This week's episode is the audio version of a live stream discussion with Samuel Urban of the Illegitimate Scholar podcast. We talk about The educational industrial complex. So-called 'alternative' history. Find the good in the total failure of academia over the past few years. Invisible colleges. What comes next and what to do. A really fun chat -and one that only had a few technical issues for once, some of which weren't even on my side! Thanks, Elon! (We got Starlink while I was in Paraguay.)...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 51 min
Legendary co-originator of permaculture, David Holmgren, returns to the show this week on the ery special occasion of the launch of the feature-length documentary, Reading Landscape. In the show notes below, you will find the link and the password to watch the full documentary for free. Please share it widely with anyone who may be interested, with the blessing of the producers. David and I discuss The development of the film What is meant by 'landscape' What is meant by 'reading' What has chang...
Nov 04, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Astrologer and YouTuber Cam White joins the show this week to bring some helpful reframings to the space weather we'll all be enduring over the next few years. We discuss How astrology works The role of a fortune teller in troubled times What sort of conflicts and wars are likely to appear when Whether the so-called Barbault Basket configuration ushers in a new golden age or not. Super fun and spicy times. Enjoy the White Pill! Show Notes Cam's website . Cam's YouTube channel . Context on the Ba...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 44 min
Author, activist and educator, Dougald Hine returns to the show this week for a discussion that is simultaneously timely and timeless. If you've been following along on the blog, you'll know that I have been wrestling with how to say things, with whom and to what end, given how the world is going. One of the topics I had been meaning to record on for months now was the resurgence of Christianity: whether it is surprising or not, whether it is automatically reactionary, whether it is a sign of th...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 32 min
Rhyd Wildermuth returns to the show on the occasion of his latest book launch, Here Be Monsters . So we have a freewheeling chat about the mutation and fall of leftism, the what and where of activism accordingly, whether things are getting 'worse' or 'better', updated definitions of capitalism and fascism, Russell Brand, all kinds of incendiary stuff. Oh, and gay werewolves. Show Notes Get Here Be Monsters . Rhyd on Substack . Rhyd on X ....
Sep 25, 2023•1 hr 45 min
This week I had been meaning to do a World Without Sin solo show on the censorship laws rolling out around the world and their implications. Then, as we all know by now, whatever is going on with Russel Brand started happening, so we begin our story there. (It's worth noting I recorded this about 24 hours ago, before YouTube demonetised his channel.) Today's episode is a bit of a read-along so you may wish to watch the video version . Of course, all accommodation is made for the audio folks as w...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 19 min
Greg Carlwood returns to the show for another instalment of the book club nobody asked for! We explore the best alternative medicine -perhaps 'true healing' or 'actually effective' is better- books that we know of. Nutrition, breathwork, light therapy, terrain theory, energy healing. It's all here, baby. Greg has spent years interviewing some of the leading lights in what allopathy absurdly calls 'alternative' healing on The Higherside Chats. So this is a really comprehensive exploration. Your w...
Aug 18, 2023•1 hr 50 min
It's been one of the highlights of my year to start getting messages and images of the Fortune's Fools Lenormand oracle out in the world. And, as you might expect, it's got me thinking about fortune-telling. One of my personal creative goals for the project was the queer (lol) the Little White Book concept, and so the companion book IS my fortune-telling book, in the sense that it is a book-length exploration of the techniques and metaphysics of telling fortunes. I've been reading fortunes for t...
Aug 10, 2023•40 min
One of my favourite guests returns to the show this week for a scintillating and freewheeling dive into the perennial question of whether there are aliens in the Bible. Author, researcher, psychonaut and hypnotist Danny Nemu. The impetus for this discussion is a book and a thesis that's been translated out of Italian and into English relatively recently: Mauro Biglino's Gods of The Bible . Speaking of translation, for years, Mauro was a translator of Biblical texts for the Vatican's official pub...
Jul 29, 2023•1 hr 25 min
This week's solo show is a necessary side quest in our AI series up into space and out into the future. It's also a standalone exploration of: Understanding 'big' or archetypal stories, such as zodiac signs and planets, as containing all stories. Using longer cycles to formulate timing and meaning. What is yours to do in a looming world of social credit scores, digital control grids and the tyranny of niceness. And if you'd like to also listen to the Q&A, it starts around the one-hour mark o...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr
This is one of the most fascinating discussions I have had this year. For centuries, people have speculated as to the formulation of the legendary substance of the Gods known as soma. It's something I have kept my eye on for a couple of decades now. And, as far as I can tell, Dr Etminan's research is the best pointer in the direction of what that might have been. Even better than that? His research has developed into a completely legal product you can try for yourself today. In this show, we exp...
Jul 16, 2023•1 hr 27 min
The one, the only Christopher Knowles returns to the show this week for a breezy romp through our near-term future. No, seriously. The end of the west offers perhaps the best time in centuries to be a weird kid. Chris and I talk about the latest UFO nonsense, modern parallels to the fall of Rome, just how long collapses actually take and what they look like for those of us who came to earth to live through one. Combined with last week's astro forecast, this is a really great discussion to have a...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 56 min
Can you believe it's been six months since Austinmas??? Anyway, it has. A very big thank you to those who joined us on the live stream this weekend -and for all the birthday wishes. During the show, Austin and I Looked back over what hit and what didn't these past six months. Explored some of the wider contexts of Pluto in Aquarius and what it has to do with Uranus. Tabled some scenarios for current events in Eastern Europe. Looked at the forecast for the rest of this year. Unpacked, in particul...
Jun 25, 2023•2 hr 7 min
Vlogger, podcaster and cultural commentator Angie Speaks joins the show this week. We dive deep into: The medicine in Diaspora cultural experiences. Being abandoned by the Left and abandoning the Left. Political shortcomings of materialist thinking. Why the Left hates C. G. Jung. Reality tunnels. A really rich, powerful conversation. Enjoy! Show Notes Angie on YouTube . Angie on Twitter . Angie's podcast, Mystic and the Machine....
Jun 15, 2023•1 hr 34 min
The penultimate instalment in our AI series! This time we talk about the impact of algorithms and the mental frames of the builders of Artificial Intelligence and what that means for access to a living cosmos. What happens when AI gets to decide what is real? If you have already used Chat GPT, you may have found that it refuses to answer some questions -about biopolitics or geopolitics or even exopolitics. Or if it does, it simply enforces the party line. Either that or it gives you a Lisa Simps...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 34 min
The one and only Camelia Elias returns to the show this week to talk about demons and crosses. Specifically, we explore what demons actually are and their relation to human desire. We examine the curious case of Andromalius, the final spirit of the Goetia. We discuss occult style. Then we turn to the role and function of crosses in cartomancy: Why and how is the cross so potent in the tarot? And why does the Celtic Cross suck so much?? Really great stuff. Enjoy! Show Notes Camelia's Website . Ey...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 29 min
What is transhumanism? Is it different from technocracy? What about posthumanism? Where do these ideas originate, and how have they become so prominent today? In this week's solo show, we look at the history of some mostly-insane ideas and explore their significance for today's magical folk. Join Gordon as we continue our series looking at the arrival and impact of AI from the perspective of a living cosmos. Enjoy!
May 23, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Writer, speaker, filmmaker, podcaster and cultural theorist J. F. Martel joins the show this week to explore art, creativity, UFOs and the Imaginal. We discuss C. G. Jung, David Lynch, Ramsay Dukes, Bergson, and Corbin. We look at what insights might come from having a better definition of 'image' when it comes to UFO phenomena. We talk about creativity as and with magic. And generally try to wrestle down to earth something approaching a Grand Unified Weird Theory. Super fun, super deep discussi...
May 18, 2023•1 hr 40 min
This week, we welcome to the show artists, musicians, authors and fellow podcasters Risa Dickens and Amy Torok. Amy and Risa from the Missing Witches project join us for a deep dive into the archetype of the witch. What is it? What changes does it portend? What does it mean when it is so close to the surface? What are our obligations to it? We also talk ancestors, reclaiming history, art-as-magic and a whole lot more. Super great chat! Enjoy! Show Notes Missing Witches : Podcast and Website . Mi...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Continuing our multi-part exploration of AI and its implication for These Capitalised Times we are living through and with, we look at the metaphysics of technology this week. What are the implications of Artificial Intelligence for The performing of magic? Living in a magical universe? What is an animist understanding not just of 'intelligence' but 'artifice'? What -if any- is the difference between a tool and a magical tool? This week we explore: The work of Ivan Illich. A metaphysics of tools...
May 05, 2023•1 hr 28 min
Author and (post)activist Dougald Hine joins us this week for a powerful discussion about our moment and what -if anything- we should 'do' with and about it. The springboard for our chat is Dougald's recently-released book, At Work in the Ruins . We unpack the title -what do we mean by 'work'- as well as what we mean by 'ruins'. Physical? Cultural? Social? We talk about what it means to hospice modernity and we unpack why one of the founders of the Dark Mountain project is no longer talking abou...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Legendary ethnobotanist, Mark J. Plotkin, joins the show this week for a fascinating chat about traditional medicine, Indigenous knowledge, plant healing and modern medicine. Dr Plotkin studied under the great Richard Evans Schultes himself and has been exploring the Amazon as a friend and researcher for five decades. He is the co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team -a nonprofit that partners with Indigenous communities to conserve biodiversity, protect traditional lifeways and support susta...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 3 min
In this solo show, we dive deep into the origin of our understanding of prophecy, how it is different from prediction and where this understanding is useful for sorcerers, astrologers and magicians. We explore the Old Testament prophets and how their roles changed over the centuries, how they positioned themselves toward power and what kind of 'Prophetic moment' we might find ourselves in. Enjoy!
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Alkistis Dimech and Peter Grey of Scarlet Imprint return to the show for an exploration and celebration of Jake Stratton-Kent: In particular his thought, his research and his impact on the western magical world. We discuss: His generosity as a thought leader. His attitude to academia and academics. His role in the return of spirit-centric approaches to the grimoires. His revitalisation of blue grimoires. His understanding and love of the Ancient and Archaic Greek world. "I don't do angels." His ...
Mar 30, 2023•1 hr 14 min
In the middle of the Philippines archipelago is the mysterious Siquijor -known variously as the Island of the Witches, the Island of Sorcerers or the Island of Healers. This remarkable place is home to several thriving magical and healing lineages. Here is my story of visiting and encountering these traditions during the time of year where the healers travel up sacred Mount Bandilaan in order to collect the healing herbs their work requires for the whole year. These visits only happen on the sev...
Mar 24, 2023•49 min
In the middle of the Philippines archipelago is the mysterious Siquijor -known variously as the Island of the Witches, the Island of Sorcerers or the Island of Healers. This remarkable place is home to several thriving magical and healing lineages. Here is my story of visiting and encountering these traditions during the time of year where the healers travel up sacred Mount Bandilaan in order to collect the healing herbs their work requires for the whole year. These visits only happen on the sev...
Mar 24, 2023•49 min
Legendary storyteller and mythologist, Dr Martin Shaw joins the show this week. On the occasion of the release of his remarkable and uncharacterisable (although I try) new book, Bardskull. We talk about the weakness of the word archetype, we talk about place and story and transformation, we talk about myth and landscape, we talk about Tolkien, Gandalf and Merlin, we talk about defending indefensible books, and… in the end and ultimately, we talk about spiritual transformation. A fantastic chat. ...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 21 min
This week we welcome to the show the legendary Rosita Arvigo. Rosita is the author of ten books, she is a naprapathic physician, a herbalist and a specialist in traditional Mayan healing. For decades she has lived in western Belize, operating a healing practice and maintaining an organic farm. During this time she studied under Don Elijio Panti -a powerful and famous shaman then in his nineties. (He lived to 103.) This story is described in her book, Sastún . Rosita joins us today to discuss May...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Peter Mark Adams joins us today on the occasion of the imminent release of his new book, Hagia Sophia: Sanctuary of Kronos . Like The Game of Saturn before it, this is an exploration of curious survivals of pagan cosmologies hidden in seemingly plain sight -in this case Hagia Sophia in his home of Istanbul. Check out the show notes at runesoup.com for some companion images. Along the way, we also discuss what happened to the Mysteries when Eleusis was closed, the School of Athens and whether any...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 15 min
This week, we discuss morality, where to intervene in the world, in your life and why. Enjoy!
Feb 03, 2023•36 min
