Category: Fifth Wednesday Post

A Case Study in Stimulus Diffusion

John Michael Greer240 Comments

From an outsider’s perspective, the sibling rivalry between Christianity and Islam is a fascinating slice of religious and cultural history. Though the propagandists of both faiths tend to deny this heatedly, they have many more points in common than differences, especially when compared to religions elsewhere in the world. Both developed in the eastern penumbra…

Carl Jung, Occultist

John Michael Greer180 Comments

A longstanding tradition on this blog has it that whenever a month has five Wednesdays, the readers get to propose topics for the fifth Wednesday post, and whichever proposal fields the largest number of votes becomes the topic for that post. This time, the winning theme was the archetypal teachings of Carl Jung, the famous…

The Man with the Moustache

John Michael Greer356 Comments

One of the lasting traditions on this blog is that whenever a month has five Wednesdays in it, the commentariat gets to nominate and vote on the subject for the fifth Wednesday’s post. For the last several years now, one of the perennial runners-up has been a straightforward question:  why is it that Adolf Hitler…

The Neckless Ones: A Historical Puzzle

John Michael Greer320 Comments

A longstanding tradition on this blog allows the readers to nominate and vote on a theme for the month’s last post in any month that has five Wednesdays. July being so favored, the usual lively contest unfolded five weeks ago, and the winner this time was the question of why the cultures of the modern…

Music as a Magical Language

John Michael Greer273 Comments

Once again we have a month with five Wednesdays, and by time-honored custom I called on my readers to nominate and vote on their choice of topics for this post. This month, the relationship between occultism and music got the largest number of votes.  It’s an intriguing topic, and one that has attracted a great…

Deindustrial Warfare: A First Reconaissance

John Michael Greer301 Comments

This January has five Wednesdays, and in the usual way of this blog, the fifth Wednesday gets an essay on whatever topic the readers select by vote. As usual, it was a lively contest, but this time one of the perennial underdogs—warfare in the deindustrial age—came out on top. That didn’t surprise me greatly.  The…

Surviving Catabolic Collapse: A Case Study

John Michael Greer278 Comments

One of the longstanding traditions on this blog is that when there are five Wednesdays in a month, my commentariat gets to propose topics for the fifth Wednesday post, and whichever topic gets the most votes ends up becoming the theme I write about for that post. That’s landed me in a pickle or two…

The Law of Consequences

John Michael Greer325 Comments

It’s a longstanding custom on this blog that whenever there are five Wednesdays in a month, the readers get to vote on what they want me to write about for the fifth Wednesday.  Far more often than not the resulting contest is a lively one, and this month’s was no exception. By a significant plurality,…

On Magic, Manhood, and Masculism

John Michael Greer299 Comments

One of the traditions that’s evolved over the lifetime of this blog is that whenever there are five Wednesdays in a month, the readers get to vote on what subject I write about for the fifth Wednesday post.  That’s landed me in some complicated territory over the years, and this month will be no exception.…

The Perils of the Pioneer

John Michael Greer167 Comments

One of the longstanding traditions of this blog is that when there are five Wednesdays in a month, the commentariat gets to propose and then vote on the subject for the fifth Wednesday post. The winner this time is the Austrian occultist Rudolf Steiner, one of the most interesting figures in twentieth century intellectual history.…