# Theurgy in the Mud

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/psyche-5592447/theurgy-in-the-mud
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/psyche-5592447/theurgy-in-the-mud.md
Podcast: [Psyche](https://stenobird.com/podcast/psyche-5592447)
Published: 2026-06-29T19:35:29+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/quique-autrey4/episodes/Theurgy-in-the-Mud-e3lejaj
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/8f1bdd40/podcast/play/122161939/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-29%2F579acf47-0af9-bee0-48d0-046f71815f1e.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/psyche-5592447/episodes/theurgy-in-the-mud
Duration seconds: 1740

## Resource

In this episode, I reflect on starting to reread Gregory Shaw’s Theurgy and the Soul and the strange, painful tension of admiring a scholar of Iamblichus while discovering he is currently involved in a contested legal case where a woman is accusing him of stealing over 80k from her on a dating website . This is not a verdict, a defense, or an accusation. It is a meditation on projection, spiritual idealization, moral humility, and our desire to believe that people who study the sacred somehow rise above the mud of human existence. Through Iamblichus, theurgy, psychoanalysis, and the messiness of real life, I explore why genuine spirituality cannot be about escaping embodiment, failure, shame, or contradiction. Maybe the soul is not healed by finding flawless people to worship. Maybe it is healed by giving up the fantasy of flawless people altogether.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/psyche-5592447/episodes/theurgy-in-the-mud/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/psyche-5592447/theurgy-in-the-mud.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.