Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 4 hours ago
The Green Man was invented in 1939. Not the carvings. Those are real, medieval, and have a fascinating Christian history. But the god, the named figure currently worshipped across contemporary Paganism as an ancient vegetation deity, was assembled in the twentieth century from a misread folklore article, a collapsed witch-cult theory, and a Jungian response to ecological anxiety. This video tells that story properly, with the scholarship, the primary sources, and the reception history. No gatekeeping, no debunking energy. Just the real genealogy of a god we made ourselves. ➡️https://youtu.be/Ol8hTda6FtI #greenman #cernunnos #herne
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 2 days ago
‪@MarcoVisconti‬ improved the video and audio quality on the panel we livestreamed at Hermeneia, a few weeks ago. Check it out. Perhaps you'll find it of a better quality than the one on my channel. https://youtu.be/ZwPwmYeDD24?si=ybv8C...
Hermēneia was a one-day conference held at Swedenborg House in London on April 9 2026, bringing together Dr Justin Sledge, Dr Angela Puca, Dr Jenny Butler, and Marco Visconti for a day of...
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 7 days ago
Alchemy is far more than the myth of turning lead into gold. In this video, I explore how alchemy developed across Hellenistic Egypt, China, India, the Islamic world, and Europe as a rich tradition that united experiment, medicine, cosmology, and spiritual transformation. We look at major alchemical ideas, key historical figures, and the practices that shaped both occult traditions and the emergence of modern chemistry. My new episode examines the major scholarly debates around alchemy, showing why historians no longer see it simply as failed science or pure mysticism, but as a complex way of understanding matter, knowledge, and the transformation of the self. ➡️https://youtu.be/AKh4KS_tnVc #alchemy #alchemical #alchemic
Alchemy is far more than the myth of turning lead into gold. In this video, I explore how alchemy developed across Hellenistic Egypt, China, India, the Islamic world, and Europe as a rich tradition...
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 2 weeks ago
📆 TODAY AT 6pm BST (1 pm EDT) ➡️ https://youtube.com/live/fijurh_0qRM In today's livestream, I’ll be joined by Heather Freeman, artist, scholar, and creator of Magic in the United States, the award-winning PRX podcast that explores the histories, practices, and cultural tensions surrounding magic, spirituality, and esotericism in the United States. Freeman is also a Professor of Digital Media at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where her work brings together art, technology, mythology, and occult themes. Join to participate in the conversation! #religiousstudies #witch #pagan #magicintheunitedstates
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 2 weeks ago
My heart is full after Hermeneia 2026 in London, an event I shared with my lovely friends Dr Jenny Butler, Dr Justin Sledge and Marco Visconti. Thank you to Marco for organising and to all the kind souls who booked and attended the event. Hopefully, more live events will follow.
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 2 weeks ago
Loved being at Treadwell’s Books today as soon as I arrived in London. Tomorrow I will see you at 11 am at Swedenborg House for Hermēneia 2026, and I look forward to seeing all of you who secured a ticket. I will be with Dr Justin Sledge, Dr Jenny Butler, and Marco Visconti. The event is fully sold out and the waiting list is now closed, but the conversation continues afterwards. We will be meeting informally at The Fitzroy Tavern in Bloomsbury from 6pm. NO TICKET is needed, just come along for a drink, a chat, and good conversation.
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 3 weeks ago
Check out my latest Substack which expands on my recent episode. ➡️ https://open.substack.com/pub/drangel...
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 4 weeks ago
What happens when you discover that the spiritual tradition you trusted may not be as ancient, authentic, or historically grounded as you were led to believe? In this video, I explore one of the most difficult questions in contemporary magic and Paganism: can a practice still be meaningful if its origin story falls apart? Drawing on examples such as Wicca, Stregheria, folk magic, and the academic study of esotericism, I look at the difference between historical fact and spiritual truth, why this tension feels so personal, and how practitioners can move forward without self-deception. If you have ever questioned lineage claims, authenticity, or whether scholarship threatens spirituality, this episode is for you. ➡️ https://youtu.be/e3O0bdX1RLE #wiccan #stregheria #strega #pagan #druidry
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 4 weeks ago
Had a lovely time looking for the Green Man at Fountains Abbey. Expect a video on the Green Man soon! More pics and videos on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drangelapuca/
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
🌺 Happy Spring Equinox everyone! 🌹 (or Autumn if you're in the Southern emisphere) Hope you'll have a lovely season ahead.
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Angela's Symposium
Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
200k Thank you, Symposiasts! 🥳 Thank you for every like, comment and share. Thank you for subscribing and following my work. And, Thank you for supporting my work on Patreon! You're the BEST! Let's keep the Academic Fun growing 🤓📖
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Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
What Is a Cult? How High-Control Religious Groups Manipulate Belief. This episode explores what religious cults are, how scholars study them, and the techniques high-control groups use to shape belief and behaviour. Drawing on Religious Studies, psychology, and contemporary case studies, I examine charisma, manipulation, coercive control, thought reform, and why people may find it difficult to leave. We also consider how similar dynamics can appear beyond religion, including in modern ideological and online movements. ➡️https://youtu.be/yKkagm4J0Yk #cults #religiouscult #occult
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Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
Just posted my first SubStack article! Don’t miss out and sign up for my SubStack now. 😃 It’s free and will give you access to articles and book reviews on all things esoteric. ➡️https://substack.com/home/post/p-1907... #substack
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Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
What if the world you experience is not reality itself, but a biologically constructed interface designed for survival rather than truth? In this episode, we explore the cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman’s The Case Against Reality and his Interface Theory of Perception, examining the provocative claim that evolution did not shape our senses to reveal the structure of the world as it is in itself. Drawing on evolutionary game theory, perceptual psychology, and philosophy of mind, Hoffman argues that space, time, and physical objects may function more like icons on a desktop than features of mind-independent reality. We unpack the “Fitness Beats Truth” theorem, assess the move from perceptual scepticism to ontological idealism, and situate Hoffman’s position in dialogue with Kant’s critical philosophy and contemporary debates about consciousness. Crucially, we then turn to the implications for esoteric and magical practice. If ordinary perception is already an adaptive interface, what happens to the dismissal of altered states as merely subjective distortions? Does Hoffman’s framework open conceptual space for ritual, trance, and visionary experience, or does it simply reframe them as alternative adaptive constructions? And can evolutionary models themselves escape the circularity they seem to invite? 👉https://youtu.be/68BQlCcSfxs #realityisanillusion #donaldhoffman #interfacetheory #religiousstudies
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Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
Big announcement! 📣 Do you want to meet me in person at a fantastic unique event? Come to HERMĒNEIA with Dr Justin Sledge, Dr Jenny Butler and Marco Visconti. ➡️ https://www.marcovisconti.org/hermeneia 📆 9 April 2026 🕰️ 11am - 6pm 📍Swedenborg House, London (UK) Esotericism in the Modern World: Bridging Scholarship and Public Engagement with Dr Justin Sledge, Dr Angela Puca, Dr Jenny Butler, and Marco Visconti. Across four talks and an extended panel discussion, we will follow the live wires between academic method and lived practice, between folklore on the ground and communities online, and between specialist research and public language that can actually carry nuance. Hermēneia will take place in the David Wynter Room at Swedenborg House on Bloomsbury Way, a Grade II listed Georgian venue used for talks, study, and small scholarly gatherings. 🚨Capacity is strictly limited to 25 people, and only a handful of spots are left (I shared with patrons to give them priority). This is intentionally intimate and aimed at attendees who are genuinely invested in learning and engaging in depth.
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Angela's Symposium 1 month ago
What is shadow work, really? Is it therapy, initiation, political reclamation, or a commodified self-help trend? ➡️ https://youtu.be/VoBrawa174U #shadowworker #jung #jungianpsychology
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Angela's Symposium 2 months ago
Honoured and delighted to have been included in the list of "10 Pagan Voices Shaping our Future" by historical magazine Green Egg. Thank you, Katrina Rasbold for the kind words about my project. ➡️https://greeneggmagazine.com/2026/02/... #paganism #paganstudies #pagan
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Angela's Symposium 2 months ago
Join us live TODAY Sunday 22 February at 6 pm UK time (1pm EST) for a conversation with Dr Shira Chess on the hidden entanglements between digital culture and the occult, inspired by her new book The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse. 👉https://youtube.com/live/TFx1WDUxO6Y From AI “demons” like Loab to meme magic, technopaganism, simulation theory, and the ritual logics of online life, Chess argues that the internet has always been shaped by esoteric frameworks. Drawing on media history and contemporary case studies, she shows how magical thinking is not an accidental metaphor but part of the architecture of digital discourse. In this livestream, we will explore how belief, intention, and symbolic practice intersect with algorithms, platforms, and artificial intelligence, and what this means for politics, reality, and power in the twenty-first century. Bring your questions for what promises to be a sharp and thought-provoking discussion. #technopaganism #aiwitchcraft #aiesotericism #mememagic
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Angela's Symposium 2 months ago
The Most Ancient Forms of Magic: Ancient Rituals from the Stone Age to Egypt 👉 https://youtu.be/3_NLVpTs750 This episode offers a critical examination of the question of “the most ancient forms of magic” by interrogating the category of magic itself as a historically contingent and analytically unstable concept. Rather than assuming magic as a universal or transhistorical phenomenon, the discussion situates ritual practices within their specific social, cosmological, and epistemic contexts, beginning with evidence for symbolic and ritual behaviour in deep prehistory and moving through animistic and shamanic worldviews, Neolithic monumental ritual landscapes, and the first literate traditions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, South Asia, and early China. #ancientmagic #mostancientmagic #witchtok
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Angela's Symposium 2 months ago
Do Gods exist? Why is magic more effective when Gods and spirits are involved? What makes magic effective? How to influence people and political events? All of this and more in this discussion with Chaos Magician Peter J. Carroll. ➡️ https://youtu.be/g23ju15ruGk Get my LHP Book ➡️ https://amzn.to/3OdSMKt #chaosmagick #peterjcarroll #lefthandpath #chaote
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