This video essay explores the mythological and spiritual themes present in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, particularly focusing on Rey's journey as a metaphor for humanity's disconnection from and yearning for ancestral connection. It argues that despite critical reception, Rey's storyline represents a modern myth about re-establishing ties to the "spirit of the depths" and the realm of the dead, contrasting this with the Sith's pursuit of technological immortality. The video connects these ideas to concepts like the "archaic revival," the "golden chain" of esoteric knowledge, and the importance of internal spiritual wisdom over external forms or literal bloodlines. Ultimately, the video essay suggests that the sequels, through Rey, offer a vision of immortality achieved through spiritual transformation and an active relationship with one's ancestors.

The Disney+ Marvel Loki streaming series can be understood as a sci-fi fairy tale of alchemical transformation - not just in the psychological sense of Jungian individuation - and not just in the sense of spiritual redemption - but alchemy as mystic alchemical deification - the process in which an individual comes to realize, and become, the divine.

The film Nosferatu directed by Robert Eggers seems to explicitly point to the work of CG Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz on alchemy. Here's a video essay looking at the film as a fairy tale of the occult, one ripe for Marie-Louise von Franz style analysis. It can be understood as a powerful mythological cosmic fairy tale in which Ellen and Count Orlok represent two figures in the Jungian collective unconscious. And their fate is intertwined with the fate of the world.

The video explores the concept of the "Spectacle Machine" and its relationship to media, consciousness, and reality. Drawing on the work of Marshall McLuhan, Peter Kingsley, David Cronenberg, and many others, the video posits that the "Spectacle Machine" refers to any device or experience that extends our senses and shapes our perception of the world.

Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia can be understood as a deeply religious film. A film about suffering and divine grace delivered through messengers, helpers, and more direct intervention.

In this multi-part video essay series, I discuss how Twin Peaks: The Return can be understood as a warning of the illness that plagues the modern soul and how it hints at the possibility of redemption. The Return includes symbolic imagery and themes that resonate with esoteric mythology and teachings found within various ancient philosophical traditions, religions, mystery cults, and magical beliefs as well as the mystic explorations of depth psychologist C.G. Jung.