P.hD., University of Amsterdam, Western Esotericism (cum laude)

M.Div., Harvard Divinity School

M.A., University of Amsterdam, Western Esotericism

B.A., Boston University, University Professors Program (summa cum laude)

As a lecturer in Stanford University’s American Studies department, my expertise is in the history of psychedelic spirituality. My published scholarship interrogates the influential yet understudied traditions shaped by the use of psychedelic substances, and particularly lysergic acid diethylamide (“LSD”). My first book, Angel-Headed Hipsters: Psychedelic Militancy in Cold War America (Oxford University Press) overturns the predominant view that enthusiasm for psychedelic experimentation was confined to the hippies of the 1960s, demonstrating how psychedelic culture has exerted a profound influence on new religious movements, popular culture, and progressive activism throughout and beyond the Cold War era.

My research interest in psychedelic culture speaks to my larger expertise in esotericism, which is a general category that encompasses Gnosticism, mystery religions, paganism, witchcraft, astrology, secret societies, conspiracy theory, and magick.

More generally, my areas of research specialization include Postwar American Religion; Popular Culture & Religion; Conspiracy Theories; Environmental & Earth-Based Spiritualities; Drugs & Religion. Furthermore, my areas of teaching expertise include: Methods & Theories in the Study of Religion; Social History; New Religious Movements; Culture & Counterculture; the History of Magic, Esotericism, and the Occult.

Previously, I held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Divinity School, as well as research and teaching appointments at Yale University and the University of Amsterdam.

~ Scroll down for a sample of my academic research ~

My wider interests include the history of ecclesiastical stained glass, Persian carpets, and the textile arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Each summer & winter, I coordinate the "Visions of the Occult" intensive seminar hosted by the Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents Center, at the University of Amsterdam.

the history of the psychedelic church movement in North America is explored in this article. To my knowledge, it provides the most in-depth examination of this movement no record.

Written for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, this piece historicizes the psychedelicist movement of the 1960s, and its reformation as eco-militacy in the 1970s & 80s.

My doctoral dissertation on psychedelicist militancy in the 1980s, which pays special attention to the rise and fall of fanzine culture. Awarded honors by the Uni. of Amsterdam, the book is currently under contract by University of Oxford press.

The socio-history of the psychedelicist church movement, & psychedelicist militancy is laid out in “Religion Can’t Be a Joke.”

Here is a draft version of an encyclopedia article on fanzines that will be published in a scholarly anthology in 2021.

The history of the Discordian Society can be found in “Discordians Stick Apart”

Here is a draft version of an encyclopedia article on the discordian society that will be published in a scholarly anthology in 2021.

In this essay, I use items from the Manuscripts and Archives Division at the New York Public Library to explore Timothy Leary’s connection to the Illuminati, Or, at least the discordian pranksters posing as this shadowy organization.

In this book review, I address some of the misapprehensions that plague the study of psychedelic militancy, with special attention on discordianism and the church of the subgenius.

the tension between the militant psychedelicist Hakim Bey & left-hand path esoterrorists is examined within the larger subculture of chaos magick in “occult origins”

Short Encyclopedia article on Hakim bey for the occult world, edited by Christopher partridge and published by routledge in 2014.

Another encyclopedia article about hakim bey. This will be published in a scholarly anthology in 2021.

The history and beliefs of the Church of the Subgenius is laid out in this short encyclopedia article, which will be published in 2021.