web01.fireside.fm Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:18:27 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Christianity” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/christianity Wed, 10 May 2023 10:30:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 146: An Air of Great Power: On the Chariot in the Tarot https://www.weirdstudies.com/146 b4e39ee7-c9cf-41a0-87e2-ca9b6ae52c58 Wed, 10 May 2023 10:30:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 146 An Air of Great Power: On the Chariot in the Tarot full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel JF and Phil discuss the seventh major trump of the tarot, the Chariot. 1:17:08 yes Of the twenty-two figures that make up the major arcana of the tarot, the Chariot is probably the most commonplace. While the tenth arcanum is a wheel, it's The Wheel of Fortune, not just any old wagon wheel. But arcanum VII is neither the Chariot of Fire or the Chariot of the Gods – just the plain old chariot. Usually, it is interpreted as a symbol of the will in its lower and higher aspects. In this episode, Phil notes that the Chariot can also symbolize something as ordinary as new car. Of course, here on Weird Studies, no car is just a car, and we like to think that Youngblood Priest, the protagonist of the 1972 film Super Fly, would agree. A car also a tool, a medium, a token of mastery, an atmospheric disturbance, a means of manifestation, a spaceship... Enroll in THE TWIN PEAKS MYTHOS (https://www.nuralearning.com/twin-peaks-mythos), a 4-week Weird Studies view-along starting June 8th. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) and gain access to Phil's podcast on Wagner's Ring Cycle. Download Pierre-Yves Martel's new album, Mer Bleue (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/mer-bleue). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780738713090) Jordan Parks Jr., Super Fly (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069332/) Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781585421619) Weird Studies, Episode 144 on “Hellraiser” (https://www.weirdstudies.com/144) Plato, Phaedrus (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780140449747) Vanessa Onwuemezi, Dark Neighborhood (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781913097707) J. G. Ballard, Crash (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781250171511) Paul Virilio, War and Cinema (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/979442) Karl Marx, Grundrisse (https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/) Weird Studies, Episode 26 with Michael Garfield (https://www.weirdstudies.com/26) chariot, tarot, meaning, symbolism, occult, car, super fly, seventh arcanum Of the twenty-two figures that make up the major arcana of the tarot, the Chariot is probably the most commonplace. While the tenth arcanum is a wheel, it's The Wheel of Fortune, not just any old wagon wheel. But arcanum VII is neither the Chariot of Fire or the Chariot of the Gods – just the plain old chariot. Usually, it is interpreted as a symbol of the will in its lower and higher aspects. In this episode, Phil notes that the Chariot can also symbolize something as ordinary as new car. Of course, here on Weird Studies, no car is just a car, and we like to think that Youngblood Priest, the protagonist of the 1972 film Super Fly, would agree. A car also a tool, a medium, a token of mastery, an atmospheric disturbance, a means of manifestation, a spaceship...

Enroll in THE TWIN PEAKS MYTHOS, a 4-week Weird Studies view-along starting June 8th.
Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.
Support us on Patreon and gain access to Phil's podcast on Wagner's Ring Cycle.
Download Pierre-Yves Martel's new album, Mer Bleue.
Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop
Find us on Discord
Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES

Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom
Jordan Parks Jr., Super Fly
Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot
Weird Studies, Episode 144 on “Hellraiser”
Plato, Phaedrus
Vanessa Onwuemezi, Dark Neighborhood
J. G. Ballard, Crash
Paul Virilio, War and Cinema
Karl Marx, Grundrisse
Weird Studies, Episode 26 with Michael Garfield

]]> Of the twenty-two figures that make up the major arcana of the tarot, the Chariot is probably the most commonplace. While the tenth arcanum is a wheel, it's The Wheel of Fortune, not just any old wagon wheel. But arcanum VII is neither the Chariot of Fire or the Chariot of the Gods – just the plain old chariot. Usually, it is interpreted as a symbol of the will in its lower and higher aspects. In this episode, Phil notes that the Chariot can also symbolize something as ordinary as new car. Of course, here on Weird Studies, no car is just a car, and we like to think that Youngblood Priest, the protagonist of the 1972 film Super Fly, would agree. A car also a tool, a medium, a token of mastery, an atmospheric disturbance, a means of manifestation, a spaceship...

Enroll in THE TWIN PEAKS MYTHOS, a 4-week Weird Studies view-along starting June 8th.
Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.
Support us on Patreon and gain access to Phil's podcast on Wagner's Ring Cycle.
Download Pierre-Yves Martel's new album, Mer Bleue.
Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop
Find us on Discord
Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES

Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom
Jordan Parks Jr., Super Fly
Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot
Weird Studies, Episode 144 on “Hellraiser”
Plato, Phaedrus
Vanessa Onwuemezi, Dark Neighborhood
J. G. Ballard, Crash
Paul Virilio, War and Cinema
Karl Marx, Grundrisse
Weird Studies, Episode 26 with Michael Garfield

]]> Episode 51: Blind Seers: On Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood' https://www.weirdstudies.com/51 c667b951-77b1-4ae8-85d1-2b38cc22ef93 Wed, 17 Jul 2019 11:30:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 51 Blind Seers: On Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood' full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Flannery O'Connor first novel, interpreting it as an investigation into the implications of the modern. 1:35:43 yes Through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor reenvisioned life as a supernatural war wherein each soul becomes the site of a clash of mysterious, almost incomprehensible forces. Her first novel, Wise Blood, tells the story of Hazel Motes, a young preacher with a new religion to sell: the Church Without Christ. In this episode, JF and Phil read Motes's misadventures in the "Jesus-haunted" city of Taulkinham, Tennessee, as a prophetic vision of the modern condition that is at once supremely tragic and funny as hell. As O'Connor herself wrote in her prefac to the book: "(Wise Blood) is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui, and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death. REFERENCES Flannery O'Connor, [Wise Blood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiseBlood)_ James Marshall, [George and Martha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeorgeandMartha) (here's a great NYT piece (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/books/george-and-martha-james-marshall.html) on the books) Graham Hancock, [Fingerprints of the Gods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerprintsoftheGods)_ Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (https://www.amazon.com/Life-You-Save-May-Your/dp/0374529213) Jonathan Haidt, [The Righteous Mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheRighteousMind) G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/130) Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (https://www.mctb.org) George Santayana, [The Sense of Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheSenseofBeauty)_ Amy Hungerford's lecture (https://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-291/lecture-3) on Wise Blood (Yale University) Flannery O'Connor, wise blood, analysis, christianity, nihilism, modernism Through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor reenvisioned life as a supernatural war wherein each soul becomes the site of a clash of mysterious, almost incomprehensible forces. Her first novel, Wise Blood, tells the story of Hazel Motes, a young preacher with a new religion to sell: the Church Without Christ. In this episode, JF and Phil read Motes's misadventures in the "Jesus-haunted" city of Taulkinham, Tennessee, as a prophetic vision of the modern condition that is at once supremely tragic and funny as hell. As O'Connor herself wrote in her prefac to the book: "(Wise Blood) is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui, and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.

REFERENCES

Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
James Marshall, George and Martha (here's a great NYT piece on the books)
Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods
Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha
George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty
Amy Hungerford's lecture on Wise Blood (Yale University)

]]> Through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor reenvisioned life as a supernatural war wherein each soul becomes the site of a clash of mysterious, almost incomprehensible forces. Her first novel, Wise Blood, tells the story of Hazel Motes, a young preacher with a new religion to sell: the Church Without Christ. In this episode, JF and Phil read Motes's misadventures in the "Jesus-haunted" city of Taulkinham, Tennessee, as a prophetic vision of the modern condition that is at once supremely tragic and funny as hell. As O'Connor herself wrote in her prefac to the book: "(Wise Blood) is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui, and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.

REFERENCES

Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
James Marshall, George and Martha (here's a great NYT piece on the books)
Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods
Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha
George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty
Amy Hungerford's lecture on Wise Blood (Yale University)

]]>