Traditional Magic or European Occultism? Commercial Fortune-Telling and Magic in Post-Soviet Russia and their Relationship to Russian Tradition

The article examines the vibrant commercial magic and fortune- telling industry in Russia today. Based on fieldwork in Petersburg conducted in 2006, supplemented by printed and, in particular, web material, it seeks to show that, despite the many similarities with its counterparts in Europe and North America, Russian fortune-telling and magic are clearly shaped by local traditions. In the context of the article, tradition is taken to include not just rural folk magic and divination, but also urban traditions of the late imperial period as well as those resulting from Soviet policies and practices. It emerges that as far as magic services are concerned, the range of services offered are those demanded by the client, largely stemming from folk tradition. By contrast discourse, approach and ritual often owe much to Western esoteric literature, and perhaps also to pre-Revolutionary occultism and the Soviet interest in psychics. In the case of fortune-telling, today’s professionals (gypsies apart) have adopted more complex and sophisticated ways of telling the future (tarot and astrology). Old ways of fortune-telling are so widely known that they must offer something different to clients. Tradition survives in many ways, sometimes transmuted, sometimes partial, but it makes the Russian magic and fortune-telling scene distinctive

Slavonic Translations of Saint Basil’s Works

This feature "ЛѢТОПИСЬ" ('Chronicle') reports on recent events in the field of Early Slavic studies, e.g., celebrations, conferences, symposia, announcements of forthcoming colloquia, and past study groups, etc.On March 21-24 1981, in Birmingham, the Fifteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies held a conference on Byzantium and the Slavs. This announcement gives a summary of presentations by Faith C.M. Wigzell, Danica Petrović, Dimitrije Stefanović, William R. Veder, and Francis J. Thomson on the following topics: hagiographical writing among the Orthodox Slavs, the importance of the Chilendari Music Manuscripts for the history of Serbian church music, the melodic origin of a sticheron in honor of Prince Lazar, the imitation of Byzantine models in translations, and Slavonic translations of St. Basil's works

Ob’shtee zhitie

This feature, "ОБЬЩЕѤ ЖИТИѤ" [Ob'shtee zhitie], provides a list of ongoing projects and recent publications of scholars in the field of Early Slavic studies, arranged alphabetically by the country in which they work. Represented in this issue are reports from Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, the Soviet Union, the United States of America, and Yugoslavia.In this feature, scholars have submitted lists of their publications or announced current projects underway. William R. Veder's report (82-84), however, also includes "Notes on an Archaeographic Expedition to Leningrad and Moscow (19 APr - 26 May 1982)." There are interesting editorial comments in a number of the entries and the two institutional reports concern access to the repositories' manuscripts. Regarding the Lenin Library (86): "The 'Literaturnaia gazeta' of 15 Sept 1982 contained a letter to the editors ... voicing serious concern with the effects of work in progress in the new metro-station 'Borovickaia' on the Pashkov House, where the Manuscript department is housed in one of the wings. If the Pashkov house were to suffer damage and need extensive repairs, the consequences for work on the manuscripts would be as serious as the recent 1 1/2 years' closure." The report from the State Historical Museum indicates that it will be closed for extensive renovation for as many as three years (86)