The Return of Spirits

In this (long overdue) episode Sean and I bring on special guests Riki Ohkanda and Joel Smith. The conversation centered autumnal festivals and rituals in Japan, and the Izomo Taisha shrine and its rituals in particular. We made comparisons to All Souls’ and All Saints’ day in the Christian tradition. What emerged, unplanned, were the he “meaty” topics how non-Christian cultures should be mined for Christian types and foreshadowing, and the possibility of a hidden Ur-God, the deus absconditus, present in Japanese religion.