Oddcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

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.

Jonathan Greig, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leuven and an expert on Proclus in East Rome, dives into the fascinating reception of Proclus' philosophy from the 6th to the 15th centuries. He discusses the dynamic interplay between pagan and Christian thought, focusing on key figures like Maximus the Confessor and Gregory Palamas. The conversation highlights theological controversies, including the hesychastic debates, and how Proclus' ideas were reinterpreted across centuries, leaving a lasting impact on Byzantine intellectual life.

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.

Sørina Higgins, expert in Modernist drama and the Occult, discusses the intersection of modernist drama and ceremonial magic. The podcast explores the influences of secret societies, the mastery of esoteric systems by figures like Crowley and Yeats, and the evolution of spiritual themes in short plays. The fusion of theatre and ritual in Aleister Crowley's work and the blurring of theater and teaching in esotericism by Alex Matthews are also highlighted.

We speak with Alireza Doostdar on his field-research exploring alternative forms of spirituality in Iran. Come for the new-age exorcisms, stay for the the true spiritual significance of The Exorcist.

Machine learning engineer Karin Valis explores the intersections between AI and magic, discussing topics such as AI as an oracle, the relationship between AI and meaning, narrowing down information through questioning, the parallels between divine statues and AI, and the connection between magic and language.

We discuss arguably the greatest magical book of the Islamicate tradition, the Shams al-maʿārif al-kubrā or Great Sun of Knowledge. Turns out it isn't by al-Būnī as everyone thought, though there is some Būnī in there; but it has so much to tell us about Islamicate culture, Sufism, and the ‘project of forgetting’ of esoteric Islām among both Muslims and scholars.

We introduce Aḥmad al-Būnī, master sūfī and alphanumeric speculator, but most famous in the Islamicate world as an authority on magic. We sift the wheat from the chaff and get to the bottom of who al-Būnī was, what he really wrote, and what kind of reception he has had, both within and outside of Islam.

We discuss universal salvation, a perennial idea within Christianity – that all of humanity, or maybe even everything in the universe, will be saved through Christ's salvific atonement – with Morwenna Ludlow of the University of Exeter. Starting from Clement of Alexandria and ending with the current state of play in sometimes-unlikely Christian circles, we explore the long history of an esoteric (and sometimes not so esoteric) Christian idea.

We discuss the widespread idea of the ‘disenchantment’ of the modern world – the idea that ‘we don't believe in magic any more’ – with Jason Josephson-Storm. It turns out that the idea is a myth, that the myth is actually a number of complex, interacting myths, and that none of them is empirically-accurate.