A podcast about the world of the Western Esoteric Tradition – Occult-Magic-Mysticism-Paranormal
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Karin Valis is a freelance Berlin-based machine learning engineer and writer with a deep passion for everything occult and weird. Her work focuses mainly on finding conceptual resonances between the latest machine learning technology and the esoteric. She writes Mercurial Minutes and hosts monthly meetings of the occult and technology enthusiasts Gnostic Technology. She co-hosted workshops, talks and panel discussions such as Arana in the Feed (Uroboros 2021), Language in the Age of AI: Deciphering Voynich Manuscript (Trans-States 2022), Remembering Our Future: Shamanism, Oracles and AI (NYU Shanghai 2022), Divine Embeddings: Large Language Models and Sacred Alphabets (Occulture 2023) and Devil in My Language Model (SWPACA 2024). She developed several occult algorithm prototypes, co-founded a fake startup, published zines and designed a tarot deck.
Rudolf Berger was born in the Swiss city of Basel in 1960. He has been actively interested in the world of occultism and esotericism over almost three decades, but looking back with a bit more of hindsight, he things that his attachment to those questions was already present since a very early age. A Freemason since 1993, also a member of the Scottish Rite, his first serious interest in esoteric sciences had come about much earlier already, in the mid-1980s, when he read books by Rudolf Steiner. A bit later, after practical experiences in Shamanism, Theosophy, and Ritual Magic, he broadened his knowledge and personal involvement to many fields of the Western Tradition. Today it is difficult for him what to call himself; maybe a Hermeticist with a very strong link to Ceremonial Magic and Rosicrucianism comes closest. But Rudolf wants to stay open to discover and explore new knowledge and experiences all the time. Fields of special interest include Sacred Geometry and the implication of sound and music in the Occult Arts, and more recently the implications of Science in the occult. He is working the Art mostly as a solitaire worker, but maintains links to several occult groups. Rudolf lives in Austria close to its capital Vienna and worked in the performing arts world for 40 years. Since 2017, he is now working as a Funeral Celebrant, and also as a writer.