THE BEGINNING IS NEAR: An immersive discussion on apocalypse and renewal Dean Arts Studio, Dublin 2, Thursday March 28th, 7pm – 9.30pm + Streaming Online €15-€35 (pay what you can afford, ticket includes a complimentary refreshment) + ONLINE STREAMING TICKETS
Feel like everything is collapsing and decaying? What would it feel like to consider everything is about to begin and flourish?
Join me and a host of AEWCH guests – Croatian philosopher and organizerSrećko Horvat, journalist and activist Una Mullally, and Mark O’Connell, for a unique opportunity to dissect and create new pathways amidst both global turmoil and solidarity-building!
War, and the nihilism of over-consumption, are in a fever-pitch struggle with visions of peace, contentment, and connection. In THE BEGINNING IS NEAR, our four speakers will explore the polar opposites of disaster and renewal, inviting the audience into the discussion to create a broader vision for Dublin, Ireland, and the world at large.
THE BEGINNING IS NEAR marks Srećko Horvat’s first speaking engagement in Ireland. His knowledge in philosophy, school-building, and political organizing, conjures a spirit of resonance, which reveals what feels like ‘the end’, across so many fronts, can also mark a real beginning.
TICKETS are available on a sliding scale: pay what you can at €15, €25, or €35. Space is limited, buy your tickets early! Complimentary beverages provided.
LIVESTREAM TICKETS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE to watch the event remotely for a flat fee of €15 (about $16.50 USD), and comes with limited-time access to a recording of the event. When you buy a livestream ticket, you will receive the link 12-24 hours ahead of the event via the email you supply at point of purchase.
All ticket holders will receive access to a recording of the event for a limited time.
Join us at the edge of death and birth, truth and love.
Friends, The year – the unexpected and strange year! – is coming to a close.
And yet, there are still more surprises ahead.
How do you navigate these last three months of 2023 and stay in your integrity, aimed at your goals, and infused with a sense of direction? Join me for
YEAR’S END TAROT
Y.E.T. is a one-one-one tarot session for Q4. Each session will help you wrap your head around the closing of the year, what to clear out of your life as you enter 2024, what answers may be available to lingering questions and more.
Each 50-minute one-one-one session includes
A Q4 Governing Card, drawn for the entire quarter
A card for each month of the quarter – October, November, December
Time to discuss the reading overall, as well as any specifics
A special discussion around your goals for the quarter
A look ahead into the new year
This isn’t just a regular tarot reading – although you’ll get that too – it’s a meeting to help you make the most of the last three months of the year.
Bring a pen, paper, and set aside an hour of your time to meet with me and talk about what the tarot decides to show.
To sign up, go to the AEWCH storeby clicking here and select the offering. After you purchase the session, you will receive an email from me within 72 hours with scheduling options and information.
ACCESS IS LIMITED. Sign ups start now and go until OCTOBER 12 or until I’ve reached capacity. Please note, for the efficacy of the reading all meetings will take place before OCTOBER 16. The fee is $ 380.00
If you have any questions not answered here, please email againsteveryonewithconnerhabib at gmail
In conjunction with the many insights I’m getting as I ready for my online course UP FROM RUINS , particularly in relation to destiny, I’ve decided to offer some of it up as blog posts. The first one, on economy, money, and destiny, is for patreon patrons only, but if you’re not a patron, you can sign up to read it here.
Friends, Many of the challenges of our time – not to mention our lives – share a feeling, that we are “stuck” on the tracks of this train going to… well, it doesn’t feel like somewhere good. In other words, they bring with them the feeling of fate or Destiny. So, the questions comes up:
Will things ever get better?
The sliver of freedom is there if you look closely, since the question still stands in opposition to the declaration that they won’t get better.
Because of the recuring proximity we feel to Destiny in our lives and the world, I want to explore here three common and bad conceptions of destiny, as opposed to what I think we can do with destiny; a practice I call Destiny-work.
BAD DESTINY # 1: THE DESTINED, INEVITABLE SHITSHOW
The language of inevitability is more and more present in our lives. This amounts to the contraction of a sense of choice. Two particularly potent harbingers of inevitability in our time areclimate change and AI. The former acts as a constant buzz of anxiety which can attenuate itself to each and every weather report, disaster of nature, consumer choice, and more. The latter gives us the sense that something is coming that will forever alter us, and maybe we don’t want it or maybe we do, but our desire is ultimately irrelevant in the face of the speed of change. This isn’t a comment on climate change or AI, but rather how we’re meeting them. Other hotspots of inevitability include the “permanent” rule of two political parties in the US, the presence of war, the “need” to work to make a living, and more.
Inevitability can also take the form of of thinking that the world is merely determined by capitalist/patriarchal/imperial/polluting powers and that all we can do is be in the sway and every once in awhile protest or post memes or something.
What this amounts to is that destiny moves closer and closer to predetermination. And so, anxiety becomes a mantra in the form of inner worry, repeated again and again, as if rocking back and forth in our minds The World Is Ending The World Is Ending The World Is Ending or some other equally unpleasant variation.
Everything becomes colored by the mantra. How many social media posts featuring pictures of puppies also feature a shameful apology – “The world is going to hell, so here’s a video of two puppies playing.”
This relationship to destiny can make self- development – the encounter with our own lives and destinies – harder, or easier but selfish.
The world is going to shit, and all we can do is have fun by being supplicants to its destruction, or to despair, which is just another form of worship.
Hey world is going to hell, fuck it, why should I do anything about it? Or hey the world is going to hell, so I’m driven to succeed for me and my family and screw everyone else.
Destiny becomes drained of its fullness and its ability to assist us.
In other words, destiny becomes drained of its own destiny.
Destiny drained of destiny is nihilism. Futility. This futility can sneak into even the most hopeful proclamations. Cornel West’s otherwise inspiring speech about running for president, ends with “let’s go down fighting.”
Who says we have to go down? Or fight?
BAD DESTINY # 2: THE SELF-APPOINTED HERO’S JOURNEY
Also, let’s face it, the word “destiny” has been ruined by heroes. It’s my destiny to save the world! is a grandiose entertainment trope, popularized by pop-philosopher Joseph Campbell, George Lucas, Bill Moyers, and countless writers who are probably projecting a little too much of their own hopes for redemption – or anger about those who have achieved redemption – into their stories.
The idea is that some of us have special destinies that we must live out. Usually these destinies involve prophecy, big statements, instructing others… Basically the bread and butter of popular spiritual influencers.
They’ve perceived their destinies and oh my gosh they are going to TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT.
Usually they want to get you in line with their destiny somehow, too, as a validating presence. Which is why the hero image is everywhere, often in the form of the “warrior.” Podcasters, fitness gurus, religious zealots (crusaders!), even Mama bloggers have talked nonstop about big warrior energy (BWE!) in a way that make the psychoanalytic concept of penis envy seem too, um, small in its scope.
The problem with the hero’s journey is that it’s irrelevant to destiny whether you are a “hero” or not.
Here’s a quote from Julian Barnes’s excellent novel, The Noise of Time, which traces the life of composed Dimitiri Shostakovich and his dance with the compromises and threats of the Soviet era and Stalin:
The truth is, every moment is a decisive moment when it comes to destiny. Destiny isalways working, whether it’s visible to us or not. So a hero’s milestones might not be all that special. If they were special, maybe they wouldn’t need to convince us of their specialness.
The unendurable challenge of destiny comes to all of us, at all times,across the arc of our lives, not merely in decisive moments. Sometimes we have a heroic spasm, but often we are brave cowards, dancing with it.
A little more on all this to drive it home:
It’s true that awareness of the importance of our being, and the arc of our lives from birth to death, brings us into a correct relationship to destiny. But heroism doesn’t necessarily bring us closer to that awareness.
The wellness world gives us plenty of evidence for this. Think of the ways that people who are incessantly tracking their fitness lose track of the rest of their lives or even why they want to be fit in the first place. Or the fact that someone who shows off his 6 pack abs all the time is never really naked because he has replaced hiding the vulnerability of nakedness by wearing clothes with never feeling uncomfortable while naked.
(Trust me, I have a lot of experience with this one in my own fumbles with destiny.)
Rather than being a sign of real courage, heroism and its accompanying warrior mode can be signs of disregulation and being out of step. Here, I’ll put it glibly:
While superheroes often wear masks, it’s less often considered than heroismitself is the mask.
The hero’s journey is, more often than not, a path to avoiding destiny.
BAD DESTINY # 3: THE NOTHING
This one is pretty simple, but also pretty popular, and maybe it’s made a little appearance for you as you’ve been reading this. Destiny? What Destiny? There’s just no such thing.
For the nothing version of Destiny, all that you’ve got in your big strong hand when you’re holding destiny is… air. You’ve got a clenched fist. So Destiny becomes merely an un-useful or dated concept.
I don’t want to get into the big arguments of whether God or the spiritual world or whatever exist; just to say that it is certainly true that Destiny is often not a useful concept. But it is always more useful than the nihilism of the nothing.
Why?
Because the poles of destiny are already present for you. You were born, and you will die. These are conditions of what is. What happens between the poles is where Destiny-work takes places.
Any question of how to live or how to be in the world is a question of how to deal with being born and dying, two poles of destiny.
In occultism, we think of these two poles as the action of love and the presence of truth. (But more on that in the course.)
The bottom line is, if you’ve ever thought of improving your life or making the world a better place, or even just wishing for a better world, you’ve engaged with your destiny.
How do I act when it seems the world is not going to care? Or if every action is a huge responsibility? Or if you can’t distinguish what’s important or not, what’s heroic or cowardly and more.
To grapple with all the above, and to form a better concept of what destiny is, a good concept, a concept that relates my personal development to world development, I try to attend to being with Destiny-work.
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I’ll be exploring all of this and more in my online course, live call, and one-on-one offering:
∴Exclusive new offering UP FROM RUINS: USING DESTINY-WORK TO CONNECT SELF DEVELOPMENT WITH WORLD CHALLENGES, 90 minutes, streaming on July 1, available as a recording July 2
∵Live call on July 9 available as recording on July 10
∴LIMITED option for one-on-one Destiny-work meeting
∵Resource list for all participants featuring readings, exercises, links to
investigate deeper, poetry, a playlist, and more.
DOORS OPEN to patreon patrons June 8 and to everyone else June 11.
Portal for one-one-one work closes JUNE 19 (or earlier if holding capacity is reached)
The landscape we find ourselves in in 2023 feels uncharted and dangerous, filled with new possibilities and new challenges. It’s no surprise that so many are turning to a time-worn and powerful tool for guidance: The tarot.
But what’s the best way to read the cards? What are the cards and what’s behind them? And when and why should we consult them, anyway?
This year, let’s investigate
THE MYSTERIES OF THE TAROT
Join Conner Habib, Rachel True, and Sarah Maria Griffin for a unique and potent one-time workshop on the secret truths held in the cards, and how to best relate to them for guidance and revelation.
This workshop and Q&A – with an option to receive a reading from the teachers – will alter your perception of the tarot by coming at cartomancy through three different decks, three cards, and three perspectives.
Each of the three readers has different experiences with the tarot and uses different decks; so instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to the tarot, we’ll show you the many, many paths the decks open for you… as well as what is more fixed as what, if anything, is fixed and foundational to reading the cards.
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a seasoned reader, the three-pathway approach in this workshop will point you in new and exciting directions.
Together, we’ll:
Investigate what is it that you’re accessing when you read the tarot, anyway.
Examine which deck you should choose and why.
Consider when should you consult the tarot?
Create a spread using cards from three different decks to show how a spread and each card can be interpreted in many ways.
Look at why the cards matter on a personal level.
Talk about the process of learning the 78 cards, as well as how to best remember what the cards mean.
Uncover whether or not each card has a fixed meaning or if it’s up to the reader
Look at the differences – and challenges – in reading for yourself vs reading for others.
Listen and respond to participant questions about tarot.
And much more!
Plus, participants who want readings from the course teachers can sign up for the READINGS ticket and stay on after the workshop for an EXTREMELY LIMITED engagement. Readers will be assigned AT RANDOM.
All participants will receive 30 days access to a recording of the talk.
In 2023, let’s move forward… with 78 helpers from the deck by our side, and infinite pathways at our feet.
FRIENDS! I’ll be giving a lecture and workshop (complete with spiritual exercises) on Rudolf Steiner and the Western esoteric tradition here in Dublin on Saturday January 28, at the amazing spiritual spot – The Space Between!
It’s a 3 hour long workshop with some snacks and coffee in the break, along with lots of Q&A and community discussion.
The event is moderated by AEWCH guest and frequent collaborator Una Mullally.
Description of the event below.
Unfortunately because this is a collaboration with The Space Between, I can’t offer patreon patrons discounts, but your presence will of course be acknowledged and appreciated. And I’ll try to think of SOMETHING special to pass along to you, so if you DO sign up, let me know.
You can attend in person, by watching the event streaming, or by watching a recording afterwards!
Below is the description.
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“Love is the only passion which must not be discarded in the pursuit of truth.” – Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925)
If you haven’t heard Rudolf Steiner’s name you might know about his many efforts – including Steiner schools (AKA Waldorf schools), biodynamic agriculture, Weleda, Camp Hill communities, Community Shared Agriculture (CSAs) – and more.
Or maybe you’ve heard that his occult explorations were the inspiration for Marvel comics’ Dr. Strange; that he influenced Rachel Carson’s writing of Silent Spring; that he inspired artists as diverse as Cy Twombly, Wssily Kandinsky, Saul Bellow, Andrei Tarkovsky, and the literary group the Inklings, which includes J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis.
But getting into Steiner and his esoteric work – called anthroposophy – can be daunting, to say the least. With thousands of lectures and dozens of books filled with esoteric terms and gestures that would make a philosopher blush, it’s difficult to find a way into his vast body of work.
Join author and podcaster Conner Habib in this plain-language daytime workshop on Rudolf Steiner and the Western esoteric tradition. Together we’ll enter multiple doorways into Steiner’s work, engage in anthroposophical thought exercises, and create pathways for further exploration. It’ll be fun and deep, complex and weird, respectful and irreverent all at once.
Conner Habib is the author of the international hit novel Hawk Mountain, and the host of the podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib, a podcast which covers topics as diverse as occultism, punk rock, and radical politics.
Una Mullally is an Irish Times journalist, author, and activist.
This workshop goes from 11am to 2.30pm with a tea, coffee and snack break in the middle.
Hosted by The Space Between, whose mission is to lean into the edge of the emergent, and navigate the unknown with a lightness and depth.
Friends, Can’t tell you how excited I am to announce UK TOUR DATES FOR HAWK MOUNTAIN!
And with a great line up of in-conversation partners, including a mystery writer, an occultist, a fiction writer and a special guest!
Please do spread the word and come!
SEPTEMBER 8: TREADWELLS, LONDON – withDUNCAN BARFORD (The Blood of the Saints, Occult Experiments in the Homes). On the occult, creativity, and fiction!TICKETS
SEPTEMBER 9: PAGES OF HACKNEY, EAST LONDON – Special guest TBA – 7PM. TICKETS
SEPTEMBER 12: WATERSTONES, BRIGHTON – With SJ Watson (Before I Go To Sleep, Final Cut). On psychological thrillers! 7PM. TICKETS
SEPTEMBER 14: NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE, BELFAST – With Wendy Erskine (Sweet Home, Dance Move). 6:30PM RSVP
I’ve also got a few Hawk Mountain/AEWCH t-shirts (ONLY available at events) left.
PLUS: ALL PATRONS who come to the events get a cool FREE limited edition Hawk Mountain postcard I made with my brother in-law!
See you there friends! Bring your pals, get a seat, Hawk Mountain and AEWCH with me! Can’t wait to see you! CH
Hey there friends, Wanted to let you know that there are three Hawk Mountain events coming up in Dublin, and each one is very different.
1. A book launch at the legendary Hodges Figgis with my friend Una Mullally on WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 This is a reading in the standard sense. I read the book, I answer a few questions, we hang out, we drink wine! To go to this FREE event, email ldermody@penguinrenadomhouse.ie and say you’re coming by! (you can cut and paste/ use this text – just include your name: Hi I’m excited to attend the Conner Habib event on the 27th. Thanks!)
2. I’ll be talking horror and darkness in fiction with author, podcaster, and tarot reader Sarah Maria Griffin, on FRIDAY, AUGUST 5 at Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI). Here’s the link! The event is FREE and will be awesome.
3. My event on THURSDAY, JULY 28 with Caitlin Doughty and Mark O’Connell is SOLD OUT! But go to one of the other two with the also awesome AEWCH guests here!
Friends, In the strange new plane of 2022 so many of us want to contribute the highest aspects of our creativity, our individuation, and our spiritual presence. But the rhythms of this plane are disorienting, sometimes draining and confusing.
What is your artistic contribution? Your spiritual project? Your financial sovereignty? Your public presence? IN 2022, will you AMPLIFY/CREATE/ORIENT AND ALIGN your efforts in a way that RESONATES WITH OTHERS, OUR NEWLY FORMING WORLD, AND WHO YOU KNOW YOU TRULY ARE?
If so meet me in
∴ WAVEFORM MENTORSHIP ∵
∴∵Life-changing one-one-one mentorship, in which we’ll co-form and intensify your creative works, personal goals, spiritual directives, and public presence with concentrated attention.
∴WAVEFORM∵ is real mentorship, not pre-packaged life coaching.
These sessions will change the direction, outcome and reception of your efforts. The many forms my work has taken have given me a potent, unique perspective on achievement, resonance, and presence. You will receive every benefit of my two decades of public-facing and award-winning work in media, literature, education, lecturing, public speaking, podcasting, writing, and intellectual endeavors.
This offering exists only in the timeframe of May and June in 2022. Sign up ends on APRIL 30. ∴WAVEFORM∵ has extremely limited space for participants, since each of you will be receive sustained individual attention from me during that time period.
IN THIS MENTORSHIP PROCESS WE WILL:
Meet one-one-one for 90 minutes in a SPECTRAL CONTENT MEETING to find the contours of your unrealized goal and vision; and to map out the form your actions need to take over the next two months to meet that goal and vision. It’s different for every project.
Meet one-on-one forthree, hourlong PHASE MEETINGS to tune in to your progression and to course correct as we go, reseting the rhythm and form where needed
Guide you through each layer of your project through as it intensifies and comes into being
Develop exercises, new directions, refinements, in Conner’s parallel work: three FREQUENCY SESSIONS where Conner will be focusing on your project on his own, spending time contemplating on you and your efforts to develop exercises and side quests that resonate with your work
Identify your strengths (apparent talents) and weaknesses (talents waiting to be redeemed) in achieving your goal
Gather in a group streaming READJUSTMENT MEETING (you may stay anonymous or access the recording later)and attune you to rhythms/habits your goals need to flourish + clear your inner world out so that it holds the appropriate space for your effort
Create a list of NEW AMPLIFIERS for your work: a curated list of resources made specifically for you and the form you’re working with
Keep in touch throughout the two month period, with UNLIMITED EMAIL ACCESS guaranteeing response from Conner within 72 hours.
Recalibrate your old oscillations and habits to turn them into helpers for your new forms
FEE: The fee is $2750 for patrons/$3000 for non-patrons/$2600 for patrons who signed up for You Must Change Your Life. To sign up, just send me an email via againsteveryonewithconnerhabib at gmail.com. You get:
1x Readjustment Meeting (2hrs)
1x 1-on-1 Spectral Content Meeting (90 minutes)
3x 1-on-1 Phase Meetings (50 minutes each)
3x Frequency Sessions (30-45 minutes Conner solo work between meetings)
1 New Amplifier personalized resource list
Email access communication within 72 hours
This portal collapses after April 30 so email me today to begin resonating with the process. We will be working together across May and June in a concentrated way so that your fully developed form emerges into the second half of 2022.
CONNER, CAN YOU TELL ME MORE? THIS SOUNDS A LITTLE VAGUE AND COSTS MORE THAN YOUR OTHER OFFERINGS Yes, read the FAQ below, but the reason it may sound vague is because ∴WAVEFORM∵ is mentorship for all artistic, spiritual, public intellectual, and personal projects. With the exception of some basic groundwork offered in the Readjustment Meeting, you’ll be receiving individualized attention. Because your project is unique, the form the process and resonance takes will be unique to you.
FAQ
What kind of projects/spiritual directives/etc can I do? Because I have a huge range of experience to draw from, ∴WAVEFORM∵ is for all creatives. Aside from hosting a successful podcast, publishing a novel nonfiction, and poetry; I’ve also had my own web series, set up dozens of live events, lectured at universities and organizations around the world, given online courses, and curated events on the national level. I’ve made hundreds of media appearances on TV, podcasts, movies, radio, and web shows. I’ve also been one of the only (the only?) adult performer to navigate the passage from adult performance to popular non-adult endeavors that were not in some way adult- or sexuality-centered. Your project could be to write a book and make real headway, to secure public attention for endeavors already underway, to create a spiritual community, to shift into a new artistic or professional field, to start a podcast, to make a certain amount of money, or to create your own pathway for occult development. Whatever your form is, I will offer everything I’ve learned that suits the path you’re on.
Can I sign up for some other time? No. I’m offering these spots right now because my novel comes out in early July and there is an intense nexus of public, financial, and media activity unfolding and flowing into the book. After May and June, I won’t be available for a connection like this. That is why space is extremely limited, and time is confined to this period. This portal exists now.
Am I guaranteed success in my creative project/goals/etc if I sign up? Let me put it this way: Committing to spending time with me and up to $3000 on something is an investment in taking your project and goal seriously enough to accomplish it. Your success depends, of course, on you and your determination more than anything else. What I can guarantee is that this process will amplify every aspect of your creative work, from process to final product, from your feeling in creating to where it all ends up in the world when you’re done.
Aside from the individualized approach, how is this different than any other coaching? To put it bluntly: have you noticed how most coaches are people you’ve never heard of, posting testimonials from people you’ve never heard of? I’m not saying they’re not doing anything helpful or worthwhile. It’s just that if you want help, it’s good to go to someone who you resonate with and is recognized. I’m offering these services because I know that what I’ve learned is helpful to others. I also know how difficult it was for me to get to where I am now, and I want it to be easier for everyone else. No one should have to go through all the work I went through to get to where I am now. So: I’m offering help to a small group of people interested in entering into this commitment to change their lives and bring new forms into being.
Am I too much of a beginner to sign up for this? (Flipside: Am I too accomplished?) No. The process is for you wherever you’re at. I’ve been hired by New York Times bestselling authors to help them through blocks on their new books. I’ve guided people who have barely sat down to type a few words to publishing essays in magazines with huge circulation. I’ve done spiritual coaching for a cybersecurity worker who suddenly started having unexplainable experiences; I’ve helped an unpublished poet become a screenwriter now working on Netflix series. I’ve advised financial institutions on how to incorporate spiritual principles into their business practices. I’ve coached playwrights on writing their first (now published!) novels and guided undergraduates in university literature courses.
The “right” starting point is wherever you decide to take this step from.
Should I apply even if I can’t really afford it? Discomfort is not, in general, separable from progression. In signing up for ∴WAVEFORM∵, it’s important that you be able to see things differently, and that includes your own willingness to engage with discomfort and fear to move forward. I don’t recommend that you sign up if your commitment will totally blow your nervous system apart. But if you’re hesitant yet still reading this, you probably already know that your feelings don’t always accurately reflect the reality of your abilities. Since you’re here, reading these lines, you are likely to have the resources and a core consciousness and confidence that signing up is possible for you now.
What happens if I sign up and don’t like it? Can I get a refund or drop out? No client-initiated refunds are available. But I have no interest in artificially trying to help people who would have better teachers. If for some reason your project doesn’t seem to fall into my realm of experience, I will let you know that I’m not sure I can help by the time we are done with our initial Spectral Content Meeting. I will of course give you your money back in that case. That said, I’ve never had any client in decades of experience want to leave in the middle of a process because they did not find our work together valuable.
I signed up for You Must Change Your Life; why is there a discount? Will we be repeating anything from those sessions? Not really. The Readjustment Meeting is a group meeting which features a variation of the You Must Change Your Life session. However, it is strongly recommended that you attend, even if you went through the You Must Change Your Life session with me. That said, since there is some overlap in that meeting (and only that meeting), I’m offering a discount, since if you attended YMCYL, you have done some of the ground work already.
How do I pay? After you email me, will set up the most appropriate payment method for you; usually PayPal.
Any unanswered questions? Please send to againsteveryonewithconnerhabib at gmail.com
Now. Let’s Amplify/Create/Orient in this new plane together. XO CH
SUPPORT THIS PODCAST! Against Everyone With Conner Habib is free for everyone, but it only exists via of support of listeners. If you like this show, if it has meaning for you, support it by using Patreon! Thank you so, so much.
FRIENDS:
Here’s a live episode of AEWCH, featuring one of my main collaborators, Una Mullally (AEWCH 151 & AEWCH 87) plus one of her main collaborators, Andrea Horan, who co-hosts their podcast, United Ireland.
In this live event, Una, Andrea, and I discussed Utopia with a live audience, and then got them to dream up utopia as well. The audience appears on this episode, expressing what they’ve dreamt up. It’s a messy and wonderful moment: Dream big, dream now, dream together with strangers. I’m so happy with how the evening turned out.
To that end, when you listen to this episode, please do the exercises we suggest (and the supplements to the exercise) as best you can.
No real show notes here, but plenty of references to Rudolf Steiner & social threefolding, Grant Morrison, Jacques Lacan, magic, self help, and of course, utopia.
In the midst of the loneliness and fear of 2020, Una Mullally (AEWCH 87 & 151) and I noticed something profound: people were helping each other. They were looking out for each other. We both had the same thought at the same time: if we could wash our hands, and stand far apart, and buy groceries for our neighbors, and live each day with concern in our hearts for one another, we could make a better world, too.
And it didn’t have to be complicated, we’d just need the right starting point. And that starting point was and is:
What do you want?
Instead of asking questions of what’s practical, what came before, or what’s expected next, we thought, why not really ask what people are imagining.
So we started a project just for people living in Ireland in the summer of 2020: Utopia Ireland. We asked people what their idea was for a better Ireland they’d think a better Ireland looked like. We got well over a thousand answers in just a few months with almost no marketing.
What we found was that people in Ireland are ready for something: not “new” not “old” but something connected.
When the National Concert Hall contacted Una and said they were curating new series of events that would take place just at the turning point of the pandemic, we knew that this was a way for us to ask the question again.
What did we want? In this case, what did we want from cultural and music events?
We wanted events that had a sense of risk, a sense of uncertainty, and a sense of vision.
We wanted a concert – Murmuration – that drew from the culture of buskers in Irish cities and from the unpredictability of nature. At the concert — which features Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le’Aupepe (AEWCH 31), Gemma Doherty from Saint Sister, Irish folk star Daoirí Farrell, and more — each musician “passes off” the stage to the next musician, sharing the space and working with the musical director Ben Castle. The show will be dangerous in the best sense of the word. Instead of a polished production, it will move like the light of birds it’s named after.
We wanted a celebration of one of the most profound visionaries in Irish history, John Moriarty. John’s work is praised by Irish writers and celebrities. But he’s still largely unknown. He wrote about Ireland that was in touch with its eternal landscape, ancient mythology, and artistic present, all at once.
We wanted to present a merging of our podcasts, Against Everyone with Conner Habib and United Irelandto talk about utopia – and social threefolding – with each other and with the audience.
We wanted a room where sound was immersive, penetrating, and healing. A “sound bath” run by DJs and sound artists that passes the vibration through you as you enter; messing you up in the best way possible.
We wanted the unrehearsed, un-contained energy of rap music, with the spirit of a battle and freestyle. Music and lyrics that are craved from the air in the room by Irelands’ most innovative hi[p hop artists: Rebel Phoenix, Strange Boy, DJ Replay, Dyramid, and more.
We wanted something that felt involving. We learned in the pandemic that we saved each other. That participation, not spectating in the world is what got us through. So Utopia is a series of events that brings every audience member into a space of vision, anticipation, contemplation, creativity, and movement.
Conner Habib 