Blog post
The Bodleian Library in Oxford, one of the world's greatest repositories of all manner of cultural treasures, is currently host to an extraordinary exhibition drawing on its collections. The title is Omens, Oracles, and Answers, and the subject is divination. We speak with Michelle Aroney, one of the exhibition's organisers.
Oddcast episode
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 Society right there at the beginning.
Podcast episode
With Episode 200 the SHWEP has reached a milestone of sorts. We are in the seventh century, and the world-order suddenly changes irrevocably as a new political force arises from Arabia: the Believers. We discuss three main respects in which the history of Islam is the history of western esotericism.
Blog post
Our castaway is Gary Lachman, prolific author on many recondite and fascinating currents of modern esotericism and, as Gary Valentine, member of the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. The esoteric island is touched by the presence.
Blog post
2024 was damn esoteric; here's hoping for an even more esoteric 2025.
Podcast episode
We discuss one of the lesser-known, but most esoterically-important, classics of Syriac spiritual literature, the Book of the Holy Hierotheos. Hierotheos was said to have been the teacher of Dionysius the Areopagite, but he wrote in Syriac, and taught a suspiciously-Evagrian practice of ascent to god.
An introduction to the podcast, discussing briefly what we mean by ‘western esotericism’. This episode also answers the burning question, ‘What’s so “secret” about The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast?’ and features a short quiz to test your knowledge of western esoteric history.
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