I talk timeline jumping, freedom, love, individuated spirituality, and more with Pilar Lesko.

AEWCH 154: PILAR LESKO or TIMELINE JUMPING & THE END OF THE BATTLE OF GOOD VS EVIL

I talk with creator of The Midnight Gospel and Duncan Trussell Family Hour, Duncan Trussell, about love and heartache.

AEWCH 159: DUNCAN TRUSSELL

I talk with the hosts of the wildly popular Weird Studies podcast about the philosophy of the weird.

AEWCH 166: PHIL FORD & JF MARTEL/WEIRD STUDIES or THE WEIRDING OF EVERYTHING

I'm so proud to share with you a comprehensive introduction and exploration of Irish mystic philosopher John Moriarty's work. The episode is a recording of the event I curated at the National Concert Hall, Republic of Birds, featuring me, Simone George, Mary McGillicuddy, and Dónal Ó Céilleachair.

AEWCH 173: REPUBLIC OF BIRDS (live!) - ON IRISH MYSTIC JOHN MORIARTY

Norwegian occultist/veterinarian/acupuncturist Are Thoresen returns to the show to go deep into the spiritual experience and challenge of our time.

AEWCH 205: ARE THORESEN or WHITE MAGICK AFTER RAGNAROK

I talk with Duncan Barford and Alan Chapman - authors of the Baptist's Head trilogy and co-hosts of the WORP FM spirituality/magick/paranormal podcast - bout misunderstanding magick, spiritual development, and practice...and how to re-connect to destiny and peace.

AEWCH 241: ALAN CHAPMAN & DUNCAN BARFORD on WHAT IS SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT FOR?

I invite my favorite Norwegian occultist acupuncturist veterinarian, Are Thoresen, back on the show to encounter materialism and see where it falls short.

AEWCH 243: ARE THORESEN on THE END OF MATERIALISM

I talk with visionary artist and front person of Lungfish, musician Daniel Higgs about friendship, perceiving spiritual beings in a spiritual landscape, the way a presence appears in the middle of a concert, and the role trust plays in relationship and creating art.

AEWCH 247: DANIEL HIGGS - THE SPIRITUAL LANDS OF SOUND, ART, AND FRIENDSHIP

How does music become meaningful? How does it become meaning? And what can we learn about reality from music without reducing music to its function?
Rudolf Steiner said “The music of the spheres is a reality. As soon as we come into the spiritual world which lies beyond the soul-world, we are in a world which lives altogether in sound and song, in melody and harmony, and harmonies of spoken sound. Out of these inner relationships of sound the human ear is formed. “
I invited guitarist and songwriter ⁠BEN CHASNY ⁠ AKA ⁠SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE⁠ on the show to discuss all of this. Ben last appeared on the show way back on ⁠AEWCH 45⁠ when we talked about Rudolf Steiner and the spiritual aspects of intervals. Well... sort of. Ben's actually been on every episode for quite some time because we recreated the AEWCH theme song (originally co-composed with AEWCH guest, Jeb Havens) together. On this episode, he plays the song live and we discuss writing it together. We talk about the essential aspects of music, if there are any. And we look at the spiritual influencer culture of podcasting that has eroded its credibility over the years.
At the end, Ben plays "The Mission" (from the recent Six Organs of Admittance album Time Is Glass), which is, as it turns out, about me and my boyfriend.

AEWCH 270: BEN CHASNY (SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE) / HOW DOES MUSIC BECOME MEANING?

Why is white magic so ill-defined? And why is it vital for our spirituality today AND if the occult is going to continue to matter? I begin this short series of episodes by looking at Saint Brendan the Navigator and how his seven-year voyage from Ireland to North America, as well as my encounters with him, can help us understand what white magic is.

AEWCH 273: ON WHITE MAGIC / PART ONE: SAINT BRENDAN

Why is white magic so ill-defined? And why is it vital for our spirituality today AND if the occult is going to continue to matter? This is the second episode in a two part series on white magic, and on this one, I strive towards a definition by giving seven points.

AEWCH 274: ON WHITE MAGIC / PART TWO: 7 POINTS OF WHITE MAGIC

This is the third in a series of episodes on HOW TO LIVE IN 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop, create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I’ll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about.
This episode’s theme is CONNECT
And my guest is organizer, activist, and writer, ⁠DEAN SPADE⁠
Our disconnection from each other is the negative space that power thrives in. It's a void that threatens to overtake us with its heavy unfeeling emptiness.
Connection is the remedy, but more than that: it's the great meaning we all seek.
The connections we form with each other can create networks of mutual aid, solidarity, safety, love, pleasure, and happy engagement with the challenges of our time. 
Dean's new book, ⁠Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together⁠ offers a powerful look at connection. And it gives everything its title promises: a wealth of practical steps you can take to learn how to live well in this world through what you learn in relationship with others.
It’s a book about relationships that takes nothing for granted from the dominant narratives that rule our lives.
Rather than trying to fit society as it is, the book asks us what it would look like if our relationships were built out of our desires, including our desire to create a better word through better relationships.


AEWCH 285: HOW TO LIVE IN 2025: CONNECT with DEAN SPADE

This is the is the sixth and final episode in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. In other words, tools that don’t merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.
This time, the theme is READ
and my guest is ⁠ALEXANDER CHEE⁠.
At the end of this episode, the exercise is a little different. First we do a reading for you, the listener, in the world and its anxieties and challeneges. We consider what they are, how to approach them, and how not to approach them. Then, Alex and I do a reading for what you could be reading... We draw a tarot card and let it give book recommendations.
Alex the author of three books, most recently his essay collection ⁠How To Write An Autobiographical Novel⁠, and also two novels, ⁠Edinburgh⁠ and ⁠The Queen of the Night⁠.

AEWCH 288: HOW TO LIVE IN 2025: READ with ALEXANDER CHEE

My guest this episode is writer, scholar, teacher, and astrologer, ⁠RONNIE PONTIAC⁠. I've been impressed and informed by Ronnie's esoteric work for awhile now, and finally, we got to have our first conversation. And it's a profound one...

We talk about the need for a spiritual path in our moment, and how the alternative is... well, quite grim. We talk about how spirituality can lead us into a path of hatred and personal gain. We talk about my suspicion about astrology, how I think it works, how I think it does’t work, why so much of it is wrong (and why Ronnie is so often right!). And there's so much more on this episode (Including my extended intro on the esoteric aim of being a Friend To Humanity.)

Ronnie was a key figure at the ⁠Philosophical Research Society⁠ founded in 1934 by ⁠Manly Palmer Hall⁠. The PRS is still around, and promotes, teaches, and offers research opportunities into the esoteric & philosophical of all societies; with the values of freedom, community, objective study, and inclusiveness at its core. He's the author most recently of ⁠American Metaphysical Religion: Esoteric and Mystical Traditions of the New World⁠. His forthcoming book, which can preorder now, is ⁠The Rosicrucian Counterculture: The Origins and Influence of the Invisible Society⁠.


AEWCH 290: RONNIE PONTIAC on A SPIRITUAL PATH IN DESTRUCTIVE TIMES

I talk with writer, author, and esoteric health practitioner ARE THORESEN.

AEWCH 291: ARE THORESEN / WE MUST WALK INTO THE SPIRITUAL REALM

From the archives - I talk with Italian philosopher and author FEDERICO CAMPAGNA about the urgent task of our time... which is nothing less than the recreation of reality itself!

AEWCH 292: FEDERICO CAMPAGNA / HOW TO REMAKE THE WORLD WITH METAPHYSICS & MAGIC

I talk with co-hosts of the Light in Every Thing podcast, Rev. Jonah Evans & Rev. Patrick Kennedy about meeting the world not as a "problem" to be solved, but as a realm already overcome by spiritual love.

AEWCH 293: JONAH EVANS & PATRICK KENNEDY on OVERCOMING THE WORLD

Episode Description
I'm joined by author, teacher, and theorist, Douglas Rushkoff. He’s one of the most important intellectuals of our time, some people call him a futurist, but he's always a step ahead of the future. 

The is the part 2 of the conversation we had on Doug’s podcast, ⁠TEAM HUMAN called "LIVE UP TO YOUR FOOL POTENTIAL"⁠. But of course, it also stands on its own and you don't have to listen to them in order.

This show is supported through listeners. No ads! 
Please do support it via Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/connerhabib⁠

Conner's Website: ⁠connerhabib.com⁠

Conner's Instagram: ⁠https:/www.instagram.com/againsteveryonewithconnerhabib⁠

And please also consider supporting Team Human on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/teamhuman⁠
⁠
Douglas's website⁠: rushkoff.com





AEWCH 294: DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF (1/2 of a two-part episode with TEAM HUMAN!)

Friends,
Against Everyone with Conner Habib is eight years old today! Not many media projects last for eight years or make it up to nearly 300 episodes at this point.  
To celebrate, I talk here about conversation; what it means to all of us. 
After all, if I asked you if conversation had changed your life, you’d probably say yes. 
A conversation that set you down a career path, or a new place to move to. An argument that went haywire and ended your relationship. A flirtation that led to the great love of your life.
But we forget, too, that other people’s conversations change our lives. What does it mean to do a podcast, and how has the landscaping of podcasts degraded, fallen apart, as well as grown, in the past eight years? What have I noticed?
As a bonus, I've attached my very first episode at the end. It's clumsy, personal, filled with insecurity and uncertainty. 


Please support the show - all eight years and 295 (free!) episodes of it - on patreon.
⁠Patreon.com/connerhabib

AEWCH 295: ON CONVERSATION and EIGHT YEARS OF AGAINST EVERYONE WITH CONNER HABIB!

Lory Widmer Hess is the author of When Fragments Make a Whole, as well as a caregiver and spiritual direction facilitator in Switzerland. Her book chronicles her healing journey with the gospels - through various illness, medical procedures, and emotional and soul challenges - from an esoteric viewpoint.
Support AEWCH on patreon: ⁠patreon.com/connerhabib⁠
Lory's website: ⁠https://enterenchanted.com/⁠


AEWCH 296: LORY WIDMER HESS on TRUE SPIRITUAL HEALING

Friends,
Welcome to this massive double-length episode on religion in our time with Diana Young-Peak.
You may not know Diana, or if you do, it may be from exactly 200 (!) episodes ago on ⁠AEWCH 97: DIANA YOUNG-PEAK or THE GREATEST STRIPPER OCCULT PRIESTESS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF⁠. That episode was recorded BEFORE I had a podcast - back in 2011, when I was part of her small esoteric church, the Church of the Living Christ Order of Melchizedek. 
That episode is at the end of this one - it gives all the context and background. If you want to listen to it first, you can jump ahead to about 2 hours in.
But you can also listen to our latest conversation first. It's both a spiritual assessment of where we are in the world now, and also an assessment of the growing presence of religion and spirituality in people's lives. 
Two growing presences that are destined to meet: the presence of mutual aid community building, and the presence of RELIGION. I've never, in my lifetime, seen more interest in spirituality and its most accessible & durable pathway, religion, as I do now. And I've also never seen this many people coming together in new groups of belonging, with the aim of making safe and loving community and making the word a better place,
In my understanding, this is a convergent evolution that is destined for intersection. In eight years doing the podcast, I've noticed time and time again that activists, organizers, anarchists, leftists, and more want to talk about their religious and spiritual thoughts. And I've also gotten the sense that we have crossed into a territory where it is newly allowed.
My observation on this is that it's because new people have been allowed into organizing spaces and communities, and it's not just leftist atheists or white christians. Religious and national plurality has given rise to new assemblages and new belongings that call for new spiritual ways of seeing.
In some ways this is nothing new: spiritual movements, particularly small spiritual movements, are mutual aid movements. They provide space for conversations about how to consider reality, the self, the other, and the all. That necessitates action, and coherence. Feminist movements have roots in 19th and 20th Century spiritualism and magic. There were anti-slavery magic movements. The White Rose, inspired by anthroposophy, resisted the Nazis. But more than that, there's the many many groups living right next door to you and me and everyone holding small meetings. organizing for the sake of a sense of a greater good and full connection to the real.
Diana's group - passed to her from her mentor and founder of the group, Grace Hooper Pettipher - is one of these groups. Meeting together, when I was an active participant, in a small hotel room in San Francisco (now they mostly meet online), there was community building, connection, growth, and attenuation to freedom. I don't attend these days, for the most part, but I have great respect for what Diana and the group do with the religious impulse. And I hope this new conversation will inspire you to think towards or even begin your own path with community-based religion and spiritual practice.
I hope you enjoy this double-length episode.
***
SUPPORT THE SHOW: ⁠patreon.com/connerhabib


AEWCH 297: DIANA YOUNG-PEAK on WHAT IS THE ROLE OF RELIGION NOW?

Friends,
One reason I started this show eight years ago was to have big talk instead of small talk, to get us past surface conversations and into thinking more deeply.  I hate small talk is because it’s so algorithmic or pre-programmed. It's limited by its connection to the past and expectations. I don’t want to have conversations that could be produced by just anyone in any context with predictable results.
I wanted something more living, surprising, vitalizing; conversations that nourished pushing my thoughts and feelings and actions forward. 
So the mission of this show has always been, in a way, to address to algorithm.
The conversations on AI in the public sphere have been so dead and dead-ended even when they’re well-meaning. My big problem is not that people aren't saying brilliant things about A.I. -- I'm not sure I'm up for that task either -- just that everyone is saying the same stupid things over and over. There are phony debates held with unearned urgency, wild projections based on investment fantasies, and anxieties produced by deliberate mystifying hype.
On this episode, I go over 11 thoughts I have on AI to get to where we need to go for a better base level conversation. My hope is this clears out some debris and helps us to start thinking about in new directions.
In other words, this is more about the discussion about AI than AI itself - . I don’t have a “side” on AI - but I want to talk beyond some of the most repeated points
I hope this offers a fruitful new starting place.

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: patreon.com/connerhabib


AEWCH 298: A.I. ERROR_ / 11 CONSIDERATIONS ON HOW TO PROCESS A.I.

Friends,
After writing my previous episode, ⁠AEWCH 298⁠, where I laid out my thoughts on how to reflect on A.I. to get to beyond the basic, boring conversation, I read ⁠ADAM BECKER⁠'s excellent book, ⁠More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity ⁠.
I immediately invited him on the show, and I wish I would've read it before. Even though there is plenty of overlap, Adam's vantage point offer a full vision of tech culture, and reveals just how deeply anti-science is is. 
That impact comes from the fact that Adam is great writer but also an astrophysicist, and author of the excellent popular book on quantum physics, ⁠What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics⁠.
We talk about how we got here in science and technology, why technology has been conflated with science, how conspiracy and science intersect, and what physics has to do with all of this.
Of course the conclusion is that A.I. is not super smart, not supported by smart people, that the fantasies of tech billionaires are bonkers, and that the singularity is not near because it's not even a thing.
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: ⁠patreon.com/connerhabib


AEWCH 299: ADAM BECKER on THE STUPIDITY OF TECH & A.I.

I talk with musician, TED Talker, Dresden Doll, and activist, Amanda Palmer about interconnectedness, memory, dissonance, and compassion.

AEWCH 90: AMANDA PALMER or WE ARE ALL HERE FOR EACH OTHER

Lynn Margulis - geoscientist and biologist - was the most important thinker of the past 50 years. In this, the last recorded conversation with her before her death on November 22, 2011, we talk about symbiosis, Gaia, and why other biologists have such a hard time understanding evolution. I also give a lengthy intro to Lynn's work.

AEWCH 91: LYNN MARGULIS or SYMBIOSIS, GAIA, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

I talk religion, gods, and initiation with my friend; the priestess of the Church Of The Living Christ, Order Of Melchizedek, Diana Young-Peak.

AEWCH 97: DIANA YOUNG-PEAK or THE GREATEST STRIPPER OCCULT PRIESTESS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF

I talk with anthropologist, activist, and prolific writer David Graeber (Debt: The First 5000 Years, On Kings, etc.) about the spiritual currents that run through the political realm.

AEWCH 99: DAVID GRAEBER or SUPERNATURAL POLITICS

I talk with author, veterinarian, Christian occultist, and acupuncturist Are Thoresen about demons, the Nothingness of Christ, and more. Deep dive.

AGAINST EVERYONE WITH CONNER HABIB 116: ARE THORESEN or DEMONOLOGY & NOTHINGNESS

I talk with musician, occult scholar, and author, Phil Legard about evoking landscapes with magical music + the trouble with summoning demons.

AEWCH 118: PHIL LEGARD or LANDSCAPES OF MAGICK AND SOUND

AEWCH 140: BLINDBOY BOATCLUB or ABSURD UNCONSCIOUS CANNIBAL PROCESS

Against Everyone With Conner Habib features Conner's conversations with countercultural figures; and presents complex philosophical, spiritual, and political ideas in an engaging and accessible way.

Against Everyone With Conner Habib

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