2024 has ended and the New Year is but minutes away for some in these United States of America. It’s time for reflection on the past and speculation of the future. Join the ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss the runup to 2025, and especially the most recent X-wars over all things pirate from the East India Trading Company to the modern would-be robber barons of today—Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. We also speculate on the Professor’s potential development of Madam Web-like superpowers due to some unfortunate spider bites. —Streamed December 31, 2024

“O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Sun of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!”

Thus sings the Church on December 21, the darkest day of the year. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies discussed the Catholic tradition of preparing for Advent by singing the “O Antiphons,” which are short sung sentences describing a specific aspect of prayerful meditation on the eternal Truth — God’s incarnation in the womb of a virgin named Mary. They are sung at sunset (Vespers) both before and after recitation of Mary’s “Magnificat,” wherein she describes her joy at being chosen by God to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah, who came to banish darkness and death, bringing everlasting light. Each Advent season in America, congregations of Catholics and Protestants participate in this tradition perhaps without knowing that is what they are doing; they sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which is Catholic and has origins that are more than a thousand years old. Join us as we discuss these ancient chants, how they were weaved so thoroughly into our Christian consciousness, and how the Internet is making everything old new again. — Streamed December 19, 2024

Melinda Kathleen Reese singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” in the church of Montefrio, Spain: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/H6zswBOzxig

Amelia McKee, “The O Antiphons and the Stammheim Missal”: https://liturgicalyearinart.substack.com/p/the-o-antiphons-and-the-stammheim

The Stammheim Missal: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107TJA

On the Advent Lyrics: https://unauthorizedmedievalhistory.blogspot.com/2019/12/episode-12-getting-medieval-on-earendel.html

Myths, threads, and spider webs — that’s what the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed this week. Specifically, we discussed how all information from ancient times through the present, all history, literature, art, science, music, and religion have been compressed into a digital scroll that is now accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This ability to “scroll” information has also allowed people to start seeing the threads that run between all things and times, connecting them through a massive digital web. Quite a modern wonder, wouldn’t you say? Actually, some might say it is a return to the “pre-modern” world. Professor Rachel Fulton Brown has a more accurate take; it is a return to the medieval world. Join the ladies as they discuss what it means to live in the web, how we can distinguish myth from reality, and whether biblically accurate angels look like giant spiders. — Streamed December 13, 2024

• On Joseph Campbell: “The God-Ridden Bigotry of the Globalist Monomyth” https://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-god-ridden-bigotry-of-globalist.html
• On egregores: Mary Harrington, “Lily Phillips and the Spreadsheet Egregore” https://www.maryharrington.co.uk/p/lily-phillips-and-the-spreadsheet

Have you noticed the trend lately? “Strong independent woman” is a trope that keeps popping up in movies, television shows, and advertisements, and especially in political advertisements. “Single cat ladies” were the largest group that voted for Kamala Harris in the last election, and groups of witches were casting spells against her opponent. Their number one issue seemed to be the right to an abortion, which is promoted as something strong, independent women need and want. But is this true? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark beg to differ and have some pretty amazing examples to share with you of strong women who became even stronger moms. — Streamed December 6, 2024

Recently on an episode of The Timcast with Tim Pool, Tim was debating with his guests about whether America was created as a Christian nation. John Adams’ 1798 letter to a Massachusetts regiment was offered as evidence that it was, as Adams wrote “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” But what does “religious” mean in this context? What did the founders mean when they allowed for the free exercise of religion? If they meant “Christian,” why didn’t they say the name of Christ in their documents? On this week’s episode of The Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown shares some ideas about that.. Listen in and let her know your ideas in the comments! —Streamed November 29, 2024

What is digital mysticism? When you hear that phrase, do you imagine hermetic robots meditating in a virtual reality landscape chanting ohms? That may be getting a little bit ahead tech-wise. If you imagined that the information technology revolution that we’ve all been living through since Marshall McLuhan coined his famous phrase “The medium is the message,” you’re a little closer to understanding. And if you thought that “digital mysticism” was mankind’s reacquisition of the medieval method of learning you would be right on the mark. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Mark Stahlman, President of the Center for the Study of Digital Life, where we spoke of how today’s social media environment tracks in very similar ways with philosophical developments in ancient Greece, medieval Europe, and modern China. We would love to hear your ideas on this, so please add yours to the comments! —Streamed November 15, 2024

Center for the Study of Digital Life: https://www.digitallife.center

Remember, remember the fifth of November…. Where were you on November 5, 2024 – the day that Donald John Trump was elected to a second term as President of the United States? If you were like the Ladies of the Mosaic Ark, you were up for most of the night watching the national election results, afraid to go to sleep for fear of getting a nasty shock in the morning. Turns out, most of the country felt the same way, although maybe for different reasons depending upon who one hoped would win. It has been a very momentous campaign that capped off four very momentous and traumatic years. To cope with all of this trauma, the memes did flow, and KC collected a bunch of them! Join the ladies as we discuss the election results, the last few weeks that led up to them, and the memes that explain them all. — Streamed November 8, 2024

Who is Fencing Bear? Why, she writes the Blog called Fencing Bear at Prayer! Who is Ancilla Mariae? Why, she hosts the Telegram Channel called Fencing Bear at Prayer and its chatroom called The Dragon Common Room! Who is Professor Rachel Fulton Brown? Why, she is a Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Chicago! As well as the creator of the aforementioned Blog and Telegram channels. Did I also mention that she writes books with a team of poets at another website called The Dragon Common Room, and she hosts the weekly live-stream called The Mosaic Ark that you’re seeing here on YouTube? So why is she adding Substack creator to all of the other hats she wears? Because she has surmised that a lot of people who have enjoyed reading and listening to her thoughts might like to have a single space to learn about all of the different areas where she teaches and creates, and Substack is a good place to do that. Listen in on this week’s Mosaic Ark as the Professor explains how her projects all complement each other and answers viewers’ questions about the work that she and her poets do. —Streamed November 1, 2024