A truly turned-on spiritual or magical path should do more than get you stuff. It should do more than open up communication with spirits or the dead. If you inherited a “Western” cosmovision like me, a truly turned-on spiritual or magical path should make you rethink everything you thought you knew about reality. Joshua Cutchin writes my favorite kind of books. They are deep and playful, philosophical and fearless. They are head-first explorations of all the implications of living in a magical universe. The last time we had Josh on to talk about what felt like his magnum opus – Ecology of Souls – I imagined it would be a long time before he would take another stab at such vast hypothesizing about the nature of the phenomena. But here we are, and a year later, he brings us the delightful Fourth Wall Phantoms. In some ways, Josh is the perfect guest for this show, writing joyfully at the intersection of folklore, pop culture, theology, and the thought experiment. His most recent journey into the nature of the “fourth wall break” – in media, history, the imagination, and the paranormal – is the ultimate runway for the seeker ready to rethink everything they thought they knew about reality. SHOW NOTES: Josh's Website: joshuacutchin.com Get Josh's new book: Fourth Wall Phantoms Josh's IG: w3eirdwayz Sign Up for Esalen's Upcoming 'The Soul is a UFO: Understanding and Embracing Transcendence' this December: The Soul is a UFO
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1:30:47
We're All Nature Spirits with Scott Richardson-Read
We are living in an era where the term “folk” has become the modifier of choice for many looking for a unique way to describe their own spirituality or magical practice. Folk Witchcraft, Folk Catholicism, Folk Magic. “Folk” seems to denote a certain level of idiosyncrasy, authenticity, or earthiness. It also eschews connotations with more popular or commercialized forms of these practices. Sometimes this use of the word “folk” can feel like the way we used “alternative” in the nineties, particularly to describe genres of music. By the mid-nineties “alternative” rock was far and away the most popular music genre, leading one to ask: what exactly was it an alternative to? Similarly in the world of spirituality, sometimes the modifier “folk” can seem vague. I believe it was Jesse Hathaway Diaz who I first heard pose the question in regards to folk spirituality: “Who are the folk?” In Scott Richardson-Read’s new book Milldust and Dreaming Bread – Exploring Scottish Folk Belief and Folk Magic, the “folk” in question are vivid and unmistakable. While the pastoral stories and customs of the past weave throughout the book, Scott also taps into the deep impressions a land and a people have made upon each other, setting the stage for the folk of today. The impression one gets reading Milldust and Dreaming Bread, is that the “folk” Scott is referring to has less to do with homespun or antiquated practices, and more to do with the Scottish culture’s deep and living sense of reciprocity and right relation in the face of the oppressive influence of Empire. This Scottish folkway imbues the myths of the Country, and is at the root of its magical expression. As someone first lit up magically by a form of Witchcraft often called folkloric, a large part of my practice has been forged by pulling on the threads of what can sometimes seem like a vague cosmology, back to where I can find its sense of place, rooted in a culture and landscape. Scott’s work throughout the years on his blog the Cailleachs Herbarium (and now in this book) has been my own personal roadmap to find out for myself who the “folk” in question are. SHOW NOTES: Buy Scott's Book: Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread Scott's Blog: The Cailleachs Herbarium IG: @cailleachsherbarium Scottish Histories of Resistance: https://www.scottishhistoriesofresistance.co.uk/
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1:34:57
No Hand Path with Robert Peter
Magic is weird. The more it becomes a part of your life, the constructs you once held dearly as fundamental pillars of reality begin to break down, and in their place, new constructs start to emerge. As someone with a practice founded in Witchcraft and Druidry, I’ve replaced many of my preconceived notions of reality with a somewhat animist, and ancestral, and even gnostic (at times) interface with the world. This is completely idiosyncratic, but it’s true for me, and it allows me to tap into a live wire of personal gnosis that reverberates through my spells and ceremonies in a way that would feel hollow in any other way. I don’t personally identify with the Christian current – Catholic, protestant, or Orthodox, respectively. I was raised in what I like to call “suburban Christianity,” which was a shallow form of spirituality that was either a victim or beneficiary (depending on your take) of Reaganomics and the prosperity gospel. That said, for many guests I’ve had on this show over the past year, there is a very live wire of power to be tapped into within the Christian current, which cuts through the artifice and limitations of my own experience with this religion. Robert Peter is a perfect example of this. His “current shifting” and Chaos Magic approach to Christianity both subverts the preconceived notions of how the practice operates and opens paths to unlocking syncretism with a diverse arsenal of magic. I’m excited to welcome Robert back to the show, as we explore his unique perspective on incorporating a wide range of influences into his “plug and play” approach to Christian magic. SHOW NOTES: No Hand Path: Robert's Substack IG: @robertpeterservices Art: Christ in the Desert by Nicholas Roerich, 1933.
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1:11:42
Let's Talk About Fairy Sex! with Morgan Daimler
To celebrate Beltane we're welcoming back to the show Morgan Daimler, who just released a new book about love and sex in Fairy belief called Paid with a Kiss. We explore notions of gender expression and subversion in the fairy realm, and whether or not the 80's hair metal scene was secretly fairy-pilled. We also chat about the complicated nature of spirit marriage, and trends in popular witchcraft that seem skeptical of spirits altogether. I'm always grateful for a chance to chat with Morgan, and I think y'all are in for a treat. SHOW NOTES: Morgan's Books: Author Page Paid with a Kiss: Moon Books Feed the Fairies Podcast: Spotify Link Morgan's Patheos Blog: Patheos Pagan Morgan's Classes: Irish Pagan School Morgan's Instagram: @morgandaimler MUSIC: "Stormy Point / Back of Beyond / The Seamstress" off the album Fable & Fire by Andrew Marlin - https://www.andrewmarlin.com
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1:35:55
Ecstatic Witchcraft with Fio Gede Parma
Today on the show I'm thrilled to share a chat I recently had with Fio Gede Parma. Fio is a writer, teacher, and witch whose voice and perspective I really vibe with. Fio has an exceptional knack for diving headfirst into the kind of dense and complicated philosophical territory we love on this show, and effortlessly encapsulating their ideas in an intuitive and accessible way. On the show we explore Fio's experiences as an initiate of the Feri Tradition, as well as diving deep into his recently re-released book: Ecstatic Witchcraft. Fio gracefully and confidently describes the complicated word "shaman," its relationship to Witchcraft, and by extension to ecstacy. We chat about some of the more novel approaches in Fio's book to some tried and true ritual techniques, and how Fio defines deep concepts like "deity" and "faerie" for themself. This is hopefully the first of many conversations we can bring you with Fio . . . enjoy! ................................................................... SHOW NOTES: Fio's Site: Fiogedeparma.com Ecstatic Witchcraft Book: Crossedcrowbooks.com Fio's excellent Youtube Channel: @Fiogedeparma IG: @Fiogedeparma -MUSIC: "Stormy Point / Back of Beyond / The Seamstress" by Andrew Marlin off the ablum Fable & Fire. https://www.andrewmarlin.com/
A podcast about The Otherworld, and the people who engage it. A journey through conversations with a wide array of thinkers, practitioners and writers. Join us as we delve into folklore, consciousness, witchcraft, and all the perennial mysteries that haunt and inspire us.
New Zealand