Plato's Cave Audio

A few years ago I was recorded reading Plato's Myth of the Cave from the Republic Book VII. I came across it recentl and ripped it to MP3. My readings have progressed considerably since then (this was in 2000) and I was never quite happy with the recording--I always prefer reading to an audience over a sound recording. Plus I feel that it's a bit stilted and dry. But it's still worth listening to. I read from the classic Jowett translation. The MP3 file is here (6Mb). I'll see what else I can dig up.

Clips from Tobias Churton's Documentary The Gnostics

Mark Goodacre has been posting some Youtube links to clips of Tobias Churton's 1987 documentary The Gnostics. There are three posts, best accessed under the Nag Hammadi tag. http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Nag%20Hammadi

Mark also has a couple of blog posts about the details of the Nag Hammadi find.

Sophia and Exegesis on the Soul

I was recently doing what I call a vanity search (also known as googlebating) and came across the following little essay on the Exegesis on the Soul by David Jones. http://www.jonesdl.com/previous-works/
Whatever its other merits, it footnotes Gnostic Writings on the Soul, my book on the Exegesis and the Hymn of the Pearl, extensively!

andrewphillipsmith.com

My author website, www.andrewphillipsmith.com is now up. It's a bit bare bones still, but there's an FAQ, some biographical material, etc.

The Gnostic Website

After much umming and ahhing and handwringing I've finally put up a basic website for The Gnostic. It only has the details for the first issue currently, but the second issue will be up soon and I'll put up full table of contents(es), audio clips of excerpts from the Alan Moore and Colin Wilson interviews, etc.

The URL is http://www.the-gnostic.com

Mani: The Lost Religion of Light

I went along to the Manichaean exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin on Saturday. I believe it's the first of its kind anywhere. I'll go again before it finishes, and there's a lunchtime talk by the curator later this month. It was great to see some of the papyrus fragments, some of which had a very loose weave. I could hardly make out the Coptic letters on many of them. The Chester Beatty has the largest collection of Manichaean MSS in the world. On the downside, I purchased a DVD which only contained the very lame 2 minute video shown at the exhibition, plus the explanatory text at the exhibition told the visitor very little about Manichaean beliefs. The most poignant exhibit was a square brown lump, known as the "sod of turf" which is an unconserved and uninvestigated, badly compacted papyrus codex containing up to 200 pages of Manichaean texts. What treasures might be in there! Then again, I have to admit that I haven't yet read most of the surviving Manichaean texts.

Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Podcast series 3: Diversity in early Christianity: “Heresies” and struggles(Philip A. Harland)

Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Podcast series 3: Diversity in early Christianity: “Heresies” and struggles(Philip A. Harland)

Philip Harland's series of podcasts on Gnosticism and Christian Apocrypha is summarised in the above blog post, with links to each podcast.

Free Planetary Type Profiles

Tony Cartledge is offering to give free planetary type profiles. Simply send him a photograph of yourself and he will attempt to determine your type. http://planetarytypes.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/your-free-endocrine-type-profile/

Planetary Types

Planetary Types: The Science of Celestial Influence by Tony Cartledge Do you believe in astrology? This ancient art has persisted as a tool of self-discovery for thousands of years, yet has not fared well under the unforgiving scrutiny of science. In Planetary Types: The Science of Celestial Influence, author Tony Cartledge charts a unique course between the true believers and the hard-core sceptics, to try and determine, once and for all, whether the planets influence human life. Tony Cartledge is an author and researcher and has published articles with WellBeing International, Conscious Living, and other magazines and web sites within the alternative fields. He is a features writer and sub-editor and writer for his local newspaper and lives in Queensland, Australia. A.T. Mann is a leading astrologer and author of many books including The Round Art of Astrology and Life Time Astrology. Published September 2009 by Bardic Press. trade paperback, 254 pages, ISBN 978-1906834036, $19.95, £11.95, €14. Published September 2009 by Bardic Press. trade paperback, 254 pages, ISBN 978-1906834036, $19.95, £11.95, €14. Buy through Amazon.com Buy through Amazon.co.uk Buy through Amazon.ca Buy through Amazon.jp Buy through Amazon.fr Buy through Amazon.de Buy through Barnesandnobles.com Visit the author's website and read the first chapter