In this episode, JF and Phil bring together two visionary essays on the daimonic and the imaginal: Cristina Campo’s “On Fairy Tales” and M.C. Richards’s “Wrestling with the Daimonic.” What emerges is a conversation about imagination, personhood, and a world shot through with meaning. Notably, this episode opens with a discussion of what your hosts mean by "imaginal."

Phil’s reading of Richards’s essay can be found on our Patreon page. Thanks to Wesleyan University Press for permission to share this with our listeners.

Go to Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page to preorder his marvellous new album, Weird Studies Volume 3.

Click here to sign up for JF's seminar on Henri Bergson, happening on the Mutations learning platform on Saturday, April 11, 2026.

Click here for details on JF's upcoming Weirdosphere course, "What is Philosophy?".

Music in this Episode

"Scavenger," from ⁠Weird Studies Vol. 3⁠

"Domes and Spires," from ⁠Weird Studies Vol. 2⁠

References

M. C. Richards, American artist and philosopher

Cristina Campo, Italian poet and essayist

M. C. Richards, “Wrestling with the Daimonic” 

Cristina Campo, “On Fairy Tales”

Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory

William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”

Weird Studies, Episode 8 on Graham Harmon

Susan Chang, The Tarot Podcast

Ramsey Dukes, The Little Book of Demons

“The Boy Who Knew No Fear,” fairy tale 

Una Voce, Catholic movement 

Franz Liszt, Hungarian Pianist

Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller

William Shakespeare, Othello 

M. C. Richards, Centering

Robert Duncan, American poet

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