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Shakespeare, Religion, and Magic

 

I am happy to announce that I will be giving on online course—though in real time—entitled Shakespeare, Religion, and Magic. The seminar will begin on Friday, February 3rd and continue every Friday thereafter until March 24th, for a total of eight sessions. The seminars will run from 1:00-2:30 pm Easter Time, which should make it possible for participants from both the British Isles and the West Coast of the US to take part, and will be recorded for archival purposes but not rebroadcast at a later time.

 

This eight-week seminar will examine a number of Shakespeare’s better- and lesser-known plays and the ways in which Shakespeare and his times thought of Divinity and the supernatural. Plays to be discussed include Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Pericles, and The Tempest, and we will take them in this order (the first week will be an introduction). The only real requirement is that participants commit to the full eight weeks and read the play in question prior to our discussion of it.

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Just about any Collected Works of William Shakespeare will be adequate to the task at hand, though the individual Arden editions are also very good. I would recommend the Norton, Bevington, or the old Riverside editions (I still have the Riverside I used as an undergrad!). All are good, all have great notes (which are supremely helpful!), and are also useful when pressing cheese (I have actually done this).

 

Seminar fee: $100. Contact me at director@thecenterforsophiologicalstudies.com to enroll or if you have any questions.

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The Heart of Sophiology

In this course, we will cover the history of Sophiology, from the veneration of Wisdom in First Temple Judaism, to the mystical writing of Jacob Boehme, to the English Behmenists, to Romanticism, to the Silver Age Russian Sophiologists, to 20th century Catholic Sophiology, to today. Interpsersed in our conversations will be experiences in nature, with music, and with poetry—and whatever else shows up! You never can tell.

 

The course will take place at Stella Matutina Farm in Grass Lake, Michigan from Friday evening, 21 April 2023 to late Saturday afternoon on the 22nd.

 

It would help to have read The Submerged Reality ahead of time, but we will be using The Heavenly Country as a guide.

 

The fee for the course is $120 per individual or $150 per couple (assuming some people would like to bring a spouse). The farm is situated in the middle of Michigan’s Waterloo State Recreation Area which has plenty of camping spaces available as well as cabins to rent (though of more limited availability) and there are also other B&B accommodations in the area. Grass Lake is approximately 30 miles west of Ann Arbor and 15 miles east of Jackson, Michigan.

 

Fill out this form and send it in via snailmail with a check or money order or via email director@thecenterforsophiologicalstudies.com and pay via Venmo @Michael-Martin-295

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Biodynamic Farming and Gardening

 

Biodynamics, while it has a solid theoretical framework underpinning it, is more than anything a hands on enterprise, so I intend to combine theoretical, practical, and, yes, artistic and festive aspects into the course. The idea is to have a lived experience of the sophiological implications of biodynamic farming and gardening and how such a way of being connects to the traditional Christian year and the astronomical and mystical elements that inform it.

 

The course will take place at Stella Matutina Farm in Grass Lake, Michigan from Friday evening, 19 May 2023 to late Saturday afternoon on the 20th.

 

The fee for the course is $120 per individual or $150 per couple (assuming some people would like to bring a spouse). The farm is situated in the middle of Michigan’s Waterloo State Recreation Area which has plenty of camping spaces available as well as cabins to rent (though of more limited availability) and there are also other B&B accommodations in the area. Grass Lake is approximately 30 miles west of Ann Arbor and 15 miles east of Jackson, Michigan.

 

Fill out this form and send it in via snailmail with a check or money order or via email director@thecenterforsophiologicalstudies.com and pay via Venmo @Michael-Martin-295

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