Rune Soup

Gordon

Rune Soup is a podcast channel that platforms the most important discussions at the cutting edge of magic, animism and spirit work.

Gordon is chaos magician, shamanic practitioner, podcaster, author and permaculture designer with a background in data and analytics gained at some of the world's largest media companies. He is the author of four books on magic, animism and star lore: Star.Ships: A Prehistory of the Spirits, The Chaos Protocols, Pieces of Eight and Ani.Mystic: Encounters With A Living Cosmos.

When not travelling, Gordon hosts his weekly show, Rune Soup, from a small permaculture farm in southern Tasmania.

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391 episodes
Updated May 1
Explicit

Episodes391

Newest first

Apr 27, 2023 · 1 hr 21 min
At Work In The Ruins | Dougald Hine
Author and (post)activist Dougald Hine joins us this week for a powerful discussion about our moment and what -if anything- we should 'do' with and about it. The springboard for our chat is Dougald's recently-released book, At Work in the Ruins. We unpack the title -what do we mean by 'work'- as well as what we mean by 'ruins'. Physical? Cultural? Social? We talk about what it means to hospice modernity and we unpack why one of the founders of the Dark Mountain project is no longer talking about climate change. Really good stuff. Good, timely stuff. Enjoy! Show Notes At Work in the Ruins. Dougald's Website. A School Called Home.
Apr 13, 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
Ethnobotany, Traditional Medicine and Modern Healing | Mark J Plotkin
Legendary ethnobotanist, Mark J. Plotkin, joins the show this week for a fascinating chat about traditional medicine, Indigenous knowledge, plant healing and modern medicine. Dr Plotkin studied under the great Richard Evans Schultes himself and has been exploring the Amazon as a friend and researcher for five decades. He is the co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team -a nonprofit that partners with Indigenous communities to conserve biodiversity, protect traditional lifeways and support sustainable Amazonian livelihoods. During the lockdown era, Mark started an excellent and highly recommended podcast, Plants of the Gods. We discuss The origination of the podcast project The role of psychedelics in contemporary medicine The safeguarding of Indigenous intellectual property in the 'modern' world 'Active molecules' versus whole plants in contemporary medicine The changes -good and bad- in the field of ethnobotany over the course of his career A fantastic discussion with a personal hero. Dive in. And if this is the first time you've heard about Plants of the Gods, well, I'm pleased to be able to share it with you! Show Notes Mark's website Plants of the Gods podcast Amazon Conservation Team
Apr 7, 2023 · 1 hr 1 min
Understanding Prophecy for Magicians and Astrologers | Solo Show
In this solo show, we dive deep into the origin of our understanding of prophecy, how it is different from prediction and where this understanding is useful for sorcerers, astrologers and magicians. We explore the Old Testament prophets and how their roles changed over the centuries, how they positioned themselves toward power and what kind of 'Prophetic moment' we might find ourselves in. Enjoy!
Mar 30, 2023 · 1 hr 13 min
The Legacy of Jake Stratton-Kent | Peter Grey & Alkistis Dimech
Alkistis Dimech and Peter Grey of Scarlet Imprint return to the show for an exploration and celebration of Jake Stratton-Kent: In particular his thought, his research and his impact on the western magical world. We discuss: His generosity as a thought leader. His attitude to academia and academics. His role in the return of spirit-centric approaches to the grimoires. His revitalisation of blue grimoires. His understanding and love of the Ancient and Archaic Greek world. "I don't do angels." His championing of practice over theorising. His role as a key participant in the return of the Dead to contemporary western magical practice. I'm very grateful to Peter and Alkistis for sharing their thoughts about their friend and colleague, Jake.
Mar 24, 2023 · 48 min
Visiting the Island of the Witches | Solo Show
In the middle of the Philippines archipelago is the mysterious Siquijor -known variously as the Island of the Witches, the Island of Sorcerers or the Island of Healers. This remarkable place is home to several thriving magical and healing lineages. Here is my story of visiting and encountering these traditions during the time of year where the healers travel up sacred Mount Bandilaan in order to collect the healing herbs their work requires for the whole year. These visits only happen on the seven Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I was fortunate enough to come along on one of these harvests. It's a fascinating place that is illuminating in comparison with cunning traditions, curanderismo and other cosmovisions around the world: Saints, sacred timing, herb lore, energy work. And if you are looking to visit Siquijor, check out the show notes. If you'd prefer some visuals, head over to YouTube. - Note - Episode has been updated due to audio not playing properly. Show Notes I have added the following places to Google Maps on Siquijor, so go to the island and search for these: Annie Ponce (Nearest town is San Antonio). Batong Hakut (the name of Noel Torremocha's healing practice. Nearest town is Cantabon). Loreto Quimno (bolo-bolo healer in the town of San Juan). If you are visiting, I recommend the guide I used, Chelsey, whom you can contact via Facebook or Instagram. He came with me to each of the healers and accompanied me gathering herbs so he knows everyone and all the places. He's also a great guide just if you are visiting Siquijor: Chelsey on Facebook. Chelsey on Instagram.
Mar 24, 2023 · 48 min
Visiting the Island of the Witches | Solo Show (Re-upload)
In the middle of the Philippines archipelago is the mysterious Siquijor -known variously as the Island of the Witches, the Island of Sorcerers or the Island of Healers. This remarkable place is home to several thriving magical and healing lineages. Here is my story of visiting and encountering these traditions during the time of year where the healers travel up sacred Mount Bandilaan in order to collect the healing herbs their work requires for the whole year. These visits only happen on the seven Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I was fortunate enough to come along on one of these harvests. It's a fascinating place that is illuminating in comparison with cunning traditions, curanderismo and other cosmovisions around the world: Saints, sacred timing, herb lore, energy work. And if you are looking to visit Siquijor, check out the show notes. If you'd prefer some visuals, head over to YouTube. - Note - Episode has been updated due to audio not playing properly. Show Notes I have added the following places to Google Maps on Siquijor, so go to the island and search for these: Annie Ponce (Nearest town is San Antonio). Batong Hakut (the name of Noel Torremocha's healing practice. Nearest town is Cantabon). Loreto Quimno (bolo-bolo healer in the town of San Juan). If you are visiting, I recommend the guide I used, Chelsey, whom you can contact via Facebook or Instagram. He came with me to each of the healers and accompanied me gathering herbs so he knows everyone and all the places. He's also a great guide just if you are visiting Siquijor: Chelsey on Facebook. Chelsey on Instagram.
Mar 9, 2023 · 1 hr 21 min
Place Myth and Story | Martin Shaw (Bardskull)
Legendary storyteller and mythologist, Dr Martin Shaw joins the show this week. On the occasion of the release of his remarkable and uncharacterisable (although I try) new book, Bardskull. We talk about the weakness of the word archetype, we talk about place and story and transformation, we talk about myth and landscape, we talk about Tolkien, Gandalf and Merlin, we talk about defending indefensible books, and… in the end and ultimately, we talk about spiritual transformation. A fantastic chat. One of the best of the year, for sure. Enjoy! Show Notes Get Bardksull: https://unbound.com/books/bardskull/ School of Myth https://schoolofmyth.com/
Feb 23, 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
Mayan Healing, Shamanism and Plant Medicine | Rosita Arvigo
This week we welcome to the show the legendary Rosita Arvigo. Rosita is the author of ten books, she is a naprapathic physician, a herbalist and a specialist in traditional Mayan healing. For decades she has lived in western Belize, operating a healing practice and maintaining an organic farm. During this time she studied under Don Elijio Panti -a powerful and famous shaman then in his nineties. (He lived to 103.) This story is described in her book, Sastún. Rosita joins us today to discuss Mayan healing and shamanism, what it entails, the state it is in today and what we can learn from it. This is a fascinating discussion that we managed to record from regional Belize all the way to Wellington New Zealand -during a cyclone. Enjoy! Show Notes Rosita's website and books. Rosita on Facebook. The Abdominal Therapy Collective. Rosita presenting at the New York Botanical Garden.
Feb 8, 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
Platonic Survivals In Sacred Architecture | Peter Mark Adams
Peter Mark Adams joins us today on the occasion of the imminent release of his new book, Hagia Sophia: Sanctuary of Kronos. Like The Game of Saturn before it, this is an exploration of curious survivals of pagan cosmologies hidden in seemingly plain sight -in this case Hagia Sophia in his home of Istanbul. Check out the show notes at runesoup.com for some companion images. Along the way, we also discuss what happened to the Mysteries when Eleusis was closed, the School of Athens and whether any such thing as Neoplatonism even existed. Enjoy! Show Notes Get Hagia Sophia: Sanctuary of Kronos. Peter Mark Adams's website.
Feb 3, 2023 · 36 min
Even The Very Wise Cannot See All Ends | Solo Show
This week, we discuss morality, where to intervene in the world, in your life and why. Enjoy!
Jan 26, 2023 · 1 hr 21 min
Ghost Hunting, Haunted Places and Parapsychology | Brian Laythe PhD
Parapsychologist Dr Brian Laythe joins the show for a discussion on ghosts and haunted places. We explore definitions: what IS a ghost? That's a slippery question right there. We look at what makes a place 'haunted'. Are they haunted because they have ghosts or do they have ghosts because they are haunted? And we investigate how ghost encounters fit into the wider ecosystem of High Strangeness. Can anyone really be 'just' a witness or are we at least co-creating these contact events? A great chat. Enjoy! Show Notes Get Brian's book, Ghosted!: Exploring the Haunting Reality of Paranormal Encounters. Visit the Institute For The Study of Religious And Anomalous Experience.
Jan 19, 2023 · 43 min
Gnosticism is a Spell | Solo Show
After last year's Astro-Gnostic conference and some extended jungle experience, I want to revisit some comparisons between 'gnosticism' and 'animism' -whatever they happen to be. And in particular I want to make the case for how the assertion that the cosmos is a prison built by an evil God and the cosmos is a community of beings can share co-presence in the same overall framework. So this is a gathering of thoughts in that general direction. Show Notes There is a Higher Soup meetup in Wellington NZ on Saturday Feb 11th. It's open to all but please RSVP so we have an idea of numbers. And once again for no reason other than it's a good way for me to organise my talking points so I don't forget them, I used Tome again. If you want to try it out, here's the invite link.
Jan 12, 2023 · 2 hr 1 min
Animal Spirits Ancestral Skills | Harmony Cronin
This week we welcome to the show hunter, leather maker, tracker, artist and educator Harmony Cronin. Over the course of her career, Harmony has been a big game skinner, she has convened and continues to convene women's hunting groups, she provides support for Indigenous buffalo hunts and has lived in a tent she built herself beside Yellowstone, where her neighbours were a wolf pack she fed with road kill. Harmony joins the show for a powerful conversation about the roles and obligations of being a human in a living cosmos. Obviously this one has some pictures to go with it. So you can watch the video version on YouTube, or you can check out all the images we discuss in the show notes at runesoup.com. Enjoy! Show Notes Find out about Harmony's classes and everything else she has going on at Gathering Ways. Find out about the Buffalo Bridge project here.
Jan 6, 2023 · 46 min
If not now, when? | Solo Show
Join me for the first solo show of the year! In this episode, we walk through a presentation that can help best situate you to achieve and transform in 2023. Extreme ownership. Correctly setting priorities. How to build a map of both official reality and reality. Stepping into an attitude that thrives in chaos. Using time magic to shift from 'goals' to 'sites of magical transformation'. Oh, and if you want to have a play around with the fun little AI presentation creator I used, here's an invite link. You can also watch this episode on YouTube, if you'd prefer.
Dec 30, 2022 · 1 hr 37 min
New Year's Special | Conner Habib
Tis the season once more for our annual chat with the one and only Conner Habib. We started by discussing Christmas and then ended up having quite a detailed exploration of ceremony, place and context that set the theme for the rest of the chat. So this one is a little different from our usual new year chats. Enjoy! Show Notes Conner on Patreon. Conner's debut novel, Hawk Mountain.
Dec 18, 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
Working With Intention And The Field In 2023 | Lynne McTaggart
Continuing our End-of-Year run, the legendary Lynne McTaggart returns to the show to talk about working with The Field and the Power of Intention for healing, manifestation and transformation. We catch Lynne up on some of the work of the Rune Soup Premium Member intention groups, compare notes and experiences and speculate as to how all this stuff might 'work'. Always a good time. Enjoy! Show Notes Lynne's website. Get on the waiting list for the 2023 Power of Eight masterclass here.
Dec 14, 2022 · 1 hr 17 min
Essential Skills Of The Magician | John Michael Greer (300th Episode)
Welcome to the 300th episode of Rune Soup! They grow up so fast, eh? To celebrate the occasion, I had two options: The first was to hold a big party and then slip on a magic ring mid-speech, vanishing before your very eyes. The second was to invite onto the show perhaps the most-requested guest, John Michael Greer. And really this timed very well because John has a new book out called The Occult Philosophy Workbook: A One Year Course In The Secret Wisdom. Plus we're looking at a whole new year a few days away. Plus we're doing a very special six month premium member course at the beginning of next year called The Foundations which -as the name suggests- is a comprehensive course on all the foundational magical practices from setting up altars to casting circles to scrying and all of that. I'll be taking you through exactly how I do All The Things. So with all this going on, John and I have a conversation at the Venn overlap of all these territories: What are the essential skills of a (broadly speaking 'Western') magician and have they changed over time? Show Notes Get The Occult Philosophy Workbook here. AND ALSO... the good people at Aeon Books have offered Rune Soup listeners a discount of 20% off any book purchased from their website until December 31, 2022. Use the code OP20 at checkout. John's blog and website, Ecosophia.
Dec 12, 2022 · 2 hr 2 min
2023 Astrological Forecast (H1) with Austin Coppock
A Christmas tradition to rival eggnog and embarrassing yourself at the office party, this week we once again have the astrological forecast for the first half of 2023 with the incomparable Austin Coppock. Enjoy!
Nov 30, 2022 · 1 hr 47 min
The Top 10 Conspiracy Books of All Time | Greg Carlwood
Greg Carlwood from The Higherside Chats joins the show for a countdown of the 10 best conspiracy books of all time. UFOs, technocracy, CIA coups, predatory capitalism, ancient aliens, Big Pharma, elite networks… here's the list! Some you might expect. Others you most definitely will not. And half the fun is hearing the justification for why one book made it into the list and another didn't. I had a blast with this one. Enjoy!
Oct 30, 2022 · 1 hr 37 min
Brazilian Magic with Julio Cesar Ody: Halloween Special
The one and only Julio Cesar Ody returns to the show for our annual Halloween special! Julio joins us from his native Brazil for a fascinating romp through his country's magical landscape: Spiritism, Umbanda, Quimbanda, Candomblé. The impact of Diaspora African frameworks, Amazonian plant spirits, ayahuasca. The impact of Catholicism and the role of the saints. The disastrous impact of modern, evangelical Christianity. It's all here! Spooky season's greetings to you all. Thank you so much for listening. Show Notes Julio's book, Magister Officiorum. Julio's website, Figueria Mágica. Figueria Mágica on YouTube. The thesis/article Julio mentions: Umbanda, Uma Religião Sincréta e Brasileira.