Lee Irwin

I have a life-long interest in religion, spirituality, and comparative phenomenology. In pursuit of that interest, I have studied the world religions intensively with a strong emphasis on religious experience, such as visions and dreams, varieties of religious experience, and comparative myth and ritual. My areas of specialization are comparative religions of Native North American (including Maya and Aztec) and shamanism of Asia and Siberia. I also have a strong interest in eastern religions (MA thesis on Daoism) and in Islamic Sufism. As a psychic researcher, I am interested in studying the phenomenology of altered states, trance, mystical visions, OOBE, NDE and other non-ordinary perceptions. My recent research has been in the area of Western Esotericism, contemporary Hermetic spirituality in relation to transpersonal theory, non-ordinary dreams and dreaming, and the significance of the sacred human. I have an interdisciplinary PhD in religion, anthropology and folklore; I taught in the Religious Studies Department, College of Charleston, as a full professor until 2019. I am now retired and live in Berea, Kentucky. see: http://religiousstudies.cofc.edu/about/faculty-staff-listing/irwin-lee.php http://cofc.academia.edu/LeeIrwin Email: irwinl@cofc.edu