Proclus

Referenced in 4 episodes

Definition

Greek Neoplatonist (412–485 CE), often called the last great pagan philosopher, author of 'The Elements of Theology'. He combined Plotinus's rigorous philosophy with Iamblichus's theurgy and wrote on the theory behind ritual magic.

Related episodes

Remembering the Amazing Jean Houston with Margaret Nash Rubin

New Thinking AllowedAug 23, 2026

Psychologist Jeffrey Mishlove and Margaret Nash Rubin, Jean Houston's principal teaching associate since 1987, remember the life and legacy of the pioneering human potential and sacred psychology teacher. They recount Houston's lifelong bond with the goddess Athena, whose voice she said turned her from a theater career toward exploring the depths of the human mind, along with her near-death recoveries, early psychedelic research, and Mystery School teachings. The conversation touches on archetypal guides, mystical epiphanies, hypnotic creativity experiments, and Houston's belief that everyone carries a unique purpose, or entelechy, waiting to be awakened.

FS 4

The Romance of Metaphysics with Emile Alexandrov

New Thinking AllowedAug 20, 2026

Philosopher Emil Alexandrov joins Jeffrey Mishlove to trace metaphysics from the pre-Socratics, Plato and Aristotle through the Neoplatonists, medieval thinkers, Kant and Schopenhauer. Alexandrov argues that every system of first principles responds to something fundamentally unknowable, which he calls the ineffable, and that ancient thinkers used ritual, poetry and theurgy to reach truths that reasoning alone cannot. He closes by suggesting that parapsychology could serve as an experimental branch of metaphysics, helping make sense of evidence that modern rationalism dismisses.

FS 3

Strange Encounters With Other Beings - Jason Quitt | Ep. 98

AREA52 Podcast (Chris Ramsay)Aug 7, 2026

Author and experiencer Jason Quitt describes how terrifying sleep paralysis episodes in the early 2000s launched him into years of out-of-body experiences, including encounters with shadow beings, giant mantis-like entities, and a hybrid child he says he was shown in an astral nursery. He argues that many alien abduction reports follow the same step-by-step pattern as out-of-body experiences, suggesting much contact may happen in a non-physical realm. He also presents his theory, from his book The Shining Island, that Plato's Atlantis story is a coded allegory of shifting pole stars and cosmic cycles rather than a literal sunken continent.

FS 8

The Odyssey Is Not What You Think: Reality Is a Soul Trap | Ike Baker

Third Eye DropsJul 30, 2026

Esoteric scholar Ike Baker argues that Homer's Odyssey was read by ancient Platonists as a coded map of the soul's fall into the material world and its journey back to the divine. Drawing on Porphyry, Proclus, Macrobius, and the Orphic tradition, he explains how the Cave of the Nymphs, Penelope, the suitors, and Odysseus's beggar's rags stand for reincarnation, the higher self, bodily appetites, and shedding the 'astral garments.' The provocative core claim, which Baker says he believes completely, is the Orphic idea that this world is Hades and the body is the tomb of the soul.

FS 4
Proclus - Glossary - Fringe Index