Rejected Religion Podcast

Tommy Cowan is currently a PhD student in the Literature, Media, and Culture program at Florida State University. His primary interest is the confluence between literature and esotericism, including how literatures/texts are conceptualized as esoteric ritual, and the reception/transmission of literary esotericism as an intellectual tradition. He received his MA in Religious Studies from University of Amsterdam (2019), graduating Cum Laude. His 2019 master’s thesis centers around spirituality and esotericism in the works of American author William S. Burroughs. He is also an Associate Editor for Correspondences: Journal for the Study of Esotericism.As this discussion was centered on research updates, we cover a range of topics- but highlighting a few here:  We start with Tommy’s research on Burroughs that grew out of Tommy’s work with Florida State University’s archive complied by Professor Bucher. Just a head’s up – our discussion is mature in nature, so listener discretion is advised, as they say. We cover two of Tommy’s papers- one that deals with sexual hanging as something that Burroughs was trying to read in an esoteric sense; the other deals with the tension between Burroughs’ misogyny and his ‘feminine’ coded texts,  which leads into a related topic of  transgenderism and alchemy, and circling back to sexual metaphors with brief tangents into Wilhelm Reich’s orgone energy and David Lynch’s atomic bomb scene in Twin Peaks: The Return. After all that, we move on to the concept of ‘normative esotericism,’ as Tommy is looking at ways in which esoteric philosophies and thought reinforce hegemonic normative culture. Lastly, Tommy talks about his new research into how animals enter into symbiotic relationships with plant and fungi substances, plus how we can analyze our own relationship to entheogens.Check out my Patreon page for the full interview! Rejected Religion | Illuminating the Obscure | PatreonTheme Music: Daniel P. Shea

My guest this month is Charlotte Rogers. Charlotte is an artist, author, practicing witch and magician. She recently was artist-in-residence at the Magickal Women Conference 2024.Charlotte and I met in 2022 at the Visionary Medium Conference in Copenhagen. I was intrigued by her presentation there and was eager to talk with her more. Although it's been two years since we last spoke, I am happy to offer this interview for you now.  Some highlights:With regard to Charlotte's 'process,' she explains that she is hyperaware of everything happening around her, and is trying to make sense of things as well as trying to see patterns that could help her operate in reality (or realities). However, with her art, she "switches off everything" although her brain is working on an unconscious level while she is creating. She then has to decipher what the meaning is afterwards. As she calls herself an 'intellectual packrat' she finds inspiration in culture of all forms, as well as in nature.  Referencing her sculptures known as 'spirit houses,' she states, "in terms of spirit, ...things of spirit want nothing more than to be recognized." The objects Charlotte creates act as a place of recognition, as well as a place for the spirits to play, or rest, for example.  Speaking about her recent work as artist-in-residence, Charlotte shares how her earlier work that focused on the 'dance' of magick and art developed into new explorations into animism and memory, the latter being the place of life force, in her opinion. Acknowledging memory is part of her artistic process.In closing, Charlotte shares how her work as a writer differs from that as an artist, and also shares her ideas of how 'the liminal' plays a role in her process in general.   You can find Charlotte at the following links:Website: Charlotte Rodgers (squarespace.com)Instagram:  Charlotte Rodgers (@charlottejrodgers) • Instagram photos and videosFacebook:  FacebookMusic: Stephanie Shea

This is an excerpt of my recent upload on Patreon Tier 2 'Groves of Orpheus.' If you are interested to hear more, please consider checking out my Patreon page:  https://www.patreon.com/RejectedReligion. You can find this full interview plus more to come!My guest this month is Bob Cluness. Bob was a guest on the podcast (E28) in December of 2023, and I asked him to come back for a deep dive into many of the things we only just scratched the surface of in the podcast interview.For those who may be new, Bob is a PhD candidate and researcher in the cultural studies program at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. He graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in film studies on accelerationist aesthetics and action cinema, and in 2020 he received a master’s degree in cultural studies with a thesis on the weird and eerie in contemporary and digital cultures. His current PhD project deals with the relationship between and esotericism and acceleration in UK subcultures in the late 20th century, through a discursive analysis of chaos magic(k) and the Cybernetic Cultures Research Unit, also known as CCRU. As part of his Academic research, Bob’s interests look at the myriad intersections between esotericism and contemporary subcultures, such as cyberpunk, cyberspace and technology, the counterculture and the New Age, comics, zine culture, and music.Bob is a powerhouse and a fantastic source of knowledge, as you will hear in this discussion. We get more into the CCRU, and especially Nick Land and his story; we talk at length about accelerationism, traditionalism and chaos magick - and how this all plays into politics, economics, culture, music, gender – basically every aspect of our lives.This discussion is a long one - over three hours! :)My apologies for the poor sound quality of this audio. I had last-minute, unexpected, technical issues so I had to improvise without my professional recording equipment. Hope it’s still acceptable, and I hope you will enjoy this discussion.

This month’s guest is Dr. Phil Legard. Phil is senior lecturer in music production at Leeds Beckett University. His research interests lie at the intersection of esotericism, music, and politics. His doctoral work explored autoethnography as a research method for esotericism studies, from which he developed a theory of ‘creative seekership’. With Dr. Alexander Cummins, he is co-author of An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke (Scarlet Imprint 2020), which transcribes and analyses the 16th-century grimoire and magical record of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He is also the author of various popular and academic articles on esotericism, magick, and creativity. He is one-half of the musical duo Hawthonn, who currently have two LP releases on Brooklyn’s Ba Da Bing records.In this interview, Phil talks about the tricky area of methodology when it comes to scholars who are also magickal practitioners, and the reasons why he chose autoethnography as his primary research method. He also explains the background of the term and how the method has developed from a narrative-only approach to one where analysis is also utilized. Phil then talks about some important points and insights that arose while he was doing field recordings, and more about his developmental process as a magickal practitioner throughout the years as a “creative seeker”, which relates to how paths of practice develop as a consequence of experience and appraisals of those experiences. This also includes identity construction and performance, and how experiences shape one’s sense of identity.Note: The full interview with Phil is available on Patreon, with a 7-day free trial, should you be interested. If you enjoy my content and would like to support my work, please consider checking out my Patreon page (as there is much more content to come over there) and consider subscribing. Rejected Religion | Illuminating the Obscure | PatreonPROGRAM NOTESDr. Phil LegardThe Occultural Orpheus: Exploring Creative Seekership through Analytic Autoethnography (leedsbeckett.ac.uk)(99+) Phil Legard | Leeds Beckett University - Academia.edu(99+) Imaginative Listening and Porous Practices: Expanding the Boundaries of Esoteric Musicology | Phil Legard - Academia.edu(99+) Inner-Sense and Experience: Drone Music, Esotericism and the Hieroeidetic Field | Phil Legard - Academia.edu(99+) The Bright Sound Behind the Sound: Real-World Music, Symbolic Discourse and the Foregrounding of Imagination | Phil Legard - Academia.eduMusic | Hawthonn (bandcamp.com)𝖕𝔥𝔦𝔩 𝖑𝔢𝔤𝔞𝔯𝔡 (@larkfall) / X (twitter.com)Hawthonn (@hawthonn) • Instagram photos and videosWorks Referenced:Esotericism and Criticism: A Platonic Response to Arthur Versluis (wouterjhanegraaff.blogspot.com)1887_3160767-What is wrong with Pagan Studies_.pdfA-Methodology-of-the-Imagination.pdf (mythcosmologysacred.com)Writing the self into research: Using grounded theory analytic strategies in autoethnography | Published in TEXT (scholasticahq.com)Hildegard Westerkamp - Kits Beach Soundwalk (1989) (youtube.com)Works by Hawthonn used in the interview:32:15 - Dream Cairn from the album Earth MirrorRejected Religion Theme: Daniel P. SheaAdditional music: Stephanie Shea 

Rejected Religion is launching soon on Patreon! As the platform is now celebrating its 5th year anniversary, I thought it would be a perfect time to expand and go in some new directions. I'm really looking forward to providing new content, and hope you'll choose to join me! Thanks as always for your support and I hope to see you soon on Patreon! Image &  Music by Stephanie Shea

Episode release date: May 12, 2024Dr. Tara Smith is an interdisciplinary academic that works in the fields of science fiction, literature, and popular culture. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, writing on religious ideas and experiences of people who paint and play within the science fiction 'grim dark' universe of Warhammer 40,000. She is currently visiting Amsterdam's HHP Centre at the University of Amsterdam in her Fellowship role.   In this interview, Tara discusses how there is a lacuna in the area of Religious Studies when it comes to researching the relationship between religion and tabletop games. Her work demonstrates that Warhammer 40k encourages players to talk and think about religion. We discuss the game and its influences, as well as the role of 'play' in Tara's research, which suggests that there is more imagination and interactional thought about religion than was previously presumed. As this is a work in progress, Tara also discusses her different approaches and her interests in broadening her research scope.  NOTE: Two corrections in this interview --At 0:22:06, Tara says that the Emperor is keeping the Warp open and this is how he dies. This is incorrect. The Emperor does not die while keeping the Warp open; instead, he is mortally wounded while fighting his son Horus. Later on, in his "in between" state, he helps to keep the Warp pathways navigable while on the Golden Throne.At 0:49:15, Tara mentions there are 7 books in the Horus Heresy Series, but what was meant is the Siege of Terra which is a subsection of the overarching series. The Siege of Terra has 8 books (with the last book split into 3 volumes); the entire Horus Heresy has 64 books. Find Tara at:https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/people/tara-smithhttps://hds.academia.edu/TaraSmith Theme music: Stephanie Shea 

Guest: Mike Marinacci, author of Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches: LSD, Cannabis, and Spiritual Sacraments in Underground AmericaMike is an independent expert on psychedelic spiritual groups and nontraditional American religious sects. He is also the author of California Jesus and Mysterious California, and coauthor of the bestselling Weird California. And he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA.In this very engaging conversation, Mike starts by talking about what inspired him to write this book, and then we jump into discussing several of the major psychedelic groups he discusses in his book. A few highlights of our interview: The Native American Church and their struggle to receive legal permission from the United States government to use peyote in their rituals; how non-indigenous people also tried to gain this legal permission for their own churches; the highly eventful life of Timothy Leary and his engagement with LSD, and his later League for Spiritual Discovery; the forerunner to satirical groups such as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Neo-American Church; the introduction of ‘crisis response’ help with the use of LSD by the Church of Naturalism; the switch to the use of legal drugs by the Church of the Tree of Life; the success of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church with the Rastafarians, and the downfall of the Church after the group became too highly involved in drug trafficking; and the complicated efforts to profit commercially from the use of entheogens by the present-day Ayahuasca Healings group.PROGRAM NOTESWorks by/ co-authored by Mike Mariancci:Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches: LSD, Cannabis, and Spiritual Sacraments in Underground America: Marinacci, Mike: 9781644117071: Amazon.com: BooksEerie California: Strange Places and Odd Phenomena in the Golden State: Marinacci, Mike: 9781579512514: Amazon.com: BooksCalifornia Jesus: A (Slightly) Irreverent Guide to the Golden State's Christian Sects, Evangelists and Latter-Day Prophets - Kindle edition by Marinacci, Mike. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.Weird California: You Travel Guide to California's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Volume 7): Bishop, Greg, Oesterle, Joe, Marinacci, Mike, Moran, Mark, Sceurman, Mark, Sceurman, Mark: 9781402766831: Amazon.com: BooksEmail Mike Marinacci: psychedelic.cults@gmail.comInstagram: Mike Marinacci (@psychedeliccults) • Instagram-foto's en -video'sOTHER LINKSGod on High: Religion, Cannabis, and the Quest for Legitimacy: Cozad, Laurie: 9781498504041: Amazon.com: BooksPsychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred Conference 2024, February 17, 2024 | Center for the Study of World Religions (harvard.edu)YouTube Channel: (12) HDS Center for the Study of World Religions - YouTubeTheme Music: Daniel P. SheaOther Music: Stephanie Shea 

This interview was recorded December 7, 2023. Dr. Randall Hall is professor of music at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, as well as a performing saxophonist and composer. He's also writing a book about 'speculative' and 'weird' music as it relates to the Sacred and ritual experiences. In this special Spotlight interview, Randall shares his process of creating music that attempts to re-create a modern theurgic repertoire. (Theurgy is the practice that refers to the ascent of one's soul to the divine.) In the first part of our interview, Randall talks about his first 'encounter' with the concept of 'the harmony of the spheres' and his search to find it, and then explains the concepts of 'speculative' music that reach back to the Pythagorian-Platonic tradition. He also briefly traces a history of the development of musical ideas about consonance and dissonance, and how musical theory has changed with regard to the idea of 'Divine' music. Speaking about 'weird' music, Randall shares how the Divine is not always 'beautiful' but oftentimes terrifying to behold. Following the writings of Porphyry, when one sees or experiences something 'weird,' this is our indicator that we should pay attention to it, and that it signifies an opportunity for higher learning. Esotericism became the key for Randall to begin digging into these strange mysteries. He discusses his ideas about how music and esotericism are intertwined, and yet how there's not much discussion about musical practice in conjunction with ritual. Randall is trying to create a hermeneutical crisis in the listener, through set and setting, to allow the imagination to 'kick in' and allow the 'weird' to speak. There's much more that Randall shares in this interview that can't be summarized here! Clips used in this video, from the album Oracle, Voces Mysticae and Mithras Liturgy, are used with kind permission from Dr. Randall Hall. PROGRAM NOTESRandall Hall - HomeMusic | Randall Hall (bandcamp.com)Randall Hall | SpotifyFacebookTheme music: Stephanie Shea 

This video aired on March 31, 2023 on Rejected Religion's YouTube Channel.  New courses are available at Owlhouse Seminars.Sue Terry has an MA from the University of Surrey where her dissertation was _The Magician Goes Further: The Occult Oblique View in the Short Fiction of Mary Butts_. Sue is now a PhD candidate at Surrey researching feminist occult modernist novels of the 20th century, and she is teaching open access courses in "Literature and the Weird" through her new venture Owl House Seminars.  Sue co-founded the Magickal Women Conference in 2018 and after almost five successful years as director, she stepped down in January 2023 in order focus on her doctoral research, on Owl House Seminars, and her writing on the fiction of Alan Garner, which is destined to become a book.  In this interview, Sue begins by talking about her rich history with the Magickal Women Conferences. We then move the conversation to her new venture, and Sue gives us a sneak preview of several upcoming seminars that she has planned. She then shares about her PhD research that investigates female literary responses to occult ideas and practices, and we close with an interesting look into her research and writing about the author Alan Garner.  Sue is a wonderful storyteller and I found this discussion fascinating and extremely engaging!  PROGRAM NOTESSue Terry Esoteric Academic (sueterryacademic.com)Sue Terry (@suemetro) • Instagram-foto's en -video'sFacebookOwlhouseSeminars (@OwlhouseSeminar) / X (twitter.com)Magickal Women ConferenceMaking Magic Happen — Magickal Women ConferenceJeffrey J. Kripal, PhD – J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religion – Rice University (jeffreyjkripal.com)Alan Garner | The Booker Prizes  Theme Music: Stephanie Shea 

In Part 2, we sit with the concept of accelerationism, how it is occultural in its original form (in Bob’s opinion), its problems, its appropriation by far-right groups, and the related sticky problems of capitalism and neoliberalism that are currently associated with accelerationist thinking in these circles. The conversation from here continues to expand.Bob also discusses the explosion of digital technologies and how contemporary spiritual currents and esoteric movements are enmeshed with technology. This leads us into a more detailed exploration of the CCRU and conspiracy theories, as well as the irony of how the esoteric concept of perennialism (or the idea that there is one everlasting Truth with a capitol T), has gained traction with some magical practitioners. As a little tangent, we also talk about trauma, as this is the ‘elephant in the room’ when discussing Slenderman, as well as the current focus by many on ‘healing’ and how esoteric currents AND neoliberalist viewpoints have also influenced the discourse around healing and wellness.Lastly, Bob shares his current work into the works of JG Ballard and Simon Sellars. Bob sees these works as esoteric texts that add to his interests of researching not only historiographical aspects, but also what is happening now in modern esoteric currents. PROGRAM NOTESBob Cluness:(99+) Bob Cluness | University of Iceland - Academia.edu(99+) "I am an other and I always was…" On the Weird and Eerie in Contemporary and Digital Cultures Ritgerð til MA-prófs í menningafraeði | Bob Cluness - Academia.eduSocial media:Facebook Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism): Jean Baudrillard, Sheila Faria Glaser: 9780472065219: Amazon.com: BooksSelected articles about philosophers mentioned in E28:Gilles Deleuze (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Félix Guattari - WikipediaJean François Lyotard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Hyperstition Primer (edith.reisen)The Weird And The Eerie [PDF] [3ufdj9jsm190] (vdoc.pub)Applied Ballardianism | Memoir from a Parallel Universe#ACCELERATE: The Accelerationist Reader | libcom.orgSlender Man stabbing - Wikipedia(99+) Speculative Fiction | Aren Roukema - Academia.edu“Book Zero” through the Years in: Aries - Ahead of print (brill.com)Chapter 12 “Cthulhu Gnosis” in: Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination (brill.com)Intensive Care (album) - WikipediaWatch Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God (HBO) | TV Shows | HBO MaxNOTE about audio: At this time, I am recording at a temporary location due to extensive home renovations. Unfortunately, the building in which I'm located is also undergoing renovations. I had attempted to work around the noise, but sadly, I wasn't aware that wood floors were being sanded at the same time I was recording. The audio is therefore not optimal; I did my best to edit out the noise, but apologize for the (at times) poor audio quality. Theme Music: Daniel P. SheaOther Music: Stephanie Shea