Recently posted

Podcast episode

Members only: Storytime: Exploring Book V of the Stromateis, Part II

We continue our reading of Clement's Stromateis, Book V, and continue to have our minds blown. Come for the esoteric reading methodologies, stay for the very first appearance of the actual Greek word esôterikos on the podcast!

Podcast episode

Episode 212: Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor

We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Platonist apophasis meets hard-core ascesis, and Maximus follows the theology where it wants to go, sometimes to his own cost.

Oddcast episode

Coming Back for More, Part VI: The Roots of Christian Reincarnationism

We set the stage for a detailed consideration of the evidence for early Christian reincarnationism. Featuring the Bible.

Oddcast episode

Jason Ānanda Josephson-Storm on James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, and Western Esotericism

Jason Josephson-Storm returns to the SHWEP to discuss one of the most influential thinkers on modern western esoteric movements – Sir James George Frazer, author of The Golden Bough – and where, precisely, J.G.F. might fit within western esotericism itself.

Oddcast episode

Coming Back for More, Part V: Sami Yli-Karjanmaa on Reincarnation in Philo and Josephus

We dive deeper into the evidence for Jewish reincarnation around the time of the Temple's destruction with Sami Yli-Karjanmaa, who has done the work. Philo of Alexandria and Josephus come under the metempsychotoscope.

Roots of Magic episode

Gideon Bohak on the Pishra de-Rabbi Ḥanina Ben Dosa

We discuss a fascinating text of all-purpose protective and apotropaic magic with a history spanning millennia with the inimitable Gideon Bohak. Attributed to a first-century rabbi, the Pishra may have its roots in late-antique Babylonia, but it was still being copied into the twentieth century, and, who knows? perhaps today.

Listen to the Introduction

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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