Weird Studies

The Magician card likely graces more front covers of books on the tarot than any of the other major arcana. In many ways, it symbolizes the tarot itself, or the individual who has mastered the art of manipulating the cards to divine their meanings. Yet, the Magician is a profoundly ambiguous figure. From one perspective, he is the Magus, piercing through the illusions of ceaseless becoming to glimpse the hidden depths of reality. From another, he is all surface without depth, a carnival huckster ready to empty your coin purse while you’re transfixed by his crystal ball. In this episode, JF and Phil continue their on-again, off-again journey through the major trumps with a discussion of the card that—deservedly or not—proudly calls itself Number One. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781585421619) Weird Studies, Episode 24 on “The Charlatan and the Magus” (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) Weird Studies, Episode 109 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/109) and Episode 110 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/110) on The Glass Bead Game Weird Studies, Episode 179 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/179) Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Geneology of Morals (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780141195377) Louis Sass, Modernism and Madness (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780198779292) Gilles Deleuze, Pure Immanence (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781890951252) Richard Wagner, Parsifal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal) William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312160623) Participation mystique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_mystique) Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780877282686) Leigh Mccloskey, Tarot Re-visioned (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780877282686)

One of the great rewards of "weirding" the world is learning that boredom may be a kind of ethical transgression—the world is simply too strange to allow for it, and if you're bored, you're at least partly to blame. Few have put this notion to the test as rigorously as Lionel Snell, whose work as a magician celebrates the wonders of everyday events, from a walk in the park to a moment of car trouble. Unlike the pursuit of the extraordinary that often defines occult practice, Snell's approach reminds us of the magic in the mundane. In this episode, Snell, also known as Ramsey Dukes, shares the insights he's gained over his decades-long career as one of the leading figures in contemporary magical theory and practice. For an exclusive Vimeo link to Aaron Poole's film Dada mentioned in the intro, go to Instagram and send @aaronsghost the direct message "movie link please". REFERENCES Ramsey Dukes, Thundersqueak (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311129) Weird Studies, Episode 141 on “SSOTBME (https://www.weirdstudies.com/141) Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell (https://www.weirdstudies.com/24) John Crowley, Little, Big (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780061120053) Arthur Machen, “A Fragment of Life” (https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700361h.html) David Foster Wallace, The Pale King (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780316074223) Max Picard, The Flight from God (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780316074223) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780692710609) Henry Bergson, Matter and Memory (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781420937800) Russell’s Paradox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox) Special Guest: Lionel Snell [Ramsey Dukes].

Earlier this month, Phil and JF recorded a live episode at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington following a screening of John Carpenter's film In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter’s cult classic obliterates the boundary between reality and fiction, madness and revelation—an ideal subject for a Weird Studies conversation. In this episode, recorded before a live audience, the hosts explore the film’s Lovecraftian themes, the porous nature of storytelling, and how art can function as a conduit to unsettling truths. Special thanks to Dr. Alicia Kozma and the IU Cinema team for hosting and recording the event. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113409/) John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness* (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093777/) John Carpenter, The Thing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/) Joshua Clover, BFI Film Classics: The Matrix (https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/matrix-9781839022678/) Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780547572581) David Cronenberg, Videodrome (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086541/) Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)" (https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm) Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780804732185) Nick Land, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Land) English philosopher H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx) Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs (https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx)

Fairy tales are among the most familiar cultural objects, so familiar that we let our kids play with them unsupervised. At the same time, they are also the most mysterious of artifacts, their heimlich giving way to unheimlich as soon as we give them a closer look and ask ourselves what they are really about. Indeed, these imaginal nomads, which seem to evade all cultural and historical capture, existing in various forms in every time and place, can become so strange as to make us wonder if they are cultural at all, and not some unexplained force of nature — the dreaming of the world. In this episode, JF and Phil use "Rapunzel" as a case study to explore the weirdness of fairy tales, illustrating how they demand interpretation without ever allowing themselves to be explained. Sign up for the upcoming course "Writing at the Wellspring" (https://weirdosphere.mn.co/) October 22-December 1 with Dr. Matt Cardin on Weirdosphere.org Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! SHOW NOTES Walter Benjamin, "The Storyteller" in Illuminations (Hannah Arendt, ed.; Harryn Zohn, trans.). Novalis, Philosophical Writings. (Margaret Mahony Stoljar, trans.). Cristina Campo, The Unforgivable and Other Writings (Alex Andriesse, trans.) William Irwin Thompson, Imaginary Landscape (https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Landscape-Making-Worlds-Science/dp/0312048084) Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780307739636) Marie-Louise von Franz, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Louise_von_Franz), Swiss Jungian psychologist Sesame Street, “Rapunzel Rescue” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-fK8rYa45Q&ab_channel=SesameStreet) Disney’s Tangled (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398286/) The Annotated Brothers Grimm (https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Brothers-Grimm-Books/dp/0393058484) Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne%E2%80%93Thompson%E2%80%93Uther_Index) Marina Warner, Once Upon a Time (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780198779858) W. A. Mozart, [The Magic Flute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheMagicFlute) Dante Alighieri, Il Convito (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12867) Panspermia hypothesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia) Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature (https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Nature-Necessary-Advances-Complexity/dp/1572734345) John Mitchell, Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781620554159) Clint Eastwood (dir.) The Unforgiven (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/)