Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought

Episodes

The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt

October 9, 2026 • 76 mins
We explore some of the weird territory where extreme politics meet extreme theology in the pre-Umayyad and Umayyad periods. Includes case-studies of a representative selection of early shiite "extremists".
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Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond

September 24, 2026 • 48 mins
We discuss the Iraqi context of the early shī‘ī movements, explore some of the political, esoteric, and politicesoteric concerns of the early partisans of the ahl al-bayt, and then give a basic run-down of some of the most important shiite movements and their imams.
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Islām and Esotericism in the Eighth Century: The Umayyad Era and the Question of Islām as ‘Religion’

September 17, 2026 • 61 mins
We discuss politico-religious developments among the Believers in the eighth century, setting the stage for a series of episodes exploring developments in esoteric Islām in the Umayyad period. We also discuss our evidence for how the Believers' movement became ‘Islām’ in the first place, also seemingly an Umayyad phenomenon.
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Into the Archives with Alicia Walker

September 13, 2026 • 61 mins
In this interview, Part II of our discussion of quotidian magical practices in the East-Roman world with Alicia Walker, we explore a wealth of materia magica, which is a fancy way of saying "magical things". Come for the alchemical enamel-ware, stay for the multipurpose magic ring.
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Alicia Walker on Everyday Magical Culture in East Rome

August 25, 2026 • 37 mins
In the previous episode we looked at learned, elaborate, elite magical practices and the books that enabled them in East Rome. In this episode we discuss the magical practices and objects with which normal, non-specialist Romans navigated their mediæval world. Alicia Walker is our guide in the territory where the esoteric becomes everyday.
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Three Ancient Sages: On East Roman Magical Books

May 13, 2026 • 55 mins
Looking through the lens provided by three central figures of the western esoteric tradition -- Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonios of Tyana, and King Solomon -- we discuss three important East Roman magical books whose influence echoes from the end of late antiquity until the present day.
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Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part II

April 1, 2026 • 38 mins
We delve further into the laboratories, workshops, and even state coffers of East Rome with Gerasimos Merianos. East Roman alchemy becomes mathematised. The parameters of alchemical secrecy change. We encounter our first alchemical con-men. And Michæl Psellos showcases his ability to see which way the wind is blowing, this time in the realm of high-stakes alchemical politics.
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Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part I

March 25, 2026 • 45 mins
In Part I of a two-parter we explore the contours of East Roman alchemy from the seventh century onward. Gerasimos Merianos is our guide to the many and varied authors writing in the alchemical genre aside from (but including) the great Stephanos. The roots of the western alchemical tradition lie in the east.
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The Horoscope of Islām and The Alchemical Stone: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part II

March 4, 2026 • 32 mins
In Part II we explore two of Stephanos' works: the astrological piece entitled Apotelesmatikē pragmateia, with its katarchic ‘Horoscope of Islam’, and his influential, vexing, and beautiful alchemical work, On the Great and Holy Art of Gold-Making.
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Philosophy and Occult Sciences at Constantinople: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part I

February 25, 2026 • 41 mins
We speak with Maria Papathanassiou about Stephanos of Alexandria: the last known Platonist/Aristotelean philosopher trained at Alexandria, a politically-connected courtier at Herakleios' Constantinople, a Christian, an astrologer, an alchemist, and more.
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Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor

December 6, 2025 • 72 mins
We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Platonist apophasis meets hard-core ascesis, and Maximus follows the theology where it wants to go, sometimes to his own cost.
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Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura

October 26, 2025 • 71 mins
Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conquests reflected in Christian revelation, stay for the apocalyptic Roman emperor.
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Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel

September 27, 2025 • 47 mins
In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written in the past. The Temple will descend, the evil Armilus (son of Satan and a statue) will wreak havok, and two messiahs will arise to redeem Israel.
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Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond

September 13, 2025 • 43 mins
With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians are now part of the story of western esotericism. We explore their extraordinary religion with Touraj Daryaee.
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Ahab Bdaiwi on the Rise of Shī‘ī Esotericism

July 25, 2025 • 29 mins
In Part I we looked at the political events leading up to the formation of the Shi'a. In Part II we see that it did not take long for things to get very esoteric. Come for the programmatic esoteric hermeneutics, stay for the occult sciences.
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Ahab Bdaiwi on ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his Family, and the Origins of Shī‘ī Islam

July 18, 2025 • 38 mins
We pick up from our last episode, where geopolitics and esotericism met in the crucible of Roman, Sassanian, and Arab political struggles. Ahab Bdaiwi threads the labyrinth of the earliest historical sources for the birth of the movement within Islām which came to be known as the Party of ‘Alī, or the Shi‘ā.
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Seventh-Century History for Students of Western Esotericism

May 13, 2025 • 55 mins
We return to the history of late antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia. Momentous events occur, empires rise and fall, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims all suddenly develop new apocalyptic notions. Come for the dry historical exposition, stay for the esoteric divine kingship.
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Introducing the Qur’an Part III: Qur’ānic Texts vs. the Qur’ān

May 2, 2025 • 55 mins
We discuss some of the history of how the Qur'ān came to be ‘the Book’: it started in the oral milieu of the high-octane early Believers' movement, and ended up in written form as something called the ‘Uthmanic recension. Many esoteric things happen along the way.
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Introducing the Qur’ān, Part II: Ambiguity and Esoteric Themes

April 18, 2025 • 71 mins
We begin to explore the esoteric side of the Qur'ān, examining several case-studies in terms of ambiguity and esoteric themes. It turns out that every letter of the Qur'ān is an esoteric text.
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Introducing the Qur’ān, Part I: Revelation, Text, and History

March 14, 2025 • 57 mins
We cover some basic territory in introducing the Qur'ān, the holiest text of Islām. We introduce the text, discuss the traditional story of the Qur'ān's revelation, the modern text-critical enterprise of Qur'anic studies, and try to pin down the elusive character of this book-that-is-not-a-book.
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