The study concentrates on the image Russian women exercising “women's practices” have about religion and supernatural power. In the Russian public discourse nowadays the phrase “women's practices” is widely spread and recognizable, it is actively used by adherents to refer to their activities. In academia it denotes a specific type of gender practice. An empirical study was carried out in the framework of a qualitative methodology, semantic constructions were interpreted with the help of coding. The following perceptions have been identified: 1) viewing religion as an institutional framework that sets binding norms and rules, limiting women's freedom, though having certain value ideals; 2) religion as institution is criticized from different perspectives; 3) faith and religion are contrasted; 4) the concept of a higher power felt by women takes a significant place in their worldview; 5) the space of spirituality focused on the personal, internal space, is seen by women as a space of freedom, where synthesis of religious traditions and beliefs is possible, an individual search for “one's own” version of faith; 6) religious tolerance becomes an instrument to promote freedom, the possibility to independently determine what is supernatural and sacred; 7) relations with the sacred are based on the freedom of choice of an individual, who herself sets the boundaries of these relations, their regularity and intensity.

Kuznetsova Olesya Valerievna, Senior Lecturer, Department of Ontology and Theory of Understanding, Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, 51-327, Lenin av., Ekaterinburg, 620083, Russian Federation, e-mail: olesyakzn@ya.ru 

Smolina Natalia Sergeevna, Candidate of Sciences (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, 51-327, Lenin av., Ekaterinburg, 620083, Russian Federation, e-mail: smolina-n@yandex.ru

Kuznetsova O.V., Smolina N.S. Religion and Supernatural Power in the Views of Women Exercising Women’s Practices. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2020, vol. 31, pp. 80-90. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2020.31.80 (in Russian)

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