Episodes

  • 406 - Symbolism Explained: The Fundamental WWII Duality That Still Haunts Us Today

    406 - Symbolism Explained: The Fundamental WWII Duality That Still Haunts Us Today
    Aug 19 2025
    In this episode, I explore the symbolism of World War II through the imagery of the Axis and the Allies. Beyond politics, these symbols reveal a deeper story about unity and multiplicity—the tension between the “one” and the “many.” I look at how the propaganda and narratives of that time shaped the post-war consensus we still live in today, and why those stories are now reaching their limits. My hope is to help you see how these patterns influence our culture and why finding balance is so important.

    YouTube version: https://youtu.be/vLpEDlgEleg

    Visit https://www.rapunzelbook.com to pre-order our new fairy tale story, Rapunzel and the Evil Witch.

    NEW COURSE: Jubilees and the Nephilim, by Fr. Stephen De Young
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/jubilees-and-the-nephilim
    - Course Length: 6 Weeks, 12 Hours
    - Dates: Live classes are on Tuesday at 7 - 9 pm Central Time, starting August 19th through September 23rd, 2025
    - Participants will be given access to lesson recordings.
    - The course is hosted on the Symbolic World Circle Community platform. Sign up as a free member before making your purchase.
    - Price: 180 USD, Involved patrons qualify for 10% discount.

    Step into the strange and revelatory world of the Book of Jubilees, an ancient retelling of Genesis that shaped ancient Jewish thought and still echoes through Christian tradition. In this course, Fr. Stephen De Young guides students through the book’s expansion of biblical history, unveiling the significance of the fall of the angels, the rise of the Nephilim, and the heavenly origins of the feasts of the Old and New Testaments. Along the way, he'll explore how Jubilees reinterprets creation, demonology, and the prophetic structure of time, and why these themes mattered not only to Second Temple Judaism, but to later Christian understandings of the unseen world.

    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe

    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    21 mins
  • 405 - Fr. Josiah Trenham - Marriage: The Bedrock of Civilization

    405 - Fr. Josiah Trenham - Marriage: The Bedrock of Civilization
    Aug 5 2025
    In this episode, Father Josiah Trenham returns to the podcast for us to talk about the profound meaning and cosmic significance of marriage. We explore why marriage is a crucial civilizational cornerstone rooted in divine order, not only from a Christian perspective, but universally in all flourishing societies. We discuss how it compares to and co-exists with monasticism and the meaning of marriage and the wedding ceremony not just as a gate to self-fulfillment and a joyful experience, but also as self-sacrifice. We also discuss how rediscovering the beauty of marriage can help restore sanity in our fragmented secular world.

    This conversation is also a preview of the upcoming Marriage Conference in Riverside, CA (Oct. 10–12), where I’ll be speaking alongside Father Josiah, Archbishop Cordileone, Dr. Brad Wilcox, and others. Learn more at https://www.themarriageconference.com/

    Subscribe to Fr. Josiah's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PatristicNectarFilms

    —
    NEW COURSE: Jubilees and the Nephilim, by Fr. Stephen De Young

    - Catch the early bird special of 15% off with code: EARLYJUBILEES, valid until 11:59 pm EST (midnight) of August 8th.
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/jubilees-and-the-nephilim
    - Course Length: 6 Weeks, 12 Hours
    - Dates: Live classes are on Tuesday at 7 - 9 pm Central Time, starting August 19th through September 23rd, 2025
    - Participants will be given access to lesson recordings.
    - The course is hosted on the Symbolic World Circle Community platform. Sign up as a free member before making your purchase.
    - Price: 180 USD
    Step into the strange and revelatory world of the Book of Jubilees, an ancient retelling of Genesis that shaped ancient Jewish thought and still echoes through Christian tradition. In this course, Fr. Stephen De Young guides students through the book’s expansion of biblical history, unveiling the significance of the fall of the angels, the rise of the Nephilim, and the heavenly origins of the feasts of the Old and New Testaments. Along the way, he'll explore how Jubilees reinterprets creation, demonology, and the prophetic structure of time, and why these themes mattered not only to Second Temple Judaism, but to later Christian understandings of the unseen world.

    —
    Timestamps:
    00:00 - Coming up
    01:00 - Intro music
    01:24 - Introduction
    04:01 - Marriage, monasticism, and St. John the Baptist
    09:16 - The symbiosis between monasticism and marriage
    12:32 - Why marriage fails
    16:14 - The fruits of abandoning marriage
    21:37 - Contract
    24:15 - Acknowledge the ideal
    27:53 - The nuclear and extended family
    29:40 - The crowns
    34:23 - A new independent union
    38:03 - Aspects of marriage
    43:19 - Refined love
    45:42 - Pagan monogamy
    50:39 - Marrying young
    55:18 - 50s Housewife vs boss babe
    57:01 - Having children
    01:00:39 - Hopes
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • 404 - Fr. Stephen De Young - How to Read Extra-Biblical Texts Like Jubilees (and Why It Matters)

    404 - Fr. Stephen De Young - How to Read Extra-Biblical Texts Like Jubilees (and Why It Matters)
    Jul 31 2025
    Fr. Stephen De Young returns to the channel to explore how we should approach extra-Biblical literature—looking especially at the Book of Jubilees in anticipation of his upcoming Symbolic World course: Jubilees and the Nephilim. We discuss a different, more ancient way of doing theology—through story, ritual, poetry, and image rather than flat modern academic argument. If you’ve ever wondered how texts like Jubilees, Enoch, or the Lives of Adam and Eve connect to Christian theology, this conversation is for you.

    YouTube version: https://youtu.be/poAELqTQTo0

    NEW COURSE: Jubilees and the Nephilim, by Fr. Stephen De Young
    - Catch the early bird special of 15% off with code: EARLYJUBILEES, valid until 11:59 pm EST (midnight) of August 8th.
    - Price: 180 USD (Discounted to 158 USD)
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/jubilees-and-the-nephilim
    - Course Length: 6 Weeks, 12 Hours
    - Dates: Live classes are on Tuesday at 7 - 9 pm Central Time, starting August 19th through September 23rd, 2025
    - Participants will be given access to lesson recordings.
    - The course is hosted on the Symbolic World Circle Community platform. Sign up as a free member before making your purchase.

    Step into the strange and revelatory world of the Book of Jubilees, an ancient retelling of Genesis that shaped ancient Jewish thought and still echoes through Christian tradition. In this course, Fr. Stephen De Young guides students through the book’s expansion of biblical history, unveiling the significance of the fall of the angels, the rise of the Nephilim, and the heavenly origins of the feasts of the Old and New Testaments. Along the way, he'll explore how Jubilees reinterprets creation, demonology, and the prophetic structure of time, and why these themes mattered not only to Second Temple Judaism, but to later Christian understandings of the unseen world.

    Timestamps
    00:00 - Coming up
    00:55 - Intro music
    01:20 - Introduction
    02:11 - Jubilees
    05:08 - A different way of doing theology
    15:23 - Why do we have peripheral stories?
    22:34 - The twelfth apostle
    24:16 - Blood libel
    27:09 - Adam's skull
    31:19 - Sacred geography
    34:09 - The sacramental reality
    39:01 - The modern trade
    41:52 - UFOs, psychedelics, and materialism
    44:43 - Reading extra-biblical texts and Jubilees
    47:53 - What can extra-biblical traditions offer us?

    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    52 mins
  • 403 - Why you might want to watch the new Superman movie

    403 - Why you might want to watch the new Superman movie
    Jul 25 2025
    In this episode I reflect on the symbolism behind Superman as a figure rooted in American mythology and post-WWII identity. I also discuss the new Superman movie by James Gunn, which actually has an interesting twist that can help us understand not just the superhero archetype, but also the crucial and relevant question of the immigrant or convert.

    https://youtu.be/RByli5eMoP8

    Rapunzel and the Evil Witch is coming in August—and you can pre-order it now. If you missed the first 1,000 copies (which sold out in 26 hours!), here’s your chance next to get it. Pre-orders come with the audiobook I recorded and a companion worksheet to explore the story with your family. Go to https://www.rapunzelbook.com/ and get ready—this is where the fairy tales start to weave together.

    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
  • 402 - Universal History - Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin - The Spirits Beneath America: Fairies and Founding Fathers

    402 - Universal History - Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin - The Spirits Beneath America: Fairies and Founding Fathers
    Jul 19 2025
    In this episode of Universal History, I sit down with Deacon Seraphim (Richard Rohlin) on the 4th of July to explore the topic of fairies and titular spirits, especially as it relates to the US. We discuss America’s founding, the myth of Oedipus, heroes and monsters, boundaries of identity, stories of water spirits and crossing into territories, all to ask the question of whether fairies can be saved. As always, we’re weaving together myth, symbolism, and cultural insight to help reveal the patterns behind the stories that shape our world.

    Original YouTube version: https://youtu.be/htXHJ1WRSAg

    Pre-order our new fairy tale story book, Rapunzel and the Evil Witch: https://store.thesymbolicworld.com/products/rapunzel-and-the-evil-witch

    COURSE: Scripture: The Key to Reality, presented by Seraphim Hamilton
    This course is designed to help students appreciate the unique role the Bible plays in helping us step into the world as it truly is: a symbolic revelation of the Infinite God. Scripture is symbolic because it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Archetype of the World. In a way, then, Scripture enfolds within itself the totality of the world, guiding its hearers to see an icon of Christ in each of God’s creatures: from trees to beasts to priests.
    - Live classes are on Tuesday at 2 - 4 pm Eastern Time, starting June 10th through July 22nd, 2025
    - Class Length: 5 sessions, 10 hours total
    - Cost: 120 USD (108 USD for Involved patrons)
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/scripture-the-key-to-reality

    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe

    Timestamps:
    00:00 - Coming up
    01:45 - Intro music
    02:12 - Introduction
    04:22 - Titular spirits
    10:03 - Oedipus: From the Bronze age
    16:47 - A daemon / titular spirit
    18:40 - Heroes becoming spirits
    19:54 - The encounter with the Sphinx
    21:46 - Killing a monsters
    26:41 - Purification and the furies
    31:43 - Understanding: Christ the Key
    39:37 - America
    46:23 - What are fairies
    53:15 - Artifacts
    58:08 - Magic
    01:00:38 - 3 Stories about faeries
    01:01:31 - Story 1
    01:06:30 - Tying it in with St. Christopher
    01:07:25 - Story 2
    01:11:32 - Commentary
    01:18:02 - Story 3
    01:27:08 - American aboriginals

    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    1 hr and 36 mins
  • 401 - Robin Hood: The Original Green Man (Nottingham talk)

    401 - Robin Hood: The Original Green Man (Nottingham talk)
    Jul 8 2025
    I was invited to give this talk on Robin Hood in Nottingham—just a stone’s throw from Sherwood Forest—on the feast of Pentecost. What began as a reflection on a beloved folk hero opened into something deeper: a meditation on rebellion, trickery, legitimacy, and the strange holiness that's possible for jesters and outlaws. In this talk, I explore how Robin Hood, the Green Man, King David, and even figures from Islamic tradition and Arthurian legend, all point toward a surprising truth—that the margins of society can conceal servants of the true King. I hope you enjoy it.

    Original YouTube version: https://youtu.be/7Q4LBLmeeMw

    COURSE: Scripture: The Key to Reality, presented by Seraphim Hamilton

    This course is designed to help students appreciate the unique role the Bible plays in helping us step into the world as it truly is: a symbolic revelation of the Infinite God. Scripture is symbolic because it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Archetype of the World. In a way, then, Scripture enfolds within itself the totality of the world, guiding its hearers to see an icon of Christ in each of God’s creatures: from trees to beasts to priests.
    - Live classes are on Tuesday at 2 - 4 pm Eastern Time, starting June 10th through July 22nd, 2025
    - Class Length: 5 sessions, 10 hours total
    - Cost: 120 USD (108 USD for Involved patrons)
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/scripture-the-key-to-reality

    Get early access to Rapunzel and the Evil Witch: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/rapunzel-and-the-evil-witch


    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe

    Timestamps:
    00:00 - Coming up
    01:30 - Intro music
    01:56 - Introduction by Jonathan
    03:34 - Introduction: The virtuous rebel
    06:10 - Who does Robin Hood resemble?
    09:40 - Green
    14:25 - A trickster for God
    16:39 - David
    25:41 - He loses at the edge
    39:24 - The Green man: Merlin
    45:25 - Q&A starts: St. Christopher
    46:39 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
    48:55 - Maid Marian and the Virgin Mary
    49:53 - Difference between giants and monsters
    51:20 - Intention
    53:01 - Robin Hood in politics
    54:10 - Marksmanship
    55:54 - Does the end justify the means
    57:42 - Is Robin Hood religious?
    59:06 - Locations and history
    01:01:38 - Humor in Christianity
    01:03:20 - Trickery
    01:06:46 - What goes around comes around
    01:08:15 - Downstream from the Gospel
    01:11:44 - Christ vs Robin Hood in history

    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • 400 - A Dangerous Movie in the Best Way Possible

    400 - A Dangerous Movie in the Best Way Possible
    Jun 30 2025
    I had the pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Josh David Jordan about his new movie El Tonto Por Cristo. It’s a black-and-white art film set in a Texas monastery — poetic, strange, and deeply moving. What struck me most is how the film weaves together powerful Orthodox imagery, the mystery of the holy fool, all with a totally unique visual language. This isn’t just a message movie — it’s real cinema.
    Check out the Kickstarter and be part of bringing this movie to theaters. This is a rare and important project.
    El Tonto Por Cristo: A Cinematic Meditation. An Orthodox film set in a Texas monastery. Help bring this black-and-white story of beauty, holiness, & mystery to theaters worldwide.
    https://www.eltontoporcristo.com/
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/748841722/el-tonto-por-cristo-a-cinematic-meditation

    Original YouTube version: https://youtu.be/pbM5VN9YvCE

    💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com
    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    36 mins
  • 399 - John Vervaeke - What Is Spirit?

    399 - John Vervaeke - What Is Spirit?
    Jun 24 2025
    What is spirit? This was one of my most meaningful conversations with John Vervaeke yet. As we prepare for the Midwestuary 2025 conference in Chicago, we explore how beings come into existence, the mystery of unity and multiplicity, and what’s really going on with AI, angels, and the spirit of community. John shares some powerful personal transformations as well. I hope you enjoy this deep dive into spirit, ontology, and meaning.

    YouTube version: https://youtu.be/hqmSW3SgzHs

    Register for the 2025 Midwestuary Conference in Chicago, August 22-24: https://www.midwestuary.com/

    NEW COURSE: Scripture: The Key to Reality, presented by Seraphim Hamilton
    This course is designed to help students appreciate the unique role the Bible plays in helping us step into the world as it truly is: a symbolic revelation of the Infinite God. Scripture is symbolic because it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Archetype of the World. In a way, then, Scripture enfolds within itself the totality of the world, guiding its hearers to see an icon of Christ in each of God’s creatures: from trees to beasts to priests.
    - Live classes are on Tuesday at 2 - 4 pm Eastern Time, starting June 10th through July 22nd, 2025
    - Class Length: 5 sessions, 10 hours total
    - Cost: 120 USD (108 USD for Involved patrons)
    - Register now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/scripture-the-key-to-reality

    - Get early access to Rapunzel and the Evil Witch: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/rapunzel-and-the-evil-witch
    - Symbolism Masterclass course by Jonathan Pageau: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/symbolism-masterclass
    - John Vervaeke's course on the Symbolic World, The Cognitive Science of Ritual: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/the-cognitive-science-of-ritual

    00:00 - Intro by Jonathan
    01:25 - Intro music
    01:50 - Midwestuary conference details
    03:42 - What is Spirit?
    05:21 - John's response
    08:22 - Fellowship
    11:00 - Jonathan's response
    13:34 - Why it's hard to think about unity and multiplicity
    16:35 - Dualism in spirit
    18:32 - Modern false dichotomies
    24:19 - Jonathan: Spirit outside of minds?
    30:57 - Are there non-psychological spirits?
    33:42 - Gathered in man
    35:55 - Reduction can go both ways
    37:35 - The seat of self-consciousness
    42:01 - A human centered view
    43:36 - John: The standard of realness
    49:30 - An embodied world for everyone
    56:17 - Porosity between science and myth
    01:00:39 - Breath
    01:02:05 - A post-Kantian vision
    01:05:52 - Exampting and group identity
    01:10:40 - Liturgy and team spirit
    01:17:48 - Are spirits just psychological?
    01:20:26 - Prophesy
    01:27:43 - How do we use technology?
    01:34:01 - AI

    🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau
    🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe
    Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/
    My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/
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    1 hr and 46 mins