Podcast episode
In Part 1 of a brace of episodes we explore the New Rome and her occult foundations. Featuring appearances from such luminaries as Apollonios of Tyana and Vettius Valens.
Podcast episode
We discuss Justinian's great church, Hagia Sophia, the gem of Constantinople and of Orthodox Christianity. We then look at a number of theories out there which read Hagia Sophia as encoding esoteric messages beneath her Orthodox exterior, and use this case-study as a springboard for discussing the thorny problems involved in interpreting architecture, especially esoteric architecture.
Blog post
We review a new collection of essays on the history of music and esotericism. It's an interesting collection of papers from what must have been a great conference, and your host does his best to get through the bits which require actual, technical knowledge of music-theory. This is a field of study demanding to be expanded upon, and this volume is a worthy addition to the studies out there so far.
Podcast episode
We discuss the fascinating town of Ḥarrān (in present-day Türkiye), a place known from late antiquity until at least the eleventh century for its continued tradition of astral, polytheist worship. Kevin van Bladel tells us much to enthral us about this place, but also crushes the dream of a continued tradition of Athenian Late Platonism at Ḥarrān.
Podcast episode
We discuss the life, times, and reign of Justinian, ‘probably the most consequential Roman emperor, at least since Constantine, and maybe since Augustus.’ He transformed the empire; nothing would be the same after his reign. Said reign also saw the closure of the Athenian academy and a number of crucial crises within Christianity, all of which are essential for the history of western esotericism.
Oddcast episode
We discuss further with Dr Gigineishvili, exploring the extraordinary intellectual scene of high-mediæval Georgia. We discuss Origenistic heresies in Petritsi's thought. We then turn to the importance of Petritsi's work for any future edition of Proclus' Elements.
Oddcast episode
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 the surprising story of a radical Georgian intellectual, stay for the Georgian origins of the medieval Christian saint, the Buddha.
Oddcast episode
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 of many guises.
Oddcast episode
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.
Blog post
I was invited to speak to the Philosophy of Psychedelics Exeter Research Group on the subject of psychedelic research and ancient Platonism. I argue that Platonism is way more psychedelic than psychedelics.
Podcast episode
Porphyry wrote hymns, Julian wrote hymns, but Proclus' hymns are special in the canon of ancient Platonism. Robbert van den Berg is our guide in discussing Proclus' surviving texts in their general late-antique and specific theurgic contexts.
Podcast episode
We are delighted to discuss what you might call Proclean spirituality with Danielle Layne. Platonic prayer as a way of living, the erotic quest for the Good, and the ever-elusive Platonic Dyad feature in a wide-ranging conversation combining proper philosophical-historical rigour with the true love of wisdom.
Podcast episode
We discuss Proclus' titanic labours in the field of commentary – on many Platonic dialogues, but also on the Chaldæan Oracles, the Homeric poems, and a number of other texts – with Graeme Miles, an acute reader of Platonist philosophy and part of the team translating Proclus' Republic commentary into English. Come for Platonic commentary as spiritual practice, stay for the kosmic-astrological reading of the Myth of Er.
Podcast episode
We enter the interconnected webwork of a reality where signs are things, things are signs, and everything means everything, but appropriately. Come for the visionary semiotics, stay for the occult sigils.
Blog post
The project known as CAS-E (full title ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’) is a major, state-funded, cross-disciplinary investigation of contemporary magic and related topics headquartered at the University of Erlangen. The scope of this thing is ridiculously ambitious. We discuss the project with one of its primary movers, Bernd-Christian Otto.
Oddcast episode
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.
Podcast episode
We enter into the dynamic architecture of Proclus' noētos kosmos, a non-spatial place where all of reality unfolds triadically through gods and goddesses, metaphysics and myth working in exquisite harmony.
Podcast episode
We begin to explore the radiant, interconnected world of divine triads that is Proclus' noētos kosmos with Stephen Rego. Before approaching the metaphysics, we explore what Proclus takes to be the traditional canon of texts and ideas which tell us about the nous, the ways in which this canon is expressed esoterically, and how to read it.
Podcast episode
We discuss further with Dr Butler, looking at polytheism, monotheism, and some of the metaphysics underlying both options.
Podcast episode
We discuss the One and the Henads in Proclus with Edward Butler. Henology meets henadology on a metaphysical terrain where gods are the primary unities.
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