Rejected Religion Podcast

I’m very happy to welcome Randall Hall back to the platform for another wonderful discussion about music. In this second solo conversation with saxophonist, composer, and scholar Randall Hall, we use speculative music as a springboard to explore the esoteric varieties of sound. Drawing on Randall’s recordings Mars Rising, The Sacred Shouting to Itself, and Sol, we discuss improvisation and emergence, technology and creative autonomy, Plato and transcendence, and Henry Corbin’s concept of the Imaginal. Taking a cue from William James, we consider how different modes of making, listening to, and engaging with sound might produce different varieties of encounter, and whether sound itself can function as a threshold between material and transcendent realities. We also explore harsh noise, contemplative sound, intentionality, and the possibility that music can communicate experiences that resist expression through language.

My guest this month is Bob Cluness, whom I am thrilled to welcome back to the platform. Bob recently published a new article in the journal Correspondences, “The Working-Class Magus: Class, Politics, and Occult Power in John Constantine: Hellblazer” and he was so kind to talk with me about it. In this episode, we explore the cultural ecosystem that gave birth to John Constantine—from punk, Thatcher-era Britain, and the Stoke Newington Sorcerers to chaos magic, and how those anti-establishment ideas were later appropriated and transformed within modern occulture, plus much more!

My guest this month is Gregg Harmston. Gregg is an independent researcher, writer and music producer from the UK who focuses on esotericism and occultism alongside media and literature theory, cyberculture, fictioning, and non-standard philosophy. He graduated an MA in Spirituality and Religion from University of Amsterdam in 2025 and is currently working on expanding his thesis research into a PhD project.

This is the Free Content version of my interview with Drs. Sarah & Bastiaan van Rijn. To listen to the full interview, you can either purchase it for a one-time fee, or become a Patreon member. Sarah van Rijn (née Perez) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bern. She currently works on a project that analyses similarities and differences in ethical motivation, knowledge production, and activist practice of animal rights activists and persons identifying with the eco-spiritual milieu. She previously worked on early modern pamphlets as well as youth- and online spirituality. The latter topic was also the reason why Sarah and her husband Bastiaan have published on the phenomenon of Reality Shifting. Bastiaan van Rijn is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His current project focuses on the connections between spiritual tourism and alternative history. Before that, he wrote on the various ways in which Western individuals have tried to scientifically prove life after death since the late eighteenth century. His book, Afterlife Research, appears later this year.Sarah and Bas have both been previous guests on the platform, Sarah in a roundtable discussion with Dr. Cavan McLaughin on her research into Reality Shifting, and Bas in E 43 about Mesmerism and Afterlife Research. They’ve joined me this time together to discuss their joint article, “Understanding Reality Shifting as a New Online-based Spiritual Practice.”

* This is an audio-only version of my interview with Rufus Harrington, trustee of The Doreen Valiente Foundation. I am so excited to share this special conversation with Rufus Harrington about the legendary Doreen Valiente, the "Mother of Modern Witchcraft"! As a thank you for your incredible support, this interview is being released as a free bonus episode for both my dedicated Patreon members as well as my YouTube community. Happy Yule!