Occultist and Aleister Crowley biographer Richard Kaczynski talks about Jack Parsons, the "method of science,” the Agape Lodge, the women of Thelema, and the pluses and minuses of the Strange Angel TV series.
The Gurdjieffean teacher and DuVersity director Anthony Blake talks about dialogue, synergy, mind between brains, the trouble with teachers, and the gymnasium of beliefs in higher intelligence.
In part two of our conversation, author and blogger Eric Wargo talks about dreams, self-fulfilling prophecies, unconscious trauma, the banality of true spirituality, and his book Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious.
In part one of our conversation, author, blogger, and dreamer Eric Wargo talks about uncertainty, determinism, Zen, and his book Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious.
A conversation with eco-literary scholar Derek Woods about science fiction, terrariums, geo-engineering, eco-modernism, and the wild science of designing technologies that exceed our control.
Host Erik Davis reflects on Burning Man in light of his first return to the event in nearly a decade. Topics include: the Burning Opera, Instagram, poetic terrorism, remembering dead people, chaos, and the unfolding paradigm of the city.
A conversation with devotees Usha Harding and Swami Bhajanananda about the unique Kali temple they help run in Laguna Beach: the perfume of practice, religious diversity, and the challenge of commercial yoga.
A conversation with activist and writer David Nickles about the DMT Nexus, psychedelic militancy, extraction tek, the Statement on Open Science for Psychedelic Medicines , MAPS, and the trouble with for-profit psilocybin companies.
A conversation with South African ethnobotanist Dale Millard about sangoma healers, animist science, beta carbolines, ayahuasca, and the broad-spectrum healing properties of harmine.
A conversation with writer, editor, and performer Mitch Mignano—aka Raven—about existential humor, the Cacophony Society and the origins of Burning Man, pranking your fears, nihilism, and the sacred clowns of the Sun Dance ceremony.
A conversation with philosopher and religious studies professor Dustin Atlas about ancient skepticism, Madhyamaka Buddhism, the taste of honey, Montaigne, Robert Anton Wilson, and the path of doubt.
A talk with gnostic scholar Matthew Dillon about religious mourning, the Nag Hammadi library, sex magick Jesus, the gnostic Eden, David Icke’s lizards, and the power of the archons as an allegory of contemporary technological and political power.
A talk with journalist Adam Fisher about virtual reality, the cyberculture underground, libertarianism, and his Silicon Valley oral history Valley Of Genius.
A conversation with author Michael Pollan about psychedelic awe, trip reports, the mental health crisis, underground therapists and his book How to Change your Mind (Penguin).
A talk with music scholar and ethnographer Owen Coggins about amplifier worship, sonic pilgrimage, “as if” listening, metal humor, and his new book Mysticism, Ritual and Religion in Drone Metal.
A wide-ranging conversation with writer and teacher Miranda Mellis about uncanny climates, thinking with fables, empathic fictions, “don’t know” politics, Buddhist meditation, and the entanglement with the nonhuman.
A discussion with anthropologist Joanna Steinhardt about her study of DIY mycology, psilocybe politics, PF Tek, and psychedelic naturalism.
A conversation with esoteric writer Gary Lachman about postmodernism, Positive Thinking, chaos magic, Putin's esoteric tricksters, and Gary's hot new book Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump (Tarcher).
Guru’s Child A conversation with artist and man-about-town Naropa Sabine about Shakti, self-formation, rural ashrams, and growing up with a Tantric guru for a dad.
A conversation with author Gregory Alan Thornbury about 70s Jesus Music, apocalyptic politics, and his biography of the Christian rock star Larry Norman: Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?
A conversation with designer and snowboarder Sijay James about archaic revivals, neotribal design, mystic powder, flow, and falling with style.
A conversation with Scottish poet and novelist John Burnside about Henry Miller, the flight from society, sexual braggadocio, folk ballads, Taoism, and his arresting book On Henry Miller: or How to Be an Anarchist (Princeton).
A conversation with alt-lit novelist, poet, and artist Tao Lin, about Terence McKenna, feeling happy (or not), degenerate humans, writing trip reports, and his refreshing new non-fiction book Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change (Vintage).
A conversation with Ken Layne, the maestro of the Desert Oracle podcast and field guide, about Joshua trees, desert Christianity, Edward Abbey, military secrecy, and the mysterious (and smelly) Yucca Man of local legend.
A three-way idea fest with Marcus Boon and Gabriel Levine about art, discipline, self-care, crafting community, tikkun, and their rich and stimulating edited collection Practice (MIT Press).
A conversation with Brazilian anthropologist, conference programmer, and chacruna.net editor Bia Labate: peyote politics, the bureaucratization of psychedelics, and working with indigenous leaders. www.bialabate.net
A sprawling conversation with my interlocutor and old pal Ed Phillips (aka Faustroll on Twitter) about revery, misery, irony, and the ethics of being real. https://congruenz.wordpress.com/
A juicy chat with occultist Joe Max about punk-rock sorcery, Cthulhu invocations, intensity and fear, and the power of chaos magic in rave-era San Francisco.
A conversation with artist and independent scholar Bruce Rimell about psychedelic entities, evolution, and his new book They Shimmer Within: Cognitive-Evolutionary Perspectives on Visionary Beings.
A conversation with classics professor James Romm about mortality, Stoicism, the ambivalent freedom offered by suicide, and his new book of Seneca translations, How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life (Princeton).
