Weird Studies

In August, 2022, JF and Phil flew to the UK to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) at the University of St. Andrews and the Supernormal Festival in Oxfordshire. In addition to recording two live shows (to be released in the coming weeks), they encountered billiant minds, novel ideas, and arresting works of art that opened new avenues for thought. It's these encounters that anchor this conversation, which branches off to touch ideas such as the elusive ideal of intersciplinarity, Hakim Bey's temporary autonomous zone, the legacy of the 20th-century counterculture, the fate of revolutionary movements, non--human intelligences, and the weirdness of human thought. Header Image by RomitaGirl67 via Wikimedia Commons. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop References Dial M for Musicology, Interdisciplinarity Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone Entitled Opinions Podcast William Gibson, Foreword to Samuel Delaney’s Dhalgren DISI Podcast, Many Minds John Krakauer, professor of nuerology and neuroscience Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist The Great Ape Dictionary, specific database used by Cat Hobaiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edgar Allan Poe can be lauded as a major inspiration for many innovative artists, genres, and movements, from horror fiction to the music of Maurice Ravel. He has also been a major inspiration for Weird Studies, particularly his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." In this episode, JF and Phil try to pinpoint just what it is about this tale that is so compelling, discovering in the process that whatever it is cannot be pinpointed. Instead, the haunting mood of the story emerges from the peculiar arrangement of all its parts, becoming something entirely new. Click here for more information on the Supernormal Festival, Aug 12-14, in Oxfordshire, England. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop References Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death Klangfarbenmelodie, musical technique Edgar Allan Poe, "The Poetic Principle" Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Lovecraft without adjectives Weird Studies, Development of Circle vs. Spiral: Wheel of fortune, Blade Runner, The Star, Birhane Matei Calinescu, The Five Faces of Modernity Weird Studies, Episode 101 on ‘In Praise of Shadows’ Phanes, deity James Herbert, The Dark Joseph Adamson, “Frye and Poe” Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, French anthropologist James Machin, Weird Fiction in Britain Edgar Allan Poe, “Eureka” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The American writer and thinker Victoria Nelson is justly revered by afficionados of the Weird for The Secret Life of Puppets and its follow-up Gothicka. Both are masterful explorations the supernatural as it subsists in the "sub-Zeitgeist" of the modern secular West. In 2021, Strange Attractor Press released Neighbor George, Nelson's first novel. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss this gothic anti-romance with a mind to seeing how it contributes to Nelson's overall project of acquainting us with the eldritch undercurrents of contemporary life. Click here for more information on the Supernormal Festival, Aug 12-14, in Oxfordshire, England. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop References Victoria Nelson, Neighbor George Victoria Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets Victoria Nelson, Gothicka Wendy Lesser, American critic Ward Sutton Onion cartoons Extension, metaphysical concept Terry Castle, The Female Thermometer Cessation of Miracles, theological belief E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande Greg Anderson, “Retrieving the Lost Worlds of the Past: A Case for the Ontological Turn” Orcus Grotto, sculpture Margaret Atwood, The Edible Woman Nathalie Cooke, Margaret Atwood: A Biography Weird Studies, Episode 96 on Beauty and the Beast M. C. Richards, “Wrestling with the Daemonic” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like Caligula declaring war on Neptune and ordering his troops to charge into the Mediterranean Sea, our technological masters are designing neural networks meant to capture the human soul in all its oceanic complexity. According to the cognitive scientist Abeba Birhane, this is a fool's errand that we undertake at our peril. In her paper "The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity," she makes the case for the irremediable fluidity, spontaneity, and relationality of people and societies. She argues that ongoing efforts to subsume the human (and the rest of reality) in predictive algorithms is actually narrowing the human experience, as so many of us are excluded from the system while others are compelled to artificially conform to its idea of the human. Far from paving the way to a better world, the tyranny of automation threatens to cut us off from the Real, ensuring an endless perpetuation of the past with all its errors and injustices. Phil and JF discuss Birhane's essay in this episode. Header image from via www.vpnsrus.com (cropped). Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Abebe Birhane, "The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity” J. F. Martel, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things” Melissa Adler, Cruising the Library: Perversities in the Organization of Knowledge Weird Studies, Episode 75 on 2001: A Space Odyssey Weird Studies, Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune William James, American philosopher Midjourney, AI art generator Rhine Research Center, parapsychology lab George Lewis, “Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives” Abebe Birhane, “Descartes was Wrong: A Person is a Person Through Other Persons” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German philosopher J. R. R. Tolkein, “On Fairy-Stories” Martin Buber, I and Thou Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Returning guest Matt Cardin is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose focus on numinous horror places him in the literary lineage as Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood. His new book, What the Daemon Said, collects two decades' worth of meditations on literature, cinema, mysticism, philosophy, and the weird. He joins Phil and JF to talk about a range of topics including dark enlightenment, the idea that fear and trembling are the only sensible reactions to direct exposure to cosmic truth. Header image: detail of cover design for What the Daemon Said, by Dan Sauer Design. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Matt Cardin's website Matt Cardin, What the Daemon Said: Essays on Horror, Fiction, Film and Philosophy Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones The Gospel of Thomas Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings Robert Frost, “The Figure a Poem Makes” John Horgen, Rational Mysticism Weird Studies, Episode 41 with Matt Cardin Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for his Highest Weird Studies ep. 124: Dark Night Radio of the Soul, with Duncan Barford Theodore Roszak, American scholar M. C. Richards, Centering Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols Huston Smith, American religious scholar Martin Buber, I and Thou John Lee Hancock (dir.), The Rookie (2002) Eckart Tolle, German spiritual teacher Richard Wagner, Parsifal Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion Alan Watts, English writer and teacher Richard Rose, After the Absolute: The Inner Teachings of Richard RoseSpecial Guest: Matt Cardin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 23, 2022, Meredith Michael joined JF and Phil for a live recording at Illuminated Brew Works, a craft brewery in Chicago, Illinois.The occasion was the launch of Weird Studies Black IPA, the fruit of a collaboration with IBW brewmaster Brian Buckman and his team of beer alchemists. The game plan was to talk about potions, but the final conversation ranges over a number of topics including singularity and repetition, time and eternity, alchemy and ritual, Okakura Kakuzō's The Book of Tea, cooking and pickling, and the cultural phenomenon Phil calls "weedhead sh*t." Purchase the Weird Studies Black IPA from Beer on the Wall or visit the Illuminated Brew Works website. Buy volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop SHOW NOTES Okakura Kakuzō, The Book of Tea Oscar Wilde on absinthe Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History Toni Morrison. Song of Solomon The Suzuki Method Robert Fink, Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice David Cronenberg (dir.), Scanners (1981) Lars von Trier (dir.), Dancer in the Dark (2000) Alan Watts, Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen William Shakespeare, MacbethSpecial Guest: Meredith Michael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For several episodes now, Phil and JF have been circling what St. John of the Cross called the Dark Night of the Soul, that moment in the spiritual journey where all falls a way and an abyss seems to crack open beneath our feet. When it came time to go there in earnest, they could think of no better guide than Duncan Barford, host of the excellent Occult Experiments in the Home podcast. As a master magician, long-time meditator, psychotherapeutic counsellor and writer on spirituality and the occult, Barford is uniquely endowed with the tools, experience, and language to discuss even the most difficult spiritual topics with wisdom and warmth. A Virgil for any Inferno. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack: Volume 1 and Volume 2 Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop SHOW NOTES Occult Experiments in the Home, Duncan Barford's excellent solo podcast Duncan's other website, focusing on his work as a psychotherapeutic counselor Duncan's books on Amazon US Weird Studies, Episode 67 on Hellier Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Judgement Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Dogen’s Bendowa Tibetan Book of the Dead Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel Spinoza, Ethics Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking Special Guest: Duncan Barford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every off-week, JF and Phil record a bonus episode for Patreon supporters. The conversations on that stream are shorter, less formal, and more improvisitory than those of the flagship show. To give the wider public a glimpse of this hidden dimension of the WS universe, we decided to make this week's "audio extra" available to everyone. As it happens, this episode also contains an important announcement concerning next week's event at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago: tickets must be purchased via Eventbrite using the link below. No tickets can be sold at the door. Click here to purchase tickets to the Weird Studies beer launch at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago on May 23. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Star is one of the most iconic of the major trumps of the traditional tarot deck. It is also one of the most ambiguous. A woman is shown emptying two urns of water onto the parched ground. She is flanked by nascent plant life. Shining above her are those nocturnal luminaries whose "eternal silence" so frightened the philosopher Blaise Pascal at the dawn of modernity. Are the stars pointing the way to a brighter future, or are they stars of ill omen, warning us of what lies ahead? And what does that little bird in the background signify? In this episode, Phil and JF try to get to the bottom of the starry heavens, only to find out that starry heavens have no bottom. Click here to purchase tickets to the Weird Studies beer launch at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago on May 23. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Our Known Friend (Valentin Tomberg), Meditations on the Tarot Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of the Tarot Pink Floyd, “Astronomy Domine” Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law Heimarmene, Greek goddess of fate Weird Studies, Episode 121 on Mandy Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren J R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Juan Eduardo Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols Weird Studies, Episode 103 on the Tower Weird Studies, [Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune] Joni Mitchell, “Ladies of the Canyon” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, each of your hosts bullies the other into watching a movie he would normally not touch with a bargepole. Phil has been (unsuccessfully) trying to get JF to watch Vincente Minnelli's 1953 musical comedy The Band Wagon and JF has been (also unsuccessfully) trying to get Phil to watch Panos Cosmatos's 2018 psychedelic horror film Mandy. For this episode, they decided they would compromise and watch both. What started as a goof ended up a fascinating Glass Bead Game from which emerge occulted correspondences between films that, on the surface, could not be more dissimilar. One film is a dream of song and dance, the other a dream of blood and violence. Either way, though, watch out: as Deleuze says, "beware of the dreams of others, because if you are caught in their dream, you are done for." Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack SHOW NOTES Iluminated Brew Works, Chicago JF's new course, [Groundwork for a Philosophy of Magic](www.nuralearning.com) Vincente Minnelli (dir.), The Bandwagon Panos Cosmatos (dir.), Mandy Weird Studies, Episode 73 on Carl Jung Norman Jewison (dir.), Moonstruck David Thompson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 1: The Movement Image) and Cinema 2: The Time Image Henri Bergson, “The Cinematographical Mechanism of Thought and the Mechanistic Illusion”, from Creative Evolution Terry Gilliam (dir.), The Fisher King Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music Raymond Knapp, The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity Richard Dyer, “Entertainment and Utopia” in Only Entertainment Gilles Deleuze, “What is the Creative Act” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices