Oddcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Jan 07 2025 34 ep. 55 mins 501

Oddcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP) artwork

Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought

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Charles Stang and Jason Josephson-Storm on Theosophy and the Study of Religions

Jan 07 2025 65 mins

What if the scientific study of religions, a.k.a. Comparative Religions, History of Religions, and so forth – the academic discipline wherein the academic study of western esotericism largely finds its home – was founded by, well, western esotericists? In this interview we examine the history of the history of religions with two historians of religions and find the Theosophical

Sebastián Moro Tornese on Anagogic Music in Ancient Platonism

Nov 26 2024 79 mins

Music was seen as a crucial tool for the elevation and transformation of the human soul in ancient esoteric philosophy from Pythagoras to Olympiodorus, and beyond into the western esoteric traditions of later eras. We discuss the theory and practice of anagogic music in the ancient Pythagorean/Platonist tradition with Sebastián Moro Tornese.

Michæl Griffin on the Virtues in Ancient Platonism: Painters, Dancers, and Godlike Sages

Nov 06 2024 56 mins

In the first of a short series of synoptic episodes looking at the esoteric in ancient Platonism as a whole, we approach the scale of virtues, the ladder by which the Platonist sage, following in the footsteps of Socrates, was to practice ascent to likeness with the gods, while still engaging in daily life.

Judith Noble on Magic and Artistic Practice

Oct 29 2024 59 mins

We explore the intersections of fine art practice and magic with artistic practitioner Judith Noble. Tricksterish subversion as standard.

Levan Gigineishvili on Ioane Petritsi and the Mediæval Georgian Proclus-Reception

Jul 10 2024 65 mins

We discuss the work of Ioane Petritsi (eleventh to twelfth centuries), a Georgian intellectual whose translation of, and commentary on, the Elements of Theology of Proclus is a historical anomaly in a number of ways. It turns out that everything in Proclus' metaphysics – even the henads – could and did make it through into a Christian work in twelfth-century Georgia. Come for t

Jonathan Greig on the East Roman Proclus Reception, Sixth to Fifteenth Centuries

Jul 02 2024 57 mins

We discuss the long, convoluted, and often tendentious reception of Proclus and Proclean ideas in the eastern Roman empire. From late-antique debates about the nature of being and participation, through medieval reappropriations of philosophy, through to the radical debates of Plethon and Scholarios in the final days of the empire, Proclus emerges as a curiously-persistent figure o

Sørina Higgins on Modernist Drama and Ceremonial Magic

Apr 30 2024 63 mins

We discuss the Occult in Modernist drama with Sørina Higgins. Yeats, Waite, Williams, Crowley, and a cast of supporting characters appear on the stage. The line between ceremonial magic and dramatic performance gets a thorough rinsing.

Peter Adamson on the Arabic Proclus

Apr 13 2024 58 mins

We discuss the translation, adaptation, and evolution of Proclus' Elements of Theology into and through the Arabic and Latin thought-worlds with Peter Adamson. Come for the monotheist Proclus who is Aristotle, stay for the digression on Plethon.

Alireza Doostdar on ‘Metaphysical Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

Feb 02 2024 58 mins

We speak with Alireza Doostdar on his field-research exploring alternative forms of spirituality in Iran. Come for the new-age exorcisms, stay for the the true spiritual significance of The Exorcist.

Karin Valis on Magic and Artificial Intelligence

Nov 08 2023 64 mins

In our second A House with Many Rooms interview, we discuss the intersections between AI and magic with machine learning engineer Karin Valis. Come for the divination, ensouled statues, golems, homonculi, and alphanumeric cosmology, stay for the techno-magical intervention at the end.