Pop Apocalypse

By: Matthew J. Dillon Center for the Study of World Religions
  • Summary

  • Pop Apocalypse explores the mythic and the mystical, the psychedelic and the paranormal in popular culture. The podcast features interviews with artists, musicians, writers, and directors about the experiential and esoteric dimensions of their work. Music by Secret Chiefs 3.
    2023 --
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Episodes
  • Music and the Esoteric Imagination - A Talk with Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3
    Nov 30 2024

    For episode 10 of Pop Apocalypse, we welcome the musician, composer, and producer Trey Spruance. We discuss (3:42)Trey’s early musical and occult explorations and how reading the philosopher Henry Corbin changed the course of his life. Trey then takes us through the esoteric dimensions of Secret Chiefs 3 (22:59) and how albums like Book M and Book of Horizons are filled with correspondences to Kabbalah, astrology, Hermetic magic, and Pythagorean musicology. Along the way, we touch on Trey’s work with John Zorn and Kronos Quartet, his conversion to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and the afterlives of Saint Cyprian the Mage.

    LINKS
    Web of Mimicry website
    Book M
    Book of Horizons
    Book of Souls: Folio A
    The Book Beri'ah, Vol. 10: Malkhut
    Xaphan: Book of Angels, Vol. 9
    Perichoresis
    Link to the G.I. Gurdjieff Conference at Harvard Divinity School, Dec 4-5th

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    1 hr and 47 mins
  • Religion, Technology, and Extraterrestrial Intelligences – A Talk with Diana Pasulka
    Oct 30 2024

    For episode nine, we welcome to the show Diana Pasulka, Professor of Religious Studies at UNC – Wilmington. Her books American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology and Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences are both classics in the field of Religion and Technology studies. We discuss how Pasulka’s early work on Catholic purgatory led her to the study of UFOs, the spiritual practices of experiencers, and the role of government (dis)information and popular culture in the rise of UFO religion. On the way, we touch on A.I., revelations, St. Teresa of Avila, sleep paralysis, and the perils and possibilities of new technologies.

    LINKS
    Diana Pasulka's Heaven Can Wait: Purgatory in Catholic Devotional and Popular Culture
    American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology
    Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences
    "From Purgatory to the UFO Phenomenon: The Catholic Supernatural Goes Galactic"
    Keith Cantu's Om-gnosis video podcast

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Dreams, Creativity, and Precognition – a talk with Eric Wargo
    Sep 23 2024

    For our eighth episode, we welcome the author Eric Wargo to the show. Eric is perhaps the world’s foremost expert on precognition. His most recent book, From Nowhere, examines precognition in its relationship to creativity in the lives of major authors and artists. We discuss the nature of time, dreamwork, memories from the future, and the four-dimensional brain. Along the way, we discuss figures like Virginia Woolf, Philip K. Dick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sigmund Freud, and the sculptor, Michael Richards.

    NOTES

    Eric Wargo's work:

    • Blog "The Nightshirt"
    • From Nowhere: Artists, Writers, and the Precognitive Imagination
    • Time Loops
    • Precognitive Dreamwork and the Long Self: Interpreting Messages from Your Future

    An exhibit of Michael Richards' Sculpture

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    1 hr and 48 mins

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great conversations with fascinating people

Fascinating and compelling conversations with scholars and artists about spiritual matters. I listened to every episode with great enthusiasm.

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