The Occult Rejects

The Occult Rejects

Occultists, Rejects, and Mystics trying to educate others about magick and occultism so others can figure out who they are and the world around them.

  1. 2 days ago

    The Encratites The Christians Who Rejected Marriage, Meat, and Wine

    If you enjoy this episode, we’re sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we’ve got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.   Thank you and enjoy the episode! Links For The Occult Rejects https://linktr.ee/theoccultrejects Occult Research Institute https://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/ Cash App https://cash.app/$theoccultrejects Venmo @TheOccultRejects Buy Me A Coffee buymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejects Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejects Primary sources Irenaeus. Against Heresies 1.28.  Best early witness for the Encratites’ rejection of marriage and animal food. Accessible English text online. Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History 4.28–29.  Key source for Tatian, Musanus, and the Severians. Accessible English text online. Clement of Alexandria. Stromata 3.  Essential for anti-Encratite argument, marriage/continence debates, Cassianus, and use of the Gospel according to the Egyptians. Accessible English text online. Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies 8.  Useful for Tatian’s reputation, abstinence, and sectarian framing. Accessible English text online. Basil of Caesarea. Letter 188.  Important later witness showing Encratites still mattered canonically in the fourth century. Accessible English text online. Synod of Gangra (especially Canons 1–2).  Important for the later church’s rejection of condemning marriage and condemning meat-eating Christians. Accessible English text online. Tatian. Address to the Greeks.  Useful for Tatian’s tone, worldview, and severity, even if it is not itself the main Encratite text. Modern Cambridge edition available. Acts of Thomas.  Important for the wider encratite ascetic imagination and later patristic memory of the text’s Encratite character. Gospel according to the Egyptians (fragments preserved in Clement, Stromata 3).  Important for Salome sayings, celibacy discourse, and the wider anti-marriage textual world. Modern scholarship Guffey, Andrew R. “Motivations for Encratite Practices in Early Christian Literature.” Journal of Theological Studies 65, no. 2 (2014): 515–549.  Probably the single best focused article for your episode. It is especially useful on motives, mixed origins, and why Encratite practice cannot be reduced to one simple cause. Litwa, M. David. Early Christianity in Alexandria: From its Beginnings to the Late Second Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.  Use especially Chapter 8, “Julius Cassianus and Alexandrian Ascetic Culture.” Very useful for Cassianus and Alexandrian radical continence. Crawford, Matthew R. “The Diatessaron, Canonical or Non-canonical? Rereading the Dura Fragment.” New Testament Studies (2016).  Strong on Tatian’s Gospel harmony, its reception, and the Syriac afterlife of the Diatessaron. McCarthy, Carmel, trans. Saint Ephrem’s Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron: An English Translation of Chester Beatty Syriac MS 709. Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.  Useful if you want to lean harder into the Syriac legacy of Tatian. Petersen, William L. Tatian’s Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 25. Leiden: Brill, 1994.  Still an important specialist study for Tatian and the Diatessaron. “The Syriac Versions.” In an Oxford Academic volume on the Syriac New Testament tradition.  Useful for concise background on Tatian’s Diatessaron in Syriac Christianity. “The Earliest Syriac Literature.” In The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature.  Helpful for placing Tatian inside the broader Syriac literary and ascetic world. Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball.

    The Encratites The Christians Who Rejected Marriage, Meat, and Wine
  2. 6 days ago

    The Mechanics of Magick: The Pupil, Light, and the Nervous System Part Two- Darkness, Flame, and the Ritual Technology of Seeing

    If you enjoy this episode, we’re sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we’ve got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.   Thank you and enjoy the episode! Links For The Occult Rejects https://linktr.ee/theoccultrejects Occult Research Institute https://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/ Substack https://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page Cash App https://cash.app/$theoccultrejects Venmo @TheOccultRejects Buy Me A Coffee buymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejects Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejects Darkness, Sensory Deprivation, Caves, and Visionary Conditions Ustinova, Yulia. Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind: Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Use for: caves, descent, darkness, ancient Greek revelation, incubation, inspired prophecy, and altered states in underground sacred settings. Lewis-Williams, David. The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Use for: caves, prehistoric imagery, altered consciousness, visual phenomena, and symbolic environments. Use carefully because some interpretations of prehistoric religion remain debated. Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. New York: Harcourt, 1959. Use for: sacred space, threshold, the difference between sacred and profane space, and the way religious environments reorganize orientation and meaning. Zuckerman, Marvin, and Nathan Cohen. “Sources of Reports of Visual and Auditory Sensations in Perceptual-Isolation Experiments.” Psychological Bulletin 61, no. 1, 1964: 1–20. Use for: sensory deprivation, perceptual isolation, visual/auditory sensations, and internally generated experiences under reduced stimulation. Wackermann, Jiří, Peter Pütz, and Carsten Allefeld. “Ganzfeld-Induced Hallucinatory Experience, Its Phenomenology and Cerebral Electrophysiology.” Cortex 44, no. 10, 2008: 1364–1378. Use for: Ganzfeld states, reduced/uniform sensory fields, pseudo-hallucinatory imagery, altered perception, and EEG findings. Metzger, Wolfgang. “Optische Untersuchungen am Ganzfeld.” Psychologische Forschung 13, 1930: 6–29. Use for: early Ganzfeld research and the effect of homogeneous visual fields on perception. Shenyan, O., et al. “Visual Hallucinations Induced by Ganzflicker and Ganzfeld Differ in Frequency, Complexity, and Content.” Scientific Reports 14, 2024. Use for: modern comparison between Ganzfeld and flicker-induced visual phenomena. Useful if connecting this episode back to the earlier flicker-light show. Candlelight, Firelight, Sacred Atmosphere, and the Agency of Light Bille, Mikkel, and Tim Flohr Sørensen. “An Anthropology of Luminosity: The Agency of Light.” Journal of Material Culture 12, no. 3, 2007: 263–284. Use for: light as a social, material, emotional, and cultural agent; how light shapes atmosphere, social meaning, and movement. Bille, Mikkel, and Tim Flohr Sørensen, eds. Elements of Architecture: Assembling Archaeology, Atmosphere and the Performance of Building Spaces. London: Routledge, 2016. Use for: architecture, atmosphere, materiality, embodied space, and how built environments shape experience. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Chichester: Wiley, 1996; later editions. Use for: architecture as multisensory experience, not just visual design; helpful for sacred architecture, embodied space, and sensory atmosphere. Barrie, Thomas. “Sacred Space and the Mediating Roles of Architecture.” European Review 20, no. 4, 2012: 505–514. Use for: sacred architecture as a mediating threshold between ordinary and sacred worlds. Kieckhefer, Richard. Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Use for: Christian sacred architecture, spatial theology, light, ritual orientation, and the way buildings teach belief through space. Do, Michael T. H. “Melanopsin and the Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells: Biophysics to Behavior.” Neuron 104, no. 2, 2019: 205–226. Use for: melanopsin, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, non-image-forming vision, and the biological effects of light beyond ordinary sight. Hattar, Samer, H. W. Liao, Motoharu Takao, David M. Berson, and King-Wai Yau. “Melanopsin-Containing Retinal Ganglion Cells: Architecture, Projections, and Intrinsic Photosensitivity.” Science 295, no. 5557, 2002: 1065–1070. Use for: retinal ganglion cells that detect light for non-image-forming functions, including circadian-related pathways. Blume, Christine, Corrado Garbazza, and Manuel Spitschan. “Effects of Light on Human Circadian Rhythms, Sleep and Mood.” Somnologie 23, 2019: 147–156. Use for: light, circadian rhythms, sleep, mood, and why sunlight, darkness, dawn, and dusk matter biologically. Cajochen, Christian. “Alerting Effects of Light.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 11, no. 6, 2007: 453–464. Use for: light’s alerting effects beyond image-forming vision. Stained Glass, Religious Light, and Visual Theology Binski, Paul. Gothic Wonder: Art, Artifice, and the Decorated Style, 1290–1350. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Use for: Gothic visual culture, sacred display, ornament, and the emotional force of medieval religious space. Camille, Michael. Gothic Art: Glorious Visions. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996. Use for: Gothic imagery, religious seeing, visual devotion, and sacred art as visionary environment. Kessler, Herbert L. Seeing Medieval Art. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2004. Use for: medieval Christian theories of seeing, devotional image use, sacred art, and vision as religious practice. Hamburger, Jeffrey F. The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany. New York: Zone Books, 1998. Use for: visionary art, devotional seeing, mystical imagery, and the relationship between images and religious experience. Freedberg, David. The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Use for: why images provoke emotion, devotion, fear, desire, reverence, and acts of ritual engagement. Scrying, Black Mirrors, Crystal Gazing, and Reflective Vision Caputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion.” Perception 39, no. 7, 2010: 1007–1008. Use for: mirror-gazing under low light, face distortion, visual instability, and apparitional perception. Caputo, Giovanni B. “Apparitional Experiences of New Faces and Dissociation of Self-Identity During Mirror Gazing.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 110, no. 3, 2010: 1125–1138. Use for: mirror-gazing, dissociation, altered self-recognition, and strange-face experiences. Caputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face Illusions During Inter-Subjective Gazing.” Consciousness and Cognition 22, no. 1, 2013: 324–329. Use for: prolonged eye-to-eye gazing, face alteration, dissociative effects, and interpersonal gaze phenomena. Caputo, Giovanni B. “Visual Perception During Mirror-Gazing at One’s Own Face in Patients with Depression.” The Scientific World Journal, 2014. Use for: mirror-gazing research and altered self-perception. Useful for grounding black mirror and psychomanteum discussion, but do not overgeneralize. Moody, Raymond A., with Paul Perry. Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones. New York: Villard, 1993. Use for: modern psychomanteum practice, mirror-gazing, grief, and visionary encounters. Use cautiously; this is experiential/parapsychological material, not mainstream neuroscience. Roll, William G. “Psychomanteum Research: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Near-Death Studies 22, no. 4, 2004: 251–270. Use for: psychomanteum research, bereavement visions, mirror-gazing, and altered perception. Use cautiously. Northcote, Thomas. “Scrying.” In The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, edited by J. Gordon Melton. Detroit: Gale, various editions. Use for: general historical overview of scrying traditions, crystal gazing, mirror gazing, and divinatory seeing. Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by James Freake; edited and annotated by Donald Tyson. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1993. Use for: Renaissance magical imagination, correspondences, planetary symbols, spirits, and visual/ritual operations. Barrett, Francis. The Magus. London, 1801. Use for: later ceremonial magic, mirrors, spirits, correspondences, and visual ritual imagination. Use historically, not as scientific evidence. Magical Gaze, Concentration, Visualization, and Ceremonial Practice Crowley, Aleister. Liber E vel Exercitiorum. In The Equinox. Use for: concentration, posture, breath, mental discipline, and the training of attention as a magical foundation. Crowley, Aleister. Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, various editions. Use for: ceremonial magic, concentration, visualization, ritual method, symbols, and disciplined magical practice. Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, various Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball.

    The Mechanics of Magick: The Pupil, Light, and the Nervous System Part Two- Darkness, Flame, and the Ritual Technology of Seeing
  3. 7 Aug

    Delphi Part 2: Sacred Wars, Sacred Stones, & The Silence Of Apollo

    If you enjoy this episode, we’re sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we’ve got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.   Thank you and enjoy the episode! Links For The Occult Rejects https://linktr.ee/theoccultrejects Occult Research Institute https://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/ Substack https://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page Cash App https://cash.app/$theoccultrejects Venmo @TheOccultRejects Buy Me A Coffee buymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejects Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejects Primary Sources Primary Sources Aeschylus. Eumenides. Cicero. On Divination. Herodotus. The Histories. Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Pausanias. Description of Greece. Book 10. Pindar. Pythian Odes. Plutarch. Life of Lycurgus. Plutarch. “On the E at Delphi.” In Moralia. Plutarch. “The Obsolescence of Oracles.” In Moralia. Plutarch. “The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse.” In Moralia. Strabo. Geography. Official and Reference Sources Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “Excavations.” Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “History of Delphi.” Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “Mythological Versions of the Foundation of the Oracle.” Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “The Sphinx of the Naxians.” Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “The Temple of Apollo.” Archaeological Site of Delphi, Hellenic Ministry of Culture. “The Treasury of the Siphnians.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Delphi.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Delphic Oracle.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hieromnemon.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Python.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Pythian Games.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “Archaeological Site of Delphi.” Modern Scholarship Chappell, Mike. “Delphi and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.” The Classical Quarterly 56, no. 2 (2006). de Boer, Jelle Z., John R. Hale, and Henry A. Spiller. “The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory.” Clinical Toxicology 40, no. 2 (2002). Etiope, Giuseppe, et al. “The Geological Links of the Ancient Delphic Oracle.” Fontenrose, Joseph. The Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations, with a Catalogue of Responses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. Forrest, W. G. “The First Sacred War.” Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 80 (1956). Fragkaki, Maria. “The Great Rhetra.” Rosetta 17 (2015). McInerney, Jeremy. “Parnassus, Delphi, and the Thyiades.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 38, no. 3 (1997). Piccardi, Luigi. “Active Faulting at Delphi, Greece: Seismotectonic Remarks and a Hypothesis for the Geological Environment of a Myth.” Geology 28, no. 7 (2000). Scott, Michael. Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. Strolonga, Polyxeni. “The Foundation of the Oracle at Delphi in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 51 (2011). Music, Inscriptions, and Archaeology Archaeological Museum of Delphi. Museum collections and interpretive materials. The Delphic Hymns to Apollo. École française d’Athènes. Fouilles de Delphes. Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball.

    Delphi Part 2: Sacred Wars, Sacred Stones, & The Silence Of Apollo

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Occultists, Rejects, and Mystics trying to educate others about magick and occultism so others can figure out who they are and the world around them.

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