You can also see this episode as a video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/aQDFyRibqkI

“Science can explain everything except us”: a joke or a koan? This is the humor of our guest today. Welcome to Season 11, Episode 2 of Thoth-Hermes podcast.  Today, Rudolf and Karin interview author Jeffery Kripal.  In July, Kripal’s latest book “How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else” was released through University of Chicago Press.  In this conversation, Professor Kripal and our two hosts wrestle with the foundations of lexicon and concepts underlying contemporary dialogue around Flip-worthy alternative spiritual experiences, and the interaction with religion as an academic subject.  This is an excellent conversation to reflect on how we each personally describe our Magic, and why- regardless of alignment for or against the definitions ventured.  Jeffrey Kripal entered formal study of religion in the 1980s, after a Catholic upbringing; he centered on exploring comparative mystical literature.  Kripal ultimately gained a home as a historian of comparative religions, spending time at Esalen Institute in California while teaching at Rice University in Texas. Noticing the “flatland” quality of religious scholarship, Kripal moved towards authorship around transcendent and alternative expressions of human spirituality.   Soaked in the humanities, Kripal articulates a longstanding interest in cultivating engagement between the study of anomalous or transcendent experience and pure sciences, in this STEM-centered culture.  Kripal celebrates that “the human being overflows itself” as “embodied consciousness” and is completely clear: “I am pro-science”.  He asserts this while fearlessly naming the Shadow of science: global warming, nuclear armament, and other successful, perilous products of science.  And put him down as an “AI skeptic”.  Supernatural… superhuman… transhuman… posthuman… paranormal… occult… magic.  These are all English-language terms used in the attempt to describe the transcendent, mysterious, edgy aspects of our capacity as spiritual beings.  Along the way, Kripal challenges Science-centered academics to being to name their own anomalous experiences before the safety of retirement, and further for thinkers in general to move away from the habit of explaining away those events by returning to previously-disowned religious narratives. Do we speak of “angels” or “entities” when we encounter one?  And why?  Kripal is clear that he is at heart a “comparativist” and thereby intends to open people up to alternatives from default religious worldviews, while not necessarily advocating any given one as a “better” alternative.  This he includes as a larger part of his concepts of “thinking impossibly” and “thinking-with” other authentic seekers.  In exploring vocabulary, Kripal himself leans towards “superhumanism” terminology, offering the possibility that actual “humanist” worldview may be best found there.  He asserts that ideas come from superhuman encounter, where we contact a consciousness that exceeds (but gifts) our individual capacity.  Kripal explicitly acknowledges critical theory, specifically naming examples of his view of its validity, and then offers that religion’s suppression of authentic spiritual experience may be considered an additional vein.  In cocreation with Karin, our guest also challenge’s academic science’s constraint of repeatability: “you don’t go to the North Pole to look at zebras”.  Indeed.  Please enjoy this episode and familiarize yourself with Professor Kripal’s wide writings.

The so-called false Sephirah on the Tree of Life, called Da’ath, and the Magician and author Kenneth Grant, share something in common: beginners are often warned against pursuing interest in either of them, by those who feel such interest will prove unhealthy or dangerous. But Edward Mason and I will discuss Da’ath, with reference to Kenneth Grant, to see what comes through for us.

Welcome to Episode 1 of The Pansophers’ Podcast! Today, Rudolf talks with esteemed UK author and academic, Tobias Churton. In a wide-ranging conversation, the men discuss the Search for Self as well as Wisdom in the context of history. Particular focus is brought to aspects of Freemasonic and Rosicrucian history. Tobias defines his experience of “Pansophia”- the mind of God, Wisdom, and the interrelatedness of knowledge. This conversation unfolds through the knowledge that “this life is only a beginning”, the distractions of political ideology and institutional religion; and the Rosicrucian paradox of being not of this World yet engaged and seed-bearing within it. We explore a move towards freedom of “Science” as a democratic access to “Knowledge,” and “Art” as “Magic”. Tobias outlines a vision that sees dialogues and colloquium find energy over our monologue-culture, and a move from over-specialization of knowledge into a more dynamic, holistic approach to study. In passing, he notes the “cosmic” view most experts attribute to their knowledge, yet without the benefit of cross-disciplinary application.

Crowley’s short paper, ‘Notes for an Astral Atlas,’ argues for the possibility of contact with non-human intelligences, by way of the Astral Plane. It also urges the need for both an open mind, and a persistent skepticism. We’ll dip into this essay that reads like Magick’s answer to David Hume.

Greetings and welcome to the Pansophers Podcast! We are excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, expanding on the content found on the popular pansophers.com website and blog. Our goal is to explore the Universal in the Underlying and apply it to modern Mystery traditions. From now on, on this website you will not only find an extended blog, but also many other options: teaching, possibility of publishing and many more, and of course, this podcast. All areas Rosicrucian, Hermetic, Neoplatonic ... and above all magical are open to investigation. Sam Robinson as the initial creator of pansophers.com, Ian Gladwin, Ike Baker and podcast host Rudolf Berger will be the main leaders of that new venture, all four well versed in the matter and not unknown to anyone interested in the field of the Western Tradition. In this episode, we introduce ourselves and our new venture and invite you to join us for Episode 1 on October 13th! Special thanks to Chris Roberts for our Intro and Outro Music, and to Joshua Kirch for the music titles played during the show.

The Holy Books of Thelema contain poetic passages that can seem at times sublime or obscure, opulent or opaque. While memorization can seal the text of such books up into one’s blood, the practice of reading passages aloud in a ceremonial fashion can add a new level of engagement and interaction with these writings. Edward Mason will join me for a chat on this subject.

You can also see this episode as a video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/y8xE8bT-Oog

Access Karin Valis' Blog https://mercurialminutes.github.io/
And this is her Substack https://mercurialminutes.substack.com/
Glitched Encounters with the visual examples https://mercurialminutes.substack.com/p/glitched-encounters
Tarot of The Latent Spaces https://mercurialminutes.substack.com/p/tarot-of-the-latent-spaces-by-hermetechnics
Divine Embeddings: The Large Language Models and Sacred Alphabets
Talk from the Occulture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1inYnG8gNVo
And finally, the very exciting Palinode Productions - Deep Learning Philosophy! https://www.palinode.productions/
Welcome to Season 11 of the Thoth-Hermes Podcast.  On this first episode, Rudolf meets with guest Karin Valis to expand the growing conversation around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Occultism.  Karin is Slovakian, a Machine Learning Engineer and former teenage atheist “GO” game fanatic turned occultist  This is to say that Karin is both a brilliant analytical mind and committed spiritual explorer.  Karin is a blogger, conference speaker, musician,  magazine editor and AI-integrated tarot deck creator.  Most recently, she has been engaged in creating a philosophical learning platform designed to counterbalance the funnelling manipulation effect of Social Media on societal viewpoint dialogue.  A core question in the conversation today centers on how AI development can offer us insight into our very human development of occultism.  Distinguishing the windows of learning available to us, Karin describes the mapping of semantic space in the meaning-making processes of AI model development.  Karin highlights the parallels between Sacred Alphabet and Sacred Language concepts.  Karin comments on theories of AI as a “super positioned simulacrum” of language model AI functioning as a multiverse generator.   Karin and Rudolf, as both musicians and polyglots, describe the variance of spoken and written human language, embodied and disembodied: and the challenges that this presents to AI as a human tool.   Far from idealizing AI technology, several times Karin acknowledges the problems of AI: human workforce impact, and the “soulless” nature of AI prose.  Her emphasis is AI as a tool to greater human creativity, as opposed to a replacement.  Resourcing the knowledge of AI development as an opportunity- not replacement- for occult epistemology is an on-going theme in the episode.  Along the way, we hear about Karin’s experiences creating a recent tarot deck, a shocking synchronicity encountered during AI-enhanced editing of a shamanic ritual recording, and her recent exploration of AI in the context of Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson’s Cut-Up classes.   Karin shares regarding her magazine, Gnostic Technology and her involvement with the European Foundation for Shamanic Studies. We hear about her expriences with technological, academic and occult conference audiences.  Karin shares her intent to “soften the gaze” of the “tech bros” -which in response to Rudolf’s question- she describes as “complicated” in reception.

To quote Crowley: “Hume said that causal connexion was not merely unprovable, but unthinkable; and, in shallower waters still, one cannot assign a true reason why water should flow down hill, or sugar taste sweet in the mouth.” We’ll take our first Deep Dive into David Hume’s ‘Enquiry into Human Understanding’ to learn more about his take on causal connection.

Thelema Now's Harper Feist speaks with Frater U∴D∴! Frater U∴D∴ is the co-founder of both the Bonn Workshop for Experimental Magic and the Magical Pact of the Illuminati of Thanateros (IOT). He is one of Europe's most renowned practical magicians and contemporary occult authors. Frater U∴D∴ has studied with yoga and tantra masters and has been involved with the practical aspects of occultism in general and magic in particular for more than half a century.

The Holy Guardian Angel usually begins to speak with us long before Knowledge & Conversation is attained, but this speech is often fleeting, taking the form of subtle signs, hints and experiences meaningful only to ourselves. Edward Mason and I will discuss this elusive mode of communication and interaction.

In his essay ‘Energized Enthusiasm,’ Crowley posits how the divine creative energy can be tapped into, as a source of power which he calls “genius.” We’ll delve into this elementary treatise on his theory and practice of sex Magick, as we kick off Season 4 of Darkly Splendid Abodes.

SAVE THE DATE for NOTOCON XV: The Crowned and Conquering Child to be hosted in Portland, Oregon from July 25 through the 27th, 2025 EV.

The call for speaker proposals is now open and we are accepting Volunteer and Vending sign-ups.

Registration and hotel reservations will be available in August 2024.

The Book of the Law proclaims: “Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown”. What is this “infinite & unknown” factor? And how does it undermine the faculty of reason? Edward Mason and I will discuss this apparently ineffable concept, as we skirt the pit of because and flirt with the dogs of reason, in this, the final episode of our third season.

As we bring Season 3 to a close, Michael and I will once again reflect on our favourite episodes, as well as what we foresee for Season 4, in what’s fast become the least-listened-to episode of every season: the Check-in episode.

Thelema Now host Harper Feist talks with one of Thelema Now's favorite guests, author and psychologist Dr. David Shoemaker. David discusses his new book, The Way of the Will, and how he came to Thelema, what you do after making contact with your HGA, and is it really all in your head?  Hmmmmmm...... Listen now and see what you think!!  

Listen to David's postcast Living Thelema here.  And check out his groovy Spotify playlist! 

Divination can be a means of obtaining guidance from forces beyond oneself. But even if one chooses the psychological model of the Universe, it can suggest insights not readily available to the conscious mind. The following workshop, presented as part of an ongoing monthly series in Toronto, explores the Divination methods of Tarot, the I Ching and of Geomancy.

Warnings about the dangers of Magick practice, and the preference for the apparently safer path of Mysticism, were as present in Crowley’s day as any other. We’ll take a deep-dive into Crowley’s rebuttal in his paper, ‘The Dangers of Mysticism.’ And we’ll compare with a more modern paper from a famous 'scientific' publication.

The reissued version of Rodney Orpheus’ book Grimoire of Aleister Crowley is now available worldwide from Red Wheel / Weiser Books. You can buy it from Amazon and all good bookstores!