The Gnostalgia Podcast

Professor Jason Baxter returns to discuss his newly released translation of the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy the Purgatorio.https://jasonmbaxter.substack.com/https://angelicopress.com/products/the-divine-comedy-infernohttps://angelicopress.com/products/the-divine-comedy-purgatorio?pr_prod_strat=jac&pr_rec_id=b6d670f42&pr_rec_pid=11877570576702&pr_ref_pid=11378673877310&pr_seq=uniform

Brian Scarffe and Sebastian Morello wander off the paved roads of modern piety and into the wild of the Christian imagination, where animals are fellow creatures addressed, admonished and occasionally instructed. They explore the serious conviction that creation itself speaks, and that the saints, by holiness rather than technique, learned to listen.The conversation ranges across Scripture, hagiography and medieval cosmology, asking why the ability to converse with animals was once taken as a sign of restored harmony. What was this “language” the saints seemed to master, and what does its disappearance tell us about the modern Christian deafness to the natural world? Imagine a Christianity less enclosed, less managerial, and more porous to the voices of creation. The lads meditate on what we have forgotten, what we have dismissed as legend, and what might yet be relearned if we remembered that the world was once thought to be alive with meaning, down to its feathers and fur.

In this conversation, Brian and Sebastian explore the significance of St. Michael within angelic cosmology, the historical importance of the Feast of St. Michael, and the works of Wolfgang Smith that bridge ancient wisdom with modern science. They discuss the Neoplatonic tradition's relevance to Catholic thought, the impact of modernity on spiritual practices, and the risks associated with astral projection. The dialogue emphasises the profound relationship between Our Lady and St. Michael, advocating for a revival of traditional practices in the Church.

Philosopher Nina Power joins Sebastian Morello and Brian Scarffe for a roaming conversation on fire: its ancient sanctity, its capacity to protect and to destroy, its place in the hearth cults of antiquity, and its neglected spiritual symbolism in Christian life. From the oracular invocation of fire at a dinner party to reflections on cremation, alchemical distillation, gin-fuelled social collapse, and the counterfeit hearth of television.

Sebastian and Brian discuss the sacred history of healing, from its roots in pre-Christian rites of anointing and balance to its transfiguration in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church. Moving between early Christian miracle accounts, medieval herbals, Byzantine hospitals, and the writings of Hildegard of Bingen and St Basil the Great, they considers how health was once conceived not as the absence of illness, but as a harmony between body, soul, and the divine order. Along the way, the conversation draws contrasts with modern biomedicine, recovering an older, metaphysically rich vision in which suffering is not meaningless.

In this episode, Brian Scarffe sits down with Evangelos Nikitopoulos to reconsider one of the most contested figures in Christian history: Saint Dionysius the Areopagite. Nikitopoulos unpacks the theological depth, historical reception, and unmistakable Christian Platonism of these writings, challenging the entrenched ‘pseudo’ label. Together, they explore the enduring influence of Dionysius on Christian mysticism, hierarchy, and metaphysics, reclaiming his place at the heart of the early Church.

We are joined by the Raw Egg Nationalist to discuss whether Christianity has a place for the masculine virtues in today’s Church and how it relates to the ‘vitalist right’.

Brian and Sebastian discuss the mysteries of the Black Virgin.

You’ve heard of High Tories, Low Tories, Tory scum, and Tori Amos, but have you heard of Cosmic Toryism?

Sebastian Morello and Brian Scarffe sit down with Rod Dreher to discuss the insights and themes of his new book, Living in Wonder.

In defence of the role of natural wisdom in reestablishing Christendom.

On cultivating deep nostalgic wisdom, connecting with ancestors, and overcoming uprootedness.