Show Notes
Magical objects aren't just forged—they're found. In this solo episode, I explore the secret life of enchanted tools: the knife with a story, the crystal touched by a world-mountain, the wand bought in a witch town that still summons fairy queens. What gives an object its power? Sometimes it's planetary timing and whispered invocations—but sometimes it's stranger tales than that. This is a medium salsa reflection on self-initiation, storycraft, and the agency of objects that choose you. Note: Here's a link to the YouTube video about self-initiation I mention in this episode. Chapters Who Chose Whom? Opening questions on agency, destiny, and magical initiation.
What Makes an Object Magical? Beyond grimoires—why backstories matter as much as consecrations.
Salsa Scale and Self-Initiation How this podcast fits into your current content taxonomy.
Denethor, Pippin, and the Agentic Object Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon worldview and the power of mythic artifacts.
Crystals in the Andes Live tale-weaving on sacred mountains and magical stones.
The Library Angel & YouTube Algorithms Synchronicity, digital spellwork, and unexpected transmissions.
Strange Tales and Warped Realities How magical items—and magical people—bend the world around them.
Grimoires vs. Found Objects Cutting Hawthorn at dawn vs. fairy queen summoning from a witch-town wand.
Your Life Already Has Strange Tales Suburban magic, Red Cross births, and the imperative to gather and weave.
More from Rune Soup
The one and only Peter J Carroll has completed his incarnation. I wanted to get down some thoughts about what he and his work meant to me. You can also watch this one.
In this side quest from the Hospicing Modernity's Magic series, I make the case that Synchromysticism is modernity's best available form of omen logic. And that getting good at it is one of the more reliable ways to get good at magic. We'll cover Seneca's distinction between the candle and the comet The rise and decline of synchromysticism as a subculture. Jung on the I Ching and psychoid archetypes. The Māori concept of wairua. And the practical toolkit. Show Notes Chris Knowles on Cosmic Connections: Mystical Practices & Reality's Hidden Language. Wearing Jung's Skin Like A Pelt. Jake Kotze on The Higherside Chats.
Ayahuasca's peak cultural moment has been and gone. So what does she do now? And what are the lessons for western magic in the complex journey of this incredible plant teacher? I have some thoughts on all this mid-dieta, in the Upper Amazon. As usual, this one is also a YouTube video. You can see it here. Here's the link to the Santa Rosa centre. (The website is a little weird but this is the place!) Here's the piece I wrote after my first piñon blanco experience.
It's the anniversary of the reception of the Book of the Law. Joining me to explore the questions of What to make of it?
Is magic just a less sophisticated form of psychology? That is probably the cornerstone claim of what I am calling 'Modernity's Magic'. And in the next instalment of our series 'Hospicing Modernity's Magic', I want to look at: How psychology diverged from magic and why. Jung's role during his lifetime. What the magicians of modernity did with the 'legitimacy umbrella' they received from Jungian thought. Which parts of this journey do we take with us into the magic of today? Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:11 Wearing Jung's Skin Like a Pelt 01:57 The 19th Century & Roads Not Taken 07:56 The Red Book 10:50 Active Imagination 15:26 Jung & Astrology 17:59 Is Magic Just Psychology? 22:09 Synchronicity 29:17 The Yi Qing & Moments in Time 33:08 Synchromysticism as Omen Logic 35:26 Psychoid Archetypes & the Unus Mundus 43:00 The Post-Jung Pelt-Wearers 49:27 What to Hospice, What to Keep 52:32 Use Magic to Legitimise Jung