Dr. Leo Ruickbie, Ph.D., M.A., B.A. (Hons), AKC (Associate of King’s College), is a British historian and sociologist of religion, specializing in exceptional experiences, paranormal beliefs, magic, witchcraft and Wicca.
Leo is the current Director of the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies. and a social scientist specializing in exceptional experiences and beliefs, as well as the award-winning author of six books and almost a hundred articles, chapters and presentations on the subject. With a doctorate from King’s College, London, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Northampton, where he is involved with the Exceptional Experiences and Consciousness Studies Research Group. He is also a Professional Member of the Parapsychological Association (PA) and a Council Member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Since 2014, he has also been the editor of Paranormal Review, the magazine of the SPR. In 2021, he won third prize in the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies essay contest on the best evidence for life after death, with his essay “The Ghost in the Time Machine.”
His many other essays cover topics such as theories of magic, the historical development of individual conceptions of evil, popular beliefs about the concept of the external soul, and the representation of angels in modern media. They demonstrate his broad interest in the history and sociology of belief as well as anomalous phenomena. Besides his PA membership, he is also active in the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, and the German Gesellschaft für Anomalistik.
His website is www.ruickbie.com.
