Podcasts · Education

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

Earl Fontainelle

224 episodes

Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought

Episodes page 1 of 5

  1. Early Islamic ‘Mahdism’: Radical Politics, Apocalyptic, and the Esoteric

    · 54 min

    We explore the origins of an enduring idea in Islām: the idea of the mahdī, the righteous leader who will return to bring justice and purify the religion near the end of time. The origins, it turns out, are esoteric,…

  2. The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt

    · 1 h 17 min

    We explore some of the weird territory where extreme politics meet extreme theology in the pre-Umayyad and Umayyad periods. Includes case-studies of a representative selection of early shiite "extremists".

  3. Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond

    · 49 min

    We discuss the Iraqi context of the early shī‘ī movements, explore some of the political, esoteric, and politicesoteric concerns of the early partisans of the ahl al-bayt, and then give a basic run-down of some of the…

  4. Islām and Esotericism in the Eighth Century: The Umayyad Era and the Question of Islām as ‘Religion’

    · 1 h 02 min

    We discuss politico-religious developments among the Believers in the eighth century, setting the stage for a series of episodes exploring developments in esoteric Islām in the Umayyad period. We also discuss our…

  5. Into the Archives with Alicia Walker

    · 1 h 01 min

    In this interview, Part II of our discussion of quotidian magical practices in the East-Roman world with Alicia Walker, we explore a wealth of materia magica, which is a fancy way of saying "magical things". Come for…

  6. Alicia Walker on Everyday Magical Culture in East Rome

    · 38 min

    In the previous episode we looked at learned, elaborate, elite magical practices and the books that enabled them in East Rome. In this episode we discuss the magical practices and objects with which normal,…

  7. Three Ancient Sages: On East Roman Magical Books

    · 56 min

    Looking through the lens provided by three central figures of the western esoteric tradition -- Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonios of Tyana, and King Solomon -- we discuss three important East Roman magical books whose…

  8. Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part II

    · 39 min

    We delve further into the laboratories, workshops, and even state coffers of East Rome with Gerasimos Merianos. East Roman alchemy becomes mathematised. The parameters of alchemical secrecy change. We encounter our…

  9. Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part I

    · 46 min

    In Part I of a two-parter we explore the contours of East Roman alchemy from the seventh century onward. Gerasimos Merianos is our guide to the many and varied authors writing in the alchemical genre aside from (but…

  10. The Horoscope of Islām and The Alchemical Stone: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part II

    · 33 min

    In Part II we explore two of Stephanos' works: the astrological piece entitled Apotelesmatikē pragmateia, with its katarchic ‘Horoscope of Islam’, and his influential, vexing, and beautiful alchemical work, On the…

  11. Philosophy and Occult Sciences at Constantinople: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part I

    · 42 min

    We speak with Maria Papathanassiou about Stephanos of Alexandria: the last known Platonist/Aristotelean philosopher trained at Alexandria, a politically-connected courtier at Herakleios' Constantinople, a Christian, an…

  12. Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor

    · 1 h 13 min

    We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Platonist apophasis meets hard-core ascesis, and Maximus follows the…

  13. Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura

    · 1 h 12 min

    Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conquests reflected in Christian revelation, stay for the apocalyptic…

  14. Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel

    · 48 min

    In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written in the past. The Temple will descend, the evil Armilus (son of Satan…

  15. Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond

    · 43 min

    With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians are now part of the story of western esotericism. We explore their…

  16. Ahab Bdaiwi on the Rise of Shī‘ī Esotericism

    · 29 min

    In Part I we looked at the political events leading up to the formation of the Shi'a. In Part II we see that it did not take long for things to get very esoteric. Come for the programmatic esoteric hermeneutics, stay…

  17. Ahab Bdaiwi on ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his Family, and the Origins of Shī‘ī Islam

    · 39 min

    We pick up from our last episode, where geopolitics and esotericism met in the crucible of Roman, Sassanian, and Arab political struggles. Ahab Bdaiwi threads the labyrinth of the earliest historical sources for the…

  18. Seventh-Century History for Students of Western Esotericism

    · 56 min

    We return to the history of late antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia. Momentous events occur, empires rise and fall, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims all suddenly develop new apocalyptic notions.…

  19. Introducing the Qur’an Part III: Qur’ānic Texts vs. the Qur’ān

    · 55 min

    We discuss some of the history of how the Qur'ān came to be ‘the Book’: it started in the oral milieu of the high-octane early Believers' movement, and ended up in written form as something called the ‘Uthmanic…

  20. Introducing the Qur’ān, Part II: Ambiguity and Esoteric Themes

    · 1 h 11 min

    We begin to explore the esoteric side of the Qur'ān, examining several case-studies in terms of ambiguity and esoteric themes. It turns out that every letter of the Qur'ān is an esoteric text.

  21. Introducing the Qur’ān, Part I: Revelation, Text, and History

    · 57 min

    We cover some basic territory in introducing the Qur'ān, the holiest text of Islām. We introduce the text, discuss the traditional story of the Qur'ān's revelation, the modern text-critical enterprise of Qur'anic…

  22. Fred Donner on the History of Early Islām

    · 54 min

    We discuss what little we know and how much we don't know about the nature of the early ‘Believers' movement’, the nature and origins of the Qur'ān, the curious case of the so-called Constitution of Medinah, and what…

  23. Matthew Melvin-Koushki on Islam, ‘the West’, and Western Esotericism

    · 1 h 04 min

    We welcome Matthew Melvin-Koushki back to the show to discuss how we might improve our historical picture of western esotericism by including the vast majority of the surviving historical dossier of western…

  24. Introducing Islām

    · 1 h 13 min

    With Episode 200 the SHWEP has reached a milestone of sorts. We are in the seventh century, and the world-order suddenly changes irrevocably as a new political force arises from Arabia: the Believers. We discuss three…

  25. Paul Pasquesi on the Book of the Holy Hierotheos

    · 58 min

    We discuss one of the lesser-known, but most esoterically-important, classics of Syriac spiritual literature, the Book of the Holy Hierotheos. Hierotheos was said to have been the teacher of Dionysius the Areopagite,…

  26. The Pseudo-Dionysios, the Esoteric, and (Christian) Mysticism

    · 1 h 06 min

    We turn to the questions: What is ‘mystical’ in the Corpus Dionysiacum? What is esoteric? The answers we come up with involve pretty much every aspect of the western esoteric traditions, and, after all the initiatory…

  27. Naming Divine Nothingness: Introducing the Pseudo-Dionysios

    · 1 h 09 min

    Into the divine darkness of a hyper-non-existent god walks the Pseudo-Dionysios. In this episode we join many esoteric currents from the antique and late-antique past into a new synthesis which will forever shape…

  28. One Empire, Many Names: Reading “Byzantium” with Anthony Kaldellis

    · 1 h 22 min

    We are delighted to speak with Anthony Kaldellis about ‘Byzantium’, fabled empire full of Greek-speaking Romans which never fell until the fifteenth century, and which plays an outsize role in the history of western…

  29. Contested Esotericisms at the End of Antiquity: Simplicius, Philoponus, and Olympiodorus

    · 1 h 00 min

    We discuss three of the most important thinkers from the final generations of philosophical teaching at Alexandria. One is an upstart Christian. Two are esoteric Platonists of the Golden Chain. One may or may not have…

  30. The Last Platonists? Philosophic Teaching, Christianity, and Polytheism in Late-Antique Alexandria

    · 43 min

    We discuss how Platonist philosophical teaching played out at Alexandria before Justinian's edict of 529 and in its aftermath. Featuring cameo appearances from the fall of the western Roman empire and Horapollo's…

  31. All from Nothing: Sara Rappe on Damascius

    · 51 min

    We discuss the great Damascius, final scholarch of the Athenian Academy, with Sara Rappe. Things become very apophatic.

  32. Hagia Sophia and the Problem of ‘Esoteric Architecture’

    · 1 h 04 min

    We discuss Justinian's great church, Hagia Sophia, the gem of Constantinople and of Orthodox Christianity. We then look at a number of theories out there which read Hagia Sophia as encoding esoteric messages beneath…

  33. Kevin van Bladel on the Ṣābians of Ḥarrān and the Fate of the Athenian Academy

    · 55 min

    We discuss the fascinating town of Ḥarrān (in present-day Türkiye), a place known from late antiquity until at least the eleventh century for its continued tradition of astral, polytheist worship. Kevin van Bladel…

  34. Edward Watts on the Age of Justinian and the Closing of the Athenian Academy

    · 1 h 10 min

    We discuss the life, times, and reign of Justinian, ‘probably the most consequential Roman emperor, at least since Constantine, and maybe since Augustus.’ He transformed the empire; nothing would be the same after his…

  35. Danielle Layne on Proclus’ Religious Life and Thought

    · 52 min

    We are delighted to discuss what you might call Proclean spirituality with Danielle Layne. Platonic prayer as a way of living, the erotic quest for the Good, and the ever-elusive Platonic Dyad feature in a wide-ranging…

  36. Graeme Miles on Proclus the Commentator

    · 43 min

    We discuss Proclus' titanic labours in the field of commentary – on many Platonic dialogues, but also on the Chaldæan Oracles, the Homeric poems, and a number of other texts – with Graeme Miles, an acute reader of…

  37. The Esoteric Proclus, Part II: Esoteric Exegesis and the Occult Ontology of Language

    · 59 min

    We enter the interconnected webwork of a reality where signs are things, things are signs, and everything means everything, but appropriately. Come for the visionary semiotics, stay for the occult sigils.

  38. The Esoteric Proclus, Part I: The Life and Thought of an Esoteric Sage

    · 1 h 15 min

    We look further into Proclus' esoteric doings, as a sage whose privileged status is marked by inspirations and epiphanies, omens and miracles. We then attempt a (shamefully oversimplified) summary of some important…

  39. Dylan Burns on Proclus the Successor

    · 52 min

    We welcome Dylan Burns back to the podcast to discuss the life, works, and philosophy of Proclus the Successor. ‘All in all, but appropriately to each’

  40. Hierocles of Alexandria and the Pythagorean Golden Verses

    · 44 min

    We discuss Hierocles of Alexandria, student of Plutarch of Athens made good. He wrote an esoteric commentary on the poem known as the Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans. The poem is full of good advice and the…

  41. The Great God Pan Lives: Introducing the Athenian Academy

    · 1 h 01 min

    We turn to the final flowering of polytheist Platonist philosophy, centred on Athens (and Alexandria). We review some useful historical data, discuss the history of ‘the Academy’ as a notional ‘school’ in antiquity,…

  42. Ↄ. Martiana on Martianus Capella and the Marriage of Philology and Mercury

    · 56 min

    We discuss Martianus Capella and his extraordinary and vexing philological ascent-account, the Marriage of Philology and Mercury. Ↄ. Martiana guides us through a geocentric kosmos where liberal arts are planetary…

  43. Macrobius and the Commentary on Scipio’s Dream

    · 49 min

    We explore the rich seam of late-antique esoteric lore that is Macrobius' Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. We discuss who Macrobius was, what he wrote, what he wrote about, and introduce who read him later on. He…

  44. Augustine of Hippo: Saint of the Exoteric

    · 37 min

    We discuss Augustine the anti-esotericist, who denies that Christianity has any esoteric dimensions. He employs the esoteric to do so. Can you trust a guy who does that?

  45. The Manichæan Catholic: Augustine of Hippo

    · 47 min

    We turn to one of the most difficult, fascinating, and ultimately consequential thinkers of late antiquity, Augustine of Hippo. In this episode we discuss his relationship with Manichæism and Platonist philosophy, and…

  46. Stephen A. Cooper on Marius Victorinus and Latinate Christian Platonism

    · 1 h 11 min

    We discuss Marius Victorinus, a fascinating character from the tumultuous Roman scene in the mid fourth century who converted from Platonism to Platonism-plus-Christianity. His life and thought give us a valuable…

  47. Gretchen Reydams-Schils on Calcidius and the Timæus

    · 58 min

    We discuss the Latin translation and commentary of Calcidius with Gretchen Reydams-Schils. Who was Calcidius, where did he get his interpretations of what Plato meant, and, best of all, how did his anti-esotericist…

  48. Plato Latinus

    · 30 min

    The podcast turns from the eastern Roman empire to its western reaches, now falling into strife and decline as we move into the fifth century. In this episode we look at languages, especially Latin and Greek, and…

  49. Jay Bregman on Synesius of Cyrene

    · 50 min

    We dive into the fascinating life and thought of Synesius of Cyrene, Platonist philosopher and student of Hypatia of Alexandria, and Orthodox bishop of Ptolemaïs. Committed Christian or pagan bishop? We'll see ....

  50. Noble Lies and Philosophic Silence: Hypatia, Synesius, and the New Esotericism in the Fourth Century

    · 44 min

    Fear, loathing, violence, and persecution. How does the philosopher operate under such circumstances? We look at the case-studies of Hypatia of Alexandria and her student Synesius of Cyrene, for some pointers.

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