JMG on Plant Cunning Podcast

[ecosophia]

...and the work goes on. I had the pleasure, back before the recent hiatus, of appearing again on the Plant Cunning Podcast with hosts Isaac Hill and A.C. Stauble. The theme of our conversation was my recent book The Secret of the Five Rites: In Search of a Lost Western Tradition of Inner Alchemy, and the golden age of American occultism more generally. The podcast is now up, and I think you'll enjoy it. The YouTube version is here, and you can also listen in on Podfollow here.

Comments

great podcast

[(Anonymous)]

This is a lot of new information on the hatha yoga scene

Re: great podcast

[ecosophia]

There's a lot of information out there, which most hatha yoga practitioners in the West have never heard about. India wasn't some isolated, primitive country where nobody ever read a book from anywhere else, after all -- it's been a center of world culture for thousands of years, and even under British rule it had thriving universities, a booming publishing industry, and newspapers with the latest news and articles by telegraph from everywhere. So of course the revival and reorientation of hatha yoga in the late 19th and early 20th century drew on a wealth of resources, some from Indian tradition and some from elsewhere.

Book about ancient borrowing between east and west

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a book or books about the Kabballah in china 100 years before

Or the rites in china or these kind of things travelling from one way to another?!?!

Re: Book about ancient borrowing between east and west

[ecosophia]

I don't know of a single book on the subject. I had to pick up bits and pieces from many different books.

[(Anonymous)]

Any book that introduces all 3 occultisms:

- classical occultism;
- renaissance occultism;
- modern occultism;

[ecosophia]

That's a mighty tall order! We're talking about three thousand years of history, full of many different occult traditions and a lot of very creative thinkers and practitioners. Getting it all between the covers of a single book would be a huge task.

[(Anonymous)]

I was thinking more like encyclopedic, introductory much like Mircea Eliade's history of religions but for occultism

[ecosophia]

I wish I knew of one.

[(Anonymous)]

There is, after all, our host’s own fantastic “Encyclopedia of the Occult”

[not_gandalf]

Yeah, I listened to this as well. Very interesting. I'm also doing a more careful second reading of the book. A real eye-opener for me was the story about Max Heindl and his involvement with a Steiner-ite Rosicrucian revival in Europe. The links between Heindl and Plummer vis-a-vis the vortices was extremely interesting as well. Finally, I'm finding the idea of a less problematic approach to kundalini using the solar plexus and the vagus nerve (and the knees. Can't forget the knees!) extremely intriguing. I'm looking kind of deeply into the MOE lessons right now and find the idea that these two can dovetail together somehow kind of fun as well.

All interesting and grist for the mill...

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

I thoroughly enjoyed this, JMG. A kinder and gentler approach to raising kundalini. Quite a revelation for me! Looks like I need another book…

OtterGirl

video vs audio question

[(Anonymous)]

Since videos are unpleasant for you, JMG, when you're included in a video do you skip that, and only listen back to the audio podcast for how the conversation went?

[isaac_hill]

Thanks for being on the show again! It's always a pleasure to sit and soak up some of your vast knowledge and wisdom.

Searching for that speech on medieval medicine, used to be on yt, now flooded

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, would like to ask if anyone (or you, sir) would know the title of that speech on medieval medicine. JMG got into the temperaments, hot/cold/dry/wet dimensions, and the rationale that medieval doctors had for achieving balance, and thus health. I remember watching it a few years back, now it doesn't pop up in my searches... any help highly appreciated, thanks. J.

Re: Searching for that speech on medieval medicine, used to be on yt, now flooded

[ecosophia]

The talk was titled "Healing Through The Elements." It's appeared in print at this point -- it's included in my anthology A Magical Education.

Re: Searching for that speech on medieval medicine, used to be on yt, now flooded

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, excellent.

[llewna]

I so enjoyed this as usual with your interviews! You have an engaging way that makes the potentially daunting esoteric topics engaging and fun! I detect Jupiter somewhere prominant!

I follow a Naqshabandi Sufi path that has roots to the Theosophical Society and yes, there were many warnings about the power of kundalini. I read in one place that the sexual energy naturally makes up a third of it. My teacher in his youthful haste to attain "enlightenment" did austere yoga practices and had problems with kundalini - luckily without getting fried - erratic energy, an intenseness that was overwhelming, and the need to urinate when it was activated often during group meditation!

Our path, as you described the way you're working, is a "kinder and gentler" awakening. We go directly through the heart chakra, which slowly opens up the rest at the appropriate chakras at the right time through our practices. This can take 20 to 40 years depending. Not always comfortable, but it works.

I wanted to add thank you for your generous work. Although part of it is certainly to get your work out there, it's such important work and provides a community for many of us occultist outliers who would otherwise be adrift with our workings.

Be well!