Thomas Karlsson (born 1972) is a Swedish occult and esoteric writer, with a PhD in the History of Religions from Stockholm University.
The Dragon Rouge website cites Carlos Castaneda, Julius Evola, and Kenneth Grant as some of the magical writers whose work is read by the order, as are texts by classical philosophers such as Herakleitos, Plato, and Plotinos, as well as modern philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and Henri Bergson.
In an interview dated in 2003, he claims he experienced astral projections as a child, but did not think of them as supernatural experiences until he started formally exploring the occult.
[3] In his book Amongst Mystics and Magicians in Stockholm (2012), he describes experiences he had in the years 1989–1991 which are related to the establishment of Dragon Rouge.
The book exhibits Karlsson's influences from people such as Aleister Crowley, Grant and Anton LaVey.