive Faculties” and “Synesthesia” in : Leon Chaitow, Palpation and Assessment Skills, (3rd edn), Edinburgh: Churchill-Livingstone-Elsevier, Dec. 2009
• The Alchemical Iconography of Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens as an Initiatory Path, (MA thesis) , Athens: Isis (in press)
• Book Reviews for the Journal for the Research of Freemasonry and Fraternalism (JRFF) (Recently invited to act as peer-reviewer for JRFF)

• Various articles for Avatonmagazine (Salonica, Greece), including:
  • Esotericism in the Academy (article & interview, September 2008)
  • Initiatory and Fraternal societies today (feature article, May 2009)
  • Sympathetic Empiricism (October 2009)
  • Academic vs. Practical Esotericism: Allies or Foes? (October 2009)
  • 2013: Esoteric  Theories of Human Evolution (January 2010)
  • Ars Moriendi and Memento Mori (March 2010)

 

Forthcoming Publications:

• “Corfu, Crucible of Change: A Multicultural Island of Masonic Initiatory Secrets” in the proceedings of the 2nd ESSWE Conference: Capitals of European Esotericism and Transcultural Dialogue, Strasbourg:Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg (in press)
• (Translator and Editor) Alexandros Kalozoides, “Hellenic Pagan Revivalist Movements and Right-Wing Politics,” in Studies in Esotericism: Esotericism, Religion, and Politics, 3^rd edn, Arthur Versluis ed., MSU (in press)
• “Building Bridges : Implications and Responsibilities of Studying Esotericism in the 21st Century,” in the proceedings of the Third International Conference of Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice: Studying Interpretations of Esotericism and Mysticism, Vladimir State University, Russia. (click here to access full e-book, scroll down to p. 5, the article is in English).

 

Other Academic Projects and Activities

• Coordinator for Greece of: Ancient Greek Mysteries and Philosophy, Esoteric Quest Conference, hosted by New York Open Center in Samothrace, Greece, 2008
• Director of Phoenix Rising Conference: Death and Rebirth in Philosophy, Literature and Art: A Dying Society or a Renaissance for the 21^st Century, hosted by University of Indianapolis Athens, November 2009