Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Latest Episodes:

‘The Philosopher of our Time’: Introducing Plotinus Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

Plotinus was the greatest philosopher of late antiquity, and one of the most crucial thinkers for the long story of western esotericism. We introduce his amazing philosophy and the basics of his biography.

Matthew Neujahr on the Sibylline Oracles Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

We discuss the Sibylline Oracles, a strange, sprawling, extremely complex collection of oracular hexameters from antiquity. Matthew Neujahr is our guide through a textual and prophetic labyrinth of ancient woman sages, Hellenic, Jewish, and Christian prophetic concerns, and the high uncanny.

Christian Bull on the Way of Hermes in Antiquity Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

In our final episode in the Hermetica series, we discuss the way of Hermes in antiquity with Christian Hervik Bull. Come for the renunciation, immortalisation, and hypercosmic ascent, stay for the animated statues.

Anna van den Kerchove on the Hermetic Way in Antiquity Nov 25, 2020

Show notes

We speak with Anna van den Kerchove, a leading voice in the scholarly trend ‘reclaiming’ ancient Hermetism from its long sojourn outside the realms of respectability. We discuss Hermetic texts and the kinds of milieux in which they may have circulated in antiquity.

M. David Litwa on Deification in the Hermetica Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

We discuss the important Hermetic idea (or should that be ‘practice’?) of becoming divine with Dr M. David Litwa, who has devoted considerable thought to the matter of deification. A fascinating conversation emerges, and Litwa blows our mind.

Silent Encounters: The Esoteric in the Ancient Hermetica Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

We concentrate on the elements of the esoteric in the Hermetica that we have covered in the last few episodes, and discuss C.H. XIII and The Ogdoad Reveals the Ennead, our two most esoteric Hermetica.

Other Hermetic Worlds: The Asclepius and Korê Kosmou Oct 21, 2020

Show notes

We discuss two world-building Hermetic texts from antiquity, the Latin Asclepius and the Korê Kosmou. We have seen Hermes as visionary pupil of the divine consciousness; now we see him as ancient esoteric sage, prophet of doom, and cosmic planetary deity.

Wouter Hanegraaff on the Poimandres Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

Wouter Hanegraaff has been reading the Poimandres with great attention. Come for the visionary encounter with the divine nous, stay for cosmogenesis-as-love-story.

Corpus Hermeticum I, the Poimandres Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

We discuss the Poimandres, perhaps the most extraordinary Hermetic document surviving from antiquity. It's an apocalyptic vision granting gnôsis of how the world was created, how humanity came to be the way we are, and what we can do about it. Essential reading.

Professor Christian Wildberg on Emending the Corpus Hermeticum Sep 30, 2020

Show notes

We discuss the (poor) state of the texts collected in the Corpus Hermeticum with Professor Christian Wildberg, a man who proposes to do something about it.