Paper short abstract:

In the paper, the concepts of Oriental origin, which are used among Vissarionites and Anastasians, appear as an example of how such concepts arrived through Western cultural influences, transformed and took root in the post-Soviet cultural context of New Age spirituality.

Paper long abstract:

The paper introduces a research on alternative religiosities related to individuality and subcultural features, influenced by the processes of social change and religious diversification in the post-communist region. It focuses on two nature-based spirituality movements, which emerged in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and have since spread to Eastern and Central Europe and beyond: the Vissarion and the Anastasia movements.

The paper discusses typical for Vissarionites and Anastasians individual and communal (orientated to esoteric, magic, ecology) thinking, which is expressed through the concepts of New Age spirituality of Oriental origin. These concepts of Oriental origin (energy, aura, reincarnation, karma, non-violence, vegetarianism, yoga), which are used in both movements, appear as an example of how such concepts arrived through Western cultural influences, transformed and took root in the post-Soviet cultural context of New Age spirituality.

The findings are based on data obtained from the fieldwork in 2004-2018, including participant observation and interviews with respondents in the Baltic states and Russia.