Thomas Karlsson (born 1972) is a Swedish

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

writer, with a PhD in the

History of Religions The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the st ...

from

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

. (Thomas Karlsson's PhD thesis, in Swedish) In 1989 he founded Dragon Rouge, a

Left-Hand Path In Western esotericism, left-hand path and right-hand path are two opposing approaches to magic. Various groups engaged with the occult and ceremonial magic use the terminology to establish a dichotomy, broadly simplified as (malicious) blac ...

initiatory organisation.

Dragon Rouge

In 1989, Thomas Karlsson and six other magicians founded Dragon Rouge, a

initiatory organisation and a Draconian Tradition Order, led by Karlsson.''GENERAL INFORMATION''
. As a book author, he concentrates on occult, philosophy, and

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

topics. The Dragon Rouge website cites

Carlos Castaneda Carlos César Salvador Arana (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998), better known as Carlos Castaneda, was an American anthropologist and writer. Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe a training in shamanism t ...

Julius Evola Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian far-right philosopher and writer. Evola regarded his values as Traditionalist conservatism, traditionalist, Aristocracy, aristocratic, War, martial and Empire, im ...

, and Kenneth Grant as some of the magical writers whose work is read by the order, as are texts by classical philosophers such as Herakleitos,

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

, and Plotinos, as well as modern philosophers like

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

, and

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

. His personal influences include Sumerian mythology,

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

, the

goetia (, ) is a type of European sorcery, often referred to as witchcraft, that has been transmitted through grimoires—books containing instructions for performing magical practices. The term "goetia" finds its origins in the Greek word "goes", ...

, and the

qlippoth In the ''Zohar'', Lurianic Kabbalah, and Hermetic Qabalah, the ''qlippoth'' (, originally , plural of ''qəlippā''; literally "peels", "shells", or "husks"), are the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism, the ...

. In an interview dated in 2003, he claims he experienced

astral projection In Western esotericism, esotericism, astral projection (also known as astral travel, soul journey, soul wandering, spiritual journey, spiritual travel) is an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) in which a subtle body, known as the astra ...

s as a child, but did not think of them as supernatural experiences until he started formally exploring the occult. In his book ''Amongst Mystics and Magicians in Stockholm'' (2012), he describes experiences he had in the years 1989–1991 which are related to the establishment of Dragon Rouge. The book exhibits Karlsson's influences from people such as

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, Grant and Anton LaVey.

Books

*''Uthark – Nightside of the Runes'' (). ** a.k.a. ''Uthark – Im Schattenreich der Runen'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

title, ) — incl. Therion-CD '' Secret of the Runes'' *''Kabbala, kliffot och den goetiska magin'' () ** a.k.a. ''Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic'' ( English title, ) ** a.k.a. ''La Kabbala e la magia goetica'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

title, ) ** a.k.a. ''Kabbalah, Qliphoth und die Goetische Magie'' (German title, ) ** a.k.a. ''Qabale, Qliphoth et magie goétique'' (French title, ) ** a.k.a. ''Qábalah, Qlífot y Magia Goética'' (Spanish title) *''Astrala resor ut ur kroppen'' () *''Adulrunan och den götiska kabbalan'' () ** a.k.a. ''Le rune e la kabbala'' (Italian title, ) ** a.k.a. ''Adulruna und die gotische Kabbala'' (German title, ) ** Revised and translated to English as: ''Nightside of the Runes: Uthark, Adulruna, and the Gothic Cabbala'', Inner Traditions 2019 () * ''Götisk kabbala och runisk alkemi. Johannes Bureus och den götiska esoterismen'' () — Doctoral thesis, Stockholm University, 2010 *''Bland mystiker och magiker i förorten'' (2012) () ** a.k.a. ''Amongst Mystics And Magicians In Stockholm'' ( English title, 2014) ** a.k.a. ''L'éveil du Grand Dragon Rouge'' (French title, ) ** a.k.a. ''Entre Místicos y Magos en Estocolmo'' (Spanish title) ** a.k.a. ''Tra Mistici e Maghi a Stoccolma'' (Italian title), Hekate Edizioni 2020

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Thomas 1972 births Living people 20th-century occultists 21st-century occultists Left-Hand Path Occult writers Stockholm University alumni Swedish historians of religion Swedish male songwriters Swedish male writers Swedish occultists Therion (band) members Western esotericism scholars

Dragon Rouge

Books

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links