We begin with reflections on what’s left out of current conversations around the Odyssey after Christopher Nolan’s reboot. Is it possible to see the good news in the groundwater of contemporary discourse? How might we adopt a position of hanging back, looking as if to see, letting the message behind the messaging come through? These questions lead us into Cameron’s backstory as an investigative crime reporter receiving messages from and writing poetry alongside the dead in the Deep South of the United States. People enjoy quoting the imminently quotable Simone Weil these days — “attention is the purest form of devotion” and “to know truth is to accept death” — but what does the mystic really mean with these statements? How does proximity to death trick us, even when we’re apparently seeing beyond it, never mind accepting it? What’s the difference between performing bravado — an apparently unflinching devotion to the facts of life, in the face of death — and a strength that comes precisely from a recognition of one’s humility and madness? What’s the difference between turning a tarot card over in an attempt to know and reading the cards as part of the mystery of love? Can you honestly tell when you’re doing one thing or the other? Can you know which voice is speaking to you in the dark? We explore these questions and more in a pursuit of a “higher order of relationship altogether.”

Mentioned in the show:

The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds

The Prince of Egypt

"Sing for Our Time Too! The Divine Song of the Odyssey" by Mark Vernon

The Red Book: Liber Secundus, Chapter Three, "One of the Lowly" by CG Jung

Magick Without Tears by Aleister Crowley, edited by Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil

The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin

"What is Spiritual Development For?" Episode 241 of Conner Habib's podcast Against Everything With Conner Habib, with guests Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

Duncan Barford's work and books, all found at Occult Experiments in the Home

Alan Chapman's Magia

Cameron's writing on her newsletter "interruptions"

Cameron's new book Interruption: Divinatory Essays on Illness and Narrative, published by Sul Books next week

The title of this episode comes from Cristina Campo's wonderful essay collection The Unforgivable

Preorder Cameron's book "Interruption"

Read Justin's essay "Spiritus Contra Spiritum"

Show Art by Beck Corrigan

https://beckcorrigan.cargo.site/about-contact

Music by Justin Little

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the relationship between mystical experience on drugs and spiritual awakening that happens when sober? What does it mean to look back upon a life of addiction, drug use, and “being the worst version of oneself” and to see that even the rock bottoms were supposed to be there? Is there a way to express the inevitability of one’s path without affirming what looks like “trauma for one’s own good?”1 What is the use of understanding one’s mundane suffering and spiritual realizations as part of a cycle of creation, an expression of a complete cosmology that we participate in, whether we’re conscious of it or not? Is there a benefit to making such a cycle conscious? We raise these questions and more in our second episode of Wake Up, Underworld!, where co-hosts Justin Little and Cameron Steele explore Justin’s backstory and one example of what it looks like to wake up in the middle of hell. Perhaps it’s the case that passing the test of faith doesn’t simply reframe your life, such that it was never a test at all. Perhaps such passage is also a powerful magick that alters Reality, changing past, present, and future altogether.

Read Justin's essay "Spiritus Contra Spiritum"

Texts mentioned in the show:

His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Alan Chapman’s Magia

Reality by Peter Kingsley

Drumming At the Edge of the Magic by Mickey Hart

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Occult Experiments in the Home podcast by Duncan Barford

The Baptist’s Head by Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

“Jason Louv and John Dee’s Empire of Angels” episode of the Occult of Personality podcast by Greg Kaminsky

On Drugs by Justin Smith-Ruiu

“On On Drugs” essay series by Mary Jane Eyre

The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley

“Trauma for Your Own Good” episode of the Worp FM podcast by Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

The AA Big Book

The L. Ron Hubbard series produced by The Last Podcast on the Left

Peter Carroll’s books on Chaos Magick

Advanced Magick for Beginners by Alan Chapman

Dr. Rachel Elior’s academic work on mysticism and magick within Jewish culture

Preorder Cameron's book "Interruption"

Read Justin's essay "Spiritus Contra Spiritum"

Show Art by Beck Corrigan

https://beckcorrigan.cargo.site/about-contact

Music by Justin Little

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Anarchy with Common Sense," our first episode explores "work" -- as well as the material obsession with career, status, and money (or the lack of any of these) -- as the true opiate of the masses. We talk about the Great Work of magick as the true opportunity to grow what you care about without fighting shadows. Sometimes that opportunity comes to you through the sudden tragedy of illness; sometimes it comes to you in the only week you've had off work in years. Why is that? What is that about? The conversation explores the Great Work through the lenses of personal experience and spiritual practice, amidst the backdrop of late-stage capitalism in the West.

You can find the podcast on any of your favorite podcast streaming services or on Acast. If you enjoyed listening, please like, subscribe, and share, or let us know in the comments!

Texts mentioned:

Magia by Alan Chapman

The Lost Soul by Olga Tokarczuk and Joanna Concego

Magick Without Tears by Aleister Crowley, edited by Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

The Baptist's Head by Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford

The Last Night: Anti-work, Atheism, and Adventure by Federico Campagna

Be Creative by Angela McRobbie

The Red Book by CG Jung

The Introduction to the Black Books, by Sonu Shamdasani and CG Jung

The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage

tao te ching by Ko Hsüan (Aleister Crowley)

Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson

Neurologic by Timothy Leary

The Philosophy of Freedom by Rudolph Steiner

Seven Lectures on Inner Development by Valentin Tomberg

Meditations on the Tarot by Valentin Tomberg

The Occult of Personality Podcast by Greg Kaminsky

The Qabbalistic Tarot by Robert Wang

The Mystical Qabbalah by Dion Fortune

Preorder Cameron's book "Interruption"

Read Justin's essay "Spiritus Contra Spiritum"

Show Art by Beck Corrigan

https://beckcorrigan.cargo.site/about-contact

Music by Justin Little

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.