Recently I've been working behind the scenes a bit more with the Fringe FM, and a part of that has given me the pleasure of linking up some of my colleagues for some very interesting conversations ranging from psychology, the nature of existence, mysticism, skepticism, psychedelia, addiction, demonology, divination, and a whole lot more with good ol Joe Rupe of Lighting the Void. I'll only be listing links to spotify for these streams and downloads, but you can also find these episodes on apple or anywhere else you listen to your podcasts.
Alex (Natural Born Alchemist): - My European friend wakes his sleepy head up extremely early to come on the late show with Joe and talk about--you guessed it: alchemy, and so much more. Talking about the grassroots origins of alchemy, what it means today and what it doesn't, how some people forget the practical roots of the study, and some other topics like Hermeticism, reincarnation, the positive side of psychedelics, and also the strange commercialization that seems to be happening to psychedelic plants and compounds.
Justin Otto (Dharma Junkie) & Martin Ferretti (The Alchemical Mind): Justin and Martin are good friends with me and each other, and I was very excited to get them on air with Joe for the first time. Justin is a studious practicing Buddhist that has enjoyed drinks with Doug Stanhope on at least a couple of occasions, so he balances his oftentimes cynical outlooks on life with Buddhist disciplines and studies in a way that I've always found sincere and great to be around. Martin is a man steeped in the alchemical traditions through grounded empiricism and logic--although not exclusively. I've always enjoyed his approach to the esoteric and symbolic, because it's open-minded to all the possibilities on the grandest cosmic scales but skeptical of enough to not get lost in the fluff and conjecture of certain kinds of new-age panderers. Martin is also currently editing my upcoming book, Hunt Manual: 21st Century Demonology & Forteana.
Mike Mazzei (Mike & Maurice's Mind Escape): Mike is another good internet friend of mine, and someone that is probably the most classical skeptical mind on this list. While he doesn't doubt the realities of certain metaphysics, he finds more interest in things like Ufology and ancient history, among other things. Far from the classical "Chariot of the Gods" approach, Mike and his co-host Maurice on their own show, Mind Escape, have a very deeply critical and skeptical yet very open-minded approach to sifting through Ufology, modern and sometimes ancient, as well as a whole host of other topics relating to philosophy and ancient history.
Oz (Oddball Aussie): An Australian friend of mine comes on the show to talk about forteana and ends up getting into a very interesting conversation about the outer limits of human psychological and biological experimentation, discussing things Japan's Unit 731, Joseph Mengele, MKULTRA, and much more. Far from a paranoid alarmist conversation, this is a tempered discussion of the extents that we know governments have once gone to without any specific conclusions drawn. It's important to have conversations like these, just as it's important to allow people to make up their own minds.
I hope you enjoy listening to these chats as much as I did! And if you want anything extra, here is my conversation with Joe that was broadcast during this same week as most of the others, where we talked about my upcoming book Hunt Manual, full of demonology and forteana.