Podcast appearances and mentions of lionel snell

The Magician card likely graces more front covers of books on the tarot than any of the other major arcana. In many ways, it symbolizes the tarot itself, or the individual who has mastered the art of manipulating the cards to divine their meanings. Yet, the Magician is a profoundly ambiguous figure. From one perspective, he is the Magus, piercing through the illusions of ceaseless becoming to glimpse the hidden depths of reality. From another, he is all surface without depth, a carnival huckster ready to empty your coin purse while you're transfixed by his crystal ball. In this episode, JF and Phil continue their on-again, off-again journey through the major trumps with a discussion of the card that—deservedly or not—proudly calls itself Number One. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781585421619) Weird Studies, Episode 24 on “The Charlatan and the Magus” (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) Weird Studies, Episode 109 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/109) and Episode 110 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/110) on The Glass Bead Game Weird Studies, Episode 179 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/179) Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Geneology of Morals (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780141195377) Louis Sass, Modernism and Madness (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780198779292) Gilles Deleuze, Pure Immanence (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781890951252) Richard Wagner, Parsifal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal) William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312160623) Participation mystique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_mystique) Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780877282686) Leigh Mccloskey, Tarot Re-visioned (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780877282686)

One of the great rewards of "weirding" the world is learning that boredom may be a kind of ethical transgression—the world is simply too strange to allow for it, and if you're bored, you're at least partly to blame. Few have put this notion to the test as rigorously as Lionel Snell, whose work as a magician celebrates the wonders of everyday events, from a walk in the park to a moment of car trouble. Unlike the pursuit of the extraordinary that often defines occult practice, Snell's approach reminds us of the magic in the mundane. In this episode, Snell, also known as Ramsey Dukes, shares the insights he's gained over his decades-long career as one of the leading figures in contemporary magical theory and practice. For an exclusive Vimeo link to Aaron Poole's film Dada mentioned in the intro, go to Instagram and send @aaronsghost the direct message "movie link please". REFERENCES Ramsey Dukes, Thundersqueak (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311129) Weird Studies, Episode 141 on “SSOTBME (https://www.weirdstudies.com/141) Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) John Crowley, Little, Big (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780061120053) Arthur Machen, “A Fragment of Life” (https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700361h.html) David Foster Wallace, The Pale King (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780316074223) Max Picard, The Flight from God (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780316074223) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780692710609) Henry Bergson, Matter and Memory (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781420937800) Russell's Paradox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox) Special Guest: Lionel Snell [Ramsey Dukes].

Orson Welles made F for Fake in the early seventies, while still bobbing in the wake of a Pauline Kael essay accusing him of being cinema's greatest fraud. Ostensibly a documentary on the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving (a talented faker in his own right), the film blurs the line between fact and fiction in an effort to explore art's weird entanglement with illusion, magic, and ultimately, the search for truth. This is a film unlike any other, and it is arguably Welles's most important contribution to the evolution and theory of film aesthetics. Join the Weirdosphere online learning community by enrolling in Phil and J.F.'s inaugural course, THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR (www.weirdosphere.org), starting June 20th. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! RERERENCES Orson Welles, F for Fake (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072962/) Gilles Deleuze Cinema 2 (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780816616770) Elmyr de Hory, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory) art forger Clifford Irving, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Irving) American writer Howard Hughes, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes) American aerospace engineer David Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Film (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178394/the-new-biographical-dictionary-of-film-by-david-thomson/) David Thomson, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780679772835) Pauline Kael, [Raising Kane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaisingKane)_ “War of the Worlds” radio drama (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)) The Farm Podcast, “Horror Hosts, Films & Other Strange Realities w/ David Metcalfe, Conspirinormal & Recluse” (https://shows.acast.com/exclusive-subscribers-shows/episodes/horror-hosts-films-other-strange-realities-w-david-metcalfe-) Orson Welles - Interview with Michael Parkinson (BBC 1974) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo&ab_channel=FilmKunst) Geoffrey Cornelius, Cornelius (https://mythcosmologysacred.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/G.-Cornelius-Chicane.pdf) Victoria Nelson, Secret Life of Puppets (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780674012448) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Sokal affair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair), hoax Werner Herzog, “Minnesota Declaration” (https://designmanifestos.org/werner-herzog-the-minnesota-declaration/)

Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a British painter, poet, and occultist, long identified as a pioneer of the Surrealist movement in the UK. While her work is increasingly recognized for its mystical themes and innovative use of automatic techniques, deeply influenced by her esoteric studies, it also inspired extensive research on its broader cultural and spiritual contexts. Amy Hale, an anthropologist, folklorist, and author, has dedicated much of her career to exploring Cornwall, the fabled region of southwest England that became Colquhoun's spiritual home. Hale's book, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern-Loved Gully, published by Strange Attractor Press, offers a profound biographical study of Colquhoun, examining the historical and spiritual forces that influenced her work. In this episode, she joins JF and Phil to discuss Colquhoun, Cornwall, and the transformative power of research and writing. REFERENCES Amy Hale, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern-Loved Gully (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781907222863) Agnes Callard, I Teach the Humanities, and I Still Don't Know What Their Value Is (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781907222863) Steven Feld, Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780822351627) Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780525564454) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Special Guest: Amy Hale.

In this episode of Weird Studies, we delve into the mysterious depths of Plato's Timaeus, one of the foundational texts of our civilization. In his characteristic brilliance, Plato blends cosmology and metaphysics, anatomy and politics to tell a creation story that rivals the most fantastical mythologies, yet he does it while remaining grounded in a philosophical rigor that announces a radically new way of thinking the world. Here, Phil and JF try unravel the layers of the dialogue, revealing how Plato's vision of a divinely ordered cosmos echoes through the corridors of esoteric thought from antiquity to modern times. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies sountrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES Plato, [Timaeus](https://hackettpublishing.com/history/history-of-science/timaeus](Donald Zeyl Edition) Earl Fontenelle, The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (https://shwep.net/podcast/platos-timaeus/) The Book of Thoth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Thoth) Graham Hancock, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Hancock) British journalist Hesiod, Theogony (https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodTheogony.html) Hermes Trismegistus, {Emerald Tablet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmeraldTablet) Pierre Hadot, (https://iep.utm.edu/hadot/), scholar of classical philosophy Eugene Wigner, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” (https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~v1ranick/papers/wigner.pdf) Jean-Pierre Vernant, _The Origins of Greek Thought (https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-origins-of-greek-thought-jean-pierre-vernant/7729742?ean=9780801492938) Lionel Snell, SSOTBME (https://www.amazon.com/SSOTBME-Revised-essay-Ramsey-Dukes/dp/0904311082)

In this episode I am once again joined by Lionel Snell, a contemporary English magician, publisher, and, under various pen names such as Ramsey Dukes, a renowned author on magic and philosophy. Lionel explores the idea that people, societies, and even cultures cycle through 4 distinct phases with profound affects. Lionel traces the history of the last hundreds and even thousands of years and identifies the emergence of these phases with periods of religious fervour, scientific progress, magickal revivals, and artistic eruption. Lionel explains the similarities and differences between magick and art, the archetypes of the feminine, and the fear of the free woman. Lionel also provides analysis of our current time, reveals how finding the Trickster can unravel polarised and dualistic thinking, and how a deep understanding of the occult can be noted in leading political and cultural figures. … Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep219-cycles-of-the-occult-ramsey-dukes-2 Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 01:08 - Cycles and modes of thought and culture 03:52 - Cycles vs linear time 05:38 - Suspicion of thinking in cycles 07:01 - Time of magickal revival 08:47 - The art movements of the 1920s and the 1980s 11:31 - Cycles of Ramsey's life 12:40 - Why magick emerges from science and religion 14:55 - Magick vs art 16:52 - The miracle of the axial age 18:29 - Magickal revival in the early ADs and the rise of alchemy 20:34 - The silent art of Greek medicine (ἰατρική) 22:40 - Ramsey on astrology 23:41 - Process of Pluto into Capricorn 26:01- Pluto into Aquarius and corrosion of democracy 27:24 - Danger of the free female 29:01 - Shadow projection onto the individual 31:50 - Social media, war, and the shadows of Aquarius 36:42 - Egregores and the power of othering 41:50 - God, Devil, Trickster 43:14 - Archetypes of the feminine 46:04 - Transcending duality 47:00 - The rich-poor cycle 51:49 - Political polarisation and spotting the trick 56:38 - Using polarity to act on the world 01:00:08 - The terror of the linear view 01:06:44 - Do politicians use magick to influence world events? 01:11:44 - Did Trump study the occult? 01:12:36 - Ramsey on the Illuminati 01:14:41 - Rosicrucianism, fact of fiction? 01:18:23 - Interactions between personal and societal cycles 01:27:09 - The skeptical movement and chaos magick 01:30:08 - Using cycles to inspire and infuriate 01:38:18 - How to work with cycles as an individual 01:44:00 - Addendum: What might the future hold? … Previous episode with Ramsey Dukes: - https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep209-the-english-magician-ramsay-dukes To find out more about Ramsey Dukes, visit: - https://ramseydukes.co.uk/ - https://www.youtube.com/@RamseyDukes ... For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

I bring you this episode in honor of Venus Retrograde in Leo from July 22 to September 3, 2023. The first part of the episode is a conversation with my boyfriend Matt Bull. The last Venus Retrograde literally broke us, and then Venus walked with us through a radical repair process that has been nurturing our love since. We talk about the ways mystical "bullshit" has supported us as individuals and as a couple. The most bullshit framework of all helped us the most: Twin Flames. It's deeply embarrassing to admit, but it's true. By fully committing to exploring the responsibility of being twin flames, we nurtured repair and healed in ways I don't know we would have experienced if we hadn't been willing to play with the possibility. Matt has come on Moon to Moon before, and I encourage everyone to check out our first conversation "Coincidence as a Practice," which we reference often. In that episode, we talk about religious trauma, UFOs, and how embracing coincidence yields more magical, mystical living. It's my 3rd most popular episode ever. I trust you'll enjoy it. The second part of today's episode (the last 25 minutes or so) is a solo segment where I talk about Venus retrogrades in general and about this one in Leo specifically. I share dates and suggestions for walking through this experience to receive the loving updates Venus wants to offer you. Links to share: - The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg - "The Charlatan & the Magus" by Lionel Snell (pen name Ramsey Duke) - see also this podcast episode of Weird Studies - Healers and mystics mentioned: Rebecca Padgett, Ali Hunger, Natasha Levinger, Jonathan Koe - my workbooks Book at reading with me to explore Venus, relationship, and intimacy in your chart. Register for Unshaming the Signs: Leo. +++ Podcast art Angela George. Podcast music Jonathan Koe.

In this episode I am joined by Lionel Snell, a contemporary English magician, publisher, and, under various pen names such as Ramsey Dukes, a renowned author on magic and philosophy. Lionel shares his life's journey with magick, explores his years reading mathematics at Cambridge University, immersing in the work of British occultists Aleister Crowley and Austin Spare, and how an experimental group ritual had unexpected and tragic implications. Lionel discusses the true meaning of initiation, the serious dangers of becoming involved in magick, and his time in the OTO alongside figures such as Gerald Suster. Lionel also considers subjects such as the importance of magical thinking, the tension between structure and freedom, the role of banishing rituals, and the cycles of a person's life. … Video version: www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep209-the-english-magician-ramsay-dukes 
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 00:59 - Childhood interest in magick 04:12 - The mystery of alchemy 06:04 - Exploring Aleister Crowley's writings while at Cambridge University 07:26 - Meeting Gerald York and discovering Austin Spare 08:37 - The Zen of Western Magick 10:39 - Writing books about magick 13:00 - Joining the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) 14:38 - The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift 19:31 - From maths to magick 25:11 - Education as a ritual of initial 29:24 -The true meaning of initiation 32:25 - Initiation in British and American culture 36:38 - Experiments in practicing the occult 40:52 - The role of psychedelics in the 60s occult revival 42:06 - Lionel's life changing experience with psychedelics 50:37 - Meditation and practicing the occult 55:06 - The Yang form of Tai Chi 56:17 - Gerald Suster and transforming experience through magick 01:02:24 - Lionel's talent for ritual magick 01:05:04 - Crowley on ritual 01:06:19 - Lionel's occult ritual at Emmanuel College with unexpected results 01:13:21 - The dangers of practicing magick 01:17:47 - Beyond occult power 01:20:48 - Strength vs power 01:24:37 - Structure and freedom - a secret to magick 01:29:25 - Banishing rituals and self protection 01:31:54 - A profound dream and making one's magickal implements 01:35:43 - About cycles 01:40:44 - Magical thinking and the cyclical phases of life … To find out more about Ramsey Dukes, visit: - https://ramseydukes.co.uk/ - https://www.youtube.com/@RamseyDukes For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

Ramsey Dukes, also known by his real name of Lionel Snell, may be one of the most important thinkers on magic since Aleister Crowley. In the impishly-titled Sex Secrets of the Black Magicians Exposed (or SSOTBME for short), Dukes accomplishes something few writers on the topic have been able to do: he gives us magic without asking us to sacrifice anything that makes us sensible modern people. He makes magic seem like the most obvious thing in the world, and he does it without taking away any of its, well, magic. How he does it and what it means are questions that would take several episodes to unpack. In this one, Phil and JF begin the work by discussing how Dukes situates magic in an epistemic compass that also includes science, art, and religion. This set of tools is as essential to a holistic view of reality as the four suits in a deck of cards are essential to a proper poker game. In other words, when we lose magic, we lose a way of dealing with reality. Sign up for JF's upcoming course on Macbeth (https://www.nuralearning.com/weird-macbeth) Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) and gain access to Phil's ongoing podcast on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Listen to volume 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and volume 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2) of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel (https://www.pymartel.com) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) REFERENCES David Lynch (dir.), Mulholland Drive (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/) Ramsey Dukes, SSOTBME (https://bookshop.org/p/books/ssotbme-revised-an-essay-on-magic-ramsey-dukes/8438809) Slavoj Žižek, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0828154/) C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781107606142) Weird Studies, Episode 139 on Art Power (https://www.weirdstudies.com/139) Marshall McLuhan, Gutenberg Galaxy (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781442612693) “Virtual” and “Actual” (https://epochemagazine.org/36/on-virtuality-deleuze-bergson-simondon/#:~:text=To%20Deleuze%2C%20the%20virtual%20and,virtual%20which%20coexists%20alongside%20it.), as developed by Bergson and Deleuze Pragmatism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism), philosophical school Jack Parsons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons), American rocket scientist Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/97806The Myth of the Eternal Return91182971) William Shakespeare, Macbeth (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780743477109)

In this episode, the legendary Ramsey Dukes returns to talk about chaos magick, the Aeon of Horus, his Guru alter-ego "Baba Rebok," and lots more! From his Thelemapedia bio: Lionel Snell was born in England in 1945 and brought up in the ‘arts and crafts' milieu of the Gloucestershire countryside but won scholarships and County financial backing for formal education at Clifton College, Bristol, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1964-68), where he officially studied pure mathematics but also studied the works of Aleister Crowley in the university library and held his first “ritual happening” in the mid 1960s. Being brought up in a culture of alternative lifestyles and radical thought formed a contrast with his subsequent traditional education with its later emphasis on science. This lead to a lifelong interest in building bridges between the scientific/materialist worldview and alternative spirituality/paranormal—an approach very different from those New Age philosophies that seek to reconcile or equate science and spirit. This is strongly reflected in Ramsey Dukes' writings where he addresses Science, Magic, Art and Religion as four ‘cultures' as an extension of CP Snow's popular ‘two culture' concept. For more, check out Magick.Me, my online school for magick, meditation, and mysticism—see more at www.magick.me...!

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 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) SHOW NOTES Occult Experiments in the Home (https://oeith.co.uk), Duncan Barford's excellent solo podcast Duncan's other website (https://www.duncanbarford.uk), focusing on his work as a psychotherapeutic counselor Duncan's books (https://www.amazon.com/Duncan-Barford/e/B004XO87P4?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1653404096&sr=8-1) on Amazon US Weird Studies, Episode 67 on Hellier (https://www.weirdstudies.com/67) Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Judgement (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781420926941) Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn) Dogen's Bendowa (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9784805316924) Tibetan Book of the Dead (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780143104940) Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781911597100) St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780486468372) Spinoza, Ethics (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781735268996) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Special Guest: Duncan Barford.

In this episode, I'm ultra excited to talk to Lionel Snell, aka Ramsey Dukes, one the prime movers of chaos magick, and an absolutely lovely individual. From his Thelemapedia bio: Lionel Snell was born in England in 1945 and brought up in the ‘arts and crafts' milieu of the Gloucestershire countryside but won scholarships and County financial backing for formal education at Clifton College, Bristol, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1964-68), where he officially studied pure mathematics but also studied the works of Aleister Crowley in the university library and held his first “ritual happening” in the mid 1960s. Being brought up in a culture of alternative lifestyles and radical thought formed a contrast with his subsequent traditional education with its later emphasis on science. This lead to a lifelong interest in building bridges between the scientific/materialist worldview and alternative spirituality/paranormal—an approach very different from those New Age philosophies that seek to reconcile or equate science and spirit. This is strongly reflected in Ramsey Dukes' writings where he addresses Science, Magic, Art and Religion as four ‘cultures' as an extension of CP Snow's popular ‘two culture' concept. .. For more, check out Magick.Me, my online school for magick, meditation, and mysticism—see more at www.magick.me...!

Borrowing from Buddhism the concept of the “near enemy”, we consider how art, history, and psychology may look like magick but can harm our magical practice, exploring: the danger of the near enemy; pity as the near enemy of compassion; art, history, and psychology as near enemies of magick and their detrimental effects; the difference of this approach from Lionel Snell's approach in SSOTBME; philosophy as a current near enemy that was once synonymous with magick; art as the most insidious near enemy of magick; the legitimate role of art in magick; beauty versus truth; Keats's “Ode on a Grecian Urn”; magicians who are artists: Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Tommie Kelly; how art and magick can be synonymous; art as a disguise for magick; the different intentions and skill sets of art and magick; Phil Ford and J.F. Martel on M. John Harrison's The Course of the Heart, and Harrison's response to this; Philip K. Dick as a gnostic writer and Harrison as an imitator of Gnosticism; Socrates's expulsion of the artists from Plato's Republic; my view of history as irrelevant to magick; the roots of my view in chaos magick and Perennialism; defining Perennialism and distinguishing it from Traditionalism; the value of different and multiple paths to truth; the tendency of the historical perspective to situate truth in the tradition rather than in personal experience; the value of tradition as a path to personal experience; psychology as a near enemy and my personal vulnerability to it; the spirit paradigm versus the psychological paradigm; how the psychological paradigm is likely to produce only psychological results; the different dimensions of truth: subjective and objective; the psychological paradigm as possibly occluding the objective dimensions of truth; Jung and the objective dimensions of the psyche; the subjective and objective dimensions of the mind in meditation, and psychology's pathologizing of the objective dimensions. Support the podcast and access additional content at: https://patreon.com/oeith. Buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/oeith or https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dbarfordG. Or you could send me a lovely book from https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1IQ3BVWY3L5L5?ref_=wl_share. Phil Ford & J.F. Martel (2020). Weird studies Ep. 81. Gnostic lit: on M. John Harrison's The Course of the Heart. https://tinyurl.com/2kjpywse (weirdstudies.com). Accessed April 2022. M. John Harrison (2005). The Course of the Heart. In: Anima. London: Gollancz. M. John Harrison (2020). The core of the heart. https://tinyurl.com/yeyr3h9y (wordpress.com). Accessed April 2022. M. John Harrison (2020). I can hear you. https://tinyurl.com/yckfj2wa (wordpress.com). Accessed April 2022. John Keats (1819). Ode on a Grecian urn. https://tinyurl.com/29z54pjh (owleyes.org). Accessed April 2022. Tommie Kelly (2021). Art is magick, magick is art! https://youtu.be/TcFVj9NBuJk (youtube.com). Accessed April 2022. Alan Moore (2016). Art and magic. https://youtu.be/WHxWE-S3nD8 (youtube.com). Accessed April 2022. Plato (2022). The Republic, 10: 598b. https://tinyurl.com/mt3vybc8 (tufts.edu). Accessed April 2022.


This is the very special Anniversary episode for the 5th Anniversary of the first launch of an episode on our show. Back on April 20th 2017 it was Alan Richardson who was my guest.Without evening mentioning that in the interview, you will see that Lionel Snell, also known under his pen name Ramsey Dukes, is a very special person, brilliant, with a lot of humour, always ahead of this time. The way how he explains the four levels in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, comparing that to the computer world, is unique and only one example of the great things you will find in this interview.At my side is Carl Abrahamsson; for this is the second so-called "TRIO-episode", where I invite a former guest to be my co-host for once, and Carl made the wonderful suggestion to invite Lionel. And Carl was a perfect co-host in all ways. 
All of this makes this a worthy Anniversary celebration.
Thank you to all listeners, guests and musicians who have contributed to wonderful five years!

We approach the Middle Pillar on the Tree of Life as a possible guide to the dilemma of having a human identity, exploring: the contrast between identity and being; the advantages and drawbacks of emphasising one of these above the other; a parallel between the Pillar of Severity and identity, and the Pillar of Mercy and being; how these distinctions transcend politics; neurodiversity as a new and possibly radical category of human difference; neurodiversity as a possible recognition that the human being is not synonymous with the human mind; lack of mental imagery as a marker of neurodiversity; mental imagery in magick; Lionel Snell on seeing fairies; how the imagination does not depend upon mental imagery, because the imagination is universal; some ancient myths and other accounts of human nature; the changeability of human nature; David Abram on the separation of the human from nature; putting the blame on language and Plato; the primacy of forgetting in human nature; forgetting and remembering in Plato; remembering as resurrection; parallels between identity and remembering, being and forgetting, and the dilemmas of both; the Middle Pillar as an alternative to these; Kether as that which is beyond the human mind; Israel Regardie on the resolution of psychological conflict as a preliminary practice to magick; acceptance as the solution to conflict; Tiphereth as the model of acceptance and balance; the Middle Pillar as a combination of remembering and forgetting; Yesod as the unconscious and the storehouse of memory and images; the abyss and the enigma of Da'ath; the nature of Da'ath and a personal experience of it; Da'ath and the Holy Guardian Angel as useful fictions; the arrival at a useful fiction as a preliminary to the experience of Kether; the Middle Pillar as a pulsation of different kinds of remembering and forgetting. Support the podcast and access additional content at: https://patreon.com/oeith. Buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/oeith or https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dbarfordG. Or you could send me a lovely book from https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1IQ3BVWY3L5L5?ref_=wl_share. David Abram (1996). The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-human World. New York: Pantheon. Anonymous (2002). Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. New York: Tarcher. Ramsey Dukes (2011). How to See Fairies: Discover Your Psychic Powers in Six Weeks. London: Aeon. Israel Regardie (1945). The Middle Pillar. Chicago: Aries.

Shannon Taggart's book Seance is a landmark in art photography and the history of psychical research. Taggart spent years photographing practitioners of spiritualism in the U.S. and Europe in an effort to capture the mysteries of mediumship, ectoplasm, and spirit photography. In this episode, she joins JF and Phil for a conversation on the often-misunderstood tradition of spiritualism, the investigation of the paranormal, and the real magic of photography. If the technological medium is the message, then perhaps the spiritual medium is the messenger. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies): Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) **REFERENCES *Shannon Taggart, Séance * Read the introduction to the book here (https://www.academia.edu/45352485/Introduction_to_S%C3%89ANCE) Visual companion page for this episode (https://www.shannontaggart.com/weird-studies) Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) Lionel Snell, “The Charlatan and the Magus” (http://the-philosophers-stone.com/articles/charlatn/magus.htm) George P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781401000820) Diane Arbus (http://www.artnet.com/artists/diane-arbus/), American photographer Warner Herzog (dir.), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (https://imdb.com/title/tt1664894/) Jeffrey Mishlove, Interview with James Tunney on Francis Bacon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2tlUmbT9I) Eva C, (https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/marthe-b%C3%A9raud-eva-c#Experiments_by_Albert_von_Schrenck-Notzing) French medium Andrew Jackson Davis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_Davis), American spiritualist Henry Alcott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steel_Olcott), American Theosophist For further reading on women, spiritualism, and the art of the invisible: Ann Braude, Radical Spirits (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780253215024) Guggenheim, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future (https://www.guggenheim.org/publication/hilma-af-klint-paintings-for-the-future) Special Guest: Shannon Taggart.

Bate-Papo Mayhem 121 - Com Lionel Snell - What is the Matrix? Bate Papo Mayhem é um projeto extra desbloqueado nas Metas do Projeto Mayhem.  O vídeo desta conversa está disponível em: https://youtu.be/EQvy6eATHo8   Todas as 3as, 5as e Sabados as 21h os coordenadores do Projeto Mayhem batem papo com algum convidado sobre Temas escolhidos pelos membros, que participam ao vivo da conversa, podendo fazer perguntas e colocações. Os vídeos ficam disponíveis para os membros e são liberados para o público em geral três vezes por semana, às terças, quartas e quintas feiras e os áudios são editados na forma de podcast e liberados duas vezes por semana. Faça parte do projeto Mayhem: https://www.catarse.me/tdc

Modern skeptics pride themselves on being immune to unreason. They present themselves as defenders of rationality, civilization, and good sense against what Freud famously called the "black mud-tide of occultism." But what if skepticism was more implicated in the phenomena it aims to banish than it might appear to be? What if no one could debunk anything without getting some of that black mud on their hands? In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the weird complicity of the skeptic and the believer in the light of George P. Hansen's masterpiece of meta-parapsychology, The Trickster and the Paranormal. REFERENCES James P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal (https://bookshop.org/books/the-trickster-and-the-paranormal/9781401000820) James Randi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi), stage magician and paranormal debunker Michael Shermer, (https://michaelshermer.com/) American science writer CSICOP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_Skeptical_Inquiry), Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer Rune Soup, Interview with George P. Hansen (https://runesoup.com/2017/06/talking-the-trickster-and-the-paranormal-with-george-p-hansen/) Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) Weird Studies, Episode 89 on Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo (https://www.weirdstudies.com/89) Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (https://bookshop.org/books/the-ritual-process-structure-and-anti-structure/9780202011905) Wouter Hanegraaff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wouter_Hanegraaff), Dutch professor of esoteric philosophy Shannon Taggart, Seance (https://www.shannontaggart.com/) Society for Psychical Research (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Psychical_Research) Weird Studies, Episode 44 on William James's Psychical Research (https://www.weirdstudies.com/44) G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (https://bookshop.org/books/orthodoxy-9780802456571/9781952410482) Robert Anton Wilson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson), American author Aleister Crowley, [Magic Without Tears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagickWithoutTears)

We plummet deep into the fundamental nature of reality in this episode, examining the necessary association of magick with evil: the premise of John Milton's Paradise Lost; Satan and the possible origin of evil; Satan as the archetype of the rebel; our relationship as magicians to this archetype; the absence of a moral framework from magick; the suggestion that magick needs to be kept "evil"; understanding evil in contrast to the good; Neoplatonist approaches to the good; the good as the aspiration of all beings; the misidentification of the good; the Platonic ideals as a guide to goodness; beauty, truth, goodness, and the One (wholeness); Proclus on the separation of being and goodness; wholeness as better than goodness; wholeness as the mystical state, as union with goodness; evil as a consequence of the separation of being from the good; evil as a characteristic of wholeness; evil as a consequence of the actions of beings versus evil as transcendent; Satan as the origin of evil versus Satan as a participant in evil; evil as an attribute of the Divine; the relationship of the Divine to goodness; a Divine wholly good as necessarily imperfect; evil as a bug versus evil as a feature; Nishida Kitaro on the self-negation of the Divine; how the Divine by its nature contradicts itself; Satan as the pawn of God; how Milton glosses over the evil in God; the perfect as perfect only if it includes the imperfect; Nishida's ideas as observations, not theories; the experience of emptiness as the experience of the self-negation of the Divine; how emptiness gives rise to form by standing in a relationship of self-negation to itself; how we have no relationship to the Divine; Creation proceeding not from any relationship to the Divine but by the Divine negating itself; the Heart Sutra and the nature of the Divine; (summary and an emergence from the metaphysical deep-end); Lionel Snell on art, science, religion and magick, and their corresponding principles of beauty, truth, goodness, and wholeness; magick as the aspiration to wholeness rather than to goodness; how magick rejects only the principle of rejection itself; how and why magick rejects neither untruth nor evil; how magick necessarily has a relationship to evil, yet not necessarily an answer to it; the mystery and elusiveness of evil; evil as unfixable, as the universe operating as designed; Jung on Job: humanity as morally superior to the Divine; Christ (God in human form) as the epitome of morality; accepting our moral superiority to God as a magician's response to evil; how there is no escape from evil or morality. Ramsey Dukes (2000). SSOTBME Revised: An Essay on Magic. El-Cheapo. Carl Gustav Jung (2002). Answer to Job. New York: Routledge. Nishida Kitaro (1987). Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. John Milton (2008). Paradise Lost. New York: Modern Library. Proclus (2017). The Elements of Theology, translated by Juan and Maria Balboa, https://tinyurl.com/73bxtxsd (archive.org).

Magic is the topic that fascinates us all on The CON; this interview is an instant classic, featuring one of the most important writers in the field of Chaos Magic, Ramsey Dukes (Lionel Snell). "Lionel Snell is, in my opinion, the most lucid, coherent and insightful intellect to emerge from British occultism for some several decades..." - Alan Moore. Tune in for a real treat of magical conversation and theory. Find out more about our guest's work here: SSOTBME The Little Book of Demons My Years of Magical Thinking The Good The Bad The Funny Ramsey Dukes's You Tube Channel With thanks to Complexi-Tales who allowed the podcast to enjoy their music once again this week... find them here: https://complexi-tales.bandcamp.com/album/tings-in-the-wall I tweet here: www.twitter.com/nickmargerrison We have a Facebook page, go follow the page: https://www.facebook.com/CultOfNick "How do I pay for the podcast?" - share it, share it far and wise. We're doing pretty well in terms of audience size, that's down to your support. Find us on: Spotify Stitcher Playerfm YouTube Once you've found us, like it, give it a good review, share it and spread it around. There you go, you paid for the podcast, thank you!

The Book of Changes, or I Ching, is more than an ancient text. It's a metaphysical guide, a fun game, and -- to your hosts at least -- a lifelong, steadfast friend. The I Ching has come up more than once on the show, and now is the time for JF and Phil to face it head on, discussing the role it has played in their lives while delving into some of its mysteries. REFERENCES I Ching, (https://www.amazon.com/I-Ching-Book-Changes/dp/B000J4GE6Q) Wilhelm-Baynes translation I Ching, (https://www.amazon.com/Total-I-Ching-Stephen-Karcher/dp/074993980X) Stephen Karcher translation Game of Thrones, (https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones) HBO series George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire (https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire) George R. R. Martin, “Sandkings” in: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Compendium-Strange-Dark-Stories/dp/0765333627) H. P. Lovecraft, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft) American writer Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy (https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Realism-Philosophy-Graham-Harman/dp/1780992521) Aleister Crowley, “777” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123658.777_and_Other_Qabalistic_Writings_of_Aleister_Crowley) Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Cannibal Metaphysics (https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/cannibal-metaphysics) Joel Biroco, Calling Crane in the Shade (https://www.biroco.com) (website) Philip K. Dick, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick) American novelist Lionel Snell, a.k.a. Ramsey Dukes (http://ramseydukes.co.uk/), British occultist Richard Rutt, _Zhouyi: A New Translation with Commentary _ (https://www.amazon.com/Zhouyi-Translation-Commentary-Changes-Durham/dp/070071491X) Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_(series)) Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching (https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Ching-Changes-Religious-Studies/dp/0199766819) Weird Studies, episode 72 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/72), On the castrati Weird Studies, episode 77 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/77), On the fool tarot card Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/408555.Meditations_on_the_Tarot) The Usual Suspects (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/) (movie) Colin Wilson, The Occult (https://www.amazon.com/Occult-History-Colin-Wilson/dp/0394465555)

In this episode, we will have the opportunity to talk to almost a historical figure of modern Occultism:  PETER J. CARROLL Carroll's 1987 book Liber Null & Psychonaut is considered one of the defining works of the chaos magic movement. Carroll was a co-founder of the loosely organized group called the Illuminates of Thanateros. In 1995, Carroll announced his desire to step down from the "roles of magus and pontiff of chaos". Carroll has written columns for the Chaos International magazine currently edited by Ian Read, under the names Peter Carroll and Stokastikos, his magical name within the IOT. In 2005, he appeared as a chaos magic instructor at Maybe Logic Academy at the request of Robert Anton Wilson, and later founded Arcanorium Occult College with other known chaos magicians on staff including Lionel Snell, Ian Read and Jaq D. Hawkins. This experience re-awoke his interest in the subject of magic and he has since continued writing.   Click HERE to be brought to Peter J. Carroll's page on Amazon And then HERE for his personal website SPECULARIUM These are his maybe lesser known later books published between 2008 and 2014 And these are two of the Classics by Peter J. Carroll! Music played in this episode  Two of the three tracks played in this episode were offered to us by the Canadian Black Metal Band BLITH and their frontman Gabriel McCaughry. Discover two titles from "The Temple of Wounds", the new CD unleashed from the clandestine Canadians BLIGHT. Rising out of obscurity it shares their violent, radical, and illuminating vision, an exercise in galvanizing, and relentless Black Metal. The sound that BLIGHT shapes out of chaos and calamity is uniquely their own: grand choirs and fiery chants pepper the band’s powerful and dynamic approach to Black Metal, where claustrophobic, menacing riffs threaten to suffocate, percussive elements merge violence with technological prowess, and vocals are delivered with a cathartic intensity. Formed in 2008 in Montreal, BLIGHT released several highly sought-after tapes into the underground during their early years. After a brief hiatus, they solidified what stands as today’s manifestation of BLIGHT. 1) A VIOLENT LIGHT 3) ELSEWHERE & ELSEWHEN Find out more about them HERE In between something completely different 2) FANTOMES - an organ piece by Louis Vierne Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was a famous French organist and composer. From 1900 onwards he was principal organist at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, where he died while playing his 1750th concert!  His piece Fantômes is an amazing, eerie, dark piece! (Track 1 starts at 8:41, Track 2 at 55:37, Track 3 at 1:38:28)     Intro and Outro Music especially written and recorded for the Thoth-Hermes Podcast by Chris Roberts

https://www.lightingthevoid.comLive Weeknights Mon-Fri 9 pm, PacificOn The Fringe FMhttps://thefringe.fmRamsey Dukes is the current and most well-known pen name of Lionel Snell, a contemporary English magician, publisher, and author on magic and philosophy.DJ Steezy Stevie https://www.steezymusic.com/Music by Chronox at https://www.chronoxofficial.com

B. W. Powe is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and professor at York University, in Toronto. His work, though it covers an immense range of topics from politics and poetics to magic and technology, proceeds from a mystical apprehension of the universe as the locus of magical operations, the site of experiments in cosmic becoming. In his various books and essays, Powe continues a uniquely Canadian form of the visionary tradition whose luminaries include his former teachers Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye. In this episode, he joins JF and Phil for an exploration of the meaning, potency, and danger of the visionary in art and literature. Header image: Detail of "Green Color" by Gausanchennai (Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_color.jpg)). REFERENCES B. W. Powe's website (https://bwpowe.net) B. W. Powe, [The Charge in the Global Membrane](https://www.amazon.com/Charge-Global-Membrane-B-Powe/dp/0997502185/ref=cmcrarpdproducttop?ie=UTF8)_ B. W. Powe, [Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye: Apocalypse and Alchemy](https://www.amazon.com/Marshall-McLuhan-Northrop-Frye-Apocalypse/dp/1442616164/ref=tmmpapswatch0?encoding=UTF8&qid=1580849056&sr=1-1) Frank Lentricchia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lentricchia), "Last Will and Testament of an Ex-Literary Critic" Lorca's concept of duende Hildegard of Bingen's concept of viriditas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viriditas) Gilles Deleuze, [Cinema II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema2:TheTime-Image)_ Ernest Hemingway, [The Old Man and the Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheOldManandtheSea)_ Marshall McLuhan, [Understanding Media](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnderstandingMedia)_ Marshall McLuhan, [The Gutenberg Galaxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGutenbergGalaxy) Marshall McLuhan, "Notes on William Burroughs" Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (https://www.amazon.com/Dig-Sound-Music-Hip-Culture-ebook/dp/B00DPJ6RE6) John Clellon Holmes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clellon_Holmes), beatnik Northrop Frye (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye), Canadian literary critic Hildegard von Bingen, Ordo Virtutum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUMlhtoGTzY) Joni Mitchell, "Woodstock" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjQCvfcXn0) Genesis 32, Jacob and the Angel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_wrestling_with_the_angel) R. D. Laing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D._Laing), Scottish psychologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, [The Phenomenon of Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThePhenomenonofMan)_ William James, [The Varieties of Religious Experience](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheVarietiesofReligiousExperience) Sylvia Plath, "Lady Lazarus" (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus) Sylvia Plath, "Daddy" (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48999/daddy-56d22aafa45b2) Jack Kerouac (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac), American writer Allen Ginsberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Ginsberg), American poet Lionel Snell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Snell), British philosopher and magician Special Guest: B. W. Powe.

"Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around a lake." This line from Wallace Stevens' "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" captures something of the mysteries of walking. It points to the undeniable yet baffling relationship between walking and thinking, between putting one foot in front of the other and uncovering the secret of the soul and world. In this episode, JF and Phil exchange ideas about the weirdness of this thing most humans did on most days for most of world history. The conversation ranges over a vast territory, with zen monks, novelists, Jesuits and more joining your hosts on what turns out to be a journey to wondrous places. Header image by Beatrice, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucca_labirinto.jpg) REFERENCES Dogen, The Mountains and Waters Sutra (https://tricycle.org/magazine/mountains-and-waters-sutra/) Weird Studies listener Stephanie Quick (https://stephaniequick.home.blog) on the Conspirinormal podcast (http://conspirinormal.com/blog-1/2019/9/23/conspirinormal-episode-281-ste[phanie-quick-sex-magick-101) Weird Studies episode 51, Blind Seers: On Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood' (https://www.weirdstudies.com/51) Lionel Snell, SSOTBME (https://www.amazon.com/SSOTBME-Revised-essay-Ramsey-Dukes/dp/0904311082) Henry David Thoreau, "Walking" (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/) Arthur Machen, "The White People" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_White_People_(Machen)) Herman Melville, Moby Dick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick) Vladimir Horowitz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Horowitz), Russian panist Gregory Bateson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Bateson), cybernetic theorist The myth of the Giant Antaeus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antaeus) Wallce Stevens, "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" (https://genius.com/Wallace-stevens-notes-toward-a-supreme-fiction-annotated) Deleuze, [Difference and Repetition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DifferenceandRepetition) Michel de Certeau, [The Practice of Everyday Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThePracticeofEverydayLife) John Cowper Powys, English novelist Will Self (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Self), English writer Guy Debord, [The Society of the Spectacle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheSocietyoftheSpectacle) Arcade Fire, “We Used to Wait” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nTjn1yJp0w) Paul Thomas Anderson (director), Punch Drunk Love (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272338/) Viktor Shklovsky (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Viktor-Shklovsky), Russian formalist Patreon blog post on Phil’s dream (https://www.patreon.com/posts/virus-30409580) David Lynch (director), [Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TwinPeaks:FireWalkwithMe)_

The idea that beauty might denote an actual quality of the world, something outside the human frame, is one of the great taboos of modern intellectual thought. Beauty, we are almost universally told, is a cultural contrivance rooted in politics and history, an illusion that exists only in human heads, for human reasons. On this view, a world without us would be a world without beauty. But in this episode Phil and JF explore two texts, by James Hillman and Peter Schjeldahl, that dare to challenge the modern orthodoxy. For Hillman and Schjeldahl, to experience the beautiful is precisely the break out of human bondage and touch the Outside. Beauty may even be one of the few truly objective experiences anyone could hope for. Peter Schjeldahl, “Notes on Beauty,“ in Uncontrollable Beauty: Toward a New Aesthetics (https://www.amazon.com/Uncontrollable-Beauty-Toward-New-Aesthetics/dp/1581151969) James Hillman, “The Practice of Beauty,” in Uncontrollable Beauty: Toward a New Aesthetics (https://www.amazon.com/Uncontrollable-Beauty-Toward-New-Aesthetics/dp/1581151969) C.G. Jung's retreat, Bollingen Tower (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollingen_Tower) Ugly public art (https://padailypost.com/2017/12/01/time-to-democratize-public-art/) in Palo Alto Dave Hickey, Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy (https://www.amazon.com/Air-Guitar-Essays-Art-Democracy/dp/0963726455) Deleuze and Guattari, “Of the Refrain,” from [A Thousand Plateaus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AThousandPlateaus) Roger Scruton, Beauty (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/019955952X?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwrogerscrut-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=019955952X%22%3EBeauty%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22%3Ca%20href=) Weird Studies, Episode 36 -- On Hyperstition (https://www.weirdstudies.com/36) Weird Studies, Episode 33 -- The Fine Art of Changing the Subject: On Duchamp's "Fountain" (https://www.weirdstudies.com/33) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://www.amazon.com/Years-Magical-Thinking-Lionel-Snell/dp/0904311244) George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty (https://www.iupui.edu/~santedit/sant/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/George-Santayana-The-Sense-of-Beauty.pdf) Ingri D'Aulaires, D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (https://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Greek-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/0440406943) Messiaen, [Quartet for the End of Time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpBHc8pxU)_ Christian Wiman, He Held Radical Light (https://www.amazon.com/He-Held-Radical-Light-Faith/dp/0374168466) God, [Book of Job](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookofJob)

Ramsey Dukes is the current and most well-known pen name of Lionel Snell, a contemporary English magician, publisher, and author on magic and philosophy. Lionel Snell is among the founding names in chaos magic - though better known as Ramsey Dukes. In 1970 Gerald Yorke (keeper of the Crowley archive) introduced him to the writings of Austin Osman Spare and he wrote "Spare Parts" - an an introductory article about Spare's system of magic - which was published in Agape 4 in 1973 together with a facsimile of Snell's copy of "The Anathema of Zos"for Ramsey, the word “magic” includes not just ceremonial magic, the occult, Thelema, Chaos magick, witchcraft, etc, but also astrology, tarot and all forms of divination, most alternative healing systems and self-development processes such as individuation, NLP, Scientology, etc. I also think that marketing and advertising and most forms of psychological therapy are basically practical magic, even when pretending to be scientific. Conjurors and mentalists call themselves “magicians” and I think they are right – even when they merely claim to be exposing fake magic.https://ramseydukes.co.uk/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-NwOu0WV5Qd_U4zOP33sw/videoshttps://www.amazon.com/Ramsey-Dukes/e/B001JP7UKI?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000Main Music By ChronoxGuitar By BundyIntermission By Space StationCloser By Professor Bones Song Dead Lullaby

The great American thinker William James knew well that no intellectual pursuit is purely intellectual. His interest in the "supernormal," whether it take the form of spiritual apparition or extrasensory perception, was rooted in a personal desire to uncover the miraculous in the mundane. Indeed, the early members of the British Society for Psychical Research and its American counterpart (which James co-founded in 1884) were united in this conviction that certain phenomena which most scientists of their day considered unworthy of their attention were in fact the frontier of a new world, an avenue for humanity's deepest aspirations. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss two papers that James wrote about the first phase in the history of these research societies. James lays bare his conclusions about the reality of psychical phenomena and its scientific significance. The bizarre fact that psychical research has made little progress since its inception lays the ground for an engaging discussion on the limits of the knowable. REFERENCES Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Frederic W. H. Myers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_W._H._Myers), theorist of the "subliminal self" Weird Studies, Episode 37: Entities (https://www.weirdstudies.com/37) Thomas Henry Huxley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley), aka "Darwin's Bulldog" Patrick Harpur, Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld (https://www.amazon.com/Daimonic-Reality-Field-Guide-Otherworld/dp/0937663093) Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Trilogy (https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Gormenghast-Trilogy-Mervyn-Peake-ebook/dp/B0056GJI5Q/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+_Gormenghast_+Trilogy&qid=1554906043&s=books&sr=1-1) Thomas Kuhn, [The Structure of Scientific Revolutions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheStructureofScientificRevolutions) James Randi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi), professional skeptic Dean Radin, Real Magic (https://www.amazon.com/Real-Magic-Ancient-Science-Universe/dp/1524758825) Eric Wargo, Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious (https://www.amazon.com/Time-Loops-Precognition-Retrocausation-Unconscious/dp/1938398920) Lionel Snell a.k.a. Ramsey Dukes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Snell), British magician [Changeling: The Lost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling:TheLost) tabletop roleplaying game Rupert Sheldrake's morphic resonance (https://www.sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance) Quentin Meillassoux, After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingenc (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/after-finitude-9781441173836/)y Joshua Ramey, "Contingency Without Unreason: Speculation After Meillassoux ("Contingency Without Unreason: Speculation After Meillassoux")" C.G. Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (https://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-Connecting-Principle-Collected-Extracts/dp/0691150508)

As Lionel Snell, also known as Ramsey Dukes, observes in his seminal esoteric essay, "The Charlatan and the Magus" (1984), the series of trumps in a tarot deck doesn't begin with the noble Emperor or august Hierophant, but with the lowly Fool, followed by the Juggler. Trickery or illusion, Snell suggests, may not be the dealbreaker we've thought it to be in parapsychological investigation. It may even be a feature, not a bug, of the magical process. In this episode of Weird Studies, JF and Phil talk to Lionel Snell about trickster magic, and all we miss out on when we make rational truth the only measure by which we know reality. Ramsey Dukes [Lionel Snell], "The Charlatan and the Magus" (http://the-philosophers-stone.com/articles/charlatn/magus.htm) Darren Brown, Tricks of the Mind (https://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Mind-Paperback-DERREN-BROWN/dp/1905026358) Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/) Phil Ford, “Birth of the Weird" (http://www.weirdstudies.com/articles/birth-of-the-weird) Ramsey Dukes [Lionel Snell], How to See Fairies: Discover Your Psychic Powers in Six Weeks (https://www.amazon.com/How-See-Fairies-Discover-Psychic/dp/1904658377) Ramsey Dukes [Lionel Snell], S.S.O.T..B.M.E. (https://www.amazon.com/SSOTBME-Revised-essay-Ramsey-Dukes/dp/0904311082) John Keats, Negative Capability (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_capability) Weird Studies, Episode 9: "On Aleister Crowley and the Idea of Magick" (http://www.weirdstudies.com/9) Special Guest: Lionel Snell [Ramsey Dukes].

Interview Starts 34:55   Lionel Snell aka Ramsey Dukes joins us to chat about this magical paradigm we live in and why he is starting up a youtube channel. We chat about trading soul, the state of depression, divination, looking for an augury, and talking to your imaginary butler….   We also touch on many things magical, needing something bigger, the big bang, the great spiritual resurgence, expanding awareness and sense experiences, and how mechanical causation is much smaller than social interaction, matter -energy and info, and Lionel talks about Virtual Reality decades ago.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33931870-my-years-of-magical-thinking    https://www.facebook.com/Ramsey-Dukes-129478357116554/    http://www.abouttheauthor.co.uk/lionel-snell/    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-NwOu0WV5Qd_U4zOP33sw/videos   In the intro Felix - the king of the jingles joins us, to chat about his "A Grimerica Christmas" special video. We chat about playing music and making jingles and being able to throw yourself out there. Grhaam reads the UFO quote of the week and some listener emails.   See links below for stuff we chatted about during the show and the intro:   sirfelix.bandcamp.com   https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cruzin-with-steak/id1260419020?mt=2   http://www.iotevolutionworld.com/newsroom/articles/433809-industry-experts-invited-speak-iot-evolution-expo-the.htm    http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-27189-001 Johnsons Paradox    Please help support the show…. Grimerica’s DoBeDoBeDo List: Grimerica is fully and solely listener supported. We adhere to the Value for Value model.  0 ads, 0 sponsorships, 0 breaks, 0 portals and links to corporate websites… just many hours of unlimited content for free. Thanks for listening!!   Join the chat / hangout with a bunch of fellow Grimerican’s  www.grimerica.ca/chats   Support the show directly http://www.grimerica.ca/support   Leave a Voicemail http://speakpipe.com/grimerica Leave a review on iTunes and/or Stitcher https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-grimerica-show/id653314424?mt=2# http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-grimerica-show    Sign up for our newsletter http://www.grimerica.ca/news Leave a comment, ideas and guest/topic suggestions under any episode or blog http://www.grimerica.ca/   SPAM Graham = and send him your synchronicities, feedback, strange experiences and psychedelic trip reports!! graham@grimerica.com InstaGRAM  https://www.instagram.com/the_grimerica_show_podcast/    Tweet Darren https://twitter.com/Grimerica   Connect through other platforms: https://www.reddit.com/r/grimerica/  https://gab.ai/Grimerica    Purchase swag, with partial proceeds donated to the show www.grimerica.ca/swag Send us a postcard or letter http://www.grimerica.ca/contact/ Thanks to Wayne Darnell for help with the website. http://www.darnelldigitalink.com/ http://www.lostbreadcomic.com/ link to Napolean Duheme's site  Felix’s Site sirfelix.bandcamp.com   Christmas Carol Video     MUSIC Grimerica Theme - Lock & Key   Beyond Dazed - Broke for Free A Grimerica Christmas Carol - Sir Felix Ortega II

This week sees the return of one of the show's most popular guests, Lionel Snell aka Ramsey Dukes. Lionel joins us to discuss his most recent book, My Year of Magical Thinking, as well as various magical ways of being in the world and their benefits. Amazing stuff. Show Notes My Year of Magical Thinking Lionel's Website Lionel's YouTube Channel