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Dr Robin Douglas

@robincdouglas.bsky.social
2.4K followers 866 following 2.5K posts

Historian of religions, paganism and esotericism. Website: www.robindouglas.org Posting in a personal capacity.

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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Really fascinating account from a gay British seminarian at the SSPX seminary in Econe in the late 1970s. (He left before he was ordained.) www.reddit.com/r/ExTraditio...
reddit.com
From the ExTraditionalCatholic community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the ExTraditionalCatholic community
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I have a new online article: "The most based church ever: The forgotten history of the Labour Church" A Victorian experiment in combining a spirituality deriving from immanentist theology with Labour politics. Based. robindouglas.org/2026/09/18/t...
robindouglas.org
The most based church ever
The forgotten history of the Labour Church May the strength and joy of God’s presence be with all who love their brethren in sincerity, Amen. This piece is about a now-forgotten experiment in moder…
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I have a new online article: "The most based church ever: The forgotten history of the Labour Church" A Victorian experiment in combining a spirituality deriving from immanentist theology with Labour politics. Based. robindouglas.org/2026/09/18/t...
robindouglas.org
The most based church ever
The forgotten history of the Labour Church May the strength and joy of God’s presence be with all who love their brethren in sincerity, Amen. This piece is about a now-forgotten experiment in moder…
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I'm delighted to confirm that my forthcoming book, "The Myth of the Jewish Conspiracy" is now listed on the Exeter University Press website. The price is £30, and the publication date is 7 December 2027. www.exeterpress.co.uk/products/the...
exeterpress.co.uk
The Myth of the Jewish Conspiracy
The idea that a conspiracy of Jews is attempting to control the world is one of the most enduring myths of the modern age. In The Myth of the Jewish Conspiracy, Robin Douglas traces the history of thi...
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
After 9/11, various people in the West went in search of the ideology which had inspired the attacks and attempted to trace it to its sources. Here are some old notes on Islamism which I'm republishing from my old blog: pagesfromahistoriansnotebook.substack.com/p/some-notes...
pagesfromahistoriansnotebook.substack.com
Some notes on Islamism
I’m reposting here some material on Islamism that I originally posted some years ago on my old blog.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Paul McCartney once described the Beatles as having the quality of magick, with a k. There are some acts who are like this and some who just aren't, no matter how talented and original they are. 1/2
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Though there is a amusing thought that AI researchers might find that instead of creating the scientific super-intelligence of an Asimov novel they end up getting the machine equivalent of an erratic but well-read penniless intellectual that you'd find in a 19th century Istanbul or Vienna coffehouse
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
FREE LAUNCH EVENT in Glastonbury 🚨 I'll be speaking about my book at 7pm at Becket's Inn in Glasto on Friday 9 October. Please come along!
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Are you interested in joining an online study group on the Book of Abramelin? (You'll know immediately if you are or not!) If so, please click on the link in the next tweet. Please also retweet this for publicity 🙏
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Darth Vader briefly celebrated as a hero on Bluesky after it is discovered at least one insurance CEO or banker was on Alderaan but is swiftly cancelled upon the revelation he built a clanker as a child.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A thread for the anniversary of the start of World War II. It is remarkable how the news headlines in the immediate run-up to the outbreak of war were *not* dominated by the growing crisis. /1
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm delighted to say that my next book, "Children of Starry Heaven: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek Transcendental Tradition", is now approaching publication with Cherry Hill Seminary Press. It will hopefully be in print in the next few weeks 🙂
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
'"Mother Earth" Pagan Worship by Vatican Representative: Doctrine of the Faith Official makes Offering of Coca Leaves at Pachamama Ceremony during Official Church Meeting' rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2026/08/moth...
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com
"Mother Earth" Pagan Worship by Vatican Representative: Doctrine of the Faith Official makes Offering of Coca Leaves at Pachamama Ceremony during Official Church Meeting
Rorate Note: Official Vatican News covering of the event here  (in Spanish); Spanish page Infovaticana adds the grotesque context. A Pontifi...
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The prevalent 1987-1992, 2011, 1848 or 1789 perspective of regimes falling through some grand and sudden revolt in the big cities often doesn't accurately reflect how the power of an authoritarian regime bleeds out often for years and decades before that in countrysides that journalists rarely visit
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Modern western religious culture is sometimes referred to as a "spiritual supermarket": buyers are presented with a bewildering array of choices in an environment in which the consumer is king. This model of religious plurality can be traced back to Victorian times. 1/
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Modern western religious culture is sometimes referred to as a "spiritual supermarket": buyers are presented with a bewildering array of choices in an environment in which the consumer is king. This model of religious plurality can be traced back to Victorian times. 1/
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
People have been making assertions about this at a high level of generality, along the lines of "guilt is Christian" or "ancient Greeks didn't think like that".
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I've now seen "The Odyssey". In all, I think it does as well as any film could in capturing the story. It's pretty close to the original for the most part, and it gets in most of the major episodes. Where it departs from Homer, the departures aren't a problem.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Joris-Karl Huysmans and a group of other civil servants participated in an attempt to invoke the spirit of General Boulanger.
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Paul Robichaud 🪨🐐 @pjrobichaud.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Just finished this fascinating book by @robincdouglas.bsky.social and @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social, which shows how the history of western paganism since Christianity is really a series of pagan revivals. Erudite, readable, and occasionally provocative, with many surprises along the way!
Paganism Persisting: A History of European Paganisms since Antiquity by Robin Douglas and Francis Young
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Since Homer is fashionable at the moment, I'm going to re-post a couple of introductory items that I produced on Homer and Homeric epic a few years ago. (I'm also planning on writing some stuff on the Odyssey specifically, but that will have to wait for a while.)
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The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
There are a lot of chuds converting to Orthodox Christianity. So much so that young Orthodox women are getting really annoyed about being hit on in church.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
One extraordinary feature of the Judaeo-Bolshevik myth was that the early Bolsheviks, including Lenin, worried about the optics of it. In internal documentation, we find the preposterous idea that the Marxist regime should put more "Orthodox Christians" in charge because too many Jews looked bad.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
New post on the London "Temple of Reason". An 18th century experiment in founding a secular church. An strange road not taken in the history of freethought in Britain. religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/the-temple...
religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com
The Temple of Reason in London
A secularist church
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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
For reasons, I have been calculating gender ratios for German professors of ancient history today. Turns out that 13% of chairs in Ancient History in Germany are held by women, less than in engineering (17%). That compares to 30% of chairs in Germany overall, and 44% in the Humanities.
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Levi Stahl @levistahl.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
By at least one metric, one translation of the Odyssey is the third-best-selling book in the country right now, while another is eighth. Wild.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The Gorgons - A pagan group in 1930s England? New article on my website on what seems to be a satirical account of an all-female pagan cult. The question is whether there was a grain of truth in the satire.... robindouglas.org/2026/07/19/t...
robindouglas.org
The Gorgons – A pagan group in 1930s England?
The following text, from 1934, claims to reveal a pagan society of man-hating women which was operating in an unidentified place located roughly to the west of London. If the report were true, it w…
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The Gorgons - A pagan group in 1930s England? New article on my website on what seems to be a satirical account of an all-female pagan cult. The question is whether there was a grain of truth in the satire.... robindouglas.org/2026/07/19/t...
robindouglas.org
The Gorgons – A pagan group in 1930s England?
The following text, from 1934, claims to reveal a pagan society of man-hating women which was operating in an unidentified place located roughly to the west of London. If the report were true, it w…
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
When Mandela died, there were all kinds of right-on white westerners posting things like "farewell, Madiba, rest in power brother". People who had never met the guy or even been to SA. One imagined Mandela rousing himself to send a last round of tweets saying "fck off, it's 'Mr Mandela' to you"
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Hwæt! @hwaet.info · 13/07/2026
"What ho!" The Deeds of Beowulf: An English Epic of the Eighth Century, 1892 John Earle 🇬🇧
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I'm delighted to announce that I've been offered a contract by Cherry Hill Seminary (@chseminary.bsky.social) for a book entitled "Children of Starry Heaven: The Ancient Greek Transcendental Tradition". /1
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I'm delighted to announce that I've been offered a contract by Cherry Hill Seminary (@chseminary.bsky.social) for a book entitled "Children of Starry Heaven: The Ancient Greek Transcendental Tradition". /1
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Prof Frank McDonough @fxmc1957.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
PHOTO OF THE DAY. Grave of Eleanor Rigby in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool, where John Lennon & Paul McCartney met for the 1st time #OTD in 1957.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Just listened to an interview with Massimo Introvigne in which he suggested that the SSPX's adherents are in the tens rather than hundreds of thousands and that the movement is facing decline.
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finrodsauronverynsfwprivatefolderdonotlook @yungdreyfusard.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
someone needs to found a woke latin mass society
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CatholicGeekery @catholicgeekery.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Speaking from my own religious context, it's also just dangerous for more liberal types to shy away from open devotion, because I've seen people drawn into very toxic spaces by the initial appeal of "at least the people here talk like they believe this stuff".
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Adanedhel🌹 @danielwaweru.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This quadrant (old-school liturgy/ left to far left politics) isn’t as well occupied as it should be
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Bob Fry @bobfry.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
#PhantomsFriday In 1642, after the battle of Edgehill ghostly armies were seen fighting in the sky. King Charles sent a Royal Commission to investigate & they also saw the apparitions. This is the only official ghost sighting in the UK. Intriguing details below www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Hi...
historic-uk.com
Ghostly Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill on October 23rd 1642 was the first battle of the English Civil War - and is reputed to be contested again and again by ghostly armies at the battle site...
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I see that the Vatican is insisting on defectors from the SSPX being received as converts. Leo isn't messing about.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Ok - this is up now. If you want to read something about the SSPX situation from the perspective of a historian of religion - something which doesn't just tediously repeat the usual points - this is for you. Links below.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I'm watching the schism live online 👍
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Excellent article about the reality of the SSPX. wherepeteris.com/seven-years-...
wherepeteris.com
Seven Years in the SSPX
On a sunny Santa Clara mountainside, I stood in shocked silence. It was lunchtime at the retreat center, and the buffet was ready. Prayers were said, and everyone stood. An unassuming woman in a loose...
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
A contemporary report on the occult scene in Liverpool in 1857 This will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the history of esotericism. /1
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
A contemporary report on the occult scene in Liverpool in 1857 This will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the history of esotericism. /1
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Richard Littler @richardlittler.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Just wow. I Googled to see if 18th century artist Henry Fuseli had ever painted Orpheus and Eurydice, and AI overview said: "It appears you may be blending the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the distinct, spiraling noodle known as fusilli"
AI overview:  "It appears you may be blending the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the distinct, spiraling noodle known as fusilli"
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This is perhaps my last chance to post my piece on Sir Kier Starmer as Britain's first atheist Prime Minister. religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/britains-f...
religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com
Britain's first atheist prime minister?
It's about time
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Ok - this is up now. If you want to read something about the SSPX situation from the perspective of a historian of religion - something which doesn't just tediously repeat the usual points - this is for you. Links below.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Would anyone be interested in an article about the SSPX bishops affair which tries to be genuinely reflective, isn't apologetic in purpose, and explains what is going on for the benefit of people who aren't insiders?
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
There is a real fear that liberal democratic societies are starting to fail to reproduce their own ideology.
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Dr Robin Douglas @robincdouglas.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Christianity as Aryan - A Victorian rant Crank theories that Christianity is an "Aryan" rather than a "Semitic" religion are usually associated with the wilder fringe of 1930s Nazi theology. But, as my latest piece shows, they go back at least to Victorian London. robindouglas.org/2026/06/12/c...
robindouglas.org
Christianity as Aryan – A Victorian rant
The idea that Christianity is an “Aryan” religion rather than a “Semitic” one is usually associated with the wilder fringes of 1930s Nazi theology. But the idea goes back fu…
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