Aaron Michael Ullrey

Aaron Michael Ullrey is a historian of religions specializing in South Asian rituals, specifically magic rituals in tantra sources. His PhD was awarded by University of California Santa Barbara, supervised by David Gordon White, defending a dissertation titled Grim Grimoires: Pragmatic Ritual in the Magic Tantras (2016), based on field and archival research funded by Vanderbilt University, Fulbright-Hayes, and the American Institute of Indian Studies.

His research archives span Sanskrit, Hindi, and Tibetan language tantra sources affiliated with Hinduisms, Jainisms, Buddhisms, and Islams. In addition to studying South Asian sources, he explores paranormal experiences that constitute the building blocks of religious innovation, especially altered states of consciousness and UFO encounters. His longtime interest in folk and vernacular modes of religions culminated in a co-edited volume titled Living Folk Religions, published by Routledge in 2023.

Current projects include a duograph comparing the magic tantras and western learned magic, a first-of-its-kind study comparing Indic magic to western esotericism; “Pulp Tantras: A World of Magic”, surveying cheaply published vernacular magic tantras; and “Write a Rite!” exploring writing pedagogy for teaching ritual studies.  He continues to document magic rituals in Śaiva Hindu tantras and is preparing a comprehensive study and translation of two medieval Jain tantras.

He has taught Religious Studies courses and Sanskrit language courses at various universities including University of Houston, Naropa University, and Youngstown State. His courses emphasize counter-narratives, social-cultural histories, minority aspects of religions, lived and folk religions; all with an eye to ritual.

Learn more about Ullrey’s research in this video from the CSWR’s Shorts with Scholars series.