True Magic

If long hair is a woman’s glory, what does that mean for pixie cuts and bobs? We discuss the surprisingly recent history of short hair on women, the infamous Felicity chop, and whether consent nullifies shame. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Is the idea of a Sunday best biblical? If so, why is history replete with theologians telling people to stop dressing so fancy? How do we navigate between the ditches of immodesty and slovenliness when gathering in the heavenly court? Resources mentioned in the episode: John Wesley’s full sermon on dressing plainly: https://biblesnet.com/john-wesley-on-dress.pdf Bnonn’s sermon on worship as a meeting of the heavenly court: https://redwoodchurch.substack.com/p/how-should-we-worship-part-12-worship This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

If modesty is fundamentally about knowing and keeping our place, then certain thorny questions naturally arise. In this episode, we consider five of them: 1. Is upward mobility immodest? 2. Are naked babies immodest? 3. What if you need to wear something immodest? 4. What if you’re biblically modest, but culturally immodest? 5. Must our dress be distinctively gendered? And here’s the article mentioned in the episode, which may help you to fit modesty into a larger covenantal and cultural context: https://discipleshipanddominion.substack.com/p/why-life-without-covenant-clown-world This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Why is the solar calendar not exactly 365 days? Why did God put a remainder of a day into every year, what does it teach us about the completion of time, and what does he want us to do with it? How can we better take hold of it, and exercise dominion over it, so that we are shaping the forms of our lives to reflect Christ’s rule? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

It makes natural sense to celebrate Christmas in the dark of winter, just as the light is returning to the world. But what about the 10% of us in the southern hemisphere? What does it mean to celebrate Christmas in midsummer—and how should we be adjusting our liturgical practices to reflect this meaning? Aaron Renn’s newsletter referenced in the show: https://www.aaronrenn.com/p/capturing-institutions This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Since we should be celebrating Christmas, the question is how. Are the forms of our celebration good? What spiritual patterns do they embody? In this episode, we talk about how gift-giving, Christmas trees, and nativity scenes are good forms of liturgical practice that involve us in the incarnation of Christ. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Contrary to much hand-wringing from a surprising diversity of theological traditions, the church is clearly authorized by the patterns of scripture to institute and observe festivals like Christmas. Indeed, to fail in this is a functional denial of our status as sons of God, of our Great Commission, and ultimately of the lordship of Christ over time as well as over space. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

In the first of a two-parter on this topic, we look at the strangely inconsistent history of modesty in Christendom, and suggest that the reason we find modesty so hard is because we think of it as a set of rules about skin coverage—rather than as a spiritual pattern of preserving one’s place in the creation hierarchy. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Bnonn being indisposed, Smokey monologues on weasel phrases which signal that you’re thinking like a materialist, and rants about a bad argument against women in the workforce. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.truemagic.nz In this landmark episode, Smokey expounds, for the first time, her most notable contribution to the history of symbolic thought. We talk about the continuum between ducks and swans, twisting serpents, squid, alpacas, the Flying Spaghetti Monster…and, of course, noodles.

In this bonus episode, Bnonn builds on the foundation of clothing as corporate identity, and talks specifically about the weird and sinister anti-pattern of mass masking. What does it communicate? How does it affect our identities? And is it actually…magic? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

We discuss the connection between identity and appearance—and how clothing has been used in history to direct corporate identity, uniting and separating people from each other. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.truemagic.nz In this episode, Smokey regails us with an incomplete list of trivia, both weird and wonderful, and Bnonn tries to keep up.

We talk about how clothing is not merely a form of nonverbal communication, but can accurately be thought of as a language in its own right. In light of this, we then ask what modern clothing is saying—and discover some rather dark spiritual patterns. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.truemagic.nz Must a woman change her last name to her husband’s if it is something like McUgly, Crapper, or Bieber? What if it’s fine by itself, but embarrassing with her first name—e.g., Luna Lovegood marrying a Mr. Tick? In this episode, we discover what a name is in scripture, and why a woman takes her husband’s name in our culture. Then we come to some prudentia…

Is clothing just a result of the fall? If so, why is God depicted clothed in majesty, and why are angels and perfected men always in white robes? What does clothing mean, what spiritual patterns does it express…and how does this change the way we think about it? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.truemagic.nz Smokey blindsides Bnonn with thorny scenarios in which he must figure out how (and whether) to honor the wishes of the dead. They talk about a woman making foolish vows to a husband on his deathbed, various burial practices, and burning a Great American Novel. Then they have an argument about donating Smokey to medical science. A fun time is had all rou…

Bnonn briefly explains seven axioms that True Magic takes for granted—without which the project makes no sense. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe

Bnonn & Smokey explain what “true magic” is, why it matters, and what you can expect for season 1 of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.truemagic.nz/subscribe