Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)
by Earl Fontainelle
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Early Islamic ‘Mahdism’: Radical Politics, Apocalyptic, and the Esoteric
Oct 17, 2026
54m 13s
The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt
Oct 9, 2026
1h 16m 51s
Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond
Sep 24, 2026
48m 59s
Islām and Esotericism in the Eighth Century: The Umayyad Era and the Question of Islām as ‘Religion’
Sep 17, 2026
1h 01m 40s
Into the Archives with Alicia Walker
Sep 13, 2026
1h 01m 04s
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- 🇦🇷AR · Education#15819K to 236K
- 🇫🇮FI · Education#1796.7K to 82K
- 🇬🇷GR · Education#1566.0K to 73K
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32K to 392K🎙 Sporadic cadence·219 episodes·Last published 2d ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
32K to 392K🇺🇸71%🇦🇷17%🇫🇮6%+1 more - Active Followers
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13K to 157K
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/17/26 |  Early Islamic ‘Mahdism’: Radical Politics, Apocalyptic, and the Esoteric | We explore the origins of an enduring idea in Islām: the idea of the mahdī, the righteous leader who will return to bring justice and purify the religion near the end of time. The origins, it turns out, are esoteric, and so are many aspects of the various mahdīs who have arisen throughout history. | 54m 13s | ||||||
| 10/9/26 | The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt | We explore some of the weird territory where extreme politics meet extreme theology in the pre-Umayyad and Umayyad periods. Includes case-studies of a representative selection of early shiite "extremists". | 1h 16m 51s | ||||||
| 9/24/26 | Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond | We discuss the Iraqi context of the early shī‘ī movements, explore some of the political, esoteric, and politicesoteric concerns of the early partisans of the ahl al-bayt, and then give a basic run-down of some of the most important shiite movements and their imams. | 48m 59s | ||||||
| 9/17/26 | Islām and Esotericism in the Eighth Century: The Umayyad Era and the Question of Islām as ‘Religion’ | We discuss politico-religious developments among the Believers in the eighth century, setting the stage for a series of episodes exploring developments in esoteric Islām in the Umayyad period. We also discuss our evidence for how the Believers' movement became ‘Islām’ in the first place, also seemingly an Umayyad phenomenon. | 1h 01m 40s | ||||||
| 9/13/26 | Into the Archives with Alicia Walker | In this interview, Part II of our discussion of quotidian magical practices in the East-Roman world with Alicia Walker, we explore a wealth of materia magica, which is a fancy way of saying "magical things". Come for the alchemical enamel-ware, stay for the multipurpose magic ring. | 1h 01m 04s | ||||||
| 8/25/26 | magical practicesmedieval culture+3 | Alicia Walker | — | East Rome | magical cultureEast Rome+3 | — | 37m 48s | ||
| 5/13/26 | East Roman magical booksWestern esoteric tradition+3 | — | — | — | magical booksHermes Trismegistus+5 | — | 55m 42s | ||
| 4/1/26 | East Roman alchemyLate Antiquity+4 | Gerasimos Merianos | East Rome | — | East Roman alchemyLate Antiquity+5 | — | 38m 56s | ||
| 3/25/26 | East Roman alchemyLate Antiquity+3 | Gerasimos Merianos | East Roman alchemy | — | alchemyEast Roman+3 | — | 45m 47s | ||
| 3/4/26 | astrologyalchemy+3 | Maria Papathanassiou | Apotelesmatikē pragmateiaOn the Great and Holy Art of Gold-Making | Islam | astrologyalchemy+4 | — | 32m 47s | ||
Want analysis for the episodes below?Free for Pro Submit a request, we'll have your selected episodes analyzed within an hour. Free, at no cost to you, for Pro users. | |||||||||
| 2/25/26 | PhilosophyOccult Sciences+5 | Maria Papathanassiou | — | ConstantinopleAlexandria | Stephanos of AlexandriaMaria Papathanassiou+6 | — | 41m 51s | ||
| 12/7/25 | Orthodox mysticismMaximus the Confessor+3 | Jonathan Greig | — | Constantinople | Maximus the ConfessorOrthodox mystic+4 | — | 1h 12m 44s | ||
| 10/26/25 | apocalyptic literatureChristianity+3 | Christopher Bonura | Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios | — | Apocalypse of Pseudo-MethodiosChristian revelation+3 | — | 1h 11m 41s | ||
| 9/27/25 | apocalyptic literatureJudaism+4 | Martha Himmelfarb | Sefer Zerubbabel | — | Sefer ZerubbabelMartha Himmelfarb+5 | — | 47m 47s | ||
| 9/13/25 | ZoroastrianismArab conquest+3 | Touraj Daryaee | Sasanian PersiaZoroastrians | Græco-Roman | ZoroastrianismArab conquest+3 | — | 43m 20s | ||
| 7/25/25 | Shī‘ī Esotericismpolitical events+2 | Ahab Bdaiwi | Earl FontainelleThe Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast | — | Shī‘īesotericism+3 | — | 29m 09s | ||
| 7/18/25 | Shī‘ī Islamhistorical sources+3 | Ahab Bdaiwi | Party of ‘AlīIslām | RomanSassanian+1 | Shī‘ī IslamAhab Bdaiwi+4 | — | 38m 32s | ||
| 5/13/25 | Seventh-Century History for Students of Western Esotericism | We return to the history of late antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia. Momentous events occur, empires rise and fall, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims all suddenly develop new apocalyptic notions. Come for the dry historical exposition, stay for the esoteric divine kingship. | 55m 31s | ||||||
| 5/2/25 | Introducing the Qur’an Part III: Qur’ānic Texts vs. the Qur’ān | We discuss some of the history of how the Qur'ān came to be ‘the Book’: it started in the oral milieu of the high-octane early Believers' movement, and ended up in written form as something called the ‘Uthmanic recension. Many esoteric things happen along the way. | 55m 06s | ||||||
| 4/18/25 | Introducing the Qur’ān, Part II: Ambiguity and Esoteric Themes | We begin to explore the esoteric side of the Qur'ān, examining several case-studies in terms of ambiguity and esoteric themes. It turns out that every letter of the Qur'ān is an esoteric text. | 1h 11m 11s | ||||||
| 3/14/25 | Introducing the Qur’ān, Part I: Revelation, Text, and History | We cover some basic territory in introducing the Qur'ān, the holiest text of Islām. We introduce the text, discuss the traditional story of the Qur'ān's revelation, the modern text-critical enterprise of Qur'anic studies, and try to pin down the elusive character of this book-that-is-not-a-book. | 57m 03s | ||||||
| 2/7/25 | Fred Donner on the History of Early Islām | We discuss what little we know and how much we don't know about the nature of the early ‘Believers' movement’, the nature and origins of the Qur'ān, the curious case of the so-called Constitution of Medinah, and what went on during the earliest decades of the Arab conquests. Fred Donner is our guide into unknown territory. | 53m 35s | ||||||
| 1/21/25 | Matthew Melvin-Koushki on Islam, ‘the West’, and Western Esotericism | We welcome Matthew Melvin-Koushki back to the show to discuss how we might improve our historical picture of western esotericism by including the vast majority of the surviving historical dossier of western esotericism. There's only one problem: in order to do this, we need to embrace the Islamicate world as a major part of the west. | 1h 04m 29s | ||||||
| 1/3/25 | Introducing Islām | With Episode 200 the SHWEP has reached a milestone of sorts. We are in the seventh century, and the world-order suddenly changes irrevocably as a new political force arises from Arabia: the Believers. We discuss three main respects in which the history of Islam is the history of western esotericism. | 1h 13m 03s | ||||||
| 12/25/24 | Paul Pasquesi on the Book of the Holy Hierotheos | We discuss one of the lesser-known, but most esoterically-important, classics of Syriac spiritual literature, the Book of the Holy Hierotheos. Hierotheos was said to have been the teacher of Dionysius the Areopagite, but he wrote in Syriac, and taught a suspiciously-Evagrian practice of ascent to god. | 57m 40s | ||||||
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Chart history for Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)
Peaked at #156 in GR, currently #156 in GR.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GR | — | #156 | #156 | — |
| AR | — | #158 | #158 | — |
| Finland | — | #179 | #179 | — |
Chart Positions
3 placements across 3 markets.
Chart Positions
3 placements across 3 markets.