With this post we continue a monthly chapter-by-chapter discussion of The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Lévi, the book that launched the modern magical revival. Here and in the months ahead we’re plunging into the white-hot fires of creation where modern magic was born. If you’re just joining us now, I recommend…
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Early Philosophy
One of the constant themes of middle class thought in modern times is the insistence that it’s possible to have one’s cake and eat it too. It’s for this reason that middle class activists demand world peace while also demanding lifestyles that can only be maintained at the cost of constant war, and middle class…
August 2024 Open Post
This week’s Ecosophian offering is the monthly open post to field questions and encourage discussion among my readers. All the standard rules apply (no profanity, no sales pitches, no trolling, no rudeness, no paid propagandizing, no long screeds proclaiming the infallible truth of fill in the blank, no endless rehashes of questions I’ve already answered)…
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Politics
It’s a common misconception that myths, legends, and fairy tales have lost all their power in the modern world. Nothing could be more inaccurate. Here I’m not discussing covert mythologies like belief in progress, though of course a strong case can be made for that. I mean myths and legends in the modern sense of…
The Ritual of High Magic: Chapter 15
With this post we continue a monthly chapter-by-chapter discussion of The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Lévi, the book that launched the modern magical revival. Here and in the months ahead we’re plunging into the white-hot fires of creation where modern magic was born. If you’re just joining us now, I recommend…
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Rediscovery
At the conclusion of the last thrilling episode of our exploration of Richard Wagner’s opera cycle The Nibelung’s Ring, we watched bards and minstrels across the European world from Iceland to Austria keeping themselves fed and their patrons entertained by retelling traditional stories about the magic hoard of gold that Siegfried won by slaying the…
The Neckless Ones: A Historical Puzzle
A longstanding tradition on this blog allows the readers to nominate and vote on a theme for the month’s last post in any month that has five Wednesdays. July being so favored, the usual lively contest unfolded five weeks ago, and the winner this time was the question of why the cultures of the modern…
July 2024 Open Post
This week’s Ecosophian offering is the monthly open post to field questions and encourage discussion among my readers. All the standard rules apply (no profanity, no sales pitches, no trolling, no rudeness, no paid propagandizing, no long screeds proclaiming the infallible truth of fill in the blank, no endless rehashes of questions I’ve already answered)…
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Legends
When I commented two weeks ago that we had strayed into a Wagnerian period of history, I wasn’t anticipating events like those of the Saturday just past. Nonetheless, here we are, with an apparent fluke of circumstance only an opera composer could get away with being acted out in broad daylight, sending the destiny of…
The Ritual of High Magic: Chapter 14
With this post we continue a monthly chapter-by-chapter discussion of The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Lévi, the book that launched the modern magical revival. Here and in the months ahead we’re plunging into the white-hot fires of creation where modern magic was born. If you’re just joining us now, I recommend…