Hello everyone, I’m Angela and welcome to my Symposium. Now live and today’s birthday celebration I guess, even though my birthday was on the 28th of January but yeah I thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate with you, answering your questions and yeah anything that you’d like me to ask academic-wise of course.

Let me see who is here already here. Hi Andrew, hi Eric, hi Eddie, oh hi The Order Of Chaos; Sanhre, hi Bluesteel and Astrogypsy. oh thank you AeriaGl0ris for the “happy birthday” and hi Mesay20yr, hi Joe.

So please do keep in mind that in order for me too, since I know that, of course, you will be chatting with each other in the chatbox as well which is totally fine, actually, I do encourage it as well. Hi Richard. I encourage you to start your question with the word QUESTION in capital letters so that it is easier for me to spot a question as opposed to a chat message that may be referring to somebody else.

So Eric says I didn’t know. Happy birthday.

So yes, I am an Aquarius, yeah, they say that the age of the Aquarius has started. Hi Theodora, glad you came over. Hi Chris, hi Craymon Maples and Sarah and hi Jesse, congratulations on completing another trip around the sun. Yes, yeah the last one was quite an interesting one but not just for me but for everybody else. Hi Thomas, oh Theresa, is here. Theresa, we missed you yesterday. Yesterday we had a monthly chat with my patrons and it’s always nice to catch up with them. We had quite an interesting conversation.

Hi Bicho, I don’t know how to pronounce some of your usernames guys. I hope I’m doing a good job or a good enough job. Hi Lord Dalloway, thanks for the happy birthday. It’s nice to see a few of you here. Oh, I can see that there is the first question from Mesay20yr.

So the question is, are you planning to do any more videos on Western Shamanism? like on Castaneda and Harner?

Yeah, do you think that there is an interest for that? It seemed like those videos, you know, didn’t get as much of that attention as other ones but yeah, I’d be happy to. Actually, it is something that I have studied thoroughly for my PhD, so I could talk about it for ages. Is there a particular aspect of Western Shamanism that you would like me to address Mesay?

Oh, thank you for your gift, your birthday gifts Richard. It’s very nice of you, thank you so much and yes of course metal-heads here and Goth. Goths and metal-heads that you can be can coincide even though some may disagree but…

Thomas says also more sessions on crystals and stones would be great. Yeah now that we have Sarah among us in the Inner Symposium. She’s a new Patron, I’m not sure whether she’s here in the chat but she’s very fascinating she’s doing a PhD and she specializes in that so, yeah definitely I should do a session or solo video on that.

Any chance for a Franz Bardon video? Initiation into Hermetics would be a great topic.

Yeah, actually Craymon, that would be really interesting and also something that is not talked about as much. I think that Marco Pasi, the Professor from Amsterdam mentioned him in the interview on Crowley but yeah, definitely. I have to admit that there are so many things that I’d like to cover in my videos it’s just that as my Patrons know because we interact on a daily basis, at the moment I’m, like, extremely overwhelmed because the second semester at my university is pretty busy. So it’s more difficult for me to do research for new topics. So for the next two months, which will be the busiest, I will be sort of drawing from research that I also use for my university lectures. Then after March, I will be, yeah, I will be tackling things that you guys really want me to cover because, of course, I love to be responsive to what you suggest and you know, to make this a place that it is not just for me but for all of us. It’s just that I need time guys, I wish that the day was made of, I don’t know, double as the amount of hours that I have at my disposal.

So Helena says… Mesay says I’m mostly interested in an academic look at the “fathers” of it. Like those two I mentioned. It’s hard to find that anywhere.

So do you mean like an academic outlook on the figures of Castaneda and Harner?

Yeah, actually yeah, that’s an interesting one. I’d love to know that.

Eric says maybe you can check this book the teachings of Don Juan.

Yes, obviously that is… but I guess maybe Mesay wants to have an academic take. I imagine that since he’s asking about these two authors. Maybe he knows their books already but it may be difficult to find, perhaps, an academic take, especially when it comes to Castaneda. You know, he’s a controversial figure. Harner is not as controversial really because he doesn’t have, you know, he didn’t have that sort of mystical aura surrounding him but Castaneda, with what he has written in his books or novels, yeah, it’s been debated whether what he says in his novels actually happened or whether it was a fictional story but yeah.

Oh, thank you so much Thomas for your donation it really means a lot.

So Eduardo says question I will repeat what I asked on Discord.

Oh, hi Justin I see that Justin is here. Justin Sledge from Esoterica. Hi Justin. Justin says a question, kinda academic, happy birthday. We’ve been messaging in the past few days. If you could meet and chat with a historical person in Western Esotericism, who would it be? Why? And what would you want to talk about?

That’s a very good question, Justin. Off the top of my head, I’d say Aleister Crowley but of course like I said my answer may vary depending on the time and my interests. I think that I would have also liked to meet Anton LaVey. I think that he’s a very fascinating, a very fascinating figure but yeah, what I’d like to ask, what I’d like to talk about with Crowley. Let me think, it’s a difficult one, I guess because I’d like to talk with him about lots and lots of things. I’d say I’d like to talk with him about Magick and what he truly thinks makes Magick work and what is his view of reality. How can the reality that he sees allow Magick to exist ontologically speaking if that makes sense? Oh yeah, that’s a great question, Justin.

The chat has moved a bit where was I at? So Eduardo says but do you know how I think it was Plato?

Yeah, I think I saw it on Discord, in our Inner Symposium community. You asked about the idea of good as the ultimate thing. ‘I was curious about what the word for good he used meant.’ The idea of Plato, as you may be familiar with, Plato had the idea that there is a world of ideal forms and there are these forms that sort of act as moulds for what we see in our daily reality and so even when it comes to the idea of good. The idea of good is not what we would intend in a moral sense like good as opposed to evil but it is a moulding category. I don’t want to get too Kantian with my terminology but it was more like a way to mould everything that is, sort of, creative in reality. So all the creative elements of reality stem from that first model, that first mould, which is the idea of good.

So L. Schelb says wow even Justin Sledge is here.

Yeah, Justin is a celebrity and he is my friend. He’s a friend of the Symposium as well. But yeah I really love what Justin does on his channel it’s a pity that he gets hate from random people but yeah, that’s a different topic for a different time.

Let me see whether there are other questions. Is her birthday really today or is it the birthday of the channel?

The birthday of the channel is the 11th of August because I opened the channel in 2019 so just over a year ago. But my birthday is on the 28th of January so it was just a few days ago but I decided to do it on Sunday because well, I was working on my birthday and also I know that you guys would be able to join in since it is a Sunday and not a weekday.

Hi James, nice to see you in the chat.

Ryan asks whether I’ve ever been in the United States. Happy birthday to you Angela. Oh, yours was on the 29th, another Aquarius, nice. So, no I’ve never been in the… I was supposed to go to the United States this year. I was supposed to go to Boston and actually it would have been so nice because I would have met Andrew, Andrew from Religion for Breakfast. Because there was a conference of the American Academy of Religion that was being held in Boston, at Boston University which is where he got his PhD and I had to present there. And I did present there but unfortunately, it was moved online as everything is at the moment. So yeah but otherwise I would have been in Boston. But yeah, hopefully, I will be able to go to the US in the near future. There are lots of conferences that I get to speak at. So yeah, like the American Academy of Religion is a very big one and one that is well attended by scholars in Religious Studies across sub-fields and yeah, I’d love to go there in person next time. Hopefully, the madness will be over by then.

Happy birthday, is great learning from someone with a PhD on the Esoteric. I’d love to get some homework and practice different Magic. What is the Discord server?

The Discord server is for my Patrons. We have a private Discord server and there’s also a book club which is led by Andrew, who’s here, Reitemeyer, I never know how to pronounce his surname but yeah, he leads the book club and yeah, I think that our community is pretty amazing and we are acquiring more, more members who are extremely interesting.

Helena says she’s really Aquarius, dresses in a really different way and is really and she’s a really mental person. Mental I might, yeah, I am, you need to look, an intellectual person and definitely, I’ve always been different. Although I guess in the past, I wanted to be different, now I really don’t care, I just want to be me. So if that means that I fit a label, okay and if I don’t, I really don’t mind. The benefits of ageing – you become wiser.

Hello, is psychic healing considered part of witchcraft? Have you already spoken about it or would you?

By psychic healing do you mean like Pranic Therapy? But yeah I say that it would be considered as part of Witchcraft. It’s not yeah, it is a, I guess, a genre, a subgenre in its own but yeah, yeah that’d be it’d be interesting to cover it on the channel.

Oh, thank you The Game Philosopher for the happy birthday. Nice user name by the way.

Mike says would you consider interviewing someone like Lon Milo Duquette who is in a lot of the ways the modern inheritor of Crowley’s tradition? I am sure he would have an interesting perspective.

Mike, I think that that’s an interesting question. As you might tell by looking back at my videos on the channel I tend to interview academics only. So all the interviews that you see on my channel are to Professors basically. Professors and Academic Researchers and that is kind of the theme of my channel to address these matters from an academic point of view because there are so many other channels that address Witchcraft and Esotericism from a practitioner’s point of view. So I wanted to offer, as Justin does as well, a different way of approaching this different perspective but I have to admit that I have been thinking of interviewing practitioners as well but I have to think of a format which would still fit the academic theme of the channel if that makes sense. It could be like a form of interview like the ones that I carry out for my anthropological research, for example, but yeah I need to find a format that might work and perhaps create, you know, a specific series just for the interviews to practitioners. I don’t want people to get confused if that makes sense. I want people to think that all the interviews on my channel are practitioners or so yeah, I have to find a way to fit it into my theme but it is definitely something that I’m thinking of and Lon Milo Duquette would be a great person to interview for sure.

So Andrew has a question. What book do you plan to and or most want to write?

Well actually in the past few weeks I’ve been in contact with a few publishers. So there are a few books that I’m going to write or edit in the next few years. One of these would be on a philosophy of Magick, addressing different magical traditions and what is the underlying philosophy that they have, that they underpin. Because different magical traditions have different philosophical underpinnings. They are not all the same and they also fit into specific theoretical frameworks and they link to their time and their culture in very specific ways. So I’d like to write a book on the philosophy of Magick and also, of course, I will be publishing my thesis, my dissertation, as you say in the US, my PhD dissertation which is on the indigenous transcultural-Shamanism in Italy. But yeah, I guess I like… my childhood dream was to be a writer and then my adult dream was to be an academic, of course, in both cases, I always been interested in Magick and in this field. So it’s like yeah, but being an academic means being a writer as well. But I’d also like to write a novel based on experiences that I’ve had in the past that is another thing that I’d like to do in the future.

Richard asks; if you could meet Lilith what would be your number one question?

Lilith? Wow really go straight to the… What would I ask Lilith? What do you think is the foundation of Magic and what would you consider to be good and evil? Do they exist and how do you conceptualize them?

The Order of Chaos – Sanhre, hi – as academically speaking is Hermetic Philosophy specifically the teachings of The Kybalion a left and path practice/philosophy or is it more akin to the middle way/Buddhism or neither?

That’s a very good question. I think I would place it in a genre on its own. I’d say I wouldn’t classify it as either left or right-hand path because I see that it has sort of elements of both categorizations and also as we were saying yesterday in our Patreon chat. You know, usually, you have people who talk about the left, those following the left-hand path, talk about the left-hand path but those following the right-hand path don’t talk about it in those terms and these are terms which are borrowed from Tantrism. So in that case you would hear more people from a right-hand path describing their path as such. So yeah, I guess in this case the Hermetic philosophy based on The Kybalion I wouldn’t say that it is. Yeah, neither of them I’d say that it is sort of a genre in itself, so to speak, a subcategory in itself.

So Helena says you have to interview Ronald Hutton. I’ve heard he does not like to be interviewed by journalists, he does not trust them. I’m quite sure he would like to come here.

Helena, I don’t know if you’re aware of this but Ronald Hutton was the external examiner of my doctorate and yeah, we are on very friendly terms now. I know that he admires my work and that made me so happy because he’s always been my academic god and I told him after the examination after I knew the outcome of the examination, I was, you know, a complete adult and I cried saying, oh you are my academic god. But yeah I think that he might accept. I don’t know but yeah, I might ask him. It’d be great to have Ronald Hutton here.

Aeria says if you could meet the Goddess Hekate, which actually Greek would be Hekate. I tend to be pedantic when it comes to Latin and ancient Greek, sorry. What three questions would you most like to ask her?

To Hekate? So, I would ask what do you think we can learn the most from the darkness? What do you think is the essence of Magic? And how does one find their own path? Nice question anyway.

So… sorry but the chat moves quite quickly and I always have to move it back move it backwards. Jesse asks, from a pernial philosophy, I guess that you meant to say perennial philosophy perspective what is the most interesting pattern or correlation you have seen across different schools?

Can you clarify a bit better what you mean by perennial philosophy? I know what perennial philosophy is but this is the concept that all philosophies across history and across cultures underlie, you know, a similar, the same basis there’s a core that underlies all the philosophies and traditions across history and the perennial philosophy wants to find that core that’s something that has always been there just concealed and conveyed in different ways. But yeah, if you can clarify or expand a bit more on your question that’d be great. Thank you, because I couldn’t quite get it.

Eric asks, is there any papers that you have published in these past years as a postgraduate student and where can we find them?

Eric, yes I have published quite, well, I wouldn’t say a lot but for a PhD student, I have a decent amount of publications. Most of them are on my academia.edu page and actually, this is a tip that I would like to give you guys. Generally speaking, if you want to find free academic papers look on academia.edu or academia.edu or on Researchgate because I’m not sure whether people know this, I think that non-academics don’t know this but we don’t get paid for academic publications and usually, scholars would really like to make public what they write and so, it is possible, legally speaking, to upload the proofs. So it’s like the final version before the final editing, so basically, the content is the same and you, as the author, can upload it freely on your platforms. So, as a consequence, authors, academics really like to share their content because it’s also important for us to get cited and put our work out there so that other scholars can know what we have studied and perhaps they can connect with us to work together or, you know, all sorts of things. So usually academics like to share their work and they usually do that on academia.edu or Researchgate. So you find lots of free academic peer-reviewed material over there. Of course, there are also known academics that post their things which are not academic, so maybe lookout for that but yeah, most people on academia.edu are proper, you know, academics, researchers.

Oh hi Heidi, thank you very much for your donation. It’s very sweet of you and I always like to see your comments on the videos. I get that for you it’s not Monday, it’s not morning because you’re in Ireland aren’t you, if I remember correctly?

So where was I? Eduardo says question, I really shouldn’t have asked this before the Jenny (Butler) interview, Is it said how humans defeated the entities of the land in Celtic mythology? Is there other mythos where humanity manages to defeat gods/spirits in a similar fashion?

I’m not sure about Celtic mythology because that is not my specialism that there would be a question for Jenny as you also mentioned. I’m not sure whether there is any tradition where humans defeat gods. Yeah, I do have actually a tradition where humans, I wouldn’t say they defeat gods, but they are considered of a higher status than gods and that is Buddhism. Because in Buddhism you have the six realms of existence and you will cyclically get reincarnated in each one so you have, you know, three of the realms which are considered the “hells’ and the three higher, the three realms which are in the Upper Wheel which you have the humans, the semi-gods, and the gods, if I remember correctly and whereas the other triviums are demonic realms. So for Buddhists, the reincarnation, as a human being is the best one that you can get because even though gods will live a happier, longer, and more pleasurable life since they live so much pleasure and so much happiness they will not, they don’t have the chance to escape the cycle of reincarnations, whereas human beings are in, according to Buddhists, in a special position. So they are the special one so to speak, more special than Gods because they are in a position where they can experience good and evil, they can experience suffering and happiness and having the contrast between the two beings, you know, in between things, they do realize the impermanence of everything. Whereas Gods may get, maybe, more easily deluded, more easily fall into the illusion that happiness will last forever and then it will end and they will get reincarnated in another realm whereas human beings can see the impermanence for suffering and how it, you know, it moves from suffering to happiness. So I guess that yeah, in Buddhism you do have human beings, I wouldn’t say they defeat gods but yeah, they are in a more special position, in a better position.

So let me see whether there are other questions.

Marcel Gomes; Henrik Bogdan and Christopher Giudice are two academics that are interesting.

Yes, absolutely yes. I’d love to interview them.

Mike C. question: do you think that Leland was being sincere in the Vangelo or was it fabricated? My teacher was convinced it was authentic.

Shall we open the Pandora’s box of Stregheria Tradition? There is no evidence that there is any historical facts behind what is a basis to what Leland says. So it may be that he met that woman but we don’t have any evidence. It’s just a matter of believing in something that has no evidence, really, to uphold it. But that doesn’t mean that… I’m kind of waiting to address the Stregheria or the Strega tradition because, of course, I do understand that there are lots of Italian-Americans for whom this tradition is really important and this relation links them to their roots in Italy. So I’m really respectful of that. At the same time, I may run into… when there are claims of Italian authenticity but that is a topic that I guess I should address in a more articulate manner and with proper references, perhaps in a specific video. Let me know if I answered your question, Mike.

Helena says, question: have you ever used the Italian oracle Sibilla Della Zingara?

Yes, actually, it was a game that we used to play at my high school. Although where I come from, you know that the Sibilla was from Cumae which is, I’m not sure whether you have an English translation for Cumae but yeah, according to the legend and to the myth the Sybil, the Sibilla was from Cumae and Cumae is pretty near where I come from. I come from Naples, so it is in the surrounding area. And yeah, there was a specific oracle which was very interesting. I’m pretty sure that most English speakers are not familiar with it because it’s all based on words and rearranging parts of sentences together in a specific way according to a question. it’s very, yeah, it’s quite peculiar, I don’t think I’ve ever seen another oracle like that. So you have a question and then the question becomes a set of numbers and then these numbers will link to pages of the Sybil and you will find only like two or three words here, two or three words there and two or three words there and when you put them together they make sense and it’s kind of unbelievable. I don’t know if it was based on an elaborate algorithm but yeah, it was really interesting. It was a game we used to play when I was in high school.

Would you say the oldest practitioners of Magic were from ancient Mesopotamia, Druids or what?

Ryan, I think that, as far back as we go, I think the human beings have always practised some kind of Magic. Maybe the question might be whether it is a traditional form of Magic or whether it is a Folk Magic which is not structured so it’s more about having a structured form of Magic, a structured form of Witchcraft or Folk Magic but yeah, I believe that as far back as we can go human beings have always practised or engaged with some kind of Magic or some form of Magic.

Let me see. So question from I guess, a Russian username that I can’t pronounce. Question are there any echoes in the western academy from Russian? Yeah, Russian traditional circles, Alexander Duket(?).

I’m certainly butchering the pronunciations but actually no, I haven’t heard of them but thank you very much for raising this because now I want to look into it more. Thank you, I shall look them up.

Yes, Ethan Doyle White could also be an interesting person to interview, Helena.

Hi Theodora, it was nice to see you yesterday. How is Numerology connected with Magic practices or is it just restricted to astrology?

There are many ways in which Numerology is connected to Magic practices. You have the Gematria, which is connected to the Kabbalah and with unorthodox, an unorthodox use of the Bible and there is something that I will make a video on in the coming future. So yeah, definitely stay tuned for that but yeah Numerology and more generically, the use of numbers as bearing specific symbologies is, sort of, ingrained in the practice of Witchcraft and Magic. So numbers do have are not just numbers in Witchcraft. Well in Witchcraft, any Magic, everything is also something else and that is the symbology that sort of connects all the mundane things, all the things that we think of as being banal, they become something more and something beyond in Witchcraft and numbers are not an exception to that. Yeah, definitely I need to do a video on Numerology. Thank you, Theodora.

Astrogypsy asks can you recommend techniques or literary resources for developing more cognitive flexibility so as to transcend dogma in world view, for recognizing the “assumptions” of daily perception?

I would say, as for cognitive flexibility I guess you… in academia, we tend to call it critical analysis and it may be useful for you to know this term because it might help you find new sources online. But I say that in order to find, to acquire more critical analysis or flexibility, as you put it, it would be a good idea to try and always challenge your ideas and your opinions and try and find the rationale of underlying the view of somebody that you totally disagree with. If you do that would be a very interesting philosophical exercise that will help you develop critical analysis and also another thing is when you read something, especially now online, always look up the sources, always look up what are the sources, the books the articles and the quality of those sources because not all sources are made equal. So I’d say that you develop critical analysis, try and get into the intellectual shows of people that you totally disagree with and always challenge what you read. Challenge the pre-assumptions of what you think, ask yourself what are the premises of this belief, what are the premises of these this understanding of the world, of this view, of this philosophy, of this concept that I hold. I think that always questioning your premises is also a good way to acquire flexibility or critical analysis.

Theodora, I would like to know more about Ra and Isis. What are your thoughts about them in connection to Magic?

Well, Isis and Ra are very connected to Magic. Definitely, Isis, I guess, even more, but yeah, my thoughts are there are that these Neteru, the Egyptian Gods are really related to Magic. As you know from my video on Hekate, Magic in Egypt and in the Egyptian culture was strongly related to the very creation of the world it was just embedded in the fabric of reality and so the Gods as well, of course. There are different families of Gods in Egypt, depending on tradition, time etc. But yeah, I’m thinking of actually interviewing a scholar who specializes in Egypt and Egyptian culture so that we can elaborate more on that, more specifically and as always, as you know before doing an interview I will ask you, my Patrons, because Theodora is a Patron of mine, whether you have any questions for the interviewee. So you will get the chance to to ask your own question to her.

So Eric I know that we don’t get paid, I’m currently doing my PhD. That is why I know. I’m just in a different area.

Oh, Eric, you do a PhD too. So yeah you definitely know.

Rowan B. question can you tell us of a time where you felt like a sigil you made worked?

Rowan, as you may know, I don’t share my personal beliefs and practices here on the channel. I tend to focus more on the academic study of these topics, I’m sorry.

Christopher asks do pagans use a different word for idol worship or making idols. When I try to do research on the topic the majority of what I can find is Christian content.

Maybe because of the reason I don’t worship in Paganism, not in these terms. Can you please clarify more what you mean by idol worship so that I can better understand how to address your question, Christopher?

Jesse says technically aren’t humans stronger than God in Christianity because they determine the outcome?

There is a debate for Christian theologians.

JoeyJoJo Tanti auguri!

Grazia.

And here is my best friend Cipriano.

Ciao Cipi.

I didn’t know that that about Buddhism. That’s pretty cool. So humans are actually a bit wiser than the gods.

Yeah that’s interesting, isn’t it? And usually, people also believe that there are no gods in Buddhism but that massively depends on the tradition because Buddhism has lots of traditions. Well, of course, you have the three major schools; the Theravada, the Mahayana and the Vajrayana but then, even under these three umbrellas, these three main vehicles you will still find different traditions and they hold different beliefs. But yeah there are Gods in certain Buddhist traditions.

Mike asks what about the idea that Leland himself was a practitioner because there are at least one tradition of Wicca in the USA that traced their lineage partially to him?

Well yeah, I don’t think there is reason to doubt that Leland was a practitioner.

Can you do a video on Tantra? Actually, we were talking today about Tantraism and I was recommending a few sources to, I think it was Eric, was it, Eric? I get confused with the username but yeah, I definitely have to make a video. I was wondering whether to do a Livestream or a solo video.

By the way guys one of the things that I’d like to ask you; what format do you like the most? Do you like more my solo videos or do you more like Livestream lectures or interviews or would you prefer me to experiment with a different format? Is there you know a specific format that you prefer? I’d be really interested to know that.

So let me see whether there are other questions.

Question from Jesse; in Joseph Campbell’s video lectures he references a common thread of the river being referenced as a source of life across many different belief systems. Have you ever seen a common thread like this across Magic practitioners? Best clarification I could do LOL.

Jesse, Joseph Campbell is one of those scholars, like Mircea Eliade and others from the 20th century, which are now a bit outdated and we’re a more updated scholarship, it’s not quite in agreement with specific claims that these scholars made, even though they have been quite influential. Like Mircea Eliade is still extremely influential in Shamanism and Joseph Campbell has been and he’s still quite influential when it comes to mythology but they share a common issue, which is something that you culturally find a lot in the 20th century, especially yeah, around the 1950s or so. You do have this common trend that they wanted to find similarities across cultures, they wanted to find something which was, sort of, true everywhere and across ages and across time and across places. And this is something that was also mirrored in Magic traditions because, as you know, you have transcultural Shamanism and you have many other claims in Magic traditions that there are specific truths which go beyond locations and go beyond… There is this kind of universalisation, universalisation on one end. So the idea that certain principles are applicable to everyone living everywhere and at the same time, the idea that there are core principles, cultures that you can find regardless of these specifics. But now scholars agree that this is not really the case because you can, of course, find similarities but then what you say the similarities are the same thing, you are running into a logical fallacy which is called oversimplification. And when you oversimplify too much you lose lots of nuances in that specific concept, in that specific context had – so context is important, actually. And it does change how I think even things that resemble each other, they are never quite the same when they are practised by specific people in a specific time and in a specific place.

So let me see what are the other questions.

Theodora says, I really enjoy the scripted videos more. I would say keep exploring both or all three. The live streams are really good because it’s more interactive. I like with video formats the short videos for introducing a subject for and longer videos to know more about a video that I already know.

Yeah, that could be an idea actually.

You could release short-cuts of your live streams/interviews in your channel. Variety is the spice of life as they say.

Nice I can see that there is a consensus here that you like a variety and you know as an Aquarian I also like variety and to change a lot. So yeah, I agree with you. I do prefer having multiple formats so that because, of course, you know it kind of also affects the way the information is conveyed because different formats have, you know, benefits and also issues – like everything in life, I guess.

Jesse says I’m glad, I’m here to learn.

Oh, thank you I’m also glad that you’re here Jesse.

Where are you from?

I’m from Italy but I live in the UK now. I live and work in the UK.

Vithar or Vidar says happy birthday and happy unbirthday everyone. That’s a good point. I see I am late to the party about the topic of idols. It is usually not the idols themselves that are being worshipped

Yeah, that’s a good point Vidar. Maybe that’s why Christopher can’t find anything specific about idol worship in Paganism because it’s not really, I’d say that I’m not even sure I would call it worship because more often Pagans talk about working with Demons, working with deities rather than worshipping deities or Gods or Goddesses. It’s more there’s more the idea of working ‘with’ these entities rather than worshipping these entities. Of course, there is also a component of worship and there are some there are lots of exceptions in Paganism but I’d say that in Paganism is more a relationship rather than, you know, a vertical worship.

I’m really happy to see all of you here, guys. So yeah it was really fun to be here with you guys. You know that these are quite difficult times for everyone and so it’s nice to interact with you because, you know, when I film my videos it’s just me and the camera, whereas here I can see that you are.. well, of course, even reading your comments and replying to your comments I get an interaction with you but the live stream brings it to you know a different level.

Eric asks, in your knowledge, maybe there might not be a lot relationship but is there any relationship between the Sefiroth and the Yggdrasil?

They are, I think they are related to different cultures and different traditions they have been associated because of the symbology of the tree but, as I mentioned when talking about Joseph Campbell, I, as most scholars, if not all scholars that I know, now emphasize the importance of contextualising in order to understand things better so I wouldn’t associate things which are not, which don’t have a strong cultural or traditional link, at least when we are trying to, I’m not saying that I’m against syncretism, by the way, I’m just saying that when we are trying to understand things from an academic point of view we need to be very specific and really see things in their context and in relation to the culture that birthed them.

Andrew says a format I liked was the panel discussion, the one on concepts on the afterlife. I loved that. Perhaps there is a way to introduce practitioners as a part of the mix.

Yeah, actually that’d be nice. Like a symposium of academics with practitioners. Might be complicated to organize but…

Jae Lim says I found you through your collaboration with Religion for Breakfast. Are there plans to collaborate with other YouTubers with similar and complementary interests?

Yeah, I’d like to. We’ve been talking of collaborating with Let’s Talk Religion for quite some time but haven’t yet arranged anything and also I’d like to collaborate with the Modern Hermeticist. But yeah I’m open to collaborations, to be honest. I like to collaborate with people, once again an Aquarian feature.

Lady Khepera Ankh asks, in the Pyramid Text of Unas it appears certain texts are speaking of cannibalism.

I don’t see the question but that wouldn’t surprise me, to be honest.

Sarah says no, there are connections. However, I understand keeping things to their cultures. However, if you’re going to quote using Joseph Campbell he understands universal archetypes and recognizes world.

Yeah, as I said I think that it is interesting to use archetypes as a way of understanding the world and cultural phenomena as long as you don’t lose the specifics in an effort to make all things resemble each other and to find something which is, you know, universal and cross-cultural. I think that archetypes can be useful as a tool and even as a methodology as long as they are flanked by a narrower and more contextualized view. But that is from an academic point of view. As I said, I’m not speaking in terms of practice. So in terms of practice that would be different, I guess.

Eduardo says how do you think Religious Studies will evolve in academic terms? What practical uses do you think it could have in future? Also, it was me who asked about tantra.

Sorry, Eduardo, you should use your name on Discord so they can remember better who asks what. But what do I think Religious Studies will evolve in academic terms. I think that Religious Studies is getting more and more interested in different forms of religiosity like, for example, even invented religions and new religious movements and Magic-practising traditions. I think that it will evolve in a way that it might help the general public understand and offer a view of religion which is not dogmatic and doesn’t have to resemble a monotheistic religion.

Versa says happy born day! Fan of Anime? It was shows like Outlaw Star, Witch Hunter Robin and such that were filled with these Esoteric ideas that played a big influence on my thinking as a kid.

Yeah, I also loved Anime as a kid. It was shows like Outlaw Star, Witch Hunter Robin and such that were filled with these esoteric ideas that played a big influence on my thinking as a kid.

Yeah, I also love Anime. So I totally, I can totally relate with that.

Wale Olapo says for a beginner what is the right path to learning Magic?

Well, we here talk about the academic study of Magic rather than how to learn Magic. Although in my Inner Symposium there are practitioners who talk about that a bit more, about the practice alongside the academic side of it but as for me, as a scholar, I stick to talking about the academic study of Magic.

So Sandra asks would you ever consider doing an academic study of the Tarot and or Astrology?

Yeah, that would be really interesting. Like a specific paper but that would need to be narrowed down in a way that it can be methodologically feasible for an academic paper. But yeah that would be interesting. I think that there must be something academic on the topic. On these two topics, I have to search for it. But yeah thanks for asking, that was an interesting question.

Well, I guess that we can wrap up the Livestream now. It was really, I really love to interact with you guys, as always and yeah, I’m so happy that you came over to this question and answer and to, sort of, celebrate my birthday in these very isolating times. But yeah, thank you, thank you so much, thank you so much for coming. It really means a lot to me. Your support, the fact that you like and subscribe to my channel, your comments every little thing that helps our channel grow and helped me make a point that the academic study of Magic matters, really helps me as in my project to, you know, divulge this subject matter and also helps the academic community to acknowledge that there is, in fact, an interest in us keep studying this subject area. So thank you so much and I really hope to interact with you guys soon.

There is Lela who’s asking the question; what do you recommend to someone who loves the academic study of the occult but can’t pursue a degree at the moment. I love ancient philosophy.

Lela, follow channels of people who address this matter from an academic point of view, I guess. Or if you want to pursue it as an academic, perhaps, finding funding or a scholarship might help if you cannot afford to pursue that. Or just study it yourself basing your knowledge on peer-reviewed literature and proper reputable academic scholarship.

So yeah, thank you so much, guys for coming over and thanks to my Patrons and all of you who kindly donated to the project. I actually need to buy a new microphone for my videos because the one I had decided to break down and fall apart. Well, it didn’t fall apart physically but it doesn’t work any more.

So thank you so much for coming here guys and thanks for all the nice birthday wishes and yeah I hope to see you guys in the comment section of the next video, which I can already anticipate that it will be an interview and it will talk about invented religions and provisional beliefs. It’s going to be really, really fun – well Academic fun.

Don’t forget to like and leave a comment below if there are any questions that I didn’t manage to answer. Please, please leave them in the comment section and as always I will be replying to them and if you’re watching this at a later date, hi, thank you for, you know, reaching the end of this very long live stream and yeah let me know in the comment what you thought of it and stay tuned, as always, for all the Academic fun.

Bye for now.

First streamed 1 Feb 2021