What Magic Is This?

It happened! What Magic is This? Podcast has reached 100 "Official" episodes! Of course there were some small episodes and some filler episodes here and there but now we are at the big century mark for the Podcast! And so, for a bit of a celebration, I was trying to think back at which show and guest do I think about more than any other. One episode in particular I think about constantly. I adore his work, and he is someone who I think that everyone who listens to this show should know. That's right! It is time for The Return of Dr. Jeffrey Kripal!

There’s not a single person listening to WMiT? who doesn’t know what a Fairy is. Or do they? When the word “Fairy” is uttered, most likely our minds immediately think of a small, somewhat feminine, little winged humanoid that glows. But this conception of Fairies is a somewhat recent one. There is so much more to the stories, the history as well as the behavior of these ethereal and magical beings. Allow yourself to be reintroduced as it were, to the entities we call Fairies by the host of The Modern Fairy Sighting Podcast Jo Hickey-Hall, and the Scholar of the Supernatural Dr. Simon Young!

Through the ages, many branches of esoteric thought have spoken of a Perennial Philosophy; an original wisdom from which all wisdom comes. For many, Ancient Egypt was seen as the place where a certain current and way of being with the world manifested itself to accomplish great things. One early 20th century Alchemist, René Schwaller de Lubicz thought that he knew what this was. After having spent years in Egypt and looking at their ancient structures and symbols, felt that he understood that the Ancient Egyptians saw and thought with the world in a very different way; that they saw into the inside of everything- An Intelligence of the Heart. Joining WMiT? to talk about it is the scholar of esotericism, Aaron Cheak PhD!

One word which gets used everywhere and almost as a substitute for Esoteric Thought and Philosophy- is Hermeticism. But what exactly is it and how did it come about? Is it a religion? A Philosophy? What was it all about? Our understanding of Hermeticism through time has changed vastly, much of the obscurity has been cleared up only within the last 100 years. In this, the first of a Two-Part series, I am joined by Erik Arneson and Sam Block to get to the bottom of the birth of Hermeticism and what it meant as it was originally conceived.

No doubt, UFOs and Aliens would be familiar to every listener of this Podcast. The mysterious and downright terrifying entities we call Aliens as well as their supposed activities here on earth are beyond notorious, indeed they are part of our culture and have been for the last 70 years. And yet, almost every aspect of Aliens and their apparent abductions has an antecedent in the folklore of Fairies. In fact, many are saying that the phenomena of UFOs and Aliens are just a modern interpretation of a somewhat spiritual experience that is intrinsically human somehow. Helping us tread into these murky waters is a someone who knows them well- author and musician Joshua Cutchin.