Some amazing gay history. Listen up kids.

September’s Folklore (136:3) features two of my reviews on books about the social supernatural & the persistence of paganism. Both richly worth the doing. Some splendid other stuff too! 😉 @uexeterpress.bsky.social @robincdouglas.bsky.social @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social @folkloresociety.bsky.social

Why Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism" essay gets it wrong. It's endlessly quoted, but I don't think it's effective diagnostic tool for fascism. /1

Why Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism" essay gets it wrong. It's endlessly quoted, but I don't think it's effective diagnostic tool for fascism. /1

New article: "The Rapture is happening today, or maybe tomorrow" What *is* the Rapture, and why do people believe in it? I look at the latest prediction of the coming end of the world. robindouglas.org/2025/09/23/t...

New article: "The Rapture is happening today, or maybe tomorrow" What *is* the Rapture, and why do people believe in it? I look at the latest prediction of the coming end of the world. robindouglas.org/2025/09/23/t...

Kind of funny to predict the Rapture for two days when all fully observant Jews will be offline. I wonder if anyone's going to be like "😳 why has Ben Shapiro suddenly stopped tweeting"

It is notable that TC *on stage* used the oldest antisemitic dogwhistle known to white supremacy: the jews killed jesus. He cackled after saying it

Limerick, Ireland, 1838 - Report of the reception of a nun Interesting points: 1. The journalist emphasises how hot she is 2. She was a convert of 3 years 3. She hadn't yet been confirmed - this was done at the reception ceremony

I would be grateful if my fellow Roman Catholics would take a ****ing breath and consider where our all too recent willingness to cosy up to fascist authoritarians got us before leaning forward to kiss their hand again.

🚨 New on my Substack! "The last theocracy in Europe" An article to commemorate the 155th anniversary of the end of the time warp known as the Papal States. Link in next post.

🚨 New on my Substack! "The last theocracy in Europe" An article to commemorate the 155th anniversary of the end of the time warp known as the Papal States. Link in next post.

L'oecuménisme de la droite.

I don't think this is tenable. The article seeks to talk up a threat which - unlike other aspects of far right ideology - doesn't have any real traction in the UK. The examples given are unimpressive. Christian nationalism is like baseball: one of those American things that doesn't really travel.

The city of Mecca, where all Muslims are asked to make a pilgrimage once in their lifetimes, is closed to non-Muslims. It is not the only closed city in human history, but it is the best-known and has perhaps provoked the most interest from outsiders. /1

The city of Mecca, where all Muslims are asked to make a pilgrimage once in their lifetimes, is closed to non-Muslims. It is not the only closed city in human history, but it is the best-known and has perhaps provoked the most interest from outsiders. /1

Since I'm on here now, I'm going to repost from Twitter something which interested me. There is a statistical relationship between two things which appear to be very different: the Remain vote in the Brexit referendum, and the prevalence of support for the Church of England in Victorian times /1

David Kertzer, "Unholy War" An important book on the Catholic Church's role in antisemitism in the 19th and 20th centuries. I've reposted a review that I wrote of it a few years ago. Link in next post

Tomorrow, the King will attend a Requiem for the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral. Some coverage has suggested that this is the first time that a British monarch has attended a Catholic Mass since the Reformation; but it has been pointed out that Edward VII did so back in 1908.

Ages ago, when the New Atheists were news, I posted reviews of Richard Dawkins' and Christopher Hitchens' masterpieces on my old blog. I've just re-posted them on my new website (link in next post). These are period pieces, perhaps - it all seems a long time ago now.

Tomorrow, the King will attend a Requiem for the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral. Some coverage has suggested that this is the first time that a British monarch has attended a Catholic Mass since the Reformation; but it has been pointed out that Edward VII did so back in 1908.

Ages ago, when the New Atheists were news, I posted reviews of Richard Dawkins' and Christopher Hitchens' masterpieces on my old blog. I've just re-posted them on my new website (link in next post). These are period pieces, perhaps - it all seems a long time ago now.

"....[I]t was said in the past that, although English people had many sunless days, they remained gay and sprightly because they ate the sun's warm herb, saffron, in great quantities." - Katherine Oldmeadow, "The Folklore of Herbs"

1803 - an advert for some new music by someone called "Louis Van Beethoven". It takes second place behind music by the now-forgotten Ignaz Pleyel.

"....up to the year 1800, Londoners could walk to green pastures in any direction in ten minutes. Drury Lane was called the village of St. Giles; Leicester Fields and Soho were open country and Mile End was a common where pennyroyal grew in abundance....

The Egyptian activist Sayyid Qutb was the godfather of modern Islamist politics, and his 1964 book "Milestones" is a summation of his ideas. After 9/11, when people in the West went looking for the roots of jihadi ideology, they repeatedly ran into Qutb.

My website has just had a redesign! robindouglas.org

Please note:

It's not widely known that the doctrine of immediate heaven or hell (or purgatory) after death is a controversial position in the Christian tradition. It was debated in the Catholic middle ages, and IIRC it was rejected by both Luther and Calvin.

🚨New on my history Substack "1961 - Britain's first trans celebrity: 'The People' outs April Ashley" A rare press article - the piece which 'outed' one of the few publicly visible trans women in 20th century Britain. Link in next post.

🚨New on my history Substack "1961 - Britain's first trans celebrity: 'The People' outs April Ashley" A rare press article - the piece which 'outed' one of the few publicly visible trans women in 20th century Britain. Link in next post.

ICYMI

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on the lingering clerical culture in rural 1920s Italy, which contrasted with that in France.

In 1921, Pope Benedict XV issued an encyclical on Dante (In praeclara summorum). Is this the first and only time that a pope has ever issued an encyclical on a famous author (in the sense of a writer of fiction)?

(reposting because this didn't work last time) I've uploaded an odd liturgical curiosity - the text of a Deist Evensong rite from 1776. It was composed by the Welsh clergyman David Williams, in collaboration with Benjamin Franklin.

In 1984, the Church of England celebrated a Requiem Mass in the Sarum rite for a sailor of the Mary Rose. A thousand people attended the Mass.

His birth was accompanied by miracles. He was an ascetic, a miracle-worker and a religious reformer. An article on Apollonius of Tyana and the Pythagorean movement from which he emerged. www.robindouglas.org/post/an-anci...

His birth was accompanied by miracles. He was an ascetic, a miracle-worker and a religious reformer. An article on Apollonius of Tyana and the Pythagorean movement from which he emerged. www.robindouglas.org/post/an-anci...

Diana Week was extraordinary - a brief window into the popular hagiology of the Middle Ages, complete with institutions trying to encourage and profit from it. The only thing that came close to it was the Queen's death - another exercise in vernacular religiosity, but one that felt less weird.

Jeez. You’re in trouble when the C of E actually has an opinion on something. (The C of E’s great battle cry: ‘On the one hand — but on the other!)

I saw an AMORC centre, with a sign outside, while going out for dinner in Peckham, of all places!

In my upstairs library, I have two little statues, one of the goddess Isis and the other of a kneeling donkey. Both are sat beside a bowl of roses. There's also a stone carving of Epona. I suspect Apuleius would approve of the literary homage (although George Fox wouldn't!). 😀

THE ROMAN OCCULTIST WHO WROTE A NOVEL The only complete Latin novel that survives today is The Golden Ass, which was written by a Roman of North African extraction called Apuleius. Apuleius was a witty, learned man who may have had some dark secrets.

THE ROMAN OCCULTIST WHO WROTE A NOVEL The only complete Latin novel that survives today is The Golden Ass, which was written by a Roman of North African extraction called Apuleius. Apuleius was a witty, learned man who may have had some dark secrets.

St Guinefort was literally a dog. www.thegreyhoundsaint.com

St Adauctus ("Added") was so called because he randomly came forward for martyrdom alongside a priest and no-one knew who he was or what his name was.

The Victorians are often seen as pioneers of modern science and technology. But they were spooky too. Many Victorians were involved in occult activities like Spiritualism. Some attempted to combine science and the supernatural by engaging in psychical research. /1

The Victorians are often seen as pioneers of modern science and technology. But they were spooky too. Many Victorians were involved in occult activities like Spiritualism. Some attempted to combine science and the supernatural by engaging in psychical research. /1

How many people in the world have done the Abramelin? (People currently alive, that is.) I'm thinking that it must be in three figures, maybe even in four figures.

(From the archives) Is Keir Starmer Britain's first atheist prime minister? www.robindouglas.org/post/britain...