Note: This is the Free Content version of the interview with Tjalling Janssen. The full interview can be accessed as a Tier 2 Patreon member, or purchased for a one-time fee. More information at www.patreon.com/RejectedReligion.

Tjalling is a PhD researcher at the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP), based at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests include intermediary beings, magic, alchemy and Paracelsianism, and the reception of these subjects in (early to late) modernity. He investigates these topics from an environmental perspective as well as through social categories like class. His doctoral project entails an environmental reception history of the concept of elemental beings from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century, through its manifestations in magic, alchemy, literature, mining and agriculture.

In this episode, we explore the shifting terrain of magical contact—where spirits, nature, and power intersect. Drawing from his article “Encounters, Evocations and Elemental Beings”, we’ll trace the philosophical and esoteric implications of two very different modes of engaging with the unseen: Paracelsus’s reverent encounters with elemental beings, and Dr. Rudd’s ritual evocations. Along the way, we’ll unpack the role of monsters, the ethics of spiritual mediation, and the deeper question of whether esotericism must rest on a singular, perennial foundation—or whether it can evolve, diversify, and apply to new contexts like ecology, psychedelics, tulpas, and even extraterrestrial contact. This is a conversation about relational knowing, cultural consciousness, and the future of interdisciplinary esoteric research.

I have one correction to mention beforehand; Tjalling made a mistake in his wording when he mentioned the text De Meteoris (which comes up in the discussion), in his haste to explain the temporal trajectory. In all texts before De Meteoris elemental beings have souls. They are soulless from De Meteoris onwards, but that text lacks the possibility for elemental beings to acquire souls through marriage. The Liber de nymphis introduces that, and thus fulfills the implications of reciprocity and immanence (the “seeking out” or initiation of contact) that are absent from De Meteoris.

PROGRAM NOTES

Correspondences Journal

Volume 12, no. 1 (2024)

Encounters, Evocations and Elemental Beings

Primary Source:

A Book On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and On The Other Spirits (Paracelsus, Henry E. Sigerist) | PDF

Secondary Sources:

The Monsters of Paracelsus | Beasts, Humans, and Transhumans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

[Abstract] Cultural History Of The Four Elements

Contact Information:

Tjalling D. Janssen - University of Amsterdam

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Theme Music and Editing: Daniel P. Shea

End Production: Stephanie Shea