
Creative Codex
Peer into the minds of the greatest creative geniuses in history. Join us as we explore the mystery of how creativity works, art history and how you can improve your own creative process. The labyrinth awaits.
Creative Codex is one-part podcast and one-part imaginative lecture series, featuring thoroughly researched insights into the creative process mixed with captivating soundscapes and original music.
Produced & Written by MJDorian
Latest episodes

Sep 14, 2022 • 17min
Creativity Tip 18: The Siesta Nap
On this minisode, we’re going to explore the physical and creative benefits of napping. I’ll share with you my personal method for easing into a nap practically anywhere. And we will answer this question: are there any creative benefits to napping?
Dorian's Nap Method:
Set your alarm for 17 - 20 minutes.
Lay down on a bed (with a sleep mask) or elsewhere, like a car (with sunglasses).
Slow down your breathing and scan your body for any tension.
Slowly count from 1 to 15 in your mind, imagine drawing each number slowly. If you make it to 15, start from step 3 again, and restart your count.
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If you'd like to become a supporter of Creative Codex, head over to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
Thank you in advance for your support!
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All music by MJDorian
Connect on social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian
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Thank you to my Dream Maker Tier, Executive Producer: Mike Hill
Produced & Created by MJDorian
All Rights Reserved.

Aug 18, 2022 • 14min
Jimi Hendrix Electrifies The Star Spangled Banner (Today in Creative History)
Today in Creative History: August 18th, 1969, Jimi Hendrix plays a visionary rendition of The Star Spangled Banner for a stunned audience at Woodstock. It's a performance that will go down in history as the musical climax of a tumultuous decade in the USA. Decades later, this rendition still sounds as startling to our ears as it must have to the tens of thousands in attendance.
If you'd like to become a supporter of Creative Codex and receive access to all of the patron exclusives (including the Kurt Cobain series and the Sermons Only version of Jung's Seven Sermons) check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
If you'd like to buy me a coffee or some new guitar strings, now you can on Venmo! Just search @creativecodex, and click the businesses tab. You can also open it directly at this link: https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3235189073379328069&created=1635357384.800416&printed=1
Thank you for your support!
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Watch Jimi Hendrix perform The Star Spangled Banner in this Woodstock clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzZh6-h9fM
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Music featured in this episode:
Continuum by MJDorian
Foxey Lady (performed at Miami Pop, 1968) by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Star Spangled Banner (performed at Woodstock, 1969) Jimi Hendrix
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Follow me to keep abreast of all the new updates about Creative Codex:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian
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Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.
All rights reserved.

13 snips
Jul 29, 2022 • 54min
32: Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci • Part 1: The Inner Life of Genius
At this moment, strewn across the world, there exist over 7,200 pages of Leonardo da Vinci's notes. These pages are not only echoes of a distant past–embodying the inquisitive spirit of the Renaissance–according to scholars and historians they represent the 'greatest record of curiosity ever created'.
Join me for this special two part series, as we dive into the thoughts, artwork, and paradoxes of Leonardo da Vinci's mind. A mind whose brilliance is exteriorized for us on the pages of these manuscripts.
Visit the companion gallery for this episode here: https://mjdorian.com/notebooks/
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Research & Resources:
• The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, edited by Edward MacCurdy (Definitive Edition in One Volume).
• Leonardo: The Complete Drawings, published by Taschen.
• The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
• Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson.
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Support Creative Codex on my Patreon and get access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series and all the Episode Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
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Listen to episode 2 of Creative Codex for more about Leonardo da Vinci's personal life. Available in the main podcast feed, titled: '2: Leonardo da Vinci's Secret'.
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Thank you to my Dream Maker tier!
Executive Producer: Mike Hill
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Thank-you's & 'shout outs' to the Shadow Fam!
Shadow-Fam: AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Carmella Cole, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Geo_H, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Janet Roccanova, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jennifer Wilson, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kirsten Dressler, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Maurus Fitze, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rachulan, Rachel Schultz, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Tim Sussss, Terry W, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!
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Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian
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All music written & produced by MJDorian. With one exception:
Amadeus Mozart's Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem plays from 8:50-11:30. Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.
All rights reserved.

Jun 28, 2022 • 22min
Guided Meditation: Intuition Mapping
This is a Guided Meditation episode about one of the most perplexing aspects of creativity: Intuition. What is it and how do we engage it more effectively?
This meditation is based on a technique I've been developing called: Intuition Mapping. Grab a cup of coffee / tea, and give this guided meditation a test drive to see what compulsions are pushing and pulling you.
Some helpful notes:
• Motivations push you. Intentions direct you. Intuitions pull you.
• To find your motivations ask: what is pushing you?
• To find your intentions ask: what are you pushing yourself toward?
• To find your intuitions ask: what is pulling you? What is gently tugging at the fabric of your being?
• Intuitions often feel like something is pulling your neural network toward a certain direction, it’s a feeling to move in a certain direction. One which you often can’t always explain with logic.
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Become a patron of the show on my Patreon and gain access gain access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series, Creativity Tips, and all the Episode Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
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Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian
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Cover Art: Hesiod & The Muse (1891) by Gustave Moreau
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Written & Produced by MJDorian.
All rights reserved.

May 6, 2022 • 1h 39min
31: Leonor Fini • The Dark Masquerade
Leonor Fini did not limit art to the confines of the frame, for her, it spilled out into all of life itself. Every year, Fini and her two lovers, Stanislao & Kot, would host soirees at an abandoned monastery on the island of Corsica. If you were invited, it meant you were part of her inner circle. The only requirement was: come dressed in a mask and costume–the more elaborate, the better.Join me on a masquerade through Fini's imagination. Along the way we will witness a battle of wits between Dalí and Fini, we will also appreciate selected artworks from Fini’s mid-to-late career and interview Lissa Rivera, the curator for the first Leonor Fini retrospective exhibition in the USA.View the Companion Gallery for this episode: https://mjdorian.com/fini/(This is Part 2 of the Leonor Fini series, you can find Part 1 by scrolling down to Episode 30 in your podcast feed.)Learn more about Lissa Rivera (Photographer / Curator): Website: http://www.lissarivera.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lissa_rivera_/Follow Emily Simone (violinist on Codex 30 & 31):https://www.emilysimone.com/abouthttps://www.instagram.com/EMILYSIMONEMUSIC/Support Creative Codex on my Patreon and get access to exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series and all the Episode Exclusives: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian---------Resources used for research on this episode:Books• Sphinx: The Life and Art of Leonor Fini by Peter Webb• Rogomelec by Leonor Fini• Interview with the Muse by Nina Winter• Leonor Fini: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings by Richard Overstreet & Neil ZukermanPodcast• Les grandes dame de l'art, Episode 8: Leonor Fini---------Credits...---------Thank you to my Dream Maker tier!Executive Producer: Mike Hill---------Thank-you's & 'shout outs' to the Shadow Fam!Shadow-Fam: AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Carmella Cole, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Geo_H, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kirsten Dressler, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Maurus Fitze, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rachel Schultz, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Terry W, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!---------Connect with me on social media for all the newest updates:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian---------Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.All rights reserved.

Apr 22, 2022 • 1h 14min
30: Leonor Fini • Mirrors of the Dark Sublime (Part I)
Leonor Fini was one of the most prolific and mysterious artists of the 20th century. Her career spans an impressive 67 years, she completed over 1,100 oil paintings, and her art was featured in over 350 international gallery exhibitions during her lifetime. Yet she is virtually unknown to us today. Her art and career are shrouded with the mystery of a sphinx's riddle. This is the story of Leonor Fini, one of the 20th century's great creative geniuses.
Visit the companion gallery for this episode: https://mjdorian.com/fini/
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If you'd like to become a supporter of Creative Codex and listen to my Kurt Cobain series, head over to: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
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Violin performed by Emily Simone
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilysimonemusic/
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Big thank you to my Shadow-Fam supporters:
AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas O’Kelly, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Robert, Ruben Corona, Sigitas Treciokas, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Hariharan, Stephanie Neal, Terry W, Viggs Verikas, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!
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Let's connect...
Instagram: @mjdorian
Twitter: @mjdorian
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All music written & produced by MJDorian
Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian
All Rights Reserved

Mar 29, 2022 • 9min
The World Is Burning–Why Should I Make Art?
Why make art during times of turmoil? Why make art in times of war? Why should you even be creative when it feels like the world is burning?
In this minisode, we explore the reason why we need art to help us transcend our darkest times.
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Cover Art: Photograph by Joseph Eid, 2017. The man pictured is Mohammed Anis, a civilian in Aleppo, Syria. He sits on his bed, with a pipe in his hand, listening to a vinyl record on his gramophone–surrounded by the bombed wreckage of his home.
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Listen to the 20th century masterpiece featured in this episode, Quartet for the End of Time by Oliver Messiaen, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2hbwINj7dE
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If you’d like to offer any support to an organization working to provide humanitarian assistance in war-torn countries, I recommend UNICEF.
This is the United Nations Children’s Fund. They provide relief to children and families in over 190 countries and territories. With food, immunization, and safe drinking water. Places where families have been displaced or torn apart by war. Including Ukraine, Syria, Africa, and many others.
UNICEF is not a paid sponsor of this show, I’m just sharing this with you because I’ve donated to them and I support their work. They’re a non-profit organization, with an impressive 88% of donated funds going toward the charity work they do. Follow this link to donate: https://www.unicef.org/
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Follow my work & see updates about future episodes on my social media:
Instagram: @mjdorian
Twitter: @mjdorian
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Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian
All rights reserved.

10 snips
Mar 10, 2022 • 1h 22min
29: Carl Jung • Seven Sermons to the Dead (Part III)
On this episode, we will conclusively answer this question: why was Gnosticism so important to Dr. Carl Jung?
Along the way, we will dive deep into Sermons 5 thru 7 to answer these questions: what is the relationship between spirituality and sexuality? How does Jung's libido theory differ from Freud's libido theory? What is the significance of the dove and the serpent in religious symbolism? According to the Seven Sermons to the Dead: what is the goal of life?
As mentioned in the episode–here is Jung's mysterious anagram–which is found on the bottom of the final page of the Seven Sermons to the Dead:
NAHTRIHECCUNDE
GAHINNEVERAHTUNIN
ZEHGESSURKLACH
ZUNNUS.
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Become a supporter of Creative Codex and gain access to all the exclusive episodes, including the Kurt Cobain series, on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
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A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://mjdorian.com/transcripts/
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Cover Art: Dove & Serpent by MJDorian. Follow more of my art here: Instagram: @mjdorian
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Books used as sources for this episode:
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Dr. Carl Jung & Anielle Jaffe
The Red Book by Dr. Carl Jung
The Gnostic Scriptures by Bentley Layton
The Gnostic Jung by Stephan Hoeller
The Gnostic Jung by Robert A. Segal
and Psychology of the Unconscious by Dr. Carl Jung
For a practical application of Jungian Psychology, the author, Robert Johnson, has written numerous books. The one mentioned in the conclusion of this episode: Inner Work.
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Follow my work & see updates about future episodes on my social media:
Instagram: @mjdorian
Twitter: @mjdorian
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Thank you to all of my Patreon supporters. And shout-outs to the Shadow Fam:
AKD, Anna Wolff, Aranea Push, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Clinton King, Dallas Okelly, Diana, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, Jen The Atelierista, Jye Marchant, Kayla Dawson, Keith, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Ruben Corona, Simon Bonanno, Sowmya Harigaran, Stephanie Neal, Viggs Verikas, and Yadie Cisneros. Thank you for your support!
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Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.
All rights reserved.

Jan 23, 2022 • 22min
Art Is Dangerous: Nazi Degenerate Art Exhibition • Entartete Kunst, 1937
When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, in 1933, one of their first goals was to reshape culture by force. The Nazis organized book burnings, stormed artist studios, confiscating work they disagreed with, and fired contemporary artists from teaching positions in universities. The goal was to place limits on human expression–an ominous display for what was to come.
Visit the companion gallery for this episode here: https://mjdorian.com/dangerous/
The celebrated 1800's German poet, Heinrich Heine, wrote: "where books are burned, there too, people will burn."
On this episode, we explore the Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937, otherwise known as Entartete Kunst. The intended goal of the exhibit was to insult and ridicule the featured artists and kill modern art. Making it clearly known to the German public that the Nazi Party was forbidding any form of abstraction in painting, film, sculpture, or music.
The suppression or censorship of art is a symptom that something is desperately wrong in the cultural fabric of a society. What happened to the artists featured in the exhibition? Did they continue making art? Did they flee or stay and protest? Why is art so dangerous?
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Artists featured in this episode: Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, and Conrad Felixmüller. Explore their work in this special companion gallery I put together: https://mjdorian.com/dangerous/
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If you'd like to become a supporter of CREATIVE CODEX, and obtain access to all the exclusive content, such as the Kurt Cobain series and all the Creativity Tip episodes, head on over to: https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
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All music in this episode was produced & composed by MJDorian.
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Creative Codex is written and produced by MJDorian.
More info here: https://mjdorian.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjdorian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/creativecodex

10 snips
Jan 4, 2022 • 1h 10min
28: Carl Jung • Seven Sermons to the Dead (Part II)
In 1916, Dr. Carl Jung wrote his most mystifying work: The Seven Sermons to the Dead. In this episode, we continue our quest to understand it the way Jung understood it, exploring Sermons 3 & 4. We will attempt to answer these questions: Who is Abraxas? Why is he a god above gods? Who is Basilides? Why does Jung credit him as the writer of the Seven Sermons? And what leads Jung to have this creative breakthrough? Does it come from a point of inner turmoil or inspired grace? It’s time we find out.
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Cover Artwork: Abraxas Exegesis by MJDorian. More illustrations & art here: https://mjdorian.com/art/
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Listen to the new Limited Release series episode: 'Kurt Cobain • I'm Not Like Them' on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/mjdorian
Hear a preview of the episode in the mid-point intermission of episode 28, Seven Sermons (Part II).
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A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://mjdorian.com/transcripts/
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Big Thank you to my Patreon supporters!
Shout out to the Shadow Fam: AKD, Aneudy Valerio, Anna Wolff, Barak Talker, Corey, Clark Price, Dallas Okelly, DVM, Glen QuiltSwissy, Hamed Iranmehr, Hilde, Jay, John Bergmans, Jye Marchant, Kristina Lamour Sansone, Michael Lloyd, Owen McAteer, Rebecca, Ruben Corona, Sowmya Harigaran, Stephanie Neal, Tess Callahan, Viggs Verikas, Yadie Cisneros, and Zuko's World. Thank you for your support!
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Creative Codex YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CreativeCodex
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjdorian/
Want to buy me coffee? Head over to Venmo and search @creativecodex in businesses. This show runs on 100% Arabica beans. Thank you for your support! Also accepting crypto donations, just reach out to me on Instagram: @mjdorian Thank you!
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Resources:
The Red Book: by Carl Jung Memories, Dreams, Reflections: by Carl Jung and Aniella Jaffe
The Gnostic Scriptures: by Bentley Layton
The Gnostic Jung: Stephan Hoeller
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Creative Codex is written & produced by MJDorian.
All music written by MJDorian.
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