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The one and only Peter J Carroll has completed his incarnation. I wanted to get down some thoughts about what he and his work meant to me.

You can also watch this one.

In this side quest from the Hospicing Modernity's Magic series, I make the case that

• Synchromysticism is modernity's best available form of omen logic.
• And that getting good at it is one of the more reliable ways to get good at magic.

We'll cover

• Seneca's distinction between the candle and the comet
• The rise and decline of synchromysticism as a subculture.
• Jung on the I Ching and psychoid archetypes.
• The Māori concept of wairua.
• And the practical toolkit.

Show Notes

• Chris Knowles on Cosmic Connections: Mystical Practices & Reality's Hidden Language.
• Wearing Jung's Skin Like A Pelt.
• Jake Kotze on The Higherside Chats.

Ayahuasca's peak cultural moment has been and gone.

So what does she do now? And what are the lessons for western magic in the complex journey of this incredible plant teacher?

I have some thoughts on all this mid-dieta, in the Upper Amazon.

As usual, this one is also a YouTube video. You can see it here.

• Here's the link to the Santa Rosa centre. (The website is a little weird but this is the place!) 
• Here's the piece I wrote after my first piñon blanco experience.

It's the anniversary of the reception of the Book of the Law. Joining me to explore the questions of

• What to make of it?

• How to think about it?

• What, if anything, to do with it

Are two very special guests: Alan Chapman and Peter Grey. Now, like me, neither of them is a Thelemite. But what they do have is an encyclopedic knowledge of the era, the material, and the magic behind it. So if you've ever wondered whether the Book of the Law has anything to say to you if you're not already one of Crowley's followers, this is that conversation.

Alan's essay, Is A God To Live In A Dog? is referenced several times in the episode. You can download a copy here.

• Peter Grey's Substack.

• Alan Chapman's website.

Is magic just a less sophisticated form of psychology? That is probably the cornerstone claim of what I am calling 'Modernity's Magic'.

And in the next instalment of our series 'Hospicing Modernity's Magic', I want to look at:

• How psychology diverged from magic and why.
• Jung's role during his lifetime.
• What the magicians of modernity did with the 'legitimacy umbrella' they received from Jungian thought.
• Which parts of this journey do we take with us into the magic of today?

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:11 Wearing Jung's Skin Like a Pelt
• 01:57 The 19th Century & Roads Not Taken
• 07:56 The Red Book 10:50 Active Imagination
• 15:26 Jung & Astrology
• 17:59 Is Magic Just Psychology?
• 22:09 Synchronicity
• 29:17 The Yi Qing & Moments in Time
• 33:08 Synchromysticism as Omen Logic
• 35:26 Psychoid Archetypes & the Unus Mundus
• 43:00 The Post-Jung Pelt-Wearers
• 49:27 What to Hospice, What to Keep
• 52:32 Use Magic to Legitimise Jung

What continues to exist from the 'safe' and 'quirky' magic of the twentieth century that finally needs to die? And what has maybe been left behind that might even belong better in our current era of magic?

This is the beginning of a little project exploring what we should take with us through this fourth turning. You can, of course, watch this one on YouTube.

00:00 - Remember When Magic Was Safe?

01:50 - The Golden Age We Just Lived Through

05:19 - Eating the Wrapper, Throwing Away the Candy

06:34 - What Is Modernity?

09:54 - Why "Hospicing Modernity's Magic"

11:24 - The Hospicing Framework

13:00 - Nothing Is Going Wrong

14:54 - A Telling, Not a History

17:32 - The Series Roadmap

21:18 - What We Carry Forward

22:47 - Join the Conversation

Here are the videos I reference:

• At Work In The Ruins | Dougald Hind 
• Alan Moore's Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic 

What is ours to do during the putrefactory collapse of Western civilisation? Let's find out!

At the very least, it is choosing the right story to live in so that we can nudge the trajectory of this ghastly moment more and more toward the good.

Here are some off-the-cuff thoughts on how we might do that.

There's a meme that's been evolving since 2021, and in its current chaotic incarnation, it's become accidentally magical—even if the people using it don't realise it.

In this episode, I'm unpacking "do it for the plot" as a practical framework for the year ahead. Not just as permission to take risks, but as a way of activating synchronicity and maintaining agency when things inevitably go sideways on the way to your goals.

I'll walk you through how to use this alongside your existing magical toolkit—your amulets, your enchantments, your divination practice—and share the diagnostic story I keep coming back to for checking where I'm actually at versus where I think I am.

I'm also introducing a new project I've been wrestling with: hospicing modernity's magic. Because the late twentieth century gave us some genuinely powerful techniques wrapped in a frame that insists magic isn't real. I want to find a way to respectfully retain the useful stuff and jettison the less-than-useful.

There's practical advice here for interrogating your intentions for 2026, plus some thoughts on why the slacker-era re-enchantment is officially over and what needs to replace it.

Happy new year, kids!

At this time of year, when many of us are rudely awoken from our hard-earned slumber by multiple ghosts wanting us to support their gofundme or something, I thought we might look at ghosts.

What are they? Are they even real? And if they're not, what are they for?

And the exploration is framed by a series of strange experiences I had recently at Australia's most haunted site and possibly the cruelest place in the entire British Empire, Port Arthur.

Enjoy!

PS - Let me also take the opportunity to sincerely thank you for listening, watching, supporting and sharing the various Rune Soup offerings in 2025. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Austinmas 2025! Can you even believe it? Legendary astrologer, Austin Coppock, returns to the show for a look at what 2026 has in store for you.

Here's what we cover:

🪐The end of "nothing ever happens" energy
🪐 What war looks like in the Age of Air
🪐 January's hidden assemblies and the parade before Pluto
🪐 Neptune's 13-year sign change
🪐The Saturn-Neptune conjunction and its strange history with Russia
🪐 Why March could see dangerous confusion and technical disasters
🪐 April's straightforward brutality
🪐 The sweet spot worth planning around
🪐 Late June's triple switcheroo
🪐 Mars-Uranus in Gemini and American history
🪐 August's grinding square with both malefics in their fall
🪐 The shadow over November's "jolly conqueror"
🪐 What 2026 sets up for early 2027
🪐 Solar eclipses and kings who bump their heads

🪬🪬How To Use The Astrology in Your Life🪬🪬

January's Gift 
Use the hidden assembly energy for genuine visioning. Where does your capacity for struggle go? What's actually worth anything? What are your sneaky little moves? Get trajectory set before the crazy train.

April's Pressure 
Mars-Saturn conjunctions every two years aren't new—but this one's in Aries with Neptune. Being pushed beyond reasonable limits. A week's work in a day and a half while already burned out. Endurable, but genuinely shitty.

The May-June Repair Window 
Not just absence of destruction but actively sweet and reparative. Build here what you couldn't build in the storm.

Lucifer: Praxis! 

Peter Grey joins the show once again to talk about his explosive new book. We explore who the being of Lucifer is, his relationship to western magic, western magicians' relationships to him and how the current of liberty, individualism and legitimate rebellion have shaped centuries of culture.

An excellent discussion about a milestone achievement in western occulture.

Get the damned book here.

Enjoy!

Synchromystic raconteur, author, and pattern seeker Christopher Knowles returns to the show, as well as the wheelhouse, for this one.

Not that we would ever need one, but the flimsy excuse for Chris coming back this time is so that we can discuss his amazing new book, XF-ULTRA: The X-Files, Conspiracy Culture, and the National Security State.

• Can a 90s genre TV-show both explore AND generate high strangeness

• What happened to our ancient mythology?

• Who is called to tend the flame of our culture's sacred stories through the chaos all around us?

Even if, almost ESPECIALLY if, you've never seen The X-Files before, this journey down to the underworld and back up through the trash stratum of popular culture has wider metaphysical implications that make it essential listening.

Show Notes

• The Secret Sun on Substack.
• Get XF-ULTRA: The X-Files, Conspiracy Culture, and the National Security State.

In this episode, Dr Radin returns to the show to talk to us about his amazing new book, The Science of Magic.

We look at

• Meta-analyses with trillion-to-one odds.

• Hotel poltergeists that target specific researchers.

• Spoons that bend without force.

• Sigils. Always, always sigils.

Radin explains why materialist skeptics have run out of arguments, how belief literally structures the universe, and why your unconscious mind might be doing magic right now.

If you liked Real Magic, this one takes the conversation even further. The dominant of wider inclusions has surely arrived.

• Pre-order the new book

• Dr Radin's website

Filmmaker Richard Stanley joins us to unpack his incredible book "Otto Rahn: Grail Hunter" - the true story of a gay Jewish medievalist who became the SS's chief grail hunter in Nazi Germany.

We explore Stanley's own supernatural experiences on Montségur (getting trapped by lightning), the brutal genocide of the Cathars, and why this whole story feels disturbingly relevant right now.

From Lucifer's emerald diadem to disappearing treasures to Stanley's decades-long quest through the most mysterious corners of southern France.

Good times!

Show Notes

• Get the book here.
• Previous documentary trailer mentioned in the episode.

Vanese McNeill, co-producer of the Magical Egypt series, returns to the show. In this episode, we explore the hows and possible whys of spirit involvement in history, from the super-elite level down to the everyday. And also across to some of the sillier claims about AI floating in the air like so many plasma entities.

And all of this was inspired by a post Vanese wrote on the Magical Egypt substack about ontozoology back in June.

So that's where we begin, and this is where we go after:

1. The Ontozoology Framework

• What invisible beings actually exist in the ecosystem

• Moving beyond Christian binary (demons vs. angels) to animist complexity

• The difference between malevolent, benevolent, and simply non-human agendas

2. Catherine Austin Fitts & Demonic Capital

• The exact quote about interdimensional intelligences controlling capital

• Why this is being discussed now by credible people

• The problem with oversimplifying complex entities as "Satan"

3. Conscious vs. Unconscious Elite Collaboration

• How much is deliberate ritual worship vs. unconscious possession

• The decline of magical literacy among modern elites

• Why materialist worldviews make people more vulnerable to influence

4. Historical Magic & Modern Mind Control

• Ancient Egyptian spirit relationships as information exchange

• How modern "operations" are rituals without the practitioners knowing it

• Predictive programming as contemporary magic

5. The AI & Slop Demon Problem

• Why "The Architect" and similar AIs aren't sentient but are dangerous

• How AI creates mental conditions ripe for spiritual colonisation

• The difference between AI hosting demons vs. AI making minds available for possession

6. UFOs, Aliens, and Interdimensional Beings

• The reframing of UFO phenomena as spiritual rather than extraterrestrial

• Catherine's invitation to meet "aliens in human bodies"

• Distinguishing between visiting organisms and native invisible ecology

Back on the farm, jetlagged and hustling. I've been sitting with this question since I decided not to renew my lease in Asunción.

So today, I want to give you my thoughts.

There's some frosty farm pics over on my Substack.

Enjoy!

Or why our horrible internet is good, actually.

Sick in an AirBnb in Paraguay, I make the case for co-creation still being the best way to exist with our ever-enhorribling media landscape.

• End The Day With Ceremony, Not Distraction.

• Two things to watch or listen to with your lunch (of brains)?

  • Gordon on THC.
  • Kelly Brogan on THC.

Dan Waites joins us to discuss the literal long view, which is to say the things we can see and the frameworks we can find when we widen our perspective out to millennia-long cycles and epochal shifts.

We explore:

• The Kali Yuga and why it may have ended THIS year.

• The Age of Aquarius and how it turns out to be both real and totally fashionable. (You heard me.)

• The long cycles of outer planets and their role in birthing new religions.

• UFO Disclosure, Mayan Apocalypses and the 'true' astrology of Atlantis.

Find Dan at:

• On Youtube.

• At World Astrology Report.

• On Substack.

Note: Before we begin, my six-week Shadow Work Intensive, The Shaman's Devil, Is Now Live. There are only a few spaces left, so if you think you might be interested, move quickly.

If you know me, you'll know this is a pretty big deal for me.

The one and only Dr Alberto Villoldo joins the show this week. We discuss

• Why you came to earth in the first place.

• What healing is and how to achieve it.

• How the academy and culture's understanding of shamanism has changed in the five decades he has been working in the field.

Dr. Alberto Villoldo is a medical anthropologist, psychologist, and shamanic teacher who has spent decades studying the healing practices of the Amazon and Andean shamans. He founded The Four Winds Society to bring ancient energy medicine into dialogue with modern neuroscience. His work bridges worlds—science and spirit, biology and ceremony—to help people remember who they truly are.

• This is the interview with Andre Duqum I reference at the end.
• The Shaman's Devil.

I spent way too much time trying to shoehorn a Warhammer 40K reference into this episode title, and it devolved into something that would make a Chaos Marine blush. So we're keeping it professional (kinda) and diving straight into the space weather for 2025's back 9.

Watch along on YouTube here, if you like. This is what we cover.

Space Baby Update & Good Enough Goals 
Austin's 30-pound toddler is harder to carry than heavy deadlifts, and "good enough" is our 2025 achievement mindset

Failed 40K References & First Half Lookback 
From the eternal Mars season to the Carnival of Chaos that delivered perfect tariff confusion

Iran & Playing for All the Marbles 
Why this could mark the start of World War III and how it connects to the Jupiter-Saturn square

Uranus Enters Gemini: The Pilot Episode 
The seven-year transit that historically reshapes America, plus the flying wedge formation of outer planets

The Bow and Arrow Configuration 
Peak craziness in August with Mars-Saturn tension creating a cosmic weapon aimed at change

The Pause That Does Not Refresh 
September's retreat into swampy Pisces energy—like WWI trenches where your feet rot in gross water

Pisces-Virgo Eclipse Season 
The tail of the dragon's Buddhist letting go vs. the head's overwhelming hunger for the dream

Neptune in Aries & Individual Glory 
From woke-era uniformity to the pursuit of personalised excellence and looking combat-ready

Jupiter in Cancer Magic 
Learning what you really need and how to ask the divine for surgical beneficence

Personal Updates & H2 Plans 
Austin's book progress, Gordon's Peru trip for the Festival of the Sun, and preparing for a louder 2026

I've been revisiting Ursula K. Le Guin's brilliant essay "The Child and the Shadow". Le Guin was defending fantasy against the sterile modernism of her era—but what happens when that defence needs to evolve? We're no longer fighting a battle between "good" and "bad" fantasy. Instead, we're caught in something potentially more insidious: the tension between authentic imagination and the ersatz.

From the disaster of Rings of Power to the destruction of Star Wars, from AI-generated Jung content flooding YouTube to the Soviet-style creative orthodoxy dominating our cultural institutions—we're witnessing the systematic neutering of the imaginal. But here's the thing: they can't actually touch the real. They break upon authentic creativity like waves upon rock.

Through Le Guin's profound analysis of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shadow" and Jung's psychology, I explore why confronting our shadow isn't just personal development—it's the key to understanding why authentic fantasy endures while corporate imitations crumble. Plus, I reveal how Bulgakov got there first in The Master and Margarita, showing us exactly what happens when the vital imaginal meets bureaucratic control.

This isn't just about books or movies. It's about the difference between surface-level engagement and the depths where real creativity lives.

Chapter Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening: The Shift from Good vs. Bad to Ersatz vs. Genuine
3:45 - Le Guin's Defence of Fantasy in the Modern Era
8:20 - The Rings of Power Problem: When Creators Think They're Fans
12:15 - AI Jung Slop and the Corruption of the Imaginal
16:30 - Bulgakov's Prophecy: The Master and Margarita's Cultural Critique
22:10 - Reading "The Child and the Shadow": Andersen's Dark Fairy Tale
28:45 - Jung's Psychology: Ego, Shadow, and the Collective Unconscious
35:20 - The Ethics of Fairy Tales: Why Gretel Can Push the Witch
42:15 - Tolkien's True Complexity: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum as Psychic Journey
48:30 - Why Fantasy is the Language of Moral Truth
52:40 - The Problem with "Realistic" Children's Literature
57:25 - Luke in the Cave: Star Wars as Genuine Imaginal Work
60:10 - Closing Thoughts and Shadow Project Tease

Last night I got halfway through a Substack post on a related issue to some of the subjects that came up on my appearance on the Disintegrator podcast. When I went to link to it, it suddenly dawned on me I had only shared it on the Rune Soup Premium Members Mighty Network. (Join below.)

So here it is! We recorded this soon after my arrival in Paraguay, so I think it was early February. It's an excellent discussion, so I'm pulling an Alex Hormozi and sharing it with my own listeners. (Sub to Disintegrator, too.)

Here is why AI thinks you should listen:

In this high-energy episode I sit down with Marek and Roberto to talk about why barrels are meant for rolling and why reality is much bigger than the academic cubicles that try to contain it. We start with the ancient tale of the Watchers (the OG tech-bros from the Book of Enoch) and use it to kick open a door marked Technology, Magic & the Human Experiment. From there we dive straight into animism, the "community-of-beings" cosmos, and why a living universe renders most hand-wringing over "anthropocentrism" moot unless you're prepared to vault clean out of the academy's marble-floored worldview.

What you'll hear me unpack

• Barrel-Rolling Out of Academia – how to exit the cathedral politely, become "invincible," and treat academic credentials like LinkedIn endorsements in a living cosmos.

• Markets, Magic & Capitalism – capitalism viewed as a resonant tool of a larger Ahrimanic being; why the market is archetypal, but turning it up to 120 % comes with karmic interest.

• Mineral Intelligence & AI – awakening the silica, ayahuasca visions of stones teaching in a galactic lecture hall, and why "artificial" intelligence might be a mis-nomer in an ensouled universe.

• Comparative ≠ Colonial – embracing perspectivism (à la Viveiros de Castro) as the clean way to decolonise knowledge without the usual Protestant guilt trip.

• Astrology & World Politics – the U.S. Pluto/Uranus returns, fourth-turning turbulence, and the astrological case for an amicable national "divorce" over a civil war redux.

• Practical Magic – why Ouija boards, jungle dieta, and good old-fashioned ghost stories still outperform peer-reviewed PDFs when it comes to proving the universe is alive.

 Join the world's leading online magical training community, Rune Soup, here.

Magical objects aren't just forged—they're found. In this solo episode, I explore the secret life of enchanted tools: the knife with a story, the crystal touched by a world-mountain, the wand bought in a witch town that still summons fairy queens.

What gives an object its power? Sometimes it's planetary timing and whispered invocations—but sometimes it's stranger tales than that. This is a medium salsa reflection on self-initiation, storycraft, and the agency of objects that choose you.

Note: Here's a link to the YouTube video about self-initiation I mention in this episode.

1. Who Chose Whom?

   Opening questions on agency, destiny, and magical initiation.

2. What Makes an Object Magical?

   Beyond grimoires—why backstories matter as much as consecrations.

3. Salsa Scale and Self-Initiation

   How this podcast fits into your current content taxonomy.

4. Denethor, Pippin, and the Agentic Object

   Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon worldview and the power of mythic artifacts.

5. Crystals in the Andes

   Live tale-weaving on sacred mountains and magical stones.

6. The Library Angel & YouTube Algorithms

   Synchronicity, digital spellwork, and unexpected transmissions.

7. Strange Tales and Warped Realities

   How magical items—and magical people—bend the world around them.

8. Grimoires vs. Found Objects

   Cutting Hawthorn at dawn vs. fairy queen summoning from a witch-town wand.

9. Your Life Already Has Strange Tales

   Suburban magic, Red Cross births, and the imperative to gather and weave.

Hello from Cusco, where the streets are laid out like a puma and hawkers offer massages on every corner. I've been thinking about Huáscar, the last true Sapa Inca, who willingly took sacred knowledge into the underworld until the time was right for its return.

What if the strange convergence we're witnessing - the grimoire revival, the sudden value of grandmother's recipes, and yes, even the rise of what I'm calling "orthodank" online - are all manifestations of the same archetypal energy? Things coming up from below, returning from the shadows at this precise moment in time. The question is: which returns will we embrace?

1. The Temple City of Cusco - Exploring the ancient capital and how authentic experience lurks just beneath tourist traps

2. The Tale of Two Brothers - The story of Waskar and Atahualpa, the civil war that weakened the Inca Empire, and how Waskar preserved sacred knowledge

3. Three Stories of Waskar's Fate - Drowning, beheading, or escape: tracing the different narratives through history and oral tradition

4. The Return of Waskar in the 90s - Alberto Violdo's observations and the rising indigenous pride in Peru

5. The Fortean Dominant - How things pushed into the underworld are returning in our time

6. Conservative Returns - The relationship between rising conservatism and the return of things worth conserving

7. Grandmother's Foods - How millennials became the generation that values heritage foods and traditional ways

8. Magic's Return - The grimoire revival and the return of ancestral magical knowledge

9. Shadow and Integration - How to navigate the darker aspects of what returns from the underworld

This week, I'm welcoming fellow substacker and Tolkien nerd, Charles McBride, whose essay 'Shire Anarchy' caught my eye in the cultural curiosity that is the substack notes app.

We're diving into the political imagination behind Middle-Earth – a world where having a king is perfectly fine, as long as he's quite far away or, better yet, long dead.

From childhood obsessions with Tolkien to the strange bedfellows his work creates in modern fandom, Charles and I explore what it means when the villain of the story isn't a particular people, but the very desire for total control. How did this Franco-supporting Catholic writer end up crafting one of the most compelling visions of localism and self-governance in modern literature? And what might the hobbits teach us about freedom in an age of empire?

"I think Shire anarchy is best described in a sentence I wrote in the piece, where I said that all the affairs of hobbits are organized under the assumption that having a king was basically a good idea, so long as he was quite far away, or better yet, long dead. And I think that that kind of cuts to the heart of what this concept of Shire anarchy is. You have a society that holds a reverence for the past. And they believe that their system of political and social organization is derived from something authoritative in their deep, distant past."

• Charles's amazing essay, Shire Anarchy.

• Charles on Instagram.

02:00 - Charles' essay "Shire Anarchy" and initial connection

04:00 - Childhood experiences with Tolkien and homeschooling background

08:30 - Gordon's similar Tolkien childhood experiences

11:00 - Discussion of Substack platform and media evolution

14:00 - Tolkien's political views and introduction to "quiet radicalism"

15:30 - Explanation of Tolkien as an "anarcho-monarchist"

18:30 - Monarchy, pragmatism, and Tolkien's support for Franco

22:30 - The Ring as metaphor for power, greed, and capital

25:00 - Lord of the Rings' resilience against political appropriation

27:30 - Peter Jackson's film adaptation achievement

29:00 - Charles' viral thread about polarized Tolkien fandom

32:00 - CS Lewis vs. Tolkien on moral clarity and writing

35:30 - Lewis as a potential universalist and perennial philosophy

38:30 - Religious conversion, cultural identity, and belonging

42:30 - Modern politics, monarchy, and fascism as shadow kingship

45:00 - Definition and explanation of "Shire anarchy" concept

50:30 - Charles' personal political journey toward anarchism

54:00 - Political polarization and contemporary discourse

57:00 - Defining philosophical anarchism and attitudes toward hierarchy

59:30 - Religion as natural human function and political movements

63:00 - Discussion of The Hobbit movies and fan edits

69:00 - Concluding thoughts and where to find Charles online

Everyone's favourite gnostic raconteur, Miguel Conner, returns to the show this week to discuss his latest book, The Occult Elvis.

The book becomes an entryway into a wide-ranging discussion on the role of shamans, cultural transformation, fate and the destiny of America. (Mere trifles!)

00:00 Introduction to the Occult Elvis

04:03 The Spirituality of Rock Music

07:54 Elvis as a Magician and Shaman

11:52 The Blue Light Phenomenon

15:54 Elvis's Influence on American Identity

19:53 Elvis's Mystical Interests and Books

23:47 The Legacy of Elvis in Modern Culture

34:37 Exploring Fate and Free Will

37:56 The Wounded Healer: Elvis and Addiction

40:06 The Search for Self: Elvis's Identity Crisis

46:52 Elvis as a Cultural Trickster

51:10 The Archetype of the Shaman in Modern Fame

57:52 Elvis: A Reflection of Post-War America

• Get the book.

• Miguel's author website.

• Miguel on Substack.

In this episode, I explore the shifting landscape of conspiracy culture and what I've been noticing about an emerging "conspiracy canon."

Recording from my new apartment in Paraguay, I dive into observations from my recent event with Greg Carlwood in Florida, examining how conspiracy thinking has evolved from political analysis to metaphysical questioning.

Using Charles Fort's framework of "dominants," I discuss how we're witnessing a paradigm shift toward a more meaning-centered worldview as a response to scientific materialism.

Whether you consider yourself a conspiracy person or not, this episode offers insights into epistemology, metaphysics, and our relationship to meaning in the cosmos.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction and setting the scene from Paraguay
02:15 - Recent event with Greg Carlwood in Florida
04:30 - The concept of a "Conspiracy Canon"
07:10 - Observing alignment among respected thinkers
09:05 - When brilliant people question fundamental assumptions
12:30 - Robert Anton Wilson on conspiracy culture shifting from left to right
15:45 - The "Alex Jones era" and libertarian influence
18:20 - The 80s-90s "Lone Gunman Era" conspiracy canon
21:40 - Today's conspiracy canon: no virus, flat Earth, aliens as demons, Tartaria
24:15 - The internet's "hold my beer" effect on conspiracy thinking
27:50 - Shift from "how things are" to "who we are in the cosmos"
31:10 - Natural drift toward meaning-seeking
34:30 - Pushback against scientific materialism
37:50 - Charles Fort and reality paradigm shifts
40:15 - Fort's "dominants" and "damned data"
43:40 - Accumulated "damned facts" challenging mainstream narratives
46:20 - The "religious dominant" as initial framework
49:30 - The "scientific dominant" and its exclusionist tendency
52:45 - Fort recognizing scientism's limitations ahead of his time
56:10 - The emergent "dominant of wider inclusions"
59:25 - Visit to Cassadega and Greg's psychic reading experience
01:02:40 - Kelly Brogan and Mark Gober's alternative cosmology
01:05:15 - Being "80% flat earther" on meaningful universe principles
01:09:30 - Flat Earth as Biblical literalism seeking meaning
01:12:45 - Critique of Tartaria theories
01:15:20 - Meme culture and uncritical sharing of conspiracy content
01:18:40 - "Realm theory" as a container for anomalous data
01:21:25 - Being "Gandalf among the hobbits" during paradigm shifts
01:24:50 - Fortean flow model for approaching change
01:27:30 - Closing thoughts on being a container for transformation

Hi from the Amazon jungle. Honestly, if I'd known that AI would do such a good job of describing this podcast, I would have left it in charge and stayed longer.

Although I will say, I asked it to write it in the style of the speaker, and it made me sound way more polite than I usually am to you scrubs.

Enjoy! (PS - you will find the same show in your podcatcher, as normal.)

In the heart of the Amazon, under a tin roof pummeled by tropical rain, I offer you a cosmic upgrade to Nietzsche's Amor Fati. While the German philosopher tells us to love our fate unconditionally, I'm proposing something more alchemical: co-creation with disappointment. It's not about passively accepting what happens, nor gaslighting yourself into loving the unlovable. Rather, it's asking "what choices do I have in the direction of beauty given the limitations before me in this moment?" Drawing from my own messy Paraguayan adventures during a Mars direct station in Cancer (sit down Scorpio risings, this one was truly mine to bear), I explore how this principle transforms practical enchantment beyond simple success/fail metrics into continuous creation. Whether you're dealing with planetary transits or broken water towers in indigenous villages, this approach connects the Dine concept of the Beauty Way with our magical capacity to participate in the unfolding of reality. Roll your suitcase through cosmic mud with me on this one.

• 00:02 - Introduction and recording conditions in the Amazon

• 00:48 - Explaining the concept of "Amor Fati" and Nietzsche's philosophy

• 02:23 - Comparing Nietzsche's idea with Stoicism's similar concept

• 04:37 - Why Gordon believes he's "more right" than both Nietzsche and the Stoics

• 06:49 - Co-creation with disappointment as an upgrade to "love your fate"

• 09:14 - Mars direct station and Cass Tyndall's insight on struggle

• 11:40 - How metaphysical laws relate to physical and psychological laws

• 14:06 - The moment-by-moment decision of co-creation and manifestation

• 16:05 - Lessons from Shipibo culture and challenging gaslight responses

• 18:21 - Finding beauty within disappointment and discomfort

• 20:47 - Moving beyond success/fail metrics in practical enchantment

• 21:58 - Continuous co-creation as a definition of magic

A solo show from Asunción, Paraguay.

I wanted to share some thoughts that I have been sitting with while remastering all the premium member courses, beginning with Grimoires. These thoughts turned into a full-length solo show.

Hope you like it! AI certainly seems to have had an absolute blast listening to it:

In this thought-provoking episode, Gordon White explores the concept of magical readiness and authenticity in practice. Recording from Paraguay, he delves into what it truly means to be "ready" for magic, challenging common assumptions about magical practice and discussing the difference between genuine magical work and what he terms as "cope" - using magical aesthetics as a form of psychological compensation.

White examines the evolution of Western magical practices, critiques Victorian-era approaches, and discusses the importance of finding one's authentic magical expression. He also touches on current spiritual awakening, the role of shadow work in magical practice, and the emerging significance of biblical archetypes in contemporary magic.

Show Notes

I will be in the Tampa area for some free events on the weekend of March 8th and 9th. 

• RSVP to the Higher Soup event here.
• Buy a ticket for the bus to and from the venue here.

A solo show from Asunción, Paraguay.

I wanted to share some thoughts that I have been sitting with while remastering all the premium member courses, beginning with Grimoires. These thoughts turned into a full-length solo show.

Hope you like it! AI certainly seems to have had an absolute blast listening to it:

In this thought-provoking episode, Gordon White explores the concept of magical readiness and authenticity in practice. Recording from Paraguay, he delves into what it truly means to be "ready" for magic, challenging common assumptions about magical practice and discussing the difference between genuine magical work and what he terms as "cope" - using magical aesthetics as a form of psychological compensation.

White examines the evolution of Western magical practices, critiques Victorian-era approaches, and discusses the importance of finding one's authentic magical expression. He also touches on current spiritual awakening, the role of shadow work in magical practice, and the emerging significance of biblical archetypes in contemporary magic.

Show Notes

I will be in the Tampa area for some free events on the weekend of March 8th and 9th. 

• RSVP to the Higher Soup event here.
• Buy a ticket for the bus to and from the venue here.

Ringing in the new year with a banger!

John Michael Greer returns to the show to explore

• Whether we can say if 'western' magic has a discernable metaphysics.
• What those might be.

Seeing as AI did such a good job of giving us a definition of metaphysics (which you will get in the show), here's what she thinks the episode is about:

"The dialogue emphasizes the importance of directionality, the existence of intelligent non-human beings, and the overarching themes that unify magical practices across cultures. In this conversation, Gordon White delves into the complexities of historical knowledge, the concept of polarity in cosmology, and the nuances of sex magic. He discusses the limitations of historical records, the significance of polarity as a universal principle, and the often-misunderstood relationship between sexuality and magic. White also challenges cultural assumptions about elitism in esoteric practices and highlights the contributions of lesser-known figures like Pascal Beverly Randolph to the field of magic. The discussion culminates in a reflection on the meaningfulness of the cosmos and the interplay of energy in our experiences."

Honestly? Pretty good.

Show Notes

• John's website, Ecosophia.
• The Philosophy and Practice of Polarity Magic: A Secret Wisdom of Sex.
• The Earth Mysteries Workbook: A One Year Course in the Enchantment of the Land.

Austin Coppock returns to the show for our traditional six-monthly astrological forecast, this time for the first half of 2025.

We are calling this one Just The Tip (Of The Chainsword)!

• 00:00 Introduction to 2025 Astrology Predictions
• 02:56 The Significance of Warhammer 40K in 2025
• 05:45 Astrological Context: The Transition from 2024 to 2025
• 09:00 Civil Unrest and Mars Retrograde
• 11:53 Neptune and Saturn's Influence in 2025
• 15:00 The Impact of Neptune's Ingress into Aries
• 18:00 The Role of Heroism and Leadership in 2025
• 20:50 The Collapse of Narratives and Storytelling in Society
• 39:31 The Present as a Story: Chaos and Meaning
• 41:02 Saturn in Aries: The Fall and Its Implications
• 44:50 Historical Parallels: The 47 Ronin and Vigilantism
• 49:10 The Breakdown of Order: Anti-Authoritarian Sentiment
• 52:32 The Need for New Rules: Transitioning from Bad to Good
• 54:15 Eclipses and Their Significance: March and April 2025
• 01:01:56 Venus Retrograde: A Journey of Self-Discovery
• 01:03:24 Eclipses in Virgo and Aries: A Shift in Dynamics
• 01:10:08 Jupiter in Cancer: A Time for Growth and Stability
• 01:16:06 The Great Rearrangement: A New World Order
• 01:23:49 Exploring Uranus in Gemini 01:30:53 Historical Context of Uranus in Gemini
• 01:37:27 The Power of Language and Technology
• 01:48:44 Cultural Reflections and Media Consumption
• 01:55:21 Future Plans and Aspirations

SIGN UP to be notified of Austin's future class availability here!

In this episode, Gordon discusses the evolution of his podcast, the connections between magical individuals, and the themes presented in Grant Morrison's comic series, The Invisibles. He explores

• The loneliness epidemic in modern society.
• The role of digital connectivity.
• The concept of the invisible college as a metaphor for shared vision and belonging among like-minded individuals.

We also look at the intersections of various spiritual practices, the disintegration of civilisational fields, and the importance of finding resonance within an invisible college of shared beliefs and values. He discusses the overlap between different spiritual traditions, the current state of societal fragmentation, and the necessity of community and belonging in navigating these challenges.

• Join the completely free Rune Soup substack to stay up to date.
• Join the Rune Soup Premium Membership.

Gabriel Kennedy joins the show to discuss Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, the first-ever book-length biography of ol' RAW.

We explore Wilson's life, philosophy, and literary contributions. Kennedy shares his personal journey of discovering Wilson's work, the process of writing the biography, and the significance of concepts like Chapel Perilous and general semantics. The discussion also touches on the relevance of Wilson's ideas in today's world and the lasting impact of his writings on counterculture and conspiracy theories. 

We're back, baby!

00:00 Introduction to Robert Anton Wilson

02:45 First Encounters with Wilson's Work

05:59 Navigating Wilson's Bibliography

08:55 The Journey to Writing a Biography

12:00 Researching Robert Anton Wilson

14:43 The Influence of General Semantics

17:48 Personal Connections and Discoveries

21:01 The Process of Biographical Writing

24:01 Understanding Wilson's Legacy

27:03 Final Thoughts on Robert Anton Wilson

44:20 The 23 Enigma and Synchronicities

49:27 Writing and Synchronicities in Biography

56:22 The Impact of Robert Anton Wilson's Work

01:02:00 Conspiracy Theories and Critical Thinking

01:10:33 Chapel Perilous: A Journey of Discovery

NOTE: You can alternatively watch this discussion on YouTube.

The show returns with some actionable findings from almost a year of regular sigil work. We look at

• The ways you mess up your own magical results by not admitting what you want.
• The ways you mess up your own magical results by not admitting where you are at.
• What to do about it.

And toward the end, I lay out the plans for the premium member glow-up over Q4 and Q1, including completely re-recording and remastering all the existing member courses.

We're trialling a new format this week, as I am in the Bay of Fires for work. A visit to a beer-drinking pig inspired some ruminations on how and why we connect as this idiotic, digital hellscape builds itself around us.

The episode discusses the manipulation and sanitization of reality through digital currencies, IDs, and the evolving media landscape, including the shift to 'private' or enclosed digital engagement opportunities like Mighty Networks and Substack, aiming for authenticity in an increasingly controlled and artificial world.

00:00 Introduction: The World Without Sin
00:21 Filming in the Bay of Fires
00:27 The Pub in the Paddock and Priscilla the Pig
01:58 Exploring the Concept of 'The World Without Sin'
05:18 Digital IDs and Global Changes
09:08 Cultural Reflections and Media Strategy
16:50 The Gap Between Public and Private Discourse
22:55 Media Evolution and Personal Adaptations
39:09 Conclusion: Navigating the World Without Sin

In lieu of show notes, here is a picture of a pub, followed by a pig. You're welcome.

This week, we welcome to the show Mexican-Bolivian-Chilean healer, Red Path shaman and teacher Julián Katari.

Fun fact about Julián: He was my translator for my recent trip up to stay with the Kallawaya in the Bolivian High Andes. So we talk about that, of course.

We also talk about his own remarkable journey of spirit:

⭐ Vision quests
⭐ Aztec dance ceremonies
⭐ Peyote
⭐ Andean shamanism

We then discuss the sacred Mayan calendar and what it teaches us about the structure of the universe.

Super cool chat. Julián is the archetypal weird kid!

NOTE: Julián will be teaching a 20-week course on the Mayan calendar that will be available to purchase for $99 on the Rune Soup Premium Member Mighty Network. This is a discount of $400 and will only be available for purchase for the duration of the Time Magic course. Afterward the course will be available on his own site at its full price.

This is one of the best deals I have ever made available to premium members and it is, just on its own, worth joining. I've been in ceremony with Julián in the High Andes. He's a great teacher. 

Show Notes

• Julián's website.
• Julián on Instagram.

00:00 Introduction and Childhood
06:00 Embarking on a Spiritual Journey
19:04 Finding the Red Path
22:43 Exploring the Maya Cosmology
30:55 Teachings from a Maya Elder
39:18 Connecting with Nature and Community
44:38 Exploring the Complexity of the Mayan Calendar
49:52 Understanding the Mayan Worldview: A Code for Time and Space
57:16 The Practice of Day Keeping in the Mayan Calendar
01:03:31 The Role of Human Perception in the Creation of Time and Space
01:24:38 Uncovering My Bolivian Roots
01:27:23 The Magic and Mystery of Bolivia
01:34:17 Journeying with the Kallawaya Healers
01:46:26 Exploring the Maya Calendar

Witch, author, biochemist and oriental medicine specialist, Maja D'Aoust, joins us to discuss Time Magic and the I Ching.

We explore:

• The impact childhood illness can have on the practice of magic.
• The difference between ancient Chinese and more 'Western' experiences of time.
• The origin of the I Ching as a gift from serpent spirits.
• The sort of answers you can get with the I Ching.
• What sort of coins to use.

Great stuff! Enjoy!

Show Notes

• Maja's website.
• Maja's latest book: Astrology of the Shadow Self.
• Maja's I Ching book.

The dynamic duo behind Weird Studies, Phil Ford and J F Martel, join the show to explore the ways in which art is a form of evocation.

We look at:

• Orson Welles as divine shamanic faker.
• Hollywood's vaudeville origins.
• What is a trick and what is a lie and can you even use those words if they show you the 'truth'?
• 'Western' and non-'Western' understandings of the imaginal and the artist.
• Where 'inspiration' and even 'thoughts' come from and what that might mean.

An amazing chat. Enjoy!

Show Notes

• Weird Studies episode about Orson Welles mentioned in the show: Art Is Another Word For Truth.
• Weirdosphere - Weird Studies Member Community.

Media theorist and internet legend Douglas Rushkoff joins the show this week.

We explore:

• Is there even such a thing as 'media' anymore?
• The promises and (many) failings of the tech world.
• UBIs, digital utopias and dystopias.
• Where we look for hope and optimism now.
• Where magic sits in our shared realities.

An amazing chat with one of the greats!

Enjoy!

Show Notes

• Rushkoff.com
• Team Human

Two contemporary deck creators, Balthazar Blacke and Natalia Lee, join the show this week for a round table on fortune telling and the role oracle cards specifically should have in your cartomantic practice.

We explore:

• The things oracle cards can do that tarot cannot. (And vice versa!)
• Which situations call for which type of deck.
• Some historic resistance to using oracle cards among western practitioners.
• Some advice on different spreads and the role of significators.

A super fun chat with some some fun people!

Show Notes

• Balthazar's website.
• Divine Gypsy Mother.
• Balthazar's YouTube channel.
• Natalia's website.
• Saint Cyprian's Deck of Cards.

Legendary cultural curator, media theorist and provocateur Richard Metzger joins the show this week.

Richard, of course, co-founded The Disinformation Company, founded Dangerous Minds and has spent decades observing and participating in the changing media landscape.

He is with us now to talk about his latest project, Magick Show, an extended documentary project featuring discussions with

• Grant Morrison
• Douglas Rushkoff
• Mitch Horowitz
• Gary Lachman
• Bri Luna
• Geraldine Beskine

And many more -including the last-ever interview with Kenneth Anger!

We cover magic, the failed promises of the internet, mind wars, propaganda and the perennial Rune Soup question: what is ours to do?

Find out more about Magick Show here, including ways in which you can support the project.

Enjoy!

This week's solo show forms part of a collection of observations lining us up for the beginning of the five-month, gargantuan Time Magic course we're starting in August.

Here, we explore the quiet politics of magical thinking:

• The origin of the term.
• How it sort of is and sort of isn't like magical realism.
• Examples of it in the history of western esotericism.
• How you can make that inward turn toward magical thinking, and what any blocks in that process might be telling you.

Enjoy!

Chance Gardner and Vanese McNeil, producers of the legendary documentary series Magical Egypt, join the show this week.

We discuss

• Getting history right and wrong.
• The legacy of John Anthony West and R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz.
• Materialism and its impact on studying history.
• The latest series of Magical Egypt -which Gordon is in!

I mention at the outset that this episode was actually recorded six months ago. The plan was to release it at the same time as a video on hermeticism that I was going to shoot at an Ancient Egypt exhibition in Canberra (which is mentioned in my animism series). But that didn't happen, and then I thought I would do it at the Island of the Sun in Bolivia, and so on. Anyway, it's not six months later and I am choosing to blame the curse of the mummy, lol.

A super fun chat, nonetheless. And a real high point in my own life to actually be in the legendary Magical Egypt series myself.

• Watch the latest series of Magical Egypt here.
• Follow Magical Egypt on YouTube.

Six moons have passed and so the Council of the Wise was summoned once again. Also I was there.

Austin Coppock returns to the show for the traditional half-yearly forecast. Join us as we talk about Mars retrogrades, eclipses, elections and proxy wars.

Stick around till the end for some TV recommendations, because why not?

Enjoy!

The legendary Christopher Knowles of the Secret Sun joins us this week to explain how to be a synchromystic. We learn

✅ What is synchronicity?
✅ What role synchronicity plays in modern mysticism.
✅ The importance of symbol sets in this pursuit.
✅ How this modern practice is really an ancient one described.

Whilst it's always a pleasure to have Chris back on the show, this particular episode happens on the occasion of the release of his latest book. The Secret Sun Synchromystic Handbook!

• Get it here.
• Follow Chris here.

Gregory Shaw, Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College, joins the show to discuss, theurgy, the work of Iamblichus, and how we have probably got the Neoplatonists' attitude to the body quite wrong.

We discuss

• The DESCENT of rather than ASCENT TO the gods.
• The theurgic imagination and how it relates to the spirit world.
• The role of divination in the development of the soul.
• How Imablichus can teach us a better way to compare between cultures.
• The necessity for ceremony.

Professor Shaws joins us to discuss his latest book, Hellenic Tantra, which I am pretty sure is the best book I've read this year. Get it here.

Let's make the most of my jet lag and jump right back into regular live streams the morning after I arrive back on the farm!

In this episode, we discuss

• How and why Wade Davis is my hero.
• The definition of adventure and why that matters for magicians.
• How adventuring creates reality.
• Sacred travel, how it is and isn't different from adventure.
• Tips and advice for your own adventures.

Then I also share some stories from the High Andes, from Lake Titicaca, from the steamy cities of Paraguay and the mountains of Southern Brazil.

Note: As this was a live stream episode, and the Q&A starts around the 92 minute mark.

And it's May, so don't forget to contribute to the Missing Witches fundraising and reparations drive!

Hadean Press's Erzebet Barthold returns to the show this week, on the occasion of the release of Cyprian's Offices of the Spirits -the posthumously published final volume in Jake Stratton-Kent's Night School.

We talk about goetia, we talk about the sublunar, we talk about English Qaballa -all the Jake hits, really.

And, inevitably, we reminisce about the man himself:

• His main ideas and contributions.
• Who influenced him and who he influenced.
• What future generations will make of his work.
• Who he was as a friend and a person.

All in all, a lovely chat, and especially timely as the snappily-titled  premium member course Grimoires: Our Greek Inheritance (The Jake Edit) starts this weekend!

Show Notes

• Get the second volume of Night School, Cyprian's Offices of Spirits here.
• Join Rune Soup here.
• Gift a 3 month Rune Soup membership to someone here.

Coming to you from the shores of Lake Titicaca! Some lessons on how to get good at magic, specifically sigil magic, learned on the road in Bolivia.

The short answer is your first hundred sigils will teach you more about magic than any book ever will. The long answer is.... this podcast.

Here I share my notes and observations from spending time in mountaintop villages with lineaged shamans descending directly from the Incas, San Pedro ceremonies in the mountains and client encounters in the Witches Market in La Paz.

We talk about:

• Desire cross-currents
• Incorporating oracle cards into your enchantments
• How to REALLY 'forget' about your spells so they actually come off.

• How To Make Magical Sigils: A COMPETE Beginners Guide.
• The Missing Witches fundraiser is back this year!