Ted Hand is public school teacher and independent scholar of Renaissance Magic. In this episode, he discusses the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and Atalanta Fugiens as influential Renaissance texts and the culture of images. Ted discusses in particular the concept of using these image-heavy texts as vehicles for esoteric or mystical play. He discusses in particular the… Read more »
The work of a magician is imaginal, taking place in a realm of phantasy and imagination. The Astral Temple is one of the core works of the magician. It is akin to a spiritual home base, a palace of memory, and an ever-present ritual space enabling the practitioner to perform ritual without physical tools and… Read more »
Magician, fortune teller, and notorious swamp wizard Allen Drake joins me in this episode. We open with a discussion of various forms of divination and fortune telling, focusing primarily on Tarot and astrology. It doesn’t take long for us to dive into the Hellenistic astrology of Dorotheus of Sidon. Allen takes us on a wild… Read more »
This is a solo episode about the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the most beautiful book in Venice. This mysterious volume was printed in Venice in 1499 by Aldus Manutius, with a typeface created by master punchcutter Francesco Griffo. Illustrated with 172 amazing woodcuts, it was written in a strange combination of Latin, Greek, and Italian. The illustrations… Read more »
In this episode, we’re joined by The Word Witch, Claire Burgess! Claire (pronouns they/them) is a queer and non-binary Tarot reader, teacher, writer, and illustrator. They’re the host of The Word Witch podcast and the creator of the Fifth Spirit Tarot deck, both of which explore and re-imagine Tarot through a queer and intersectional lens…. Read more »
Alexx Bollen returns to the podcast to talk about Wyrm’s Addition, a new comic book project he’s working on with Eric Millar of Outlet Press. The story takes place in an eponymous fictional Portland neighborhood based on a real neighborhood called Ladd’s Addition, which those familiar with Portland will undoubtedly recognize as that weird 45°-tilted… Read more »
Travis Lawrence is an artist, printmaker, explorer of symbolism, meddler in metaphor, and allegorical adventurer. In this episode, guest co-host Coleman Stevenson of the Dark Exact joins me to dive into Travis’s history with art, the method behind his creative vision, and some of the mysteries behind his amazing work. We explore Jungian psychology and… Read more »
In March of 2020, during the COVID-19 shutdown of pretty much everything, many Masonic Grand Lodges in the United States and Canada cancelled all lodge meetings and Masonic functions. While necessary, this was disappointing, particularly because I had several lectures lined up at various lodges on a number of topics. In addition, both Esoterika Lodge… Read more »
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Northwest Tarot Symposium. This annual event is focused on cartomancy, including Tarot, oracle, and Lenormand. It consists of a series of talks and workshops, alongside a really entertaining metaphysical fair full of vendors and readers that’s open to the public. This was my first year attending… Read more »
Abigail Atkins of Discordian Astrology joins me in this episode to discuss various aspects of modern and Kabbalistic astrology. Abigail has studied ritual magic and methods of esoteric spiritual development for nearly a decade, and implements astrology as a means of discovering the Holy Guardian Angel and the soul’s destiny in this lifetime. Unlike other… Read more »
