In this conversation with Annie Crawford, we explore the role of alchemy in C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength. While alchemy is often dismissed as occult or irrelevant, Lewis uses its symbolism in a precise and meaningful way. We look at how the...

This is the final episode of our Universal History series on the American Religion. Deacon Seraphim Rohlin and I look at the religious ideas behind the American project, especially the influence of Kabbalah and the search for a “pure” and universal...

This is a repost of a past video where I discussed the icons of Holy Week in the Orthodox Church and how they relate to each other as a unified symbolic pattern. Have a blessed Pascha. YouTube version: https://youtu.be/h55O4Kxs6tU Join us at the...

With the release of Ye’s new album, Bully, many have asked about the music video for the song called “Father.” While the video is surreal and AI generated, it is not without meaning or structure. If you pay attention to broader, context, patterns, and...

Kale Zelden is a literature teacher and writer and in this video he joins me to discuss reading, the "Great books", and what it means to recover the reading tradition in a modern context. We talk about how to encounter old texts, what reading can...

We often assume that being “historically accurate” means getting closer to the truth, but that’s not always the case. In this video, I explore how modern, mechanical thinking can actually invert meaning, using the example of Christ’s crucifixion. ...

In this conversation, I sat down with Mary Harrington about technology and the online world. Mary reflects on her path as a writer, the evolution of online culture, and the growing difficulty of discerning truth in the digital environment. We also...

In this conversation I speak with Dr. Zachary Porcu about his book, Journey to Reality: Sacramental Life in a Secular Age, and the challenge of explaining true Christian thinking to modern people. We discuss how modern assumptions about the world make...

This is a conversation between Deacon Seraphim Rohlin and Pavel Shchelin on political theology, power, and Plutarch’s Lives. They explore how ancient biographies reveal enduring patterns of ambition, authority, and the human passions that shape...

Magical beginnings, secular endings. In this episode of Universal History, Deacon Seraphim Rohlin and I start a discussion about early Mormonism (or rather, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) within the broader context of American...

In this conversation, I sit down with Stephen Roach on the Makers and Mystics podcast to explore why our stories feel exhausted — and what that reveals about our cultural moment. We talk about the end of the post–World War II narrative, the collapse...

In this episode I try to circle around something that is very difficult to speak about directly — the void. From the opening verses of Genesis, where the earth is described as “empty and void,” we are confronted with a mystery that runs through...

In this talk at St. Michael’s Church in Charleston, I walk through the seven days of creation as presented in Genesis, exploring creation as a divine song: a rhythm of heaven and earth, light and darkness, above and below. YouTube version:...

Many are called. Not all are chosen. There is a widespread idea that Christianity is about being “nice,” endlessly tolerant, and endlessly open. But that idea does not survive a careful reading of the Gospel. In this video, I look at the parable of...

I explore the Mandela Effect from a symbolic perspective. The Mandela Effect is a psychological phenomenon where a large group of people collectively share the same false memory of an event, detail, or pop culture fact. It has stirred up conspiracy...

I speak with filmmaker Yelena Popovic, who viewers may recognize as the director of the stunning film of the life of St. Nektarios of Aegina, Man of God (2021). In this interview we discuss her upcoming film, Moses the Black, releasing January 30th of...

"Ancient people knew the sky the way that we know the highways around our cities." Today's podcast is a bit different. Deacon Seraphim Rohlin is here to introduce you to our new Symbolic World Course presenter, Joshua Sturgill. Together they discuss...

In this interview, I sat down with Jean-Philippe Marceau—author of Post-Reductionist Christianity, our very first theory book at Symbolic World Press—to discuss his surprising and widely praised new Symbolic World article on the emerging global...

In this conversation, I sit down with storyteller and mythologist Martin Shaw to explore the Holy Grail. We talk about desire and longing, failure and mercy, chivalry and the feminine, and why the Grail stories continue to be relevant across...

In this video I discuss the persistence of the idea that Christmas was "stolen" by Christians from the pagans, or that it's secretly still pagan. Merry Christmas everyone. Christ is born! YouTube version: https://youtu.be/uh6rhiTrTnk Christmas...