Episode Details

Let’s take a journey into some of the most occult corners of the Enlightenment, all leading to contraband Gnostic and Hermetic secrets. For this tour, I am joined by art dealer and expert Christopher Bishop. He’ll show us the hidden world of Enlightenment Naples through Fedele Fischetti’s rediscovered masterpiece, The Triumph of Night, a rare visual record of secret networks where alchemy and Masonic philosophy intertwined. We’ll also delve into the legacy of the painting's "extravagant" patron, Prince Raimondo di Sangro—a practicing alchemist and "necromancer"—who commissioned the work to encode a path toward the Philosopher's Stone and spiritual immortality. We will decode the painting’s complex "hieroglyphic puzzle," tracing the four stages of the Magnum Opus through symbols ranging from the Egyptian god Harpocrates to the alchemical hermaphrodite. And that’s just the tip of the revelatory ice berg. This is a partial show. For the second half of the interview, please become a member or patron at Patreon Get The Occult Elvis Get The Gnostic Tarot Gnostic Tarot Reading Join the Virtual Alexandria Academy Get the simple, effective, and affordable Red Circle Private RSS Feed for all full shows