Anastasianism (Ringing Cedars)

1. Introduction

Version followed: the movement as set out in Vladimir Megre's ten-volume series The Ringing Cedars of Russia (1996–2010; revised first volume issued 2019–2020 as Energy of Your Kin, vol. I) and as ethnographers (Andreeva 2017, 2021) and Austrian documentation bodies (DPI 2022; Federal Office for Sect Issues) describe it. This is not a therapy and not something the therapist practises: it is a guide to working with clients who are, were, or have family in the movement.

What it is. Anastasianism (also "Ringing Cedars", followers sometimes calling themselves "Vedrussians") is a Russian-origin new religious and back-to-the-land movement built on Megre's books. Their central figure, Anastasia, is presented as a hermit in the Siberian taiga with telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis and communication with plants and animals, who receives knowledge of the ancient "Vedruss" people "directly from God" and asks Megre to write it down [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 26]. The publisher presents Anastasia as having a gift for healing soul and body [source: AST 2020]. The DPI describes the novels as presenting a fictional figure as real, with followers treating her as existing [source: DPI 2022, p. 4]; one secondary source reports that Megre conceded in a court case that she is fictional [source: Schuler 2024, p. 19] [uncertain: secondary, unverified].

Core idea of change (as the movement holds it). Each family should obtain and pass down a "kin domain" (rodovoe pomestie) of "not less than one hectare", planted and lived on by the family, which restores a lost, pre-Christian "Vedic" way of life tied to land, kin and homeland [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 28, 30; Andreeva 2017, p. 12]. Readers expect that building such domains transforms the person, the family and eventually the world [source: Andreeva 2017, title and p. 9]. Concepts such as ancestral memory, reincarnation within the kin line and nature as God's materialised thought are the movement's own and are described here, not endorsed or dismissed [source: Wikipedia, Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Evidence status in one line: no controlled evidence supports the paranormal abilities or health claims attributed to Anastasia or to movement products [synthesis].

Why it matters clinically. Austrian authorities describe a mix of "harmless ideas for better living" with positions that stand "against democracy, the state or science", and antisemitic passages in the books that are "generally ignored, denied or minimised" by readers [source: Euronews/AFP 2023, quoting the head of the Federal Office for Sect Issues]. Promotional material advocates home birth and refusal of vaccination [source: Andreeva 2017, p. 8]. Clients may present with family conflict, children's schooling and health questions, isolation, financial strain from land projects, or disillusionment after leaving.

2. Framework

How the movement is organised (as published and described).

No hierarchy, recognised leaders, compulsory membership or fees; no institutionalised religious forms; readers form "fluid networks" [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 27; Andreeva 2017, pp. 5, 15]. Local authority figures exist and information spreads online [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 33]; Telegram channels are central in German-speaking countries [source: DPI 2022, pp. 5, 9].
Points of contact: the books, reader clubs, concerts, "places of power", seasonal seminars, the political project "Rodnaya Partiya" (Native Party), and kin-domain settlements [source: Andreeva 2017, pp. 9, 11, 15, 16].
Settlements range from a few families to hundreds of domains; many residents keep city jobs and housing; settlements are often registered as non-profit partnerships or farms because Russian law has no category for them [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 28; Andreeva 2017, p. 12]. Movement statistics claim about 500 ecovillages in Russia; Megre reported about 400 initiatives in 2019, figures not independently verified [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 28; Euronews/AFP 2023]. Germany: an estimated 800 followers in about 17 settlements; Austria active since 2012 [source: DPI 2022, p. 5].
Commerce: Megre's company sells cedar oil and other products under the series brand, separate from a non-commercial English-language Anastasia Foundation [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]; communities market "traditional" and "organic" goods such as ivan-chay at premium prices [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 33–36]. No published course or grade structure exists to describe.
Rites: the books give templates for birth, wedding and burial rites, practised as "Vedic customs" alongside folk holidays such as Maslenitsa and Kupala Night; cedar planting and solstice rites are reported [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 30, 32; Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified for cedar rites]. Only this public outline is given here.

The therapist's work: phases (no session counts are published; all phasing is [synthesis]).

Engagement and meaning: understand what the books and the domain mean to the client. Move on when the client can describe their involvement without feeling judged.
Assessment: Cultural Formulation Interview, differential assessment, physical health and safety, children's welfare, finances, exposure to extremist content. Move on when risks are mapped and any safeguarding duty has been acted on.
Focused work on the presenting problem (couple or family conflict, isolation, health decisions, doubt, leaving). Move on when goals the client set are met or the client chooses to stop.
Consolidation: social network, practical supports, relapse plan for crises (e.g. a child's illness), referral links.

3. Guiding principles

Describe, don't adjudicate belief [synthesis]: work with what Anastasia and the domain mean to the client; never argue about whether she exists.
Separate the homesteading from the harms [source: Euronews/AFP 2023; NZ Skeptics 2025]: many readers seek land, family and nature; ask about the specific practices that worry you, not "the movement".
No group is called a "cult" [synthesis]: use the client's word or "the movement"; authorities' term "sect" belongs to them.
The network is leaderless, but influence is real [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 27, 33]: ask who the local authority figures, online channels and settlement rules are, rather than assuming a single leader.
Health decisions go to medical professionals [synthesis]: never advise starting, stopping or changing a medicine or vaccine; route questions to GP, midwife, paediatrician.
Children's welfare comes first [synthesis]: schooling, vaccination and home-birth choices are explored respectfully, but statutory safeguarding duties override neutrality.
Name extremist content plainly when the client raises it [source: DPI 2022, pp. 5–9; Schuler 2024, p. 20]: antisemitic and conspiracy material is a clinical and safety issue, not a matter of taste.
Therapist is not a guide to the domain [synthesis]: no readings, rites or spiritual direction; no endorsement of products.
Respect the right to stay or leave [synthesis]: autonomy, not deprogramming.

4. Intervention inventory

The movement publishes no therapeutic procedures. The interventions below are the psychotherapist's work, built from what scholars and authorities report about the movement; procedures are [synthesis] unless a source is tagged.

4.1 Client-led exploration of meaning

Purpose / when: first sessions, and whenever the books, Anastasia or the domain come up. Builds trust and shows what needs the movement meets (land, family, belonging, a moral story about Russia's or Europe's past) [source for themes: Andreeva 2021, pp. 25–31].
Steps: (1) Ask how the client met the books and what drew them. (2) Ask what a kin domain means to them in their own terms (home, ancestors, children's future). (3) Reflect values (care for children, closeness to nature) separately from contested claims. (4) Ask which parts they hold literally and which as inspiration; readers vary on whether Anastasia is a real person, deity or archetype [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. (5) Ask with consent before exploring anything you think may be harming them.
Example language (illustrative): "What did reading the books give you that you hadn't found elsewhere?" / "When you picture your family's domain in twenty years, what do you see?"
Watch for: the client testing whether you will mock them; shame if they hold Anastasia as literally real. Working: the client speaks freely and distinguishes their own values from the books' instructions.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI)

Purpose / when: structured cultural assessment early in work, and when family members disagree about the movement.
Steps: (1) Use the DSM-5-TR core CFI to elicit the client's definition of the problem, cultural identity (Russian, German-speaking, "Vedrussian" or other), explanations and help-seeking. (2) Use the supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions to map practices, community and their role in coping [uncertain: not verified for current module wording]. (3) Record movement terms in the client's words with a short gloss. (4) Note where cultural explanations and clinical ones differ, without ranking them.
Example language (illustrative): "How would people in your settlement explain what you're going through?" / "Who in your community would you want involved, if anyone?"
Watch for: answers given for the group rather than the self; fear that disclosures will reach the settlement. Working: you can state the problem in the client's own frame.

4.3 Differential assessment without pathologising belief

Purpose / when: when beliefs about telepathy, ancestral memory, revelation under trees or an imminent collapse of "the system" raise questions of psychosis, mania, OCD or a dissociative or grief reaction.
Steps: (1) Establish whether beliefs are shared in the client's reference group (books and settlement) or idiosyncratic. (2) Assess conviction, distress, preoccupation, function, sleep, mood and new perceptual experiences. (3) Ask about recent changes such as isolation, loss or intensive online consumption. (4) Treat shared, culturally framed beliefs held without impairment as not in themselves a disorder; if criteria are met, treat the disorder while respecting the belief. DSM-5-TR "Religious or Spiritual Problem", coded Z65.8, can record non-pathological spiritual distress [source: ICD-10-CM Z65.8; DSM-5-TR wording uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "Do others who read the books experience this the way you do?" / "Has anything changed in your sleep or energy since this started?"
Watch for: idiosyncratic elaboration, command experiences, grandiosity linked to a special mission. Working: a clear, shared formulation that neither dismisses the faith nor misses illness.

4.4 Physical health, medical refusal and birth

Purpose / when: whenever the client or family refuses vaccines, medicines or obstetric care, or relies on products such as ivan-chay or cedar oil for healing. Promotional videos advocate home birth and vaccine refusal [source: Andreeva 2017, p. 8]; the books are reported to call medical help in childbirth a crime of civilisation and many followers to refuse vaccines and drugs [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Ivan-chay is advertised with healing claims [source: Andreeva 2021, p. 35]. Evidence status: no controlled evidence identified that these products treat disease [uncertain: not verified].
Steps: (1) Ask what health decisions the movement shapes for them. (2) Explore fears behind refusals (harm, purity, distrust of the state) without debating. (3) Never advise on starting, stopping or changing any medicine or vaccine; no doses or preparations for any product. (4) Encourage and help arrange a conversation with a GP, midwife or paediatrician the client can trust. (5) In pregnancy, ask about birth plans and emergency access; if a child or unborn child is at risk, follow safeguarding procedure (4.5). (6) Self-help "purification" practices with cold water or fire are reported [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]: ask about injuries, cardiac or other conditions, and route to medical care; give no instructions.
Example language (illustrative): "What would you need from a doctor to feel your concerns were taken seriously?" / "I can't advise you on medicines, but I can help you prepare questions for someone who can."
Watch for: delayed care for symptoms, pregnancy without antenatal contact, pressure from others. Working: the client keeps medical contact and makes informed decisions.

4.5 Children: safeguarding, schooling and assessment

Purpose / when: any client with children in the movement, or adults raised in it. The books credit children with special abilities lost around age nine, reject artificial toys and favour questioning over explanation [source: Schuler 2024, pp. 20–21]. "Lais" or "natural learning", shaped by Mikhail Shchetinin's Russian school, is spreading in German-speaking countries; German state authorities have dealt with schools seeking to avoid state oversight and a 2021 Bundestag question asked about compulsory-schooling breaches [source: Schuler 2024, pp. 4–7]. The Austrian Federal Office for Sect Issues reported closer cooperation with school and child-protection authorities and homeschooling case examples [source: Bundesstelle 2017, pp. 9–10, 38]. News reports describe children taken out of school by movement parents [source: Euronews/AFP 2023].
Steps: (1) Ask about each child's schooling, health care, social contacts and access to adults outside the community. (2) Where a child shows developmental, attention or social-communication difficulties, recommend standard assessment (ADHD, autism, learning) rather than movement explanations of "natural" or gifted development. (3) Know local law on compulsory schooling and home education. (4) If you have concerns about neglect, medical refusal endangering a child or isolation, consult your safeguarding lead and refer to child-protection services as the law requires. (5) When working with a young person, seek the child's assent and parental consent as law allows, explain confidentiality limits, never name minors in records shared outside the service.
Example language (illustrative): "How are your children learning at the moment, and who else do they see?" / "An assessment doesn't decide your values; it tells us what help would suit your child."
Watch for: children without any outside contact, untreated illness, distress hidden behind "they are free". Working: children have medical and educational contact and parents engage with assessment.

4.6 Antisemitic, conspiracy and anti-democratic content

Purpose / when: when the client repeats or is troubled by material from the books or channels, or a family member fears radicalisation. The DPI reports that vol. 6 blames Jewish people for their persecution, vol. 7 attributes Jewish behaviour to a steering "Levite" tribe, and Levite priests embody "dark forces" across the series; Bavarian authorities flagged antisemitic and völkisch statements; settlement figures shared "New World Order", vaccine-microchip and QAnon material [source: DPI 2022, pp. 5–9]. A thesis describes ties of some German settlers to far-right milieus [source: Schuler 2024, pp. 23–25]. The Covid-19 pandemic boosted the movement in German-speaking countries [source: Euronews/AFP 2023; DPI 2022, p. 5]. Russian court rulings on movement materials as extremist are [uncertain: not verified]; check the Russian Federal List of Extremist Materials before relying on any claim.
Steps: (1) Ask what the client has read or watched and how they understand it. (2) Distinguish ecological and family ideals from claims about Jews, "elites" or democracy. (3) State clearly, once and without contempt, that these passages are documented as antisemitic and that you will not agree with them. (4) Explore the function of conspiracy beliefs (certainty, belonging, explaining loss). (5) Assess risk of harm to others; if there is intent or planning of violence, follow your duty-to-protect procedure. (6) Offer specialist exit or extremism-prevention services in the client's country if they want them.
Example language (illustrative): "You love the garden and the family life; how do you hold that together with the chapters about Jews?" / "What does believing the system will collapse do for you on a hard day?"
Watch for: escalating online immersion, dehumanising language, talk of resisting a "Deep State". Working: the client separates values from hostile claims and diversifies information sources.

4.7 Gender roles, family pressure and sexuality

Purpose / when: couple conflict, women's isolation in childcare, LGBTQ+ clients or relatives. Scholars describe patriarchal values and a strict division of gender roles, with rejection of homosexuality [source: Andreeva 2017, p. 16; Andreeva 2021, pp. 28, 30–31]; the books prescribe passive roles and dress rules for women [source: Schuler 2024, p. 20]. Teachings on conception and intimacy are not described here.
Steps: (1) Ask each partner what role they chose and what was expected. (2) Explore economic dependence (land in one name, no income). (3) Screen for coercive control and intimate partner violence individually. (4) Affirm LGBTQ+ clients and help them find safe community. (5) Respect couples who freely choose traditional roles.
Example language (illustrative): "If you could arrange your days any way you liked, what would change?"
Watch for: fear, control of money or movement, shunning of a gay relative. Working: choices become negotiated, not prescribed.

4.8 Money, land and economic dependency

Purpose / when: when the client has invested savings in land, buildings or community enterprises. Settlements may hold land communally or privately [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]; many are registered as partnerships or farms [source: Andreeva 2017, p. 12]; communities sell "authentic" products at a premium [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 33–36].
Steps: (1) Map who owns the land and buildings and what the client would keep if they left. (2) Ask about debts, unpaid labour and pressure to buy products. (3) Refer to legal, tenancy or financial advice; do not advise yourself.
Example language (illustrative): "If you decided to move away, what would you be able to take with you?"
Watch for: staying only because everything is invested. Working: the client knows their position and has independent advice.

4.9 Mapping influence and isolation

Purpose / when: when you suspect high-control dynamics in a settlement or online channel, despite the movement's leaderless form [source: Andreeva 2021, pp. 27, 33; DPI 2022, pp. 5, 9].
Steps: (1) Draw a social map: settlement members, local authority figures, online channels, outside family and friends. (2) Ask about rules for music, dress, outsiders, schooling, medical care [source for such rules in one German group: Schuler 2024, pp. 23–24]. (3) Ask what happens to someone who disagrees or leaves. (4) Note signs of coercive control: control of information, money, contact and dissent [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Who would you talk to if you started doubting something in the books?"
Watch for: loss of all outside ties, fear of punishment for questions. Working: the client keeps or rebuilds outside relationships.

4.10 Leaving, doubt and religious trauma

Purpose / when: clients who are leaving, have left, or were raised in a settlement.
Steps: (1) Normalise mixed grief: loss of land dream, community, identity. (2) Work on practical re-entry (housing, work, schooling, health records, documents). (3) Treat trauma symptoms with standard trauma-focused therapy after stabilisation. (4) Help the client keep what they value (gardening, nature, family focus) without the doctrine. (5) Offer peer or exit support if available.
Example language (illustrative): "What would you like to keep from those years, and what do you want to put down?"
Watch for: self-blame, fear of "dark forces" or of having harmed one's kin, suicidal ideation (assess risk). Working: a coherent story and new supports.

4.11 Family members' concerns

Purpose / when: relatives worried about an adult child, a grandchild or a partner in the movement.
Steps: (1) Help them stay in contact and curious rather than confronting. (2) Separate their fears (antisemitism, children's school, health) and prioritise the child-safety ones. (3) Explain safeguarding routes. (4) Point to national information services, e.g. Austria's Federal Office for Sect Issues, which has monitored the movement [source: DPI 2022, p. 5 fn. 16].
Example language (illustrative): "What would keep the door open between you, even if you disagree?"
Watch for: ultimatums, attempts at forced removal. Working: contact is maintained and concrete risks are addressed.

4.12 Role boundaries

Purpose / when: throughout.
Steps: (1) Do not lead rites, interpret revelations, sell or recommend products, or visit settlements as a participant. (2) Keep any personal interest in homesteading or the books out of therapy; self-disclose only when it serves the client. (3) Involve community or faith figures only at the client's request and with consent. (4) Build competence in religion and spirituality (Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified] and consult when unsure.
Example language (illustrative): "My job isn't to tell you what's true about Anastasia; it's to help with what's hard for you now."
Watch for: the client seeking your blessing or a debate partner. Working: the client uses therapy for their own goals.

5. Handling problems

All responses below are [synthesis] unless tagged; the sources describe the movement, not therapy with its members.

Client sees the therapist as an agent of "the system". The books and channels contrast the movement with a degenerate "system" and distrust of the state [source: Euronews/AFP 2023; Andreeva 2017, p. 16; DPI 2022, pp. 8–9]. Name your independence and confidentiality limits plainly, and let the client set the pace. "You don't have to trust institutions to use this hour for yourself." (illustrative)
Stuck on literal debate about Anastasia's existence. Decline the debate, return to function and values (4.1).
Resistance to medical care for self or child. Avoid persuasion contests; keep the door to medical advice open; act on safeguarding duties when a threshold is met, and tell the client what you are doing and why unless that increases risk (4.4, 4.5).
Overwhelm on leaving (loss of land, money, community at once). Stabilise first: housing, income, legal advice, then grief and trauma work (4.8, 4.10).
Non-adherence, missed sessions in remote settlements. Offer phone or video sessions if safe and private; check whether others monitor the client's communications.
Rupture after you named antisemitic content. Acknowledge the hurt, restate respect for the client, keep the clinical position, repair through the client's own values (4.6).
Splitting within a family (one spouse in, one out; grandparents vs parents). Meet individually first, screen for coercion, then joint work only if safe (4.7, 4.11).
Possible psychosis or mania framed as revelation (e.g. after meditation under cedars, reported as a source of revelations [source: Wikipedia] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]). Use the differential in 4.3; arrange psychiatric assessment if criteria are met.
Physical risks from austerity or "purification" (cold exposure, fire, restrictive diets). Ask about injuries and conditions; route to medical care; give no practical guidance.
Radicalisation risk or threats to others. Follow your duty-to-protect and local prevention procedures; consult a supervisor promptly (4.6).
Therapist's own reactions (romanticising homesteading, or contempt). Use supervision; keep to role (4.12).
Cross-border cases (Russia, Germany, Austria, elsewhere). Schooling, child-protection and extremism law differ; check local rules before acting.

Sources

Online sources:

Books and other works cited:

Megre, V. (1996–2010). The Ringing Cedars of Russia (10 vols.) [uncertain: not verified beyond secondary descriptions].
Vieten, C., et al. (2013). Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists [uncertain: not verified].
American Psychiatric Association (2022). DSM-5-TR, Cultural Formulation Interview and "Religious or spiritual problem" (Z65.8) [uncertain: DSM-5-TR wording not verified].
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem')

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