Edward Iglesias is a perennial failure who luckily aims high enough to appear successful, thus, when aiming for the peak of academia he landed comfortably in the valley of librarianship outfitting for talented explorers. Interest in the occult started at a young age for Iglesias in the late 70s and early 80s. Being a time before personal computers let alone the internet Iglesias had to do what every other seeker of the time did and read books. Unfortunately growing up in the bordertown of Laredo, Texas there were limited opportunities and once the one bookstore in the mall and the public library had been quickly exhausted he went in search of disreputable people to destroy his mind (at least that’s what the local priest told him would happen). After spending some time under the tutelage of a “curandero” who ran an herb shop selling things like “lucky bingo floor wash” and “keep away law” candles Iglesias sought occult wisdom in other places, mostly in books. After training with various characters of no small ability in deception as well as supposed expertise in esoteric systems Iglesias came away with an incomplete understanding of what might be charitably called the “Castañeda” tradition, Wicca, and Western Esotericism along with a B.A. in Psychology a major chosen for the express purpose of figuring out how to stay out of an asylum.
These days Iglesias lives a quiet life in Newport, RI working as a Systems and Technology Librarian for Salve Regina University. Although not as active in occult matters as he used to be, he got a renewed interest when the academic study of occultism started becoming a thing. Iglesias had once harbored hopes of studying just that, completing an MA in English with a Thesis on Dion Fortune before being assured that there was no point going for a PhD since no one would give him a job, this librarianship. The MLIS is the last of the degrees he earned and has been undoubtedly the most useful keeping him housed, fed, and insured for more than 20 years.
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This episode available to view at YouTube:
Mentioned in this episode:
The Greeks and the irrational – E. R. Dodds
The Case Against Reality – Donald Hoffman
The Social Life of Information – John Seely Brown
Join us THIS SUNDAY, July 16th for The Future of Occulture, Magic, and Underground Networking: A Conversation With Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson
11AM PDT / 2PM EDT / 7PM UK / 20 CEST
Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson were both active in the magical order/ think tank / occultural network Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) in the mid 1980s to early 1990s.
In this conversation they talk not only about what happened and what kind of an impact TOPY has had, but also try to entangle what the ideas and concepts could bring for the future of occulture, magic and underground networking.
Rendering Unconscious Podcast is hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, a psychoanalyst based in Sweden, who works with people internationally.
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Dr. Sinclair is the author of The Pathways of the Heart (Trapart Books, 2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (Routledge, 2021) and Switching Mirrors (Trapart Books, 2016).
And is the editor of Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond (Routledge, 2023), Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry (Trapart Books, 2019), Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (Trapart Books, 2021) with Dr. Elisabeth Punzi, On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives (Routledge, 2019) co-edited with Dr. Manya Steinkoler, and The Fenris Wolf, vol 9 (Trapart Books, 2017) and The Fenris Wolf vol 11 (Trapart Books, 2022) co-edited with Carl Abrahamsson.
Many thanks to Carl Abrahamsson, who created the intro and outro music for Rendering Unconscious podcast.
The song at the end of the episode is “The Third Mind of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs” from the album Kaleidoscope of the 23rd Mind by Vanessa Sinclair and Pete Murphy. Available at Bandcamp.
All music at Swedish independent record label Highbrow Lowlife Bandcamp page is name your price. Enjoy!
Also available streaming at Spotify and other streaming services.
Image: Remedios Varo, An unexpected visit, 1958.
