News
Sunday, December 1st, 2024
Final Season of “Magic in the United States” Podcast Airs
The final season of Center Director Heather D. Freeman’s podcast series Magic in the United States with PRX aired on November 12, and will release weekly episodes through December 17th. Funded with a $389,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2023, this popular series explores the magical, spiritual, esoteric, mystical, and marginalized religious beliefs and practices of diverse American communities from throughout this nation’s history.
Season 3 began with the origins of the Book of Mormon, the late- 19th century curandera Teresa Urrea, and the Catholic ‘Saint of Sorcery’ Cyprian of Antioch. It will conclude with episodes on the history of astrology in the United States, the media-driven origins of the ‘teen witch’, and the final episode will to future of digital technology, magical practice, and generative AI.
Season 1 presented key ideas behind religious, spiritual, and magical remixing, early pagan BBSes, a murder along Pennsylvania Dutch ‘powwowers’, Spiritualism and Harry Houdini, Root Work, Hoodoo, Conjure, and the Second Great Migration, and the shamanic and magical practices of two Korean-American Millenials.
Season 2 told the history of a Wiccan tradition by and for gay and bisexual men, the Supreme Court case between the City of Hialeah, Florida and the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, the origins of ‘manifestation’ and ‘the law of attraction’, an Appalachian folk legend from the 1930s, the history of the Paiute ‘Ghost Dance’, and the story of Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan.
You can hear Magic in the United States for free on Spotify, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thursday, October 24th, 2024
Launch of Praxis-Knowledge, journal of the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices
RENSEP (The Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices) has launched its new, online journal Praxis-Knowledge. The journal embodies RENSEP’s mission as its focus is global, interdisciplinary, praxeological, and experience-oriented. The journal aspires to build bridges between scholars and practitioners and facilitate the co-production of knowledge within the academic study of esoteric practices.
Their first publication is To Reveal the Hidden Kingdom of Eld: Andrew Chumbley, the Cultus Sabbati, and Imaginal Space in Cornwall by Steve Patterson (Independent Researcher) and Jeff Howard (Falmouth University).
Praxis-Knowledge maintains a standardized peer-review process for submissions but does not require academic credentials as a prerequisite for publication. Students, non-affiliated academics, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners are strongly encouraged to collaborate with established scholars in submitting innovative articles that “heighten our understanding of the manifold types of esoteric practices, practice-induced experiences and effects, and esoteric praxis-knowledge.”
The editorial board includes Center Director Heather D. Freeman, as well as notable scholars in diverse disciplines related to the study of magic, esotericism, mysticism, and occulture, including Dr. Jenny Butler (University College Cork), Dr. Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol), and Dr. Emily Selove (University of Exeter) along others.
Praxis-Knowledge does not have separate issues, but all published articles are numbered consecutively. The editorial board will also accept suggestions for special issues. Faculty, students, staff, and regional community members are encouraged to submit content for publication. The journal’s publishing guidelines are available online, and the managing editor can be contacted at aaron.french@rensep.org.
Wednesday, August 14th, 2024
Center Director Heather D. Freeman interviews author and UNC Religious Studies PhD Student Thorn Mooney on YouTube Livestream
Audiences can watch and participate in a YouTube live-stream interview between Center Director and host of the podcast Magic in the United States Heather D. Freeman and author and UNC Religious Studies PhD student Thorn Mooney.
The live stream will start at 8 pm EST, tomorrow, August 15th, 2024 EST at https://www.youtube.com/@HeatherFreeman/. They will discuss Thorn’s third book, Witches Among Us in which Thorn draws on her expertise as a magical practitioner and religious studies scholar to explore the meanings and identities behind contemporary witchcraft practices for non-practitioner and lay audiences. They will also discuss Thorn’s other projects and Season 3 of Magic in the United States. (A recording of the livestream will also be available at a later date.)
Monday, April 22nd, 2024
Dr. Damien Williams presents “Religious Belief and Practice in the Age of AI” at Emory University
**UPDATE: You can watch the video of this talk on YouTube.*
Today at 3 pm Eastern, Dr. Damien Williams will present “Religious Belief and Practice in the Age of AI” at the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University. The event is free, open to the public and both live and live-streamed at https://pitts-emory.libcal.com/event/12014350.
“As part of a seed grant project funded by the AIAI Network, Damien P. Williams, assistant professor of Philosophy and Data Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, will present his research on the intersection of AI and religious belief and practice.
This event is free and open to the public.Dr. Damien Patrick Williams is an Assistant Professor of Data Science and Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he teaches and researches how technologies such as algorithms, machine intelligence, and biotechnologies are impacted by the values, knowledge systems, philosophical explorations, social structures, and even religious beliefs of human beings. Damien has a PhD in Science, Technology, and Society from Virginia Tech, and an MA from Georgia State University in Philosophy and Religious Studies, specializing in the intersection of philosophy and the comparative study of religion, with a focus on occult theory and method. Damien’s realms of expertise have led to him serving on the boards of non-profit organizations such as the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Disability Inclusion Fund, and consulting for several universities and research and development groups such as Olin College and SRI International. He has been interviewed for multiple podcasts, news outlets, and popular publications, including TIME Magazine, and been invited to speak at dozens of international conferences. All of Damien’s research is concerned with how the knowledges and experiences of marginalized peoples affect and should be centered within the technosocial structures of human societies.”
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Freeman talks podcasting and magic with Harvard Divinity School’s Giovanna Parmigiani
On April 10th at 1 pm Eastern, Heather D. Freeman will appear on Gnoseologies an online lecture series hosted by Giovanna Parmigiani. The series is part of Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions. Freeman and Parmiagiani will discuss the podcast Magic in the United States, magic in the media and academia, and communication with diverse audiences. The talk is free to the public but requires registration.
Tuesday, October 24th, 2023
“Magic in the United States” Podcast Launches
Center for Magic, Esotericism, and Occulture Director Heather D. Freeman was awarded a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2023 to produce the podcast series Magic in the United States with PRX. The $389,000 grant will fund three six-episode seasons which explores how magical beliefs and practices have evolved in the U.S. from the 1600s to the present. Launched October 24, 2023 the podcast is available for free through all major podcast outlets. Read more about Freeman and the podcast in this feature story in Queen City Nerve. You can hear a full discussion of the topic on the October 31st broadcast of Charlotte Talks on WFAE 90.7 FM.